Nature’s Variety Instinct (Dry)

by Mike Sagman
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Rating: ★★★★★

Nature’s Variety Instinct dry dog food earns the Advisor’s highest rating of 5 stars.

The Nature’s Variety Instinct product line includes five dry dog foods… each meeting AAFCO nutrient profiles for all life stages.

  • Nature’s Variety Instinct Rabbit Meal Formula
  • Nature’s Variety Instinct Salmon Meal Formula
  • Nature’s Variety Instinct Chicken Meal Formula
  • Nature’s Variety Instinct Beef Meal and Lamb Meal Formula
  • Nature’s Variety Instinct Duck Meal and Turkey Meal Formula

Nature’s Variety’s Instinct Duck Meal and Turkey Meal Formula was selected to represent the others in the line for this review.

Nature's Variety Instinct Duck Meal and Turkey Meal

Dry Dog Food

Estimated Dry Matter Nutrient Content

Protein = 39% | Fat = 24% | Carbs = 29%

Ingredients: Duck meal, turkey meal, salmon meal, tapioca, canola oil, tomato pomace, pumpkinseeds, herring meal, sun-cured alfalfa meal, montmorillonite clay, natural flavor, vitamins (choline chloride, vitamin E supplement, ascorbic acid, biotin, niacin supplement, vitamin A acetate, d-calcium pantothenate, riboflavin supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamine mononitrate, vitamin B12 supplement, carotene, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid), potassium chloride, minerals (zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, sodium selenite, ethylenediamine dihydriodide), sea salt, dried kelp, peas, cranberries, blueberries, direct-fed microorganisms (Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast culture, dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried Aspergillus niger fermentation extract, dried Trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, dried Bacillus subtilis fermentation extract), inulin, mixed tocopherols with citric acid (a natural preservative), rosemary extract, freeze dried turkey, freeze dried turkey liver, freeze dried turkey heart, freeze dried ground turkey bone

Fiber (estimated dry matter content) = 3.9%

Red items when present indicate controversial ingredients

The first two items in this food are duck meal and turkey meal. Duck and turkey meals are both considered meat concentrates and contain nearly 300% more protein than fresh chicken.

The third ingredient is salmon meal… another high-protein meat concentrate.

Unlike most fish meals, this item appears to be ethoxyquin-free.1

The fourth ingredient is tapioca. Tapioca is a natural extract made from the root of the cassava plant. It is a starchy carbohydrate that is not only grain-free… but also gluten-free.

Tapioca is mainly used as a binder to hold all the other ingredients together during the cooking process.

The fifth item is canola oil. Most applaud canola for its favorable omega-3 content… while a vocal minority condemn it as an unhealthy fat.

Current thinking (ours included) finds the negative stories about canola oil more the stuff of urban legend than actual science.2

Tomato pomace is a controversial ingredient… a by-product left after processing tomatoes into juice, soup and ketchup.

Many praise tomato pomace for its high fiber and nutrient content… while others scorn it as a cheap pet food filler laden with pesticides found on the skin of the tomato before processing.

Just the same, there’s probably not enough tomato pomace here to make much of a difference.

The seventh ingredient lists pumpkin seeds. Pumpkin seeds are rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals and, more importantly, linoleic acid… an essential omega-6 fat.

Herring meal is yet another source of concentrated protein.

From here, the list goes on to include a number of other items.

But to be realistic, ingredients located this far down the list (other than nutritional supplements) are not likely to have much of an effect on the overall quality of this product.

With three notable exceptions…

First, Instinct contains montmorillonite… a naturally occurring clay rich in numerous minerals. Montmorillonite has been approved for use in USDA Organic Certified products.

Reported benefits include the binding of certain mold-based toxins and even controlling diarrhea.

Next, the manufacturer appears to have applied friendly bacteria to the surface of the kibble after cooking. These special probiotics are used to enhance a dog’s digestive and immune functions.

And lastly, this food also contains chelated minerals… minerals that have been chemically attached to amino acids. This makes them easier to absorb. Chelated minerals are generally found in better dog foods.

Nature’s Variety Instinct Dry Dog Food
The Bottom Line

Based on the quality of these ingredients, it’s easy to see Nature’s Variety Instinct Dog Food is an exceptional kibble.

Just the same, we still must study the label’s nutrient percentages before we determine a final rating.

The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 39%, a fat level of 24% and an estimated carbohydrate content of 29%.

