Hare Today VS. Supermarket Meat

What's the difference between the meat that you can get from Hare Today compare to the meat from a supermarket/grocery store like Fresh Market or Whole Foods?

TaoMom said:

 
What's the difference between the meat that you can get from Hare Today compare to the meat from a supermarket/grocery store like Fresh Market or Whole Foods?

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Several things I can think of:

A wide variety of meat. Hare Today has quail, venision, mouse (yes, mouse), guinea pig, bison, elk, and many more.

You can buy organs and bones and offal from a variety of animals.

You can get boneless organless meats (ground or chunked), ground meat with bone and organs, and whole prey.

The meat has not been enhanced with broth or flavorings like some supermarket meats.

There is nothing wrong with buying raw meat from a supermarket. Just be sure to buy only whole cuts, never pre ground, and that the meat hasn't been enhanced with stuff. Sometimes there's a teeny tiny statement on the package that says broth or somethng else was added. If you don't have a grinder, then yuo can just chop the meat into small cat sized pieces. Raw bones can be given whole.

Oh yeah, ofcourse, no broth or flavoring on the meat, I was just comparing the plain meats. 

But uh...I called Hare Today and asked if the meat that they are selling can be consumed by humans, and they said no it's not meant to be for human consumption, I wonder why they would say that? I mean not even the chicken that they are selling can be for human consumption....hmm..

From the Hare-Today FAQs:

Can I eat your food?

A lot of our products are USDA inspected, human grade but we are licensed for pet food manufacturing and all product that leaves here has to be labeled as such. I legally can't sell this to you to eat. Have I ate it, yes. Can I tell you to eat it, no.

https://hare-today.com/raw_food_faq

Yeah, there are a lot of legal hoops to jump through to sell human food. Well, and you wouldn't want to eat the bone-in meats . But their meat is good enough to be sold as human food, they just haven't done the paperwork to make it legal for them to say so.

Personally, I think the biggest difference is that Hare Today sells meat specifically for raw pet feeding, whereas the grocery store does not. HT grinds, packs, and freezes the meat so that its not exposed to the same bacterias that supermarket meat is. I don't feed supermarket meat, which is just my personal preference. I've been using HT for well over a year and I'm very pleased with their quality. Although I'm currently in the process of trying to buy meat from a local farm to save some shipping costs in the summer. 

There's a big difference between Hare Today and supermarket meat.

Hare Today's meat is frozen very quickly after slaughter/processing.  I would also guess that it is not dry aged or hung.  And it's not transported very far before being shipped to you.

Supermarket meat, by the time you buy it, has spent considerable time at refrigerator temps or warmer, between dry aging, display, and maybe transport.  Those display cases do not keep meat below 40 degrees like a good fridge should, and the meat spends a few days there before it hits the expiration date.  It has also gone through an extensive transport network, with each step being yet another opportunity for the meat to exist in > 40 degree temperatures.

My cats are very good judges of meat freshness.  They go crazy for just about anything I buy from a the local poultry farm that does all slaughtering/processing on site and sells the poultry fresh - except for their raw pet food grinds, which are made from leftover pieces collected in a freezer, which they won't eat.   They readily eat Hare Today's products (except the gamey smelling stuff like quail and mutton).  But give them chicken from the supermarket, and they generally aren't enthusiastic and sometimes refuse to eat it.

I view HT meat as having an added layer of safety, which is particularly important for my free-feeding regimen.  If I ever decide to switch to grinding supermarket poultry at home to reduce costs, I'd definitely use the partial-baking technique.

Willowy said:

Yeah, there are a lot of legal hoops to jump through to sell human food. Well, and you wouldn't want to eat the bone-in meats

. But their meat is good enough to be sold as human food, they just haven't done the paperwork to make it legal for them to say so.

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Aye, very true.

The legal paperwork and jumping-through-hoops can muddle the "reading between the lines" stuff.

We work with a wonderful farmer who raises pastured meat animals, as well as eggs...any supplemental feeding done during the winter months is with organic grains only.  To be fair, they're the poster child for organic food, but getting that USDA certified organic label costs bucks that they just don't have.  Every time we visit, there are cows in the fields and chickens and turkeys running around in their (large) areas, eating their natural diet.  The cool part is that, in the spring, the baby cows are out with the herd and the only thing that does the weaning is Mother Nature.  The babies stay with their mothers until both parties are good and ready to cut the cord.

And to stay on topic, we've used Hare Today many times and have always been pleased.  The organ blends are wonderful; no more mashing up kidney, spleen, pancreas, liver, etc.  I've got a strong enough stomach for raw but mixing organs up into cubes to be frozen and handed out whenever it's needed is pretty ick, even for me!

I bought the Alnutrin+Calcium from Hare Today and in the instructions, it says I should also add 1 lb ground organ mix with liver. Do you guys know if they sell organ mix in their website? Or does organ mix mean I can just choose different types of organs and mix them together along with the liver? Is there a specific amount of liver, lung, heart or tongue I am supposed to add to a 1 lb?

