Raw & Fresh Dog Food Review

BARF is a great way to feed your dog a far more natural diet than processed kibble, or even wet food for that matter.

It’s not without drawbacks, and I’ll cover the risk with the most impact to health later (which applies to most dog foods, not just Raw & Fresh).

Raw & Fresh dog food works on a delivery service, arriving fresh (not frozen) at your door. That’s if you live in the Eastern states that is, and if you don’t check out brands like Lyka, Frontier Pets and Eureka who do deliver nationally – all of which are very good.

I’m a big fan of raw dog foods such as this. There seem to be many of these companies springing up all over Australia, and it seems Raw & Fresh have become very popular.

Let’s take a look!

Raw & Fresh dog food review

What the marketing says

I’ll skirt over the marketing with what I consider the key points – the points which may matter to you. I’ll work on the basis you already know the benefits of raw dog food seeing as you’ve come to this review.

• Only human grade produce – I consider this the biggest plus when it comes to a raw/BARF brand, as the standard is so much better than pet grade (trust me on that!)
• Hormone-free, free range, and fresh from the farm – this is far better for your conscience, and more ethical, than buying a dog food made with factory farmed animals.
• All ingredients are sourced within Australia – which I know will win hearts with many of us. We love to support Australian businesses, don’t we?

When it comes to the formulas they offer a variety – two are AAFCO compliant, which means “complete and balanced” to cover all the nutrition your dog needs, and these are the Complete Beef and Complete Roo formulas. You may decide to opt for both, because variety is good(!), although the Roo formula might work well for weight management or allergies.

There’s also some more basic formulas (“essentials”) which work well as part of a diet, or perhaps a great way for you to break into full raw feeding, or save you some preparation!

If you have a cat, keep in mind there’s Raw & Fresh cat food as well.

For the sake of the Raw & Fresh dog food review we’ll focus on the Complete Beef formula.

What the ingredients really say

The last raw food review I wrote was The Nosh Project, which serves as an excellent comparison to show why Raw & Fresh is better. You see, with that raw food, also “human grade”, you’ll find there really isn’t much meat in it, which is deceiving.

With Raw & Fresh, however, you’ll find ingredients which really do matter to your dog – beef meat, chicken meat, chicken bones (ground), chicken heart, beef liver, beef kidneys, lamb heart, and beef spleen.

You can see a good visual representation of Raw & Fresh dog food here:

Some of those may sound gruesome to you, but these are where the real nutrition is, the nutrition your dog needs to thrive.

If you have a lot of time on your hands, get hold of the ingredients of one of those scientific vet-endorsed dog foods, and start Googling the names of some of the more minor ingredients after the cereal grains.

Here’s some examples:

• Biotin – Sourced from organ meats, eggs, fish, meat, etc.
• Niacin – Sourced from fish, beef, chicken, turkey, etc.
• Thiamin – Sourced from meat, fish, etc.
• Taurine – Meat, dairy, fish, etc.

Granted, there are alternative sources of these nutrients in grains, vegetables, and other alternatives, but you have to assume your dog will readily digest these better from animal ingredients.

The conclusion you can draw, is most nutrients required in dog food (as stipulated by the AAFCO standards), can naturally be source from animal ingredients – so why not just feed those to your dog?

What else is in Raw & Fresh dog food?

I’ve covered the important of animal ingredients in BARF enough (much more than I planned!), so lets look at the rest of the formula.

Some BARF foods, like Proudi, are all animal, whereas many include other ingredients like vegetables and superfoods. I consider these beneficial to a dog in moderation, which is the case in Raw & Fresh dog foods.

In the Complete Beef formula we find the following, each being a source of vitamins, minerals, omega fatty acids, and fibre – and all should help boost your dog’s immune system, wellbeing, skin and coat health, and hopefully lead to much better health than they would get from a processed kibble:

Vegetables: Spinach, sweet potato, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, carrot, broccoli.

Superfoods: Sunflower seeds, chia seeds, wheat germ oil, cod liver oil, omega oil.

I realise die-hard raw feeders see these ingredients as non-essentials, but when it comes to a canine diet I see all these as beneficial for all manner of reasons. I estimate carbs to be 2.9% (based on wet values), which isn’t much at all in the way of carbs.

A quick summary

I have to say I really like Raw & Fresh – dog foods and cat foods. I like the company ethics, the fact it’s all human grade, and I wholeheartedly believe a food as good as this will really benefit your dog (or cat).

Being delivered to your door, for most of us busy people, is also a huge benefit. Preparing raw yourself is a huge chore, so why not have it delivered in convenient-sized packets easy to feed to your pet?

Where to buy?

Buy directly from the Raw & Fresh website.

The main problem with BARF

I think my next post will cover the problems with BARF as a feeding style, although it’s a problem with most dog-feeding styles period, is this:

Wet foods do not provide a natural way for a dog to retain good dental health, which wild carnivores achieve from chewing and gnawing flesh and bone of prey.

BARF food contains ground bones, which don’t serve this purpose. Dr Ian Billinghurst, the Australian pioneer of BARF, knows this, and writes about it, so it’s a shame this oversight remains so unconsidered.

The best suggestion I have is to feed raw meaty bones alongside a BARF diet, but keep in mind if your dog devours too much bone, along with the bone in the BARF, this can cause an excess of calcium – not good.

If your dog chews a bone, but doesn’t actually consume it, then that’s fine. You’ll just need appropriate bones, as chicken necks, wings, and carcass will easily be consumed.

Ingredients

Ingredients of Raw & Fresh dog food (Complete Beef for Dogs formula):

Beef Meat, Chicken Meat, Chicken Cages, Chicken Heart, Beef Liver, Beef Kidneys, Lamb Heart, Spinach, Sweet Potato, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Kale, Carrot, Beef Spleen, Sunflower Seeds, Broccoli, Chia Seeds, Wheat Germ Oil, Cod Liver Oil, Omega Oil

Please note: I’ve noticed ingredients may vary, so the above may not be the current ingredients.

Analysis

Typical composition of Raw & Fresh dog food (NOTE: These are from the Beef Essentials formula as the Complete Beef AAFCO formula does not have these figure on the website):