Raw Feeding - Costly?

[cattreats]

Just curious, CatTreats, why go ground? With a kitten, you can hop right onto prey model and save yourself a TON of work. Not to mention all the benefits - oral health, feline satisfaction, no supplements! - of feeding whole foods.

I've got six kitties and prepping their meals is very easy. Unlike ground foods, I don't need to buy everything all at one time to make a big "batch". Whenever I get close to running out of a particular meat or organ, I just add that to my next shopping trip, then cut it into big chunks and bag it for the freezer. Every morning, I just take out whatever's going to be fed the next day and throw it in the fridge to thaw. Couldn't be easier.

Here's my weekly menu: Prey Model Raw Menu Example. And here's a calculator for figuring out how much of what to feed: Prey Model Feeding Calculator, Excel 2010 and Excel 97-2003.

Keep in mind that with a kitten, you want to feed four or more times a day, if you possibly can, and they can eat just as much as they want (up to twice what you'd feed an adult kitty).

Also, kittens do much, much better when you get them in pairs, so I'd really recommend you pick up two adorable furballs instead of one.

AC

Are you meaning to use chunks + bones instead of ground, like LDG? You still need supplements right? I've done more research on grinding foods, so this method would have to be explained to me a little more. >.<

If it's easier, then that's always a plus. Aside from kittens needing larger meals, the price won't be different with chunks, right?

We considered two cats, but can't say for sure.

 

[ldg]

AC just meant that kittens eat more, period - doesn't matter the style of feeding. They're growing, so need more nutrition than an adult. :nod: You'd end up feeding them the same amount, whether prey model raw or ground.

And yes, AC means chunks + bone. She doesn't use any supplements, doesn't think they're necessary. In the wild, cats eat mice and small rodents - no supplements needed! And around the world, cats eat very different diets - and they get all they need from meat, bones, and organs. Her kitties have been eating PMR (prey model raw, otherwise known as "frankenprey") for 3? 4? 5? years now.

I just choose to use some supplements, as I said, to make up for the way our meat is farmed, processed, transported, and stored.

This is her website, where if you're interested, you can learn more about the style of feeding: http://www.CatCentric.org

And I still recommend starting a thread about ground, so you can get input on that!

 

[cattreats]

Either way sounds nice. I would probably add supplements just to be safe - loss of nutrients from freezing? I dunno. I'm interested in both, but the lower prep time needed and lack of a grinder might actually make the chunky way pretty appealing.

You just weight out whatever you plan to give them that meal and that's it? So on Sunday morning, you do 50% lamb leg and 50% Turkey breast, would you just weight 0.5 oz of each for the cat you plan to feed 1 oz of food to that morning? Is that how it would work? And then about supplements, how do you directly add them to the meal?

EDIT: I'm also really intimidated by the charts you guys are showing me, haha. I don't know how you would make your own chart ... how would you know if it's balanced or not? I would just copy a chart from one of you guys, but both contain either beef (I've been told to avoid that at least until you know your cat is okay on it), or venison or something pricey that we can't afford. .~.

 

[auntie crazy]

Either way sounds nice. I would probably add supplements just to be safe - loss of nutrients from freezing? I dunno. I'm interested in both, but the lower prep time needed and lack of a grinder might actually make the chunky way pretty appealing.

You just weight out whatever you plan to give them that meal and that's it? So on Sunday morning, you do 50% lamb leg and 50% Turkey breast, would you just weight 0.5 oz of each for the cat you plan to feed 1 oz of food to that morning? Is that how it would work? And then about supplements, how do you directly add them to the meal?

With a PMR diet, supplements really aren't necessary; the nutrient loss from freezing is truly minimal. And since I don't use 'em, I can't answer your last question. 

As for prepping my kitties' meals, it's even easier than what you've written. Breakfast is always weighed; 10 ounces if whatever meat (pork, beef, or chicken, turkey, or duck heart) is packed into one bag, frozen 'till I'm ready for it, then thawed and split between the six.

Bone-in meals aren't weighed, I just feed the tips and wingettes of six chicken wings, or the edible bone of three chicken breasts, or a similar amount of edible rabbit bone. (Edible = small enough.) These are always packed in a single bag and then split between the six after thawing.

Organ meals are weighed; 6 ounces of organ per bag. The meat that rounds out the organ meals is also weighed and packed at 6 ounces per bag. When I need 'em, I just grab, thaw and split between the six.

