Gently Cooked Lamb & Turkey Grind for Dogs - 9 lb

Lamb, lamb heart, turkey neck, turkey heart, lamb kidney, lamb liver - six ingredients, no synthetic vitamin or mineral premix standing in for what whole-prey ratios already provide. Raw Bistro's Lamb Grind with Turkey is a gently cooked dog food, steam cooked low and slow to an internal temperature of 165F, gentle enough to protect the organ meats' native nutrient content while meeting the food-safety threshold gently-cooked feeding requires.

The lamb is 100% grass-fed and pasture-raised across New Zealand's open range; the free-range Minnesota turkey supplies the neck bone and secondary organ content. Both proteins are raised under Raw Bistro's Never Ever Promise: no factory farming, no feedlots, no antibiotics or added hormones of any kind. Everything is cooked in Raw Bistro's privately owned, NICS-certified organic facility in Cannon Falls, MN - no outsourced co-packing. Each 9 lb box breaks down into two 4.5 lb bags of individually separable 2 oz patties, so portions thaw one meal at a time.

The guaranteed analysis runs a minimum 17% crude protein and 11% crude fat, 0% maximum crude fiber, with 67% maximum moisture - 1,781 kcal/kg, or 101 kcal per 2 oz patty, calculated metabolizable energy. That density comes from organ meat and bone rather than added starches or fillers. With no grain, starch, or plant filler in the ingredient list, this meat-and-organ-only recipe fits naturally into a species-appropriate, paleo-style or prey-model carnivore feeding approach for dogs.

Thaw only what your dog needs for that meal - patties separate easily within each bag, so there's no need to defrost the full 4.5 lb bag at once. Serve straight from the refrigerator or slightly warmed; because the recipe carries no synthetic fortification, it mixes cleanly into a rotation with other gently cooked or raw proteins, making it an easy whole-prey dog food option for a raw-to-cooked transition.

Formulated for dogs, including those transitioning between raw and cooked diets or managing sensitive digestion. Keep frozen until ready to use; once thawed, refrigerate and serve within a few days per the feeding calculator guidance on Raw Bistro's site.

Ingredients: Lamb, Lamb Heart, Turkey Neck, Turkey Heart, Lamb Kidney, and Lamb Liver.

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Common Questions

How does grass-fed lamb actually differ from grain-finished lamb in nutrient terms?
Grass-fed, pasture-raised lamb like the New Zealand lamb in this recipe typically runs a 1:1 to 3:1 omega-6 to omega-3 ratio, compared to 10:1 or higher in grain-finished lamb, because omega-3s come from the chlorophyll in fresh forage rather than grain concentrate. Grass-finishing also raises conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) content by roughly 2 to 5 times, a compound studied for its role in modulating inflammatory response. Pasture rearing further increases fat-soluble vitamin E and beta-carotene levels since animals graze on living plants rather than stored grain rations. None of this is added back synthetically here — it's a function of how the animal was raised, which is why the ingredient panel has no vitamin premix.

What does the USDA 'grass-fed' label actually guarantee, and how is this different?
USDA grass-fed labeling historically required only that the animal's diet be grass and forage after weaning, with no minimum time on pasture and no restriction on feedlot confinement in the animal's final weeks — a loophole that let 'grass-fed' animals still be grain-finished or feedlot-confined before slaughter. Certified Organic and 100% Grass-Fed together close that gap: organic certification prohibits synthetic pesticides, GMO feed, and routine antibiotics, while 100% grass-fed here means pasture forage for the animal's entire life, verified by third-party audit rather than self-attestation. You can verify both claims through the USDA National Organic Program database and the certifying body's public records rather than taking the label at face value. This recipe's lamb meets both standards simultaneously, which is a narrower and more verifiable claim than 'grass-fed' alone.