As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 39% and a mean fat level of 23%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 30% for the overall product line.

Above-average protein. Above-average fat. And below carbs when compared to a typical dry dog food.

Free of any plant-based protein boosters, this looks like the profile of a kibble containing an abundance of meat.

When you also consider its lack of any critical Red Flag items, it becomes obvious we’re evaluating an exceptional dry food.

Bottom line?

Nature’s Variety Instinct is a grain-free kibble using an abundance of meat and poultry meals as its main sources of animal protein… thus earning the brand five stars.

Enthusiastically recommended.

Those looking for a top-level grain-free wet product may want to check-out our review of Nature’s Variety Instinct Canned Dog Food.

See a recap of all the product lines made by this company when you visit our summary page… Nature’s Variety Dog Food Reviews.

A Final Word

This review is designed to help you make a more informed decision when buying dog food. However, our rating system is not intended to suggest feeding a particular product will result in a specific health benefit for your pet.

For a better understanding of how we analyzed this product, please be sure to read our article, “The Problem with Dog Food Reviews”

Remember, no dog food can possibly be appropriate for every life stage, lifestyle or health condition. So, choose wisely. And when in doubt consult a veterinarian for help.

Have an opinion about this dog food brand… or maybe the review itself? Please know… we welcome your comments.

Notes

11/03/2009 Original review
05/12/2010 Review updated
09/05/2010 Review updated (new recipe)
01/26/2011 Review updated (added Beef Recipe)
03/21/2011 Review updated (added Salmon Recipe

  1. Nature’s Variety FAQ, 5/12/2010 ↩
  2. Mikkelson, B and DP, Oil of Ole, Urban Legends Reference Pages (2005) ↩
Dog Food Advisor IconThe Dog Food Advisor publishes independent reviews to help pet owners make better choices when shopping for dog food.


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  • Mike P

    jrose I agree with you on this food. I am half way done with my Boxers first bag of Instinct chicken. She is doing great.

  • jrose

    Anytime anyone asks me what brand of food I feed my shepherd, I enthusiastically respond with Natures Variety Instinct, the Turkey and Duck formula. My shepherd suffers from food and environmental allergies, as well as having a very sensitive stomach that makes him prone to vomiting and diarrhea when given something that he cannot tolerate. Since finding Natures Variety about a year ago now, his allergy symptoms have reduced dramatically and continue to improve. I supplement his dry kibble with raw food every once in a while as well as with salmon oil and coconut oil. I am happy that he is able to stomach this food and hold a healthy weight with it. I like the high protein count for him, and it is the best food I have found. I recommend this food without reservation to anyone who hasn’t found that ‘perfect’ food just yet. 

  • sandy

    You can always add digestive enzymes to help with digestion.  They contain lipase to help breakdown fats and other enzymes to help break down carbs and proteins so the pancreas does not have to do all the work.

    http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/digestive-enzymes-for-pet.aspx

  • Mataviam

    I’ve used the Duck And Turkey meal formula with my Yorkshire terrier several times but when other yorkie moms started telling me that the fat percentage could be too high I got really worried because yorkies are prone to pancrea problems. Thats the only thing that worries me about this food. But I saw on another site that this food was reccommended for yorkies growing out a show coat. So I’m confused can anyone help?

  • Mike P

    Kevin when I started with grain free for my dog I set the bar at 2 1/2 cups a day.She is 70 lbs and quickly went to 74 lbs. I rotate about 5 diff brands and started feeding 2 cups no matter which one i fed.Finally I settled at 1 1/2 cups and am now feeding NVI Chicken and she is back to her 70 lbs.1 1/2 cups is waay below what they recommend and she is very active.I guess it depends on the dog.I also add lots of extras so that is prob why the lower amount fed.It was trial and error for us.

  • Kevin McCormack

    First, this is a wonderful dog food and I feed all varieties to my 4 Flat-Coated Retrievers, one of which is a 3 month old puppy, and they LOVE it.

    My concern is with the feeding guidelines. The chart on the bag and their online Feeding Guide (http://www.naturesvariety.com/feedguide) have, in some cases, very large discrepancies in the recommended feeding.

    I wrote several emails to the company and was never really satisfied with their reply. In comparing the bag chart to the online guide, using similar criteria, the recommendation differed by a full cup or more on a daily basis in some cases. I was told that the online guide is more accurate (which it may be), but when I stated that most dog owners use the bag chart, I was finally told to check with my vet. 

