K-9 Kraving Dog Food receives the Advisor’s second-highest tier rating of 4.5 stars.
The K-9 Kraving product line includes 6 raw frozen dog foods.
Each recipe below includes its related AAFCO nutrient profile when available on the product’s official webpage: Growth, Maintenance, All Life Stages, Supplemental or Unspecified.
- K-9 Kraving Chicken, Beef and Vegetable [A]
- K-9 Kraving Beef and Vegetable (1.5 stars) [A]
- K-9 Kraving Turkey and Vegetable (5 stars) [A]
- K-9 Kraving Duck and Vegetable (1.5 stars) [A]
- K-9 Kraving Chicken and Vegetable (4 stars) [A]
- K-9 Kraving Mackerel and Vegetable (NR) [S]
K-9 Kraving Chicken, Beef and Vegetable was selected to represent the other products in the line for this review.
K-9 Kraving Chicken, Beef and Vegetable
Raw Dog Food
Estimated Dry Matter Nutrient Content
Ingredients: Chicken, beef, beef liver, beef heart, ground chicken bone, sweet potato, broccoli, linseed meal, sunflower meal, tomato pomace (dry), carrots (dry), kelp (dry), choline chloride, d-a-tocopheryl acetate (source of natural vitamin E), manganese sulfate, zinc sulfate, vitamin A supplement, niacin, d calcium pantothenate, vitamin D3 supplement, copper sulfate, riboflavin, selenium yeast (an organic source of selenium), biotin, vitamin B12 supplement, pyridoxine HCL, thiamine mononitrate, cobalt carbonate, folic acid, ethylenediamine dihydroiodide (an organic source of iodine)
Fiber (estimated dry matter content) = 5.7%
Red denotes controversial item
| Estimated Nutrient Content | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Method | Protein | Fat | Carbs |
| Guaranteed Analysis | 16% | 12% | NA |
| Dry Matter Basis | 46% | 34% | 12% |
| Calorie Weighted Basis | 32% | 59% | 9% |
The first ingredient in this dog food is chicken. Chicken is considered “the clean combination of flesh and skin… derived from the parts or whole carcasses of chicken”.2
The second ingredient is beef. Beef is defined as “the clean flesh derived from slaughtered cattle” and includes skeletal muscle or the muscle tissues of the tongue, diaphragm, heart or esophagus.2
Chicken and beef are naturally rich in all ten essential amino acids required by a dog to sustain life.
The third ingredient is beef liver. This is an organ meat sourced from a named animal and thus considered a beneficial component.
The fourth ingredient is beef heart. Although it doesn’t sound very appetizing to us humans, heart tissue is pure muscle — all meat. It’s naturally rich in quality protein, minerals and complex B vitamins, too.
The fifth ingredient is ground chicken bone, an excellent source of natural calcium.
The sixth ingredient is sweet potato. Sweet potatoes are a gluten-free source of complex carbohydrates in a dog food. They are naturally rich in dietary fiber and beta carotene.
The seventh ingredient is broccoli. Broccoli is a healthy green vegetable and a member of the kale family. It’s notably rich in vitamin C and fiber and numerous other nutrients.
Like other cruciferous vegetables, broccoli is believed to provide anti-cancer benefits.
The eighth ingredient lists linseed meal, a by-product left after extracting all the oil from linseed (another name for flaxseed).
Linseed is one of the best plant sources of healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Provided they’ve first been ground into a meal, linseeds are also rich in soluble fiber.
However, linseed contains about 19% protein, a factor that must be considered when judging the actual meat content of this dog food.
The ninth ingredient is sunflower meal, a by-product of the oil extraction process – and an item more typically found in feed for livestock.
Although sunflower meal contains about 34% protein, it would be expected to have a lower biological value than meat.
And less costly plant-based products like this can notably boost the total protein reported on the label — a factor that must be considered when judging the actual meat content of this dog food.
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 affect the overall rating of this product.
With 3 notable exceptions…
First, tomato pomace is a controversial ingredient, a by-product remaining after processing tomatoes into juice, soup and ketchup.
Many praise tomato pomace for its high fiber and nutrient content, while others scorn it as an inexpensive pet food filler.
Just the same, there’s probably not enough tomato pomace here to make much of a difference.
Next, this recipe contains selenium yeast. Unlike the more common inorganic form of selenium (sodium selenite), this natural yeast supplement is considered a safer anti-cancer alternative.
And lastly, the minerals listed here do not appear to be chelated. And that can make them more difficult to absorb. Chelated minerals are usually associated with higher quality dog foods.
K-9 Kraving Dog Food Review
Judging by its ingredients alone, K-9 Kraving Dog Food looks like an above-average raw product.
The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 46%, a fat level of 34% and estimated carbohydrates of about 12%.
As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 48% and a mean fat level of 34%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 10% for the overall product line.
And a fat-to-protein ratio of about 72%.
Above-average protein. Above-average fat. And below-average carbs when compared to a typical raw dog food.
Even when you consider the protein-boosting effect of the linseed and sunflower meals, this looks like the profile of a raw product containing a significant amount of meat.
However, with 59% of the total calories in our example coming from fat versus just 32% from protein, some recipes may not be suitable for every animal. In addition, this same finding also prevents us from awarding the brand a higher rating.
Bottom line?
K-9 Kraving is a grain-free raw dog food using a generous amount of named meats as its main sources of animal protein, thus earning the brand 4.5 stars.
Highly recommended.
Since the company describes the Mackrel and Vegetable recipe as a dietary supplement, the recipe may not be suitable for long term daily use.
K-9 Kraving Dog Food
Recall History
The following list (if present) includes all dog food recalls since 2009 directly related to K-9 Kraving. If there are no recalls listed in this section, we have not yet reported any events.
- K-9 Kraving Raw Dog Food Recall October 2015 (10/5/2015)
You can view a complete list of all dog food recalls sorted by date. Or view the same list sorted alphabetically by brand.
A Final Word
The Dog Food Advisor does not accept money, gifts, samples or other incentives in exchange for special consideration in preparing our reviews.
However, we do receive a referral fee from online retailers (like Chewy or Amazon) and from sellers of perishable pet food when readers click over to their websites from ours. This helps cover the cost of operation of our free blog. Thanks for your support.
For more information, please visit our Disclaimer and Disclosure page.
Notes and Updates
02/04/2022 Last Update
