# Review: Raw to go



## Janee (May 4, 2008)

Having used Raw4Cats and liking this trouble free method of giving my cats raw meat, I decided to try Raw2Go when Raw4Cats folded.

This is their website: Home

I haven't had deliveries but have gone personally to the shop which is the middle of town but on a one way system. There is parking specifically for customers which is off road (and free).

The owner is extremely helpful, knows her products and remembers you! The 'sausages' of meat are kept in large chest freezers and you can go and pick out exactly what you want.

Payment is by debit card or cash and on the website (I think) by paypal. If, like me, you haven't got paypal and you are used to paying by cc then you will be initially frustrated, but you can set up a payment to her bank account if you bank on-line which is what she suggested for me.

The prices are the same as they were for Raw4Cats and definitely not as expensive as the other raw supplier Darlings.

'Sausages' are 500 gm and are labelled. They are supplied by a DAF supplier. Some are fine ground others are more lumpy. Heart is quite fine ground as is chicken which my cats don't like, but others are quite chunky like the beef and kidney and the rabbit.

I have not had a problem with my cats not eating it apart from the chicken which I knew from past experience wouldn't be acceptable.

The 'sausages' are packed in quite strong plastic bags with a definite flap. So it is easy to defrost in a bowl (and there will be blood liquid) but then you can scoop the meat out of the plastic bag with a spoon. For 3 cats my 'sausage' usually does 2 meals, but I supplement it with Bozita.

Really am quite impressed.


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## Chez87 (Aug 11, 2010)

Thanks very much for this, I've been toying with the idea of buying from Raw to Go for ages!


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## Guest (Sep 16, 2010)

Good to hear good reviews, strangely Billyboysmammy gave me that link earlier and I have been condsidering it with one that Markalam sent to me!
Think for the dogs I am leaning towards the latter


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## hobbs2004 (Mar 12, 2010)

Janee, thanks for the review. I wish that this one and the darlings one by BSH could be combined  Anyhow, I am going to put a link to this review and the Darling one in the raw food thread.


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## Cazzer (Feb 1, 2010)

funny my cats loved the Darlings chicken mince but one won't touch the raw to go one. All other varieties tried so far though are :thumbup:


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## MsMac (Sep 26, 2011)

I've just placed my first order and it will be here on Wed. Can't wait my little ones have been eating chicken wings, liver and kidney so should take to the food ok.


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## Paddypaws (May 4, 2010)

I suppose I shouldn't comment as my information is second hand but.....
A local breeder recently made a fairly big order with Raw2go and although she says some of the minces look quite good and her cats eat them, the rabbit absolutely stank of rotten meat and none of her cats will touch it. When she called the company to complain she was not given any explanation or refund/replacement.
She said the minces were well packaged and arrived fully frozen so the problem is with the meat supply NOT the transport of the frozen product.


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## Aurelia (Apr 29, 2010)

Paddypaws said:


> I suppose I shouldn't comment as my information is second hand but.....
> A local breeder recently made a fairly big order with Raw2go and although she says some of the minces look quite good and her cats eat them, the rabbit absolutely stank of rotten meat and none of her cats will touch it. When she called the company to complain she was not given any explanation or refund/replacement.
> She said the minces were well packaged and arrived fully frozen so the problem is with the meat supply NOT the transport of the frozen product.


It's possible PP that it is a problem with the meat and not transportation of it ... but R2G do not make these minces themselves, they take delivery or collect from DAF, so there are at least 2 transportation's of the minces before it reaches the customer. It's not impossible that the mince partially defrosts on the first transport, only to be re frozen for the second. Kwim?


