Natures Menu complete raw food nuggets - anyone use thes?

I am thinking of making the switch from a high quality kibble to raw feeding.

I don't really have time to stand cutting up meat and weighing it, so I though I would look into companies making an all-in-one version of raw food diets.

I have a 12 week old puppy and a 10 year old medium-large dog, neither of whom have been on raw before. My older boy has been plagued with skin problems and ear infections all his life; recently, cutting wheat out of his diet completely has seen these conditions improving. I can't help but wonder if his autumn years might be improved/extended on a raw food diet.

In particular I'm interested in trying the Natures Menu nuggets, which come in puppy and senior forms.

Views/experiences of any all-in-one raw foods would be appreciated. Thanks!

You don't have to weigh food or stand cutting it up, just give it them as it is, for example chicken quarters, thighs, drumsticks or wings. Lamb chops is another one.
I don't use the nuggets,I do occasionally use their free flow minces if I run out of food before my delivery. Just put it in their bowl overnight to defrost, I mix grated steamed veg with it as I've got two who are on diets so I try and make it look more than it is. I also feed eggs in their shells, cottage cheese and bio yogurt

Thanks for the reply!

As I have a 12-week old puppy, I do feel I need to check how much I feed her. There is a guide for puppy-rearing amounts on the Nature's Menu website, suggesting how much to feed a puppy at different growth-stages, which I found reassuring.

My PON would eat all day, every day, given the chance - so until I know more or less what a raw meal size is for him, I would feel concerned I was over-feeding - I couldn't rely on his appetite to tell me when it was enough, LOL!

I'm new to the idea of raw feeding, and I thought this would be an easy 'stepping stone' to preparing my own dog meals. Also, we take the dogs away in our caravan - the frozen nuggets would make an easy-way of serving at least some raw meals while we are away, although storage for frozen food is limited.

Firstly, if you have a puppy younger than 20 weeks, then DO NOT feed large amounts of bone,at that age they cannot dispose of the excess calcium as an older dog can,so it says inside building up as spurs on the skeleton. Secondly every dog is different on how much its nutritional needs are, so yes you need a suggested rule of thumb, but some dogs are good doers and some aren't. You go by the poo,if its very white and crumbly, too much bone, if it is very hard and tiny, not enough food, soft or runny, too much food. You are looking for firm poos that can be easily picked, raw fed dogs don't have smelly poos, and they don't have that fetid breath and they don't smell. You do need to know your dogs weight, and yes first of all you need to know what the suggested amount of food is for the age and weight. A 12 week old puppy should be on 3 meals a day, I gradually knock the lunch time meal down until it turns into a chicken wing, then a bone. At around 20 weeks your puppy will be able to process any bone you care to give it. I always find it interesting that when I have puppies the mum and the rest of their family will watch them eating chicken carcass, once the meat is stripped off then they will confiscate the carcass, they are allowed to gnaw at large bones, but not allowed to crunch up smaller bones. Once you know what your puppy's portion looks like then no need to weigh every day, a tin of tuna or sardines for instance is easy to work out, and easy to get when you are away, you can always buy frozen chicken wherever you are really. Turkey mince is great for puppies, and really you only need to start weight watching once they are past the 18 months mark

Wow, thank you so much for that, it's really helpful!

I will have a look at the supermarket for prices of bulk frozen chicken wings, offal, etc, and do a compare. I am feeding Bonnie Turkey mince and white fish fillet, but only cooked, as I was told not to give raw until she was 16 weeks, as their tummies can't cope with bacteria found in raw meat/fish until after that point.

You say no bones until 20 weeks - I was told it's OK to let them gnaw on a chicken wing as you hold on to the tip. I'm not sure why I need to hold the tip - surely that's the bit their teeth will deal with easiest? Wouldn't it be easier to hold the thicker bone part and let them chew the softer, smaller bones? Or should I avoid any bone at all, even soft stuff, until 20 weeks?

