This post is sponsored by Instinct® and the BlogPaws Professional Pet Blogger Network. I am being compensated for helping spread the word about Instinct Raw but I only share information I feel is relevant to sparklecat.com readers. Instinct is not responsible for the content of this article.
As you know, I went crazy over the raw chicken hearts my human brought home a few weeks ago. So my human and I were very excited to be one of the bloggers chosen to give Instinct Raw Bites for cats a try! The main reason my human doesn’t feed us cats raw is time — buying whole birds and grinding them up, then preparing a week’s worth of meals is not something she would do. She doesn’t even spend much time on her own food. She is the queen of to-go. That’s the reason that the Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw is so appealing to her. It’s totally convenient — and good for us kitties!
So my human and I went to our nearest PetSmart, and the freezer containing the Instinct Raw Bites was right there! For us kitties, they had the Chicken and Rabbit bites (there are also Duck and Tuna available, but they weren’t in stock). Since we cats are most familiar with — and love — chicken, that’s what she got.
I couldn’t wait to give the Instinct Raw Bites a try! Even though I am a breed cat, I have a wild soul… and metabolism. We cats are obligate carnivores, and a raw diet is as close to what we would eat in nature as we can get as housecats. The Instinct Raw Bites are 95% meat, organs and bones, 5% fruits and vegetables (sort of like what you would find in the stomach of caught prey), and 100% grain FREE.
My human started us off with a snack, and put about 1/4 cup in each dish. That’s about the same amount as a light breakfast for us.
Because the Raw Bites are so small, they only take a few minutes to defrost. Since they are raw, you are not supposed to let them sit around and get too warm — just enough to take off the chill and become palatable to us kitties.
I thought a few minutes was too long to wait! I wanted to try them right away.
Ideally, humans should gradually transition their cats to a raw diet over a period of a few weeks by mixing it with their regular food. This makes it easier for their taste buds and digestive system to adjust. I just wanted the Raw Bites and since it was a snack, that’s what I got. Binga and Boodie got some canned food mixed with theirs. They weren’t 100% sure about the Raw Bites plain, but once it was combined with some canned food, they chowed down.
Binga had to make sure I wasn’t getting something better first! But she went back to her own food and finished it.
It turned out that Boodie liked the Raw Bites as much as the mixed-in raw food.
All of us were members of the clean plate club!
Instinct Raw Bites for cats is a great solution for humans who want to give their cats a raw diet, but don’t have the time or tools to make it from scratch. If you want to give it a try, you can get a $3 off coupon here: http://www.instinctpetfood.com/getraw
You can find out more about Instinct’s Raw food on their website.
Or you can get social: Visit Instinct on Facebook
We’re glad you ladies liked it! I fed my cats Instinct Raw for almost two years, until last year when they reformulated all their meals. I really think they are an excellent company and their food is consistently very good, or at least my kitties thought so. My fine felines don’t like chicken at all, and the little bags of raw bits don’t go far with 7 to 10 cats, so we are waiting until they have their other formulas for cats in patties again, and hopefully they’ll have venison for the kitties again!
I am TOTALLY impressed at that skeery face you used to keep Binga at bay–geez, she was really gonna steal your foods, wasn’t she? As if! The Human might look into those things for me next time she’s at PetSmart!
That stuff sounds great, Summer! We’ve already eaten our dinners, but your review made us hungry all over again! 🙂
our mom would get that for Minnie. it was nice that it will thaw quickly in case mom forgot to get any out of the freezer the night before a breakfast meal or the morning before a dinner meal. plus, we don’t know about you kitties, but it seemed like Minnie needed to chew more – she wasn’t swallowing the food whole. Mostly we eat shtinky goodness any more because it is more economical. we’re glad you all liked this food. it does make going raw easier (our mom would never take the time to make us raw from scratch) purrs,
pip, smidgen, minnie, hollie
I’m pretty impressed with all of you! The only raw stuff we have around here are bugs…if Mom doesn’t trap and release them first.
This looks fascinating. raw is the source of much discussion and, yes, for 8 of us that would be to much work. This looks a great way to go for transitioning to raw!
It looks very tasty. My mum wishes ie was available in the UK, but I am so picky I probably wouldn’t eat it anyway.
Binga didn’t like the chicken livers either. TW is not fond of raw. She sterialized the entire kitchen after she cooks chicken. She’d prolly put it on paper plates too. I don’t like freeze dried raw so she didn’t sign me up for this campaign.
