Primal Raw Dog Food Review

Primal Raw Dog Food is a frozen diet made by Primal Pet Foods out of California. This review aims to give consumers some information about this pet food in order for them to be able to make an educated purchasing decision. This dog food review is as unbiased as possible and is aided by our years of experience feeding Primal to our own animals and feedback from our customers.

The Good

• Formulated with 100% human-grade ingredients.
• Made using antibiotic-free and steroid-free meats and certified organic produce.
• All ingredients are procured from ranches and farms throughout the United States and New Zealand.
• Formulas obtain “Complete Diet” status with the use of organic produce and unrefined nutritional supplements rather than synthetic vitamins .
• Primal’s selection of formulas, mixes, grinds and bones should satisfy everybody’s needs .

The Not-As-Good

• They use a co-packer for a portion of their product line, though everything is produced in temperature-controlled, state-of-the-art, certified USDA and State Department of Agriculture food manufacturing facilities.
• Primal is using HPP processing on all of their poultry products (Chicken, Turkey, Duck,
  Pheasant and Quail) for their Formulas, Mixes, Grinds and Raw Meaty Poultry bones (Chicken Necks, Chicken Backs, Chicken Wings and Turkey Necks). This information was updated in June of 2011 so this entire review may not take this more recent information into account.

The Bottom Line

This is a top-of–the-line raw dog food. We include Primal in our own animal’s diet and all of our customers’ pets do well on this food and enjoy it as well. We love the fact that they do not use synthetic vitamins in their formulas. I think the only thing they could do better would be to use organic, humanely-raised meat, but then the likelihood is nobody would be able to afford the food! Update 6/2011 - We are not pleased with the use of HPP Processing at all, but at least this process is limited to Primal poultry products at this time.

Review

We believe Primal Pet Foods takes great pride in the formulation and production of their Primal Dog Food. Evidence of this is the fact that they use only 100% USDA human-grade ingredients and their products do not contain any cheap fillers like wheat gluten, rice gluten, rice protein-concentrate or any imported ingredients from China.

Ingredients such as antibiotic-free and steroid-free meats and certified organic produce show their dedication. After all, how many pet foods use organic produce? This costs them more as a manufacturer, yet they generally can’t pass on all this cost to the consumer because their pricing has to be competitive. The use of organic fruits and vegetables is very important to many consumers who like to avoid pesticides for our own health and that of the planet and are very happy when we can find a pet food that also feels this is important.

Another thing that makes Primal Dog Food stand out from the crowd of raw pet foods is the use of organic produce and unrefined nutritional supplements, like apple cider vinegar and coconut oil, to obtain the nutritional levels required for “Complete Diet” status in their Primal formulas. Many raw pet food manufacturers take the easy, less costly, route of using synthetic vitamins to accomplish this. Those consumers out there that are aware of the potential dangers of synthetic vitamins, and the fact that it is generally best to obtain nutrition from whole food sources, as nature intended, should be very pleased feeding Primal Raw Dog Food formulas to their canines.

If you only knew how finicky we are, after all we started The Pet Health and Nutrition Center, you could be reassured that with us including a pet food like Primal Dog Food in our own animals diet it has to be good. Our animals, and those of our customers, readily accept and thrive on Primal Dog Food. This is one of our more highly recommended foods and you can feel very comfortable including it in your animal’s diet plan.