Any opinions on Natures Variety Instinct?
 

I was at PetCo yesterday and picked up a trial bag of Instinct Raw Lamb in the freezer section. My yorkies love it! So far no adverse reactions from the few pieces I gave them. Tatiana gets loose poops when introduced to new foods! It is the same protein as I am presently feeding. It has a high percent of protein (32%) and no grains, potatoes, glutens but does have tapioca. I looked for recalls and there was 1 in Feb. 2013....plastic found in a bag of chicken. It looks to me made and produced in the USA.

If anyone feeds this food please tell me what you think as I am considering switching them to this food as I can get it locally. It is pricey for the Raw but I would probably mix the Raw with kibble.

Opinions please!

I am on the hunt for a new food to implement into my boys diet so picked up a few cans of their homestyle stews yesterday. I've also been feeding their raw boost treats and the boys love those. My boys are quite picky and the gobbled up the canned stew and asked for more, so I may be going back to buy more.

I am curious to hear about other people's experience with feeding it. I think we all want to feed our pets what's best. It's just difficult know what best is when there are so many choices out there.

When I started off feeding premade raw, I started w/Nature's Variety. They all loved it, it's a very good company. My guys eat Primal & Stella & Chewy's now. Freeze dried reconstitued in water for Mimi & Turbo bc anything cold (water or food) gives them stomach spasms & makes them throw up. Princess & Momo gets frozen. It's expensive feeding exclusively premade raw food, but my guys are doing excellent!

BTW, only mix kibble w/premade raw food when 1st introducing to avoid any stomach upsets...only if your dog is sensitive. Mixing the 2 continuously can cause tummy upset bc the pH of the food is different (it confuses the pancreas). Premade raw being acidic, as a dog's stomach pH should be. You can however feed them for separate meals but will probably eventually go 100% raw bc it's awesome!:D:thumbup:

I've been feeding mine Nature's Variety Instinct Raw for over 3 years and mine love it and have done great on it. They get raw in the morning and the NV Instinct kibble with raw boost in the evening. My dogs turned 4 in Sept and Oct 2013, and Jezebel has never needed a dental and Chuy has only required one dental.

I have a 15 lb. bag of their other food to use up. So for now I am just going to top their food with a couple of pieces. If I feed Raw, do I need to only feed this way, or is it ok to add it to their dry kibble?

The stomach doesn't know any difference whatsoever as to whether you're feeding raw food or non-raw food. It only knows whether you're feeding: carb, protein, fat, toxin - and digests accordingly. So no, you don't only need to feed just raw. You can feed them together at the same meal, separate, or whatever you prefer...the stomach releases the correct chemicals based upon the type of chemical present.

You may hear a myth that goes like this: "don't feed raw and kibble together bc kibble digests slower". SIGH. It's like saying don't eat sushi rolls bc the raw sushi will digest differently than the non-raw items. Lol. As if the stomach goes "OH, this is raw sushi, I'm gonna go fast on this one, but that rice is gonna take me forEVER". The stomach does *not* work that way. It digests things according to chemical makeup, not according to time needed to digest. The stomach doesn't know what time it is. When the stomach's job is done on certain contents (raw or non-raw) it then pushes them into the small intestine, it doesn't wait for the rest of the meal to catch up. :rolleyes:

I sometimes feed NV and love it. I mainly feed Primal raw and love that too, esp the duck flavor.

+1 :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

So......it is okay to mix or top their dry kibble with raw!? I need to gradually add Instinct to their food (Nutrisca) to make sure they adjust with out any adverse effects from the switch. I am sticking with the same protein, but would like to eventually try fish on them. I heard it helps prevent sensitivities if you do this. True or False?

I fed NV raw to Zoey and Jackson for four years and they loved it. Unfortunately, I gave them treats that contained 24% fat and Zoey developed pancreatitis. Now she is on Royal Canin low fat diet. Sigh! NV meat comes from the US or New Zealand except for the rabbit which comes from China. I would not feed them rabbit. Also, the lamb was a little too rich for Zoey. It gave her the runs.

I was just reading Gman63's post "almost a yorkie" and another poster linked a site for haircuts. I was looking at the pix and reading about grooming a yorkie and the article said to feed a good food and went on to list several brands which included NV raw but added "not rabbit". Just FYI.

