Stella and Chewy’s Dinners (Freeze-Dried)

Rating:

Stella and Chewy’s Freeze Dried Dinners Dog Food receives the Advisor’s second-highest tier rating of 4.5 stars.

The Stella and Chewy’s Freeze Dried Dinners product line includes 9 raw 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.

Important: Because many websites do not reliably specify which Growth or All Life Stages recipes are safe for large breed puppies, we do not include that data in this report. Be sure to check actual packaging for that information.

Use links below to compare price and package size information at an online retailer.

• Chewy’s Chicken Freeze Dried Dinner (5 stars) [A]
• Stella’s Super Beef Freeze Dried Dinner (4 stars) [A]
• Stella & Chewy’s Surf N Turf Freeze Dried Dinner (4 stars) [A]
• Stella & Chewy’s Venison Blend Freeze Dried Dinner (5 stars) [A]
• Stella & Chewy’s Dandy Lamb Freeze Dried Dinner (2.5 stars) [A]
• Stella & Chewy’s Absolutely Rabbit Freeze Dried Dinner (5 stars) [A]
• Stella & Chewy’s Duck Duck Goose Freeze Dried Dinner (4 stars) [A]
• Stella & Chewy’s Phenomenal Pheasant Freeze Dried Dinner (5 stars) [A]

Stella and Chewy’s Absolutely Rabbit Freeze Dried Dinner was selected to represent the other products in the line for this review.

The first ingredient in this dog food is rabbit. Rabbit is considered “the clean flesh derived from slaughtered rabbit” and associated with skeletal muscle or the muscle tissues of the tongue, diaphragm, heart, esophagus or other tissues accompanying the flesh.¹

Rabbit is naturally rich in all ten essential amino acids required by a dog to sustain life.

This item includes ground bone, an excellent source of natural calcium.

The second ingredient is olive oil. Olive oil contains oleic acid, a healthy monounsaturated fat. It’s also rich in natural antioxidants and carotenoids.

The third ingredient is pumpkin seed. Pumpkin seeds are rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals and, more importantly, linoleic acid — an essential omega-6 fat.

The fourth ingredient is potassium chloride, a nutritional supplement sometimes used as a replacement for the sodium found in table salt.

The fifth ingredient lists cranberries, a nutrient-rich fruit that’s also high in fiber.

The sixth ingredient is spinach. Due to its exceptional vitamin and mineral content, spinach exhibits a remarkably high nutrient Completeness Score² of 91.

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.

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 two notable exceptions…

First, we note the inclusion of dried fermentation products in this recipe. Fermentation products are typically added to provide enzymes to aid the animal with digestion.

And lastly, this food contains chelated minerals, minerals that have been chemically attached to protein. This makes them easier to absorb. Chelated minerals are usually found in better dog foods.

Stella and Chewy’s Freeze Dried Dinners Dog Food
The Bottom Line

Judging by its ingredients alone, Stella and Chewy’s Freeze Dried Dinners looks like an above-average raw product.

But ingredient quality by itself cannot tell the whole story. We still need to estimate the product’s meat content before determining a final rating.

The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 48%, a fat level of 34% and estimated carbohydrates of about 10%.

As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 47% and a mean fat level of 35%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 11% for the overall product line.

And a fat-to-protein ratio of about 75%.

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

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

However, with 58% of the total calories in our example coming from fat versus just 35% 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?

Stella and Chewy’s is a meat-based freeze dried 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.

Please note certain recipes are sometimes given a higher or lower rating based upon our estimate of their total meat content and (when appropriate) their fat-to-protein ratios.

Stella and Chewy’s Dog Food
Recall History

The following list (if present) includes all dog food recalls since 2009 directly related to this product line. If there are no recalls listed in this section, we have not yet reported any events.

• Stella and Chewy’s Dog and Cat Food Recall of December 2015 (12/12/2015)
• Stella and Chewy’s Dog Food Recall of July 2015 (7/5/2015)

You can view a complete list of all dog food recalls sorted by date. Or view the same list sorted alphabetically by brand.

To learn why our ratings have nothing to do with a product’s recall history, please visit our Dog Food Recalls FAQ page.

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Dog Food Coupons
and Discounts

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Special FDA Alert

The FDA has announced it is investigating a potential connection between grain-free diets and a type of canine heart disease known as dilated cardiomyopathy. Click here for details.

A Final Word

The descriptions and analyses expressed in this and every article on this website represent the views and opinions of the author.

The Dog Food Advisor does not test dog food products.

We rely entirely on the integrity of the information provided by each company. As such, the accuracy of every review is directly dependent upon the specific data a company chooses to share.

Although it's our goal to ensure all the information on this website is correct, we cannot guarantee its completeness or its accuracy; nor can we commit to ensuring all the material is kept up-to-date on a daily basis.

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Each review is offered in good faith and has been designed to help you make a more informed decision when buying dog food.

However, due to the biological uniqueness of every animal, none of our ratings are intended to suggest feeding a particular product will result in a specific dietary response or health benefit for your pet.

For a better understanding of how we analyze each product, please 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 qualified veterinary professional for help.

In closing, we do not accept money, gifts or samples from pet food companies in exchange for special consideration in the preparation of our reviews.

However, we do receive a fee from Chewy.com for each purchase made as a direct result of a referral from our website. This fee is a fixed dollar amount and has nothing to do with the size of an order or the brand selected for purchase.

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Notes and Updates

09/13/2017 Last Update