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Get an expert breakdown on the differences between fresh, frozen and raw diets for your cat or dog.
Updated on October 23rd, 2025
See what options there are with a raw dog food diet.
Updated on October 23rd, 2025
Get insights into natural dog food ingredients and learn how they support your pup’s overall health and well-being.
Updated on October 23rd, 2025
Find out how to tell if dog food has gone bad, how to store it properly, and tips to ensure your pup’s meals stay fresh and nutritious.
Updated on October 23rd, 2025

Discover how to choose the best supplements for your pet’s health, from essential vitamins to joint support and digestion aids. Learn age-specific and seasonal supplement tips for cats and dogs.
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Raw food diets are a huge area of controversy in veterinary medicine. Most vets will tell you that they aren't worth the risk and many websites will tell you that they are miraculous. I think (like most things) that the reality is somewhere in the middle. I tell clients that I don't think there is any benefit for most dogs to eat a raw diet over a fresh food diet and there are certainly risks associated with feeding a raw diet. My preference is a dehydrated diet (like The Honest Kitchen https://www.thehonestkitchen.com) or a freeze dried diet over a raw food diet. If you are interested in making a homemade diet, you could consider a recipe from Balance It (https://secure.balanceit.com/#). There are also a number of new companies that offer fresh food dets delivered to you, but I do not have as much experience with those. I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Boop by Petco.
In my opinion, Wellness is not as good a food as Hill's Science Diet and I agree with the recommendation of your vet's office to keep your dog and cat on Hill's. Hill's has better ingredients and is overall a better quality food. In addition, the truth is that grain free food is really a fad. Only about 5% of dogs have food allergies, and of these dogs, the major of the food allergies are protein. Grain allergies are actually extremely rare, and I only recommend feeding a pet a grain free food if they have a diagnosed grain allergy. I personally recommend keeping your pets on Hill's. I hope this helps!
There are many varied and strong opinions on this subject. A good quality, complete kibble is an appropriate diet for your dog and avoids the risks of under or over supplying essential nutrients as well as the risks of food poisoning type issues with raw food. Not all brands will suit all dogs and it may take a little time to find the best diet for your dog, which may change as he gets older or develops any health concerns
I would recommend Purina Pro Plan, Hills Science Diet, or Eukanuba diets. The reason is that they all do good testing of products and have veterinarians on staff making sure the food is nutritionally balanced. There are many "boutique" food available these days that look great, but aren't ideally formulated or researched. If Sullivan is an usually active dog (hunts, does competitive agility/fly ball etc, or is a police dog), there are variations of these food for more active dogs. I do not recommend a grain free diet. This is really just a fad born out of increased awareness of gluten-free diets and celiac in people. 99.999% of the time, when dogs have food allergies it is related to an animal protein. The grain free diets are actually more likely to give dogs intestinal issues because they tend to be higher in fat. I hope you find a diet that Sullivan likes and that fits your budget!
Real Nature seems to be a very high quality food, it is not one i am familiar with but the ingredient list is quite impressive. if he is doing well on this brand i would probably stick with it. other excelent options include Orijen, Acana and taste of the wild.