Natural Dog Food for Adult Dogs & Puppies from Flint River Ranch - 10lb Bag

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*Note: This may seem like a shill review, but I am in no way affiliated with Flint River I am just one happy customer (well three counting my wife and pup)! Many thanks to Chandler for enlightening me on this company and much of the info below!

This is without a doubt the best dog food on the market. Forget all of these pet store-sold brands that use words like "plus", "pro-formula" and "healthy" it's marketing hype and is not beneficial for your dog. After talking with Chandler (see first reviewer) my wife and I decided to give Flint River Ranch a go. We had been using Blue Buffalo Dry Food for Small Breed Dogs and we were generally quite pleased. They at least used natural ingredients in beneficial amounts (meat always main ingredient) but after reading up on the difference in meat quality used, as well as several recalls over the past 3 years, we decided it was time for a change. Chandler's helpful post has already outlined why using human-grade meat is important so I won't go over that, but to highlight one important thing every dog owner should realize: your dog is not a wild wolf! It has been domesticated over generations, changing its genetic makeup; he or she can't handle poor quality meat.

Our pup had recently been suffering from allergies Blue Buffalo helped a little but they were still present. As cute as it is to have our little pup bound up to us with a runny nose every now and then, we knew that she must be uncomfortable! We were going to go with Newman's Own Dog Food but our dog is a 24lb. whippet mix and an examination of the kibble at a friend's place showed it to be a little too big for her. So, we jumped on Flint River's website and put an order in. We were a little nervous about our picky eater she has a hard time with Eukanuba when visiting the in-laws, and even when we tried a different Blue Buffalo food to mix things up she was hardly enthusiastic. Luckily for us, she jumped right on her bowl of Flint River the first time around! The kibble itself is more like broken up dog biscuits:

PROS

Human-grade meat is used

No artificial preservatives or fillers

NO ANIMAL BY-PRODUCTS

Food is twice-baked to preserve healthful properties

Nicely sized, even for smaller dogs

Food has never been recalled

Customer Service far exceeds expectations

Our dog seemed to love it

"CONS"

Price

I put "cons" in parentheses because while you are paying more for your food, you are (a) looking out for your buddy which in my mind is worth it, and (b) you may be saving money of vet visits down the road. Dogs are genetically quite similar to humans. If a person takes care of themselves by eating well and exercising often, doctor's visits are only necessary for injuries and check-ups (at least in my experience). The same goes with dogs and vet visits!

Listen, no dog food is going to magically make your dog run like a greyhound and pull people out of burning buildings like Lassie, but smart choices lead to a better life for your pup. Heck, we don't even know how old our dog is (looks like a puppy but has some grey on the muzzle), but we want to invest in her life by making good choices! Nothing irks me more than reviews on pet food that say "My dog didn't like this food, ONE STAR!" your dog can't smell what food is best for them. Give it time, allow them to get used to this food and for their body to reap some of the benefits, and I hope you will find it as worth it as we did! We have only been using it for a few weeks now, but I will updated this review in a couple of months when we really start to see the positive effects!

IMPORTANT NOTES:

* Still not convinced? Flint River offers four sample meals of their food for less than five bucks shipped. Give it a try before you drop the premium price!

*This is actually cheaper when purchased directly from the manufacturer!

* Within an hour of my ordering the samples, I had two LONG emails with tips on changing my dog's diet as well as some general info on allergies. I had mentioned my dogs allergies and I got a very detailed explanation of diagnosis and treatment!

This food is recommended by my wife and I (and our little girl, Poppy) without reservation if you can't afford to cook fresh chicken and rice for your dog each day, this is the next best thing! Absolutely worth the price!

Click Here to Read More Reviews >>

I spent 5 years studying canine nutrition and sadly, learned that vets don't ever get this chance. Veterinary colleges are funded by dog food companies and unfortunately, as one famous vet who wants to change all that, Dr. Pitcairn, realized, taught to treat the problem rather than discovering what's causing it and that usually relates to the diet. In fact, a tremendous increase in dog health issues can be traced back to the time that dog food companies started...when they stopped eating table scraps and began an all-processed high grain and high allergen and unnatural diet. Even though table scraps were full of dog toxins like onions, they STILL had less health issues than their process food preservative and poor balance counterparts of today.

Funny how we wouldn't feed our kids crackers every day but feel it's okay to only feed our dogs that--high grain, poor protein, cooked out vitamins, highly processed, low nutrients...dogs who, in nature, seek out more protein.

In fact, that is how new dog food nutrition studies began. Because vets realized that wolves and coyotes in the wild brought in for treatment if hit by a car, etc do not have the health issues our INDOOR dogs have. A wolf might be old and without fleas or tartar or itching and with a glossy coat.

So vets like Dr. Pitcairn began studying the cause of pets with chronic issues or developing common issues too young and finding what things were toxic and unnatural and what helped prevent poor things in their diet.

I live in the woods and have 3 dogs and have yet to have one flea because I follow this advice. In fact, I have strangers tell me (often) that my dog's fur looks like a cat's because it's so shiny. No itching. Never grew up begging for my food because theirs is complete. (It may be hard to break this habit once begun but easy if it never starts.)

I will only feed them 3 things: a diet I make from Dr. Pitcairn's recommendations, ( I have no ties to any of these but am an activist about sharing anything good or bad for pets) Newman's Own canned dog food, or Flint River Ranch.

Why? First of all, as part of my own studies I visited dog food plants. Actually this was like the biggest wakeup call on the planet for me. I watched as I was told the "brilliant" model of putting the factories near cattle processing. When a cow is dead or dying of anything...they never determine the cause...they pick it up in a bulldozer and go take it to the dogfood plant. I WATCHED this.

