Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Nature's Logic, Sardine oil and food review

So, waaaaay back in October, I won a giveaway from CindyLu's Muse for a 16 oz bottle of Nature's Logic Sardine Oil. I thought "Awesome!" because we give Elka olive oil or coconut oil on her kibble about once a day, especially in the winter, because she'll frequently end up with slightly dry and flaky skin.

Well, when the rep contacted me for my address, CindyLu's Muse had mentioned that I was a blogger as well. So, I was offered a bag of Nature's Logic kibble, my flavor choice (well, I had the choice of canned as well, but kibble works out better for us)! Good deal, right?

Elka was pretty excited when I told her...primed at the food bowl, in fact.




The Sardine Oil (which I keep calling Salmon oil, in my head and to other people, but isn't [I actually reread the beginning of this post and had typed "salmon" instead of "sardine" in the link]) came first. It's in a flip-top bottle, and I put a squeeze on her food at a time. It does in fact have a serving suggestion (1 teaspoon per twenty pound of weight, so about a tablespoon and a half. You can see, now, why I just kinda give a squeeze?) It doesn't really smell, which was a concern. I mean, it's kind of fishy, but not strongly fishy, and it doesn't linger on Elka's face. I know, because Elka's face is frequently close to mine, and I detect no eau du sardine.




The kibble came a bit later. Dog Food Analysis rates the Nature's Logic Duck and Salmon formula at 5 stars. It kind of weirds me out that one of the ingredients is "dried porcine plasma" (dried pig's blood, for those of you keeping track at home), but it was an ingredient in every one of the kibbles, and Dog Food Analysis doesn't mention it specifically. They do say "Fat as the fourth ingredient is a concern. Research at Purdue University has identified a fat in the top four ingredients of a dry food as a factor that increases the risk of bloat in large breed dogs." which I had never heard. The Bloat Bogeyman is a serious one, to be sure.


(You see, in Photobucket, the picture is right side up. When I share it here? On its side. I've fixed it six times. I'm sorry, I don't care anymore.)


Every time I get kibble in a sample capacity, or giveaway like this, I tend to use it for training or as part of what gets put into a puzzle toy, so Elka never gets a quantity such that I'm overly concerned with issues resulting from something like this. The kibble is also very small, which facilitates this kind of treat/topping usage.


And I will say, Elka's coat has been nice and shiny as the weather has gotten colder and the heat has come on.  I took this picture of the top of her head, so you could see!


Overall, Nature's Logic seems to make decent products. I'm certainly happy with the ones that we've tried! They also offer frozen raw food in Rabbit, Chicken, or Beef. No stores in my area carry it at current, but maybe I'll pick it up to try at some point in my travels. I'm not against raw feeding. I just haven't done the requisite research to know about nutritionally balancing such a diet.

FTC disclosure: I received the Sardine Oil by merit of winning another blogger's giveaway. I received a 5 lb bag of Nature's Logic for the purposes of writing this review.







20 comments:

  1. Woof! Woof! Golden Laughs on Sardine vs Salmon. Yes its wonderful supplement. I get Omega 3 with my food. Happy tasty Tuesday. Don't forget to add this to the TT Blog Hop. Lots of Golden Woofs, Sugar

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    1. Hah, wouldn't you know, I did forget to add it to the blog hop! November was a long month for me ;)

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  2. We are huge fans of natures logic. I have reviewed their food but not the oil, we are big oil fans for the dogs food because I do think using that as a supplement has a big impact on their coats. Elka's coat looks beautiful and super shiny.

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    1. I think I'd heard of them before, but only in a secondary way. I was glad to try out the products, and Elka really digs them!

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    1. I know, right? We joke sometimes that we polish her to get that sheen.

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  4. I've started adding oil to kibbles as the doggies get older. I haven't settled on one yet, but I will take your recommendation because of Elke's shiny head.

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    1. Yes, we've been pleased with the Sardine Oil! In the past, the olive oil has just been simplest, really, since I already use it for our food needs.

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  5. She does look so nice and shiny! I've been curious about sardine oil, so I appreciate the review. I may have to try it with the boys now!

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  6. That is a great honest review! I give Freddie wild salmon oil to help with his hips and knees so of course Gloria gets it too and I do notice there coats seem very shiny.

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    1. Shiny dogs are happy dogs! ("shiny" always reminds me of Firefly as well)

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  7. We have never heard of sardine oil

    Stop on by for a visit
    Kari
    http://dogisgodinreverse.com

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    1. I never did either, until I entered the giveaway. The wonders of the Internet, right? ;)

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  8. Sardine oil is very interesting! We use Salmon oil, but there was a time when I would have been *much* more comfortable with Sardines, from the allergy perspective.

    Feeding raw is as much about your resources as anything else. I know you guys aren't in a big town, and it is pretty essential that you can get animal organs somewhere. For a dog without allergies, it really isn't hard otherwise. The best website is dogaware.com, but I think she REALLY overcomplicates some things.

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    1. I think I've heard of dogaware, but not actively pursued reading there, just seen it linked. I do know that at least 2 of our grocery stores have liver, so far as organ meats go. It seems like there's a butcher around here as well that I just haven't gotten to yet. So, the resources are there...I'm just lazy!

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    2. Fair enough. If Silas could eat kibble, I'd probably still be feeding it. Not that we haven't noticed some great things about feeding raw, but it does take a little brain space.

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  9. That stuff on fat as the 4th ingredient increasing bloat is old research. In fact it wasn't research per se. What they did was question people whose dogs had bloated and extrapolated. Pretty useless imo. I don't think you need to worry about that.

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