Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Review
According to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, pet obesity affects more than half of all dogs in the U.S. 35 million of those are considered overweight while 6.7 million are considered obese.
That’s a problem because according to a Purina Lifespan study, overweight dogs live an average of 2 years less than those who have a healthy body weight. Not only that, but obesity leads to other illnesses and diseases that affect your dog’s overall health.
One company looking to solve these problems is Darwin’s Natural Pet Products. The company is dedicated to producing dog food that will keep your dog healthier, so you can enjoy more time with them.
Keep in mind that raw dog food is a controversial topic, so if you haven’t researched the topic, please review my article on the benefits and risks of raw dog food. You should also speak to your veterinarian before changing your dog’s diet.
In this Darwin’s Natural Pet Products review, I discuss the key features of their products, what others think of the company, and what you should consider before making a purchase.
As an affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases, but I only recommend products I find trustworthy and you pay nothing extra.
Table of Contents
What Is Darwin’s Natural Pet Products?
Darwin’s Natural Pet Products is a company that strives to feed your pet what they were made to eat. There are three dog food options and two cat food options.
The basis for these foods are mostly raw and minimally processed to give your pets the nutrients they need. They claim to not use any grains, fillers, hormones, and steroids.
For dogs, they offer 3 choices:
- Natural Selections: This is their premium recipe consisting of free-range meats and organic vegetables. It’s supposed to offer complete nutrition for your pup. These meals are also free of antibiotics, steroids and hormones.
- BioLogics: These meals have the same recipe as Natural Selections, but instead contain conventional vegetables and meats that are free of hormones and steroids. These meals are more budget-friendly.
- Intelligent Design: These meals require a prescription and are specialized meals meant to help dogs with certain health issues. They use high quality meats and organic vegetables containing no fillers, chemical preservatives, or grains.
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Key Features
1. Free Menu Consultation
One thing Darwin’s Natural Pet Products does differently than other pet brands is give you the opportunity to speak to a professional about what food would be best for your dog.
Changing your dog’s diet from kibble to fresh, raw food is a big change. It can be tricky to navigate the best way to introduce then integrate a completely new diet.
That’s why Darwin’s Natural Pet Products offer menu consultations.
Consultants can help you decide which fresh food to start with and help create a feeding schedule based on your pet’s needs.
You can call the number listed on the website, email them, or submit a request form online.
2. Choose Your Protein
Whether you select the Natural Selections, BioLogics, or Intelligent Design dog food, you get to pick which meat is included in the raw food.
You can select chicken, duck, turkey, beef, or lamb.
This is important because, as many people know, your dog can be allergic to chicken or red meat. You can also pick the food your dog is used to eating so it’s not as difficult a transition.
For pets who are sensitive to most meats, lamb is a healthy alternative for pets with especially sensitive stomachs.
3. Delivery
Free home delivery is included with any raw food purchase. This is convenient and easy for pet owners because they don’t have to leave their house to get their food.
This is especially helpful because raw food cannot be stored, so it would otherwise require multiple trips a week.
The food is shipped with dry ice to keep it cold. Although it should be sublimated by the time you receive it, Darwin’s Pet advises that you:
- Never open the container in a small room or poorly ventilated area, avoid direct contact with your skin.
- Wear gloves when handling dry ice. Avoid direct contact with skin.
- Do not dispose of dry ice through the plumbing sewage lines, such as toilets, sinks, or garbage disposals.
- Leave dry ice out of the way, out of reach from pets and children. It’s safest in the shipping container in a hard to reach place.
Benefits of Darwin’s Natural Pet Products
1. Potential Health Benefits
Before dogs were domesticated, they survived only on hunted prey and sometimes eggs. This diet helped them evolve and contained plenty of nutrients, enzymes, and vitamins.
In this Darwin’s Natural Pet Products review, I wanted to be honest that the health benefits of raw dog food is still debatable.
There have been studies that show that raw diets are more digestible than commercial dry dog food, plus promote gut health.
Darwin’s Coupon: Save $50! Get 10 lbs for just $14.95 with free home delivery
Other owners report additional health benefits, but they have not yet been proven in studies. These supposed benefits include more energy, healthier weight, less odor from stomach issues, longer lifespan, and improvement in common conditions such as diabetes and arthritis.
