r/rawpetfood

I’m confused why my puppy is itching. An 8 wk old puppy can have a food allergy?

I started my senior on a raw diet this year. It was actually a frustrating transition, he was so itchy! I thought it was him cuz he’s old, then I thought it was yeast die off, then I learned itching went away with no chicken or beef. Ok solved. Understandable, he’s a senior and he was on kibble for almost 15 years.

I get a brand new puppy, puppy takes to raw no problem! She started with rabbit and quail because that’s what my senior dog eats. I bring in beef grind, chicken bones, and canned sardine…one of those is causing itching. I’ll figure it out but it’s leaving me confused and in shock.

8 weeks old and has a food allergy, it’s not supposed to be like this. I ordered an arsenal of adored beast gut products.

I’m considering trying Smallbatch pets, I like the single source protein and that they use organic produce. Thoughts?

I think consumers who feed Iron Will Raw deserve to be aware of some serious concerns and allegations surrounding what has reportedly been happening within the company.

I have strong reason to believe there are significant issues occurring behind the scenes that raise questions about whether the Iron Will Raw of today is operating to the same standards as the company consumers originally came to know and trust.

Some of the concerns and allegations include:

• An ongoing HACCP-related complaint/investigation into the company’s procedures and food-safety practices.

• The company’s Quality Assurance Manager allegedly being required or pressured to work from home, reportedly leaving day-to-day production without the same level of trained QA oversight on site while senior corporate management makes operational decisions.

• Serious concerns regarding alleged changes to meat sourcing and raw-material quality. This reportedly includes the use of salvage, scrap and/or denatured material from suppliers associated with Back2Raw, allegedly as part of efforts to reduce costs and improve margins.

• The termination, departure or alleged pushing-out of numerous experienced, long-term employees who helped build Iron Will Raw over its 16+ year history, including the original founder.

• Production workers reportedly now being supplied through a temporary staffing agency, rather than maintaining the experienced production workforce many longtime customers may associate with the company.

• Senior employees who departed or were terminated in areas including logistics, production management, warehouse management and human resources reportedly have not been replaced with equivalent senior positions, raising questions about the loss of institutional knowledge, experience and operational oversight.

Iron Will Raw is no longer the independent company many longtime customers originally came to know and trust. It is now part of a larger corporate structure under Actual Pet Foods, alongside brands including Red Dog Blue Kat, K9 Choice and Back2Raw, with products increasingly appearing through major retailers such as Walmart and PetSmart.

Growth itself isn’t the problem.

The concern is whether rapid consolidation, cost reduction and the pursuit of the bottom-line dollar are beginning to take priority over the quality standards, experienced employees and sourcing practices that originally built these brands and earned consumers’ trust.

Perhaps most concerning are allegations that senior corporate leadership, including the CEO and COO, has denied that ingredient sourcing or quality has changed, despite concerns reportedly being raised about changes occurring operationally.

Unfortunately, this can be a sad reality when previously independent companies become part of larger private-investment-backed corporate groups. The name and packaging consumers recognize can remain while the people, sourcing practices, internal culture and priorities behind that name can change dramatically.

I’m not posting this to tell anyone what they should or shouldn’t feed their animals. I’m posting it because consumers deserve transparency.

They deserve to be able to ask:

Where are the ingredients coming from?
What grade and quality of raw material is being used?
Who is providing trained Quality Assurance oversight on site?
Have sourcing specifications changed?
Have food-safety or QA procedures changed?
Are the standards consumers originally trusted still being followed?

If you currently feed Iron Will Raw, Red Dog Blue Kat, K9 Choice or Back2Raw, I would encourage you to ask questions, pay attention to changes you notice in the product, and make an informed decision about what you’re comfortable feeding your pets.

To be clear, several of the matters described above are allegations, reported concerns or matters that may be under review and should not be interpreted as established findings of wrongdoing.

I am sharing these concerns because I believe consumers deserve answers and transparency from the companies producing their pets’ food.

Hopefully Iron Will Raw and Actual Pet Foods will address these concerns publicly and provide consumers with clear, verifiable answers.

I've been feeding my dogs raw food for about 15 years. Up until a couple of years ago, I always measured out all the meat/bone/organ myself, but food prep took all day and was incredibly difficult to do. About two years ago, I suffered a pretty severe shoulder injury, and all the work that went into food prep - chopping meat, organs, and painstakingly weighing everything perfectly - was suddenly not something I could physically do. My husband would do it but he works a full-time job and just doesn't have the time, so we switched to mixing raw ground beef with Know Better brand supplement. This is significantly easier, although it still takes my husband a few hours to throw everything together every month or so.

It was meant to be a temporary solution until my shoulder recovered, but unfortunately the issue seems to be chronic now. Although our dogs seem perfectly happy and healthy with their diet the way it is, I feel like this diet can't possibly be as nutritionally complete as their previous diet. I'm trying to find ways to prepare a more varied raw diet for them again, but in the easiest way possible prep-wise.

