# Rosemary in Nature's Variety Instinct



## Lila's Mom (Jan 28, 2012)

I currently feed my dog and cats Nature's Variety Instinct frozen raw food and weekly raw meaty bones. I was reading through the stickies on this site when I came across the one about Rosemary and its link to seizures. I immediately looked at my foods ingredients and unfortunately it has rosemary in it as either the 3rd or 2nd to last ingredient (can't remember which one exactly). I have never experienced any seizures with my pets, but after reading the thread I wonder if I should switch to a different raw food, especially since I am possibly getting a new puppy in the next couple of weeks (although he won't be switched to raw until he is a bit older and more settled in). I was planning on going 100% non-commercial raw diet, but I am just not ready to do that quite yet. I would prefer to stick to commercial raw supplemented with raw meaty bones for a few more months.

I checked dogfoodadvisor for a list of raw foods, I would love to hear of anyone's experience with these brands or any other brand not listed. Also, what are everyone's thoughts on the rosemary in the Nature's Variety? Is this a safe food to feed my animals?

-BARF
-Paw Naturaw
-Primal
-Stella and Chewy
-Darwin's


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## Bonnie's Mommie (Mar 2, 2006)

I don't think Rosemary in small doses is dangerous (I could be wrong, though). However, if you're going to change, I feed Stella and Chewy's and my Bonnie loves it. She's been on it for over 5 years and she's very healthy except for a few (gulp) age related issues.


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## Lila's Mom (Jan 28, 2012)

She is adorable! I will definitely look into Stella and Chewy's then. It is one of like three raw brands that my local pet store carries so I wouldn't have to order it online, which is good. I also think they have a dehydrated version, but I am not sure of how it would compare nutritionally to just normal raw.


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## Bonnie's Mommie (Mar 2, 2006)

Thank you, I think she's pretty adorable, too.:biggrin:

I use the freeze dried version and add a little warm water to it to moisten it. I'm not sure how it stacks up to the other, but if they sell it in a store near you, you can always check that out.


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## Lila's Mom (Jan 28, 2012)

I think I might try the freeze dried. My dog Lila's beard gets so gross, I have to use baby wipes on her after each meal. Especially with a maltese on the way, freeze dried maybe the best way to keep the beards.


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## lynda (Oct 11, 2005)

I use the Primal and all four of mine love it. They like the Stella and Chewy's too. The place where I get their food gave me a whole box of free samples.


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## educ8m (May 19, 2010)

I'm glad you pointed that out. I've been feeding mine Nature's Variety frozen raw nuggets for quite a while. I used to feed Primal and they quit eating it. Now the same thing has happened with the Nature's Variety...they just turn their noses up at it. They finally eat it when they get hungry enough, but I was going to try something else. This is just the catalyst I needed.


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## Lila's Mom (Jan 28, 2012)

Yeah once my the bag is done I am going to start them on something else. I was thinking of doing a combination of Primal and Stella and Chewy's but I am not sure yet. They have already been on the chicken for over a week so we are going to try a different protein this time.


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