Review of Primal Pet Food “Kibble In The Raw”
Thoughts on “Kibble in the Raw”
Just a few months ago, Primal Pet Food released a new pet food called “Kibble in the Raw.” It sounds exciting as it features a whole whack of freeze-dried raw and then it had pre-digested sorghum.
Primal launched this “Kibble in the Raw “with fanfare focusing on how:
- It reimagines kibble and
- the digestibility of sorghum as the key component.
But is all this just marketing hype linking it to kibble or is there more substance to Primal’s claims?
Why Are Grains Not a Good Option for Pet Food
Typically, we are not fans of grains in pet food as we believe:
- it is not biologically appropriate,
- some of our clients have specific grain allergies and
- lastly, bad storage can lead to aflatoxins which are known carcinogens.
These are not arguments against only “Kibble in the Raw” but also for some kibble and dehydrated raw.
With the hysteria around food-related DCM, we’ve seen a spike in pet food manufacturers using grains and traditional vets recommending grain pet foods. This is despite the fact that grains do not help the heart for dogs and cats and the FDA has said “FDA has received reports of non-hereditary DCM associated with both grain-free and grain-containing diets.”
Do We Think that “Kibble in the Raw” is Better than Kibble?
Yes. Probably better than most kibble BUT it is a disingenuous argument as Kibble in the Raw will NOT LIKELY EVER replace kibble. According to Primal, their core reason for this innovation is, “Kibble in the Raw reimagines kibble the Primal way so that you can feed your dog the way nature intended.”
However, “Kibble in the Raw” seems to be a just a cheaper way to make bigger bags of freeze-dried raw. There is nothing wrong with that aim. Just adding carbohydrates is not innovation. It may look and serve like kibble but so do a lot of freeze-dried products e.g. Bixbi, Steve’s, Stella & Chewy.
At $174.99 for a 9 lb bag, Kibble in the Raw will always be pricier than kibble/ oven baked pet food.
Despite their marketing hype that “The Future of Kibble is here.” There is currently no chance that Kibble in the Raw will replace kibble. Because Primal advocates feeding it like raw, we will keep the weight as is to calculate the comparison. Even higher-priced oven baked food like Carna4 is still twice as cheap as Kibble in the Raw. Recurring kibble customers’ wallets may not allow them to go for a “Kibble in the Raw.”
Kibble has NO choice but to use carbohydrates as a binder for extrusion or even oven baking.
As we’ve written in our kibble posts, to make the dough for kibble, you need a binder which is carbohydrate. You can read more about extrusion here.
However, freeze-dried as a concept was created to provide raw feeders with a shelf-stable option raw pet food. Freeze-dried raw has always been about 1.5 times the cost of the same raw pet food. For example, Primal Chicken 3 lb raw is $29.95 vs Primal Chicken 14 oz Freeze-dried (same size, same everything) at $43.95. This exactly 1.5 times the cost of raw as stated.
Freeze dried has NO such manufacturing requirement for carbohydrates.
What the carbohydrates does in this bag is to act as a
- FILLER and
- BRING THE PRICE DOWN.
To make the 9 lb bag of food, Primal states that they use 13 lb of meat which is 1.5 times the amount of raw. Normally, for their regular freeze-dried, they use 3 times the amount of raw. With manufacturers facing higher ingredient pricing, it makes sense that “Kibble in Raw” with less meat and more carbohydrates will have a lower price point than Freeze-dried Raw that utilizes meat and only fruits/ veggies. This might make “Kibble in the Raw” an attractive option for some freeze-dried raw feeders.
For the chicken formulation on a dry basis, you will have carbohydrates around 27%. That is high. It is kibble high in terms of the amount of carbohydrates that this should have. It is also unfortunate that Dr. Marty’s does something similar with sweet potatoes but their carbohydrate content is around 11%. In addition, let’s not forget that sorghum also provides some protein. As such, the crude protein you see includes plant protein from sorghum.
This approach of using carbohydrates as a filler is what Ziwi Peak has done with its new Steam & Dried line where it adds Quinoa. This is not excusable but dehydrated pet foods have had a history of adding carbohydrates to their formulation. In addition, they were clear that this was done predominantly as a new sku to help bring the price down. Freeze-dried pet foods have never required large carbohydrate fillers till “Kibble in the Raw.”
Digestibility of Sorghum and its Use in Pet Food
We’ve seen a lot of pet food companies twist themselves into knots about their use of grains. What does digestibility mean?
When we talk about digestibility, we are focusing on the most important thing when you eat food. For dogs, you are not getting all the Crude protein that is provided in the nutritional label. In fact, it is the biologically appropriate amino acids provided by the meat which is important. As such, information about digestibility gives you a clearer picture of on average what the dog is getting nutritionally.
Digestibility means feeding X g of food, dog poops Y g and essentially X- Y gives you what is digested. E.g. feed 454 g of dog food, dog then poops 100 g. This leaves 354 g digested or essentially 78% digestibility. Then you can multiply your Crude Protein by 78% and that is what your dog is absorbing. So for pet owners who see their dog poop big amounts, this might mean your dog is not getting what they need. Big poop is not exactly healthy poop.
The other reason that this information is important is because not all proteins are bioavailable or digestible.
By using this argument, we see Primal take a page out of the Vegan and Vegetarian pet food playbook. They have focused the conversation on nutrients and digestibility your animal gets without addressing one major factor. It is not biologically appropriate!
All the sorghum/carbohydrates does in this bag is to act as a filler to bring down the price on the freeze-dried raw.
We find the argument on digestibility to be smoke and mirrors to distract from the fact that this won’t ever replace kibble.
Potential Success of Kibble in the Raw
We think Kibble in the Raw will do well. However, it will come at a cost to the pet in the long-term. What we mean by this is that other Freeze-dried raw manufacturers who start losing market share to Primal will be forced to add carbohydrates to Freeze-dried Raw.
Instead of advancing the cause of affordable shelf-stable raw options, this will likely transition the freeze-dried pet food industry. We love what Primal has done in the past. They stood for no synthetic vitamins or minerals, organic fruits and vegetables.
Our gut and research tells us that by supporting Kibble in the Raw, we might be inadvertently hurting pets later. However, we also understand the urgent need to help our customers’ pocketbook. As a business, it may hurt our bottom lines not having this option but we believe most of our client-base may also share our concerns.
Let us know your thoughts.
