smallbatch rabbit blend - nutritionally complete?

I am hoping the raw feeding experts can share their thoughts.

I recently purchased a two-pound chub of smallbatch rabbit bend. For those that may be familiar with Tim's story, we've got him at about 65% raw. He's not at 100% because he doesn't seem to care for any of the raw rabbit brands I've tried, though he loves canned rabbit. I'm trying to get him to eat raw rabbit because his stomach is sensitive and I don't want to upset him with too much variety right now. He also eats Rad Cat raw turkey, which he loves. I've often thought that if only Rad Cat made a rabbit food, we'd be set.

When I made a visit to a pet supply store I'd been to once before, I was intrigued by the smallbatch rabbit in the freezer, as the ingredients consist of: "rabbit (including muscle meat and bones), rabbit hearts, rabbit livers, rabbit lungs, rabbit kidneys. All ingredients are free range/hormone, antibiotic free" The language in quotes is from the label. No veggies, no additives, no supplements of any kind. I offered some of this to Tim and while he did not enthusiastically dive in, he seemed more interested in this than the other raw rabbit brands I feed on alternating days.

I am concerned this is not a nutritionally balanced food, even though it contains organs and bone. The website advises as such. But I wonder. Is there any way to tell? What do others think? Right now, I am blending only about 0.2-0.3 ounce with his one rabbit meal each day, which I estimate to be about 10 calories. This is less than 5% of his daily calories. Should I be concerned? Should I add supplements? I am worried if I add supplements he won't like the taste. Or can I feed this small amount to him indefinitely without worrying that it may not be completely balanced?

This sounds like questions I had when investigating Hare Today grinds.  Because of the oxidation possibilities of ground food, I ended up getting the Alnutrin without calcium.  I'm thinking about just using my supplement next time (Dr. P's + manganese +/- glandulars).  I'm still looking into it all.

Since one can feed 15% of the diet as unbalanced, you're probably OK feeding the small amount that you're feeding.  However, I can certainly appreciate your question since increasing the amount is something you might want to do in the future.

I agree that the small amount would not cause imbalance to his diet. My main concern for increased use would be the lack of taurine. I am very fortunate to have a reasonably cooperative cat. If I were in your shoes, I would begin by adding only taurine, as that is the most essential. Then I would add the other supplements (B-complex, E, iodized lite salt, and manganese) one-by-one. That way he is less likely to object, and if he does, you have a better idea of exactly which supplement he does not like and can try to find an alternative source for it that he does like.

Thank you both for your replies! I will stick with the small amount for now, as he is finally eating his rabbit blend enthusiastically. If I am able to get him to eat more, I will start with just the taurine. But in any event, I'll keep it under 10% of his calories, to be safe, until I can completely balance the food.

At the same time, because Tim hasn't shown any sign of significant tummy upset in quite some time, beginning in November, we're going to try gradually adding another protein so we won't have to rely so much on rabbit.

I can't believe it took me this long, but I finally bought taurine and b-complex. I added the appropriate amount of each to a pound of smallbatch rabbit blend (muscle and organ meats plus bone), based on the recipe at catinfo.org. Tim gobbled it up. I will continue to add supplements one by one with each pound so he adjusts. Once it's fully-supplemented, it will become a bigger part of his diet because, even at around $7.00/pound, it is much cheaper than the other rabbit he is eating.

Yay!!!!!!