Where do you get raw meat ?

ankitty

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So far I've tried Primal Pronto, Instinct and Rad Cat. I'd like to get ground meat and add supplements myself, to save money. I don't want to buy a grinder for now. So, where can I buy ground meat/organs/bones? I know Primal, Bravo, and Hare Today have them. Any other sources? 

Also, if you grind raw meat yourself, where do you get your meat/organs/bones?
 

ritz

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Depending on where you live (shipping costs...) My Pet Carnivore might be an option.
You could also try butcher shops that are geared towards patrons who have dietary (religious) restrictions, like Muslim and Judaism.
Finally, check out farmers market. Many of them where I live have closed for the season, but check out year-round ones, but you may be able to find a source there. You may have to visit their farm, but it may be an option if the vendor is permitted by law to sell products at his farm.
 
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ankitty

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Thank you for the info.
  I'm in California and My Pet Carnivore may not be the best option... 


So, religious restriction means that the meat is handled more carefully to avoid contamination? I have a couple of meat shops around so I can check them out. 
 

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Look for smallbatch blends without vegetables. I recently purchased rabbit for Tim- it is ground muscle meat, organs, and bones. He loves it. I also recently became aware of Halshan, but I don't remember if their ground rabbit includes organs. You can get both smallbatch rabbit and Halshan at Pet Supply Warehouse in Anaheim Hills. I just saw other smallbatch proteins at Pet Supply in Fountain Valley. I've also seen Halshan at The Urban Pet in South Pasadena.
 

ritz

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Religious restriction may mean better prep of meat--but I was thinking more along the lines that because of religious dos/don'ts, you might be able to find a butcher who will grind the meat the way you want. Butchers in big chain grocery stores may not have the time/desire to do so.
 
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ankitty

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Look for smallbatch blends without vegetables. I recently purchased rabbit for Tim- it is ground muscle meat, organs, and bones. He loves it. I also recently became aware of Halshan, but I don't remember if their ground rabbit includes organs. You can get both smallbatch rabbit and Halshan at Pet Supply Warehouse in Anaheim Hills. I just saw other smallbatch proteins at Pet Supply in Fountain Valley. I've also seen Halshan at The Urban Pet in South Pasadena.
Great, thank you!  I love that they are local companies. I'll check it out the next time I go to Yorba Linda. 
 
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ankitty

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Religious restriction may mean better prep of meat--but I was thinking more along the lines that because of religious dos/don'ts, you might be able to find a butcher who will grind the meat the way you want. Butchers in big chain grocery stores may not have the time/desire to do so.
I have two local independent meat shops and they do custom cuts. I'll check. So, just adding liver is enough to satisfy organ meat requirement? If I cook cat food, I'll probably add bone or egg shell powder after baking meat a little and chopping them.
 

ritz

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No, liver has its own requirement, around 5% weight, and is not enough to ensure a nutritionally complete diet. You must add a secreting organ like kidney (around 5%) and bone (around 10%) (80% protein).
There are a lot of articles posted at the top of this forum, Raw & Home-Cooked Cat Food. Please do some reading before embarking on raw feeding. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand how to do raw feeding, but you do need some common sense and info. In the meantime, you might consider commercial raw, like the ones you mentioned or Rad Cat, if available where you live.
I like this basic article perhaps because that where I started. This is a good, practical thread too.
 
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ankitty

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No, liver has its own requirement, around 5% weight, and is not enough to ensure a nutritionally complete diet. You must add a secreting organ like kidney (around 5%) and bone (around 10%) (80% protein).
There are a lot of articles posted at the top of this forum, Raw & Home-Cooked Cat Food. Please do some reading before embarking on raw feeding. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand how to do raw feeding, but you do need some common sense and info. In the meantime, you might consider commercial raw, like the ones you mentioned or Rad Cat, if available where you live.
I like this basic article perhaps because that where I started. This is a good, practical thread too.
Thank you, I'll look at the links. 

I read this article:

http://www.catinfo.org/?link=makingcatfood#The_Recipe

and she says 
"

Liver - If using ground rabbit (which includes liver) from wholefoods4pets.com, do not add additional liver.  If using chicken legs, thighs or a whole chicken carcass minus the organs, add 4 ounces of chicken livers per 3 lb of meat/bones/skin."
 
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LTS3

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So far I've tried Primal Pronto, Instinct and Rad Cat. I'd like to get ground meat and add supplements myself, to save money. I don't want to buy a grinder for now. So, where can I buy ground meat/organs/bones? I know Primal, Bravo, and Hare Today have them. Any other sources? 
Oma's Pride
 
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ankitty

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Thank you. Our vet recommended it too, but she said it has big chunks of bones and I may need to get a grinder, because my cat has vomiting issues. Do you feed it to your cats?
 

roguethecat

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ahem... the about-to-expire save 30% meat at Safeway's, my favorite Asian supermarket for offal and quail, but what they like best is the real stuff from rodentpro.

