Customer Reviews

Nature's Variety Dry Dog Food, Instinct Grain Free Chicken Diet, 25.3 Pound Bag

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have a 6 year old chocolate labrador retriever. Chip has been plagued with a dry itchy coat and profuse shedding for the past 5 yrs. My vet thought that he was allergic to grains and suggested I try the Nature's Variety GRAIN FREE dog food. After two months, chip's skin stopped flaking, his shedding reduced exponentailly and his coat was as shiny as when he was a pup. I was a skeptic in the beginning thinking that chip was on the pro plan diet and that was good, right? WRONG! I highly recommend this food. Do the research and find what low grade ingredients are in name brand pet foods on the market today. When all of the dog food poisionings and recalls happened you never seen this brand on the list. I truly am a believer in this product.

When I met my last rescue pet, Dixie, approximately 6.5 years ago, she was a real mess--both externally and internally. She exhibited a nervous condition {G.E.R.D.} that my vet said was due to her previous horrendous living conditions; that is to say, that everything that went down her goozle promptly came right back up! She was painfully emaciated, skeletal almost, and her blood-work was all over the place. So, after a round of IV fluids and 2 bags of 'Science Diet' chow, Dixie came home with me to recuperate and to learn how to live in a loving home. The first thing I did was to research which pet foods would address her particular condition; I knew that I didn't want to keep her on the 'Science Diet' regimen--it's too full of ingredients that I feel don't belong in a proper diet for dogs. Lo' and behold, I stumbled upon the "Nature's Variety Instinct" formula for dogs. It seemed like a good fit, due to all of the proper ratios {protein/fat} and totally 'GRAIN-FREE". Viola! The rest, as they say, is history.... 6.5 years later, Dixie now weighs in at approximately 20 loving, happy pounds of my friendly and well-adjusted best friend.

We have a beautiful 2 year old English Bulldog. We started feeding him this dog food when he was 5 months old and he is so much healthier now that we use Nature's Variety Raw Instinct. He is calmer and less agressive, his digestive system functions well, his allergies are in check and his coat is shiny. It has saved us a lot of money on vet bills and we would not feed him anything else.

I've been feeding this to my lab for a few months now and it is a great product! I have a 60 lb, 1yr old lab and I feed him 2 cups of this per day. I recommend this to those dog owners that want a grain-free food and are not yet ready to feed 100% raw.

I have a 1 year old Vizsla who has been plagued with gas and diarrhea since the day I got her. I had tried other "grain-free" dog foods with no luck. Many of those foods contained potatoes, which was still too much carbohydrate it seemed. This food is grain and potato free and seems to have her on the right track finally!

Our dog "Brenda Lee" enjoys this high quality food! Great food to give to your shorter family members :o)

I have a 10 year old purebred Husky Shepherd mix. Her coat was always dry and itchy, and I followed my vet's advice for Nature's Variety Grain Free dog food. It took some time, but this food was amazing! Shedding subsided substantially, skin itching stopped, and all was well. Simply put, do the research and see how good this food is, and see how well-formulated it is.

There is so much junk food in the pet food market today, but Nature's Variety Instinct formula has the proper ratio of protein to fat and is grain free. Similarly, the company doesn't seem to pander to what the average pet owner assumes that dogs need to live well, which, of course, is often wrong. All and all, this is the best made pet food for the best price I have found. Certainly, it is more expensive than the pet market leaders or the big retailers' house brands, but it's a wonderful balance between price and quality. Your pet deserves the extra to live a long healthy life.

I switched my 4 year old lab from another holistic brand because she was itching all the time and the vet suspected a food allergy. Two months later the itching has stopped...and there is about half as much loop to pick up. The auto-delivery feature is really convienent as well. No more hauling dog food home from the store or running out at the last minute.

Normally I feed my dogs whole raw chickens, organs, bones, etc, but when I take them on a vacation or I just have the need to feed them a dry food for a while this is the next best thing, arguably the best dry dog food available along with a few other goods ones like EVO. I've tested feeding this to my dogs for months at a time to see the difference between raw BARF feeding and this and there's no difference in weight or healthy appearance or attitude. I still prefer raw feeding and strongly believe that is the healthiest option for my dogs, but this is definitely the next best thing.

Simply the best dog food around, in my opinion. I am SO glad that Amazon finally is stocking this - it is a lot more expensive on here with the standard price, but with the Subscribe and Save discount, it is the cheapest around.

Don't take my word for it, here are some professional reviews of this product:

***DogfoodAdvisor.com gives the product 5/5, their highest grade.
"Above-average protein. Above-average fat. And below carbs when compared to a typical dry dog food.

Free of any plant-based protein boosters, this looks like the profile of a kibble containing an abundance of meat.

When you also consider its lack of any critical Red Flag items, it becomes obvious we're evaluating an exceptional dry food.

Bottom line?

Nature's Variety Instinct is a grain-free kibble using an abundance of meat and poultry meals as its main sources of animal protein... thus earning the brand five stars.

Enthusiastically recommended."

***petfoodratings.net gives the product 5 Stars as well, saying:

What's good about this food....
Grain-free, very high in quality meat content (first 3 ingredients), pumpkinseeds are great for fiber & skin/coat, herring meal, fruits/veggies.

....and what's not so good.
Nothing.

***dogfoodanalysis.com also lists this as one of their 6 star (best) brands. The packaging is different, as it was from 2009, but same ingredient list:
"The first and fifth ingredients in this food are named meat products, in meal form. Although it is easier to have confidence that there is a good amount of meat in a food when there are multiple meat meal ingredients heading the ingredient list, the supporting macronutrient breakdown of this product lends a high level of confidence in the amount of meat product in the food. The inclusion of fish meal amongst the major incredients provides a good source of omega 3 and 6 OFAs.

Tapioca is the starch content with primary purpose as thickener. It is the second ingredient in a food with likely carbohydrate content of around 26% DMB.

There are no grains in this food. The major carbohydrate source is tapioca, which may be particularly useful for dogs with sensitivities to potatoes or who suffer arthritis. There is a good range of fruits/vegetables in the food, and a good range of probiotics.

We note that chicken fat is the third ingredient in the food and that research at Purdue University has identified fat in the top four ingredients of dry dogs foods as a factor increasing the risk of bloat in large breed dogs. The presence of citric acid as a preservative means that this food should not be pre-moistened prior to feeding (pre-moistening of foods preserved with citirc acid has also been identified as a factor increasing the risk of bloat).

This food is outstanding in that it contains no grains whatsoever. Grains are not a natural part of a canine diet and it is pleasing to see dog foods on the market that exclude grains completely from the diet.

The only caution we would make on this food is that the high protein and calcium content may make it suitable for adult dogs only, particularly in the case of large breeds."

***On the best brands list at[...]