Instinct Raw Longevity Frozen DOG FOOD Review

With an average score of 7.8/10, Instinct Raw Longevity Frozen is considered a low risk dog food. There are 7 recipes that average 40% protein and 16% average carbohydrate as calculated on a dry matter basis. 

Even though this line has 13% average carbohydrate, 5 of the recipes have carbohydrate levels  higher than 15% and that costs ingredient quality points. These levels are considered high for raw dog food. The label states that these foods do not contain grain, potato, corn, wheat or soy so the carbs are coming from fruits and vegetables which is preferable. Dogs have no nutritional requirement for carbohydrates. 

This line is minimally processed so there’s minimal  loss of nutrients. However, this line loses ingredient quality points for more than 5 added minerals in all recipes. Ideally, these nutrients should come from whole food sources and their inclusion is usually due to poor quality or overly processed raw ingredients. A couple of recipes also have added amino acids (taurine and/or L-carnitine), which shouldn’t be necessary in a raw food with quality meat ingredients. 

These recipes also contain fish oil, which is an unnamed protein source. These are usually lower quality ingredients. You will want to see the animal source named such as beef, salmon or chicken, not animal, fish or poultry. 

Rounding out the ingredient safety scores, Instinct loses points for high pesticide or herbicide foods like apples and spinach, and in two recipes, in the top 5 ingredients. 

The recipes don’t lose points for this, but it should be pointed out that one recipe contains coconut oil which has been shown to cause undesirable changes in the gut lining. 

It should be pointed out that unsubstantiated marketing terms are used on labels such as free-range or humanely-raised. Without third-party certification, these are purely marketing terms that have no legal meaning under pet food regulatory standards.

The food does contain added probiotics and a guaranteed CFU.

There’s no indication whether fish 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.