New Dog and Cat Food

This past weekend, we went to a pet store to get cat food. What should have been a run-in-grab-food stop turned into a much longer stop, partly because of an African grey and partly because we stopped to talk to a pet food representative.

I usually avoid talking to pet food reps. Most dog and cat food on the market isn't food I will feed. I'm very selective about what food my pets get, so I won't talk to pet food reps as a general rule. But I was quite happy to talk to this one.

The representative was for a company called "Nature's Variety" and she was telling people about their "Instinct" line. The Instinct food is a frozen raw diet. For dogs and cats, a raw diet is superior to other diets, at least in my opinion. A raw diet means giving dog or cat raw meat and bones (not cooked bones), and possibly some fresh fruits and vegetables. Given that cats are obligate carnivores, and dogs are carnivores (there is debate as to whether they are true carnivores or omnivores, I side with the carnivore side), feeding a diet high in meat is pretty important. The Instinct foods are 95% meat, organs, and bone, and 5% fruits and vegetables, with absolutely no grains. 

After talking to the pet food rep, we bought a trail size bag of the frozen chicken. In addition to the chicken, they also have bison, venison, rabbit, lamb, and beef. The frozen, raw foods are for both dogs and cats, no different food. There is also a kibble, which doesn't have quite as much meat and more fruits and vegetables, but is still grain free. There is a canned version as well, which is the same 95% meat, 5% fruit and veggie ratio as the frozen food. The company also has another line of foods called "Prarie", which has grains, but only a few, and none of the ones I avoid in dog and cat foods. It looks pretty good too.

Now, all of this is fine and good on the nutrition side of things, but if the dogs and cats won't eat it, it's worthless. So far, we've only given some to Ellie the cockapoo with food allergies and/or intolerances, and Delilah the cat who is spoiled. Delilah wouldn't eat any unless I mixed her canned food in with it. Ellie, though, quite liked it.