Instinct Raw Meals Freeze-Dried DOG FOOD Review

With an average score of 9.4/10, Instinct Raw Meals Freeze-Dried is considered a low risk dog food, and is Instinct’s highest scoring line. There are 4 recipes that average 36% protein and 15% average carbohydrate as calculated. This is Instinct’s highest scoring line, even higher than its raw frozen foods.

These are freeze-dried recipes that are minimally processed with minimal loss of nutrients. They have a moderate level of carbohydrates obtained from fruits and vegetables rather than grains and starches. There’s a minimal amount of added vitamins and minerals, and DL-Methionine, an amino acid, in one recipe. Ideally, these nutrients should come from whole food sources. 

Ingredient safety is also affected by apples, which are known to be high in pesticide/herbicide residues. They are in all the recipes and in one case, in the top 5 ingredients. 

Some recipes include “glam” ingredients like blueberries and spinach. These ingredients are added to make consumers think the food has healthy additions rich in antioxidants or minerals. But they’re listed below the salt, which means they’re present in tiny amounts that won’t benefit your dog. 

The company uses unsubstantiated marketing terms such as free-range or humanely-raised. Without third-party certification, they are purely marketing terms that have no legal meaning under pet food regulatory standards.

There’s no indication whether salmon oil is farmed or wild-caught. Farmed fish is less nutritious, with a less favorable fatty acid balance. 

The label does not provide the omega-6:omega-3 ratio, which is a concern since AAFCO allows a very inflammatory ratio of 30:1.