Nature’s Advantage Freeze-Dried Raw Cat Food Review

My cat’s always been picky with wet food, but as she ages she’s become a little picky with dry food as well. I try to feed her with a cat food that not only she enjoys eating, but also with no harmful ingredients. After researching I discovered that freeze-dried raw diets are highly palatable for cats. So I found a new brand, Nature’s Advantage. This is a freeze-dried raw type cat food with very few ingredients on the list which made me very happy. My idea was mixing the tasty mini nibs of Nature’s Advantage with my her regular cat food, Acana.

Nature’s Advantage has two varieties of cat food, the patties and the mini nibs. I got the mini nibs variety, Red Meat and also Duck & Rabbit. The mini nibs are the typical kibble shape but a little bit longer than the usual round shape. Here is how the Red Meat mini nibs look like:

So I mixed the nibs with her regular dry food formula. My cat sniffed it and tried to eat the nibs but something was stopping her. I realized later that the nibs were too large for her small jaw. My cat is tiny, she weighs 7.5 lb and has a small jaw. So I had to cut the nibs in half for her and she started eating with no issues. I must say that she liked the freeze-dried mini nibs very much, especially the Red Meat variety, not so much the Duck & Rabbit variety.

To gradually introduce a freeze-dried raw diet to my cat I mixed the nibs with her regular dry food in a proportion of 75/25 and fed her like this for three days. Then I mixed 50/50 and this is how I kept feeding her. I must mention that my cat is currently eating Acana Grasslands, she was eating Farmina and Open Farm but got bored with them both. I wanted to avoid her getting bored with her current food so I got Nature’s Advantage mini nibs to add tasty flavor to her meal.

One of the reasons I picked this freeze-dried raw cat food is the fact that the ingredients are limited. The Red Meat formula contains eight animal proteins in the first ingredients, the rest are fruit and veggies. The duck & Rabbit formula has even less ingredients, three animal proteins and the rest fruit and veggies. This is the list of ingredients of Nature’s Advantage Freeze-Dried Raw Red Meat variety:

Ingredients of Nature’s Advantage Freeze-Dried Raw Red Meat

Beef, Pork, Lamb Liver, Bison Liver, Beef Kidney, Beef Liver, Herring Oil, Taurine, Mixed Tocopherols, Carrot, Apple, Tomato, Broccoli, Orange, Cranberry, Pumpkin, Spinach, Beet, Cherry, Strawberry, Blueberry, Vitamin E Supplement.

And this is the list of the Duck & Rabbit Dinner variety:

Ingredients of Nature’s Advantage Freeze-Dried Duck & Rabbit

Duck, Rabbit, Herring Oil, Taurine, Mixed Tocopherols, Carrot, Apple, Tomato, Broccoli, Orange, Cranberry, Pumpkin, Spinach, Beet, Cherry, Strawberry, Blueberry, Vitamin E Supplement.

After feeding my cat with this formula for over a month I can conclude the following Pros & Cons:

Pros

• Raw high-in-protein nibs that are an excellent complement for her regular dry food.
• Low glycemic, no grains, legumes or potatoes, keeping my cat’s weight.
• No synthetic ingredients, healthy for my cat’s body.
• Grain-free and Gluten-free, no allergies of weight gain.
• Limited Ingredient formula, the less complicated ingredients, the better.
• Tasty, my cat loved it, which is not very usual with her.
• No need to re-hydrate the food
• Made in the USA

Cons

• Food needs to be stored in a cool dry place (hard during hot weather).
• The nibs are too large for my cat’s jaws.
• Expensive, 12 Oz bag costs $32.
• Switching to a freeze-dried raw food could change your cat’s digestive system.

What happened is that my cat after eating Nature’s Advantage freeze-dried raw food somehow her feces started getting softer and a little stinkier. I must say that she really enjoyed the mixing of her dry food with this formula.  However, the problem with the litter box smell and soft stools was a kind of red flag for me. Maybe this is a normal fact when cats start eating a raw diet. As I am new feeding my cat this type of diet I didn’t know if this was a good or bad sign. I have checked reviews of other cats adjusting well to this food. According to Dr. Ellen Malmanger, DVM, it all depends on the cat’s age, health and mostly the food handling. She mentions that freeze-dried raw food need to be carefully handled to avoid contamination with bacteria.

The possible bacteria formation was one of the main issues for me other than the stinky poop. The fact that this food is raw and warmer temperatures could make it harbor more bacteria, got me nervous. The instructions on the package says: “Store freeze-dried products in a cool, dry place” but I don’t know how warm is too warm. The package doesn’t mention to refrigerate the food once opened. I thought about putting the bag in the refrigerator but then my second thought was that I could worsen the situation by doing this. I am pretty sure that cat owners who are used to feed their cats with freeze-dried raw formulas have better understanding on how to deal with the storage and all that stuff, I am totally new on this type of cat diet.

So what’s my conclusion?

My cat loved Nature’s Advantage freeze-dried raw. However, due to my cat having softer and stinkier stools when eating this formula, plus my concern of hot temperature possibly affecting the food’s integrity made me stop mixing her regular food with this formula. Though I’ve read some cats doing very well with Nature’s Advantage freeze-dried raw diet. The thing is that my cat has eaten regular dry and wet food her whole life and she’s 9 years old so I guess that influenced the outcome. If you already feed your cat a freeze-dried raw formula and want to switch brands I suggest this one. The list of ingredients are clean with no synthetic stuff. As this is a nutritionally complete high-protein dense cat food you won’t need much to satisfy your cat’s nutritional needs. Check it out in Amazon ➤ here