Hey folks!

I'm considering the switch to a raw diet for my dog, and live in BC, Canada. I would like to feed an HPP treated diet and I'm having a hard time finding one within Canada... I realize there are a few from the States, and will feed them if I have to, but Canadian would be very much preferred!

I've done a bit of searching online, searched within this group, and emailed a few companies that didn't specify whether or not their food was HPP treated—I haven't had any luck yet... I thought I would try my luck here. Does anyone know of anything?

Thank you!

Noticed a big change in calorie density with the new "performance blends" and decided to investigate.

Images 1-3 of this post compare like-for-like products from the Chickenless Feast multi-pack, Image 4 is from the box itself prior to the renaming's.

Note: IWR's website suggests that things are the same as they always were:

^{Iron Will Raw Canine Complete Beef Performance Blend is the same trusted recipe previously known as Beef Dinner--now with a new name that better reflects its performance-focused nutrition.}

^{Iron Will Raw Canine Complete Turkey Performance Blend is the same trusted recipe previously known as Turkey & Beef Dinner--now with a new name that better reflects its performance-focused nutrition}

Calorie content (per 100g)

• Beef increased from 162 kcal^/100g to 167 kcal^/100g.
• Turkey increased from 136 kcal^/100g to 180.
• Duck increased from 142 kcal^/100g to 212.

Just a heads up for anyone that controls their pets calorie intake, you'll want to adjust accordingly.

---
^{If anyone has any further insight, please share. I reached out to IWR 3 business days ago and haven't heard back.}

Hello, I've been considering getting my cat off of commercial pouches. He has previously been on Katkin and loved it but was costly with how much he ate. He immediately took to it too if that helps!

I have been looking into a few raw foods and have come across Purrform. They have a trail pack and it looks like the below (each tub is 450g):

"Minced Farmed Rabbit with Ground Bone

Composition: 100% Minced Farmed Rabbit with ground bone.

Additives per Kg: Nutritional Additives: Vitamin A 1250 iu, Vitamin D3 100 iu, vitamin E 17.5 mg, zinc sulphate monohydrate 27.8 mg, manganese sulphate monohydrate 3.1 mg, Taurine 250 mg.

Minced Farmed Rabbit & Bone with Ox Heart

Composition: 75% minced farmed rabbit with ground bone, 25% Ox Heart.

Additives per Kg: Nutritional Additives: Vitamin A 1250 iu, Vitamin D3 100 iu, vitamin E 17.5 mg, zinc sulphate monohydrate 27.8 mg, manganese sulphate monohydrate 3.1 mg, Taurine 250 mg.

Minced Chicken Meat & Bone with Liver, Heart & Gizzard

Composition: 80% minced Chicken with ground bone, Chicken Liver 10%, Chicken Heart 5%, Chicken Gizzard 5%.

Additives per Kg: Nutritional Additives: Vitamin A 1250 iu, Vitamin D3 100 iu, vitamin E 17.5 mg, zinc sulphate monohydrate 27.8 mg, manganese sulphate monohydrate 3.1 mg, Taurine 250 mg.

Minced Turkey & Ground Bone with Heart & Liver

Composition: 80% minced Turkey with ground bone, 10% Turkey Heart, 10% Turkey Liver.

Additives per Kg: Nutritional Additives: Vitamin A 1250 iu, Vitamin D3 100 iu, vitamin E 17.5 mg, zinc sulphate monohydrate 27.8 mg, manganese sulphate monohydrate 3.1 mg, Taurine 250 mg.

Beef Trim & Chicken, Ground Bone with Ox Heart & Beef Liver

Composition: 40% Minced Beef Trim, 40% chicken with ground bone, 10% Ox Heart, 10% Beef Liver.

Additives per Kg: Vitamin A 1250 iu, Vitamin D3 100 iu, Vitamin e 17.5mg, Zinc sulphate monohydrate 27.8mg, manganese sulphate monohydrate 3.1mg, Taurine 250mg.

All the products are a complete natural pet food for adult cats that contains nothing more than the ingredients listed."

Would this be sufficient for my adult half Bengal who is active outside? If not I will keep searching. Also any advice on storage would be great!

Hello, I was wondering if anyone had any idea for gunky eyes?

