How to Choose the Best Kibble for your Dog | Just Right by Purina
This post was sponsored by Just Right by Purina. All opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that support Hey There, Chelsie.
It is no secret to the world (or to you all): my dogs are my everything. Yes, I am a crazy dog lady. Yes, I often refer to my dogs as my furbabies. #sorrynotsorry. There is no way I can adequately describe how much I love those two fuzzy bums. Even though they dig holes in my yard, and have chewed up my college diploma, and continuously punch me in the face with their paws when they want pets, they bring so much joy and love and happiness into our home. They keep us safe, they keep us laughing, and they have completely changed our lives. I honestly believe that bringing Rosie and Teddy into our family has helped me find a deeper sense of purpose and a stronger motivation to live a vibrant life. My dogs always think I’m the best. They always love me, unconditionally. I want to be the kind of human being that deserves that kind of love.
Keeping Roo and Ted safe and healthy and happy always has been and always will be my number one goal and priority. So, I’m super SUPER stoked to announce that Hey There, Chelsie is partnering with Just Right by Purina this year, a brand that firmly believes and supports keeping dogs healthy, active, and tailoring their kibble to their unique nutritional needs.
Guys. You know I am so, so picky about what food I feed my dogs. When we first brought Rosie home FOUR years ago (we just celebrated her gotchya day earlier this month) we had no clue what we were doing. I cried every day for two weeks, thinking we had made a huge mistake. Puppies are hard work. We were totally oblivious to what products to buy for her (beyond a leash and collar) or how to crate train her or how to housebreak her. We were just as oblivious to what kind of food to put her on. We just went to Walmart and bought the cheapest puppy kibble out there and fed her HEAPS of it.
Spoiler alert – house training a puppy on poor quality kibble is not easy. Poor girl got the runs within days and was having the hardest time holding it in while we were at school or work. I totally lost count of how many times we had to clean out her kennel. We consulted with our vet at Rosie’s first visit for her shots and he gently explained the difference in dog food ingredients and quality and how to choose the best kibble for our girl. We left armed with SO much information and ever since that day, I have been extremely anal about what food goes into my dogs’ bellies.
So, when Just Right by Purina reached out to me a few months ago, I spent a week doing as much research as I could. Switching kibble brands is not something you can do lightly – especially when you have dogs who have been on the same kind of kibble for two years. And I was ASTONISHED to find such an incredible kibble philosophy – because that’s honestly not something you see often from big pet-name brands.
One of the first things I do when deciding if dog kibble is good enough for my dogs is to look at the ingredients. Sounds super obvious, right? But be honest – have you ever looked at what goes into dog kibble? The first ingredient on the back of the dog food we first gave Rosie was “animal by-product meal.” DO YOU KNOW WHAT ANIMAL BY-PRODUCT IS? Here’s a definition for you: Poultry by-product meal is made by grinding clean, rendered parts of poultry carcasses and can contain bones, undeveloped eggs, but only contains feathers that are unavoidable in the processing of the poultry parts.”
Yeah. You read the right. The first ingredient in Rosie’s puppy kibble was GROUND UP CHICKEN BONES AND FEATHERS! How on EARTH was she going to grow big and strong and have a beautiful shiny coat when eating GROUND UP CHICKEN BONES AND FEATHERS?!
Ugh. It still makes me sick to my stomach.
So I was so relieved to read that Just Right by Purina believes in 100% natural ingredients with vitamins and minerals and NO BY-PRODUCTS (or artificial flavors or colors or preservatives.) Just real, simple ingredients – with lamb, chicken, or beef being the FIRST ingredient in every kibble. Real ingredients for real dogs. In my humble opinion, that’s the only kind of kibble to feed them!
But, that’s not what sold me on switching to Just Right by Purina. It was their ability (and commitment) to make personalized blends of kibble, tailored to each of my dogs’ needs.
Rosie and Teddy are two entirely different dogs in two entirely different stages of life. Rosie is 4 years old, and a grumpy grandma at heart. She loves to sleep, sulk, and sit on her throne. Teddy is one. He’s goofy, he’s busy, and he is ALWAYS on the go. They compliment each other perfectly, are the best of friends, but are completely and entirely different. Before we switched to Just Right by Purina, Ted and Roo were on the same brand of puppy kibble. That wasn’t something Dustin and I gave much thought to, but we’re now realizing how important it is to have them on food that is more appropriate for them in their different stages of life. They are on their own personalized formulas from Just Right by Purina – because they are different dogs who have different needs!
