Raw feeding – UK sources for meat and supplements
28 August, 2007Many raw-feeding web-sites are of US origin, with suppliers based in the US. Here is a list of UK suppliers and stockists of raw pet meat and supplements:
MEAT GRINDER
There are many meat grinders on the market, but not all of them are equal! And don’t even consider a hand-driven meat grinder unless you are an arm wrestler! There is only one meat grinder I use – it’s the one that’s also recommended by many raw-feeding forums. About £85 (excluding delivery). There are cheaper brands on the market, but they can’t grind bone. This workhorse is made from aluminium and will last.
Electric Meat Grinder from Northern Tools (Item No.: 168620E)
http://www.northerntooluk.com/products.asp?partno=168620
MEAT
Rabbit meat
I’m currently using the pet mince made from wild rabbit from Woldsway Rabbit. It’s ground with the bone-in for that important calcium content. It’s a richer red than the farmed rabbit mince. However, the quality of all Woldsway rabbit is always good. But go for the wild rabbit mince – your cat will thank you. I buy the mince and the farmed rabbit chunks, thaw slightly then mix with supplements and offal, and refreeze.
Woldsway Rabbit – http://www.woldsway.co.uk/
0800 298 5000. The meat is delivered frozen with ice packs.
General pet meat
Graig Farm Organics. http://www.graigfarm.co.uk/catalog/cat_11.htm
This is an award-winning organic-meat company. The pet mince is mainly from offcuts and offal and is of human quality. The mince is a dark paste, you cut a corner off the packet and squeeze it out. The meat is delivered frozen. They also sell chicken heart and liver.
Yeoman’s Meat Company: 01773712226. I’ve never used this company as they’re based in Nottingham and don’t deliver this far South. Some breeders have used them and like the quality. They do ox cheek, rabbit and general pet mince. [please see one of the comments left below – Yeoman’s has been taken over by http://www.back-2-nature.co.uk – I haven’t tried their products yet as I haven’t see it being sold in the London area]
Prize Choice from Anglian Meat Products: http://www.prizechoice.co.uk/.
Set up by some vets who were interested in bones and raw food (BARF). Some of their meat has the bone ground in. I haven’t really tried their meat. You will find them in large pet stores.
Chicken
You can get this from any supermarket or poultry butcher. My favourite butcher is in a farmer’s market. I trust the quality of his free-range chickens, and he gives me free giblets because of the amount of chicken I buy. Please try to use free-range chickens because they don’t stand all day in their shit and therefore the risk of contamination from salmonella is lower.
Lamb/Beef: look in your supermarket and buy casserole chunks. Don’t buy the mince because (1) you don’t know how long it’s been sitting on the shelves (2) mince gets contaminated more easily with bacteria because of there is more surface area with mince. Don’t feed pork to cats – it can contain a parasite that is fatal to cats.
Offal
Often, many raw-feeding recipes call for offal to be added, namely chicken heart and liver. Now, chicken liver you can get from any supermarket or poultry butcher. However, the only places I’ve been able to source fresh chicken heart are ethnic butchers or Chinese supermarkets. As for kidney, try a supermarket or a butcher. If you make friends with your local butcher he may give you giblets (i.e. a pack made up of a chicken neck, liver and heart) for free.
Whole prey
You may like to give your little tiger a taste of a small chick or mouse. Livefoods supplies frozen food for people who keep reptiles as pets. Postage can be quite expensive as they use a courier. I usually order in bulk – if I order 400 chicks, then even with postage, it works out to about 4p a chick.
SUPPLEMENTS
If you have friends or family visiting the US, beg them to buy vitamins and supplements and bring them back for you. Fact: Supplements are cheaper in the US: you’ll pay $ for what they charge £s for in this country. And you can’t get certain supplements, like glandulars (extracts from glands) in the UK due to EU regulations.
If you want supplements that are pre-mixed, then either Feline Future or Feline Instincts from the US are your only sources. These supplements often come with dried egg yolk in them. Note: not only will you have to pay shipping (i.e. postage costs), but also import Tax when it comes into the UK – anything over £18 is charged tax plus VAT. The costs can be prohibitive.
It might be more cost-effective to get each individual supplement itself. The supplements you will need to get are: Taurine, Vitamin A, Vitamin B complex, Vitamin E, kelp and dulse powder, fish oil capsules. I use Google to try to find the discounts. However, some of the sites I have used are:
Nutrisun for Taurine (Solgar) 500mg capsules, Vitamin A (Solgar) capsules, Vitamin B Complex (Solgar) capsules, Vitamin E (Solgar) 268mg capsules. Be careful when you buy Vitamin B – often manufacturers add herbs like alfalfa which they claim is synergistic in action. Maybe that’s so for humans, but not for cats.
Hellenia Health Foods has a Vet’s Choice section with good value kelp powder.
Another online source of supplements is Nutricentre.
Psyllium husk – this is usually ridiculously expensive, and sold in teeny packets, I’m not sure why. However, the best value so far is a brand called Maxicol. It comes in a large tin which contains psyllium husks together with pre-biotics and digestive bacteria.
I have not been able to find a source of reasonably-priced dulse powder in the UK.
The Cat\'s Whiskers 
With reference to your note on Psylolim husk…you van get it from: http://www.healthspan.co.uk. large tub for £6.95p.
With reference to your note on Psyllim husk…you can get it from: http://www.healthspan.co.uk. large tub for £6.95p.
Many thanks, Iris for that valuable tip – I will check out healthspan.
Best wishes,
Rona
http://www.catswhiskers.uk.com
Just ‘stumbled’ onto this blog today–awesome information on UK suppliers! I’d like to create a link to this on my own site.
Anne
I buy my meat from Natures Menue Prize Choice from a big pet store near me called Pets At Home but the pet shop dont do liver heart chuncks or chicked wings necks which i would realy like but cant get hold of i did try ordering off the Nateres Menue Prize Choice webs but you have to order at least £80 or summen and i dont want that much
Hi Toni, thanks for reading my blog.
Yes, I’ve heard of Nature’s Menu Prize Choice, and I’ve been to Pets at Home (but there isn’t one near me, alas).
For chicken wings and liver, you can get those from the supermarket – they usually come pre-packed, so what you need to do if you are not going to be using it soon, is to re-pack into smaller portions and freeze.
For chicken hearts, you can find them in Chinese supermarkets, or ethnic butchers. Or if you have a butcher near you, they will sometimes order it in specially for you. Again, you may have to order in bulk, e.g. 1kg packs, so re-pack them into smaller portions and freeze.
Graig Farm Organics does a mail-order service which includes a mince made up of offal from offcuts, and they have chicken livers, but you will be paying a premium on these products and a courier charge.
You might like to try the rabbit from Woldsway Rabbit – they do pet packs, plus if you ask nicely, they may be able to supply rabbit livers and hearts.
The links to these suppliers are on my links page.
Hope this helps!
Dear Anne,
Thanks for reading my blog and your kind comments on my links page.
Is yours a cat-related web-page? If so, I would say sure, by all means link to my links page.
Would you also send me your web-page as I’d love to see your website.
Best wishes.
thank you x I tried offal pet mice from my local butcher and my dog was sick altoght she has been on BARF raw food diet for mths she hasent had a lot of offal yet maybey 5 times one time sick the other times tured her nose up at it or ate a tiny bit cant understand why she is fine with tripe raw bones chicked liver you name it just not offal.
Hi Toni, sounds like offal and pet mice are not good for your dog. She’s obviously trying to tell you something! Not all dogs and cats can eat offal and pet mice. My cats won’t touch pet mice or tripe. Tripe, raw bones, chicken liver are fine – you are lucky she will eat them. BTW, chicken liver is considered offal, and so is tripe.
Best wishes,
The Catswhiskers
sorry i am talking about a dog btw jst could not find anyone that would anser questions and it all the same stuff reli any thanks u hav been help even thou its bout my dog
Here is a tip for evryone btw feed your dogs cats a holistic biscuite with raw food you can get these biscuits for dogs and cats but more common for dogs anyway i will add a link that sells them. make sure you feed raw food and biscuits at seprate times eg am and pm cas biscuits take longer digest than raw food and please make sure it is a holistic biscuite cas any others are just cheap rubbish they are normaly £9-£20
http://www.burns-pet-nutrition.co.uk/contactform1.asp
http://www.k9capers.com/shop/products.asp?cat=56
http://www.nutrience.com/english/index.html any way this is the one that will stop selling next mth
Hi Toni, many thanks for sharing those links! Your dog is so lucky to have an owner like you who will feed BARF and who looks out for the best in dried dog food etc.
Hi Toni
(This is in response to your earlier comment about your dog being sick on the butcher’s pet mince)
I’m not familiar with your butcher and his pet mince, but it looks like there’s something in the offal that doesn’t agree with your dog. So I would avoid that. Liver is considered offal, along with lung, heart, kidney, pancreas, tripe. It’s grouped together under “offal”. If your dog will eat tripe, that’s fantastic – so much good nutrition in tripe.
I think it sounds like your dog has a very good and varied BARF diet if you’re feeding tripe, raw bones, and liver. Maybe your dog does OK when it’s not mixed up together, so maybe you might want to try kidney separately (for cats not pigs kidney or liver because of a parasite in pork that can be fatal to cats). I would try lamb kidney or beef kidney.
So forget about an offal mix, just get the separate components and feed those instead. Then you can make sure what’s good for your dog or not. Plus you can add fresh veg to bulk out the meal, and give your dog vitamins.
The pet mince from Graig Farm is very good, but it’s expensive, and has courier fees as well. You’re better off just buying fresh liver, kidney and tripe and using that instead.
As a matter of curiosity, is it fresh or frozen tripe, and if fresh, where do you get your tripe from? I’ve not been able to find a source of fresh tripe. Not that cats will eat it, unfortunately.
What kind of dog do you have? He’s very lucky to have an owner like you who will feed BARF.
Best wishes
Hi my dog Holly is Chihuahua cross not sure what with but think it could be a jack russel or paderdale paxerdale (not sure how u spell it lol) and the tripe soz no its not fresh its frozen from Prize Choice Naters Menue
Hi Toni, I’ve never seen a Chihuahua cross – is your Holly larger than a Chihuahua or has he inherited the small size? Bet he’s real cute! I’ve seen the frozen tripe – it looks good. I’ve heard that Butcher’s Choice do a tinned tripe too.
Best wishes
No shes bigger like a big jack russel cas u can get some tiny jacks too. and the tripe yes so d Tripet and Soild Gold Green Tripe i have herd of al these comanys taht do canned tripe but none sell in pet shops any idea were you get them cas i havent tred canned tripe yet or fresh only frozen
oh my the way i would not use any butchers products used too cas the tins had tripe in but thats the only benafit apart from that they are proberly like oll the other dried canned food who put preservatives aadatives meat by products you no all the nasteys like that
you can by the ingredients best way to tell is if the first ingredent is a grain or if it says animal dervatives not not buy any pet food that says that best ones are holistic ones most holistic ones are ok there are a few funny ones but i would say most of them ones are ok
I would recoment Burns cat food they only do dried food for cats but do a tin and dried for dogs think they will make a tin for cats and feed this on days u cant feed raw food and with raw food i would recomend Wholebake which has no cooked meat in it and has been designed to copy animals prey with cerals which animals would find in stomac conents of prey veg fruite herbages
Hi Toni, thanks for posting. I’ll check it out your suggestions. Best wishes.
hi guys,
i can’t say how happy i am that i found this website!!!
i’ve been reading quite a bit about the raw diet for cats.
most of the web site were either australian or american.
i could not find a uk site with useful information to get the main ingridients.
i love you guys!!!
i have few question for you…
if i buy frozen meat how am i supposed to prepare the meal? once i defrost the meat i have to use it all and if i mix all the other ingridients i will end up with too much stuff for a meal…
what about the vegetable and fruit intake that in nature should be found in the stomach of the pray?
thanks again!!! 🙂
Hi Roberta,
Thank you for reading my blog, and glad you’re finding it useful.
If you buy frozen meat, maybe you could buy it in smaller quantities so that when you defrost the meat you only have to use a bit up. The obvious solution of course, is to buy fresh and then freeze it.
However, I have faced the situation of using frozen meat before. When I buy Woldsway Rabbit it comes as 0.5kg packets of frozen mince or cubes. What I do is slightly thaw it, only slightly, until I can break chunks off. I then repackage into smaller packets and then thaw each one completely as and when I need them. It is still not ideal, and I think what I will do when I next place an order is find out if they can pack it in smaller quantities.
Another solution is to buy free-flowing mince. I know that Anglian Meat Products does a free-flow lamb mince. Ditto supermarkets That way you only have to thaw a little at a time.
My only qualms about mince of any sort and brand is that someone else has done the processing for you, so you can’t control the conditions in which the food preparation has taken place, e.g. how clean is the processing plant? What is the quality of the meat? However, given the choice between unfrozen mince and frozen, I would probably go with the latter, because I assume (maybe incorrectly) that the mince would have been frozen shortly after processing, as opposed to fresh mince which would be sitting on a supermarket shelf for a long time thereby giving the bacteria a better chance of taking hold and the meat going bad. Even though it may not look bad, you can’t just go on looks alone, especially when feeding raw.
The best way is to buy fresh and then grind it yourself, bone-in, and then freeze in small meal-size portions. Buy from a reputable butcher who doesn’t let his chicken sit around for a long time on the shelf. It is worth it for the sake of peace of mind.
Good luck and best wishes!
Dear Roberta,
As for the fruit and vegetable intake, well this depends on which raw-breeding forum you belong to. Someone like Michelle Bernard of Blakkatz.com says that cats don’t need veggies, and in fact, find it hard to digest veggies or carbohydrates. The stuff that’s found in a mouse’s stomach is fermented, pre-digested vegetable material. And not all cats eat the mouse’s stomach, anyway.
So unless you can replicate the digestive system of a mouse, feeding veggies to a cat is a waste of money and may harm the cat.
For e.g. don’t ever ever feed onions to cats as they are highly toxic. I would steer clear of garlic too.
If you want to feed veggies, then add a little stewed pumpkin or psyllium husk.
If you really want to feed veggies, join the rawpaws forum on Yahoo groups as they have recipes which include some form of veggies.
thank you very much for all the precious advice.
i think i will not explore the “veggie” option for now…
i’ll stick with experimenting the meat with the bone in.
i’ll try with the frozen one to begin with but with the intention of doing my own one soon.
maybe i’ll do it later on when i’ll get more familiar with the “product” and make more reasearch.
hi i was feeding burns but now want to go back to raw but was worried about injections the animals that cats and dogs eat (as raw) after looking up on the net one web site said watch out for injextions ?
it said when they eat raw they could be eating injections the animals get
Thank you for this very helpful information on raw food sources. I am a novice cat breeder and my first litter of Norwegian Forest cats are doing fantastically well on raw food – mainly Woldsway wild rabbit, and beef and lamb heart mixed with some muscle meat.
I notice that you recommend giving taurine as a supplement – I thought if there is sufficient organ meat in the diet that shouldn’t be necessary? I know that beef heart is very high in taurine and I have been assuming that I only need to give fish oil for the omega oils and perhaps some seaweed for vitamins (looking for sources of that now)
Hi Jenny, Lovely to hear from you and many thanks for your kind comments about my blog.
Wow – a fellow raw-feeder. I’m glad you took the plunge.
About taurine. The reason I add taurine is because most of the meat that I buy is frozen or will be frozen, and a study was done some time back in which cats were fed a raw diet of rabbit to see if it would help with their IBD (irritable bowel syndrome) but what happened was that although the IBD cleared up, some cats exhibited symptoms of heart failure.
Taurine is an amino acid that is required for healthy heart function and cats can’t manufacture it. I think the scientists theorised that even though the cats had been fed meat, the rabbit meat had been frozen which caused the taurine content to deteriorate so that there wasn’t sufficient taurine to sustain the cats.
So unless the beef heart you add is not frozen and the portions of raw food are not going to be frozen, please please supplement with taurine. You cannot overdo taurine. I use Solgar’s taurine which is powdered in capsules. You should also add B Vitamins, and raw egg yolk.
I follow the recipe on catnutrition.org and blakkatz.com.
Here is the link to the study on cats and taurine: http://www.cfa.org/articles/health/role-of-diet.html
I hope this helps!
Best wishes,
Hi,
You mentioned Yeomans as a supplier. I took over the business in April and have launched a new website http://www.back-2-nature.co.uk and added new products to the range.
On your Taurine discussion Taurine does break down when frozen. However, Jenny is correct if you feed additional heart (or any dark meat), even if it is frozen, there is sufficient taurine. The study that you relate to has too flaws, firstly they were only fed minced rabbit with no additional meats and secondly there was no real analysis to determine the actual cause of death (good thing really as they would have had to have killed more kittens).
Karen
Dear Karen,
Thank you for posting. By some strange coincidence a Burmese breeder friend sent me the link to your web-site yesterday.
It is always good to discover new sources of raw food, and of quality meat, and I wish you well in your new venture.
I’d be interested to find out where I can get back-2-nature products in London. It would be even better if your company has a delivery service?
As for Taurine, until a manufacturer can guarantee the levels of taurine in frozen food I will, as a precaution, continue to supplement with Taurine.
Best wishes.
May I first say a big ‘thank you’ for your wonderful blog and all the fantastic information on it.
I am in the process of switching my cats to raw. I have everything in place and ready to go except for one thing – the grinder! I had originally thought about getting the one you have, the one from Northern Tools, but had heard that although it looked like the Tasin it was definitely not the same and could not cope as well with bones. Having read that you are happy with it I am not reconsidering the possibility of getting one again. Before I make my finale decision may I ask if you are still happy with yours and do you find that it can cope with grinding a whole chicken carcass?
Hello William,
Many thanks for your e-mail and compliments. I am glad that my blog (warts and all) has been helpful.
I have absolutely no problems with the Northern Tools grinder. You may have to chop up some of the larger weight0bearing bones, but on the whole, it grinds through the lot. I use a Chinese cleaver to chop through the larger bones because it has the blade and weight to do it. You don’t want to use a posh kitchen knife to chop through bones.
I do use the coarsest mesh though, not the finest. And sometimes it does jam, but there is a “reverse” button on the grinder which unjams it all. It is a good workhorse. One of my kitten owners bought a Cuisinart grinder and it looks like the Northern Tools grinder, but sleeker. It is also more expensive. They told me that the shop assistant told them quite a few pet owners have bought that one too. The Northern Tools grinder is the one that Michelle Bernard of blakkatz uses, and is also used by quite a few members of the rawpaws yahoo group.
Good luck with the raw feeding!
Best wishes.
I am wondering if you might be able to give a little advice on raw food that is not pre mixed or ground…
My foundling kitten/teenage cat has been eating raw food more or less since he arrived. He is an indoor cat. He started on chicken, but now will refuse that, and even vomit it up. Eggs too. According to my homeopathic vet, this is distinctive of certain homeopathic types, especially since he loves pork ribs.
He loves lamb and beef, lamb kidney and heart, Salmon and mackerel. I do not premix anything, but freeze the meat in portions, and give him a mixture, cut up into chunks. I sprinkle on some ground psyllium husks as he is prone to constipation, and sometimes I grate a little carrot. I also sprinkle a seed/goji berry mix on, and sometimes a little olive or fish oil. He chews pork ribs (this on advice of the homeopathic vet for his teething). He used to eat chicken wings, but now refuses all chicken.
I am concerned that he is not getting enough calcium. We cannot afford a grinder and the butchers here in Ireland do not have rabbit or other small animal bones. Also I am concerned he is not getting enough taurine given his meat is frozen.
My question is: how much taurine per day should he be getting? i.e. if I bought a supplement, how much should I sprinkle on his food?
And ideas about calcium? Especially given he does not like his food minced. Bone meal? How much per day?
thanks so much for the wonderful blog!
Dear Sandra,
You may wish to check out the cat nutrition information on http://www.blakkatz.com and http://www.catnutrition.org for more precise information on how much taurine to feed your cat. My understanding from these sources is that for every 2 kg chicken, add 400g of chicken hearts or 400g of powdered taurine.
http://www.catnutrition.org/recipes.php
I’m not so much concerned with the taurine as long as you feed him some fresh meat. Taurine degrades on freezing. And if you don’t grind up the digestive system of the animal and freeze it with the mince, then degradation of taurine isn’t such an issue.
I’m also not so bothered about the addition of fibre – it all depends on the cat. If he has problems pooing (i.e. too dry) then add psyllium.
I don’t use vegetable oils like olive oil because cats can’t process vegetable oils!
I am, however, concerned about the lack of calcium.
When you say he chews pork ribs, does he totally eat it all up, marrow and all, or does he just chew on them and leave them intact?
I’ve heard that bonemeal is an acceptable substitute, but make sure it’s human-grade, for human consumption, and not for garden use. This is very important because you don’t want your cat to catch a disease like mad cow disease, if the bonemeal is not properly processed. I’ve also heard that some raw feeding groups use dried and powdered egg shell.
You can buy raw wild rabbit with the bone ground-in from Woldsway Rabbit.
Sorry – I don’t have a solution if he doesn’t like mince. I would add some mince to the chunks and he’ll soon learn that that’s as good as it gets. If he’s hungry, he’ll eat it. Cats are smart and know how to manipulate their owners! (I speak from personal experience!)
Good luck!
Thanks so much for the reply. No, he doesn’t eat the whole pork rib (well, he’s done this once or twice when it was very small). I think I’ll have to buy some bone meal, and save up for a grinder! We might at some point move to the UK and everything will be easier.
