ESSENTIAL FOODS Essential Foods Dog Food Nautical Living 12 : A big bag of quality dog food

Have had my dog on this for several weeks now. We have previously fed him burns dried dog food, which we have always got on very well with, so this food had a lot to live up to. It smells very fishy, so i was a bit worried it might have a detrimental affect on my dog’s breath, but he smells no sweeter or fouler than previously. His coat has remained in great condition, his weight has maintained, and he has bags of energy. He is perhaps a little windy – but i couldn’t swear that is anything to do with the food, as he’s quite often like thatit is supposed to prevent them from woolfing, but i’ve not really noticed much of that (he eats everything in seconds), but if he is happy with it then it gets a thumbs up from us. The only thing i would say is that the kibble is quite large, and i doubt this would be suitable for small dogs with small jaws – the dog needs to be able to chomp a fair bit to eat this.

My golden retriever has expensive tastes in dog food. She is currently on the eukanuba sensitive digestion with dentaguard, and is managing quite happily on that. She has been known to get a poorly tummy from eating certain brands of dog food, so i have to be careful what she eats. Recently we tried her on the essential foods estate living dog food, with great success. She loves the food, and i love the quality of the ingredients used. I feel like i am providing the best for my gorgeous dog. Having seen the quality of the ingredients listed for the nautical living dog food, i decided to let her have a try of this, in the hopes that we might be able to give her even more variety in her diet. Listed in the ingredients are scottish salmon, salisbury rainbow trout, dried herring, and a whole variety of berries and vegetables to mimic the diet a predatory dog would gain from eating an animal, including the contents of its herbivorous stomach. The theory behind this, is that the food is as close as possible to nature and is optimized for your dogs health.

A big bag of quality dog food. The bottom line with all dog or cat foods has to be whether your pet will eat it or not. It can be the most lovingly crafted food available but if a picky pet won’t eat it, you have a problem and the neighbours will end up giving it to their less fussy animal. This food, developed by essential living, comes in a sack. If you just own a jack russell or other single animal you may want to reconsider the size you are buying as this is quite a hefty bag of food. It ideally needs a lidded container to pour it into as it’s quite a lot of food and does have a slightly fishy aroma. I would suggest it’s going to be suited to someone who owns a larger dog or a few animals. I ended up splitting the bag between a couple of animals, and so far both have found it palatable. So that’s the biggest problem overcome. She’s taken to it, having it at first mixed with a little wet food then trying it on its own. The other one is the typical bolt-your-food-quick staffie and he’s obviously not the problem animal of the two. Both eat the stuff, and neither seem the worse for wear. No change in their bowel habits so certainly no irritated or upset digestion. When buying this kind of food, which is obviously more expensive than your typical dog kibble or cans of labelled fat masquerading as value pet food, there has to be a unique selling point or two.

Key specs for Essential Foods Dog Food Nautical Living 12.5 kg:

• A truely unique grain free adult food for all dog above 5kg
• 40% FRESH wild salmon, hand- netted trout, herring & fish of the season!
• The INSTANT solution for all COAT problems and for most SKIN related problems!
• INSTANT solution for owners with finicky dogs.
• Made according to the BOF principle – ensuring stable blood sugar levels for your adult dog through out the day

Comments from buyers

“Our rescue dog went from shelter food to this without , It’s a great fishy food for dogs :), A good choice if you can afford it – high quality ingredients”

A five paw score in our house. . It is difficult to know how to review this kind of thing. The dogs aren’t able to give me their thoughts in detail. :)there are two of them and one of them can be fussy when presented with new food. They both went about this with enthusiasm though and always finish the lot. It looks to have all the right nutrients and they are thriving on it. From my point of view, the only thing i can say is that it smells quite fishy, but i don’t expect dog chow to be fragrant. Very nutritious, convenient to store food that the dogs love to eat.

My dog is very active and we walk over 1000 miles a year so the idea of having a food that sustains his blood sugar is quite appealing as some walks he is dragging behind and on other times we get home and he is tearing around the garden like we haven’t been out for a walk in a month. I can’t say i have seen a difference in this behaviour, but i put some of this down to his unusual eating habits and that our walks are not consistent (different time of day and lengths). Regardless of the food i use, he will have days of grazing and nibbling and then days of wolfing the food down and asking for more. I am sure that this is not what the makers of this food anticipated. My dogs unusual peaks and troughs of energy aside. He has taken quite well to this food, i have been trying different ones this year with varying results, but this one seems to have been a hit from the start. His eating habits haven’t changed and neither has his appetite, so that was pleasing for me. The pieces are a good button size so he has to crunch them up which is supposed to be good for his teeth. The smell is very fishy, but not unpleasant and the ingredients are a good mix of fish and vegetables.

