#ChewyInfluencer Thirty Day Challenge - In Summation

What's this?

"Dogs are carnivores and we believe they deserve to thrive on real minimally-processed food – the way nature intended. Because the closer foods stay to their natural state, the better they are. It’s what your dog would eat in the wild, only better, because all Stella & Chewy’s dinners are specifically formulated for your dog’s nutritional needs and made with premium ingredients you can count on."

Stella and Chewy's

When Chewy.com contacted me about doing a THIRTY DAY challenge, I said SURE. I love trying new things - especially if that NEW THING is a food. Plus, according to Mommy, this allows us to try elite foods that may not fit into our budget so well.

This month's challenge was to TRY and report back on Stella and Chewy's Chewy's Chicken Dinner Patties. This is part of their RAW line of foods which are FREEZE-DRIED rather than fresh. This food provides a PUG or other DOG all of the benefits of a raw diet but in a more convenient way to store it AND with a longer shelf life. This is a pretty important feature for today's BUSY families.

For me, the challenge is NOT to get me to eat the stuff. It is for Molly, though, as she is infinitely more picky-at-the-plate than I am. BUT I have tried the freeze-dried foods before and frankly I was NOT too thrilled with it. I always ended up licking the bowl and asking . . . no BEGGING for more as I was not sufficiently full. Well, I am happy to report that Stella and Chewy's Chicken Dinner Patties not only satisfied me once that bowl was LICKED completely clean, but it turned Molly into a rabid beggar. It is the whole truth and nothing but. . . Molly was insufferable. She would whine before the food was portioned out (DONE via individual patties)! She would dance around and YIP while the food was being reconstituted. She would run around barking while Mommy put the dishes down. And finally, she would stand and eat every last bite which she never does with other food (which causes me to LAND SHARK her plate and get in trouble). So for the taste side it is a WIN! On the heating the water- reconstituting the food- and the fact the patties crumbled in the bag forcing Mommy to determine how much a patty equals in patty-dust - NOT SO MUCH. It takes a long time to feed us at mealtime and sometimes she does not have that time. But she refrains from calling that a fail when it could be chalked up to her disorganized self.

But I think one of the MOST important determinations when trying a new food is whether or not the PET thrives on the food. What does it improve on our already PERFECT bodies? Inside and out, maybe. And this is what I want to discuss now. Stella and Chewy make some claims and I am going to discuss them one-by-one. DON'T LOG OFF! IT WON'T BE BORING, I PROMISE!

1. Improved appetite and digestion

I can honestly say this is true. As noted above, Molly became a food demon when the S&C bag was brought out. I have never in the 3+ years since Molly joined the family seen her acting like this about any food. She went KOOKOO for COCOPUFFS. As for digestion, it went down like it was supposed to and came out when it was supposed to so I call that a YEAH MAN!

1. Relief from certain allergies

Interesting note - I have been suffering from excessively waxy and occasionally smelly ears almost from day one. This has been true despite Mommy cleaning my orafices on a CONSTANT basis! But a couple of weeks ago Mommy could not perform her every-other-day ritual of cleaning on me and she was so worried I would develop some kind of infection. Well, when she finally settled down to do some hardcore ear cleaning, she found UNWAXY and CLEAN SMELLING ears. She asked everyone in the house if they had cleaned my heretofore mentioned things and they all said NO! Could the smelly ears and snout been from food allergies? I am not saying YES or NO but I think the evidence is pretty compelling. And this was not true before S&C.

1. A vibrant skin and coat

Hard to quantify since I already possess skin and coat of remarkable softness and luster. I have received a few more comments and compliments that usual, though, so it is possible that my ALREADY A-quality coat and skin is now an A+.

1. Healthy teeth and gums

Okay - we fail here. Where my skin and coat are great, my teeth SUCK. Molly's are worse and she just had more pulled. I don't think this has anything to do with the food just as it has nothing to do with brushing (yes, we suffer from that TOO). It is just a thing with us. SO I really cannot comment on this claim other than to say the food DID NOT make it any worse.

1. Greater stamina and vitality

I'm a pretty active PUG. Yes, I will sleep a lot at my Mommy's feet while she is working. . . but when I do go outside I am what my Grandma DeAnna used to call BUSY. I go here, I go there, I check out this, I check out that, I do not stop. . . kinda like this sentence. But I admit I FEEL GOOD and Molly says she almost feels like a puppy again. Could be the food.

1. A healthy immune system

I am NOT a dogter so I cannot be 100% sure of this. But I am not sick. Nor is Molly. And like I said about the ears. . . I think that might be an indicator of improved immune system as well.

All in all, I think Stella & Chewy's Chewy's Chicken Dinner Patties absolutely lives up to the claims of a good quality food which in turn greatly benefits those who eat it. And it is yummy. Even Sunshine the Cat enjoyed it on occasion. Since it is high protein and has no fillers, it is good for cats too. She had it as a topper, though, and not a full meal.

We want to thank Chewy.com for giving us the opportunity to try this food and let them and YOU know how we did on it. We are not paid for any of the opinions we express in this post. Or on any other post on this blog. All Opinions are PROUDLY ours, We did get free of charge enough Stella & Chewy's Chicken Dinner Patties to last 30 days so we could write this song. . .uh . . . review for you.

Then end of the story