Blue Ridge Beef - Puppy Mix (Raw)

[Melody]

Hey everyone! Has anyone used Blue Ridge Beef's Puppy Mix? I'm looking for opinions on this food for a German Shepherd puppy. I talked to the rep, who stated "On the bone or organ we do not do over 10% in any of our products, some organs
have to be used sparingly, but our puppy mix has proven to grow the best pups ever. We have alot of customers raising their pups on our puppy mix." - She didn't tell me what organs were in the mix.

I also want to use a good, general purpose supplement to go along with this raw diet. The pups breeder recommends NuVet Plus. I was thinking perhaps Missing Link Puppy or Solid Gold Seameal? I looked at NuPro, but it has calcium? I don't want to over do the calcium for my pup.

Thanks in advance!

[FBODGRL]

What is listed for the mix?

I've heard good things about BRB products. I generally don't feed ground, but I may get some of their venison.

[Melody]

Ground beef, ground chicken, ground green tripe, ground beef heart & liver, ground chicken bone.

Crude Protein: 16% min
Crude Fat: 12% min
Crude Fiber: 1% max
Moisture: 72% max

[Misskiwi67]

Ground beef, ground chicken, ground green tripe, ground beef heart & liver, ground chicken bone.

Crude Protein: 16% min
Crude Fat: 12% min
Crude Fiber: 1% max
Moisture: 72% max

Is that as-fed or dry matter?? Do you have a calcium and phosphorus level?

[Melody]

I don't have any other information. I can send a message to the rep. What else should I be asking?

[Melody]

If I don't go with the BRB mix, I think I'll put her on Earthborn Holistics until I learn a bit more about feeding raw. I don't want to mess anything up with a growing pup.

[FBODGRL]

It seems Liver is the only organ I am seeing. Heart is considered muscle meat. There should be something along the lines of kidney or spleen. It should be 5% liver and 5% of another organ.

I'd also be concerned about protein as you generally want about 4 in a raw diet. There are 2 in the mix.

I'm a pretty experienced raw feeder at this point and feed both Khan and 5 cats raw. I would recommend you feel comfortable with raw information if you aren't before starting a puppy on it. I do have a friend who is a GSD breeder who starts the pups on it. I can ask her for some recommendations if you like.

[Melody]

Reply from the rep regarding calcium and phosphorus levels...

"The product must be dried before the analysis is made. We do run calcium and it is different on each product. Puppy mix shows 0.850 on calcium." No answer for phosphorus.

I have a month to get comfortable and find the right thing for her.

I would really appreciate any info your GSD breeder friend may have! Thanks so much!

[Shearaha1]

I just got a new, unexpected, kitten. I've got him on the Blue Ridge Beef Kitten mix with a high quality kibble as well. He's doing excellent on it. Though it's only been 3 weeks.

[Misskiwi67]

Reply from the rep regarding calcium and phosphorus levels...

"The product must be dried before the analysis is made. We do run calcium and it is different on each product. Puppy mix shows 0.850 on calcium." No answer for phosphorus.

I have a month to get comfortable and find the right thing for her.

I would really appreciate any info your GSD breeder friend may have! Thanks so much!

While the calcium level is acceptable for a large breed puppy, I'm a little concerned that there is so much inconsistency between product batches. This should not be the case for a commercial product.

Calcium phosphorus ratio's are pretty important, the fact that they don't know is pretty disturbing as well. It seems they lack quality control, weather this is a concern for you or not is up to you. I would not feed it based on this information. There are much better raw products available.

[Melody]

Thank you for the info. I will not be feeding this stuff to the new pup. I am seeing similar opinions the more I look into their foods.