Cheryl,
The commercial raw frozen foods that I use in rotation are:
Answer’s Detailed Raw Frozen (if you can’t find it, please call them and speak with Jacquie, she’s the owner, and she’ll let you know who sells the food in your area. Don’t go by the store locater on their website because a lot of stores carry their goat milk but not their food and they are listed in their store locater because they do sell Answer’s Detailed just not the food).
Primal Pronto and Primal Formulas. Vital Essentials Raw. Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw.
Stella & Chew’s Raw (I feed this once in a blue moon. My dogs eat it but I’m not crazy about it. I come back to it periodically to give it a try because it does get good feed back from posters and is highly reviewed on this site and wonder if I’m just missing something). I will say that the company has a great reputation.
Commercial Frozen Raw foods are, by nature, high in fat. None of my three toy dogs have issues with high fat so it’s not a concern of mine. Beef, in my experience, will always be higher in fat than other proteins. If memory serves me, I think Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw and Vital Essentials Raw are probably lower in fat than most others. As I said, my girls don’t have issues with high fat diets. I have always contended that it is not the quantity of fat in a diet, it is the quality of the fat. Now, with that said, I don’t feed foods that have a higher level of fat than they do protein. I’m not paying high prices for fat. You have to keep in mind that the lowest % of fat that I feed is probably around 38% and up to around 58 – 59%. You have to know your animals and what they will be well with and can tolerate and thrive on. That goes not only with fat but protein and carbs as well. Also I think I’ve told you that I do not feed any food that has poultry, fowl, of any sort. One of my girls is highly intolerant of all forms including the different chicken and turkey fats that are put in some foods. Interestingly enough, she has no problems with eggs so long as it is no more than once every two to three weeks, maybe longer.
Moving on the Freeze Dried, I feed Primal Freeze Dried, Vital Essentials Freeze Dried and again, once in a blue moon I’ve wanted to like Stella & Chew’s Freeze Dried.
Dehydrated Foods: The only dehydrated food I feed is The Honest Kitchen. I’ve tried a lot of the others and for one reason or another I don’t like them.
There are, of course, foods in all categories above that I don’t feed for my own various reasons but that doesn’t mean that because I don’t care for them or how my dogs do on them, that they are not going to do well for other dogs. Katie, my allergy girl, has a list of food intolerances as long as my arm that I must avoid. Katie is the reason that I went to commercial raw foods and my other two dogs were lucky enough to come along for the ride and thrive on their diets. Dogs, like people, are all different. We all react to different ingredients differently. Some issues I have with some foods may not be an issue with others or may not be any issue for their dogs. (I don’t mention cats because I don’t have any. I’m allergic to animals which is why my dogs have always been of the hair variety and not fur). I am, fortunately, in a position that I can feed all 5 star rated commercial raw, freeze dried and dehydrated foods from companies that I trust that (in my opinion) have quality ingredients and quality customer service.
Ask away, I’m happy to help with my experiences and my trials and errors of which there have been many along the way. I’ve pretty much got all the kinks worked out for Hannah, Katie and Lola. I’m hoping that Millie and Pepper are well. Though you didn’t take Shawna’s advice years ago I’m glad you’ve jumped on board now. Better late than never as the saying goes.