Hare Today does sell an organ mix. If you want to make your own mix, you could ask them what ratios they use.

Yep, they sell beef organs, turkey organs, chicken organs (I believe rabbit organs), etc   I get mine in 1 pound chubs.

MPC also has a nice beef organ mix, 50% heart, 25% liver, 25% kidney I believe, as well as things like pancreas and spleen which can be difficult to find.

Keep in mind, heart is considered a muscle meat (not an organ), but I'm not sure about lung. 

My cats like the chicken feet, LOL

Willowy, could you provide the link of the organ mix??

I thought it's already been mixed together??

I just linked to their organ page because there are several different choices. Scroll down a bit, you want the ground beef/chicken/rabbit/turkey organ (that's the description---"ground chicken organs", etc.).

Thanks!

I'm having the same question, as most raw feeders buy from HT, I don't really see the benefit unless you're buying meat that the grocery store doesn't sell or if you want a whole carcass ground up.

Everyone talks about bacteria.. Don't buy ground meat from the grocery store because you don't know how long it's been sitting there, uh aren't cat's stomachs meant to handle bacteria? They can eat a mouse or a bird that's been laying around & be fine. Surely ground meat from the store has less bacteria then that. I mean I can't find any info that says what happens if a cat does eat something that has bacteria in it. I would think they would get sick, maybe throw it up. That's not enough to make me think it's bad for them. I don't know if there are any studies, I can't seem to find anything about if a cat eats pre ground meat from a grocery store.

The thing is I want to feed my kitties well, but I can't justify spending way more money for something & paying for shipping when I can go to the grocery store & buy something ready made. I don't know if it's only personal preference or if there really is something wrong with feeding meat raw from the grocery store.

msserena said:

 
I'm having the same question, as most raw feeders buy from HT, I don't really see the benefit unless you're buying meat that the grocery store doesn't sell or if you want a whole carcass ground up.

Everyone talks about bacteria.. Don't buy ground meat from the grocery store because you don't know how long it's been sitting there, uh aren't cat's stomachs meant to handle bacteria? They can eat a mouse or a bird that's been laying around & be fine. Surely ground meat from the store has less bacteria then that. I mean I can't find any info that says what happens if a cat does eat something that has bacteria in it. I would think they would get sick, maybe throw it up. That's not enough to make me think it's bad for them. I don't know if there are any studies, I can't seem to find anything about if a cat eats pre ground meat from a grocery store.

The thing is I want to feed my kitties well, but I can't justify spending way more money for something & paying for shipping when I can go to the grocery store & buy something ready made. I don't know if it's only personal preference or if there really is something wrong with feeding meat raw from the grocery store.

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Cats are still susceptible to certain bacterial infections from raw meat. While they can manage a certain bacteria load, it doesn't mean that they can eat meat that's been sitting at variable temperatures at the grocery store for an unknown amount of time. There are stories over in the raw feeding groups on facebook of cats coming down with bacterial infections linked to bad meat. I read one comment about an long time raw feeder whose cats were very sick, vomiting and diarrhea, which was later linked to bad grocery store meat. I don't believe it was pre-ground meat, it was simply bad grocery store meat, but the point is cats can become ill if they are exposed to certain bacterias, bacterias that grow rapidly in meats that are highly processed and then sitting on grocery store shelves. Catinfo addresses this. 

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

thanks for the info, I've read that already, I've read pretty much everything out there but they all say the same things. I didn't know cats got sick from bad meat, that is definitely something I will keep a close eye out for. I'm sure it would smell different, meat already smells really gross to me so I'm sure it would smell different than the typical gross. I feel pretty safe in buying from a store as long as it has a packed date. Most don't. Costco is really good about this & I even asked the meat guy last night if they would grind for people, he said they would if the order was large enough. I found boneless lamb roast that was HUGE so I'll have to see what's more cost effective, Rad Cat, Costco or mail order.

msserena said:

 
thanks for the info, I've read that already, I've read pretty much everything out there but they all say the same things. I didn't know cats got sick from bad meat, that is definitely something I will keep a close eye out for. I'm sure it would smell different, meat already smells really gross to me so I'm sure it would smell different than the typical gross. I feel pretty safe in buying from a store as long as it has a packed date. Most don't. Costco is really good about this & I even asked the meat guy last night if they would grind for people, he said they would if the order was large enough. I found boneless lamb roast that was HUGE so I'll have to see what's more cost effective, Rad Cat, Costco or mail order.

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Everyone has different opinions about the risks they're willing to take, and all cats have different immune systems. I think cats that have daily probiotics are probably less likely to be affected by bad bacteria, but it's not a risk I'm willing to take with my cats at least. I don't use any grocery store meats, but that's my own personal choice.