How can they do this? Do you see how you rarely see the term "human grade meat" on dog food? They don't have to be inspected if it's dog food. There are two different levels of acceptance...people cannot eat food riddled with tumors from lesions or cancer, it's okay if dog's do. According to the government regulations. Humans are required to eat inspected meat of certain cleanliness standards and from cows processed for this reason (I don't eat meat anyway but still....)Dog food companies are not required to have such standards.

For reals.

So if you will recall the huge outbreak of botulism a few years back with sick dogs going to vets, dying, etc that they linked to dog foods then it happened a few months later...do you remember there were only about 5 companies that were labeled as unaffected? This was one, Newman's Own was one....why? They only use HUMAN GRADE meat. Their meat is inspected. They do not buy meat from downed cattle plants so they were released from any recall or report of possible affected products. The others bought meat from across the country at these places and it was found the cows were diseased but because they never have to check to find out what they cows died from when making them into food, it was passed along. Then it happened again a few months later. Then it happened again a year later. Yes, we hear about these things when dogs die en masse. We never, however, hear about dogs that just fall ill....

But it gets worse. You may see a list of vitamins and nutrients across the back of a bag of dog food. But due to the way meat is processed, they bake it at astronomically high temps to try to kill off any lesions, puss, etc. I"m not making this up. But they ARE required to have these in there...so what happens? They all bake off. You are left with some grains, high allergens like corn, and you are basically feeding your dog crackers and by-products of downed cattle.

So, does your dog beg and salivate when you eat meat or any dinner for that matter? Does your dog dive into the grass to try to get greens and nutrients by eating grass when you go for a walk?

There is a reason. In nature, if you gave a human baby a banana and a bunny they would pet the bunny and eat the banana. If you gave a hungry dog the same for dinner, they'd eat the bunny first. What part of the bunny do they eat first? the stomach. Why? This is where they get their greens and nutrients...then the meat protein. The raw bones clean their teeth without splintering.

Yet, although we are against eating an all-processed diet, dogs in spite of begging and pleading, are now living shorter lives, with the highest health issues ever due to our thinking that it's better for them because a dog food company told us so...or vets who don't have classes in nutrition tell us so. But this isn't taught in veterinary schools and dog food companies fund and provide text books etc. I didn't say this...vets say this.

That is changing. There is a huge off-shoot of vets now learning to find the issue and the cause (usually food related) rather than treating the issue alone. And it turns out most issues are cured by a proper diet.

In fact, look at your dog treats. If you see sugar in them you will realize how many dog food companies are motivated by money. And there are lots of dog treats even TARTAR CLEANING (they say) dog treats with sugar. Why? Your dog will crave them just like people do. You may also see loads of unnnatural ingredients and even toxins such as onion powder. Milo's dog treats have these. Your dog can't tell you what is slowly hurting their kidneys. It's up to you to read the labels. Dog food is not regulated. It's up to us to do that.

The first thing you will notice about this dog food is that it looks like cookies broken a part rather than machine-made little round circles. Why? Because it it. They use inspected human-grade meat and a balance of carbs, protein, etc. that is closer to the natural diet and what a dog needs. Then they can bake it at a regular temperature that doesn't bake these out, just like you would at home. The nutrients aren't baked out. They bake it in sheets, naturally, then just break them apart.

You may be skeptical...so give it a month or two. Take a picture of your dog's fur before (dead serious) then compare it to when it has time to grow after eating this....you will be SHOCKED. We show poor health in our hair and so do they.

I can actually walk up to people at a dog event and tell them what they feed their dog. I have yet to be wrong and I do it often. I don't mean what brand but even people who think they are feeding their dog premium food like Iams have no idea it's just processed crackers marked up and grains and downed cattle.

I actually point out to people the difference. I kid you not, a family barbecue, a neighborhood "house crawl", a restaurant that allows dogs outside....I can walk up and tell who gives their dog table scraps (without toxins like onions or avocados) or real food, or human grade food....I just say "what do you feed your dog?" and I've never been wrong. Their coats are SHOCKINGLY different and shinier, the dogs aren't itching, and they usually have better teeth and gums. I have yet to be wrong.

One lady told me how she took her dog to vets for years and it had to have steroid shots, then she finally found a vet who knew about nutrition rather than saying "feed him expensive dog food" and assumed that was good...and the dog was cured.

Do I work for this company? No. I am a very active Amazon reviewer who speaks up heavily, especially when it comes to pets, in all my reviews of things I love or things I don't. My dogs thrive on this but I will say, they are not fans of their dog treats. So I just look at labels and find all natural dog treats (charlee bear brand has good ones) I have no ties to this company whatsoever except for the fact that I used to only feed my dogs food I made until a vet who was an expert in nutrition told me about this (In fact this vet ALWAYS treats from the cause rather than the symptoms first...a rarity as to how vets are taught to heal.)

this was at a time I was too busy to cook and I didn't want to give my dog just canned food even though Newman's Own is equally as good as this...

the difference in coat was striking. I have tried a couple other brands and one of my poms always starts scratching. This has amino acids and things that treat the coat and skin and it's perfectly balanced.

Depending upon where you live it may be cheaper to buy direct. I anxiously await the day they finally get this on Amazon with free shipping but it has not happened yet. I'd get it on subscription then.

There is a difference. There is a huge difference. I've spent years studying in order to be informed and I recommend few dog foods. This, however, in my opinion, is simply one that no other dog food has ever come close to when I read ingredients and balance of ingredients and look at how it's made and what kind of meat.

If you ate artificial and processed chicken mcnuggets every day you'd fall ill too. When our dogs do people rarely suspect the dog food...they live such short lives anyway....nothing should be off balance, artificial, preservative-laden, processed, etc in their diets either so that even if they live a long life it is a full and healthy one with less arthritis, less kidney issues, less scratching etc.

I am a raving fan.

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