I wean my puppies onto raw at 3 weeks, its not dangerous at all, load of cow poo. I didn't say don't give them bones,I said be careful about the AMOUNT of bone you give them. Never had a problem with chicken wings, my puppies get big bones to strip meat off, that way they don't eat the bone. They will eat the bone from chicken wings, drumsticks etc, so you have to be careful on your amounts, but only till 20 weeks and that is being on the safe side, after that they can dispose of excess calcium themselves. I'm lucky in that either their mother or one of their rellies confiscate anything from them thats not safe, but obviously that doesn't happen in your average pet home. With any poultry please freeze it for 48 hours before feeding, that includes the mince, because of salmonella etc. Everything I feed is always frozen first. There is absolutely no need or reason to cook their food, takes the nutrition out of it anyway and its pointless, their digestive juices are very strong indeed. They are dogs not humans

This is all really helpful, thank you so much!
How often would you give a chicken wing to a puppy, then? Or other bone they might crunch, like lamb rib?

I've also been given conflicting advice about making the changeover - some say do it straight off, others say do it gradually because if a dog/pup has been on kibble, his digestion needs to produce different enzymes to cope with more meat and less carbs, so take about a week to swap gradually.

What would you recommend? I realize your dogs are fed on raw from weaning so you might not know the answer to this!

From what I have heard, it is fine to 'cold turkey' them onto raw, the other way, it isn't as their enzymes in their digestive juices are way too strong to cope with whats in commercial foods and you have to do it gradually. I've also fostered puppies that have come to me on commercial, one not so long ago at all, around Easter time he left me, I had a bag of his food,Harringtons, so gave him that. The next morning when I went outside this horrendous,horrific smell hit me It was his poo I had only been adding the dried to his raw for the day I'd had him.I stopped straight away, within two days his poo's went from black tarry runny things into perfectly formed little droppings and the smell disappeared from his and my life. He was extremely underweight when he came to me, I had him for a few weeks whilst a home was found for him, and he doubled his weight in that time, his coat improved and his whole demeanour changed, so I would say that going 'cold turkey' had no detrimental effect on him whatsoever, in fact the total opposite.
My puppies start off with half a chicken wing with their breakfast and graduate to a full wing by the time they leave me at 8 weeks. One thing I did think of was that I have heard of puppies swallowing the wings without crunching, that has never happened to me,so I don't know, but maybe thats why people say to hang on to it. If they are on commercial and have maybe even been misguidedly weaned onto what I could only call slop (I understand its known as puppy gruel or something) despite the fact these puppies have teeth at 3 weeks, then maybe the puppy doesn't know about chewing because its never had to, so it may think you can swallow things because there is no requirement of it to use its jaws or teeth, but thats just an observation and may not be correct. By the way my dogs never ever have grains,ever. Can cause digestive problems and skin problems as well

Thanks again, Tawneywolf; it's good to get advice from someone who has experience with this kind of feeding!

What actually finally prompted me to start looking into BARF/raw feeding seriously, was a phone call from my brother. He has a 10 year old Patterdale terrier who was starting to slow down. A couple of months ago, they changed him onto a raw diet, and now my brother describes him as 'a new dog'. Not only has his coat, breath and stiffness improved, but his stamina has become amazing; my brother has a narrowboat and says his dog now trots happily along the towpath, sometimes for several miles at a time, and shows no ill-effects at all - apart from having an excellent appetite, which was also missing from his life previously.

Added to this - Bonnie clearly hates the kibble that the breeder sent her home with! Even dressing it up with a spoonful of yoghurt or soaking it makes no real difference; she only picks at it. A plate of gently cooked fish or egg, however, has her yelping with excitement! She prefers cooked turkey steak to the mince, and I think that's because the mince dries out too much - tonight, she'll be getting the mince, raw, for the first time! I'm really looking forward to see what her response is - does that sound sad?

My PON, Esau, will eat anything (literally - ewww!) so I have no concerns he'll adore a BARF diet. In addition to his kibble, he occasionally has a raw egg, often has veggies (cooked and raw) and some fruits (apple, strawberries, pear). He loves 'tastes' of what we eat - meat, fish, gravy, etc - so there's no doubt he enjoys variety, and even if I see no change in his health, it will be worth it just to know that in his autumn years, his food got a lot better - a bit like going from a student-canteen, to a 5* restaurant overnight, LOL!

My dogs are 11 and 14 and enjoy their raw diet.

I buy in bulk portioned mince with various mixes ,, they get wild with rabbit deer and lama. Beef and chicken or lam turkey and beef sometimes horse and duck too.
Its not smelly or difficult to feed and they enjoy their meal times.

One thing I would say is that you do have to be careful to make sure they finish a meal when its put down and clean the bowls every time they eat ..
Other than that I have nothing but positive things to say about raw diet..