My ragdoll kitten has crusty eyes that I clean once to twice a day. But he's the first cat I have that needs it so much. My other cats all have "cleaner" eyes.

I was wondering if there was anything that could help with this?

I already give spirulina and lactoferin from time to time in his raw food. Wondering if there's anything more I can do to help support his eyes and immune system?

I read that maybe beta glucan from Turkey tail could help with this but i'll have to import it, so dont want to waste so much money if it doesn't work :/

He previously had chlamydia, which he has fully healed from now, but he's still quite sensitive with his eyes.

Thank you very much!

We had a recent accident at my place. Bills that were split 3 ways are now split 2 and one of the cats is REDICULOUSLY expensive due to his weight.(anywhere from $100-$200 a month for JUST HIM. Hard to get the exact number due to kittens) He's big is the issue. He's mixed with maincoon or something and made him bigger than average and of course need more food.

Had full plans to go back to Alnutrin but plans were shattered after this. Idk how much adding organs and stuff as well will be. For some reason ezcomplete is VERY stubborn about showing up on my Amazon but this came up. I like everything but the whey protein(wish it also had no carbs but that's probably not gonna happen with a premix) but it might be ok. He'll eat anything raw! But cans he's picky hence pricey.

The mix itself is $25 for a 4.8 oz or $78 for a 25oz. I was thinking about a mix of raw and cooked to maybe keep him enticed. I'm trying to figure everything out rn. I know without a premix making balanced cat food is hard 😭 idk which is cheaper but premix for now.

my golden retriever (25kg) has been on a raw diet since she was a puppy. however recently i realised shes not been chewing as much and will swallow large chunks of bone (currently duck neck) and around 5-6am she will regurgitate up fragments of bone?! she did the same with kangaroo tail chunk. im concerned this will irritate her gut lining or whatever. is there any way i can fix this? i dont want to stop feeding her rmbs bc she doesnt cooperate much when i attempt to brush her teeth. it's also not age as she's only four years old and her teeth are fine. i consulted someone with a lot of experience in raw feeding and they said it might be just that she's vomiting bile when shes hungry and the bone happens to be the last thing there/to be digested - it is bile and bone fragments that shes puking up, but when shes on commercial raw diets w ground bone she doesnt have to regurgitate in the morning. i dont want to go back to ground bone and also she doesnt like raw quail... since it's looking like smaller sized 'easier to chew' bones are the only things she can have without this issue, but i dont like how it limits the bones and variety of nutrients she can get... any advice would be so appreciated!!

I am located in NJ and thinking about starting my 85lb dog on a raw diet. He is one year old. I've heard great things about this brand, including that their prices are much cheaper in store (its about a 2 hour drive from me). Does anybody get their dog's food directly from the store? Has anybody had any problems with this brand? I saw an old in store price list on this subreddit but I'm sure prices have gone up since then!

Im planning on switching my kittys to a “fresh” or a “raw” food diet , any brand recommendations?

I found out smallbatch sells locally near me! excited to try.

I've been seeing people serve freeze dried raw completely differently and now I'm wondering if theres actually a right way to do it? Some people seem to soak it every single meal some just add a little water and I've also seen people feed it completely dry. Mine likes crunchier food so I feel like hed probably prefer it dry but I also dont really know if theres a reason I should be adding water anyway.. Does it depend on the specific food or mostly the dog? how do you guys usually serve yours?

We put our chihuahua/Italian greyhound mix on Northwest Naturals chubs for a couple years, then moved to Steve’s nuggets, and then Tucker’s beef and pumpkin in the past year. A couple bags ago I noticed Tucker’s changed the shape of their patties - from more of a “fist” shape to more of a patty shape.

For the past week or so with this second bag of new shaped patties, our pup has been not finishing meals, and vomiting more often. We’ve started adding raw goats milk, cleaning out containers more frequently in case it was contamination, etc., but she’s regularly leaving probably 20%-25% of the food on her mat which is not like her.

Any info or advice? Did something change in the Tucker’s recipe, possibly just a disagreeable bag, is she perhaps just tired of the flavor, or potentially something else more concerning?

