I have been using Nature's Variety Instinct kibble (Duck & Turkey, and Rabbit) and the raw medallions (all flavors but rabbit so far) for the past 2 months with great success. Two of my dogs get only the medallions and are doing fantastic. No more tear staining, good stool, great appetite and good weight. The other 2 are getting the raw medallions and the Instinct kibble. Again, great results...good stool, no pickiness, good weight, etc. I am going to continue to feed Nature's Variety as long as it is working this well for my gang!

I really wanted my puppy to like this food, but after switching from another brand just because I thought rotation was a good idea, he had the worst case of diarrhea he has ever had in his short little life of 9 months. I did a gradual switch and from the moment he started eating this food, he had the "runs". For about a week, he was getting up 2, 3, even 4 times a night having to go out and having an absolute miserable time. I don't believe he has a grain allergy, but something in this food just did not sit right, even thought the ingredients seem to be good. We are back on Taste of the Wild and this works out so much better for our pug/beagle mix. No more 2am trips outside!

I mix the Nature's Variety rotating formulas with Bil-Jac 50/50 to maintain some consistency. The results are UNBELIEVABLY AMAZING!!!! A Labrador with orthopedic issues does amazing, an allergic to everything AmStaff is content and happy, and the little AmStaff never tasted anything so delicious...well maybe the sidewalk out front but his tastes are still developing! How food is fed, how you transisition between foods, Exercise, and grooming all work with the food for a healthy dog. Food alone is NEVER the only or entire answer, thats the entire idea of holistic! Any food will make an dog fat if you don't exercise, period! 80lb Lab is satisifed with 1.5 cups a day, 75lb Pit 2cups a day, and the 55lb Pit is only 2yrs old so he gets 2 cups a day to keep him going strong. This small amount of food is because of their metabolisms ability to utilize all the goodness they eat. They will take a treat, though never from a stranger for some reason, but aren't searching for food or acting hungry at all. All are perfect weight, per the holistic vet, and look awesome. God bless all who care enough to read these posts!!!!

I have had lots of experience with all the products in the NV line. I work in a holistic pet store, and NV is the number one brand recommended to our customers by OTHER customers. Never had any negative feedback in eight years, just good solid evidence of dogs and cats with improved health and vitality! The one thing I don't see in the negative reviews is whether the animals were transitioned on to NV, or if the kibble was just introduced randomly into the animal's diet. All mammals have an ability to develop digestive enzymes to process foods they eat. If they haven't been given the time to develop those enzymes there might be some issues with gas and loose stools, especially if the pet was fed a mass produced product like Nutro (owned by the Mars candy company) or Eukanuba (owned by Proctor and Gamble). Their digestive system adapted itself to deal with fillers and not a large amount of real food. Example: A dog on Science Diet light will have adapted itself to cope with the large amount of ground peanut hulls and cellulose fiber, yup that's paper, in the food! Or my favorite filler- corn gluten meal. I use that stuff as a organic herbicide in my yard. It's like going from a long time eating only rice cakes to steak overnight. How do thing you'd do?

FYI- NV opted not to use potato starch as its binder. They use tapioca instead. Its never had an adverse reaction attributed to it. The crumbling kibble was corrected by the company, and the products have been re-introduced. I like the fact that they could've gone the cheaper route and used potato as its binder, but didn't. As for the review below, that is a sounds like a medical issue worth of a trip to the vet and more than likely not an issue related to your pet's food.

I have fed my dog NV since 2002 with complete trust and success. The last 2 bags of food I purchased have reacted like wallpaper paste in his belly. I am on sick watch again right now and the recent bag I purchased will be returned. I do not recommend this product. I suspect this mix was not proper and they are not doing quality control, just counting their profits. I would feed my dog Kibble and Bits before I fed him NV again. NV your dog food has just about killed my dog.