But seriously, HOW COOL IS THAT? And crafting their personalized blends with Just Right by Purina was a lot of fun (and super, super simple.) Here’s how it works:
- Go to Just Right by Purina’s website and right in your dog’s name and click “let’s get started.”
- You’ll be guided through a series of questions that help Just Right by Purina personalize your dog’s food. What is your dog’s body condition? Is she over or underweight? Is your dog energetic or lazy? Is your dog’s coat dry or shiny? Is your dog’s poop soft or solid (legit information to take into consideration.) What about her joints? Do they hurt? These are all things that Just Right by Purina takes into consideration when creating a personalized kibble blend for your dog. How many calories does she need? Does she need extra minerals to support sore joints? This questionnaire helps JRBP narrow in on exactly what your dog needs (or doesn’t need) in a kibble.
- You then get to choose your protein base. Does your pup prefer salmon, chicken or beef? Rosie actually HATES Salmon kibble, so she got chicken. We decided to give Salmon a try for Teddy’s blend to see how he felt about it (and he loves it. Then again, I’ve never seen a kibble that dog didn’t like.)
- Just Right by Purina also gives you the option to adjust the kibble blend based on dietary restrictions. Rosie, for example, needs to be on a grain-free diet because she has some allergies to certain grain blends. So, JRBP allowed me to choose a grain-free option (another way they go above and beyond to create a blend of kibble for my unique dogs.)
- After you finalize your blend, you can choose how big of an order you want. This is also super awesome because you can get a 21 day supply to see how your dog feels about it, and you can go back and make tweaks to the blend before ordering a bigger supply.
When our dog food showed up a couple weeks ago, I thought Rosie was going to lose her mind. She guarded that box all afternoon (until Dustin came home to help use open it) and wouldn’t even let Teddy near it without growling at him. She was that excited about her new kibble. When we did open the box, she proceeded to OPEN THE BAG WITH HER MOUTH! She chewed it right open while we were taking pictures! I couldn’t believe it – she’s literally NEVER been that excited about dog food. She’s actually a super picky eater and usually knocks her bowl over when her kibble disappoints her and leaves it ALL OVER the floor for me to clean up when I come home from work. Teddy was equally excited and proceeded to carry his bag to the door and spoon it.
Anyway, I just want to point out how incredibly impressed I was with Just Right by Purina. Not only did I have a great experience creating personalized blends for my dogs, but the food came super fast and the packaging EXCEEDED my expectations. I MEAN LOOK AT IT! Rosie and Teddy have their FACES on their DOG FOOD! My dogs are MODELS! But really, I thought that was such an incredible touch of detail that made me truly feel like MY dogs were important to a big company like Just Right by Purina. On the back of each bag, they printed a label that breaks down exactly what is in the kibble blend and WHY they choose that for my dog, because “there’s no other dog like Rosie!”
SLAY ME. SO CUTE. AND SO TRUE. There really isn’t any other dog like Teddy or Rosie and I am so glad they are mine. We’ve spent the last three weeks transitioning them over from their old kibble to the new Just Right by Purina personalized blends and we haven’t had any upset tummies or turned up noses. In fact, Rosie’s skin allergies have improved drastically since switching over to the grain-free kibble and that’s been a huge relief for this fur mama.
I would never, ever recommend a dog product that I didn’t personally use on my dogs, so I hope everyone knows that I genuinely feel like Just Right by Purina is a kibble brand that every dog owner should look into and consider switching to for their furbabies. If you feel like Just Right by Purina would be beneficial for your dog, then please feel free to use the code “JRBPI350” for 50% off your first bag of kibble (not an affiliate code, just a save you money code.) Offer valid for 50% off (up to $34.48) one (1) order of Just Right® by Purina® dog food through 12/31/18. Valid on JustRightPetFood.com only. For full terms, visit www.purina.com/terms-and-
Okay, now that I’m done raving about how amazing Just Right by Purina is, I’d love to hear about your furbabies below. Tell me the name, breed, and age!
And check out my other posts with Purina if you want to see how our journey with them has been:
