With Guest Muddy Sarah Nordstrom
Healthy Cats | April 15, 2025
Folks who provide their pets with a strictly kibble diet often ask about the extra time required to feed frozen raw foods or supplements. While there is a little extra measuring involved, some advanced planning can make mealtimes easier. Many people who feed raw food or supplements find that doing a little extra food prep on the weekend can make mealtimes as simple as opening a container and giving it to your dog or cat.
To find out more, we talked to Mud Bay Data Quality Specialist Sarah Nordstrom, who began her Mud Bay career at the Gig Harbor store. She has gained a lot of her raw food expertise from feeding her own cats, Roscoe and Rocket. Spending time experimenting in her kitchen, she discovered lots of ways to save time while minimizing mess.
SN: A lot of people buy nuggets or medallions of raw food because it’s easier to measure and portion. But if you find a food that you love that isn’t sold in a preportioned form, or you want to save money by buying raw food in a chub or tub, feeding frozen raw food can seem like more work.
So, I like to prepare my cats’ food ahead of time. Right now, I’ll prepare about a week’s worth of meals at a time for my two cats. There was a time where I had enough freezer space to do raw food prep once every three weeks!
For me, raw food prep is really simple. I have plastic food service containers that I’ll use. I just weigh the right amount of raw food with my kitchen scale, and then place all the filled food containers in the freezer. Then I’ll take frozen containers of food out of the freezer the day before I need them and defrost them in the refrigerator.
I usually take the food out of the freezer anywhere from 12 to 24 hours before I’m going to feed it to my cats. My cats are small, so they only eat between three and four ounces per day. That’s a small enough amount that it only takes a few hours to defrost. I also feed my cats three times a day because it works with my routine, so after the last meal of the day, I put the meals for the next day into the refrigerator to defrost.
You can save a ton of time by doing all of your food prep on the weekend, instead of trying to measure out raw food several times a day before every meal. Not only do you save time measuring, but it’s easier because you only have to clean utensils and the counter space once after dividing the raw food.
SN: Supplements can add extra time to mealtimes if you do it every day or at every single meal. Once again, if you prepare meals ahead of time, you can just include the supplements in the container with the food. Then, all you have to do is defrost the food and remove the lid before giving it to your dog or cat.
If you aren’t prepping your food ahead of time, you can still premeasure your supplements using this method. If they don’t want to do that, they can do what I do. I use silicone baking molds to mix the supplements with some of the raw frozen food that I use. Most recently, I’ve switched to mixing the supplements with bone broth.
I currently use a powdered digestive supplement and a dental supplement for both of my cats. So, I’ll add a single serving of supplements into every well of my baking mold and then add some bone broth. After I mix it up with a toothpick, I’ll freeze the mold until the nuggets are solid. Then I’ll pop out the frozen bone broth and store them in a plastic bag in my freezer.
Then, once a day, I can add one nugget to each of my cats’ food to defrost with the rest of the meal while the entire meal is defrosting.
SN: Sometimes freezing supplements can also help avoid spoilage and other problems. When my cats were younger, one of them was having some problems with the consistency of his stool. So, I started giving him a pumpkin supplement to help alleviate that problem. At the time Mud Bay only stocked a large can, and it actually ended up being a month’s worth of supplementation for my little 10-pound cat.
So, I plopped teaspoon amounts of pumpkin onto a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat. (You can also use foil, but I like the silicone mat for reducing waste.) Then, after the pumpkin was frozen, I just put the nuggets in a plastic bag. That way, I didn’t have to worry about the pumpkin going bad over the course of a month. Freezing the pumpkin was actually the idea that started me on freezing different supplements. And once again, such a small nugget defrosted quickly on top of my cat’s regular food.
SN: Getting fish oil into a frozen supplement nugget is tough. Because the oil has a very low melting temperature, it’s hard to keep fish oil frozen. So, when I tried to mix fish oil into my bone broth supplement nuggets, it just really didn’t work well. The moment I took those out of the freezer, the oil had already begun to melt. I didn’t even get a chance to pop them all out of the molds. So, right now, if you look into my freezer, you’ll still see a bag of nuggets where the bag is covered in fish oil.
However, I’ve found that if you do want to freeze fish oil, you can just create little supplement nuggets with the raw food that you use. If you mix the fish oil and other supplements into some raw food in a silicone baking mold, the raw food holds the fish oil just fine.
