Hi, I’ve read that when buying chicken meat for cat food, I need to check the sodium content, it should be no more than 100mg per serving. Would 105 be acceptable or is that too much? It’s difficult to find chicken with sodium numbers under 100mg, and those are twice the price.
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Choosing chicken meat
- Thread starter TortieCat
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Hi, where are you buying your chicken at?
Personally, I would be comfortable with it, especially in a rotation, but that's just IMO.
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I went to Publix, and I was looking for organic and free range boneless skinless thighs… might be a bit over top? Lol there was only one choice that was organic, free range, and under 100 mg sodium, and it was pricey! It’s my first time making food for them so I bought that chicken but I need to find something cheaper
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My choice is also organic and/or free range, and it can get very pricey unfortunately.
Are you using a specific recipe to make their food? Are you in the USA?
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I would not buy meat for my cats from grocery stores, for reasons I already posted about. I expect that the practice of injecting meats with brine solution has increased with inflation, because the brine adds weight. It's a form of "shrinkflation", they're charging you meat prices for the weight of the salt water. High quality meats will indeed be more expensive. Also, freshness in groceries is going to be highly variable - humans don't mind half-rotten meat apparently, but my cats certainly do.
Buying from a trusted local butcher who can assure you that their meat products are fresh and additive-free, or ordering from an online supplier such as Hare Today, are your best options. If there's a farm nearby that sells meats on location, see if they have meat for pets or have bulk deals. You can also order from reputable human food suppliers such as US Wellness meats.
If you absolutely won't or can't go any of these routes, at the very least buy whole chickens (after checking the sodium on the label to make sure they're not brine-injected). They are always fresher than individual cuts, especially boneless ones, come with giblets which are good for your cats, and it takes just moments to butcher them. Cut off the meat and edible bone pieces for your cats, and throw the rest into the stock pot for bone broth.
Buying from a trusted local butcher who can assure you that their meat products are fresh and additive-free, or ordering from an online supplier such as Hare Today, are your best options. If there's a farm nearby that sells meats on location, see if they have meat for pets or have bulk deals. You can also order from reputable human food suppliers such as US Wellness meats.
If you absolutely won't or can't go any of these routes, at the very least buy whole chickens (after checking the sodium on the label to make sure they're not brine-injected). They are always fresher than individual cuts, especially boneless ones, come with giblets which are good for your cats, and it takes just moments to butcher them. Cut off the meat and edible bone pieces for your cats, and throw the rest into the stock pot for bone broth.
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How much storage space do you have in freezers, would having some shipped to you be an option?
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Not much, unfortunately. I’ll see if maybe I can do a small order form Hare Today. Since it was l my first time making food for my cats, I just wanted to see if they’ll even like it and if they would eat it. They did seem to like it so that’s encouraging!
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Hare today is very good. I use them a lot, my cats really like the boneless turkey thighs!
Can you find butcher shops, or even independently owned farms, locally?
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- #10
We do have one butcher shop, I’m going to check it our tomorrow. Not sure about farms though, but I think we have a farmers market on Saturdays. And I’ve heard that raw feeding Miami is a good source too. Once I know that my cats are happy to eat the food I make for them, I can order meat online. I don’t want to order yet in case they decide they don’t want home made food.
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If you looked at the butcher shop today, I hope you had success!
The farmers market might be a good place to start, you could ask the vendors if they know of anyone who raises chickens in the way you prefer. A lot of those places go by word of mouth.
I have never used raw feeding Miami but I have heard great things about the quality of their meats.
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- #12
Yes the butcher shop was pretty good! They do sell chicken thighs from free range organic chickens. They do not sell turkey legs, and they only sell whole turkeys for Thanksgiving. But they had interesting things like whole frozen rabbits, pheasants, and quail. My cats aren’t ready for that yet, but in the future we could try quail and rabbit. And I can still order online once I’m sure that the cats won’t change their mind about eating home made food.
Farmers market is a great suggestion, I think we have them on Saturday mornings. Thank you!
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You are so welcome!
I'm jealous, I can't find rabbit locally anywhere.
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Great that you have a local meat source...beware farmer's markets though, they tend to be REALLY pricey.
If you do go all in on the homemade route, you probably will want to order food online. There are small chest freezers that can fit into even small apartments and cost very little to run. I got a 2.4 cubic foot model that works fine for me, although I can only order the 31 lb Hare Today box and not the full 50 lbs. You can place smaller orders (10 lbs) and swallow the high shipping costs, but this will cost more than the freezer over the long run. Bonus, you can use it for your own purposes also, saving you even more money by letting you order meats online for yourself and/or buy in bulk when you find local deals.
I can vouch for Raw Feeding Miami. I'm less certain about Viva Raw. I noticed their quality has decreased somewhat. Also they won't reveal how much bone is in their complete cat food - that's a nonstarter for me, because my cats can't tolerate too much bone. Also, I suspect the bone content in their meat/bone/organ grinds is higher than the stated 10%.
If you do go all in on the homemade route, you probably will want to order food online. There are small chest freezers that can fit into even small apartments and cost very little to run. I got a 2.4 cubic foot model that works fine for me, although I can only order the 31 lb Hare Today box and not the full 50 lbs. You can place smaller orders (10 lbs) and swallow the high shipping costs, but this will cost more than the freezer over the long run. Bonus, you can use it for your own purposes also, saving you even more money by letting you order meats online for yourself and/or buy in bulk when you find local deals.
I can vouch for Raw Feeding Miami. I'm less certain about Viva Raw. I noticed their quality has decreased somewhat. Also they won't reveal how much bone is in their complete cat food - that's a nonstarter for me, because my cats can't tolerate too much bone. Also, I suspect the bone content in their meat/bone/organ grinds is higher than the stated 10%.
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- #15
Thank you, getting a small freezer is a great idea, and maybe my cats will even let me use it for my food sometimes
It will certainly pay for itself in the long run and will allow me to make larger batches of food so I don't have to cook every week.I'm glad to hear good things about Raw Feeding Miami, they have a great selection or meats and whole prey.
I am hesitant about Viva Raw too. I asked them how they recommend balancing their pure blends, and they suggested a mix of vitamins, which includes using either vitamin D or cod liver oil. From what I've read on other websites, cod liver oil has a lot of vitamin A too so I would be concerned about overdosing vitamin A. It might still be within safe limits, but I know Dr Pierson doesn't recommend using cod liver oil in her recipe. This gives me concerns about complete Viva recipes if fed long term.