This is one of the only Kibble my doggie will eat! We use the Prairie. Her favorite is the chicken. Also I have compared the ingredients to Innova and they have mostly the same ingredients like cottage cheese and alfalfa sprouts that are good for a doggies liver ^_^

I show, train and breed Belgian Tervuren dogs and have been feeding the Prairie line since 2000. My 7 dogs love the rotation and always have beautiful, shiny coats and healthy teeth. I also feed from their Raw line (chicken, lamb and rabbit) when I have a pregnant or lactating girl. I've had wonderful results and superior muscle tone. No gas, no loose stools, no vomiting and excellent health. My puppies raised on NV Prairie Rotation have excellent growth rates, ears that are erect by 7 weeks, and dense puppy coats. After seeing my success, my vet now feeds NV.

I have been feeding my 4 labs and my cat NV for one full year, I love this food....since the change over i havent had one problem with ears or dry itchy skin, no licking and bitting of paws and a lot less back yard clean up. My dogs love it and NV has a raw product that i use like vitamins for them as well. everyone always remarks on how nice of coats they have and how defined their muscle tone is. They didnt look bad before but they never looked as good as they do now...Happy dogs Happy owner...

is good just high in ash ,

Best food ever!!!! I've raised puppies and maintained seniors--they never tire of the lamb/oatmeal.

Best food ever!!!! I've raised puppies and maintained seniors--they never tire of the lamb/oatmeal.

  I love natures variety food. I use the raw the instinct DUCK is my fav!!!... it gives my dog smelly gas but he loves it and i use prarie all flavors the raw bones and all the cans.

Ps. any dog food that uses corn, white rice, and a hull of rice or whatever STAY away from they are fillers .......... a hull is the shell of somthing like the outside of a seed absolutly useless for your dog but it dose help fill the food bag cheaply same with corn.

go to www.naturesvariety/tryit or www.naturesvariety/iloveit and you can get buy one get one free bags of food or go to www.naturesvariety and they will give u a complete list of ingredents and AMOUNT to feed that will help with the constant pooping from i am reading about from some of you ...... you do not need to feed as much of this food for a meal and it soumds like some of you are feeding your dogs to large of meals and that why you are getting the gas and too much poop.

Why don't we just have a separate Dogfood Forum? I don't spend a lot of time pondering and or/investigating all the dog food products on the market, but maybe that's just me.

I like the idea of raw freeze dried foods that travel well.  Does anyone out there have experience with the freeze dried raw by Nature's Variety?  I have a sample bag, but I'm not sure I'm reconstituting it right.  I also don't know how many ounces a freeze dried medallion is?  I added the water according to the label, but the medallion still seemed hard after about 5 minutes.  Should I have warmed up the water or waited longer for it to dissolve?  The dog ate it, but not with his usual excitement as when he gets his canned Evo.  This may be my fault for not really knowing how to prepare the freeze dried portions.  Any ideas?

My updated review after 6 months of observation:
If you believe in rotating meat protein sources for your dogs, like Natures Variety recommends, and I also beleive.
I use their Prairie line of foods, alternating formulas every 5 bags or so.
My finicky lab loved the Lamb formula and did real well on it for 4 months.
I got 3 bags of the Venison formula when I brought my new pup home about 3 months ago.
My lab made a smooth transition, and the pup "Keira" is also doing great on it.
Try these formulas, the food is great, and the price is reasonable.
I am feeding my lab about 2/3rds of what I was previously feeding as she put on 8 lbs with this food.
She is now back down to a healthy weight and in excellent health.
Feeding 1/3rd less makes this foods price work out to about the same as my previous food.
Definite 5 star food as I can find no faults with this food at all.

The only 6-star rated food at dogfoodanalysis.com website without kelp or carrots (we have an allergic dog). The problem we found is the inconsistency from bag-to-bag. I think it has to do with storage time/conditions. If it goes "bad", it causes loose stools, foul-smelling stools. One of the bad bags we bought was previously-opened. The second time we had problems were with bags with dark kibbles, and lots of crumbs, as though it was the remnants of a batch. If they could get it conistently good-quality, it would be fabulous.

I rescue/foster, and own several different mix-breed dogs varying in age and size. I kept my 10 lb Chihuahua mix on Nature's Variety for approximately 6 months after I got him. During that time, he defecated multiple times a day with small, really dark, loose stools. But worse than that was his breath. The stench was unbearable, and he had a clean bill of health so it wasn't medical-related. I tried him on chicken, lamb, and beef but the results were the same. Once I switched brands, his health improved significantly. Interestingly, his dog aggressive behavior seemed to be more intensified while on this food as well. One thing I did like about NV was the size of the kibble--they were the perfect, small size to use for training!