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## Howlinbob (Jul 25, 2011)

I get the same DAF minces from a local shop here in Sheffield (Real Pet Grub in Hillsborough). I have never had any quality issues myself, and my cats love the chicken, duck, and meaty mix/choice chunks. They have never been that keen on rabbit so I've stopped buying it, got tired of trying to persuade them to eat it. I've never had a smelly/rotten pack (surely I'd have noticed?) The only pack of food I have opened that was absolutely humming was a Felix pouch. It was so bad that OH nearly gagged and pleaded with me to take it outside and feed them in the garden! Since that episode I've stopped buying wet food from supermarkets, and have started ordering from Zooplus, Smilla, Animonda Carny, etc. You don't get a hideous pong when you open their tins.

I get rabbit from Woldsway now. My cats seem to prefer the farmed rabbit to the wild - I think it's got a milder flavour.


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## borderkp (May 13, 2011)

can't comment on cats eating raw to go but i got my 1st order form them a couple of weeks ago and the rabbit i ordered absolutly stinks to high heaven. i would even go as far as to say it is worse than the tripe, it turns my stomach. maybe they have had a bad batch of rabbit


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## Paddypaws (May 4, 2010)

borderkp said:


> can't comment on cats eating raw to go but i got my 1st order form them a couple of weeks ago and the rabbit i ordered absolutly stinks to high heaven. i would even go as far as to say it is worse than the tripe, it turns my stomach. maybe they have had a bad batch of rabbit


Does seem that way. I am feeding quite a lot of raw rabbit at the moment and I can confirm that it has barely any odour.

I take your point Aurelia but I don't think that Raw2go dealt with the complaint in a satisfactory manner. I recently emailed NI about a single tub of mince which smelt off to me......I received a speedy reply and apology, he checked what was left of the batch in the factory and offered to refund or replace the item.
Mind you the DAF minces are Soooo much cheaper than other products on offer so I guess there has to be some compromise!


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## Aurelia (Apr 29, 2010)

Aye, I've said before that I don't think much of R2G  The lady who supplies my DAF minces is very good about returns and what not. She asks us to keep any dodgy ones in the freezer until the next delivery, then they replace or refund on collection. Though I have only had this problem twice in over a year.

My recent order which we collected last week, well the rabbit has been fine. No bad smell whatsoever.


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## borderkp (May 13, 2011)

think i might email leslie at raw to go and explain haow bad the rabbit smells and see what she says. in all fairness though maddie ate the lot and had no ill effects, apart from the stink from bits that got caught in her beard :yikes:


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## Sparkle (Jan 28, 2010)

I used raw to go
Twice
For my dogs. 1st lot was fine second lot was very bone heavy and stank so bad!!! I'm using a different supplier now and the food doesn't smell!


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## kateh8888 (Aug 9, 2011)

Hi Sparkle,

Who do you use now? Up until now I have been using R2G but one of my dogs isn't that keen...he could just be fussy though!

thanks


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## MsMac (Sep 26, 2011)

Howlinbob said:


> I get the same DAF minces from a local shop here in Sheffield (Real Pet Grub in Hillsborough). I have never had any quality issues myself, and my cats love the chicken, duck, and meaty mix/choice chunks. They have never been that keen on rabbit so I've stopped buying it, got tired of trying to persuade them to eat it. I've never had a smelly/rotten pack (surely I'd have noticed?) The only pack of food I have opened that was absolutely humming was a Felix pouch. It was so bad that OH nearly gagged and pleaded with me to take it outside and feed them in the garden! Since that episode I've stopped buying wet food from supermarkets, and have started ordering from Zooplus, Smilla, Animonda Carny, etc. You don't get a hideous pong when you open their tins.
> 
> I get rabbit from Woldsway now. My cats seem to prefer the farmed rabbit to the wild - I think it's got a milder flavour.


Hi Howlinbob

I've started giving my kittens raw and have brought from Raw to Go but so far they only eat the chicken and Turkey. Trinity was sick on the chicken and beef twice and none of the touched the Rabbit so looking for other raw and tin alternative too. Is the Smilla and Animonda Carny good quality foods? Can they be given to kittens of 20wk?

thank you


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## Guest (Oct 4, 2011)

My cats love the mince but trying to get them to eat the liver is like one hand clapping. i think i will have to stick to the chicken livers from tescos. 