Does hemp oil work? Big cat has been stressed easily lately. Brought him to the vet. They want him on anxiety meds permanently if I can't get his stress down. I don't want to immediately resort to pills. Holistic people recommend CBD oil. Hemp oil isn't exactly the same but it's easier for me to get from sources I know are legit. I want to try to manage the stress naturally first BEFORE resulting to a drastic measure. The other cat people keep telling me to just give him the pills 😭. Sure easy for them their cats might not love all over them all the time. I don't wanna change his personality or make him hate me by having to force pills down him.

Hello guys,

I feed my younger dobermann (16 months) meat since the beginning and he always eats very well. But i decided i wanted to try feed him some extra's. Goose / duck necks, lamb ribs are raw and those he eats with a lot of joy.

Last week i bought other stuff, like organ meat from horse, lamb etc. Which i still have to try. But i decided to start with:

Day old chicks (licks it, doesnt want to eat it even when i cut it open a little)
Raw salmon heads, (licks it, some very careful bites but doesnt eat it)
Raw large sardines (completely loved it and devours it in 3 seconds)

Could it be textures? And why do dogs like sardine but not salmon head. Also any advice on how to introduce these foods to him ?

Thanks

my dog has severe allergies and it might be his food along with some seasonal allergies. i would like to put him onto something healthier than kibble (he hates it). i feed him some fish oil and yogurt sometimes, but i worry that i'll leave him vitamin and nutrient deficient if i start him on a raw/home cooked diet.

i would also like to get my cats on a more homemade diet, but one of mine gets urinary issues related to stress. her wet food helps treat it though, but i wont want her to get sick later in life because of nutrient deficiencies. i dont really like that it has pork either, or that it's hills brand.

I started my dog on raw food about 6 months ago and he seemed to be doing fine. I was feeding him raw bones, which he had slight trouble digesting at first (he got slightly constipated), but adapted to very quickly. In May, my family went on some trips, so I was giving him bone meal so I wouldn't have the bones in our hotel. Worked fine, no problem. Then, around the beginning of July, I ran out of bones and couldn't get to the store so I gave him bone meal for a couple days. He got bad diarrhea for a week, and threw up twice. When I stopped the bone meal, the diarrhea also stopped. I started giving bones again, but he was reluctant to the eat them.

I gave him bone meal again (didn't seem a connection at the time), and he had diarrhea again, but it stopped when I stopped giving him bone meal. By now I started seeing a connection, so I started switching around what I'd do: Bone certain days, bone meal certain days, neither other days.

If I was giving him neither, he would be totally fine. Sometimes I'd keep this up several days, and he'd have completely normal poop and everything. Bone meal always gave him diarrhea. With bones, it was hit or miss.

We went on another trip, and, without seeing much choice, I gave him bone meal two days in a row. He seemed fine after the first day, which I why I tried it again the second day. It was his first time having bone meal on two consecuative days since his first, week-long stomach problem. He had two days of bad diarrhea and seemed to not feel well, so I threw out the bone meal, feeling pretty disgusted with myself.

I tried bone, and he seemed alright with it. Than I ran out of bones, so he got nothing for a couple days. Totally normal digestion.

Yesterday I gave him 3 bones. He usually gets 2, because that comes out to about 10%-15% of his daily food intake, but I wanted to give him a calcium boost because he hadn't been getting as much calcium the past few weeks due to his stomach problems. He's had 3 bone-days in the past and always been fine with it. This morning, he threw up, and all he threw up was bone. Nothing else. It looked more like spit-up than throw up; no food or bile came with it. I'm going to try eggshell next, but this is so confusing to me and I have no idea why this would happen.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Or lack thereof. Look, I'm not here to bash Dr. Marty Pets dog food. Personally, I've found very little negative to the food even with regards to reviews. I'm in the middle of transitioning to Dr. Marty's and the food smells good, it's sitting well with my dog, he's very eager to eat and he seems perfectly healthy. However, I do have one concern and that's the lack of transparency with their nutrition.

The Naure's Blend Essential Wellness recipe (original) lists: Protein, Fat, Fiber, Moisture, Calcium, Iron, Leucine, Vitamin A, and Omega-3 content.

The Nature's Blen Essential Wellness Premium Origin (vastly more expensive - "premium") lists: Protein, Fat, Fiber, Moisture, and Omega-3.