This brand is pure hype! They say it is a natural cureall for skin disorders, kidney problems, inactivity, hyperactivity, loose stools, stomache upset, ect... If you speak to the reps for this brand they will have you believe that the only reason your pet is sick is because of the food he/she is ingesting. That isnt true in the human world and it isnt true for pets. Some pets just get sicker than others, same as us!
I have seen many pets reject this food...find a brand that your pet can tolerate, dont believe the hype!

I tried to switch to this kibble (Prairie) from Fromm Four-Star due to the convience of it being at a store nearby whereas with Fromm I have to order it online or drive 40 minutes away to find it. What a mistake! Wow, this food looks excellent in terms of the ingredients, however, even with a slow transitional switch one of my dogs had the runs like you wouldn't believe. He never, ever goes in the house or in his crate and the past two days I have come home to a present waiting for me in the crate. He has diarrhea and I am still working on trying to get rid of it. This is the last time I will switch kibble. And I have always had my dog on high quality holistic foods and none of the others ever gave me these problems. Maybe this will work for others, but it certainly did not work for me or my dogs!

This food is a bit like "kitchen sink" formulation. It has a lot of ingredients and just did not work for my sensitive dogs.  My bichons developed very dark red-orange tear and beard staining.  They also battled hot spots and  yeast infections in their ears and feet when they ate this food.  I stuck it out for several months, rotating around, seeing if any of the formulations would work for them, but in the end, this food was not for them.  I do love the company's philosophy of rotating foods for good health though!

Have been using their frozen raw diet for two years and dogs show great health, no dermatology problems and great stamina. Their chubs that we use are 32 ounces that we cut up and serve in our portions.

The Chubbs usually come at about 30 or 31 ounces, which is allowed by weights and measurements? - Nevertheless the product is made under human food production standards and the company is easy to work with!

I own a Cattery, I breed Persian's and Himalayans. I open medallion bags and put into meal size bags and put back in original bag. I feed my lab twice a day, the amount based on 2% of her ideal body weight. This seems like great pet food, and I'm sure my dogs would love it, but I have 3 large dogs, and can't afford to feed them raw often.

I tried the Venison and Millet. Food really has some great ingredients. But just didn't work for my little girl. She got mucousy poops from it for over 10 days. Did a stool sample and she had no issues, as soon as we switched the poop was better. Wish it would have worked for her, love the rotation idea.

My dogs enjoy this food (raw instinct) and I feel good about the ingredients but I have noticed lately, the bags I get, the kibble is all cracked up. The whole bottom of the bag is not useable. I wonder if this is a problem in shipping or if it is manufactured that way. I used to feed the raw food but my dogs stomach is extremely sensitive. He seemed to get sick a lot more often when he was eating raw.

I noticed that since I have switched from NV to Orijen, my dogs poo has much less odor and it is firmer. I guess overall, so far, I am having a better experience with Orijen but it has only been 3 weeks.

We love this. My 9 year old lab was having anal gland problems and by swithing him to the chicken and Turkey frozen Raw mixed with dry, cleared up the stink and gland issues, firmed up his feces. He eats his whole dinner now, where as before he would ho hum about it. Rating a 4 instead of 5 due to price.

Just out of curiosity-if you feed the raw diet can your pets get tape worm from the "raw" meat??
I just had 2 dogs & 2 cats start meds for tape worm in all 4 & they all eat it?
.......they all love it-great way to get them to take meds but could it be the cause?

My dogs did terrible as well. I was feeding them Na ture's Variety Prarie Venion and Millet Formula  an d they both had very grainy stools for 3 weeks. It was just foul! I switched to their Inst inct formula (grainless) and found that their  stoo ls became very starchy and just very soft!!?? I dun  know why this is happening becos I read good revie ws in this brand!! No doubt it is grainless but how much tapicoca did they put inside their Instinct diets? and how many % is MEAT?? =(( I changed them to Orijen and they're doing well so far. (nice firm stools with less smell)

We feed our one Min Pin the Instinct chicken formula and he looks better than he ever has, and he actually eats his whole meals.

