ARGH. Found great food for IBD cat, now supply issues. AGAIN! #29

[Simkie]

My IBD cat who did not respond to medical treatment (still puking on steroids and Cerenia, definitely IBD on ultrasound) has been doing GREAT on Hound & Gatos Rabbit. Yay! Improvement!!

There is some supply issue, though, and we’ve not been able to get the cat cans for some time. We’ve been feeding the dog version for about a month. I have an inquiry into the company asking a) WTH the deal is with their supply and b) are the dog cans complete for the kitties. Waiting for a response.

My pet store says there is some new classification or restrictions for rabbit pet foods and that’s the problem. I am quite concerned with what we’re going to do if we buy out all of the cat and dog cans of the Hound & Gatos rabbit we’ve got around here.

So, onto the query: WHO ELSE does rabbit cat food?

Here is who I’ve found:

Nature’s Variety Instinct: Why do they put all that other crap in there? My cat doesn’t need blueberries, especially since we know she has sensitivities.

By Nature’s Entrees: Turkey broth as the second ingredient. Won’t work.

Royal Canin Rabbit: Even if I hadn’t had a TERRIBLE experience with RC food, the pea protein and the absolutely insane price would cross this one off the list.

Evanger’s Rabbit: Not a complete diet, and the cat didn’t like it, anyway.

And I know we have Hare Today, and we might end up there, but I would really prefer to feed a canned for convenience.

Is there anything out there that I’m missing? Rabbit has worked so well for this cat that I hate to screw around with success.

[Marshfield]

Www.catinfo.org has a recipe for making your own rabbit cat food

[Louise]

Instinct makes a rabbit cat food. But, it looks pretty expensive. I was just looking for rabbit, maybe you can find it cheaper, elsewhere. http://www.amazon.com/Instinct-Grain-Free-Formula-Natures-Variety/dp/B003SE52K8/ref=pd_sim_petsupplies_2

[Simkie]

[QUOTE=Marshfield;6879010]
Www.catinfo.org has a recipe for making your own rabbit cat food[/QUOTE]

Yes, I’ve read this. Hare Today is the supplier. I’d prefer to go canned for convenience.

@Louise;6879079

Instinct makes a rabbit cat food. But, it looks pretty expensive. I was just looking for rabbit, maybe you can find it cheaper, elsewhere. http://www.amazon.com/Instinct-Grain-Free-Formula-Natures-Variety/dp/B003SE52K8/ref=pd_sim_petsupplies_2

This is the first food I have linked above. Have you seen all the non-meat ingredients in it? I have no desire to feed my cat blueberries or peas and carrots and I’m not really even interested in trialing it, as it has all sorts of stuff that may set off my IBD cat.

Really looking for a rabbit canned food that has ONLY rabbit in it. Anything like that out there that I don’t know about? I don’t think so, as I searched pretty hard to find the Hound & Gatos stuff

[Pookah]

I’m allergic to cats and don’t have any, so I can’t help at all as far as what to try. BUT, I switched about a year ago to buying my dog food from petflow.com - they deliver it on whatever schedule I specify, and I love it mostly because I don’t ever have to think about running out of food, lugging it up the stairs, etc. They have a couple of competitors as well who do the same type of thing. Maybe because it’s a national warehouse they might be more able to get it for you? A friend of mine switched to them because she was having trouble consistently getting a particular type of food locally, and so far they’ve had no trouble with it.

[Abberlaze]

Have you asked your vet?

IME, dog food should be okay if you supplement taurine.

[cowboymom]

Simkie you should be surrounded by people that raise rabbits; do you mind doing flat out rabbit? Maybe as a base and then add in? I bet some of the rabbit people would process it for you, maybe freeze it in portions…

My niece lives in Denver and she’s raising rabbits if that’s any help, just let me know! I know it’s thinking outside the box but maybe it could work.

[Simkie]

Pookah, we get our dog food and food for the other kitties from chewy.com and LOVE IT. Awesome service. Unfortunately, the Hound & Gatos stuff just isn’t carried by many people and the two online retailers they have linked on their site also don’t have the rabbit in stock

Abberlaze, haven’t asked my vet but would be surprised if he’s got a line on a rabbit only cat food that I’ve not run across. Yeah, not terribly worried about the taurine in the dog cans…we’ll supplement if we have to, but a lot of these ultra-premium food companies have plenty of taurine in their dog food and it’s complete for kitties anyway. Waiting to hear back from the company on that.

cowboymom, I’d not even considered sourcing the rabbit locally if we wind up going raw! The Hare Today stuff is ground, which sure would be convenient, but it’s not a bad idea at all to see what we have around here. Would love to chat with your niece if we go that route. Do pet rabbit people sell for meat? Or are there really a bunch of people here in Colorado raising meat rabbits? I am totally NOT plugged into that community! Usually we’re all about local meat for OUR dinner, but rabbit is the one thing that gives me hives.

We managed to land five cases of dog cans by driving around to various outlets of our local pet store, so we’re covered for a bit. Still worried about what we’re going to do if production doesn’t pick up :-/

[cowboymom]

My niece is raising meat rabbits for their own dinner table-I’m sure she could hook you up for your kitty cat! I’ll shoot her a message and see what she says.

I think you’d find a big meat rabbit industry there; I was surprised my niece got into it since she’s a well-paid professional but I guess you can’t take the farm out of the girl! When I wanted to raise buns for profit Denver/FtCollins area was a intersection for shipping rabbits. I think you’re sitting right on top of a lot of buns!

I’ll shoot you a message when I know more!

[jen-s]

Rabbit is a great novel protein for IBD cats, but so is venison. And I’ve found venison options to be easier to find locally. I fed my IBD cat the Nature’s Balance dog dry limited ingredient venison with great success (yeah, yeah I know it’s not a perfect food, but it was the 5th or 6th one trialed and the only one he liked and his gut tolerated-eventually). He got the cat venison in wet (to supplement the taurine) for breakfast. His hiney cleared up, his coat was gorgeous, and he seemed to feel like a brand new cat.

[wendy]

Wysong makes a canned rabbit, but like the Evangers it’s not a complete diet- you’d have to supplement.

You can order Hound n Gatos from Petfooddirect. They only have the dog version of the rabbit flavor, of course, but if you supplement with taurine it should be fine for a kitty.

[Lilypad]

[QUOTE=Simkie;6879274]
Yes, I’ve read this. Hare Today is the supplier. I’d prefer to go canned for convenience.[/QUOTE]

I started feeding a raw diet to my cats last year and its not inconvenient at all. I make a big batch once a month and store it in 2-day portions in my freezer. The bag I’m currently feeding from stays in the fridge so it’s thawed and easy to feed.

Making and bagging a month’s worth of food for 2 cats takes under an hour. You could make up to 6 months at once if you have a big freezer and want even more convenience. Feeding is no different than a canned food.

I’m a total convert.

[wendy]

I buy the whole ground rabbit from Haretoday as one component of my feeding plan and have to agree it’s not hard or inconvenient- storing and recycling cans is a pain, thawing out a plastic-wrapped tube of rabbit and adding a few capsules/powders is not. Just make sure you get a balanced recipe and use the WHOLE rabbit- here’s one:

http://www.felinenutrition.net/recipe.html

[Justmyluck]

Quick note that I haven’t seen addressed yet. You absolutely can NOT feed solely dog food to cats you will cause severe nutritional deficiencies. The main issue is the amino acid taurine, cats aren’t able to make their own and it much be supplied in the diet. Please stop feeding dog food to your cats.

[Simkie]

[QUOTE=Justmyluck;6881810]
Quick note that I haven’t seen addressed yet. You absolutely can NOT feed solely dog food to cats you will cause severe nutritional deficiencies. The main issue is the amino acid taurine, cats aren’t able to make their own and it much be supplied in the diet. Please stop feeding dog food to your cats.[/QUOTE]

a) a few weeks without adequate taurine is not harmful.

b) many premium companies have sufficient taurine in their dog food for cats.

c) it’s already been addressed that we will supplement taurine if we have to continue feeding the dog cans long term if Hounds & Gatos dog cans do not have sufficient taurine for cats.

So yes, your concerns have been addressed several times, both in my original post and in subsequent posts.

wendy and Lilypad, thanks for the input on the raw.

Jen-s, this kitty has had venison before, so it’s not “novel” for her. She may not react to it, but we’ve had such good luck with the rabbit, it seems to make sense to stick with it.

cowboymom, I had NO idea raising meat rabbits was such a booming industry!!

