Questions about Nature's Varaity Instinct LID Lamb dry food - Page 5

Hi all,

Prompted by discussion in this post I am now on the verge to switch my dog to complete raw diet.
I am considering options of complete meal RAW frozen foods.
When I compare pricing  of what I'm paying for "quality" dog dry kibble, Orijen 6 Fish ($85) or in the latest case Instinct LID Lamb ($77) to the pricing on complete RAW frozen foods I think that the RAW frozen is a better option in my case. I think I could live without the convenience of "grab in the bag and serve" which provides dry dog kibble.

I did my little research and cost calculation and it goes as following:

For the 28 pounds of dry "quality" dog kibble i pay on average $85. That bag lasts me (my dog) on average 28 days (or less).
For the 50 pounds of complete RAW frozen food is would end up paying $120. This amount of food would last me (my dog) for more than 30 days (33 to be exact).
This means that cost of food per day is: 

• Dry dog food: $3.03
• RAW frozen food: $3.64

This means that for around .65 cents more per day I could feed my dog RAW frozen food. This turns into around $21 more per month (30 days)
Questions (open to discussion) is if this increase of around $20 per month in dog food is worth?
Here are the frozen complete RAW food options which I was considering - Please note I would be buying in bulk packages of 25 lbs (minimum) :

http://perfectlyraw.ca/our-products/
or
http://www.petsgoraw.ca/ (all ingredients fit for human consumption)

Questions: 

What are your thought about these two producers?
Did any of the forum members have a chance to used these products with their dog(s)? If yes, what is your experience

Thank you all.


 

Seeofred,
I checked out both of those sites. None are even close to where I live so no chance for me for actually buying the product. However, I love the ingredients listed. I loved watching the facility they are made in. I am much relieved for your dog already, just for having done that!

I think you are doing the right thing. Best wishes for your dog's health. You have my blessing, lol, FWIW.

 

Seeofred,

I don't use raw, but I did a site search.  http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/forum.read?mnr=614632-raw-feeding-what-do-you-think-about-this&pagen=1 has 17 responses to Perfectly Raw.  https://www.pedigreedatabase.com/forum.read?mnr=454038...is a comment on Pets Go Raw which I couldn't access because the site was down.  You might have to run the search again to get to the actual page.

For more updated input you may want to start a new thread.

In any case, I hope you can "try before you buy" anything in bulk.  Some dogs don't do well on raw and some just don't like it.  It's a more stressful transition than just changing kibble brands.

Good luck.

Seeofred:  the pets go raw sounds good, I could not pull up the other site.  Is this your only choices in your area?  If so I would periodically add a chicken leg quarter bone and all for the dog;  this type raw feeding is good but they still need to work their jaws and tug and pull and rip and tear.  With your prepared foods they do not get that.  I would also start your dog out with one type meat at a time, say maybe for one week and if all goes well then you can add another type meat.  When I started raw I found this to be helpful for my guys and then if you do have some sensitivity you will know which meat(s) they are sensitive to.  Any changes I did slowly, as well as any new additions;  if all went well then I would move on to another meat source or vegi/meat source.  Gives the dog some time to absorb new stuff.  Now (after feeding raw for 3 years) my guys can take any thing I feed them and something different every day even.  I do believe success in raw feeding is variety.  Also you can add raw eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese as long as your dog can take dairy.  But do that later after he/she has changed over.  I don't think the costs for kibble versus raw are complete unless you add in the vet trips you have had to made due to digestion problems.   My guys have not seen a vet for quite some time and I have a 14.3 year old girl.

Also you might want to read up on The Honest Kitchen products, pretty sure you can get them there or Sojo products and all you have to do is add meat(s).  I used them for quite a while;  grain free and you put in a bowl and add water and let stand for l/2 hour then you can add meat or they have some with the meat already in them grain free also.  Just a thought until you get your dog back on tract with no gut issues.

Good luck.  Nan

Montmorillonite is about the same thing as bentonite though both have some variations. Years ago bentonite became rightly despised among dog owners as a stool hardener that was added to cheap crappy dog food so dog owners would look at those nice small poop bricks and think the dog was getting good food. So now the same scam is happening with montmorillonite only this is even worse because it's being pushed as healthy. Dirt is dirt even if it is clay and I can't see the point of eating bunches of it. If you want to eat it, help yourself but please spare the dog who's got nothing to say about it. Anything that artificially turns your dog's poop into rocks can't be good for the dog. My dog has nice small solid but not rock-like poop from eating a good quality dog food with a lot of meat not from eating dirt.

Also thanks guys for the new bloat study info and the info on tapioca. Potatoes are no better than tapioca IMHO and they're often poisoned by solanine which is really evil stuff:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanine

From what I've seen over many years the most important thing is that the dog gets a lot of meat including byproducts like livers, spleens, hearts, and tripe. A lot of the grain-free foods have a whole lot of fillers like tapioca and potatoes and some kind of gluten crap and they're real short on meat. And people pay through the nose for this junk.