I've been feeding the raw chicken & turkey for about 2 years now. I breed and show pomeranians and they do very well on this particular formula. I did find that the beef and lamb and other formulas tended to give them bad diarrhea, so I stick with the chicken/turkey and they love it. I have switched a number of new dogs straight onto it with no ill effects, and only had 1 or 2 that were picky and wouldn't eat it. Usually they scarf it up. I've tried the kibble made by NV and that tended to give my dogs the runs, so I REALLY like the raw but am not a fan of the kibbles. Instead I feed either Eukanuba or Wellness kibble in the mornings and then the raw at night. One note though, if you have small dogs who like to scarf their food up really quickly, be sure to cut the medallions/patties into bite size pieces, I had one who eats too fast nearly choke to death the other week when she bit off more than she could chew. Thawing it more thoroughly may help with this too, I thaw mine in the fridge for 24 hrs and sometimes it is still a bit thick in places.

I started feeding my dog this because my vet recommended it. Her behavior changed dramatically. She started panting, pacing and hypersalivating. I don't know if she had a stomach ache or if she was sensative to one of the many ingredients. I think Nature's Variety is a lot of hype.

I bought my puppy the Nature's Variety Raw chicken because I was so impressed with the incredients on the label. This gave him Gastroenteritis - Diarrehea and blood in his feces. Poor thing :( I feel awful for having put my best friend through this. My vet said this food was just a hype and recommended W/D Canine. We'll see how Gunther reacts.

Unfortunately my dog did TERRIBLE on this food. First I tried to wean him onto the raw very slowly. Did OK at first but then came the non-stop vommiting and diarrehea. Maybe it was too much for my older dog. Then I tried the dry food. It made his stomach make the worst noises and his poo tripled in size. Too much fiber and grains for him.  I was very unimpressed by what this food did for my dog. Not every food is for every dog, though. What works for some may not work for others.

Great ingredients.

gave my dogs the runs

We have two 2 yr. old English Mastiffs and one 12 year old St. Bernard. They have been on NV prairie kibble for a year. The St. Bernie acts like he's 2. They rotate between all of the varieties. The St. Bernie doesn't care for the beef as much as the other formulas. We have to watch to not overfeed b/c it will make their bowels soft. It's a great food.

My dog loves the raw frozen foods. And I love the ingredients (95% meat, organ, and bone). It's a win-win! Great food. Also very convenient and easy feed the correct amount since it is already divided into 1 oz portions.

My dog was eatting this for about 4 years, but I started seeing that she was eatting less and less unless I mixed her food with other things. This is definitly a good product, a little pricy, but well worth it. I have used all their products, even the raw. I did just order her the canned lamb as I always mix her dry with canned and she loves it! One thing I do want to add is that I did feed her the raw insticnts dry and she had the runs badly and it didn't stop so I had to mix it with another bag of the regular natures variety.

I am very confused and don't know where to go for advice... I switched my 1 year old Labrador to Nature's Variety (Prairie) Lamb, Oatmeal formula. He seems to be eating it ok, but I am not sure if the ingridients in it are so great for dogs. I mean, there are sooo many ingridients, various kinds of eggs, lamb liver, hearts, honey. Are these really good for dogs? Any advice from someone who knows about dog nutrition will be highly appreciated. I am debating between Wellness and Nature's Variety.

Great food!

Switched my beagle to the Raw Instinct dry formula (after reading the comments here), along with rotations of their many flavors of canned food and raw medallions. Within days I noticed that his coat has never been softer. He doesn't lick or scratch himself nearly as much either. I think I found the food I've been looking for... well done NV!

Edit: Ok, after a while we have taken my Beagle off of the Raw Instinct and switched him to to the Prairie diets. The reasons are four fold: 1) The Prairie's currently have more flavors (although I heard that the Raw Instinct will add more flavors soon) 2) The higher protein diet was giving him bad gas 3) He was gaining weight (high protein diet with not enough activity - which is my fault) 4) I'm a tad worried about things I have read concerning elevated levels of Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN) with high protein diets

So far so good with the Prairie diets. The protein content seems to be just right for my dog's activity level; and no more smelly gas :-)

Just wanted to inform that k9cuisine (http://www.k9cuisine.com) is having a HUGE blowout on Nature's Variety canned until 10/31/2007. Normally $68 (including shipping), they are selling it at $24.99 (free shipping on orders over $50.00).


