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Iron Will Raw is a Canadian dog food company founded by Matt Bonanno in 2013. The company produces raw pet food out of St Catharines, Ontario, and features a range of raw meat products such as Rabbit, Chicken, Beef, Kangaroo, Salmon, Pork, Turkey, and Duck. They are sold mainly through pet specialty retail stores in Central and Eastern Canada
Iron Will Raw offers 3 lines of raw dog food. Canine Complete Raw and Puppylicious Raw, plus Canine Basic Raw. The Canine Basic Raw (with 7 separate proteins) isn’t a balanced and complete food, but is offered as part of an elimination diet or for intermittent or supplemental feeding. For this reason only the first 2 lines are reviewed below.
Since these are raw dog foods, they don’t lose any points for minimal processing. They also have good levels of protein, and very minimal carbohydrates, as expected in raw dog foods.
The Puppylicious line is a low risk dog food but loses points for having high pesticide/herbicide ingredients in the top 5, and for using fish oil, which is an unnamed animal protein. However, in terms of a raw dog food for puppies, it’s a good option.
The Canine Complete Raw line scores lower and is considered a moderate risk dog food. Concerns include high pesticide/herbicide ingredients and GMO crops in the top 5. It also contains unnamed animal protein and inflammatory seed oils. Two recipes include more than 5 added minerals, which can reflect lower ingredient quality.. Organic produce would eliminate the pesticide/herbicide and GMO risks and improve the score.
One of the Canine Complete recipes uses wild-caught salmon, which is good to see, however, it’s not noted whether the fish oil used is from wild caught or farmed sources. Wild caught fish is preferred as it’s more nutritious and has a better fatty acid balance.
Iron Will sources its ingredients from local suppliers, and produces its dog food in the company’s St Catharines plant. The company also holds HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) Certification in food safety, quality, traceability, and accountability.
Iron Will Raw is one of very few companies that provide the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio. This is important to know since diets rich in omega-6 fats can cause chronic inflammation and disease. In this case, these 5 recipes have a ratio of 6:1 or less, which is good to see, because AAFCO allows for a highly inflammatory ratio of 30:1.
The average score of Iron Will Raw dog food is listed below. Click on any food to view the individual food score.
Iron Will Canine Complete Raw scores 7.2/10 for the 5 recipes in this line and is considered a moderate risk dog food. The recipes average 53% protein and 3% carbohydrate as calculated on a dry matter basis. This line has exceptionally low carbohydrates and raw foods are minimally processed so there are no points lost. However, recipes contain inflammatory seed oil, unnamed animal protein in the form of fish oil, high pesticide ingredients and some GMO crops. Two recipes lost points for more than 5 added minerals. The recipes have a few added vitamins but not enough to question the quality of the ingredients.
Iron Will Puppylicious Raw scores 8.8/10 for the 2 recipes in this line. They average 48% protein and 2% carbohydrate as calculated on a dry matter basis. This line has exceptionally low carbohydrates and is minimally processed so there are no points lost. However, recipes contain high pesticide ingredients and an unnamed animal protein in the form of fish oil. The recipes have a few added vitamins and minerals but not enough to question the quality of the ingredients.
Iron Will Raw has had no recalls.
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