Primal vs Stella and Chewy's

Hello all

We made the decision to switch our older dog to a senior recipe and our chihuahua to a freeze dried raw/wet food mix.

I was hoping to incorporate raw into my cats diet as well. Problem is, I can't decide which freeze dried raw is better, Primal or Stella and Chewy's.

Hes gotten some samples from both brands but the story is always the same: he only eats it dry and only eats a nibble at a time.

He does seem to like the SC chicken and Primal pork, but it must be unhealthy to eat it dry since it's got less moisture than dry kibble.

So really I'm asking two things: which brand is better and how to get a cat to eat rehydrated raw?

Thank you

Manx said:

Hello all

We made the decision to switch our older dog to a senior recipe and our chihuahua to a freeze dried raw/wet food mix.

I was hoping to incorporate raw into my cats diet as well. Problem is, I can't decide which freeze dried raw is better, Primal or Stella and Chewy's.

Hes gotten some samples from both brands but the story is always the same: he only eats it dry and only eats a nibble at a time.

He does seem to like the SC chicken and Primal pork, but it must be unhealthy to eat it dry since it's got less moisture than dry kibble.

So really I'm asking two things: which brand is better and how to get a cat to eat rehydrated raw?

Thank you

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Whatever you do do not feed freeze dried foods dry. They are incredibly high in phos and ash and can trigger urinary issues so they need to be served wet. With that said, my oldest cat wouldn't eat any freeze dried wet for the longest time. I started by adding a small amount of water, or dry treats on top to get him used to the water. My "trick" is to drizzle water over the top of the freeze dried food so the top is dry but under it is all the water. When he goes to eat the food he ends up licking up the water too, so it works. My cat likes Stella and Chewy over Primal, but his favorite is actually the new Instinct Raw Market, you might want to get that one a try.

https://www.chewy.com/natures-variety-instinct-raw-market/dp/127144

Thank you for the reply. I'll see if I can grab a sample or small bag somewhere.

I've been trying to avoid feeding it dry but he won't touch it wet. I've only fed it dry very rarely. 

The Primal employee who stops by my work suggested hiding a piece or two of the Primal Pronto for cats (preferably pork as its more flavorful) in his wet food to get him used to the flavor. I'm just nervous in doing this as he's so dang picky and I feel like I'd end up wasting the bag.

Just out of curiosity, how does re-hydrating the raw eliminate the large amounts of phosphorous and ash?

Manx said:

 
Thank you for the reply. I'll see if I can grab a sample or small bag somewhere.

I've been trying to avoid feeding it dry but he won't touch it wet. I've only fed it dry very rarely. 

The Primal employee who stops by my work suggested hiding a piece or two of the Primal Pronto for cats (preferably pork as its more flavorful) in his wet food to get him used to the flavor. I'm just nervous in doing this as he's so dang picky and I feel like I'd end up wasting the bag.

Just out of curiosity, how does re-hydrating the raw eliminate the large amounts of phosphorous and ash?

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Instinct sells sample bags, if you can't it locally they have them on Amazon.


When you add water you're diluting the product, so the phos and ash decreases. 

Ah, okay.

I have seen these at one of my local independent pet shops. I'll grab a sample and see how he does. If not, I'll try sneaking the frozen raw into his wet and see if he'll handle it!

And cats liking it aside, which brand do you like better considering ingredients? 

Thank you!

Manx said:

 
Ah, okay.

I have seen these at one of my local independent pet shops. I'll grab a sample and see how he does. If not, I'll try sneaking the frozen raw into his wet and see if he'll handle it!

And cats liking it aside, which brand do you like better considering ingredients? 

Thank you!

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I think S&C is better than Primal, but S&C recently added pea fiber to all their freeze dried foods. This isn't a huge deal breaker for me, but it is for other people. S&C is also VERY boney, which I don't like and that's also why their phos and ash content are high. I think Instinct Raw Market is probably the "best" freeze dried right now IMO, even though it contains some veggies, because their phos and ash aren't crazy high and it's not super boney. I mix S&C with Instinct Raw Market for my oldest cat, and he eats some actual raw too. 