Hi my persian cat has kd, ive tried feeding her on the hills kd & royal canine diet etc, but she just wont eat it. ive seen on the internet about the raw meat diet for kd, which is a human grade pemix. but you have to order it from america, which i cant afford to do. does any one know of any where in the uk that sells this or a good alternative to this. my cat really likes to eat raw meat but the repacked ones from pet shop’s have ground bones in and ive read that anything with bones in contain more phosphorus. which is not good for her kidneys. and im not too sure on which meats have less phosphorus. if any one has any knowledge on kd and good diets i would be most gratefull of the help.
Hi Denise,
Thank you for your e-mail and for reading my blog.
As you can see from the blog post, there are sources in the UK for pre-packed raw meat.
Woldsway Rabbit does a pre-packed minced rabbit with ground bone or without ground bone. Bone is the main source of phosphorous. However, I wouldn’t totally omit the bone because the cat requires the bone for other minerals. Taking it out would deprive the cat of essential minerals.
Woldsway also do other meats (e.g. chicken) with or without bone.
http://www.woldsway.co.uk/ http://www.woldsway.co.uk/acatalog/Pet_Meat.html
Talk to them – they are quite open to suggestions and may be able to make up packs specially for you.
Another source of pre-packed is Anglian Meat Products. http://www.prizechoice.co.uk/
The other alternative is to buy a meat grinder and grind the meat yourself.
I don’t know enough about kidney disease to say that raw-feeding is the cure-all. Certainly, it’s something to try.
I suggest that you contact raw feeding forums for more information because they’ll have folks with pets with kd.
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawpaws/
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawcat/
Good luck and best wishes!
Hy
could you tell me what make your meat grinder is. I just brought a Kenwood one thinking it would be OK only to read in the manual that it doesn’t grind bones or skin! Dave at woldsway had suggested the site you suggested and I jus wondered what make it was
Thanks 🙂
Hi Tina,
Mine is Northern Tools. I paid over £100 for it. But I bought it nearly 7 years ago and someone’s told me that Northern Tools don’t make that model anymore.
Have you tried googling “meat grinders”? I will try and have a search on the internet myself.
The instruction manual on the Northern Tool grinder also said no bones, but if I use the coarse mesh, it’s fine. Plus, the mesh is a really tough piece of stainless steel and I never had any problems.
Best wishes,
Hy
Have I tried googling meat grinders?….boy have I ever….I’m going cross eyed doing the research LOL. You can find fantastic ones in the US but of course they won’t ship to the UK most of the time. I’m waiting on a reply for a couple at the moment. One is nearly 3 horse power with a sealed motor and coolant system. The really good ones are stainless Steele throughout and the gears have no plastic [easily breakable] components. You have to be so careful because some of the supposed high end ones don’t have this element. It actually retails at only about £105 which is fantastic for such a good grinder.
The only thing is the shipping plus the extortionate tax and customs. If they do ship over I may be able to convince them to send it as a gift which may get around this issue. The other problem is the power supply as some of them need an adaptor or transformer to work in this country. In fact some of the British made ones need some kind of adaptor too. I’m slowly going around the bend trying to find a grinder that resolves all of these problems. Which is why I was hoping you could tell me the make of the one that you got. I suspect for the type of grinding that we would do chicken/rabbit bones and probably only about once a month a cheaper one would suffice.
We pay way over the odds for any kind of equipment in this country. I’m even trying to find companies that will allow instalment payments but most only provide lease contracts for items over £1000, which is great if you have a butchers business but not for people like us that just want a decent piece of equipment that doesn’t pack in after three uses!
I know that it will pay for itself eventually but I really don’t want to be paying £4-500 for a meat grinder. I’ve had a look at Northern tools but there isn’t much in at the moment but at least you know that they are likely to be industrial types grinders and I not that they are very honest about what the grinders can and can’t tackle.
If I have any luck with the American companies AND I manage to conquer the tricky issue of tax/customs costs I’ll get back and share the info
Thanks
Tina 🙂
Hi Tina,
Sorry for the delay in replying, but I have been travelling and away a lot the past 1.5 months.
Yes, the main problem with any US electronic product is the different electrical output. You would have to buy a transformer which isn’t cheap.
You do seem to have done your research – I am very very impressed. Let me know if you want to do a guest blog on your search for a grinder! I do still get requests for advice on grinders, and all I can do is point people in the direction of “google”. I’m sure that they would be interested in your findings.
If I ever decide to sell my Northern Tools meat grinder, I’ll let you know! It must be a rarity in this country!
Best wishes,
Just wanted to mention that http://www.iherb.com in the US does pet supplements (and human ones of course) for the usual fraction of the cost compared to the UK, and their shipping is just $6 for up to 3 pounds (weight).
Dear Sandra,
Many thanks for sharing that information.
I have heard of iherb and used them for some supplements. They are indeed good value for money.
The only thing that UK readers might want to bear in mind is that for the UK, any imports over the value of £17 will incur customs duty and VAT. It can be quite a shock if people are unaware of this!
Best wishes,
Hello, It was from reading this page that I decided to raw feed my 15 year old long haired neutered male moggie who has been suffering from IBD and pancreatitis for 18 months. Seemed incurable and he was in terminal decline, skinny to emaciation despite being fed the Vet’s recommended gastrointestinal diet, which he loathed and refused to eat, apart from some of the dried food. In desperation I started my own research into feline nutrition and decided that commercial food off the supermarket shelves is at the root of the poor health. Started him and his companion cat, who had a bout of pancreatitis, on Woldsway rabbit and chicken bone in mince, but supplemented with Lilly’s Kitchen organic cat food for the vitamins and minerals and herb content, and on Orijen Dried cat food, none of which contain carbohydrates. Both cats ate all with gusto.