Cutting liver and organ was a particularly awful part of the process, as I find both very difficult to cut, so I was wondering if anyone could recommend me a good liver/organ supplement brand that I could add to their diet? And for that matter, if you've read this far, does anyone have any recommendations in general to make the prep process easier? In the past, I bought all our meat from Hare Today and have always had good experiences getting meat, bone and fish from there.

Bonus question: The current state of food quality/lack of quality control in this country is worrying me when it comes to my dogs food, as well. If anyone has any advice on what to avoid/look out for, I'd greatly appreciate it. This whole contaminated food mess has made me question if I still want to feed raw at all.

Edit: I forgot to mention, we would have tried pre-made raw by now, but we just can't justify the price. Home-made is so much cheaper and I would prefer not to break the bank.

Hello,

I’m trying to decide which company to go with.

Any opinion’s?

Who has better deals and is more affordable?

Small batch appears to be cheaper by the pound, but we feed Raw seems to do more sales and discounts.

I live in a major city so I should have access to either.

Let me know what you guys think and thank you!

#wefeedraw #smallbatch

My cats are fed raw, one eats way less than the other and is petite. I had a cat sitter for a few days and she did not feed the cats what I left for them just kibble. (Long story). So the cat that eats less now she doesn't want any of the raw and I assume she is looking for kibble. I don't want to give in, will she eventually go back to the raw if it is all that is available?

Is baked unseasoned salmon, carrots, celery, yams and brown rice left out at a temp of 70 degrees for approx 8 hrs. Is it safe for a dog to eat? The food is cool to the touch and smells fine.

Hello, I have 2 large dogs (chocolate lab named gus and a cane Corso named Roxy). I wanted to know what exactly I can feed them for the next week or so. I have some beans (Garbanzo), rice, and some chicken drumsticks. I would honestly rather feed them first and was wondering how I should portion it to them, i have 4 cans of beans, 2 bags of rice, and 4 chicken drumsticks. My car has been out of commission for about a month now and I used all the money i had left to order a part for it. I was doordashing until I could start my next job. So any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated!

Our 1 year old cat transitioned to raw by 13 weeks. However, as he has matured, he really only likes small batch, pork, beef, and rabbit. He’ll tolerate turkey and chicken if we just put a very small amount in with the pork or beef.

Here’s my question. We are getting a 12 week old kitten and would like to start him on transitioning to raw immediately. Ideally, both cats would be on the same food. We transitioned our other cat with poultry. Do you think it’s OK to transition the kitten with pork and / or beef?

So I can get raw beef, turkey and chicken pretty cheaply through a butchers as well as heart, spleen and kidney so I’ve decided my cheapest raw option is a DIY

I am happy to spend money on supplements that genuinely make me confident I am getting my nutritional profile right for my dog however I’ve had trouble finding good ones.

I’ve looked at OLLI and it but they all make you follow their own recipes. I would deeply appreciate some insight on what everyone feeds, different supplements good beginner sources etc. I also don’t mind buying a few supplements but don’t want to be adding 10 diff powders to my dogs food lol. I am also open to whole food supplements but my main worry is nutritional imbalance and that’s what I can’t really seem to get past.

Thanks :)

My dog is turning 1 this month, and I’d like to start feeding him raw meat. However, I’m not sure where to find safe, high-quality raw food for him.

Can anyone recommend where they buy raw meat for their dogs and what cuts/types of meat they usually get? I live in New Jersey.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

This is regarding cats as dogs can apparently fend off bird flu just fine.

HPAI is extremely aggressive in cats and has a high mortality rate.

There isn’t a lot of definitive information about how prevalent avian flu is in current poultry populations but I keep seeing so much social media feeding cats raw birds as if it’s not a problem at all.

I understand that it’s monetized so they have a conflict of interest and choose not to address it/nix this content, but I find it really disingenuous that they will wax poetic about the nutritional positives and not even MENTION that it will likely kill your pet if they’re unlucky enough to contract it.

Not to mention all the raw companies putting up blanket covermyass disclaimers about how they thoroughly test each batch blah blah blah. Sure. Cats died on commercial raw in 2025 regardless of what your website says.

There’s obviously risk associated with anything raw/undercooked, but if the flu is still circulating in flocks at a high rate, with cats x bird flu the consequence is just not worth it.

I really really really want to feed raw poultry since my girl is extremely picky and doesn’t show enthusiasm for anything other than raw beef (and they need a meaty bone which would ideally be from a bird), but I just can’t get over the lack of information that I’d need to make an accurate risk assessment.

I’ll be trying a few things that eliminate the risk in the meantime: beef with Alnutrin but I do want to try poultry with her eventually, and gently cooked (although I doubt she will eat it if it’s cooked).

I guess I’m just frustrated that I can’t in good conscience give her food I’m fairly certain she would actually consistently like and would keep her at a healthier weight.

Anyone else? And for those of you raw feeding poultry to cats, how long have you been doing it, did you ever take a break, and are you doing it commercial or DIY?

My dog won’t eat raw so I just cook his food and feed him. I was looking into the just for dog diy thing but couldn’t tell how long it would last me especially since I really need to get my dog to lose some weight. Just wanted to see how it went with others before purchasing.

ScurvyDawg, if someone already posted this and I missed it, all apologies!

Thanks for any help!