- Joined
- Apr 11, 2016
- Messages
- 44
- Purraise
- 8
Hi everyone,
I'd love a little feedback before I drop some $$$ ordering from Hare-Today. I'm still pretty new to raw feeding. I took the plunge into raw because I adopted two kittens back in February and I have only just now gotten their diarrhea under control. (At first they tested positive for coccidia, but even after tons of wormers and treatments and negative stool samples, the diarrhea persisted.) Now that I've got them on a 100% raw diet one kitten now has perfectly normal stools and the other one is 75% of the way there.. I started them on RadCat, which they rejected at first but warmed up to pretty quickly. As soon as they decided they liked Rad Cat the local shop I got it from ran out and I had to switch to Primal nuggets, which one kitten rejected outright. Now they're back on Rad Cat and I have a hard time getting the food on the dish at mealtimes because one kitten in particular hops on the counter and attempts to eat straight out of the tub. They swarm me. They clearly LOVE it.
Rad Cat's pretty expensive and after reading through the forums here I went out and checked out Hare-Today and I think I'm ready to make the leap. The shipping's really expensive so it's more economical to place a big order than a small one, but I'm pretty nervous since I fear I'm going to order a bunch of something that they reject. I have a few questions that I'd like to ask you all outright:
1. Bones vs. no bone mixes. I was planning on ordering the mix with organs and bones but the more I read the more it seems like the ratio of bone in the mix is too high and I'd need to dilute it down? (Full disclosure: I'm a long time vegetarian and I really would like to minimize the amount of handling I have to do with meat because it kind of grosses me out. Rad Cat is perfect because I just spoon it out.) However, if I don't want bones I'd have to add in the organs separately (ick!) and then I would stress about getting the ration right. I hate to say I want this to be easy, but I do!
2. Alnutrin. Hare-Today sells Alnutrin, but I notice that lots of people use the custom recipes base on the catinfo.org recipe and there are other brands available. I really don't want to make my own mix because I'm looking for ease, but I want to know that I'm using a really good supplement mix. Is there a reason not to use Alnutrin? I'm kind of clueless here.
3. Teeth. I was thinking about ordering some gizzard for tooth care based on a comment I read in one of the threads here. How do other people make sure their kitties are getting proper dental care? The vets around here really push dental cleanings that require anesthesia and are really expensive, so I'd rather put the money into preventative care and forego anesthesia if I can find a good solution.
4. Quantity. I've had a hard time figuring out quantities for the kittens because I don't have a scale to weigh the portions. I just noticed that Rad Cat website says roughly 1/3 cup twice a day for a 10 pound cat and 3-4 times that quantity for kittens. That's a ton of food! My kittens are about 5 and 6 pounds now, so I'm not sure how that translates. Now that I've cut off the kittens' access to my senior kitty's dry food (the only thing she'll eat), I've noticed the kittens seem much more ravenous. Apparently they were supplementing quite a bit with her grain-free dry food. With two kittens I'm burning through the large Rad Cat containers pretty quickly so I don't want to waste it but I don't want to underfeed them either. And when I had to switch to Primal nuggets I struggled to get them to finish their portions, so I'm having a hard time figuring this one out. I think they'd eat the whole tub of Rad Cat if I left it out. The quantities we're going through is actually why I'm ready to make the leap to Hare-Today.
I appreciate feedback on any or all of these points--thank you in advance!
I'd love a little feedback before I drop some $$$ ordering from Hare-Today. I'm still pretty new to raw feeding. I took the plunge into raw because I adopted two kittens back in February and I have only just now gotten their diarrhea under control. (At first they tested positive for coccidia, but even after tons of wormers and treatments and negative stool samples, the diarrhea persisted.) Now that I've got them on a 100% raw diet one kitten now has perfectly normal stools and the other one is 75% of the way there.. I started them on RadCat, which they rejected at first but warmed up to pretty quickly. As soon as they decided they liked Rad Cat the local shop I got it from ran out and I had to switch to Primal nuggets, which one kitten rejected outright. Now they're back on Rad Cat and I have a hard time getting the food on the dish at mealtimes because one kitten in particular hops on the counter and attempts to eat straight out of the tub. They swarm me. They clearly LOVE it.
Rad Cat's pretty expensive and after reading through the forums here I went out and checked out Hare-Today and I think I'm ready to make the leap. The shipping's really expensive so it's more economical to place a big order than a small one, but I'm pretty nervous since I fear I'm going to order a bunch of something that they reject. I have a few questions that I'd like to ask you all outright:
1. Bones vs. no bone mixes. I was planning on ordering the mix with organs and bones but the more I read the more it seems like the ratio of bone in the mix is too high and I'd need to dilute it down? (Full disclosure: I'm a long time vegetarian and I really would like to minimize the amount of handling I have to do with meat because it kind of grosses me out. Rad Cat is perfect because I just spoon it out.) However, if I don't want bones I'd have to add in the organs separately (ick!) and then I would stress about getting the ration right. I hate to say I want this to be easy, but I do!
2. Alnutrin. Hare-Today sells Alnutrin, but I notice that lots of people use the custom recipes base on the catinfo.org recipe and there are other brands available. I really don't want to make my own mix because I'm looking for ease, but I want to know that I'm using a really good supplement mix. Is there a reason not to use Alnutrin? I'm kind of clueless here.
3. Teeth. I was thinking about ordering some gizzard for tooth care based on a comment I read in one of the threads here. How do other people make sure their kitties are getting proper dental care? The vets around here really push dental cleanings that require anesthesia and are really expensive, so I'd rather put the money into preventative care and forego anesthesia if I can find a good solution.
4. Quantity. I've had a hard time figuring out quantities for the kittens because I don't have a scale to weigh the portions. I just noticed that Rad Cat website says roughly 1/3 cup twice a day for a 10 pound cat and 3-4 times that quantity for kittens. That's a ton of food! My kittens are about 5 and 6 pounds now, so I'm not sure how that translates. Now that I've cut off the kittens' access to my senior kitty's dry food (the only thing she'll eat), I've noticed the kittens seem much more ravenous. Apparently they were supplementing quite a bit with her grain-free dry food. With two kittens I'm burning through the large Rad Cat containers pretty quickly so I don't want to waste it but I don't want to underfeed them either. And when I had to switch to Primal nuggets I struggled to get them to finish their portions, so I'm having a hard time figuring this one out. I think they'd eat the whole tub of Rad Cat if I left it out. The quantities we're going through is actually why I'm ready to make the leap to Hare-Today.
I appreciate feedback on any or all of these points--thank you in advance!
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