Hi Patrica,
Which Stella & Chewy formula are you talking about? I quickly looked up a few of the Stella & Chewy different formula’s & they all seems to have 2 meats as 1st & 2nd ingredients, the Raw coated Kibble Chicken formula ingredients look OK
Chicken, chicken meal, chickpeas, peas, chicken liver, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), chicken heart, natural chicken flavor, salmon oil,
If a dry kibble said, Chicken, pea/corn, lentils/chickpeas, tapioca/potatoes etc I would NOT buy it as the meat protein being “chicken” isnt a chicken meal & ingredients are listed when they’re raw not cooked so after the chicken is cooked it shrinks, 70% is water so the Lentils/chickpeas come 1st then either the peas/corn or the tapioca/potatoes come 2nd then the Chicken moves up the ingredient list depending how heavy the other ingredients are?…So I stay away from these type of pet foods now, Patch doesnt do well on high carb diets..
But if the dry kibble said Chicken, Chicken Meal, Turkey meal, Potatoes, Peas, Chickpeas then you know this dry kibble is higher in meat proteins not plant proteins. I wish these pet food companies had to list all the protein % in all ingredients, Earthborn Holistic Venture kibble does & I think Victor does aswell..
You’d think it would be the same with a raw food…but NO cause the raw doesnt get cooked so the meat proteins stay at 1st & 2nd ingredients etc same with freeze dried/dehydrated raw ingredients they are not cooked, maybe this is why DFA gives Stella & Chewy 5 stars?? or his dog eats it & does very well on Stella & Chewy lol
Make sure you have at least 2-3 meat proteins as 1st, 2nd 3rd & if lucky 4th ingredient, my Patch has improved so much since eating a higher meat protein kibble, I use to think he couldn’t handle a high meat dry kibble, I’ve worked out it was the Kcals they were toooo HIGH, the higher the Kcals the more dense is the dry kibble so it’s harder to digest & as they get older their digestive tract slows down.. Patch gets his pain stomach/pancreas when Kcals are over 370Kcals per cup so now I look for at least 2-4 meat proteins as 1st, 2nd, 3rd ingredients then a carb.
I belong to an Dogs with IBD Raw Feeding Holistic Support f/b group & I always see people recommending “Answers Fermented Raw” Answers is suppose to be “very good quality” raw food, I read about all these very sick dogs with IBD doing really well since coming off their vet diet (well that isnt too hard lol) or a premium dry kibble & since starting Answers raw food & their Fermented Goats milk these dogs is doing very well…
Have you tried Answer pet food ? I want to try the Goats Milk I’ll buy human quality goats milk.. Patch gets some of my cup of tea every morning so I’ll replace the tea with warm goats milk instead & see how he goes…
https://www.answerspetfood.com/products.html