We have this food in our raw repertoire and are so glad more people are willing to try raw!
Great product.. Have used it for a long time. Summer’s Mom loves it !!
We had not heard of this food before and really appreciate the review. Mom does not have time to make raw food for eight kitties but says she would definitely give this a try. XOCK, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo
That sounds great : raw food ready to eat ! We have to search if something like this is available in Switzerland ; Mum is interested but too lazy (she says busy) to prepare it. Purrs
You really chowed down on those raw bites. I do not like meat – I am an herbivore. But Harry the Farm cat is all in favor of raw food. Especially if he can catch it first.
Mommy wants us to eat raw so she went to PetsMart here in our town but they only had the raw for dogs (it’s a very small PetsMart). She went to a local pet food store and they had raw for kitties but not that brand but she got some anyway. We did not like it – no how, no way! She mixed it in our regular food but we refused to eat it. She gave up since they went on vacation but now she’s back at it and trying some other frozen raw stuffs. We’ll see how long we hold out!
We have not tried the raw food anything. You kitties are such good tasters. So will this be on the menu regularly then?
Emma and Buster
Looks like a total win at your house.
We’ve tried Instinct Raw too and really enjoyed it. It appears that more and more PetSmarts are starting to carry it too. We hope this will open the door to more pet parents feeding raw to their cats. Reeding raw and whole foods has made all the difference for us. In fact, we believe it’s helped change the course of Katie’s IBD. We’re definitely believers!
Only this morning my human realized that Binga has been throwing up fewer hair piles (they’re not really hair “balls”) since we’ve included the raw in her diet. If she’d known earlier, I could have included that in my post.
That’s an awesome benefit! Waffles has no trouble at all. Katie still needs a hairball remedy. As cats go, she just carries more stress than Waffles does. ; )
Yes, raw seems to help IBD.
That’s a great review and glad you liked the Instinct raw food! I love it comes in bite size 🙂
Summer that’s a paws up good review.
Looks tasty for being raw food 😀
XOXO
Since you all liked this so much, I hope your human makes this part of your regular diet now!
Looks like you sure like those treats Summer. They sound really good.
Super tasty! We love it, too. Nice photos!
Thanks for the review. Might have to give it a try.
These sound really yummy!!! The Mom just got us some chicken cutlets from the grocery store actually! We can’t wait to dig into those. She has been wanting to get us back on a raw diet. These sound really convenient, but we are wondering about the price. All of the prepackaged raw foods like this we have seen have been out of our budget. It is much cheaper to prepare yourself, though you’re right — it is much more time consuming.
That was quite a look that you gave to Binga. These sound great, I would love to feed raw, but can’t see my lazy self grinding up meat so this would be a good option.
Our local grocery store carries this, but we thought it was only dog food. MomKatt will look more closely when she goes shopping this week! Ya’ll look like it’s REALLY yummy!~
Purrz!
Selina
Great review guys! It got Mom to print out that coupon and the next time she goes to Petsmart she’s going to buy a bag for us to try.
Dang, Dad said he doesn’t remember seeing those at our PetSmart, but then again they are usually out of what he goes to get. They do look yummy pretty Summer!
might have to let the boyz give those a try… for whatever reason diego-san seems to think the food in Thompson’s dish tastes better.
I’ve tried raw bites with Mudpie and so far she’s been pretty picky with it but I’m going to keep trying!!!
Summer, I love what you say more than anything! BIG BIG smile here.
We got to try the Instinct Raw too. We mixed it in with our wet food…and give it a big paws up!
We don’t seem to have raw.
Golly Summer I just had breakfast and now I’m hungry all over again.
Hugs madi your bfff
An empty plate is always a good sign! We’re big advocates of a raw food diet, so am glad you’re getting to try it and spread the word!
Thanks fur the info. We saw Katie and Waffles endorsement too.
That looks tasty! Newton was eating Instinct Raw Bites exclusively for a while, but the places that carried it near us stopped. One of them told the head peep that she was the only one buying it from them. It’s unfortunate that there are so few people interested in feeding raw that it impacts availability. Hopefully that will change in the future for us!
Drooling like a doggie !!!
when this brand is going to hit Australia ???
Darn, how did I miss this campaign? We need a combo of raw and having easy to defrost bits makes it easier. Clearly your guys like Instinct.
Gee that sounds yummy and by the looks of empty plates, it is yummy 🙂
Purrs Georgia and Julie,
Treasure and JJ