I knew that I wanted Cupcake to be a raw fed kitten. I wanted her to have balanced, species-appropriate nutrition, so when the folks at Darwin’s Natural Pet Food gave us a chance to sample their premium raw cat food, I thought it was a great way to get Cupcake started on a raw diet.
Receiving Darwin’s Raw Cat Food By Mail
Darwin’s is a mail-order company, and one of my concerns was making sure the food arrived still frozen. Everyone knows that Florida is hot in the summers. On top of that, when I’m not home, food is delivered to my porch, which gets the full afternoon sun.
So I was really pleased to find that the box was lined on all sides with thick Styrofoam to insulate it. I was even happier to discover that there was still dry ice left inside, working hard to keep the food cold. As a result, the food was still frozen. Win!
The cat food is packaged really conveniently. Four vacuum sealed 1/2 lb amounts are attached to a perforated plastic sheet. That means each one holds 2 lb. That makes it easy to tell at a glance how much food you have on hand.
What’s super convenient is that each 1/2 lb portion fits nicely into a 1 cup storage container. That allows me to thaw a portion overnight in the fridge in its original packaging. Once it’s thawed, it’s easy to store it safely while Cupcake eats it over the next couple days.
Transitioning to Darwin’s Raw Cat Food
Starting Cupcake eating Darwin’s wasn’t hard. Kittens usually are happy to try new foods. She had a little bit of Darwin’s raw food on the side with her canned food meal, and slowly the amount of canned food became less at meals and the amount of raw became larger. Success! A healthy, happy, raw-fed kitten.
I don’t even like being in the kitchen to make my own meals, so having Cupcake eating raw cat food without my having to make it was great. I loved having my little obligate carnivore kitten eating a diet from a company I trusted to use the best ingredients to make a wholesome food for her. And the convenience of their grab-and-thaw packaging was just awesome. Happy, healthy Cupcake, and happy me, too.
Cupcake’s Setback
Then something happened that is the reason this review didn’t happen months ago. We ran out of our sample of Darwin’s raw cat food. This would never have happened if we had been enrolled in the Drawin’s home delivery program, since it is set up to ship to you on a schedule. But since Cupcake ate eating large, growing-kitten portions, we ran out of our sample more quickly than I expected.
This was when we discovered Cupcake wouldn’t eat any other raw food. She rejected the homemade raw I prepare for Newton for his unusual urinary pH needs. Then she rejected raw made another cat food company. Since a growing kitten has to eat something, I let her go back to eating canned food.
I wasn’t quite ready to give up yet, though. I ordered some more Darwin’s food. The second transition didn’t go as easily as the first.
Cupcake would avoid the raw food paired with the canned food on her plate. When I put some raw food on top of the canned, she would eat through it, pushing it to the back of the bowl with her nose. She ended up wearing more on her face than she ate.
When Cupcake started eating some of the raw food again, we found she wasn’t keeping her meals down, which was puzzling. I finally tried giving her a full raw meal, and that stayed down. Her stomach apparently didn’t like meals mixing both raw and cooked ingredients! It turned out the biggest barrier to getting Cupcake eating raw food was her human being overcautious in transitioning her.
So Cupcake is a happy, rambunctious raw-fed kitten again, and she loves her Darwin’s raw cat food meals. She knows they come from the refrigerator, and she comes running when you open the fridge to see whether you’re bringing out food for her.
How to Try Darwin’s Natural Raw Cat Food
If you want to try Darwin’s Natural Pet Products premium raw cat food for your cat, they offer a great trial offer for their food. You can get 10 lbs of their premium raw cat food for the price of shipping. It’s a great way to try raw food for your cat with very little financial commitment.
FTC Disclosure: We received this product for free in exchange for our honest opinion. The opinions in this review are my own and not influenced by any outsider. Sponsored posts always reflect our honest opinions and feature products we use ourselves and love.
Wow this was a bit of an up and down venture. But I hope cupcake is doing OK now
Wow, this sounds like a great trial offer! Raw is a big part of the diet here for everyone but Binga (because she’s so special… really, because she never acclimated to it), so we could certainly use this.
The mom has tried to feed us raw but the only one who will eat it is Ernie and only the freeze dried version. Though we’ve heard great things about Darwin. This looks like a good deal they are offering, so we may give it a try.
I am on board with this! However, Chuck’s heart vet said ‘don’t even think about raw food!’ since his health is precarious. So, I’m going to have to shelve my desire for now, but I love the review and will save it to reference again.
And Cupcake is the cutest little baby kitten; love cow-colored kitties!
Cupcake…that yummy raw meat looks delicious! I’ve never had any thing raw except every now and then I try to sample mom’s fingers. Bravo for a great review
Hugs madi your bfff
Darwin sounds like such an amazing food and it’s so wonderful that Cupcake is enjoying it. I wish this was an option for us but I can barely get Mudpie to give wet food a second glance…if I showed her raw I have a feeling a laugh would come out! I keep telling her I’m going to send her away for awhile so someone can teach her how to eat like a cat 😉
mom needs to do the math, but it may be time to transition….that is a good deal on a trial offer.
This review almost makes TW want to transition me. The problem besides I’m a kitty who bites is that their freezer may not to big enough to store 10 lbs along with all Pop’s ice cream. MOL! We will definitely keep this trial offer in mind.
We wish Darwin were available here ! That sounds like a great food, and it would be so helpful to have “ready-to-eat” raw food to help during busy times ! Purrs
That was such a great review but with this many cats here, I just don’t think it would be possible. But it does sound like good food.
To us, raw food is CheezIts. MOL!
I love hearing about how the other half, cats, react to raw meals! What a great explantion of the product and transitioning process. Go cats!
This intro offer is incredible! I want to feed my cats raw – but it’s a bit too expensive for me normally. Cupcake is a lucky kitten 🙂