Sarah Nordstrom is Mud Bay’s Data Quality Specialist. When she’s not working, she’s off hiking or spending quality time with her husband, 2 kids, and 2 cats, Rocket and Roscoe.
It’s never a bad time to chill. 🧘♀️ 🐾
🍨
Swell`s My Chill Time Premium Dog Gelato is made with functional ingredients like chamomile and passion flower tea, which help your pup stay cool, calm, and collected when summer activities makes thier day-to-day a little more stressful. Plus, it includes blackberries, 🥥 coconut milk, ginger, beets, and 🍯 🐝 honey, which are great for digestion and antioxidant support.
🐕
Swell Premium Dog Gelato is not only a tasty treat on a hot summer day, but it also helps keep your pup living their best life and staying CHILL. Shop My Chill Time from Swell in-store or online at Mud Bay this summer. 🌞
#mudbay #swelldoggelato #swell #dogs #chill
Adventure-ready and made for the water, the Ruffwear Float Coat helps keep your dog comfortable during every swim.
🌊 🛶 🐕 ☀️
The Float Coat offers a secure, telescoping neck closure that adjusts to fit a variety of dog sizes, while the lightweight foam panels support natural movement and buoyancy in the water, keeping them comfortable and safe.
🌊 🛶 🐕 ☀️
Plus, it offers a super handy, low-profile handle that makes it easy to lift your pup out of the water, and reflective accents that add extra visibility for long days at the lake, beach, or river.
🐾 🛍️
Bring your pup in-store or shop with us online for the Ruffwear Float coat today!
#mudbay #summer #adventures #ruffwear #doglife
🌞 🎆 🎉 Summer brings celebrations, late nights, travel and events that can leave your pets feeling uneasy.
🐈 🐕
Mud Bay is here to help, offering products that bring calm and comfort to your cat or dog when things get noisy.
🐈 🐕
We carry calming collars, tinctures, treats, and pheromones to help your pets handle everything summer brings—Shop Mud Bay in-store or online to find the right calmatives for your pets.
#mudbay #summer #keepcalm #healthypets #calming
Fluff & Tuff`s #IGIVEAFLUFF is Coming Soon!
🐾
Starting June 8th, National Best Friends Day, our friends at Fluff & Tuff are once again kicking off #IGiveAFluff to help put toys in the paws of shelter and rescue dogs who need them most.
🐾
And we want you to be a part of it, and it couldn`t be easier to participate!
Here`s how it works:
📸 Snap a photo of your dog with their favorite Fluff & Tuff toy.
📱 Share it on social media using #IGiveAFluff.
🐾 Fluff & Tuff donates a toy to a shelter or rescue dog.
🐾
Since 2015, with the support of pet parents like you and the generosity of Fluff & Tuff, over 22,000 toys have been donated to shelters and rescue dogs. Want to participate, but you need a Fluff & Tuff toy? Take a tip from Frank and stop by your local Mud Bay or visit us online. Click the link in our bio to learn more about #IGIVEAFLUFF
Canagan canned cat food is grain-free and made with your cat in mind, using high-quality protein from chicken, salmon, tuna, and more.
😻
It’s inspired by what cats are naturally built to eat, with a focus on animal protein and no artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives.
🐈
It’s also an easy way to add moisture to your cat’s routine—something many cats don’t get enough of—which can help support your feline friend with kidney and urinary-tract health.
🐈
🛍️ Shop Canagan Complete Cat Food in-store or online at Mud Bay.
Summer is coming, so be like Goose 🐕 and stay cool 😎 ❄️ on every outing with the Swamp Cooler Harness from Ruffwear.
🧊
Whether she’s out on a trail or enjoying a long walk or run, this harness is built for warm-weather adventures, offering cooling comfort and secure control in one breathable design.
🌞
Shop in-store or online at Mud Bay.
#mudbay #adventures #pnw #dog #summeriscoming
Mud Bay Memorial Day Hours ⏰
🐈 🐕
Today, Monday, May 25, all Mud Bay locations will be open from 10 am to 6 pm.
