[John D]

Why is there a large difference in the ratings for Stella and Chewy’s Raw Frozen Duck, Lamb, Turkey and Chicken?

[pugmomsandy]

They have a higher fat-to-protein ratio. Some pets do fine on higher fat and some need lower amounts of fat. I feed a high fat raw diet currently which only has 2 stars but I like the ingredients – K9 Natural Beef Feast.

/choosing-dog-food/raw-dog-food-fat/

[Patricia A]

Pugmomsan I posted my question under raw but got no replies. so below is my question again . Maybe you or someone else on forum has an answer. I try to stick to the lower fat 5* proteins/flavors.
I feed Stella’s and Primal as a topper. I would like to know why their Tantalizing Turkey Dinner Patties Freeze-Dried is rated 5 stars by the advisor and their Stella & Chewy’s Tantalizing Turkey meal mixers Freeze-Dried is only 2.5 stars. I believe the recipe/ingredients are exactly the same with only the presentation (nuggets vs patty) being the difference.
Did the advisor make an error in his ratings or am I missing something here?

• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by Patricia A.

[pugmomsandy]

@Patricia, The rating of the Dinner Patties has been updated to reflect 2.5 stars. Thanks.

[Patricia A]

Okay they must have just changed it after I emailed with question. They should be more careful since the 5* review has been up since the turkey protein/flavor came out many months ago.

[Nadia K]

I wish there was a better explanation on how the Stella patties are rated. You would think turkey would be a lean meat yet it get 2.5 stars. The duck duck goose gets 4 stars when the fat and protein are both 38% which seems high. I had bought the turkey patties when I thought they were 5 stars. Right now I am giving my pup one turkey and one chicken freeze dried patty to balance out the fat content a bit. She loves them both.

[Patricia A]

Me too Nadia. Was wondering why the weight gain in my one since giving the turkey. Also they go nuts when I give that flavor so it should have clued me in. lol .. But I also read from research many times it’s the carbs in food that causes weight gain and not the fat. That the fat is good for dogs as long as your dog isn’t prone to pancreatitis from TOO much every day. So with that understanding as a whole the Stella’s have low carbs as well as Primal I rotate with.
Guess I’ll rotate with the rabbit chicken and venison blend and break in half the turkey and see what happens with the weight after cutting back.. My suspicion about the Tantalizing Turkey started when I looked at the back of the Stella’s bag and it said give 2 for the lbs when the other proteins/flavors i use with the 5* says 2 1/2 for same lbs. I always give less then the feeding guide anyway since they also get a little kibble with it when not feeding home cooked when appropriate. But at least it tells me that the flavor/protein is higher in calories.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by Patricia A.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by Patricia A.

[Patricia A]

So I read each protein on back of back and calories with the Stella’s freeze dried. In order of least to most
Chicken 50 k kals per patty
Venison blend 53 k kals per patty
Rabbit 53 k kals per patty
Turkey 58 k kals per patty
Pork 58 K kals per patty
duck 60 k kals per patty

Primal Freeze driedis harder since you have to do some math. They don’t have calories per nugget. So you have to divide the 3 1/2 nuggets, 2 1/2 nuggets etc = so many calories .

Turkey/Sardine 38 calories Per nugget
Pork 44.5 per nugget
duck 52
Maybe someone good with math can figure out primal venison to compare calories to Stella’s venison.On bag it says 3 1/2 nuggets equal 150 k kals. So I got as far as 75 calories for 1.75 nugget.

[Nadia K]

Patricia,
Thanks for the breakdown. I haven’t used the Primal yet but I have the turkey and sardine in the pantry for her next rotation. I am baffled by the fact that the Stella Lamb is 38% protein/38% fat and rated 2.5 stars. Yet the Stella Duck is 38% protein/38% fat and is rated 4 stars. How can that be? Unless there is something in the ingredient list that justifies the different rating.

[Patricia A]

Nadia that’s whats confusing me also. I’m going to email again and copy and paste exactly that question. What EXACTLY is he looking at in the food that gives the lower rating when he breaks down the SAME protein/fat level for both flavors/proteins. I don’t think theres any difference in any other ingredients/vitamins/ veggies etc. that would make a difference with the ratings . There has to be some method to this madness that us common folk can understand. lol
Hoping I’ll have an answer by tomorrow I’ll share since when I emailed about the Tantalizing Turkey pattie being the same as their nuggets they emailed me back a thank you for finding the discrepancy error and corrected it to both a 2.5 star.
I wrote IM’d primal to ask to break down their nuggets as calories PER nugget. She misunderstood and just sent me back everything i can see for myself on the back of bag. So i asked again that i needed NOT Rabbit 150 calories for 3 1/2 nuggets BUT please tell me how many for one. That way i can compare the rabbit, venison etc. to Stella’s.

