Northwest Naturals Dog Food

Every batch of Northwest Naturals raw dog food have a minimum of 6% fresh ground bone added.  Fresh ground bone is a great source of natural calcium for your pet’s health. Most manufacturers do not use fresh ground bones because bones are hard to grind.  Instead they use powders of calcium and phosphorus.

Please contact us for availability and pricing!

How hard are bones to grind?  Very hard.  We tested several different pieces of equipment with motors of up to 150 HP to try to break bones down prior to grinding.  Smoke, steam, and loud noises is about all they would produce.  Major grinding equipment companies will not warranty their equipment for bone grinding operations. What does Northwest Naturals™ use now? We use all steel heavy duty frozen block meat grinders turning at very slow rpms to break bones down into even smaller pieces.  Our procedure for grinding bones is: The 1st machine will break the bones into pieces about 2-3″ in size.  The 2nd machine breaks the bones into 1/2 -1″ pieces.  The final machine grinds the bones through a stainless steel plate with holes that are an 1/8″ diameter.  Soft cartilage tissue that is attached to hard bones can squeeze and flex through a 1/8″ hole and then expand to slightly larger than 1/8″.  Fresh ground bone pieces at 1/8″ or less are easily digestible for your pet’s natural nutritional health.

Why does Northwest Naturals™ use fresh ground bone?  Because it is the only correct way to give your pet natural and balanced calcium in their diet.

Why do so many other manufacturers not use fresh ground bones?  Because bones are very hard to grind – because the equipment for bone grinding is very expensive -and because adding a synthetic powder is easier and cheaper.