Chicken quarters and turkey drumsticks are frozen and packed just as they are, no weighing. Both are simply thawed, and the meat stripped off the bone and split between the six kitties (I also remove the skin from the chicken quarter). These meals can sometimes be as small as 8 ounces or as great as 14, but they average out to about 10 ounces per meal.

All of the weighing is done whenever I buy the different meats, however. To feed my kitties on a daily basis, I just check my schedule to see what's needed for the next day, take out the appropriate bags from the freezer and toss 'em in the fridge. For each meal, I just pull it out of the fridge, dump it on a cutting board so I can make six even piles of food, and serve.

AC

 

[cattreats]

With a PMR diet, supplements really aren't necessary; the nutrient loss from freezing is truly minimal. And since I don't use 'em, I can't answer your last question. 

As for prepping my kitties' meals, it's even easier than what you've written. Breakfast is always weighed; 10 ounces if whatever meat (pork, beef, or chicken, turkey, or duck heart) is packed into one bag, frozen 'till I'm ready for it, then thawed and split between the six.

Bone-in meals aren't weighed, I just feed the tips and wingettes of six chicken wings, or the edible bone of three chicken breasts, or a similar amount of edible rabbit bone. (Edible = small enough.) These are always packed in a single bag and then split between the six after thawing.

Organ meals are weighed; 6 ounces of organ per bag. The meat that rounds out the organ meals is also weighed and packed at 6 ounces per bag. When I need 'em, I just grab, thaw and split between the six.

Chicken quarters and turkey drumsticks are frozen and packed just as they are, no weighing. Both are simply thawed, and the meat stripped off the bone and split between the six kitties (I also remove the skin from the chicken quarter). These meals can sometimes be as small as 8 ounces or as great as 14, but they average out to about 10 ounces per meal.

All of the weighing is done whenever I buy the different meats, however. To feed my kitties on a daily basis, I just check my schedule to see what's needed for the next day, take out the appropriate bags from the freezer and toss 'em in the fridge. For each meal, I just pull it out of the fridge, dump it on a cutting board so I can make six even piles of food, and serve.

AC

But for one kitty, it would be just 1/3 of the total amount they would get that day? And for bone-in, it doesn't matter? Sorry for the constant slew of dumb questions, I just want to make sure everything is understood. I know that if I'm making unbalanced meals, the cat isn't going to tell me until I see the problem myself. D:

And again, I don't know how to make my own schedule. Even if I decide that I want to use chicken, turkey, duck, rabbit, etc., I don't know how to evenly spread those meats, along with deciding when to do all-meat or bone-in, and then organs, throughout the weak to make sure everything is balanced.

EDIT: If I bought ground Rabbit/Bones/Organs from Hare Today, would that alone be a meal (or with supplements)?

 

[ldg]

Yep, it does seem daunting at first. :nod: I adapted my own schedule from Auntie Crazy's: http://catcentric.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/My-Feeding-Schedule.pdf

For how much to feed them, you don't need a chart. You'd have a growing kitty, and you just feed him or her (or them ) as much as they want. :lol3: That will probably be 8 - 10 ounces a day for the first few months. The amount they want will gradually reduce, and at somewhere between 9 months and a little over a year, it'll settle into probably 5 - 6 ounces a day. If kitty is naturally little, like our Flowerbelle who is just 7 pounds, it may only be 4 - 5 ounces of food a day. The "how much to feed" guideline is more useful for people switching adult cats. :nod:


As to the menu... basically you just need a variety of meat. It only helps to decide which days you feed what, so you make sure you don't feed them only chicken breast for a week. Carolina feeds the same style of prey model raw that I do, and she doesn't use a schedule. She just makes sure they get two different "white" meats and one "dark" meat every day, and throws some hearts in there a couple of times a week. I find the schedule helpful, but basically so I don't miss any organ meals. :nod:

(FYI, hearts and gizzards, though we think of them as organs, for the purposes of feeding raw food, are considered muscle meats. I know this is confusing, but think of what a heart is - it's a pump. It's a big muscle - it just happens to be internal. Same with a gizzard. Neither of them secrete anything, the way a liver, a kidney, a spleen, etc. do).

So with all that in mind, here's my description of how I prepare their food.