The difference in the health of my two cats is remarkable. The 15 year old has gained a kilo and his coat has returned to its former glory, his eyes are bright and he no longer complains all day. He chases leaves and is loving and affectionate again. Now, however, I have two problems. He will not eat anything except the Woldsway mince and I’m not sure that mince has all the nutrition he needs. He refused ground ox heart. I’ll have to research as to how much in the way of minerals and other vitamins I should include in his food and also how to prevent him detecting them in his food, and then refusing to eat it. I would hate to lose all the good benefits he has gained by not giving him the correct nutrition.
The second problem is that his 7 year old companion now has such a taste for wild raw food that he goes out hunting for his own raw food and we believe he is killing and consuming mostly feral London pigeons and rodents, maybe rabbits, too. We live on the edge of a wood. He goes out at about eleven at night and comes home in the early hours with a grossly bulging belly, nibbles lightly at the food offered in the morning, then sleeps like the dead for the entire day! He is eating no more than a tablespoon full of home food a day, and he is a very large cat weighing 9 kilos.
I wonder if you or any readers have encountered these same problems after feeding raw meat to their cats.
Thanks!
Hello Margaret,
Thank you so much for reading my blog and for posting your comment.
I am glad that you found the page a good resource for raw feeding. That’s wonderful news that it’s helped your boy.
Re. your question about whether Woldsway mince contains the right amount of supplements and minerals. I will share my experience: firstly, I only use the mince with bone ground-in. And it’s the wild mince so it’s free-range rabbit with the right amount of Omega 3s.
Secondly, I ask Woldsway to send me packs of rabbit hearts for the important taurine – yes, they do them but they’re not listed on their site. When I get the packs I thaw slightly and mince the hearts and add to the raw mince.
When I say I thaw slightly, there are still ice crystals in the mix. I then either re-freeze or put some in containers to to be kept in the refrigerator to feed that week (within 3 days).
For the B vitamins, I usually use egg yolks.
As for supplements, I have never had a cat reject food because it’s got supplements in it. They are usually too grateful that they are getting species-appropriate food to object! I use taurine and B vitamins (remember to buy the powder without herbs added like parsley).
Finally, I would look at the condition of your boy and since he’s gained weight and his coat is glossy, then he’s probably getting the nutrition he needs and I wouldn’t get too hung up about the supplements.
As for your little predator, that’s great news that he’s hunting and getting the nutrients he needs. I wouldn’t stop him – he’s doing what’s natural and will be all the healthier for it!
If you want to find out if other raw feeders have the same experiences with their cats turning into little hunters, try posting on one of the raw food forums on Yahoo. Rawpaws comes to mind.
I’m so pleased for you and your cats.
Thank you for sharing your experiences with us!
Best wishes, The Catswhiskers
Great blog here! Also your web site so much up very fast! What host are you using? Can I get your associate link in your host? I want my site loaded up as fast as yours lol
Hi,
Sorry for the delay in replying. And thank you for reading my blog.
I don’t know who the website’s associate host is – it was set up by friends who are IT whizzes. You can contact them on info@imagine.co.uk
Best wishes,
As a breeder of Maine coons for 13yrs I now just looking at raw food, my fellow breeders in the USA use raw food as a diet for kittens , adults and alters. I’m so impressed with you blog and information thank you so much
Best wishes and many thanks
Tania Murray
Isadoryou Maine coons uk
Just to say how useful this site has been to me. Am in the process of trying to work out how to approach a total change to raw for my cat who suffered a urinary blockage a few months ago (just caught in time!) and has been put on Royal Canin’s Urinary SO diet which is not only very expensive, but which I can’t believe is very good! I think his problem was biscuits…dry food is not natural for a cat and what is in it isn’t either! Anyway, like others here, I am thinking do I buy a grinder or do I buy from Woldsway, and if I do how does one divide frozen into small portions(?)…and what to put the portions in (?)…and how to spread the financial risk of him rejecting the various versions (?)….
I give him raw beef occasionally (when it is cheap!) and he likes that, but I can see a bigger change is necessary.
It is encouraging reading what other people are doing. Thanks!
Dear Julie,
Sorry for the delay in replying – I have been busy with projects at work.
I hope that you are coping with the transition to raw?
I think that you should buy from Woldsway first. The reason is that grinding your own meat is time-consuming and messy and also, it’s a big investment buying your own grinder. I know of people who have bought grinders, and then bought from Wolsway and decided that buying ready-made was easier.
How do you spread the financial burden of a cat’s finicky tastes when transitioning to raw?
1. You can slowly introduce your cat to raw meat like you’re already doing with the beef. You can also buy rabbit from Waitrose (when it’s available) and try that.
2. With Woldsway, What I do is buy the smallest mince and cube rabbit portions of Woldsway, and then defrost slightly into even smallest portions, after mixing with the raw egg yolks and supplements. I also do portions without the supplements and I use those first.
It’s great that you give him some beef. Lamb is another possibility, as is chicken liver.
I hope this helps. Please let me know how you and your boy get on with raw feeding. I also hope that his urinary issue clears up and stays away!
Best wishes for 2013,
Dear Julie,
Sorry for the delay in replying – I have been busy with projects at work.