🐈 🐕
Delivery orders placed after 2 pm on Sunday will arrive on Tuesday. Store pickup and Instacart will still be available. 🐈 🐕 🚚
#mudbay #holidayhours #healthypets #mudbaydelivery #pets
🐾🌷The Ruffwear Front Range Flex Collection
🐕
Meet Harley, out in the tulip fields and ready for her next outing in the Front Range Flex Harness, Collar, and Leash.
🌷
Whether it’s a walk through the neighborhood or your next PNW adventure, this collection is designed for everyday use and changing conditions:
🐾
Lightweight and built to handle wet conditions
Easy to clean, just hand-wash and air-dry
Made with durable materials for every outing
🌷
Harley picked her look… now it’s your turn.
🐾
The Ruffwear Front Range Flex Collection is now available at Mud Bay. Shop in-store or online today!
#mudbay #ruffwear #adventure #dogwalk #pnwdogs
This cheese-flavored 🧀 💊 pill wrap helps make giving medicine easier for both dogs and cats. 🐕 🐈 Simply tear, wrap, and serve. It’s quick and mess-free.
🐾
The soft texture can be torn to fit any pill, and the cheese flavor makes each dose easier to give. Now with pumpkin, and always free from grain, gluten, and soy.
🐾
Stashio’s is a woman-owned company from Minnesota that creates simple solutions for daily pet care.
🐾
You can find Stashio’s wrap-ups at Mud Bay, both in-store and online.
#mudbay #stashios #wrapup #healthypets #pnwpets
Let your dog relax 💆 and unwind with a Puptail.
🌞
After a walk, run, hike, or just because, this brunch-inspired Puptail is a fun way to help your pup slow down and take it easy. It’s easy to make and flexible, so you can mix and match to make it your own.
🐾
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp Green Juju Golden Blend
- 1 tbsp blueberries
- 1 tbsp banana slices
- 1/2 cup Primal Raw Goat’s Milk Cranberry Blast
- Swell Dog Gelato Banana and Peanut Butter (for topping)
- Wagster Banana and Toasted Coconut Biscuits
- Green Juju Freeze Dried Vitality Blend
- Furvor Concentrated Beef Bone Broth (for ice cubes)
🐾
Optional Extras 🐕 🐶
Blueberry and bone broth ice cubes
Wag and Bright Supply Co. Spirulina and Beef Collagen dog chew
🌞
Directions
1. Add Green Juju Golden Blend as your base
2. Layer in blueberries and banana slices
3. Pour in goat’s milk between layers
4. Repeat layers as desired, then freeze or serve as is
5. Top with gelato, biscuits, and freeze-dried blend
6. Add ice cubes and extras for a cool finish
#mudbay #treatyoself #pup #summeriscoming #puptail
Furvor bone broth is made with 100% human-grade ingredients and is up to 30 times more concentrated than regular broths. It provides protein, collagen, amino acids, and important nutrients to help your dog’s gut, joints, skin, coat, and overall health.
🐕
The 20 oz bottle provides more than 20 servings, making it an easy way to add beneficial nutrition to your dog’s daily routine at home.
🐕
If you’re out and about, Furvor’s single-serve pouches will help keep your dog hydrated, with a pep in their step wherever you go. They’re great for summer, hikes, walks, or days by the water.
🐕
Just tear open, squeeze, and serve. You can mix it with water, pour it over kibble, or give it on its own. You can buy them one at a time or in a pack of six.
🐕
Shop Furvor Bone Broth in-store or online today! 🛍️ 🐾
#mudbay #furvor #healthypets #pnwpets #bonebroth
Capstar Oral Flea & Tick Treatment
🐾When fleas show up, it helps to act quickly. Capstar is an easy-to-use oral treatment that starts working in about 30 minutes and can kill most fleas within the first few hours. It’s a simple way to bring fast relief and can be used alongside your dog’s regular flea and tick routine.
🐕
Vetality Flea & Tick Monthly Topical Treatment
🐾 For ongoing protection, Vetality Avantect offers vet-quality coverage at a great value.
🐾
These broad-spectrum topicals kill and repel fleas, flea eggs, ticks, and mosquitoes, while also targeting all stages of the flea life cycle. It also helps repel biting flies and kill lice. Available in four weight ranges and a four-month supply for continued protection.
🐕
🛍️ Shop in-store or online today.
#mudbay #fleaandtickseason #healthypets #dogs #fleafree