I go to the supermarket, and I see chicken breast on sale for $1.99 a pound. If I only had one or two kittens eating about 9-10 ounces of food a day, that means they're eating ABOUT 2.5 ounces at each meal (assuming I feed them four meals a day). Assuming I feed them chicken breast at four of the 28 meals they eat a week, that means they eat 10 ounces of chicken breast a week each. If I had two kittens, that means I need 20 ounces (1.25 pounds) of chicken breast a week. So I'd probably buy 5 or 6 pounds - a month or more supply, which ensures it'll go on sale again before I need more. :lol3: When I got home, I'd cut it into 5 ounce portions (2.5 ounces for each of two kitties). I label the freezer baggies, "Chicken breast" and I date it. I squish as much air out as I can, seal them, and I pop them in the freezer. (Actually, I label and open the baggies before I start measuring the meat into them - makes it easier).

To use them, if I plan on feeding chicken breast the next day, I take them out of the freezer the day before and stick them in the fridge. Meal time rolls around, and I take the baggie out of the fridge. For the two kitties, you wouldn't even really need to weight it again - just divide it in half. Takes like two seconds! You can take the time to cut each portion into strips for the kitties to tackle, but cutting 2.5 ounces into smaller pieces doesn't take long.

If you want to use supplements, then all you do is open the capsule, sprinkle whatever-it-is on there - another two seconds, and the meal is ready to serve.

 

[cattreats]

Yep, it does seem daunting at first.

I adapted my own schedule from Auntie Crazy's: http://catcentric.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/My-Feeding-Schedule.pdf
For how much to feed them, you don't need a chart. You'd have a growing kitty, and you just feed him or her (or them

) as much as they want.

That will probably be 8 - 10 ounces a day for the first few months. The amount they want will gradually reduce, and at somewhere between 9 months and a little over a year, it'll settle into probably 5 - 6 ounces a day. If kitty is naturally little, like our Flowerbelle who is just 7 pounds, it may only be 4 - 5 ounces of food a day. The "how much to feed" guideline is more useful for people switching adult cats.

As to the menu... basically you just need a variety of meat. It only helps to decide which days you feed what, so you make sure you don't feed them only chicken breast for a week. Carolina feeds the same style of prey model raw that I do, and she doesn't use a schedule. She just makes sure they get two different "white" meats and one "dark" meat every day, and throws some hearts in there a couple of times a week.

I find the schedule helpful, but basically so I don't miss any organ meals.

(FYI, hearts and gizzards, though we think of them as organs, for the purposes of feeding raw food, are considered muscle meats. I know this is confusing, but think of what a heart is - it's a pump. It's a big muscle - it just happens to be internal. Same with a gizzard. Neither of them secrete anything, the way a liver, a kidney, a spleen, etc. do).
So with all that in mind, here's my description of how I prepare their food.

I go to the supermarket, and I see chicken breast on sale for $1.99 a pound. If I only had one or two kittens eating about 9-10 ounces of food a day, that means they're eating ABOUT 2.5 ounces at each meal (assuming I feed them four meals a day). Assuming I feed them chicken breast at four of the 28 meals they eat a week, that means they eat 10 ounces of chicken breast a week each. If I had two kittens, that means I need 20 ounces (1.25 pounds) of chicken breast a week. So I'd probably buy 5 or 6 pounds - a month or more supply, which ensures it'll go on sale again before I need more.

When I got home, I'd cut it into 5 ounce portions (2.5 ounces for each of two kitties). I label the freezer baggies, "Chicken breast" and I date it. I squish as much air out as I can, seal them, and I pop them in the freezer. (Actually, I label and open the baggies before I start measuring the meat into them - makes it easier).
To use them, if I plan on feeding chicken breast the next day, I take them out of the freezer the day before and stick them in the fridge. Meal time rolls around, and I take the baggie out of the fridge. For the two kitties, you wouldn't even really need to weight it again - just divide it in half. Takes like two seconds! You can take the time to cut each portion into strips for the kitties to tackle, but cutting 2.5 ounces into smaller pieces doesn't take long.

If you want to use supplements, then all you do is open the capsule, sprinkle whatever-it-is on there - another two seconds, and the meal is ready to serve.

I meant more about knowing how much of what (muscle meat vs bones) and all, not the total weight of the meal. But yeah, I think I'm starting to understand it. I prefer having a set chart or recipe that I can go by, and knowing how to replace different meats for different measurements, etc. I'm just OCD really hard and feel like winging it will lead to imbalances ... and I don't want to stress about it. D:

Would I be able to go by your chart if I wanted? I feel like I need someone to tell me "do exactly this and you're perfect" lol.

