Instinct Raw Boost Whole Grain Recipe with Real Chicken & Brown Rice for Puppies Dry Dog Food
The first five ingredients are Chicken, Chicken Meal, Barley, Brown Rice, Oatmeal. 2 of them are a named animal protein. We put the starch at 40.0%, above the 38.51% average across the foods we hold.
Reasonable protein and a fairly typical starch load. Comfortably mid-range for a dry food.
How we got to 64
Five things, one hundred points, and the reason for every one. We would rather show our working than ask you to trust a number.
26-32% dm reads typical mainstream.
Estimated, 6% ash assumed.
Count of named animal proteins.
Matched against the flag list.
Manufacturer, not recipe.
The numbers, without the water
Percentages on a bag include the water in the food, so a wet food always looks lower than a dry one. Taking the water out puts any two foods on the same footing. This one is 90% dry matter.
This lands right about average for the foods we hold.
Everything on the label
Printed exactly as the manufacturer lists it, heaviest ingredient first. A dog food needs very little salt, so the 19 ingredients listed after salt are present in even smaller amounts. That is the salt divider, and it is why we only weigh the top of the list.
Chicken, Chicken Meal, Barley, Brown Rice, Oatmeal, Menhaden Fish Meal, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid), Ground Flaxseed, Freeze-Dried Chicken, Salmon Oil, Lamb Meal, Freeze-Dried Chicken Liver, Natural Flavor, Pumpkinseeds, Salt*The Salt Divider. Ingredients are listed heaviest first, and a dog food needs very little salt, so everything after this point is present in an even smaller amount., Carrots, Montmorillonite Clay, Freeze-Dried Chicken Heart, Blueberries, Apples, Cranberries, Choline Chloride, Minerals (Zinc Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Sodium Selenite, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide), Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate, Niacin Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Biotin), Potassium Chloride, Yeast Culture, Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Enterococcus faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Aspergillus niger Fermentation Extract, Dried Trichoderma longibrachiatum Fermentation Extract, Dried Bacillus subtilis Fermentation Extract, Dried Kelp, Rosemary Extract, Dried Bacillus coagulans Fermentation Product
What those first ingredients actually are
The top of the list is most of the food by weight, so it is worth knowing what each one is. Green marks a named animal protein.
Chicken
The clean flesh of the chicken, with or without skin, used fresh. Roughly 70% of its weight is water, most of which is driven off during…
Chicken Meal
Chicken that has been cooked, dried and ground into a concentrated meal, with most of the water and fat removed.
Barley
The grain of the barley plant, one of the older cultivated cereals.
Brown Rice
Rice with only the inedible outer hull removed, so the bran and germ stay on the grain.
Oatmeal
Oats that have been rolled or ground, used as a whole grain carbohydrate.
How much of this to feed
A starting point, worked out from the resting energy formula vets use and this food's own calorie density. Every dog is different, so watch their weight and adjust. Your vet's advice beats a calculator.
How it compares
Same figures, same method, put next to another recipe from Instinct and the archive average.
| Metric | This recipe | Instinct Original Grain-Free Recipe with… | Archive average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Score | 64 | 90 | -- |
| Protein, water out | 28.3% | 40.0% | -- |
| Starch, water out | 40.0% | 27.2% | 38.51% |
| Named in first five | 2 of 5 | 4 of 5 | -- |
Recall history
Recalls are matched to the manufacturer, not this exact recipe. A recall on a different product still tells you something about the plant it came from.
We have not matched any FDA recall to Instinct. We check the feed daily and this page updates when that changes.
Other flavors
More from Instinct, scored the same way.