Nature’s Recipe Dog Food Reviews, Coupons and Recalls 2024
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With a name like Nature’s Recipe you probably already have a positive view of this brand before you take a deeper look. The Nature’s Recipe website is full of pictures of happy pets and taglines like, “specially prepared foods bursting with flavor and goodness”. While you do need to take marketing claims like this with a grain of salt, they do seem to be founded in truth when it comes to an evaluation of this pet food brand. Having been founded more than 30 years ago, this brand has perfected the art of natural pet nutrition and they are “committed to providing nutritionally vibrant recipes for every pet every day”. They claim to craft their recipes with the nutrition to keep your dog in the best health possible for as long as possible.
When it comes to their products, they make three claims about their nutritional benefits – skin & coat, easy to digest, and healthy weight. To promote healthy skin and coat, they base their recipes around high-quality proteins and a balance of healthy fatty acids – these ingredients not only give your dog a healthy coat, but it also supports his immune system and healthy muscle mass. To make their products easy to digest, they offer many grain-free options and other recipes made with easily digestible carbohydrates. Finally, to support your dog’s healthy weight, they use an optimal blend of protein and fat to moderate calorie content while also supplementing their products with glucosamine and chondroitin to support the bones and joints of overweight or obese dogs. These supplements also encourage flexibility.
When it comes to their dog food products, Nature’s Recipe has a large variety of options to offer their customers. Their dry food options are divided into three product lines – Life Stages, Special Needs, and Premium. The Life Stages formulas are designed specifically to provide nutrition for puppies, adult dogs, and senior dogs. The Special Needs product line addresses specific problems like digestive issues, joint problems, overweight or obesity, and skin problems. The Premium line of products is loaded with high-quality proteins as well as grain-free options for some of their traditional recipes. They also offer an assortment of wet foods and treats.
Also Read: Weruva Dog Food Reviews, Coupons and Recalls 2024
Nature’s Recipe Recalls 2024:
This brand of food is owned and manufactured by Del Monte Foods, one of the largest food manufacturers in the United States. Prior to their sale to Del Monte Foods in 2014, the brand was manufactured by Big Heart Pet Brands. Today, they are marketed as an all-natural pet food brand and a review of their products seems to support this claim. Still, you need to take other information into account when forming a general analysis for the brand. To this date, they have only been affected by one recall. Here are the details:
- In October 2012, the Nature’s Recipe company issued a voluntary recall for their oven-baked biscuits with real chicken due to potential salmonella contamination.
Natures Recipe Dog Food Coupons 2024
The average price for their products vary from one formula to another depending on the quality of the ingredients and the product line. A 30-pound bag of traditional Adult Chicken Meal & Rice dry food is fairly affordable at $40 or so. Their Pure Essentials dry foods, however, are a little more expensive – they average $55 for a 24-pound bag. Grain-Free dry foods cost about $50 per 24-pound bag and Special Needs formulas cost about the same for a 30-pound bag. Their canned foods range from $1.50 to $2.50 for 13.2-ound cans and 2.75-ounce cups cost about $1.50 each. Though their products can be pricey, you can save money with Nature’s Recipe dog food coupons you can find online or on the brand website.
Nature’s Recipe Reviews
This pet food brand is produced and manufactured by Big Heart Pet Brands. This company is based in San Francisco, California and it was previously a division of Del Monte Foods until the company was sold to Del Monte Pacific Limited in 2014. Big Heart Pet Brands also produces popular pet food brands like Natural Balance, Kibbles ‘n Bits, Milo’s Kitchen, and Pup-Peroni. According to their website, the brand has been producing nature-inspired recipes for pets for more than three decades. Their food formulas are designed to promote healthy skin and coat, healthy digestion, and a healthy weight in dogs of all life stages. Their formulas feature quality ingredients like real poultry, real fish, wholesome grains, fresh-picked fruits, garden-quality vegetables and omega-rich fats.
Is this food good for my dog?