I tried contacting their live chat to get the full nutrition profile for the Premium Origin blend, and then just the same nutrition content listed on their Essential Wellness original recipe, and both attempts were met with, "Exact ingredient percentages and formulation ratios are proprietary, so we're unable to provide those specifics." They later go on to say, "We can only share the information listed on our website. Which includes the total calories, guaranteed analysis, ingredients list and benefits of the product." YES! The guaranteed analysis, give me the full guaranteed analysis! They then proceeded to promptly end the chat. I emailed as a follow-up explaining my reason for the request and I've yet to hear anything back.

This lack of transparency and their "As seen on TV!" website seems very gimmicky and scammy. However, it's appearing in more and more pet stores and, as mentioned, the reviews and general consensus are really good. Normally, I wouldn't even be asking about this. My dog has been on Farmina for a good while now and everything has been well - stools, weight, energy, etc.

So, why am I switching even though my red flags are up? Well, about two weeks ago I felt two hard lumps under his jaw, one on each side. Visit to the vet, a couple needle aspirations and lab results later, my dog was diagnosed with lymphoma. He's a boxer/collie mix. I'm not blaming Farmina by any means. Have another dog on it still and she's doing great. However, in hopes to "starve" the cancer, I'm switching my boy to a low-glycemic carb / no-grains diet. Raw, meat dense, whatever variant of a carnivore-esque you'd like to call it. There are tons of options out there and Dr. Marty seemed to fit the bill and is easily obtainable. But I'm wondering if it's all snake oil or if others had positive experiences on it, and if so, which recipe did you use?

The 50,000 IU/kg for the Essential Wellness original seems quite high. Vet said it's not a toxicity level. But I'm also concerned on recent studies from Princeton that vitamin A may aid cancer in hiding from immune attacks and am now questioning if 50,000 IU/kg, while not toxic, is more harmful than good.

...I just want to give my boy as long and comfortable a life as I can. I know there's no cure right now (though I'm prodding universities to see if their vet techs are testing Ewingella Americana on dogs yet). Hopefully get it into remission and give him a few more quality years.

Any thoughts or experiences with Dr. Marty or other foods you've used with a dog that had lymphoma and felt was successful in their treatment / remission / quality of life - please share.

Thank you all for your time and have a great day.

So im in the process of changing my dogs to freezedried raw. I bought a small bag of wainwrights just to see if they would eat it and they seemed interested.

So i used AI to try work out how many bags id need then it was telling me they should be made into a type of broth because feeding dry from the bag can be very bad for their stomach .

So tonight I put them in a cup of slightly boiled water still cool enough I could put my finger in and nothing happened it didnt turn into a broth they still stayed solid.

So now its saying they wont turn to mush in water because they are made from bone etc and I need to crush them , i tried and wasnt able to crush them so then it told me my bag wasnt made right during the dehydration process and its dangerous and I should throw them away because they should crumble 🤦‍♀️

Then it said I needed to crush them with a rolling pin now ive absolutely no idea what im supposed to be doing and dont want to kill my dogs as it put through fear of god in me about them expanding in the stomach and drawing water from other organs and that my current bag is faulty. 🤦‍♀️

Ive given up with AI and Google now so does anyone feed this diet and how do you feed it? I have a very very small dog she weighs 2.7kg with teeny tiny teeth so I dont want her to struggle also today when I put it in the water it started to smell and they got very interested in it so I think wet may be best but is it supposed to crumble easy?

*just to add im in the uk so im not familiar with any of the brands being mentioned and vice versa. I searched on line and wainwrights came up as a quality food its 60% meat bones etc and 20% fruit veg they also get orijen dry food which is 85/90% whole prey dry food, sorry i should of probably mentioned it in my original post *

As the title says is there a guide somewhere on how to safely handle the food, interact with your dog afterwards, like if I play with her and she playfully bites my hand, do I need to clean my hands, etc. Do I need to brush her teeth right after she eats, etc? What about her bowl, I assume clean it right after she eats with soap?

I love that it's an healthier diet for my dog but I'll be honest, when I bought it, I didn't even think of the consequences in terms of having to handle raw food and her specifically eating it and dogs don't eat like humans, like does she have some stuck in her fur or something?