[Shiaway]

So this I was told by a pet store manager who was told by the Nature’s Variety Sales Rep. IOW it’s 3rd hand but I would definitely check up on it. I was told Nature’s Variety sources their rabbit from China. You might want to call Nature’s Variety and ask them if that’s true or not before feeding it.

Otherwise, I think it’s only 5% fruits and veggies in the Instinct cans so only a very small amount.

My IBD cat (well I honestly don’t know if I can call her that because it turned out she never had an allergy to a meat, only the carbs–I can feed her chicken and all sorts of stuff as long as it has no carbs, but the vet had diagnosed her symptomatically with IBD and prescription diets including rabbit, steroids etc. never did any good, the only thing that worked as the raw diet which I did via catinfo + hare-today and yes it was a PITA but so is cleaning up diarrhea all over the place) did well on the Evo cans which is 95% meat and no fruits/veggies. And they do have a venison (my cats wouldn’t touch it though). It is owned by P&G but honestly I know the formula inside and out and they haven’t changed it. Although I think you’re the person who didn’t want to feed it because of P&G right? My memory is not so good so correct me if I’m wrong. But you might reconsider the venison cans if you can’t find anything else. I totally get the P&G issue. I hate P&G but I don’t feel they have messed with the Evo.

That’s all I can think of for exotic/all meat formulas. But if I’m wrong about NV’s rabbit coming from China I bet you’d be ok to feed it even with the 5% fruits/veggies because it’s such a small amount.

Stella & Chewy’s–the company I work for-- makes a rabbit and venison dog food now but they also have trouble sourcing especially the rabbit and so the rabbit is 90% meat 10% organic fruits & veggies for dogs. They don’t make a cat one. What is it about rabbit? Don’t they breed like, well, rabbits? LOL

[Simkie]

Shiaway, I used to feed EVO to my cats and dogs. I fed Natura pet food (Innova first, then EVO) for 15 plus years. I sung it’s praises so much that my vet started carrying it. Shortly after the P&G purchase, the EVO cat food changed in appearance and my cats stopped eating it well. I waited several months, in case it was just an “off” batch, and it never got better. That’s when I switched to Before Grain 96% chicken or turkey, and it works very well for my other cats. So certainly not interested in going back to EVO.

We have such good control with the straight rabbit that I just don’t even want to think about feeding all of those potential sources for reaction in the Nature’s Variety. Interesting about the rabbit coming from China. One more reason to avoid

If we have to, we’ll go raw. Canned is just preferred for convenience.

[CrazyGuineaPigLady]

I, too, find Hare Today easier to feed than canned. Delivered to your door and nothing except the box to recycle. I would also recommend The Furry Foodie by Ayrshire farm but it does have chicken parts with the rabbit.

http://www.ayrshirefarm.com/AyrshireFarm/AFHome.html

You might find that going raw negates some of the issues with other proteins. Or at the very least you can figure out for sure which ones cause a problem. I have a dog that doesn’t tolerate any kind of poultry from a can but she will eat the occasional HT raw (chicken/turkey/quail) with no problems. Two or three meals in a row give her diarrhea and more than that makes her itch, but she can have any of those things once or twice a week. Rabbit does not work for her AT ALL, though. I’m not comfortable feeding the same thing day after day, raw or canned, so I stock up when HT has a special on the more expensive meats to add to her diet. My cats go crazy over the rabbit “pieces” and heads. Brains are high in taurine and they eat them like zombies. :lol:

I can sometimes get frozen rabbit from the international markets here and there is an organic deli (?) that supplies a lot of raw feeders in my area with leftover parts. They were surprised I was willing to pay full price for a whole rabbit but, I have to say, it was a beautiful piece of meat and my cats devoured it. For an entire week, before I was willing to take a chance on HT several years ago. If you aren’t comfortable with raw, find rabbit meat and cook it. Not ideal long term but it will keep you and your cat going until you figure out another plan.

[clint]

There is a small pet store chain in the SF Bay area that carries that food. Try contacting them to see if they have the rabbit in stock; they have wonderful service and I’m sure would ship you some if they do. http://petfoodexpress.com/

[RacetrackReject]

What about Evanger’s brand? They make a Rabbit/rabbit broth only tinned food that’s labeled for both dogs and cats. I know nothing about Evanger’s specifically, I’ve just seen their food around when looking for stuff for my dogs.