Save your cat's teeth and do not grind if you don't have to (yes, this from me, who just upgraded to a better grinder because the old one was starting to smoke. I can't get Rascal to eat chunks of meat, and his teeth are awful.) The downside of that is, of course, that yesterday someone I'm not naming pulled down a freshly laundered sheet hung up to dry  in order to eat half a rat on it
 but, luckily, I own a washing machine (yes, the Rogue has jumped in there, too, and used it as hamster wheel
).
 
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ankitty

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ahem... the about-to-expire save 30% meat at Safeway's, my favorite Asian supermarket for offal and quail, but what they like best is the real stuff from rodentpro.

Save your cat's teeth and do not grind if you don't have to (yes, this from me, who just upgraded to a better grinder because the old one was starting to smoke. I can't get Rascal to eat chunks of meat, and his teeth are awful.) The downside of that is, of course, that yesterday someone I'm not naming pulled down a freshly laundered sheet hung up to dry  in order to eat half a rat on it
 but, luckily, I own a washing machine (yes, the Rogue has jumped in there, too, and used it as hamster wheel
).
I'm thinking about chopping meat myself and leave little chunks... do you think it'll help their teeth or it has to be bones?
 

roguethecat

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yes, any chunks help teeth. Small bones (I use chicken wings and quail) are more for providing calcium and the odd marrow, bigger ones where actual meat has to be gnawed off is the perfect toothbrush (my guys, of course, won't eat them). But more, if they have something to actual chew and work on, it's fun.

Leaving little chunks is the way to go!

http://www.rawfedcats.org/practicalguide.htm
 

LTS3

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Thank you. Our vet recommended it too, but she said it has big chunks of bones and I may need to get a grinder, because my cat has vomiting issues. Do you feed it to your cats?
Yes, I feed Oma's Pride as well as Hare-Today to my cats. I have not seen any chunks of bone in the Oma's Pride. I buy the ground chicken frames, ground rabbit and bone, ground duck meat and bone, ground duck necks, and ground turkey necks, depending on what the pet store has in stock at the time.
 

maureen brad

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I ordered from Hare Today a few weeks ago and was very happy with it. I live in CA to and ordering a lot of food saves a bunch in shipping. I was pricing meat at Whole Foods and found that ordering at least 50 lbs from HT is actually cheaper than whole foods. I guess that is because you by-pass the middleman. I think if you have more than one cat HT is the way to go. I did join a BARF co-op recently but I would bet I never use it as I would have to drive an hour for pick up. I was checking into Felines Pride but the shipping is crazy. I found an authorized reseller here right down the street but even without shipping rabbit would cost me $9.99 a lbs. No way. Not in this lifetime.Do offer your cat (s) chunks , my cats are 2 and just began eating raw a few months ago. I am making sure they get chunks as I also have an 8 year old who only has 4 teeth left due to Stomatitis.
 

ritz

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Except for a brief experiment with commercial raw to see if Ritz would recognize raw meat as, well, food, I've feed almost exclusively prey model raw. The meat is bite size. Gizzards are great for building jaw muscle. I like to fed bone--it takes a millisecond longer for Ritz to eat bone that meat.
Ritz is prone to gingivitis (needs a cleaning about every two years). This was before and during my feeding her raw. So, just a caution that feeding raw does not solve ALL problems :)
 
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ankitty

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Thank you everyone for your input. 


I found Smallbatch today ($6.99 for 2 lb). It's ground chicken/bone/organs, so I need to add supplements. I think I'm going to request Alnutrin samples. 

One of my cats is not doing well with Rad Cat, and he doesn't like NVI chicken that much, so I'll try Primal (not pronto) and Stella & Chewy too. 

I gave my cats small pieces of slightly cooked beef steak without any seasoning and they really like it. They also went crazy with Costco rotisserie chicken, and Thanksgiving turkey, so I think home made food will be ok too. 

I was looking at recipes and they usually say remove chicken or turkey skin. Do you know what the reason for that? 
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ritz

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I personally wouldn't feed Ritz rotisserie chicken or Thanksgiving turkey without first removing the skin--in part because Ritz doesn't need the extra fat, in large part because the skin is likely to contain most of the seasonings, some of which are toxic to cats (garlic).
I did feed the community colony cats cooked turkey, without the skin.
And gave Ritz the raw 'innards' of the turkey. She wanted to lick the bag they came in.....
 
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