Which premade raw?

[ldg]

:lol3: Yes, Carolina meant Feralvr. But I'm pretty sure I know what the issue is. She was bummed about the shipping cost online, and had some questions, so called. Apparently the online shipping calculator was over-estimating the cost of shipping? :dk: Something like that. AND if you sign up for the autodelivery, you save 15% - and you can reschedule the autoship any time. I have NO idea if those two things combined would reduce the cost to something equivalent of Feline's Pride or not. :dk: But it can't hurt to call and ask, if you want to bother exploring it.

I've never used Rad Cat, and ordered Feline's Pride ground rabbit once. My cats hated it and it cost a fortune to try it. :dk: (I was still new to raw, and I was using Nature's Variety, because that's what was available locally. They had a rabbit shortage earlier this year, and I freaked, so tried the Feline's Pride rabbit. :lol3: ).

...But they LOVE the ground Hare-Today. :nod: Well - the pork and rabbit, anyway. They also like the goat and llama if I don't feed them often. I feed homemade raw - mostly. The cats do like the (fine) ground pork and rabbit from Hare-Today, so as I buy duck and turkey hearts, turkey thigh cubes, and beef kidney from HT, I usually purchase some ground pork and rabbit. :nod:

I buy the Alnutrin supplement (for meat/bones/organs mix). When the 2 pound chubs arrive, I dethaw them, mix in the water and supplement; portion them into meals for the cats, and re-freeze.

And the Darwin's also seems to be really well liked by cats. :nod:

 

[mschauer]

I've never used Rad Cat, and ordered Feline's Pride ground rabbit once. My cats hated it and it cost a fortune to try it.

(I was still new to raw, and I was using Nature's Variety, because that's what was available locally. They had a rabbit shortage earlier this year, and I freaked, so tried the Feline's Pride rabbit.

).

I think you are thinking of a different brand for that rabbit. Feline's Pride doesn't offer rabbit. Never has.

 

[Willowy]

I think you are thinking of a different brand for that rabbit. Feline's Pride doesn't offer rabbit. Never has.

I looked up their website and they have turkey, chicken, cornish game hen, rabbit, and one other. . .I couldn't find the "add to cart" button but I saw that much :lol3:.

ETA: the "one other" is duck. . .and they definitely have rabbit: https://www.felinespride.com/

 

[wolcar]

I just recently ordered rad cat from onlynaturalpet and with 2 day delivery (I was afraid of 3 day) the shipping costs were $40, including the frozen delivery charge. I ordered 5x24oz to keep in my freezer for the cat sitter :-) Order came to $111.93  - Comes to $4 per cat per day if I just fed that. I don't usually pay attention to these things but this thread got me wondering.  That's a bit expensive.  I find buying my own meats far cheaper, but I guess that isn't premade raw, huh. lol  This thread just opened my eyes to some costs that I wasn't aware of. 

 

[mschauer]

I think you are thinking of a different brand for that rabbit. Feline's Pride doesn't offer rabbit. Never has.

I looked up their website and they have turkey, chicken, cornish game hen, rabbit, and one other. . .I couldn't find the "add to cart" button but I saw that much

.

ETA: the "one other" is duck. . .and they definitely have rabbit: https://www.felinespride.com/

You're right! For some reason the page I was looking at didn't show the rabbit and duck and they didn't have them when I used to order from them.

 

[ldg]

. . .and they definitely have rabbit: https://www.felinespride.com/

You're right!

Yes, of course she's right. I ordered it in January.

Thank You for ordering Feline's Pride!

Your Reference Number is: 3139

Below is a summary of order. You can check the status of your order and all the details by visiting our website and logging into your account.

Please keep this as a record of your order!


Billing Address Shipping Address
xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Product Qty Unit Price Ext Price
Rabbit Formula 5 lbs (2 x 2.5 lb) 1 $44.45 $44.45

Sales Tax $0.00
Shipping and Handling $21.49
Order Total $65.94


Please double check your order when you receive it and let us know immediately if there are any concerns or issues. We always value your business and hope you enjoy your product.