I have often used raw toppers with kibble and have never had any issues.

I think it's a really good compromise to supplement kibble with the raw (and even just various fresh/wet/canned foods in general) since it can be expensive to feed premade raw exclusively. But you can still get the benefits of feeding a limited ingredient wet food that's not as processed by adding it to kibble.

I will stay away from the rabbit.....thanks for the heads up!

I knew there was something wrong with the rabbit and could not remember what exactly it was. I googled it and only found that there was a shortage of rabbit for their cat food. Thanks for reminding me!!

The boys chowed down their dinner last night, but were not nearly as happy about eating it for breakfast. I am mixing it with their canned wellness so as not to upset their digestive system.

My older pup has suffered from Pancreatitis in the past. What is considered "high" in fat. I don't want to feed him anything that's going to upset his system. He's done so well on the wellness,which is why I haven't changed....but it's been about a year now and he doesn't care to eat the Wellness anymore.

Yes, it is totally okay to mix them, no problem whatsoever.

As far as fish, what do you mean 'prevent sensitivities'...do you mean to other food or to allergens or something else? I haven't heard fish prevents any specific thing, but it's GREAT to feed to dog. Mine love love love fish. I sometimes feed them baked whitefish w/ some potato and they just go nuts.

Not the fish prevent sensitivities but changing the protein so they don't get used to just one protein and then become sensitive or allergic. Tatiana doesn't tolerate chicken. She gets real gassy and has loose stools. Chicken seems to upset her tummy. So that is why I would like to try fish as an alternate protein. I found when I switched to a grain free, potato free, chicken free food that Teeka and Tatiana stopped having skin issues. But when I almost ran out of their food over the holidays, I gave them boiled chicken to stretch their food, Tatiana became very gassy, bloated when just eating it for a couple of days!

I have friends who use this brand and like it very much.
I buy the dehydrated nuggets to take with me on our long summer walks.

If you are going to feed only raw, then wait until you're almost finished the kibble and wean them off slowly over a couple of weeks with cooked chicken or turkey.
Or you can go full transition from one straight to the other. Many people don't have issues doing this. I did the weaning thing personally. Expect a bit of stomach upset, but get some good probiotic and some slippery elm bark powder to help you along.

You want your dog to eat mostly red meats as their proteins. Fish is okay once in a while but I wouldn't recommend it all the time. Rabbit and Quail are other options you could try

I have 4 different proteins right now that I rotate for every meal. Duck, Lamb, Pheasant, & Rabbit (S&C & Primal). They all love it & are doing excellent!
You don't need to rotate it for every meal, I just do since I have it & I like that they're getting the variety. I also give them digestive enzymes, probiotics & krill oil as supplements everyday.

Fish makes Mimi's anal glands fill up, thinking it has something to do w/fish sensitivity. But I do give them unsalted sardines once in a while, they go nuts for it!

I give the boys a frozen smelt every once in a while and their normal treats are dehydrated lamb lung and achovies. I've heard good things about Stella and Chewy and Primal too.

They sell a huge package of dehydrated haddock (or is it pollack, can't remember) @ the Korean/ Asian market...they go bonkers for that too! The fishier the better loll.

Just don't give raw fish. There is a parasite in salmon and some other types of fish that does not affect humans but can kill a dog: Salmon Poisoning Disease in Dogs | petMD

I feed mine the Nature's Variety Prairie Salmon & they have done so much better with the itching & scratching! They love it & I have been very happy!

Ok, so SUPER late to respond BUT...
 

I LOVE this brand of kibble to death. I have 4 girls- Lab, shih tzu, Yorkie and yorkie/pom mix and they all do amazingly on Instinct. Every now and then we'll swap to their rawboost formula and as treats I'll feed them the raw bites. They adore every bit of it! Shiny coats, bright eyes and my girls only see the vet once a years (in other words they never have other issues!). Faith and Guinea are 4 and are just recently needing their first teeth cleaning. My cats on this and my ferret as well...lol. Can I gush anymore?! Also, if you sign up for their mailing list you get a coupon ALL the time and Petco usually has great sales on their natural and holistic foods! What better than quality food I always get with discounts?!

Some of their formulas are dangerously high in ash. Otherwise, the company itself doesn't seem terrible.