Latest News

East Coast Dogs - RAW Dog Food Review

East Coast Dogs is an Australian company dedicated to providing Australian dogs with a fresh and healthy diet. The Raw and Fresh range is also referred to as BARF (Biologically Appropriate Raw Food) and offers a variety of proteins (Kangaroo, Beef, Chicken) and container sizes, including bulk bags, taste testers and of course treats.

WHO IS EAST COAST DOGS?

The business was set up by Scott and Holly, a husband and wife team and huge doggy lovers, who have become heavily involved with rescuing and fostering less fortunate dogs over the past few years. They've ended up with their own motley crew of five big dogs: Husky, Kelpie, Lab x American staffy, Mastiff and an American Bulldog!

All these foster dogs arrived with issues such malnourishment, emaciation, skin allergies or digestion problems and their poor diet was found to be a common link...

Raw and Fresh - Premium Range options
This inspired them to research what would be the best diet to help these dogs recover from their ailments, whilst putting on much needed healthy weight, improving their digestion, teeth, coat/skin and strength so they created Raw and Fresh : their own version of a raw food diet!

Having started with their own dogs, they went on to supply some of their friends and now they are the leading BARF dog food provider in the Sydney/Central Coast region. Their aim is to educate and inspire people to feed their dogs with the love and care they would themselves!


East Coast Dogs recently launched a wonderful initiative called Feed a Rescue Pooch to assist feeding dogs on their journey through rescue and on their way to loving new homes. Customers can now make a donation at the checkout, to a number of rescues: these donations are tallied each month, and converted to dog meals, delivered to the nominated rescue.

WHAT OUR PACK SAMPLED

For one entire week all our dogs trialled some varieties from the Premium Essentials range (Chicken, Beef & Kangaroo) which share a similar ingredients profile: 70% mince; 20% vegetables; 10% offalAll meals came in 750g neatly prepacked containers, which did stack very neatly in the freezer until we were ready to use them. Just remember to plan a day ahead and thaw these 24-36hrs in the fridge (not at room temperature or using the microwave). 

Premium Beef Essentials - Container size / Fresh Raw Food

The daily recommendation with this high-quality raw diet is to feed between 2-3% of your dog's body weight daily: for a large dog of 28Kg, this is a loose guide: 560g to 840g daily. We opted for the higher end of the scale and fed one 750g container to each dog every day, split between breakfast and dinner so this trial could be conducted over seven days.


We really liked the inclusion of 20% seasonal raw vegetables (this means it will vary but usually these are Silverbeet, Carrot, Sweet Potato, Bok Choy, Celery, Spinach and Cabbage). This ensures the delivery of dietary fibre plus some essential vitamins and minerals like Magnesium, Calcium, Vitamin A, B1, B2, B6, C, E, K, Iron, Potassium, Folic Acid, Zinc, Copper, Biotin and Manganese.

The 10% Beef Offal is identical in all mixes and includes Beef Liver, Heart and Kidneys. Beef Offal is used due to the high amount of vitamins and minerals contained in it.

Depending on your preferences (and budget) you could opt for mince only, the Premium Basics option (Offal and no Vegetables) or the Deluxe option (adding 1% of Brown Rice). 

WHAT WE REALLY LIKED

1. Convenience

The best thing is how easy it is to select and order your fresh dog food from the online store and it will be delivered to your doorsteps anywhere within the Sydney - Central Coast - Newcastle areas. The food is packaged in containers which are clearly labelled and delivered within a foam box with ice packs so the dog food delivery will remain fresh until you come home!

You can try a one-off order or set up an automatic delivery with the frequency that best suits you (weekly, fornightly, monthly, quarterly) and there's no lock-in contract.

2. Quality
Premium Chicken Essentials - Raw Food

All three varieties look very fresh and appetising and our dogs had no issues with any of the three protein varieties during their weekly trial, including one dog with a very sensitive stomach. 

However the absence of any additives, preservatives or chemicals means that you will need to freeze this dog food pretty much straight away, unless you're planning to use it that same day!


3. Wide range of options

East Coast Dogs have really put together a wonderful range of BARF dog food. Does your little pooch have a taste for chicken? Or do they beg for beef when you’re at the table eating your steak? Or if they're a bit more adventurous, you could go for kangaroo and/or offal? 
You can also mix and match your proteins (e.g. 50% beef / 50% chicken) in one single order.

Whether you have a small pooch or are feeding an entire tribe of furkids, the prepacked options by dog weight make the selection process easy!

WHAT WE LIKED LESS

There is no doubt that adding fresh raw food to our dogs' menu has been met with enthusiasm however be aware that frequent changes in their diet can upset your dog’s stomach. So you have to be “all in“ with this type of diet and be committed to making a 100% switch for your dogs to reap all the health benefits.

The main issue for us having 3 “stomach on legs” (around 28kg each) is the difficulty in storing 16Kg of fresh dog food weekly! 
Even if we had a deep chest freezer, it is not overly practical to thaw around 2.25Kg daily (3 containers) and weighing raw meat portions at 7am for the furkids is not necessarily our favourite thing… 

PRICE & WHERE TO BUY


There are over 100+ combinations to choose from so the price will largely depend on your main protein choice (chicken is the cheapest, followed by beef and finally kangaroo) and additions (% of offal, vegetables or the inclusion of brown rice) and the size of your order.

If you have large dogs, buying in bulk bags (starting from 10Kg all the way up to 35Kg per delivery) will represent huge savings - providing you can safely store that amount of food!



RRP: $57/week for a 30Kg dog or $37/fortnight for a 5Kg dog, based on the Premium Beef Essentials prepacked portions. The cost is only $80/10Kg for a Bulk Bag. 
Free delivery to Sydney, Central Coast and Newcastle areas.

For more details on all available options, please visit rawandfresh.com.au 
« PREV
NEXT »

No comments

Post a Comment