When you are trying to determine the quality of a pet food brand there are many factors you need to consider. It is not enough to accept marketing claims made by the company – claims of being an all-natural or premium-quality brand. You also need to take into account the quality of their ingredients, the safety of their manufacturing processes, and their recall history. Nature’s Recipe markets themselves as an all-natural pet food brand and they claim to use only the highest quality ingredients. Their website doesn’t provide much information about where or how their products are manufactured but it is worth noting that the brand has only been affected by one recall in recent years and it was a voluntary recall, not one issued by the FDA. This information combined with a brief review of several products would seem to indicate that Nature’s Recipe is a good food for your dog.
Dry: One of the best things about this brand is the fact that they offer such a wide variety of dry food products. There are actually three different product lines, each with an assortment of recipe options. The Life Stages product line includes size-specific formulas and life stages formulas for puppies, adults, and senior dogs. The Special Needs product line includes breed-specific options as well as adult formulas for specific problems. The Premium line of products includes grain-free options for adult dogs and puppies as well as size-specific formulas. Here is a list of the type of dry food products that they have to offer:
- Life Stages Puppy Recipes
- Life-Stages Adult Recipes
- Life Stages Senior Recipes
- Small Bites Life Stages Recipes
- Large Bites Life Stages Recipes
- Breed-Specific Recipes
- Grain-Free Easy to Digest Recipes
- Large-Breed Grain-Free Easy to Digest Recipes
- Small-Breed Grain-Free Easy to Digest Recipes
- Pure Essentials Grain-Free Adult Recipes
- Healthy Skin Recipes
- Healthy Weight Recipes
- High-Protein Recipes
- Joint Support Recipes
Canned: Many of the recipes that they have to offer in dry food form can also be found in canned or wet food form. They offer both traditional and grain-free options as well as formulas cooked in broth or gravy. Here is a list of the types of wet food they have to offer:
- Pure Essentials Limited Ingredient Broth Cups
- Pure Essentials Limited Ingredient Broth Cans
- Meat Cuts in Gravy
- Grain-Free Meat Stews
- Grain-Free Easy to Digest Broth Cups
Treats: In addition to a selection of dry food and canned food, they also offer several kinds of wholesome dog treats. These treats are made with the same quality ingredients as their regular food options and they are full of flavor your dog is sure to love. Here is a list of the types of treats that they have to offer:
- Soft Bites
- Soft Minis
- Soft Sticks
- Crunchy Minis
- Grain-Free Biscuits
Adult Chicken Meal & Rice Review:
This Adult Chicken Meal & Rice formula is described as a “delicious dry food that helps your dog maintain lean muscle mass with high-quality protein from the #1 ingredient chicken meal”. Not only is this recipe made with protein-rich chicken meal, but it is supplemented with digestible carbohydrates like rice as well as barley and oats for plenty of digestible dietary fiber. This recipe is all-natural, made with quality ingredients and completely free from corn and wheat ingredients as well as non-nutritive fillers and artificial additives. Simply put, this recipe gives your dog the nutrition he needs with the flavor he craves.
As promised, the first ingredient in this Adult Chicken Meal & Rice formula is chicken meal. Before you get worried about the word “meal” here, keep in mind that meat meals are a highly concentrated source of animal protein. Fresh meats contain up to 80% moisture by volume and once the total product is cooked, the actual volume will be much lower. This means that chicken meal is actually a more valuable ingredient than fresh chicken, especially considering it it’s the only source of protein used in this recipe. You may get some supplementary plant protein from the barley, but most of the 21% crude protein comes from the chicken meal. This value is within the ideal range for dogs, but it could definitely be a little bit higher.
In terms of carbohydrates, this Adult Chicken Meal & Rice formula is made with barley, oatmeal, and brewers rice. Barley is a gluten-containing grain, though it is also a whole grain so it should be fairly easy for your dog’s body to digest. Oats are another digestible whole grain and very rich in dietary fiber. Brewers rice is a somewhat controversial ingredient because it consists of the milled kernels of rice that are sometimes used to make rice flour – this ingredient isn’t the most nutritional source of carbohydrate that could be used here. You will also notice tomato pomace later in the list – another source of dietary fiber and also a controversial ingredient within the pet food industry. The flaxseed provides some dietary fiber as well.
