Nature's Variety mixing raw and kibble

[Middle Child]

This is too much!

Nature's Variety has developed a new food mixing kibble with freeze dried raw.  Everything I have ever read about raw feeding says do NOT mix kibble with raw.

http://www.naturesvariety.com/Instinct/cat/kibble/rawboost/all

Some ingredients list, good grief. "Natural chicken flavor"?  Isn't there enough chicken in it to give it chicken flavor?

Ingredients
Chicken Meal, Chicken Fat, Tapioca, Salmon Meal, Natural Chicken Flavor, Pumpkinseeds, Freeze Dried Chicken (including Freeze Dried Ground Chicken Bone), Freeze Dried Turkey, Freeze Dried Turkey Liver, Montmorillonite Clay, Freeze Dried Turkey Heart, Sun-Cured Alfalfa Meal, Potassium Chloride, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate, Biotin, Niacin Supplement, Vitamin A Acetate, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Beta Carotene, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid), Minerals (Zinc Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Sodium Selenite, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide), DL-Methionine, Choline Chloride, Dried Kelp, Sea Salt, Apples, Taurine, Direct-Fed Microorganisms (Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Yeast Culture, Dried Enterococcus Faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Aspergillus Niger Fermentation Extract, Dried Trichoderma Longibrachiatum Fermentation Extract, Dried Bacillus Subtilis Fermentation Extract), Carrots, Butternut Squash, Inulin, Flaxseed Oil, Chicken Eggs, Cranberries, Mixed Tocopherols with Citric Acid (a natural preservative), Ground Flaxseeds, Broccoli, Lettuce, Spinach, Apple Cider Vinegar, Parsley, Honey, Salmon Oil, Rosemary Extract, Olive Oil, Blueberries, Alfalfa Sprouts, Persimmons, Rosemary, Sage, Clove.

As usual for NV, lots of unnesseccary fruits and vegetables.  And honey? What on earth use does a carnivore have for honey?

This just sicken me.  It's as unethical as any Hill's product.

And even worse, under their frozen raw section, they actually recommend mixing the frozen raw with their kibble.

These pet food manufacturers have gone berserk.

[Shadow]

there is another pet food out there that is raw and kibble mixed too. Cant remember the name of it now, but it wasnt NV.
This is absolutely crazy!!

[DeeDee]

As usual for NV, lots of unnesseccary fruits and vegetables.  And honey? What on earth use does a carnivore have for honey?


These pet food manufacturers have gone berserk.

I became curious about NV & I sure won't be using it for convenience on road trips!!! Though it doesn't list the tapioca that the dry kind does, the raw still has something in it called "Montmorillonite Clay". Well I don't think that stuff belongs INSIDE any living body if possible to avoid. It's chemical make-up is alarming with all the info about the silicate.

http://faculty.unlv.edu/bbuck/Dana/CIR%20expert%20panel.pdf

Now the bit I remember from Chemistry had me looking it up and I was right about the part that silicates are a salt or ester of silicic acid--especially 1 of a large number of usually insoluble salts with polymeric negative ions having a structure formed of tetrahedrons of SiO4 groups linked in rings, chains, sheets, or three dimensional frameworks. Silicates constitute a large proportion of the earth's minerals and are present in cement and glass.   

Want to know what silicic acid is? http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/544289/silicic-acid

Nope, I don't like what I remembered of silicates. I don't think I want that stuff inside of me when possible to avoid, so I'm sure I don't want it inside my dogs. I'm pretty positive there's a better way to get trace minerals besides ingesting that garbage.

Let's not even get going on the tapioca part that's in some of the rest...Time magazine listed tapioca as one of the world's top-10 most dangerous foods:

#8:

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1967235_1967238_1967250,00.html

Now if the American Cancer Society is listing that as a danger, why the heck wouldn't it be dangerous to our pets that are usually smaller than adults?

[Lola]

Montmorillonite Clay is another one of those ingredients that is getting harder and harder to avoid.

NV canned WAS one food that has been in my cupboard recently, due to it being grain free and not containing carrageenan.  I wasn't thrilled with some of the other ingredients listed, but I was in a "crunch."

I may be whacked, but I have a difficult enough time buying wet food from a company that also mfg. kibble.  NV's latest raw and kibble concoction is just way over the top...for me.

 

[Middle Child]

Me too Lola,  NV has proved sufficiently to my satisfaction that they are no better than Hills or Purina with their lies and kibble pushing. I got a rude reply to my email when I wrote to them about this new "raw boost" kibble.  Not only was the note rude, they included by attachment an article that "proves" that mixing kibble with raw is "fine".  The article was written by someone with PhD after her name.  A PhD in what is not mentioned.  The references for the article were four: one from 2004, two from 2000, and one from 1988 

I wrote back with my opinion on the article and the company in general.  I doubt I will receive any reply.

[DeeDee]

Montmorillonite Clay is another one of those ingredients that is getting harder and harder to avoid.

I understand dosing animals with clays for a short time instead of giving them poisons for certain conditions like worms. But I don't understand giving it to them day after day for a lifetime. Even directions say for  Diatomaceous Earth use against fleas to get close to the skin but don't rub into the skin. Now if it's a danger to skin that's stronger than intestinal linings, what would constant use inside of them cause when it's 80-90% silica?

I'm sorry, but you're not going to get me to believe that long term use of those things don't have an effect on their intestinal linings. Especially when directions say you have to be careful of the amounts you give, and even when observed out in the wild, animals don't make it a daily diet item--only when they feel sick if at all.

I think NV and others are just adding it in to give trace minerals cheaply & be able to say they didn't add Chinese vitamins & minerals, but what they're doing doesn't sound safe or sensible to me when there are so many other natural ways to get trace minerals.