Affordable Raw Feeding - No chicken or turkey?

So I am trying to do best for my cats and looking at possibly doing raw. I'm tired of spending a ton on high carb "limited ingredient" cans and kibble. The challenge is: one of my cats is allergic to chicken and turkey What is an affordable way to feed raw when the cheapest meats are not fair game?

Are you looking into commercial raw or are you making your own?

If you are making your own, do you know where you are planning on sourcing your meat, bones and organs?

I highly recommend Hare Today. If you order 2 or 3 months of food at a time, the shipping is not as astronomical as you think. My last order was 36 pounds and the shipping cost was $27.31. This will last my 2 cats about 12-14 weeks so essentially the shipping is approximately $2 per week. Just to mention, I fit all of this in my regular freezer. Of course, I barely have any room in there for my own food.

Just to mention, some cats are allergic to protein in its processed form but can handle it just fine when it is raw. So that is something you might want to test out eventually.

To answer your question, some other reasonably priced proteins to consider are pork, sheep, beef and the ground, whole carcass rabbit. For example, if you're strictly looking at meat/bone/organ grinds from Hare Today to supplement with a premix, the costs for the chubs by pound are as follows:

Chicken - $3.89lb

Turkey - $3.99lb

Beef - $4.49lb

Pork - $4.59lb

Whole Carcass Rabbit - $4.99lb

Sheep - $5.49lb (wow! the last time I ordered sheep, it was only $3.99lb, it has been raised to $5.49lb as of recently)

The Beef, Pork and Rabbit are only about $1 (or less) more expensive than Chicken and Turkey. If your cat eats approximately 2lbs of food a week, you're only spending an extra $2 (or less) more per week if you have to buy Beef, Pork or Rabbit.

I'm just gathering information at this point to see what is feasible for us. I havd tried raw chicken with her and her problems reoccur (licking fur off abdomen, itching, throwing up several times a week). I don't know if turkey will provide the same issue but I can test. I don't have a lot of local options and have been looking at Hare Today. I do have a chest freezer so space isn't an issue, but money definitely is. I'm trying to keep feeding costs under $60 for two cats, and I don't know if that's possible with raw or not :/

Abby2932 said:

Just to mention, some cats are allergic to protein in its processed form but can handle it just fine when it is raw. So that is something you might want to test out eventually.

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I have tried raw chicken with her and her problems reoccur (licking fur off abdomen, itching, throwing up several times a week)

My cats LOVE rabbit and pork.  Those two are their absolute favorites.  You'd think they hadn't eaten in years when the rabbit or pork comes out.  They also enjoy venison and, well, kangaroo.  In fact, kangaroo is in the same league as rabbit and pork.  

I don't know if keeping it under $60/month is possible but it's not MUCH more than that. I have 2 cats also and my monthly food budget is about $80/month. I feed mostly Rabbit, Pork & Turkey for their staple diet and when I go out of town I have my cat sitter feed them Goat, Cavies & Llama. So, if you're not feeding high-priced proteins then I would think that you could get your cost under $80 but maybe not less than $60.

Alternatively, you can't really feed a high quality canned food diet for under $60/month either. When I was feeding high quality canned, my food budget for the two was about $90/month so I'm saving a little money on raw. I also like to consider the fact that my cats are much healthier on the raw diet so I will spend less on future vet bills (theoretically).

It's not that I don't wish I could spend more. It's just that I physically can't. Low hours at work unfortunately mean I'm living paycheck to paycheck. I'm currently feeding half canned, half kibble, which is working but I want to do as best as I can for them. I guess I'll have to wait until my situation improves to make any additional changes.