Anybody ever hear of it?? Or use it??

C'mon, Adam.

http://www.urbancarnivore.com

It appears to be various ground-up-and-frozen stuff.

In the context of proper raw feeding, there would seem nothing particluarly good or bad about that. Convenient and needlessly expensive, perhaps.

Of course, we're back to the same old problem of not really being able to identify exactly what's in it.

It appears from the site that the food is available only in Canada...no retailers in the U.S.

Bravo and Nature's Variety are good products and readily available here.

I agree with Steven... even if you have money to throw around for those pre-made raw patties, how do you know that you're getting what it says on the label?

For all you know the ground buffalo is really beef and the ground rabbit is roadkill groundhogs

I know a couple of people (in Canada, yes) who feed Urban Carnivore to their dogs and cats and who have good results with it. I've also heard good reports about their supplements (I read about the slippery elm - whatever that is - being used to successfully treat some mild digestive upsets on some raw feeding Yahoo groups that I belong to).

Of course feeding ground up mush robs the dog of all the fun of chewing, ripping and tearing... You lose a lot of the teeth-cleaning benefits as well by going the mush route

I posted something about this on another thread, but it seems related here as well.

I think that patties are a fine way to ease into raw feeding from kibble. My GSD was fed half patties and half Innova since whelping and so I had no way to compare anything with him...He's been shiny and full of energy and vitality since day one.

My Corgi on the other hand, has been fed kibble his whole life and had medical issues until I started to feed him the patties that the GSD was on.

The results, just from the patties alone...were spectacular, and really showed me what raw can do. Those results made me really begin to research raw and doing it myself so I could eliminate the patties.

I look at it as a compromise between people who want better for their dogs than kibble, but don't have the confidence in providing proper nutrition for their dog...yet. Many people are comforted by the fact that some of these patties have passed AAFCO feeding trials.

Whether the feeding trials is relevant or not is beside the point; the point is that it gets people to try raw. Baby steps. Then, like me, they have the courage to try the homemade raw diet.

I think that some people who have been doing raw for a long time don't understand people's concern about switching their dogs to raw. We've had vets yap-yapping at us for years about what a horrible idea that is, and it takes time to undo the brainwashing.

With patties, people can then feel confident in the nutrition levels and also see some great results. That's a good way to bring them around to doing it themselves, IMO, and getting even more benifits...like the better dental health and so on. With good quality patties, they are at least eliminating grains...good starting point.

As for knowing for sure what's in the patties, everyone has to do their own research on what they feed their dogs--be it kibble, patties or a meat source...or even what they themselves are eating for dinner. Very few people are going to ask for verification that what is printed on the label is true.

Usually, the only time companies are checked for truth in advertising is if someone brings a complaint. And even if something passes an AAFCO feeding trial at the time of the testing, it doesn't mean that anyone will be the wiser if a few batches aren't formulated exactly the same way. At some point, you have to trust the source you have researched to the best of your ability.

Even in "human grade ingredients" the checks that are done aren't done regularly. Think of the E.coli outbreak with the spinach or the peanut butter. Think of the tainted meat in beef that happens every now and again. They didn't catch any of these things during an inspection...they were discovered because of what happened AFTER it reached the customer.

In an ideal world, we'd all have the money or access to food that we've raised ourselves or from places we know personally. But until that happens, I think it's it's good that people are willing to take the first step into raw through patties from a reputable company if they don't have the confidence to do it themselves yet.

By the way, this wasn't a specific rant to anyone on this thread...I just don't want the OP to get too discouraged. It's good that he's checking it out and it's good that he's opting for a kibble-free life for his dog(s).