Darwins raw cat food

[rsh916]

I have posted a few times am looking to put my three cats on either freeze dried raw or just raw. One last question? I was just about to go with Darwins, price was right, expert reviews were good etc...then I found an article that they had a major dog recall and there was a letter by the FDA that their facilities were HORRIBLE. Some workers were handling the meat without gloves etc. I was disappointed. Anyone have any further info on Darwins? Pro's con's. I read on the forums that you have to be careful of the package leaking otherwise I could not find anything. Any help on raw food will be appreciated.

Thank you

 

[silent meowlook]

I tried Darwin’s for a while. I had one shipment arrive in bad shape but they did replace it. I did finally give up on it though. You just don’t know how the meat is handled before you get it. I have come to decide the only way to feed raw is to prepare it yourself which is incredibly times taking and expensive as well as difficult to get nutritionally complete. That being said, the cat vet I used to work for fed Darwins with no problems.

 

[sunny578]

My pets eat Darwins! I remember getting an email from them a while back about the FDA recall, and I can't remember exactly what it said, but it was something about how the FDA did something kind of shady. Something about how Darwins had already identified some issue with a batch of meat and was already proactively working with the FDA and customers, and that the FDA still decided to issue a public warning about Darwins, even though 0 animals had any signs of illness after consuming the meat. The FDA is pretty anti-raw food for cats and dogs, so I don't totally trust their opinion. Mine have been eating Darwins for 7 years, and we've had no issues. Our animals are so so healthy and live much longer than expected. I'm a super big proponent of raw!!

 

[rsh916]

I guess I am like you don't know who and how they handle the raw food.

 

[rsh916]

Thank you for the post about Darwins for 7 years makes me feel better.

 

[lisahe]

My biggest concern about Darwin's is that some of their foods have (or "had" -- it's possible the recipes have changed) a relatively high bone content, something that causes constipation in one of our cats. I'd also rather buy frozen food locally than have it shipped.

That said, I've seen lots of good comments about their foods over the years and second what sunny578 mentions about the FDA's "anti-raw food" bias, particularly a few years ago. The FDA even recalled Rad Cat, which was (said our cats) the best raw food. I kept feeding Rad Cat until the company shut down. Our cats still miss their food!

FWIW, our cats eat a combination of freeze-dried and frozen raw foods: Primal freeze-dried (pork), Tucker's frozen (3 kinds: pork, turkey, chicken), Stella's Selects (chicken), Northwest Naturals (mostly chicken), Meat Mates (lamb), and Nulo (turkey/duck). Those have varying bone contents so get fed in varying amounts.

Good luck!