 

[ldg]

Oh - for the organ meals. This is also pretty easy, but seems hard at first. :nod:

You have two kitties eating 10 ounces a day. That means each kitty eats 70 ounces of food a week. With the 5% liver and 5% other secreting organ (most of us use beef kidney, it's the easiest to source), that means each kitty needs 3.5 ounces of liver and 3.5 ounces of kidney a week.

Their meals are only 2.5 ounces - so it's a good idea to divide the liver between three meals, and the kidney between three meals - that way an "organ meal" is about 50% organ and 50% meat. (That's why on my menu you see six organ meals a week).

That means you'd also be feeding 6 organ meals a week. So to "make" an organ meal, you'd need about 1.2 ounces of liver or kidney.

Each meal is normally about 2.5 ounces total, so that means you only need 1.3 ounces of meat (per cat) to feed with the 1.2 ounces of liver or kidney.

So if you decide in advance what meat you're going to use for the organ meals (I use chicken breast and chicken gizzard), when you cut up that meat, instead of freezing 5 ounces for 2 kitties, you freeze 2.6 ounces for two kitties - because you're going to add 1.2 ounces (per kitty) of liver or kidney. And you freeze the liver and kidney in 2.4 ounce portions (for 2 cats eating 1.2 ounces each), and just divide it in half when you serve it.

...and as they gradually eat less, you just reduce the amounts proportionally. Or you ask us to help you recalculate it.

So... if you feed four meals a day while they're little, you'd feed about 2.5 ounces or so at each meal. If they're eating 28 meals a week, six of those would be meals with meat and organs, roughly a 50/50 split.

The other 22 meals a week would be either meat only, or meat and bone.


FYI, in my menu, the ONLY reason I feed meats 50/50 is because I have one cat that cannot eat a full meal of red meat. Otherwise, I'd feed one meat at each meal. :nod: It's easier for me to just feed them all the same thing, than to make special meals for him.

 

[auntie crazy]

But for one kitty, it would be just 1/3 of the total amount they would get that day? And for bone-in, it doesn't matter? Sorry for the constant slew of dumb questions, I just want to make sure everything is understood. I know that if I'm making unbalanced meals, the cat isn't going to tell me until I see the problem myself. D:

And again, I don't know how to make my own schedule. Even if I decide that I want to use chicken, turkey, duck, rabbit, etc., I don't know how to evenly spread those meats, along with deciding when to do all-meat or bone-in, and then organs, throughout the weak to make sure everything is balanced.

EDIT: If I bought ground Rabbit/Bones/Organs from Hare Today, would that alone be a meal (or with supplements)?

If you can at all help it, don't feed ground. It's doesn't provide the same level of benefit to the cat, and it's not worth the hassle. To answer your question, however, if you buy or grind entire animals, then, yes, that would be a balanced meal (or many meals) in and of itself.

I'm not sure I understand your difficulty in creating your schedule. Use this calculator to estimate how much food to feed each day: Prey Model Feeding Calculator, Excel 2010 and Excel 97-2003. Since you're going to be feeding kittens, start with 6% and then let them tell you if you're offering too much or too little. Divide that 6% by four or five, or however many meals you're going to feed each day, for the amount of food per meal.

The actual meats, organs and bone-in meals will be whatever you decide they will be, and that'll depend on what you can find and afford, you know? You need a minimum of three different proteins, but the more variety, the stronger the nutrient profile you'll be providing.

I don't weigh my bone-in meals because I've determined that for all six of my cats (9 to 12 pounds), the amount of bone I feed (see the description in my previous post) both fits within the 5% to 10% bone recommendation and is within the range they need to maintain healthy stool consistency.

For your kittens, you can start with either more or less bone, depending on their weight and appetite - which you won't know until you bring them home - and adjust from there.

So... some of these questions, you can't answer until you've done some homework (looking into what's available to you within your price range) and you've actually got your kitties.

AC

 

[cattreats]

If you can at all help it, don't feed ground. It's doesn't provide the same level of benefit to the cat, and it's not worth the hassle. To answer your question, however, if you buy or grind entire animals, then, yes, that would be a balanced meal (or many meals) in and of itself.

I'm not sure I understand your difficulty in creating your schedule. Use this calculator to estimate how much food to feed each day: Prey Model Feeding Calculator, Excel 2010 and Excel 97-2003. Since you're going to be feeding kittens, start with 6% and then let them tell you if you're offering too much or too little. Divide that 6% by four or five, or however many meals you're going to feed each day, for the amount of food per meal.

