- Instinct Freeze Dried Meals, Natural Dog Food, Cage-Free Chicken, 25 oz Bag

My dogs love these high-quality freeze-dried nuggets. I primarily use them as a food topper or as training treats rather than a full meal. Because they’re freeze-dried, they don’t leave any greasy residue, which makes them easy to carry in a training pouch or even a pocket — a big plus for training sessions. The texture works well for all five dogs in my pack, ranging from 12 to 96 pounds and ages 2–15. The crinkling sound of the bag getting pulled off the shelf reliably gets their attention. They are definitely on the pricey side, but for my use (toppers and training), one bag lasts me months, so the value makes sense for us. If you’re looking for a clean, high-quality freeze-dried option with good ingredients, this is a solid choice.

Love this food! Junior eats it up and if he ever doesn’t eat it all it doesn’t need to be tossed! It actually looks like it is more expensive than it truly is because the feeding measurement is volume- Junior eats one cup a day dry and he is 25-26 LB. There’s no water in it so it is light as feather. Other foods have water in them that you are paying for. He likes the chicken and lamb best. Did a lot of math to figure out the price per cup VS price per oz. This is easier than the frozen for several reasons - 1. Freezer space 2. Easy to travel with- no refrigeration. 3. If doggie has an off day- no spoilage! He eats instinct & Dr. Marty’s- Wish I had figured this all out years ago! No tummy upsets! Dog has Only 1-2 firm poops a day. Kibble was like 5 poops! Who has time for 5 walks a day? Worth the $ Hopefully he will live to be 20 with all the heathy organ meat!

I initially bought this because I find it so gross that almost all kibble has either soy, pea or lentil protein in it these days. You can’t convince me legumes are good for dogs, it’s just cheap filler like wheat, corn, or rice except with a little more protein and a higher potential for them to be allergic to it. The kibble that I like the ingredients of, my dog doesn’t like the taste of. So I was like, ok, I’ll finally commit to an expensive food and give that a try. So I chose this, I love the ingredients, I was skeptical when about the bag size -22oz- but it’s freeze dried so I was hoping it was just ultra light and there would be more servings in it than maybe I thought. But no, the downside of this food is that if I feed my dog 3 cups a day, the recommended amount for weight loss for her size and weight, the bag lasts 5 days and therefore costs about $10/day. If I feed her 2 cups a day and supplement with kibble it’s a little more affordable at like $7/day but that’s still pretty insane for me to wrap my mind around. Yes she’s my furbaby and I’m investing in her health or whatever, but it’s a lot more than I was expecting to spend when I first purchased this food. I think it might even be more expensive than the Farmer’s Dog and Sundays and all those customized to your dog meal delivery brands that I’ve been unwilling to try in the past because the pricetag got me (I actually did place a Sundays order once but they never fulfilled it, but that’s a story for another review) I will say, this is a great product: her digestion is immaculate with this food, she loves the taste, it’s got good ingredients. I think she’s visibly a little less chunky than she previously was, without her begging endlessly for more food, which she has the bad habit of doing, so I think this food sits really well in her stomach and makes her feel more full than other foods. The price tag is just hard to take! I’ve used four bags so far and I have another one on the way because I really do think it’s incredibly good for her, but I’m still reeling at the price, I just don’t think it’s going to be possible for me to keep paying for this product.

Our dogs won't eat much of anything else. They almost refuse to eat kibble of any kind & as you "May" know, kibble is of little value for them anyway. It is harder on their digestive systems, provides much less nutrients & adds a lot of fat to their systems. Freeze dried avoids these issues, but tends to give less of the grains that help balance a diet. So, even as goods as these Freeze Dried foods are, there is still a need to supplement your dogs diet a bit. By being a dry variety we can "Free Feed." With Bulldogs this is an issue at first as they are Gobblers. They will overeat until they learn they are going to have plenty. Our youngest learned within a couple months & now is as solid as a rock with daily exercise. Very low odor to nearly none. Texture is solid & yet soft. Does NOT attract bugs of any type. Worth every penny as far as I can tell.

We like the Instinct brand in general, and use these raw nuggets in the dogs’ meals, for training, and as treats. We appreciate that Instinct seems to have a consistent price per pound, instead of some proteins being more expensive, like other brands. Lamb, in particular, can be pricy in other brands. The dogs enthusiastically eat these, they smell great and are consistent in size and quality. The only drawback is that the form is a bit fragile and easily crushed. This can be a problem if you want a treat for pocket or training pouch. Occasionally we have had a bag that was crushed in shipping and thus damaged, but that tends to happen when Amazon ships in a paper packet vs a cardboard box.

This food is expensive but worth it. First of all the dogs now sit and wait in anticipation when I’m getting their food ready, instead of me having to go hunt them down. They love it. I have one girl with a sensitive stomach who always needed her bootie cleaned after a poop, even with a probiotic chew added to her diet. Now we have perfect poops! No cleaning necessary. The food is worth it for this fact alone. But I wanted to change my dogs to a grain free diet, and this fit the bill. It’s really hard to find a grain free commercially produced pet food. Most of them are full of grains. We also use a home cooked topper of canned salmon, cooked sweet potato, and chopped spinach and kale. They gobble it up. Bowls so clean they barely need washing.

Loved using this food for my dog! It added great quality to the food and gave him extra nutrients that he was missing! The bag is smaller, but you pay for the good ingredients!

I’ve been buying the Instinct Freeze Dried Raw Lamb for almost four years now, and it’s still one of the few things my Labradoodle, Stella, never gets bored of. We don’t use it as her full meal anymore (got too expensive), but crumbling a little on top of her regular food works perfectly. The second I open the bag she comes running, she clearly smells it right away and eats her whole bowl without hesitation. It’s been consistent every time: no stomach issues, no pickiness, just excitement. If you’re looking for something to make your dog actually WANT their food, this has been a winner for us.