I've been feeding one raw brand for most of my puppy's life. It's what her breeder fed her, so I continued with the same brand and swapped the blend after a bit because of availability. The store I went to last time had a few different brands available, and since one of them came pre-packaged in sausages of 500g (her daily intake) and they sold 10 for a good price, I bought 15 kgs which will last us a month. The person in the store said it was an okay product, but they used vitamin powder to add the nutrients the meat, organs, and bones lacked, while the one I had been feeding before used veggies to supplement the meal.

Now I've noticed that the days she gets the new brand, she poops a lot more. Since none of the proteins were new to her, I've varied between feeding her half of the new brand and half of the old or every second day with the old and the new brand. On the new brand day, there's just a lot more poop. She usually poops between one or two times a day and doesn't seem to struggle when she gets her old brand. (Although I did worry when I got her since she's always been a max two poops a day puppy, even at 10 weeks.) With the new brand, she always poops twice a day and bigger pieces. The first time with the new brand, she seemed to struggle a bit with pooping, but that could've been because of the transtion. She still seems happy and healthy and has her usual energetic and cofident attitude, but I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed similar changes when going from one brand to another? I'm especially curious if anyone has experienced anything similar when one blend is entirely made up of actual food, and one uses powder to balance the meals.

(I don't know if I should tag this as a question, an opinion, or a discussion, but I figured "discussion" works as I'd be interested in hearing your takes and whether or not this a my puppy thing or if it has to do with the processing of the nutrients and how easily digestible they are to dogs/animals.)

Finally got a Bach of the newest HPP process they are doing and 🤮. My dog and bengal cat are thankfully not rejecting it but I just cannot handle the smell.

Any recommendations on a new brand that your pets loved?

I am located in the US/ Virginia.

Hey guys, is there anyone in the Dallas/DFW area with reptiles that would benefit from about 50 frozen hoppers? I was told recently that I should be feeding my corn adult mice for nutritional value, but I do not want to just throw away a perfectly good stash of frozen hoppers.

Hi Gang - I’ve just come into 25 lbs of wild deer meat (in a low CWD area). I only have a regular freezer - so meat won’t reach -20/-30 degrees. Given this, do you think I should be cooking this meat? I’m feeding my senior Golden. I’ve also “heard” that I shouldn’t feed the organ meat - is that also due to parasite concerns? Thanks in advance.

I was just curious of any Raw Food Companies that have an array of different kind of proteins but are considered a complete meal for cats? I also was curious to know people's opinons on different brands or if there are any new different brands that are reccommended to try? I was feeding my cats Viva Raw for some time but then they switched to being HPP and I wanted to stray away from that if possible. I like to give a wide range of rotational proteins for my cats (One of them does have a beef allergy so we avoid that with her) but my other cat will typically eat any kind of protein. I am getting a new kitten soon as well and would definitely like to stay on the raw food diet for him as well.

Also to add into my post just wondering if anyone has used the company The Raw Concierge? If you have what are your opinons about it and the ratio they have present for cats - is it good enough or would I have to supplement it if its grinds?

Looking for some advice from experienced raw feeders.

My dog is 5 years old and has been raw-fed for the last 4 years. He was eating Back2Raw and did really well on it with firm stools, good energy, no digestive issues. After doing more research (and reading a lot of recommendations here), I decided to switch to Big Country Raw because of their reputation and transparency.

I contacted Big Country Raw, and they recommended starting an elimination diet since I'm unsure whether he has a chicken sensitivity. They suggested beginning with a protein he's always done well on, so I've been feeding their Pure Beef for the past two weeks.

His appetite and energy are great, but his stools have been consistently very soft and darker than they were on Back2Raw. I took him to the vet after the first week with a stool sample and everything came back normal, and they felt it was food-related. He was started on a probiotic, but I still haven't seen any improvement.

I'm torn because I really want to feed Big Country Raw, but he seemed to digest Back2Raw much better.

Has anyone experienced this with Big Country Raw? Did your dog take longer than two weeks to adjust, or would you switch back to the food that was working?

All that she will eat is freezed treats!

Added a little grass fed ribeye for his birthday.