A good choice if you can afford it – high quality ingredients. Essential foods base their recipes on their principle of behavioural optimising foods – bof. The idea is to avoid the peak of blood glucose an hour after feeding and instead keep levels more even. This should result in a more stable level of energy throughout the day which is particularly helpful for a working dog. The food has a high level of fresh meat – in this case seafood – eggs – and a list of healthy ingredients as long as your arm. On their website they say there is nothing remotely comparable to the quality of essential food at the same price, which is a little hard to measure. It looks unremarkable and has a shelf life of one year. The smell is palatable, but i’m not the one who’s eating it. What you can say is that there are cheaper ways of feeding your dog. If your dog is used to 33p tins of dog food from aldi then you’ll know what i mean.

One Comment

1. AUTHORVerified Purchase

   on December 22, 2017 at 6:07 am -

   

   This review is from : Essential Foods Dog Food Nautical Living 12.5 kg

   Our rescue dog went from shelter food to this without. Our rescue dog went from shelter food to this without any problems, and he loves it. His coat got very shiny and he had slightly flaky skin when he arrived which stopped afterabout 4 days of feeding this. Will definitely try the other variations from this series.

2. AUTHORVerified Purchase

   on December 23, 2017 at 3:04 pm -

   

   This review is from : Essential Foods Dog Food Nautical Living 12.5 kg

   Our rescue dog went from shelter food to this without. Our rescue dog went from shelter food to this without any problems, and he loves it. His coat got very shiny and he had slightly flaky skin when he arrived which stopped afterabout 4 days of feeding this. Will definitely try the other variations from this series.

   • AUTHORWhat's this?

     on December 24, 2017 at 8:15 pm -

     

     It’s impossible to review a dog food well in such a short space of time. First impressions are the best i can do, though they can be misleading. I have a black field cocker spaniel, nearly 7 years old. She has a beautiful glossy coat. I have been feeding her hills science plan for most of her life and she seems to thrive on it. She will, of course, eat almost scything, and she took to this new stuff like elvis to a hamburger. At present we are half way through the bag. As other reviews have said, the bag should be resealable.

     • AUTHORWhat's this?

       on December 26, 2017 at 7:53 am -

       

       It’s impossible to review a dog food well in such a short space of time. First impressions are the best i can do, though they can be misleading. I have a black field cocker spaniel, nearly 7 years old. She has a beautiful glossy coat. I have been feeding her hills science plan for most of her life and she seems to thrive on it. She will, of course, eat almost scything, and she took to this new stuff like elvis to a hamburger. At present we are half way through the bag. As other reviews have said, the bag should be resealable.

3. AUTHORWhat's this?

   on December 28, 2017 at 3:47 pm -

   

   Fido (some names have been changed) actually enjoyed this food. Fido (some names have been changed) actually enjoyed this food, polishing it all off without a second sniff. It does smell quite strongly fishy so you need to keep it closed. The bag is strong plastic and wont tear or fall apart which is just as well as this food is upwards of £50 for the 12. The manufacturers claim that the high level of omega oils make for better skinand coat. I cant comment yet on that but will keep an eye for any improvement and update in future.

   • AUTHORWhat's this?

     on December 29, 2017 at 4:00 pm -

     

     Fido (some names have been changed) actually enjoyed this food. Fido (some names have been changed) actually enjoyed this food, polishing it all off without a second sniff. It does smell quite strongly fishy so you need to keep it closed. The bag is strong plastic and wont tear or fall apart which is just as well as this food is upwards of £50 for the 12. The manufacturers claim that the high level of omega oils make for better skinand coat. I cant comment yet on that but will keep an eye for any improvement and update in future.

4. AUTHORWhat's this?

   on December 31, 2017 at 5:24 pm -

   

   This review is from : Essential Foods Dog Food Nautical Living 12.5 kg

   Amazing ingredients, dog loves it. Normally it takes a few days of mixing with her current food, but after a quick sniff – she gobbled it up happily. The kibble is a nice size for my dog, a german shepherd. Its probably the most expensive dog food we’ve ever given her at £55 for 13kg – but it is a very large bag. I really like the ingredients used – sounds like a gourmet mealingredientsfresh salmon and trout, sweet potato, dried herring, peas, dried salmon, fresh whole egg, fresh herring and the season’s fish, salmon oil, linseed, lucerne sprout, salmon stock, potato, pea fibre, vitamins, minerals, mos, fos, glucosamine*, chondroitin*, msm* (*all from natural sources), cranberry, acai, blueberry, mulberry, apple, tomato, orange, pear, carrot, spinach, cauliflower, seaweed, marigold, ginseng, green tea, ginger. Sounds good eh?i have never seen my dog enjoy a dried food as much as this.