Does this recipe fit a keto, paleo, or carnivore feeding protocol for dogs?
The guaranteed analysis runs a minimum 17% crude protein and 11% crude fat on an as-fed basis, with 0% maximum crude fiber and no grain, legume, or starch fillers in the ingredient list — a profile consistent with paleo and carnivore-style feeding philosophies that prioritize animal protein and organ meat over plant-based carbohydrate. On a dry matter basis (accounting for the 67% maximum moisture), fat contributes a substantial share of caloric density, which aligns with lower-carbohydrate feeding goals, though this is a whole-prey style recipe rather than a formulated high-fat ketogenic ratio. There's no added fiber or carbohydrate source of any kind, so net carbs are effectively zero from the recipe itself. Owners running strict prey-model or carnivore protocols often use this as a base protein rotation alongside other single-species or dual-species meats.

Can I use this in place of beef or pork in a homemade dog food recipe?
Yes — lamb and turkey both substitute directly for beef or pork by weight in most homemade raw or gently cooked recipes since the protein and fat percentages are comparable (this recipe runs 17% protein, 11% fat versus roughly 17-20% protein and 10-15% fat in typical 80/20 ground beef). Because this recipe already includes lamb heart, lamb kidney, lamb liver, and turkey heart, you don't need to add separate organ meat if you're using it as a full meal base rather than a mix-in. If you're blending it with a bone-in component for calcium, treat it the same as you would raw ground beef — it carries no added bone meal or calcium supplement of its own. No cooking adaptation is needed since it's already gently cooked to 165°F; just thaw and serve or mix directly into your existing recipe.

How can I confirm the grass-fed and organic claims are legitimate?
The Certified Organic designation comes through NICS (a USDA-accredited certifying agent), and the certification number is auditable through the USDA Organic Integrity Database, which lists every certified operation and the scope of their certification. The 100% Grass-Fed and Pasture-Raised claims for the New Zealand lamb are backed by New Zealand's export verification system, which requires documented pasture access records rather than relying on producer self-reporting. The Minnesota turkey is raised free-range under the same Never Ever Promise standard — no antibiotics, no added hormones, no factory confinement — which you can cross-reference against the supplier records Raw Bistro discloses for its Cannon Falls facility. Because the facility itself is organic-certified rather than a shared co-packer, the chain of custody from raw ingredient to finished patty stays within one auditable operation instead of passing through multiple untracked handlers.

Why does this recipe include organ meats instead of a vitamin and mineral premix?
Lamb liver, lamb kidney, lamb heart, and turkey heart naturally supply concentrated iron, zinc, copper, B vitamins, and taurine precursors in the ratios found in whole prey, which is the biological model this recipe is built around rather than reconstructing those nutrients synthetically after the fact. Liver alone is one of the densest natural sources of vitamin A and B12 in any animal tissue, and heart is a primary dietary source of taurine, an amino acid tied to cardiac health in dogs. Using whole organ tissue also means those nutrients arrive bound to their natural cofactors and in a form the body has evolved to process, rather than as isolated synthetic compounds. This is why the ingredient list stops at six items — the organ-to-muscle-meat ratio is doing the nutritional work a premix would otherwise be added to accomplish.

How does the fat and protein content compare to a typical commercial ground meat blend?
At 17% minimum protein and 11% minimum fat with 67% maximum moisture, this recipe sits close to standard 85/15 ground meat blends on a wet-weight basis, though direct comparison depends on the moisture content of whatever you're benchmarking against. Many conventional commercial raw or cooked blends pad volume with added water, plant fiber, or carbohydrate binders to hit a target fat percentage cheaply, whereas this recipe's fat and protein come entirely from the six named animal-tissue ingredients with zero added fiber. The caloric density works out to 1,781 kcal/kg, or 101 kcal per 2 oz patty, which lets you calculate portion sizes precisely against your dog's daily caloric target without guessing at filler dilution. If you're comparing macros across brands, always check whether the guaranteed analysis is stated on an as-fed or dry-matter basis, since moisture content skews the numbers substantially.