How much liver do you feed on top of the minces though? I was thinking 80g a cat per week?

The cats do not like their heart chunks either so i will probably buy it from tescos instead (they like this one aswell) But the minces themselves are a hit.

I do not have a sence of smell so i cannot comment but by the sounds of it im the lucky one haha


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## borderkp (May 13, 2011)

i got a reply from leslie at raw to go, not v satisfied. 
this is her reply

the rabbit meat is very strong smelling, i use it myself, well my animals do! it smells like poo! but is perfectly ok and edible, none of mine have walked away from it. one of the local farmers said it was to do with being seasonal, but i dont know enough to agree or disagree with him. 

well i'm not convinced as everyone else says rabbit doesn't smell that bad....
surely the rabbit would be farmed not wild so seasonal would be irrelevant anyway  might post over on the dog pages as well see what they think


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## gloworm*mushroom (Mar 4, 2011)

What would seasonal have to do with it smelling? Seasonal means you only get in 'in season' which should have no bearing on it being smelly :S

I know a few suppliers do use wild rabbit rather than farmed (darlings for one) which would make sense for it to be seasonal, but not to be smelly... (certainly not to smell like poo!)


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## gskinner123 (Mar 10, 2010)

We buy wild minced, whole carcass rabbit and whilst, like you GW, I can think of no earthly reason why it would smell (or not) according to the season - but it actually sometimes does/doesn't. I guess we go buy it frozen, in semi-bulk about 5 times a year. It seems to range from virtually odourless through to a distinct, very unpleasant (indescribable but definitely not off) pong from batch to batch through the year.

The only thing I could think of is that wild rabbits' diet might be slightly different according to the season... or do they only ever eat grass?


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## gloworm*mushroom (Mar 4, 2011)

Like poo though? I mean don't get me wrong I think a lot of meat in general smells horrible, but not like poo! lol

Rabbits do eat some of their own poo, but thats all the time rather than at certain times. I imagine other than that is just grass and similar things!


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## gskinner123 (Mar 10, 2010)

Nope, nothing like poo  I think people's perception of what something smells like when they can't *quite* describe it is very different, especially when it comes to meat with which some people don't like smell of at the best of times. But poo? Nah. It's really hard to describe the stink though; it's nothing even like an ordinary/strong gamey smell.


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## gloworm*mushroom (Mar 4, 2011)

I know when my boys have veal in particular it smells so metallic to me, even their poo has this very strong 'metallic' scent to me which doesnt really make any sense to me but thats what I can smell. Mostly meat just smells, meaty, to me lmao. my reaction to it varies, sometimes I cant stan it and sometimes it doesnt bother me.


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## gskinner123 (Mar 10, 2010)

Oh right, okay... I was actually going to say it sometimes smelt 'metallic' but thought that was just my personal interpretation lol. I suppose it's the blood. Nice :/


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## borderkp (May 13, 2011)

well i have handled lots of game and know the metalalic smell you mean.. but never handled any that has made me gag and suspect that i was going to see my breakfast again.. we all know that tripe stinks but the rabbit was far far worse.. am thinking i may just thaw out one more packet and if its as bad i might bin it.


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## babycham2002 (Oct 18, 2009)

Sorry I just sneaked over from dog 
I know GS couldnt bear the smell of her rawtogo offal and gave it all to me.


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## Guest (Oct 8, 2011)

Rabbit (buck rabbits mostly) can smell very musky and it put me off eating it, it's a strange smell and it is unpleasent but natural and I wonder if that is why the rabbit food smells odd.


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## simplysardonic (Sep 1, 2009)

GreyHare said:


> Rabbit (buck rabbits mostly) can smell very musky and it put me off eating it, it's a strange smell and it is unpleasent but natural and I wonder if that is why the rabbit food smells odd.