5. AUTHORWhat's this?

   on January 1, 2018 at 8:57 am -

   

   This review is from : Essential Foods Dog Food Nautical Living 12.5 kg

   Amazing ingredients, dog loves it. Normally it takes a few days of mixing with her current food, but after a quick sniff – she gobbled it up happily. The kibble is a nice size for my dog, a german shepherd. Its probably the most expensive dog food we’ve ever given her at £55 for 13kg – but it is a very large bag. I really like the ingredients used – sounds like a gourmet mealingredientsfresh salmon and trout, sweet potato, dried herring, peas, dried salmon, fresh whole egg, fresh herring and the season’s fish, salmon oil, linseed, lucerne sprout, salmon stock, potato, pea fibre, vitamins, minerals, mos, fos, glucosamine*, chondroitin*, msm* (*all from natural sources), cranberry, acai, blueberry, mulberry, apple, tomato, orange, pear, carrot, spinach, cauliflower, seaweed, marigold, ginseng, green tea, ginger. Sounds good eh?i have never seen my dog enjoy a dried food as much as this.

6. AUTHORWhat's this?

   on January 2, 2018 at 1:52 am -

   

   This review is from : Essential Foods Dog Food Nautical Living 12.5 kg

   It’s a great fishy food for dogs :). It most definitely smells of fish, so it was initially disappointing such a big bag of dog food was not resealable. However, i did manage to roll the bag down and use some large bulldog clips to secure it. The food itself is about the size of a chunky chocolate button, and appealed to my dog straight away. As i always do when switching food, i mixed this with her current food – straight away i’m pleased to say she picked out these biscuits and happily crunched away. She then promptly fell asleep, hugely satisfied. We’ve seen no change in her digestion, but she is scratching less, and her eyes are lovely and bright. It’s a great quality food, and we’re very happy with it.

   • AUTHORWhat's this?

     on January 4, 2018 at 3:48 am -

     

     It’s a great fishy food for dogs :). It most definitely smells of fish, so it was initially disappointing such a big bag of dog food was not resealable. However, i did manage to roll the bag down and use some large bulldog clips to secure it. The food itself is about the size of a chunky chocolate button, and appealed to my dog straight away. As i always do when switching food, i mixed this with her current food – straight away i’m pleased to say she picked out these biscuits and happily crunched away. She then promptly fell asleep, hugely satisfied. We’ve seen no change in her digestion, but she is scratching less, and her eyes are lovely and bright. It’s a great quality food, and we’re very happy with it.

7. AUTHORAnonymous

   on January 5, 2018 at 6:40 am -

   

   This review is from : Essential Foods Dog Food Nautical Living 12.5 kg

   Finallymy dog is eating and looking great. Some dog owners may have heard or read the tale of the devil and his black cocker spaniels. My male cocker is now 5 years of age. He has tried wet and dry food, he has tried this and that and after 2-3 weeks into his new diet, he just lost his appetite (and we did not switched just like that – nope – we gradually faded out the old food). Our dog is a field trial cocker spaniel so fitness is key for him to keep up during the season. For the same reason we training together – him and i – with weighted backpacks throughout the off season. This is to built bulk and stamina. So a highly quality food choice is important to us. We tried out essential foods – and instant success. We are still on it, our dog is clearing his plate with every meal. His fur is nice and shinny – and he is bulking up. Getting his muscles ready for the season. Just for fun my daughter measured how high he would jump before the switch to essential foods.

   • AUTHORAnonymous

     on January 6, 2018 at 9:38 am -

     

     Finallymy dog is eating and looking great. Some dog owners may have heard or read the tale of the devil and his black cocker spaniels. My male cocker is now 5 years of age. He has tried wet and dry food, he has tried this and that and after 2-3 weeks into his new diet, he just lost his appetite (and we did not switched just like that – nope – we gradually faded out the old food). Our dog is a field trial cocker spaniel so fitness is key for him to keep up during the season. For the same reason we training together – him and i – with weighted backpacks throughout the off season. This is to built bulk and stamina. So a highly quality food choice is important to us. We tried out essential foods – and instant success. We are still on it, our dog is clearing his plate with every meal. His fur is nice and shinny – and he is bulking up. Getting his muscles ready for the season. Just for fun my daughter measured how high he would jump before the switch to essential foods.