I hope that you are coping with the transition to raw?
I think that you should buy from Woldsway first. The reason is that grinding your own meat is time-consuming and messy and also, it’s a big investment buying your own grinder. I know of people who have bought grinders, and then bought from Wolsway and decided that buying ready-made was easier.
How do you spread the financial burden of a cat’s finicky tastes when transitioning to raw?
1. You can slowly introduce your cat to raw meat like you’re already doing with the beef. You can also buy rabbit from Waitrose (when it’s available) and try that.
2. With Woldsway, What I do is buy the smallest mince and cube rabbit portions of Woldsway, and then defrost slightly into even smallest portions, after mixing with the raw egg yolks and supplements. I also do portions without the supplements and I use those first.
It’s great that you give him some beef. Lamb is another possibility, as is chicken liver.
I hope this helps. Please let me know how you and your boy get on with raw feeding. I also hope that his urinary issue clears up and stays away!
Best wishes for 2013,
By the way, can anyone tell me where you can buy the cat-size food containers?
Hi Julia, what do you mean by cat-size food containers? Do you mean storage containers?
Best wishes,
This is great thank you, I have been spending the last few evenings reading up on the raw food diet for my cats but am not in a position to grind my own due to the size of my kitchen and was starting to think I would never find a UK supplier!!
Woldsway seem like a very good supplier, so I am about to put and order in for their chicken and wild rabbit (bone in) mince.
How much of the other supplements would you recommend? (eg amounts of egg yolk, heart etc)
Many thanks!
Dear Carla,
My apologies for the delay in replying, I have been busy with projects at work.
For amount of supplements, I follow Michelle Barnard’s blakkatz.com recipe. http://www.blakkatz.com/recipes.pdf
For every 2.5 lbs (i.e. slightly more than 1 kg) of meat, use 2 egg yolks. She recommends 2000mg taurine, and 100g of liver from the same species. She also uses kelp, Vitamin B and glandulars.
I stopped using glandulars – that was a personal decision. And also kelp because the cats didn’t like the taste of kelp. But I was using Woldsway wild rabbit so the rabbits had plenty of minerals etc. from feeding off the land. And I got Woldsway to send me rabbit livers and heart, and also the head of the rabbit which I ground up. So they got a lot more natural minerals than from supplements.
I hope this helps!
Good luck!
Hi Carla,
I forgot to add: don’t worry about grinding your own yet. Start off with the prepared stuff, it’s easier, and you can get the hang of it. Grinding is time-consuming.
Best wishes,
I have also read that when making your own you should wash the meat, and it is often recommended to partially bake it to kill any nasties on the outside, with delivered minced rabbit and chicken how can we ensure it is ‘safe’.
If we can’t, what is the difference if the same raw mix is then cooked? Does this change the nutritional quality?
Hi Carla,
I have never washed the meat. I don’t do that because I assume that if the meat is contaminated, the bacteria will be inside the meat as well, not just lurking on the surface. And unless a disinfectant is used, I don’t see how the germs are going to be killed, and I don’t want my cats to ingest disinfectants. I think if the meat looks dirty (i.e. covered with feathers), then yes, by all means wash it.
I don’t know whether it’s possible to guarantee that the meat that arrives is germ free – hardly anything is germ free. I do know that Woldsway have very high standards of food processing – they have human grade food processing standards.
Yes, raw food if cooked does change the nutritional quality. And mince with ground-up bone should never be cooked as it could clog up the digestive system.
Best wishes,
Re my comment on 9th April ’12 about raw feeding. Sadly, I had to stop feeding my cats a raw diet. The older cat suddenly declined three months ago. He was no longer digesting the raw food. Three weeks ago we had him lovingly put to sleep because he was in pain and very ill. Post-mortem revealed he had lymphoma throughout his digestive system.The younger cat has an autoimmune condition which attacks his throat and he is treated with prescribed steroid medication to keep him pain free. To ensure he doesn’t become infected by raw food, to ensure he doesn’t get minute splinters of bone in his throat, and to ensure he digests properly I now feed him cooked food made either from fish or chicken or lamb, with whole grain brown rice. He also gets Orijen dried food, Iams dry food for seniors to ensure he get the right nutritional balance. If my cats had been fed a raw diet since they were kitten they may well have not developed their diseases. I will never know.
In reply to Carla on 5th December, cats should never be fed cooked bones, whole or minced, because they cannot digest it and it could block their alimentary tract.
Dear Margaret,
My apologies for the delay in replying – I have been busy with projects at work.
I’m so sorry about your older cat’s illness and that you had to have him put to sleep – that must have been such a difficult decision especially because you tried so hard to help him.
Please don’t beat yourself up about feeding raw. It would be nice if all cats could be fed raw, but it doesn’t always work out that way. You have your cat’s well-being at heart, and that’s what matters, and you are giving him quality food. Even the cooked food you are giving him sounds good. I think that we have to work with what our cats can and can’t eat and you are doing your best.
I hope and pray that your boy thrives and that his health continues to improve.
