Nature's Variety Raw diet

sasmeow · #1 05-23-2009, 01:14 AM

Has anyone heard of this food? It's a raw diet, and it's frozen. Its pretty expensive. I don't think it's been out long. The holistic vet I went to wants me to start feeding this to Gus. From what I have read, it seems like it's high quality. Just wanted to know if anyone knows anything about it, or has tried it with their doggie. The vet gave us samples, and Gus and Izzy LOVED, LOVED it, all the flavors. There was chicken, beef, venison, and lamb. The kitties were trying to eat it too, and I gave them a small bite.

**gmacleod** · #2 05-23-2009, 07:26 AM

Yep, heard of it. I think it has been around a long time (insofar as commercial raw goes).

It is OK, but IMO is overloaded by vegetables and excessively expensive for what it is. Personally, I'd be far more inclined (if I were to buy pre-made raw at all) to buy a meat/offal/bone ONLY mix. And if I wanted to add any vegetables, I'd do it myself with fresh food (it takes seconds to toss a handful of spare veggies into a food processor or blender).

One complaint I've heard several times with this food over the years is that over time many dogs seem to develop nasty breath. That magically disappears when they're swapped to a vegetable-free raw diet (including other commercially made ones). That rather adds to my view that this food is overdone with the veggies.

A better option that I can think of offhand is www.hare-today.com.

SherylM · #3 05-27-2009, 07:04 AM

I'm glad this was posted. I've been thinking of switching to raw and I was going to start out with Nature's Variety only for the convenience. I want to use it for days when my husband is feeding the dogs in the morning and doesn't have time to wait for them to finish a raw meal. My plan is to use it for a couple weeks then switch to raw prey model diet, only supplementing NV when necessary. I've heard good things about this food so hopefully I'll have good results.