Thank You Very much!

Yep! $13.19 per pound for rabbit. I began the transition to raw about 2 weeks before. They were eating NV and liked rabbit the most - and NV had its rabbit shortage. I freaked. Unfortunately, NV has a LOT of pork fat, (that must be what they loved so much!) and they didn't (at the time) like real rabbit. They'd probably love it now. But the ferals enjoyed some lovely VERY expensive rabbit.

 

[ldg]

If I'd ordered from Hare-Today, the same 5 pounds of rabbit would cost $21.70. I'm looking at shipping (for the five pounds) of $21.24.

...I could have added the Alnutrin for 40 pounds of meat/bones/organs and STILL paid less than Feline's Pride. :lol3:

 

[carolina]

If I'd ordered from Hare-Today, the same 5 pounds of rabbit would cost $21.70. I'm looking at shipping (for the five pounds) of $21.24.
...I could have added the Alnutrin for 40 pounds of meat/bones/organs and STILL paid less than Feline's Pride. :lol3:

And your cats would actually eat it :spit:

 

[feralvr]

:lol3: Yes, Carolina meant Feralvr.

That would be me !!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, my shipping cost from Only Natural Pet is $15.99 ( I use the UPS 3 - 5 day ground BUT I get it in three days and it is perfectly frozen) and they are just shipping my next order today. I have ordered 12 pounds - 16 oz. tubs of all three varieties. My total with shipping is $122.38 plus the $9.95 brings it to $132.33. SO that would work out to be about $11.00 per pound. Quite pricey, but to me it is worth it's weight in gold. I only feed it everyday to two cats the other's eat it occasionally in rotation with other raw ground brands. On my next order I will bump up my poundage as the shipping only seems to go up a dollar or two even if I add another three or four pounds. You do get $1.00 off per tub when you sign up for auto-ship. Jesse is who I talk to when I call, she is really helpful.

 

[numystic]

Thanks so much for the additional feedback Feralvr… alas $11 per pound is definitely too expensive for my household, especially if I can get Feline's Pride for less than $8.

So as of now I'm going to try the too good to pass up offer from Darwin's.

Called around and the only local source I could find for Rad Cat was $10 lb.  

Stella & Chewy's appears to be very affordable at under $6 per pound for their 6 lb bags, but I just need to see if I can find someplace local carrying it at those prices.

All of this making me seriously look at getting whole birds ground at the butcher and adding supplements myself. Of course that takes the conversation beyond the subject of pre made raw though. 

Can anyone share any links on that specific subject. Info on what to look for and avoid when getting whole chickens and turkeys ground by the butcher? Seems all the raw articles commonly linked to focus on either grinding at home, or prey model. 

 

[ldg]

The articles focus on homemade ground or prey model, because the risk of bacterial infection goes up if you buy ground food. It's definitely recommended NOT to feed pre-ground meat. But if you trust your butcher, and he's got the plates to grind bone into a fine grind, you may be able to purchase whole ground animals. :dk: You'll want to feed more proteins than just chicken or turkey, but if you can figure out the right ratio of bone for other meats, no reason not to go for it if he can accommodate your request.

If you want ground recipes, there are raw recipes at http://www.catinfo.org and at http://www.holisticat.com/rawrecipe.html

I found using Hare-Today preground meats that whole animals tend to have too much bone (bone:meat ratio must be different for a chicken, pig, turkey, etc. than a mouse, and I'm guessing feral cats don't necessarily eat all the rabbit bones... :dk: ). The recipes talk about how to adjust the bone. But that's one reason some of us like to supplement with calcium, so we know for SURE what the Calciumhosphorus (Ca) ratio is in the food we feed.

 

[Willowy]

I'm not sure if butchers like to grind bone. It's hard on the grinders. But you can always ask .

 

[numystic]

Thanks SO much for the additional insights. Will definitely do a great deal more reading and then start "interviewing" local butchers and see if there are any used to accommodating this kind of request.