Best wishes,
Hi there, I’m waiting the day when I could take my little kitten at home. I searched for info how to feed and look after my pet, so bought books and decided to feed on raw diet. Started to look for supplements and so on.The best what I have found is EBAY, there aret all products I will need: glandular’s (‘Christopher’s Original Formula, Glandular System Formula, 425 mg,100 Veggie Caps’ 11.15 quids), Vitamin B Complex contains essential B Vitamins and Folic Acid X 90 Tabs for 5.99, Vitamin E 400iu 50 capsules TB for 3.49, TAURINE 60 x HI-DOSE 1000mg CAPSULES for 2.49, 100g Kelp POWDER Seaweed Ascophyllum Nodosum for 1.50 and 0.95 for postage,Bernard Jensen’s, Dulse Powder, 8 oz (227 g) for 12.65 and 1.50 for postage, fish oil (I want to use sardine and anchovy oil instead of salmon oil, so I have found this ‘Dorwest Herbs Evening Primrose Oil 100 caps for Dog/Cat’ there is no info which fish oil is, maybe someone use it for cat diet?).Psyllium Husk Husks Powder 250g only 4.99 quids free delivery. So I think situation is not bad as it could seem. I choose http://www.woldsway.co.uk/ for meat and Michelle Bernard’s diet. Hope so my cat will be healthy and happy. Q: anyone can recommend me a good holistic vet in Essex, Kent, East London, South East London or around? Will post later about how things are going. Thank you for a good informative site.
Hi Arydas,
Thank you for your post. I am so impressed that you have decided to feed your kitten raw. It is more work, but worth it.
I personallyl wouldn’t use the Evening Primrose Oil but only because it’s a vegetable source oil and I don’t know if cats can process it as well as they can fish oil. I would stick to the fish oil and not worry about the Evening Primrose Oil.
As for holistic vets, I don’t really know of any. The holistic vet I consulted was a homeopathic vet and it required a referral from my allopathic/conventional vet before I could have a consultation.
You can find a homeopathic vet from this site:
http://www.bahvs.com/
Good luck and best wishes for your kitten.
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I will right away seize your rss as I can not to find your e-mail subscription link or newsletter service.
Do you’ve any? Please let me realize so that I may subscribe. Thanks.
Hi Kelli,
I’ve added what I think is an RSS feed feature. Let me know if it’s OK.
Best wishes, The Catswhiskers
I don’t know if it’s just me or if perhaps everyone else encountering issues with
your site. It appears like some of the written text in your content
are running off the screen. Can somebody else please comment
and let me know if this is happening to them as well? This may be a issue with my
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Great post.
Dear Rosario, thank you for your kind comment, and for reading my blog! Are you a cat owner or cat breeder?
Best wishes, The Catswhiskers
Superb website you have here but I was wanting to know if you knew of any user discussion forums that cover the same topics talked about in
this article? I’d really love to be a part of group where I can get feed-back from other knowledgeable people that share the same interest. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Appreciate it!
Dear Julius,
Thank you for your kind comments and for reading my blog.
Yes, there are forums out there discussing the types of topics I cover in my blog.
For novice cat breeders, try: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/NoviceBreederAdvice/ For raw feeding, try: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfeeding/ There’s a UK Facebook page for raw feeding: https://www.facebook.com/groups/166815256770854/?fref=ts
Good luck and enjoy!
Best wishes, The Catswhiskers
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Hi just wanted to give you a quick heads up and let you
know a few of the pictures aren’t loading properly. I’m not sure why
but I think its a linking issue. I’ve tried it in two different web browsers and both show the same outcome.
Hello there, I believe your site could be having browser compatibility problems.
Whenever I take a look at your website in Safari, it
looks fine however, when opening in I.E., it’s got some overlapping issues. I merely wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other than that, wonderful site!
When I initially commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each
time a comment is added I get several e-mails
with the same comment. Is there any way you can
remove me from that service? Cheers!
Dear Groente Persen,
Sorry you keep getting e-mail notifications!
I have checked the WordPress support site, and the only way to do this is from your end! Go into any of the e-mail notifications you have received, and click on the “Subscriptions Options” link in that e-mail. You can then change the notification request.
Hope this helps! Thank you for reading my blog!
Best wishes, Rona
Hi im starting a new raw food diet for my junior cat. I found dulse on this website raw living.com.eu
Hi there! I know this is kinda off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could find a captcha plugin for my comment form?
I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having trouble finding one?
Thanks a lot!
Hi, New here – elderly (18.5yrs) cat diagnosed with renal problems and hyperthyroidism. We have been asked to get him the renal diet food but he leaves too much of it to make it economical. (Basically licks all the gravy off and leaves the rest! – he has dental issues). He likes chewing raw meat (and still catches and eats the odd mouse)so I’d like to give it a go mincing up some raw food for him but nervous abot getting the additions right. Unfortunately, the links for Woldsway and Northern tools don’t work any longer and was wondering ifyou had foudn an alternative a) grinder and b) source fo wild rabbit? Can’t abide the welfare implications of farmed rabbit.
Also, there are so many options…isn’t there a pre-mixed supplement available in powdered form for UK?
I have been looking for a grinder for a while now and as indicated previously finding one that is UK ready, reasonable in price ,capable of grinding bones to some extent and is not going to fall apart or worse shed oil and metal shavings into the meat (as so many of the chinese look alikes seem to do) is fairly futile task.
I recently saw a S/H grinder that looked identical to a Tasin but was billed as something else (I am following that up to see where it was sourced possibly Japan so it may be a Tasin under the badge)
The rave reviews the Tasin TS-108 on the American sites has led me to approach the manufacturer directly (they are in Taiwan not China) to see whether there is a way to get them here or through a European distributer (and with a 230v motor)
I am awaiting quotes for pricing, shipping and more importantly minimum order quantities.
I would be interested therefore to see what sort of interest there might be here in the UK for these and whether it would be viable for me to import some.
Regards Colin
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