Advice for commercial raw

I'm considering beginning to introduce my 8-mo-old cat to some commercial raw, and feed it to her along with her daily canned food. She still eats 3-4 small meals a day, so I thought I'd stick with her canned food choices for the morn and eve meals, and have her middle of the day snacks be some commercial raw food. Today I got her to nibble some bites of Rad Cat lamb, but it wasn't a total success. (Not to say that it won't be, but that she might get used to it.)

What are some of your recommendations for brands/meats, if I'd like to avoid any commercial raw foods which might include chicken and fish? Many thanks!

PushPurrCatPaws said:

I'm considering beginning to introduce my 8-mo-old cat to some commercial raw, and feed it to her along with her daily canned food. She still eats 3-4 small meals a day, so I thought I'd stick with her canned food choices for the morn and eve meals, and have her middle of the day snacks be some commercial raw food.

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Are you going to feed freeze dried raw or frozen raw or another type of commercial raw? If you're not home during the day, it's best to leave freeze dried or air dried out for snacking on instead of frozen raw like Rad Cat. I wouldn't leave frozen raw in a bowl or timed feeder for more than half an hour. Or maybe you can feed raw for the main meals and feed canned in between.

If you crumble up some stinky freeze dried raw food on top of the frozen raw, it'll be more appealing. Lots of people have transitioned their cats to raw by using freeze dreid raw as a topper.

Primal Pet has some non-chicken and non-fish varites in both frozen and freeze dried http://www.primalpetfoods.com/

Nature's Variety Instinct has a duck and rabbit raw food http://www.instinctpetfood.com/instinct-raw-food-cats There's also a lamb for the freeze dried.

Stella and Chewy's http://www.stellaandchewys.com/products/cat-dinners/

Thanks for the reply, LTS3. I forgot to mention that it will be frozen commercial raw.

The Primal frozen formulas have sardine oil in them, but I could try a few of them, along with the Stella and Chewy's.

You might try the turkey Rad Cat.  Lots of cats adore it and eat it more readily than the other flavors.  Good luck with your raw introduction!

Lesterktty said:

You might try the turkey Rad Cat.  Lots of cats adore it and eat it more readily than the other flavors.  Good luck with your raw introduction!

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Just tried the turkey Rad Cat! You were right, it was a hit!

Turkey Rad Cat is probably our two cats' very favorite food, I'm glad yours like it, too! They don't like Rad Cat lamb at all: I wonder if it's too fatty.

An even bigger hit was Stella & Chewy's "Absolutely Rabbit" frozen formula.
Oh boy!

Has anyone ever experienced any issues with this brand of food? I'm also going to try the "Duck Guck Goose" frozen...

Midi loves the Stella and Chewy's rabbit too, no issues other than it's getting hard to find now, they are selling like hotcakes  

Oh  for people that are considering moving their  kitty to raw food, you need to feed them in a stainless steel  bowl and be extra diligent with respect to cleanliness. Also, make sure that un eaten food gets tossed quickly you don't want it sitting around for a long time 

My cats go nuts for the beef rad cat. 

Zed Xyzed said:

Oh  for people that are considering moving their  kitty to raw food, you need to feed them in a stainless steel  bowl and be extra diligent with respect to cleanliness. Also, make sure that un eaten food gets tossed quickly you don't want it sitting around for a long time 

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Why stainless steel? What's wrong with ceramic?

PushPurrCatPaws said:

Why stainless steel? What's wrong with ceramic?

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Ceramic containers can get micro fissures I read some where. In these tiny cracks germs can grow. If I find the article I will post it. 

re: "micro fissures"-

That might depend a lot on the quality and firing of the glaze of the ceramic dish! I feel very comfortable with the dish I use
Plus, I don't use a dishwasher (just my two hands).
You definitely want a strong, non-porous, lead-free glaze, etc. And I guess I'd probably stay away from the use of any "vintage" ceramic pieces, just to be safe.

Where are you guys buying your RadCat food?

I used the store locator on their website, and it only came up with one result in my area.  I called the store, and they said they don't sell RadCat (it's actually a dog training center - so it's weird that they are listed on the site) - so is this something you can order online?   If so, how does that work (since it has to stay frozen)?

There's a list of online stores that sell RadCat: http://www.radfood.com/where_to_buy Click on the Online Stores tab. OnlyNaturalPet.com is the bigger well known online web site. I'm not sure if other web sites sell it. Frozen raw food is typically shipped in a styrofoam shipping container with dry ice or frozen ice packs and the whole thing inside of a regular shipping box that is labeled with "perishable items inside" or "keep items frozen".

jolie0216 said:

Where are you guys buying your RadCat food?

I used the store locator on their website, and it only came up with one result in my area.  I called the store, and they said they don't sell RadCat (it's actually a dog training center - so it's weird that they are listed on the site) - so is this something you can order online?   If so, how does that work (since it has to stay frozen)?

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Nearly every independent store near me will order Rad Cat, though the prices vary considerably. Oddly, the cheapest place is Planet Dog, which sells mostly dog things but keeps a steady stock of Rad Cat. Apparently a lot of people who work there also have cats!

LisaHE said:

Nearly every independent store near me will order Rad Cat, though the prices vary considerably. Oddly, the cheapest place is Planet Dog, which sells mostly dog things but keeps a steady stock of Rad Cat. Apparently a lot of people who work there also have cats!

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Oh this is interesting. There is only one pet store near me that carries it but it's overpriced there for sure. I never thought to ask other stores if they'd order it. 

LisaHE said:

Nearly every independent store near me will order Rad Cat, though the prices vary considerably. Oddly, the cheapest place is Planet Dog, which sells mostly dog things but keeps a steady stock of Rad Cat. Apparently a lot of people who work there also have cats!

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missmimz said:

Oh this is interesting. There is only one pet store near me that carries it but it's overpriced there for sure. I never thought to ask other stores if they'd order it. 

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This might go for a lot of foods. The store near me did not have the two feline frozen formulas of Stella & Chewy's I wanted to try, but they were glad to order them for me and the bags came in within a few days.

PushPurrCatPaws said:

This might go for a lot of foods. The store near me did not have the two feline frozen formulas of Stella & Chewy's I wanted to try, but they were glad to order them for me and the bags came in within a few days.

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Yes, that's definitely the case where I shop. That said, there are some foods that stores seem less willing to have around: Nutro Natural Choice is one so I have to buy it at Chewy or Petco for a consistent supply.

Of course frozen raw foods require a freezer, but most independents near me already sell raw frozen foods anyway, even if it's mostly dog food. Raw food for cats just doesn't seem to sell as well. I think a lot of people just see cats as fluffy little creatures who should be delicately crunching little kibbles as if they were tea cookies!

Everyone has listed some very good foods. My cats also love the Rad Cat Turkey. I just tried the Rad Cat Venison and it was a big hit too.