    While I would check with my vet anyway, the fact that probably 80% of owners use the bag, and they admit that its not as accurate as the online chart – a company as well respected as Nature’s Variety should make sure the two charts match as much as possible.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jcassell17 Jodi Cassell

    Chrissy, there are some limited ingredient dog foods that you may want to try to rule out other allergies.  A good pet store should help you find these – mine mentioned one, but I can’t remember – it was high quality though.  I’ll try to check with them when I go back for more food.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jcassell17 Jodi Cassell

    I also like that they have so many flavors because I think my guys deserve some variety.  I also may alternate with Orijen or others at times to give even more variety (if the don’t produce the extreme gas I was seeing).  Just wanted to give the review.  Also poohs are more solid, which is good.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jcassell17 Jodi Cassell

    Update from 12/14 – both of my young (around 1 year old) vizslas are doing GREAT on this food.  I still supplement with wet food (5 star as well) because 1 is a picky eater and can get really thin.  They are thin dogs anyway, but he was too thin.  Anyway – the extreme gas they were having when I was using a mix of artemis, royal canin (cause mr picky liked it), and Orijen had ceased!  I don’t really know if that was due to the fact that I was using puppy foods (switched to adult since the second dog turned 1 year) which tend to be richer, or due to one of the foods, but it was bad!  They seem to like the food & are doing well and look great.  Natures variety also sells some great biscuits (costco) and at our local pet store where we get the food, they sell different forms of raw food including some that is great for hiking and backpacking.  My boys don’t have a lot of fat, so I need to make sure I have good snacks for our longer hikes.

  • Toxed2loss

    Hi Chrissy, 
    Sorry to hear about Daisy!!!

    Parasites are naturally occurring and in healthy bodies, the immune system keeps them in check. So your pugs problems were not caused by the parasites, the parasites were indicative of a more system problem. It is entirely possible to treat fleas, ticks and parasites without pesticides. in fact I’m a little surprised that your vet used Interceptor, that is generally a heart worm med. But its still a poison. It kills worms by interfering with neural signalling. It is a neurotoxin and lists these side effects: vomiting, depression, diarrhea, drooling, staggering, weakness, and seizures. 

    So, internal parasites can be treated with a number of natural remedies. Shawna, is the best source on that. She may come along and give you better answer. But I learned from her to use garlic and separately, puréed pumpkin. Whipworms are ingested so frequent cleaning of food and water bowls helps. As well as them not drinking out of puddles, licking shoes, etc. the eggs are in the soil.

    Fleas and ticks are easy. They hate lavender, mint or rosemary. Dr. Bronner’s makes two of those in Castile soaps, which allows a safer, effective flea and tick control. The mint one makes an excellent mosquito repellent, (as a spray when mixed with water) so prevents Heartworm as well. Mercola has a similar flea and tick repellent spray. And repellent is better than poison. A flea or tick could still bite and transfer disease before it died of a poison. A repellent makes them look else where for a meal in the first place.  The next thing is to interrupt the flea life cycle. You can look through my old posts here or use the search engine for my post about it on healthypets (dot) mercola( dot )com.  I’ve posted it in both places. :-)

  • Chrissy

    Does the flea and tick from Mercola help against whip worms? I am asking because we just had to move the pugs over to interceptor…Daisy who passed away during her second liver shunt surgery was also diagnosed with a parasite in her liver. We ran a fecal right before her second surgery….we never heard anything and I called to asked and we were told she had whipworms….which we were then told that this was not the parasite found on her liver biopsy, so she indeed had two parasites going on. We will never know what that second one is, but we were then told to get all the pugs onto something that would protect against whip worms. Butch has had his skin issues way before this and that was prior to us using flea and tick prevention of this nature.
    I am curious what options there are out there for this sort of a thing?
    Thanks for the advice! I appreciate it!

