Nature’s Variety Dog Food Review
From the USA, specifically Lincoln, Nebraska, Nature’s Variety was first established in 2006 and is a privately held company. The purpose of all their hard work is to change your pet’s life for the better and empower you.
They have focused on the raw diet since the beginning because it’s what they are good at and they believe that it brings superior benefits to pups all around.
The Instinct Raw Brand is a sister brand under Nature’s Variety. The purpose of this sister brand is to provide raw diet focused food.
It is their belief that what our pets eat should mimic that of their ancestors. Follow nature’s lead and give your pet the best and purer ingredients that are grain-free.
About Nature’s Variety Dog Food
Their Instinct Raw line strives to provide the purest nutrient-rich and high protein diets for your pooch. They use real ingredients and derive enzymes, nutrients, vitamins, and minerals to promote overall health.
Animal sourced protein starts off each ingredient list and provides all the essential amino acids necessary for your dog.
They keep the recipes simple without a bunch of unnecessary ingredients, only the best ones straight from the natural source. In their own words, “From their quality to their source- we take great care in what we put in our pet food.’’
Each of the recipes has its own AAFCO (The Association of American Feed Control Officials) nutrient profile. Please refer to the information on their website for more details.
The rankings are G – Growth, M-Maintenance, A-All Life Stages, S-Supplemental, U-Unspecified.
The rankings are more for consideration. For a more accurate diagnosis on which is best for your pet, consult your trusted veterinarian.
Nature’s Variety Dog Food Lines
1. Nature’s Variety Instinct Be Natural
Raw food unlocks your dog’s baser instincts to thrive. No gluten goes into any of the Raw food line recipes. The raw ingredients give maximum digestibility.
Coming in four different flavors for adults and one special recipe for puppies, you can definitely find the flavor your dog enjoys that is filled with the nutrients he needs.
Real meat is always the number one ingredient. No less than desirable ingredients such as artificial additives are in the formulas and the raw recipe kibble is tossed with crushed and freeze-dried raw pieces to coat them with raw nutrition.
Best of the Line: Instinct Be Natural Recipe
2. Nature’s Variety Instinct Original
Grain-free with meat as the first ingredient, this recipe comes with a ton of choices of flavors and wet dog food, treats, and wet pouches. You can also find puppy dog food and small breed formulas under this line. The Original recipe contains more than 70% of real animal ingredients with about 30% of vegetables and fruits to make up the rest.
The kibble of each recipe is tumbled with the freeze-dried raw pieces for coating. No artificial additives, soy, wheat or by-product meals can be found in this line.
Best of the Line: Instinct Be Natural Original Dry Dog Food Beef
3. Nature’s Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient Diet
The Limited Diet line is great for pets with sensitivities. Nature’s Variety has chosen to focus on only one protein from an animal source and one vegetable for easy digestibility. Only with a few simple and essential ingredients minus all the extras, the kibble is again tossed with freeze-dried raw strips for coating.
We Think You’ll Like: Best Freeze Dried Dog Foods
This line has canned recipes and one special one for small breed fur babies. The canned recipes include the rare rabbit flavor for pooches that are picky eaters.
Best of the Line: Instinct Limited Ingredient Dry Dog Food Salmon
Related: Best Diet Dog Foods
4. Nature’s Variety Instinct Ultimate Protein
A whopping 95% of this recipe mirrors the raw ancestral diet with protein from animals. All protein is from pure animal and not animal meals. No grain, corn, soy or artificial ingredients are in the blend. For optimal nutrients, each kibble is infused with raw nutrition.
Due to the high percentage of real protein in this mix, only chicken, duck, and beef protein are used. The line comes with an assortment of wet pouches, canned food, and dry options available.
Best of the Line: Instinct Ultimate Protein Dry Dog Food Chicken
5. Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Boost
We love this line because the dry kibble is mixed with freeze-dried raw pieces In the same bag. Real meat starts off each recipe in the form of chicken, beef or lamb. All the dry raw pieces are packed with protein and consist of real meat with nothing artificial.
The Raw Boost gives probiotics and a higher amount of omega fatty acids and antioxidant support for all-around health.
They have a ton of finger-licking flavors and raw boost mixers to add to your dog’s diet, recipes for healthy weight, and even ones for puppies and senior dogs. Small breed dogs are not forgotten and they have a choice of four different flavors ranging from beef to chicken.
Best of the Line: Instinct Raw Boost Dog Food Beef
6. Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw
This is a completely raw diet with the ingredients frozen in their freshest form and never cooked. 85% of real meat goes into the mix with about 15% of fruits and vegetables.
A grain-free recipe free of artificial flavors and preservatives, the ingredients are kept in their purest form.
The Raw recipe is completely uncooked and minimally processed, giving your dog the closest thing to a natural diet he can get in the form of a bag or can. The food comes in the form of small bites, medallions, and patties with two main flavors.
7. Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Signature
100% all-natural, the ingredients are never cooked and preserved in their natural state with non-GMO fruits and veggies to top it all off.
The Raw Signature contains 10% more real meat than the Raw option and 5% of veggies and fruits.
The freeze-dried raw chunks are minimally processed and kept in their purest state to unlock your dog’s full primal potential. With a lot more flavors than the Raw line, Raw Signature also comes in chunks, medallions, or patties.
Nature’s Variety Recall History
Even though Nature’s Variety is a leading brand that takes great care in what it put into its recipes, they have still had four recalls in its history, the most recent one being in July 2015. The company withdrew its Instinct Raw Chicken products for potential salmonella contamination.
The earliest case of food recall occurred in 2010. This time it was the FDA that issued a recall for the same flavor in the Raw Frozen Diet for the same reason.
In July of 2012, they voluntarily recalled their Prairie Beef meal and Barley Medley recipe for strange odors.
The following year in February the FDA issued another recall for the Instinct Raw Chicken medallion option due to foreign objects in the dog food that pose as choking hazards.
Which Dogs Can Eat Nature’s Variety?
We have to say, this brand contains high-quality recipes with a wide variety of flavors. Their freeze-dried technology infuses raw pieces in with the dry kibble to give extra texture.
The coating method used to coat the dry kibble with raw nutrients is unseen before. They have breed specific recipes under almost every line. They also offer grain-free options for sensitive fur babies.
One kind of dog food we haven’t come across in the Instinct lines is one for large breed dogs. Toy and small breeds have two separate lines, and there is even one for seniors and overweight dogs.
Sadly, if you have a large breed fur baby we would recommend you search for a different brand.
Nature’s Variety Discount Coupons & Promo Deals
You can clip coupons the old-fashioned way or click around online and browse coupon websites and even off of their website. Sometimes Amazon will also offer some buy-one-get-one free deals or large discounts.
Make sure you type in the month and year as keywords if you decide to search through Google. Shopping around on Amazon and other such websites could reveal some amazing hidden deals. Happy shopping!
Conclusion
Nature’s Variety adopts full transparency when it comes to its ingredients list. Named meats and essential ingredients are used with nothing artificial. The wide variety and breed-specific formulas boost their rating in our books.
The raw diet, if that’s your thing, gives your dog more than sufficient amounts of protein. The other lines take sensitive fur babies into consideration and all the dry kibble is coated with raw nutrition.
Overall we give this brand a 4-star review.