I used to enjoy rabbit when I ate meat, until the day I witnessed a friend gutting about 20 of them, the smell was something else wasn't able to eat it again after that


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## borderkp (May 13, 2011)

babycham2002 said:


> Sorry I just sneaked over from dog
> I know GS couldnt bear the smell of her rawtogo offal and gave it all to me.


i have got the choice chunks which to me just smells meaty. i can handle kidneys and liver until i try to make it into liver cake then it just makes me gag lol

at least a few other have said that they have smelt stinky rabbit.. made me think i was imagining it..


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## cheebum38 (Jul 5, 2012)

Hi everyone,

As a fellow dog lover i felt it was vitally important to warn you about ordering food from Raw to Go.

At first i was delighted that i could access cheap bone in meat products for my dogs, and the variety was excellent. However, after my first delivery, i noticed that the meat had already started to thaw and it stank. One of my dogs turned her nose up at some of it which is unheard of, she is a greedy one :biggrin: but i didnt give it too much thought.

My second delivery arrived and still was thawing even though i complained about it not being packed in ice last time (to no avail). But the worst bit about this? when i opened the sealed box, in my house, about 8-10 blue bottles flew out and some were crawling inside the box - it was like a horror movie and freaked me out. So, there had been maggots inside my sealed box, but how could that be? i complained to leslie and was extremely disappointed with her attitude. i will not post it on here but she was unsympathetic to say the least and quite rude. She tried to make out i was lying i think. After speaking with the guy at Woldsway foods (whom i would sincerely recommend) i realised that it must have happened at the packing process, where hygeine it seems has been lacking. Also god knows how many times it has thawed and been frozen again, which would maybe explain the smell of rotten meat. I knew it was awful cheap, i guess you get what you pay for eh?


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## kateh8888 (Aug 9, 2011)

Used Raw to Go several times and was always happy with service.


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## anotheruser (Aug 17, 2011)

They seem to have mixed reviews so it seems pot luck.
If you're based in the East (Lincolnshire/Grimsby/Peterborough/Nottingham but NOT Leicester/Derby) try lincspets.co.uk or Bristol area raw2paw.co.uk as alternative suppliers of the DAF meats.
Unfortunately the former no longer delivered to my area and the latter couldn't as there was no other orders for that area. Shame, but I can't work with an un-reliable suppler.

I recently ordered a load of meats (well, about 30 packs) from Raw2Go.


The beef and heart made my kitties sick.
They ate the chicken once, but not again.
The pheasant goes down well.
Tripe gets a strange look and that's it.
The pheasant also had a bullet/metal ball still in it. Luckily the kitties left this.

Mine arrived in small clear plastic bags. However I didn't get any labels as such, they had some markings scribbled on the bags such as PH (pheasant), B&H (beed and heart), CH (chicken), but some of them are indistinguishable as any sort of flavour so it is difficult to tell what it is.

PROS:

Raw meat.
Some suppliers are half the price of tinned foods.

CONS:

Extra effort to supplement with taurine.
Raw, bloody meat = not good in the early morning.
Cats are picky with some flavours.
Increased risk of infections/rotting meat.

The other problem I see is that the kitties don't seem to want to eat it as much. Botiza get's hungrily eaten and bowls licked. Raw simply doesn't have that effect. I feed them less of it but they are then hungry in the day. While I didn't expect them to gobble it down straight away, I guess I expected a bit more excitement than what I got. All in all I'll be finishing up this batch and not looking to order any more. I am tempted to give Natural Instinct a go but at twice the price as tinned food and nearly four times as expensive as Raw2Go / Raw2Paw, I don't think it'll be sustainable.

Also, please *remember not to bother with the trial pack*. It's more expensive to order it than picking out different meats yourselves. If you don't believe me, do the math 



borderkp said:


> i got a reply from leslie at raw to go, not v satisfied.
> 
> _the rabbit meat is very strong smelling, i use it myself, well my animals do! it smells like poo! but is perfectly ok and edible, none of mine have walked away from it. one of the local farmers said it was to do with being seasonal, but i dont know enough to agree or disagree with him._
> 
> well i'm not convinced as everyone else says rabbit doesn't smell that bad....