To add to the list of freeze-dried foods: we recently started feeding Feline Natural's chicken/lamb food and Northwest Naturals' turkey. Our cats love both and I'm very happy with both because they don't have vegetables.

As for the Stella & Chewy's v. Primal question, hmm. The downside of Primal is the vegetables, though they're all low-carb; pork Primal is the only Primal I feed now. The downside of S&C is all the bone, which makes the phosphorous levels very high; and now there are peas and menadione, neither of which I'll feed.

LisaHE said:

 
To add to the list of freeze-dried foods: we recently started feeding Feline Natural's chicken/lamb food and Northwest Naturals' turkey. Our cats love both and I'm very happy with both because they don't have vegetables.

As for the Stella & Chewy's v. Primal question, hmm. The downside of Primal is the vegetables, though they're all low-carb; pork Primal is the only Primal I feed now. The downside of S&C is all the bone, which makes the phosphorous levels very high; and now there are peas and menadione, neither of which I'll feed.

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I haven't been able to find Northwest Natural anywhere near me and it doesn't look like Chewy or ONP sell it  

missmimz said:

 
I haven't been able to find Northwest Natural anywhere near me and it doesn't look like Chewy or ONP sell it  

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And nobody will order it for you? I guess that all depends on distributors, doesn't it? My favorite store didn't have any problem but...

LisaHE said:

 
And nobody will order it for you? I guess that all depends on distributors, doesn't it? My favorite store didn't have any problem but...

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We don't really have that many true independent pet stores close to me, they're all mostly chains of some kind, but there is one that carries I think the dog version, so maybe they'd order me the cat version. 

I offer them both as well as the Feline Natural. I've tried the Northwest Natural and Boo doesn't like that as much. What I do is heat a half cup of water for 45 seconds in the microwave which is probably hotter than most cats like it, but Boo loves the food really warm. I put enough water in the bowl to make it soupy. You may want to try crumbling them all up before wetting and then really smash it around with a spoon. That makes a broth that my cat who eats it absolutely loves.  

He likes to have 1/2 the dish with two varieties of the freeze dried for some reason. Then I crumble up a bit of dried chicken as a topper. 

I've noticed that Stella and Chewy's has more visible bone in it and when I see it, I pick it out. The new bags are also smaller. Of the Primal he likes the Pork, the Turkey and Salmon. Less so the Turkey and definitely not the beef/salmon and a big no to the Venison.

I started him on this because he was a stray and wasn't into drinking water out of a water dish and the extra soup in the bowl was a way to get more water into him. I have since learned that he drinks out of MY water glass. So for 2 years, I'm pretty sure I've been drinking cat spit.

Laura Mae said:

 
He likes to have 1/2 the dish with two varieties of the freeze dried for some reason. Then I crumble up a bit of dried chicken as a topper. 

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We serve (serve!) blends of two kinds of food, two, also with some crumbled food as a topper. The blends help give the illusion of more variety. (Though I'm not sure it matters for these cats with their freeze-dried foods: they're far more patient with repetition in those, Rad Cat, and their homemade food than they are with repetition in their canned food repertoire!

Sorry to barge in on this thread, but I thought I'd ask here instead of staring a new one. 

What do you guys think of Fresh Is Best freeze dried food? How does it look ingredient/nutrition wise vs Stella & Chewy's or Primal which seem to be the ones most recommended on TCS.

KiraTheCat said:

 
Sorry to barge in on this thread, but I thought I'd ask here instead of staring a new one. 

What do you guys think of Fresh Is Best freeze dried food? How does it look ingredient/nutrition wise vs Stella & Chewy's or Primal which seem to be the ones most recommended on TCS.

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I've never fed it but I think @LisaMarie12 has with good results.

The K9 Feline Natural freeze dried now contains canola oil.  This may be a problem for some.

http://truthaboutpetfood.com/canola-oil-in-pet-foods-is-it-healthy/

KiraTheCat said:

Sorry to barge in on this thread, but I thought I'd ask here instead of staring a new one. :shysmile2

What do you guys think of Fresh Is Best freeze dried food? How does it look ingredient/nutrition wise vs Stella & Chewy's or Primal which seem to be the ones most recommended on TCS.

