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Oh, I don't ground his meat. I feed him franken so he gets chunks. I'll buy x pounds and distribute 80/10/5/5.
How it apparently works for those that live in HOT areas is that it gets shipped overnight and it's still frozen by the time it's delivered/they're home. I don't have any personal experience, so I can't really say for sure.
We're probably talking out of my price range then. Overnight shipping is costly. I don't understand why the large grocery stores don't carry organ meats anymore. We have no butchers here as in the cities. When I lived in NYC I'd have the butcher make a package of organ meats and meat scraps every week. The cats wouldn't eat it but the dogs loved it. He'd add a little bit of everything to the package. Then for my son's guinea pigs and rabbits I'd stop by A&P and Bohack for the crates of waste vegetables. It was a sin what was thrown away back then. It probably still is.
I do get a lot of stuff (for dogs and cats) from a butcher, hunters, and in the grocery store but places like this is the only reliable way to find things like tripe, goat/mutton pieces, rabbit, etc.
Make friends with a butcher.
There are no butchers here and we don't know anyone who hunts. All meat is bought in Grocery stores already packaged.
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A small butcher I go to gets me stuff by the case, and since he knows I'm feeding dogs and cats, sometimes sets aside almost at the expiry-date meats and sells it to me extremely cheap.
I had the same set-up when I lived in NYC. There were butchers on every street there. Now I live in a semi-rural area. I'd also have him add organ meats which he always carried. He'd add a 1/2 lb of heart, brains, kidneys etc.
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I sometimes get whole (pre-killed for me; I pay only $2 per rabbit for the killing part) rabbits from a show rabbit breeder. Show breeders have a LOT of culls and are usually very happy to find a taker....plus from what I've seen, show rabbit people take very good care of their bunnies. Up until they end up as food, anyway.
What kind of an area do you live in? Is it rural? All they raise here are beef cattle and some people have goats for slaughter. But that too is dying away. People have told me it's cheaper to buy poultry at Kroger's or WalMart then raise their own.
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PS, Hare Today is pretty good product, I used to order from them years ago. The delivery charges killed me though, and since feeding this way has become more common, there are now several local distributors and people I can buy from.
So far some sites recommended to me by others feeding raw on my Siberian cats list are
Hare Today,
Rad Rabbit (supposed to be good but expensive comparably),
S.A.D Dog Sushi - if you look at first you may be put of as it's geared for dogs but download the price list and they sell lots of chunk meat and organs and cases of things not available in all areas.
Blue Ridge Beef
Lost of people get meat ordered in from Whole Foods Market - I don't have one of these or try your local B.J's or Costco. Local Butchers will sometimes give good deals (according to some people) on organ meats and non prime cuts and will grind for you as well
Sourcing my meat is what I'm still working on. I want to figure out where I'll get things and price compare before I start this endeavor.
Our tabby is 12 years old and is doing great on raw ground beef. It's as cheap as prepared pet food and undoubtedly better IMHO. When you think of all the bad things they put in food for humans, what do they care about food for animals? I give her a can of tuna every once in a while for a treat, and she also loves eggs. She's a happy, healthy cat.
Our tabby is 12 years old and is doing great on raw ground beef. It's as cheap as prepared pet food and undoubtedly better IMHO. When you think of all the bad things they put in food for humans, what do they care about food for animals? I give her a can of tuna every once in a while for a treat, and she also loves eggs. She's a happy, healthy cat.
Raw ground beef (as from the grocery store) is very lacking in minerals...your cat might be doing OK but this is not at all a complete diet, by far.
=^..^=
...I'm in SE Michigan, a little north of Flint and an hour from Ann Arbor, Detroit Metro, Lansing. In a small city, but sort of rural-ish. However, easy access to major metropolitan areas.
Where in heck do you live?
Our tabby is 12 years old and is doing great on raw ground beef. It's as cheap as prepared pet food and undoubtedly better IMHO. When you think of all the bad things they put in food for humans, what do they care about food for animals? I give her a can of tuna every once in a while for a treat, and she also loves eggs. She's a happy, healthy cat.
I applaud you from moving away from kibble but your cat needs more than raw hamburger and fish. Eggs are great, especially if she'll eat the shell but you still need more than this. If you are willing to feed raw burger, get her some raw ground turkey as well.
If you are willing to feed her raw at all, get her some chicken, with bone, turkey, pork, beef, organs...
When I lived in Miami, organs were easy to find...Latin cultures eat some "weird" stuff and everything, pretty much, was easily found for the pets.
Moving to Maine, I saw no organs or organs that are considered "meat" in the raw diet. So I asked the manager at the meat department. He now puts out gizzards and chicken livers and beef heart and as time goes on, I'm going to try to convince him to put out more or sell me more. But just talking to him ONE time got the gizzards and hearts. Just talk to them, you might be surprised what you can get.
Our tabby is 12 years old and is doing great on raw ground beef. It's as cheap as prepared pet food and undoubtedly better IMHO. When you think of all the bad things they put in food for humans, what do they care about food for animals? I give her a can of tuna every once in a while for a treat, and she also loves eggs. She's a happy, healthy cat.
Chopped beef is not a complete diet. It lacks minerals for one thing. Cooked eggs are fine but raw destroys a very important vitamin. Tuna fish isn't healthy for them either. Where did you get the idea to feed such a diet to your cat?
When I lived in Miami, organs were easy to find...Latin cultures eat some "weird" stuff and everything, pretty much, was easily found for the pets.
Before the economy here tanked we had a lot of Mexican people living down in town. The meat counters had all types of organ meats. Great for my cats. Now with most of them gone back to Mexico due to no jobs, these organ meats have vanished from the stores.... except for liver and gizzards. The gizzard packages only contain a few hearts. I wish we had butcher shops here. Even the local slaughterhouse closed up some years ago.
=^..^=
...I'm in SE Michigan, a little north of Flint and an hour from Ann Arbor, Detroit Metro, Lansing. In a small city, but sort of rural-ish. However, easy access to major metropolitan areas.
Where in heck do you live?
I'm about 25 miles southeast of Nashville TN and about 15 miles from Murfreesboro. We avoid Nashville like the plague due to the traffic and traffic snarls there. Some areas lack parking and I never saw a butcher there. We live out in the boonies about 6 miles from a small town. We have Kroger, Publix and Wal*Mart for groceries. That's about it. We have PetSmart and Petco. PetSupermarket went under last year. I have three PetSmarts in easy driving distance.
The ran over cats and dogs and wildlife are almost always on one section of road just before I get to town, and the road "through" that part of town.... a section of about 4 miles. There are a lot of private homes and apartment complexes there. I think of that section of road as the killing fields. And just before you get there, from out here, is a section where people stop and throw out dogs and cats they think will find "good homes" out here in the countryside. There's a big fine if they get caught. Few are ever caught.
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Poor diet