(Original Review) In my ever-so-humble opinion: The owner of my local kennel is a huge fan of Nature's Variety, specifically the Raw Instinct. On her recommendation I tried it a couple of times with no success for my guys. Yes, I know how to transition food; yes, I know how much to feed, yada, yada, yada. It is obvious from the reviews that this food works for many people; however, like a good minority of others, my dogs did not like it - we are an Orijen family now (and some Evo as well for variety.) I was disappointed because I loved the idea of family of foods within the same brand that I could switch among. An issue that concerns me is how high on the list the chicken fat is (#3, whereas it optimally should be 5-6), which I wonder if that is the problem my dogs had with the food. I would also withdraw my earlier opinion regading tapioca (not really an opinion but I didnt' understand its role), as further study shows it to be a good carb alternative. This said, I would still say it is vastly superior to the standard fare that passes for dog food out there and for that reason I would give it 4 stars.

Dry NV food did not work for us.  Too rich.  Canned is fair, although awful consistency.  Looks like yak puke. Raw medallions work as a good mix-in (occasionally) with our food of choice = Royal Canin.  *** Which, hmm, the local pet stores in my town re-stock all the time, as it does not stay on the shelf long.  Get suspicious when you see dust covering a bag of your premium ultra holistic dog food.

I Love this food and so do my dogs. I feed about 75% raw and 25% dry kibble. I also rotate the different flavors. When I do feed them kibble I only use the instinct, which has no fillers. It's Great! They just love flavors.
If given a choice my goldens ALWAYS pick the rabbit, that's their favorite! My one golden is about 1yr old and used to have bad allergies to many things since he was a pup. I have seen 100% improvement in his skin. He has been itch-free since the 2nd week on the diet. His coat is just beautiful also.

My Chesapeake Bay retriever is also crazy about the diet. For years she would loose large amounts of her coat in patches, with the diet and some vitamin supplements I have noticed a 100% improvement with her coat as well.
They all, at one time, were very fickle about their dog food. I fed science diet and after struggling for months to get them to eat I switched to royal canin. Shortly after that they lost interest in the royal canin. My vet recommended the raw diet. So I tried it
My dogs are very active in hunting, agility, and obedience and I see a huge improvement in their muscle tone since the diet switch.
I recommend this diet for any dog, of any activity level!

My two Rat Terriers love Nature's Variety Dry Kibble! They get compliments all the time on their shiny coats and muscle tone. My dogs have been known to be finicky eaters but they love this stuff!

My dod would not eat this I switched to Innova EVO and they love it

This food works great for my Papillon! He loves it and it made all his allergies disapear! It is great the way you can rotate between all the different foods without digestive upset! We go from raw for a few months to canned to dry and he never misses a beat! GREAT FOOD!

Nature's Variety offers a superior line of natural, nutritional dog products. All Nature's Variety Dog Foods is specially formulated to meet the dietary demands of your dog throughout their life stages.

Even though I have to travel 60 miles to buy "Nature's Variety Prairie" - my Italian Greyhound and my sister's IG (my IG's grandmother) have never been healthier or had such a shiny coat and they both love the taste. Both of their vets have also commented on how good their teeth look.

I don't really post comments on web but this food I had to..
I used to feed my 2.5lbs Chihuahua Wellness, Innova, and Royal Canine..I changed the food pretty often because her poop smelled really bad and sometimes diarrhea. She also had dry skin problem. After I changed to Nature's Variety (Chkn & Barley) her problems are gone! no...I'm not exaggerating...!
no more diarrhea, bad odor, and dry skin. She's picky eater but she really loves this food..if you have same problems with your dog..give it a try with N.V.

deb, my 13 y.o. Samoyed has only been on the kibble for about 2 months, but his coat has never been shinier (spelling?) or softer.  Go for it.