  • Toxed2loss

    Chrissy,
    I think you’re right eliminating potatoes is a good call. Have you eliminated pesticide flea, tick and worm Meds? Bumps on the skin are the bodies attempt to eliminate toxins from the tissue. They move them to the pores to sweat them out. Unfortunately if the toxic load is high, they clog up and you get bumps. So hop over to healthypets. Mercola and look up non-toxic flea and tick control.
    :-) That will improve your pups overall health since pesticides are poison, and if your applying pesticide to poison fleas and ticks, you’re poisoning the dog as well. :-0

  • Chrissy

    Hello! I have been on here to a few different foods….I have been trying to find one for my pugs skin issues, which seem to be helped by Darford and NV Instinct. I think it is yeast not fleas, and the potatoes in the other foods are the culprits…well, rice, potatoes, anything that can bring on yeast oatmeal, etc. These two foods are potato free. We also have adopted a new little girl with horrible joint and orthopedic problems. The vet wanted her on Hills J/D, but I am hearing from many that this will not help her in any way. We were thinking that she may benefit from his foods as well?
    We also saw that the Dogswell Nutrisca has a potato free line? Not sure out of these three, which one would be a better pick for those two. We can feed our other two the other grain free lines we have at the house…which is Natural Balance Venison right now. We moved Butch over to that thinking he may have had fleas and could switch over, but clearly he needs to be on one of the above foods. His skin problems came back. Thank you for your help!

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  • Anonymous

    I have a 13 month old Great Dane.  Right now I have him on Nutri Source Large Breed Puppy Dry.  What I am wondering is if this food is good for a Giant breed like the dane.  I am looking at feeding him the Duck and Turkey meal or should I go with a different type of food.  I was also looking at the Blue Buffalo Wilderness Duck or the Blue Buffalo Wilderness Large Breed Chicken.  I will probably be switching him an another 4-6 months so just wanted to get some opinions.
    Thanks

  • momster

    In regards to the montmorillonite in NV dog foods.  It seems very high up on the ingredients list, way before the fruits and veggies.  How much “clay” is needed to provide the needed benefit.  Seems excessive.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jcassell17 Jodi Cassell

    Hi Mike, Just wanted to say thanks for all the excellent information.  I just took you kibble list to our local pet store (Pet Department Store in Sacramento – it’s awesome) and they highly recommended this food, so I’m trying it our for my two vizslas (both around 1 year – this will be their first time off puppy food).  They love their duck jerky treats, so I decided to try the duck and turkey.  I’ll let everyone know how it goes. I have one that is thin and incredibly picky, so I mix a can of wet food in with their food in the evening so that he will eat enough (got the blue buffalo because it was a good price and got a five star rating too).  Thanks again – happy holidays all!

  • http://BrothersComplete.com Richard Darlington

    Monkey
    For some time now we’ve been having trouble with the Great Life Salmon in the store with customers bringing it back with a white coating on it – some have complained the fat was going rancid or it didn’t smell right. They have recently (in the last few months I think) changed the formula so perhaps they have done something to address the white coating problem.

  • monkey

    Yeah, i think it would be better if the food were fresh. Especially since it is freeze dried. I don’t know where you live but there isn’t a big difference in price, i think from Great Life its a few dollars more. If she does well on it and we buy again then im going to call a couple local places that have it and ask for dates. If they’re old ill probably order from Great Lifes website that time.

    I emailed them last night, if i don’t hear back before tomorrow night ill probably call real fast. It is sad though that you can’t even tell what meat you’re feeding with kibble.

    Maybe its the chia seed that turns the kibble dark?

  • sandy

    Are you going to email them and ask about the color?

  • sandy

    I ordered from Petflow.  I was wondering what your thoughts were on ordering.  What do you think is better?  Ordering from Great Life or another online store?  Do you think you would get a fresher product direct from them?

  • monkey

    OK cool. Did you order directly from Great Life or what?

  • sandy

    It’s scheduled to be sent 12/14.

  • sandy

    It’s scheduled to be delivered next week.  I’ll get back to you on that on the Great Life page.  I remember when I first used TOTW Pacific Stream before the last reformulation, it was almost black too.

  • monkey

    Sandy, have you opened up any of your Great Life bags yet? My salmon formula is seriously black. Almost seems like its their Buffalo kibble.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=60601353 Regan Radtke

    Thanks Sandy!
    I’ll re-introduce it slowly as I ween him of chicken n’ rice and give it some more time before calling it quits.  I suppose the switch to tapioca is a big one – and he’s never had raw anything, so the freeze dried coating might take some getting used to.  

  • sandy

    If it disagrees with her too much, just go back to her previous food that she does well on.  If the store doesn’t take the food back, just mix it in just a little to the food she does do well on.  Give her some canned pumpkin to help make the stools more solid and cut back on the serving size.

