Nature's Variety Frozen Raw Food?

I don't feed the "frozen raw" from petshops (the brand we get here is K9 Natural and BARF) because I'm concerned about the meat that goes into the product (something you might want to address?). But I do think that they are easy to feed and great for people who are thinking of starting raw because most newbies are concerned that they aren't doing it right! These are the people who don't want to feed kibble (because of all that bad press!), are too busy to do home cooked food, but want a healthy alternative that is convenient for them.

I do however LOVE dehydrated meats (not bone, I still think dehydrating changes the density of the bone and can cause problems) and patties as treats. Stella & Chewy's brand of patties are GREAT as treats. I use them all the time! I buy all "flavours" all the time (so if you ship, please let me know :biggrin2:). Very convenient and goes well with how I want to feed my dogs - I like my treats as natural as possible too! Incidentally, I know people who supplement kibble with dehydrated dog food. They use it as a "topping".

When I shop online or am in the US, I fill my cart with things that are natural, hormone free, and free range. Lots of dried chewies (bully sticks, meats, ears, tendons) and dehydrated meats (for training, like Bravo's and Chipper's, my fave brands other than Stella & Chewy's). I also constantly look for exotic dehydrated meats like bison and kangeroo, just for variety (so the dogs don't get bored). I second the tripe comment too! Love the stinky stuff.

Oh also, I've been seeing Raw Meaty Bones (big bones with some meat) in the frozen section of petshops. These are basically what you get in the supermarket, but packaged with a photo of a dog on it! I guess it's again, for newbies who don't know what the heck a raw meaty bone is and feel safer getting them from a petshop?
 
my regular raw supplier does an excellent job, it's all local, all grain fed... the pet shop where I buy to supplement if I am running short in between orders nowadays... has patties from organic, local, grass fed sheep!
LOVE it, but it's more expensive....
Anyhow I like to support local business wherever I can, so I hope this can work out for Barb and could be MAYBE be her differential advantage in the city!
 
I know this thread is older, so I hope you don't mind me bringing it back up.:o

I was just looking more into Nature's Variety myself. A local store sells all their products(and I believe a few other prepackaged RAW deals).

I have considered trying to swith to RAW(or at least part part Raw, with the Instinct kibble?) for my older guy, and possibly introducing my new little guy on it when he comes home.

Nature's Variety seems like a safe, 'newbie' option. I still don't know where to even begin!
 
Momof2boys said:
I know this thread is older, so I hope you don't mind me bringing it back up.:o

I was just looking more into Nature's Variety myself. A local store sells all their products(and I believe a few other prepackaged RAW deals).

I have considered trying to swith to RAW(or at least part part Raw, with the Instinct kibble?) for my older guy, and possibly introducing my new little guy on it when he comes home.

Nature's Variety seems like a safe, 'newbie' option. I still don't know where to even begin!
Click to expand...

I know I'm supposed to be in the 'biz' and I sell this product in my store....but I honestly still don't get the NV Raw kibble thing. I just don't know how you can have raw kibble.....must do my homework on this.

And funny story....I had a staff member ask me a couple of days ago as to whether or not the frozen NV Raw food is supposed to be cooked first. Well, uum, duh.......

Ok, well, it seems we all need to be educated on Raw! :hide
 
Barb, I think it is raw in kibble form. I keep looking at and wanting to try it. I would like to try Primal raw too.
 
Sumac3890 said:
Barb, I think it is raw in kibble form. I keep looking at and wanting to try it. I would like to try Primal raw too.
Click to expand...

Nature's Variety isn't very good quality. They source their vitamin mixes from China as well as their rabbit. The food also isn't truly "raw." Most Dog food companies that have freeze-dried products turn the heat up to 130 degrees F for 10-18 hours. This process of freeze drying essentially cooks the food. Notice in some of the commercial freeze-dried foods that there is a silica packet in there to help absorb the residual moisture.

There are some very good varieties out there for quality premade raw foods out there. Vital Essentials, K9 Natural and Primal is also very good.

The freeze-drying process that those three uses does not cook the food. Instead, they utilize the process of "Sublimation" where the meat is on baking sheets and put into the Freeze-dryer. The meat is placed on baking sheets on a bakers rack type dolly. The baking sheets have a heating element like coil under them and then the meat is brought up to 90 degree F temp and there are fans pushing air from one direction and another fan pulling out the warm air. This process of Freeze-drying takes 72 hours. Low and slow. At the end of the 72 hour process, the moisture in the freeze dried meat is less than 3%. All of the moisture has been taken out. No silica packets necessary and the meat is still raw because it hasn't been cooked. There is no way that this food can go rancid because all of the moisture has been removed.

These foods are good quality but really expensive. Typically, freeze-dried is 1/6 the weight of raw when all the moisture is taken out. So 6# raw food weighs 1 pound when freeze dried. So i you have the money/means, go for it! Don't get Nature's Variety though as it's just overpriced, poor quality kibble.
 
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