[Nadia K]

Thanks for sending the emails Patricia. I will be looking forward to hearing what they say.

[Patricia A]

Nadia Primal response to question regarding Kkals per nugget…
Hi, Patricia. When you rehydrate our Freeze-Dried nuggets, they have the same nutritional composition as our Frozen nuggets. Our frozen nuggets are approximately 1 oz each, so one frozen or one rehydrated freeze-dried nugget will have the same data. The rabbit nuggets are 39 calories/oz and the venison nuggets are 42 calories/oz. I hope this helps!
I still haven’t heard back from the email I sent advisor team regarding stellar. lamb rated at 2.5 and duck 4. So for now I’ll stick with the 5* with the exception of the Tantalizing turkey they love. I’ll just break a piece off for Tia now that I know it’s higher calories/fat. As a whole Primal is lower in k kals with the same protien/flavor then Stella’s. So new list of k kals per patty/nugget below. I’m also putting up puppy chicken/salmon which is good for all life stages and rated a 5*. They are just smaller so hence the lower calorie count. So I wrote this down to and bring with me when it’s time to stock up on food for my easy to gain weight Tia. This way I can break off a little for Tia when it’s a 5* but higher in calories.
Phew…glad that’s done. lol
PRIMAL PER NUGGET

TURKEY/SARDINE 38 kcal
RABBIT 39
VENISON 42
PORK 44.5
DUCK 52

STELLAS PER PATTIE
CHICKEN 50 Kcal
VENISON BLEND 53
RABBIT 53
TURKEY 58
PUPPY CHICKEN/SALMON 32 smaller pattie size

• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by Patricia A.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by Patricia A.

[Nadia K]

Thanks Patricia. That is very helpful.

[Nadia K]

So it looks like the Stella & Chewy duck duck goose patties were updated now to 2.5 stars. The raw patties were not updated and still say 4 stars. This is very upsetting as a week ago I bought the duck ones thinking they were 4 stars. Guess I will need to go exchange them as I don’t want to feed my dog anything under 4 stars.

[Patricia A]

I don’t know what the advisor is doing here with these ratings Nadia. I’m now questioning if I can trusts. these ratings since it’s only changing when we question them and I emailed. The freeze dried is supposed to be identical to the raw once rehydrated. So another discrepancy (error) in his ratings .

[Nadia K]

It’s very frustrating indeed Patricia. I rely on these ratings when making choices for my dog. It is very disappointing when there are errors. Patricia is there a way for members to message each other privately on this forum? I would love to discuss raw feeding with you personally since you have a small dog like mine.

[Nadia K]

So I got a response from the administrator to my question regarding the varying ratings of the Stella proteins. Here is the response:

Thanks for your email. These issues were caused by the fact the company had different figures on their website as we visited over an extended period. We have merged all the freeze-dried recipes and now only present a single product. The remaining reviews are no longer available on our website. Due to low search phrase demand on Google, we are not planning to restore and update these archived reviews in the future. Thanks for taking the time to write.

[Patricia A]

I got the same response Nadia. I think I’ll lean toward Primal in the same proteins . Just give the venison blend and rabbit. Maybe even try those in the Primal since it is lower calories. I researched Vital Essentials which got all 5 stars except the turkey and chicken NIBBLETS. Going to slowly introduce that as a rotation.
I’m just so used to giving just a little kibble with their freeze dried. it also stretches the expensive freeze dried since I’m feeding the two. I’ve been giving Stella’s raw coated grain free. But I advisor lowed rating due to all the legumes raising protein level. So last bag I rotated with the Ancient grains recipe. I emailed advisor for a future review of their grain inclusive. No response but now from response we both received I’m thinking he’s not going to review or rate them anymore??? I mean I at least use his reviews as a starting point of what to feed. So I’m afraid that the grain inclusive might be like a 2.5 if he did review it.
I’m looking into rotating with Natures logic kibble as a base also. I’ just feel better just rating the kibble even though they get just a few a day with their freeze dried or home cooked. You know sometimes I spend a few hours researching food and I go in a circle. I really think at lease for kibble it’s like trying to fit a round peg in a square hole. Don’t think any are really good to feed solely.

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