Red Moon Pet Food - review

[mezmerelda]

I posted this on my blog the other day - decided to post it here w/o editing.



While trolling around on the Swissy forum last month, I heard of a new(ish) company out there (well, new to me) that manufactured and shipped custom pet foods. I contacted the company, Red Moon Custom Pet Food, about getting a trial for our three dogs. I received a prompt reply from someone who was happy to help out. Go figure – she was a Swissy person that I met two months prior at the National event in May. Now I was even more interested in getting my hands on some of this food.


Navigating through the site is pretty simple. You pick your pet type (dog or cat), and it has a process that you follow to pick your base formula, then add-ins. You have six options for your base:


High Protein: Lamb and Potato Fusion or Chicken and Yellow Pea Medley
Moderate Protein: Lamb and Potato Fusion or Chicken and Yellow Pea Medley
Low Protein: Lamb and Potato Fusion or Chicken and Potato Medley


All options are grain, soy and gluten free. You basically need to determine what formula is right for your dog given their breed, age and activity level. As you mouse over the options on page, it gives you assistance. For example – I chose the low protein chicken option because I have a Swissy puppy. If I was unsure, they can provide me assistance, but the mouse over told me this:

Low protein chicken and potato medley is formulated to be ideal for large and giant breed dogs and puppies, or for any dog that has a low activity level. The formula contains no grain, no gluten, no corn, no wheat, no rice and no soy.

After I determined the correct base formula, I chose an energy level. There were three options, and I actually did two separate bags and used two of the three options. You can pick Senior or Weight Management, Normal Activity and Weight, or High Energy or Puppy.


Next, you pick your bag size, and it also gives you a base price. Don’t be freaked out by these prices – it’s a premium food (meaning you won’t be feeding as much as you would with Iams or Science Diet), and the shipping is free. (Or at least it was at the time of this review.)



After the bag size is picked, you have the option to add in up to six supplements – two are free. I picked Digest-Aid and High Gloss Skin and Coat Makeover. You can also chose Antioxidant Immune Booster, Perfect Pant Oral Health Support, Spring Step Joint Reviver, or Spring Step Joint Reviver Plus.
Next you finalize your order, and you can save your custom food formula with a name that gets printed on the bag.


I ordered on a Tuesday and had my bags on a Thursday. I was amazed! I opened the bags up immediately and let all three dogs try a small amount. The smell of the food was fantastic – even grouchy Beowulf was super interested. I’m not exaggerating when I say that they were all clawing at my hand to get a taste of the food. They really, really wanted it. I let each of them try a little, and we used it mixed in with treats for a few days since we were traveling and didn’t want to do a food change out of town…


The following Monday, we started feeding them all the Red Moon food for one meal per day. Again, they were very, very excited about the food. I don’t think it was only because it was a different food – it was a nice, substantial kibble and it had a very, very good smell. Mister Picky Eater (again, Beowulf) ate his food in record time.



We experienced the same things you would expect during a food change – a little gas and funky poop. Seeing that we didn’t go through a full food trial (I would consider a full trial to be 4 weeks), it’s difficult to tell you whether or not my three would have resolved their issues or not. I have a feeling they would have. I am considering purchasing a full month supply for Beowulf, partially because he was so very enthused about this food. I love to see the old guy interested if food again.


So, initial review is definitely a thumbs up with a possibility of more info to follow. It’s definitely worth a try.



Post review addition - we have decided to do a full food trial with Beowulf since he loved it so much. Not that the others didn't, but it's rare for him to get excited about food, and I want him to be happy in his old age. It could just be that it was different, so he liked it, but I think it was the stronger smell that helped him out. I'm expecting the food by Monday, so I'll let you know how it goes.

[Hounds_N_Leo]

crazy prices...and I wasn't actually able to view HOW much I would need to feed? Is there a place that's listed? Hard to say if it's a good deal or not vs something like TOTW that's $43/30lbs when I don't know how much per feeding a dog say Cleo's size would need....

I will keep looking...

eta:
oh I see it now, 1c less per day...not really worth it to me. That's a big price difference. Well looking now at the TOTW bag, there is no difference in the amt fed for Cleo as an adult. kcals are a bit higher in the Red Moon...the trade isn't there for me to spend $75 on a bag that's slightly smaller, of this. But it's interesting!

[mezmerelda]

Indy, who is about 100lbs, was getting about 4 cups a day. I also think it depends on which specific formula you use. I ordered the old guy/not-very-active formula for Beowulf this time around. I will let you know what is on the bag.

ETA: I requested the info from the rep I am dealing with. I'll provide follow up when I receive it.

[Hounds_N_Leo]

and according to their chart the hounds would get barely a cup a day...THAT would not go over well, I can tell ya. LMAO! I don't doubt it would nourish them...looks like good stuff, or that they'd like it...because they like many things, but I do doubt that it would SATISFY them. Especially if they like it a lot...it might actually be worse than if they didn't.

The free shipping is cool...but I'd guess it's probably built into the price of the food.

[mezmerelda]

There are indeed different guidelines for each food. They would be available on the step 3 page of the creation process.

I agree on the Beagle thing. That would not have gone over well in our house. It's one of the reasons raw worked well for her. Even the smaller portions were satisfying with all the crunch and the time it took for her to eat it.

[Dan Simon]

The "time it took for her to eat it"??? She was like a wood chipper.

[mezmerelda]

Yeah, but she was a less efficient "wood chipper" on raw.

[krb0471]

I ordered both the cat versions in weight management/senior just to see. Also got a small bag of the duck as treats for the dog. Don't think I'd feed it for the dog full time, but for the cats it might work. I liked the supplement choices.