Your pet’s overall health is the most important thing to consider when weighing what kind of dog food you should feed them.
Keep in mind that you should speak to your veterinarian before feeding a new diet to your dog.
2. Convenience
Before the home delivery option, switching your dog from a kibble food diet to a raw food diet would have been very difficult, considering raw meat doesn’t have a shelf life and can’t be stored very long.
With Darwin’s Natural Pet Products, you don’t have to worry about restocking or going out multiple times during the week to get their food.
3. Potentially Fewer Allergies
Many dogs currently experience skin allergies and rashes. One reported benefit from owners of switching to a natural food diet is that these ailments tend to go away naturally.
It’s believed that when a dog’s natural immune system is being supported by the right nutrients, they will look and feel a lot healthier.
Improvement from Past Recall
Meat being tested for bacteria in a laboratory.
In 2018, Darwin’s Natural Dog Food tested positive for Salmonella. In response, they recalled their natural selections of chicken and turkey recipes with vegetables for dogs.
Owners were encouraged to immediately stop feeding the food to their dogs and throw it away in a secure container, where other animals, including wildlife, could not access it.
They were also instructed to clean and disinfect the area in the refrigerator or freezer where the food was stored, as well as disinfect all bowls, utensils, bedding, toys, and floors that the food or pet may have come in contact with.
While most animal health experts agree that pets are not generally affected by Salmonella unless they are already sick or have other conditions, they can experience lethargy, bloody diarrhea or diarrhea, and vomiting.
Some pets may also experience fever, abdominal pain, and decreased appetite.
Gary Tashjian, Darwin’s founder and president said there were no reported illnesses in pets who consumed the food. He stated there was cause for concern with pet owners who handled the raw food because salmonella affects humans more.
He suggested cleaning surfaces and utensils thoroughly after being in contact with the dog food.
In April 2018, Tashjian published a video that can be found on the official Darwin’s Pet website, explaining that the FDA has a no-tolerance policy for Salmonella found in pet foods because it is harmful to pet owners, even though it is generally not harmful to dogs.
Because of this, many other pet food companies pasteurize and use other means to kill bacteria naturally found in raw food.
Darwin’s Coupon: Save $50! Get 10 lbs for just $14.95 with free home delivery
Darwin’s Natural Pet Products prefers not to use this method because these processes also destroy many of the nutrients and good bacteria that make people want to use raw pet food in the first place.
In the video, Tashjian stated that they are working with suppliers to take additional steps to prevent bacterial spread in their food. He said they’re also taking additional steps to reduce harmful bacteria.
One of these tools is bacteriophages, which are naturally occurring bacteria that naturally target harmful bacteria such as E. Coli, Salmonella, and Listeria while letting the good bacteria and nutrients thrive.
They’re increasing the number of phages applied to the meals, and working on applying them more effectively.
What Customers Are Saying
Erica from Washington said that she feels that Darwin’s is transparent with their ingredients and feels secure using them. She said they’ve always answered her questions.
Patrick from Los Angeles’s dog became strong and active with a lean and muscular body, and his arthritis went away.
Theodore from Oregon’s English bulldog was getting skin infections every month and getting antibiotics to treat them. She also suffered from seasonal flank alopecia.
Once she went on a raw diet, her flank alopecia cleared up and she is also at a healthy weight.
Dr. Alexis from Seattle’s dog noticed a huge improvement in her energy and her coat, along with an increased interest in her meals.
Amber from Seattle tried all the other raw dog food brands available but found what she was looking for in Darwin’s Natural Pet Products. She said it is the best quality and price, and it’s convenient now that she doesn’t have to frequent the pet store. Her dogs also love the food!
Conclusion
The science behind Darwin’s appears sound at least for digestion issues and gut health. Their dog food and other products rate high, and they have fantastic reviews.
I also like how they offer a free pet food advisor consultation. If you have any worries about creating a raw food diet for your pet, this option would help alleviate those concerns.
I’m not bothered by the recall of the salmonella outbreak, as they had a voluntary recall and are taking extra steps to try and prevent it from happening again.
If you can afford the raw food diet, I’d recommend trying Darwin’s Natural Pet Products as long as you speak to your vet first.
Let me know if you have any comments or questions about our Darwin’s Natural Pet Products review.
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