The actual meats, organs and bone-in meals will be whatever you decide they will be, and that'll depend on what you can find and afford, you know? You need a minimum of three different proteins, but the more variety, the stronger the nutrient profile you'll be providing.

I don't weigh my bone-in meals because I've determined that for all six of my cats (9 to 12 pounds), the amount of bone I feed (see the description in my previous post) both fits within the 5% to 10% bone recommendation and is within the range they need to maintain healthy stool consistency.

For your kittens, you can start with either more or less bone, depending on their weight and appetite - which you won't know until you bring them home - and adjust from there.

So... some of these questions, you can't answer until you've done some homework (looking into what's available to you within your price range) and you've actually got your kitties.

AC

Okay. Sorry, it sounds like I want answers that are set in stone. I'm just really paranoid with something like this where I might not get it right and then the kitty suffers.

 

[auntie crazy]

Okay. Sorry, it sounds like I want answers that are set in stone. I'm just really paranoid with something like this where I might not get it right and then the kitty suffers.

That's totally normal, CatTreats! 

I can't think of a single one of us who, when starting on raw, didn't want EXACTLY the same thing. That is, in fact, why CatCentric.org was created. *chuckle*

Just give it a bit of time, you'll be a pro a whole lot faster than you would think possible today. A lot of it is just in the doing!

AC

 

[ldg]

Okay. Sorry, it sounds like I want answers that are set in stone. I'm just really paranoid with something like this where I might not get it right and then the kitty suffers.

And we know that feeling! But just remember, nutritional deficiencies take a while to develop. You have time working on your side. It doesn't have to be perfect out-of-the-gate. Of course we're paranoid! When I switched to making home made from commercial raw, I fed a lot of chicken. :lol3: I slowly worked in other proteins, I slowly worked in the organs.... if you have a baby, it's not going to hurt your baby to eat only Beechnut chicken for a little while when she first starts eating "real" food, right? You have time to work in those peas and carrots. Same goes for growing kitties. Just ensure they get meat and calcium, and a little organ - and the rest will follow.

 

[cattreats]

Well that makes me feel a little better. ^.^

I just really want to make sure that I'm going to be getting everything the kitty needs into the diet. I'm not sure how I would know if I was messing up unless someone told me. I'm sure kitty isn't going to tell me until I see signs of problems myself.

 

[ldg]

Just give it a bit of time, you'll be a pro a whole lot faster than you would think possible today. A lot of it is just in the doing!

AC

:nod: In fact, that's why so many of us started with commercial raw - or, for instance, the Hare-Today ground whole animals. :nod: We didn't trust ourselves to "do it right." But once we got comfortable with feeding raw food - and saw how AWESOME our cats were doing on the food... and we were used to weighing and measuring and freezing... it got easy to do the figuring to make our own.

...and of course, everyone here on TCS was here to double-check everything AS we went along! :lol3: That's why you see so many transition threads - it helps to share and get support during the process too.

 

[auntie crazy]

...

...and of course, everyone here on TCS was here to double-check everything AS we went along!

That's why you see so many transition threads - it helps to share and get support during the process too.

Another benefit of TCS? You've got people all along the learning curve who can offer advise. Some are just starting out, like you, and can commiserate with you if you run into an obstacle, and others who've been done for a while and can tell you from experience - it totally gets easier.

AC

 

[cattreats]

When we finally adopt our kitty (or two), we'll definitely be posting about the progress of our raw food diet for them.

I'm most likely going to post everything I'm using to see if anyone can find problems and correct me. x.x

 

[minka]

Maybe if I make an example based on what I know and from feeding Carolina's cats for a couple days, that'll help you out a bit.

We'll pretend you get one kitten who needs to eat 8oz a day in 4 meals.
You'll go to the grocery store and buy different meats: chicken, turkey, lamb, rabbit, hearts, livers, kidneys, etc. Then, you'll go home and package them into baggies to put in the freezer. You would make a baggie for each meal, so 2oz each. You can take the time to measure each baggie or you can just eyeball it.
Then, when it's time to feed, you pick a protein (muscle meats, hearts or gizzards) and place the baggie into the fridge the night before and/or warm it up in a bowl of water.
Then you get out your scale and cut up the chunk of meat into bite size pieces, counting up to 2oz.