  • Valsaw

    My dog is about 8 years old, Australian Shepard/Husky mix. She has had many different dog foods in her life and none of which have ever upset her stomach or irritated her bowl habits. I recently switched her to Natures Variety, Instinct Salmon Meal (Dry) and she has had TERRIBLE gas and bowel movement. She struggles to pass her stool and when she does its very soft/diarrhea. It was so bad the other night she had an accident on the carpet for the first time in at least 7 years…

    ANY INPUT HELPS!!!! THANKS!

  • Dave’s Hounds

    I had the same problem on orijen – then i added probiotics and pumpkin – worked like a charm! I only feed kibble in am and have found that with natures logic I do not need the supplements and the stools are firm.

  • sandy

    Just wanted to add that I have been using the Duck & Turkey formula for about a year, and the rabbit formula once.

  • sandy

    Regan R,

    Canidae is a potato based kibble and Instinct is tapioca based.  Instinct also uses a freeze dried raw coating on the kibble which Canidae does not.  A longer transition may be needed and/or a slight decrease in serving size (although they are close  in calories).  My dog took at least 2 months…but he’s another story.  You may want to just rotate between Canidae formulas or try again or just mix them together. I’m a mixer/rotator myself.  The dogs always get 2 or 3 different kibbles. Any brand, any meat, they are use to it now. Plus being  on antibiotics recently might have messed up his digestion a little bit.  Usually overfeeding at my house will lead to soft stools.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=60601353 Regan Radtke

    Any thoughts on loose stool from NV instinct?
    I switched my 2.5 year old Australian Cattle Dog mix from Canidae Pure (Grain Free) to NV Instinct Chicken recently (it was on sale and it looks like a really great quality food).  We made the switch very slow – He can be sensitive to food changes, so we switched over the course of 3 weeks.  
    On Canidae he had normal consistency stool.  As expected, we did experience some soft stool during the transition, but even after being on NV alone for a few weeks he has very soft stool (not quite diarrhea, but not very pick-up-able) unless I give him a tbsp of pumpkin every day.  The pumpkin seems to take care of the problem, but I’d love to not have to worry adding it every day. (and it seems silly to have to add something to get a normal stool when he has had normal stool on other foods).
    Then, of course, in the interest of making things complicated, we had some health issues two weeks ago.  Long story short is that my dearest found a delicious dead squirrel carcass in the back yard and got a bacterial infection.  As a result he experienced lots of diarrhea, but after a trip to the v-e-t for some antibiotics and feeding chicken’n'rice for a week and a half, he was finally doing normal again.  Now I’m looking to re-introduce his kibble and get him off the chicken’n'rice.  I haven’t even started adding it to his meals yet, just giving about a handful a day of NV chicken as training rewards to get it back into his system.  Immediate, the loose stool started again.

    I know there’s a lot of experienced dog owners on here (this is my first dog), so I’d love some input.
    Any thoughts or suggestions on fixing this problem?  Maybe the kibble just doesn’t agree with him?  Is a 3-week transition followed by 3.5 weeks of solid new kibble (before the dead squirrel diarrhea incident) too soon to make a call?  
    I’d hate to lose the money by throwing out 1/2 the bag, and NV is a really high quality food, but should I even bother introducing NV again or just switch him back to Canidae as I ween him off chicken’n'rice?

  • sandy

    I’d like to throw out there that one bag of possible bad food doesn’t mean the whole line or brand is that way. There are many things that can affect the food once it leaves the factory. The foods are shipped out to many different distributors and storage temperatures and length of storage can affect a whole batch from a particular distributor. Also after being stored at a non-airconditioned distributor warehouse, the food can then be stored at a retail store for a length of time also. Maybe a truck load got too hot over the summer and harmed some of the food, who knows…This can happen to any dog food.

    I’ve used Instinct Duck & Turkey for 2 years without any problems or weird smells and last year I used Prairie Salmon and Prairie Chicken without any problems with the food.

    I’ve ordered lots of Brothers food since it is grain free/potato free, and I like the macronutrient numbers, and I like the fact that it is stored in an airconditioned warehouse and there is no distributor or middle man. It comes straight from Brothers. I probably won’t order during the heat of summer because then I’ll be afraid that it will get hot in a UPS truck!! So I’m stocking up in April!!

  • Bill

    Sorry to hear about your dog Ted. But I recently started feeding NV Instinct to my shepherd/Lab mix, duck turkey formula, and he’s doing well. Maybe it’s something else that affecting your dog.

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