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I have used Fresh is Best FD turkey, my cats really loved it.

The pros: the food comes super vacuumed packed, the nuggets are small, bite sized. The food is the lowest in phosphorus I've seen among FD foods (bc I have one cat who might be boderline CKD). FIB customer service is excellent, I've had some wonderfully thorough email exchanges in response to questions I've had re FIB with Stacy. Also, I ordered my product on Monday afternoon and asked to get it by Weds which they did for me at no extra cost for shipping.

They do use carrots in the FD food which is a starchy carb, however, the carb % overall is still low for FIB.

The cons: the nuggets take a bit more time and mashing to hydrate than either Priml or S&C. Also, I need to find out about the sourcing of FIB's bone meal as I've read that bone meal could be high in lead or other contaminants.

Once I find out about the bone meal, if I feel comfortable with the sourcing, I will purchase the FD food again.

FIB makes excellent FD treats as well.

As far as how FIB compares to S&C and Primal:

S&C uses minimal vegetable / fruits in their food although they just started adding pea fiber to their new formulas, in addition to sodium bisulphate menadione - synthetic vitamin K, previously only in their fish formulas.
Synthetic vit K is a questionable ingredient, not a necessity for poultry formulas. Also, SC is far too bony and high in phosphorus for my comfort level, I don't trust the company for various other reasons.

Primal uses more vegetable / fruits, however, I haven't noticed more stool waste bc of the added vegetable matter, the cats still produce less stool volume on Primal than eg canned food. Primal nuggets (I only use the FD turkey) hydrate quickly and easily. My cats were boycotting Primal for awhile but they are happily eating it again.

You may also want to look into Instinct's Raw Market nuggets, the chicken formula is the same as the dog formula. Very flavorful, my cats love Raw Market.

lilabeth said:

 
The K9 Feline Natural freeze dried now contains canola oil.  This may be a problem for some.

http://truthaboutpetfood.com/canola-oil-in-pet-foods-is-it-healthy/

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It's low on the ingredients list, likely not enough to be very concerned about. 

missmimz said:

 
It's low on the ingredients list, likely not enough to be very concerned about. 

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Which is exactly my hope. Pretty much every commercial food, whether canned or raw in some form, has something in it that I'd rather not feed. My approach is to feed lots of different foods, to minimize exposure to potentially dangerous ingredients. 

At one time, I fed Stella & Chewy's chicken with good results, but as more and more cats came along, I could no longer afford it.  After a health issue with one of my new rescues, I had to do a TON of research for a cat food that had no chicken of any kind or amount in it.  I found Nature's Logic in the rabbit formula.  Between that and the chicken, that I rotate between to keep any food allergies from developing from eating the same protein all the time, I can say that I am very pleased.  I have three short hairs, a medium haired and two long haired cats and they are all very soft and shiny as well as healthy, energetic and happy.  The ingredients are very good and getting all cats on board all the time is nice.  You can check out their website for more information.  I was surprised and upset to read that most companies have to add Taurine (which is sometimes sourced from China), while NL does not because of their quality ingredients.  Just a thought.  I think you can get them to send you a sample if you have no one in your area that sells it.  Btw, I buy the dog food version in the larger can, which is more economical and is the same recipe as the smaller, more expensive cat version.

WhatsOneMore said:

  I was surprised and upset to read that most companies have to add Taurine (which is sometimes sourced from China), while NL does not because of their quality ingredients.  

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Taurine is typically sourced from Japan, not China, and it's not unusual for companies to add that as taurine is vital for cats and is water soluble, so no harm in adding more. Rabbit is naturally low in taurine, and according to their website their canned rabbit does contain taurine. I would be very worried if it didn't. NL has too many veggies and also has brewers yeast and alfalfa meal, so it's not really that high quality IMO. 

Also PLEASE stop feeding the dog version. The dog version does not contain taurine, because dogs don't need it the same way cats do. Taurine is VITAL for cats, and again, rabbit is naturally low in taurine so you NEED to buy the cat version or you're putting your cats health at risk.