While I do agree with you somewhat, not _everyone_ says their rabbit is okay. Plus, if your cat ate it and was fine. . . Maybe give it another go with a different batch or supplier?

On a side note, I also find the emails rather unprofessional. But then if it's just a single lady running the whole thing out of a barn door (so to speak), then I wouldn't expect "corporatism".


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## Cookieandme (Dec 29, 2011)

Any company large or small should communicate and treat their customers in a professional, courteous manner.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

anotheruser said:


> > The other problem I see is that the kitties don't seem to want to eat it as much. Botiza get's hungrily eaten and bowls licked. Raw simply doesn't have that effect. I feed them less of it but they are then hungry in the day. While I didn't expect them to gobble it down straight away, I guess I expected a bit more excitement than what I got.
> 
> 
> I was interested to read your observation, as I found the same with my 3 young cats when I tried them with raw. Two of them ate half a portion without enthusiasm, almost under sufferance, then spent the rest of the day crying because they were hungry. I offered more raw but it was
> ...


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## Austin (May 19, 2011)

Wow. Seems like I should stick with Woldsway, then! Great service, great products, 2 thumbs up from me.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

Woldsway are brilliant I agree! Their meat always looks and smells fresh. Well worth the extra cost.


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## Paddypaws (May 4, 2010)

I have never ever heard a negative comment about either the service or the products from Woldsway.


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## anotheruser (Aug 17, 2011)

chillminx said:


> I love to feed my cats good quality food and to see them tucking in with enthusiasm, so can't really see the point of making them and myself stressed/unhappy trying to persuade them to eat raw when they don't want it. So am going to give up on the raw and continue with the diet they love and which is keeping them in excellent health, and that is a combination of homecooked and canned.


This is me.

Like I say, they enjoy the pheasant like it is Botiza. They ate the lamb yesterday fine, but this morning it was a no go. Strange as this is the first time they have ever made a fuss over what I am feeding them. I'll try on the remaining beef (just in case), but will probably just dump the rest.

They have only ever "gone wild" at fresh chicken breast, which I guess at Smart Price prices, is doable a couple of times a week.

Woldsway and NI minces are a little too expensive for me to feed, although I may try with them and see. However seeing how they are now puts me off loads.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

Very recently I tried my cats with the Woldsway bone-in raw rabbit mince for the first time. 2 of them went wild for it, and polished their plates (the other one wasn't interested). 

The trouble was they were not satisfied with a normal sized portion and kept demanding more. The frequent demands for more went on all day long, and each raw meal I found I was giving them a bit more on their plates in order to try and keep them satisfied, and stop the plaintive cries. By the end of the day they were both really heavy! And still heavy next day too! If I were to feed them raw full time I know they would end up overweight. So this is one reason why full time raw meat won't work for my cats.

It is a mystery why raw food should be so much less satisfying for them than cooked. But now I know 2 of them love the rabbit mince I will continue to feed it once or twice a week to them as a treat, and that's as far as it'll go.


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## Yazman (Jan 29, 2016)

Quick question! 

I just got my first order delivered from this company! I thought it would be a good supplement in the variety of flavours compared to the standard home made chicken raw food at home. 

However, when making home made food I've had to add supplements including taurine, vitamin E, salmon oil and iodine.

Do I still need to mix that to the raw cat food I've bought online?

I would appreciate your ideas on this.

Thanks


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## Ceiling Kitty (Mar 7, 2010)

Yazman said:


> Quick question!
> 
> I just got my first order delivered from this company! I thought it would be a good supplement in the variety of flavours compared to the standard home made chicken raw food at home.
> 
> ...


You might be best speaking to the company; they should be able to advise.


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## Paddypaws (May 4, 2010)

I think you would have to add supplements as the product contains none. There have also been concerns about freshness of meat and correct details about bone content from some suppliers so dive aware.


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