When it comes to the 10/5/5 I'm a bit more shaky, but from what I understand, you would take the amount you feed for the whole week (56oz) and figure out what 10% and 5% of that are. Then you would divide that up into several meals (7 if you want to feed it one day a week) and put them into baggies.
So like, you would take your 5% liver and put it into baggies. And then on the meal you dedicate to feeding it, you would weigh the liver out and then make up the rest in protein. (So if you needed .5oz, you would make a meal of .5oz liver and 1.5oz muscle meat.)

Does that make any more sense?



Like I said, I'm barely just starting and very nervous myself, so I'm going to go the easy route and buy the Call of the Wild supplement. It makes any meal complete, so you don't have to figure out the 80/10/5/5 ratio.
When I feel more confident, and have figured out the ratios, I will switch to it for real...

 

[cattreats]

Maybe if I make an example based on what I know and from feeding Carolina's cats for a couple days, that'll help you out a bit.
We'll pretend you get one kitten who needs to eat 8oz a day in 4 meals.
You'll go to the grocery store and buy different meats: chicken, turkey, lamb, rabbit, hearts, livers, kidneys, etc. Then, you'll go home and package them into baggies to put in the freezer. You would make a baggie for each meal, so 2oz each. You can take the time to measure each baggie or you can just eyeball it.
Then, when it's time to feed, you pick a protein (muscle meats, hearts or gizzards) and place the baggie into the fridge the night before and/or warm it up in a bowl of water.
Then you get out your scale and cut up the chunk of meat into bite size pieces, counting up to 2oz.
When it comes to the 10/5/5 I'm a bit more shaky, but from what I understand, you would take the amount you feed for the whole week (56oz) and figure out what 10% and 5% of that are. Then you would divide that up into several meals (7 if you want to feed it one day a week) and put them into baggies.
So like, you would take your 5% liver and put it into baggies. And then on the meal you dedicate to feeding it, you would weigh the liver out and then make up the rest in protein. (So if you needed .5oz, you would make a meal of .5oz liver and 1.5oz muscle meat.)
Does that make any more sense?
Like I said, I'm barely just starting and very nervous myself, so I'm going to go the easy route and buy the Call of the Wild supplement. It makes any meal complete, so you don't have to figure out the 80/10/5/5 ratio.
When I feel more confident, and have figured out the ratios, I will switch to it for real...

THIS is more of what I'm looking for. It's not that I don't understand what everyone is saying, I just really like when someone lays it out completely for me. Stuff like this, I feel really uncomfortable taking it all into my own hands and doing what I "think" is right. Especially when it relates to my kitty's health, and my kitty can't inform me that I'm doing it wrong.

More than likely I'm going to ask similar questions again when we're close to adopting. I still feel unsure about creating a schedule and knowing how much of what and when to feed it all. @_@

 

[auntie crazy]

THIS is more of what I'm looking for. It's not that I don't understand what everyone is saying, I just really like when someone lays it out completely for me. Stuff like this, I feel really uncomfortable taking it all into my own hands and doing what I "think" is right. Especially when it relates to my kitty's health, and my kitty can't inform me that I'm doing it wrong.
More than likely I'm going to ask similar questions again when we're close to adopting. I still feel unsure about creating a schedule and knowing how much of what and when to feed it all. @_@

If you want it all laid out, step by step, here's a detailed guide that covers everything you need to know to feed a prey model diet, from how much of what to feed, to where to shop, how to bag it, and more: A Frankenprey / Whole Prey Feeding Guide.

AC

 

[cattreats]

Are there any suggestions on how to keep your wallet from breaking over a kitten's diet? An adult cat (2-4%) is easy to pay for, but a kitten is so much more food.

I was looking at Hare Today to see how much I could get for a decent amount and wow, it's just pricey. The shipping charges are really expensive to me (not that I'm blaming them when they're shipping us tons of meat!), and I'm not sure what to do. 

I can get chicken, turkey, duck, and cornish hen, maybe something else locally, but rabbit would be nice to get. But I'm really at a loss at how everyone affords it. Again, it's not so bad to buy in huge bulk for an adult cat, but a kitten is just pricey. 

I tried adding more and more to the cart because I read that at some point, the shipping doesn't go any higher, but it just goes up and up. The shipping charges and the supplements really stack on and I'm worried that I can't afford it.

I feel like I might be missing something. Or I'm guessing that it's just something you have to deal with when you have a growing kitty. 

 But still, any suggestions to not completely slam the wallet would be great. If there's any alternative to ordering stuff (which leads to high shipping costs), that would be awesome. I live in Northern California, though, so it's hard to find things like that.