For fats, this recipe includes poultry fat and flaxseed. Animal sources of fat are always more biologically valuable for your dog than plant-based fats, but it would be better to see a named source of fat here like chicken fat, not poultry fat. The quality of poultry fat can vary greatly from one batch to another and it is not made clear here what kind of quality this ingredient provides. The remaining ingredients in this recipe consist primarily of nutritional supplements and extracts. Vitamin and mineral supplements are included to balance out the nutrition of this product, though it would be good to see some fresh fruits and vegetables thrown in as natural sources for key nutrients. It also wouldn’t hurt if some of the minerals were chelated – chelated minerals have been chemically bound to protein molecules which makes them easier for your dog’s body to digest and absorb. This recipe could also benefit from some probiotics like dried fermentation extracts to help support your dog’s digestion.
Overall, this Adult Chicken Meal & Rice formula has a guaranteed analysis as follows:
- Crude Protein (Min) – 21%
- Crude Fat (Min) – 12%
- Crude Fiber (Max) – 4%
- Moisture (Max) – 10%
- Calcium (Min) – 1.0%
- Phosphorus (Min) – 0.8%
- Calorie Content – 319 kcal/cup
Bottom Line:
Overall, Nature’s Recipe appears to be a good quality brand, though there are some ways in which it could be improved. The brand is very open about the kinds of ingredients they use in their products, though they don’t provide specific information about where they come from. This brand also doesn’t provide details about where or how their products are manufactured. It is a good thing, however, that there has only been one recall in the history of this brand – this helps to support the idea that this is a quality brand. When it comes to reviewing individual products you will find a number of quality ingredients, though there are some that may be considered controversial and many of their products could be higher in protein. All in all, however, this is a moderate-quality brand.
I switched my Yorkie over to this dog food and after about 2 weeks of eating it, he would stiffen up and the become limp and fall to the floor. He just died of sudden heart failure and pulmonary edema today. Before this, he was completely healthy and wonderful. He was only 5 years old. Thank you Natures Recipe, for killing my dog.
Does anybody have a problem with their dogs smelling. I started feeding my dogs the grain free salmon and pumpkin. After 2 months…the have beautiful coats they are full after meals they have less waste in the yard…however the stink like sweet bad pumpkin with a ting of mildew smell. If you pet them, you then have the smell on your hands. If they lay next to you they smell. Their bedding smells. After you wash them and the bedding it comes back the next day. I love the good things it’s done but this smell is overwhelming my house…I have a newfoundland and a doberman. They have been to the vet no health issues. This smell I can’t deal with or get rid of it . But it has made their coats and skin absolutely radiant again. They want to eat less as well but come right to the bowl and eat…and that has been rare for a couple years. How do I get rid of the smell it creates but keep them on the food??
I was giving my Multipoo the Salmon, pump. And she smelled aweful. So I switched to the chicken.
Now she seems to be sick all the time. Not a happy camper.
I strongly believe that Nature’s Recipe’s should disclose where the ingrediants are from and how the food is processed, I believe that a company who professes their product is a good quality should do this!
Until today I have been feeding both of my dogs Natures Recipe Easy to digest wet and dry dog foods.
I literally feed my chihuahua by hand and I have been noticing little hard pieces of bone and was originally not concerned. Today I decided to really check her breakfast of Chicken, Rice & Barley Recipe. I found several very sharp bone shards in the 4 1/2 tablespoons I ‘sorted’ through with my fingers. I do not know if this considered acceptable or safe to dog food companies and I would hope not. It is very important to the health and safety of my dog. I’m about to purchase another brand in hopes it will pass my hands on (in) testing method.
I have been seeing that Natures Recipe’s food is tainted with phenobarbital the drug used to euthanize animals. I have fed my animals this food for about 15yrs but surely not continue if this is true.
My fiance bought this Nature Grain Free Dry Dog Food. I feed her this morning 2 cups and she is now not her self. She is just laying around. Just out there.
I fed this to my 7 lb dog and she became violently ill, diarrhea and vomiting. I thought maybe it was something else and fed it to her a week later and the same thing happened. Be careful.
This often happens with a sudden change in food. That it why most vets suggest that you gradually change a dog’s diet over seven to ten days and not all at once.
Our Maltese and Maltipoo are quite healthy and active and have on the food for more than two years.