Stella and Chewy’s is a company offering an alternative to traditional style foods and treats. Their philosophy revolves around the idea that animals eat raw in the wild and their domestic diets should be as similar to this as possible.
Huge thanks to Stella and Chewy’s for sending us some free samples in exchange for our honest opinion. Links in this article will provide us with a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. That’s how we pay our writers!
About the Company:
Stella and Chewy’s was created by Marie Moody after her dog saw great health benefits on a raw diet. The company promises to deliver food from the freshest, most responsibly sourced ingredients. Of course, your dog will love it and you can trust it.
They offer a wide variety of options: from frozen raw foods, freeze-dried foods, kibbles, treats, meal toppers, and more.
The protein selection is excellent as well, with meats like beef, lamb, salmon, rabbit, chicken, and venison.
About Stella and Chewy’s:
All of Stella and Chewy’s raw recipes contain 90-95% meat, organs, and bones, which all play a very important role in your dog’s diet. These protein, vitamin, and mineral rich sources come from animals that don’t have added hormones or antibiotics.
The fruits and veggies that make up the other necessary parts of your dog’s food come from organic sources in North and South America and are seasonally chosen to provide your dog with the freshest food possible.
Having dabbled in a raw diet for my dog before, I am familiar with the territory and the sometimes messy nature of feeding your dog raw food. Stella and Chewy’s has a great selection of products that are delicious for your dog and user friendly for you.
Their raw food comes in patties or morsels so you can choose the easiest way to serve up mealtime.
Another great option is their gently cooked dog food, which can be great if you aren’t ready to fully jump on the raw bandwagon, or if your dog has pre-existing issues that might prevent them from doing well on a raw diet. The options make it easy for you to find something that will suit both you and your pet.
If you aren’t ready to try frozen raw food at all, there are also wet foods, freeze-dried meal options and raw-coated kibble options, as well as a substantial selection of freeze-dried meal toppers and treats. Truly, there is something to suit every dog and every lifestyle.
The biggest drawback to Stella and Chewy’s is the price. It isn’t cheap to feed your dog a raw food diet, no matter where you get the food, and this is no different. To put it in perspective, it would cost me almost $15/day to feed my 15 lb dog a raw diet.
He is super active and eats a bit more than most dogs that size, but that is still a lot for a little guy. I rarely spend that much money on my own food in a day!
Luckily, if you aren’t able to commit to that kind of spending, Stella and Chewy’s other products, like their line of treats and dinner dust, is a more affordable way to give your dog something special.
Peanut and I tested out the Crav’n Bac’n treat as well as Marie’s Magical Dinner Dust.
First Thoughts on Crav’n Bac’n:
We got a bag with the Soft and Chewy Crav’n Bac’n treats in the Bacon and Beef recipe to test out, as well as the What’s Shak’n Bac’n recipe of the Magical Dinner Dust.
First off, I really love the name! Obviously this isn’t the most important part, but the thing people get to see first is the name and packaging, so marketing becomes important. Dinner dust, what a classic.
We tested out the Crav’n Bac’n treats first. The list of ingredients is pretty similar to things I would put in my homemade treats, with a few extra ingredients like the preservatives citric acid, mixed tocopherols, and natural hickory smoke flavor.
I like when the first five ingredients are all things in my kitchen and that I make for Peanut on a regular basis. They aren’t filler products and provide real nutritional value for my dog.
They are small, which makes them a great quick option or training treat for most dogs. While Peanut is little at 15 lbs., he definitely isn’t the smallest dog out there and I was surprised when at first he had a hard time with the size.
It really took some effort for him to chew. I decided to cut them in half and discovered the problem. The treats, though called soft and chewy, are definitely more on the hard side of the spectrum and were difficult for me to cut in half with scissors. ( I switched to a knife!)
I wouldn’t recommend it at home, but I had my partner bite one in half and he did indeed confirm that they were pretty hard.
While I wouldn’t classify them as a crunchy treat, definitely keep this in mind if your dog has sensitive teeth or a hard time chewing. Big dogs will gobble them up no problem, though.
To compare, my dog’s favorite treat, which is quite soft and easy to rip with my fingers, has a maximum moisture content of 24%, while this treat has a max moisture content of 18%. You wouldn’t think 6% would make such a big difference but it definitely does.
Though initially it was hard for my dog to eat, I cut them in half and he was able to quickly enjoy them, which is ideal for training situations.
It is hard to reward a dog while you are training and then have it take 15 seconds for them to finish chewing!
Since my dog is so picky, I am always curious to see how a treat will fare with him. These bacon and beef treats did pretty well. He ate the first one I offered him, which is pretty rare as he usually spits treats out at first and then comes around to them later.
But if he isn’t hungry he will turn up his nose at these. But then I tested them again on a big hike we did and after a couple miles Peanut was very happy to put a bunch of these treats down.
What We Like:
I like how easy and convenient these treats are, at least for most dogs. While I did end up having to cut them in half for Peanut, which is labor intensive, I gave them to some other dogs and they were a hit!
Their small size is convenient and it is easy to throw a handful in a pouch and know they won’t break apart. For most dogs they are a great size training treat or special snack.
I also appreciate the limited ingredient list and commitment Stella and Chewy has made to using wholesome ingredients. While these treats aren’t considered one of their raw options, they still use quality ingredients, and are free from potatoes and legumes.
Also, the treats are pretty affordable. These Crav’n Bac’n treats, as well as most of their treat line, comes in at about $10 a bag, which is very reasonable and competitive with similar treats.
What We Wish Was Different:
The other treat options in Stella and Chewy’s line offer really high protein snacks but tend to be crunchy or very low in moisture, which equates to a harder treat.
I would love to see a soft and chewy option that has at least 20% crude protein, like the other treats do. The Crav’n Bac’n treat only has a minimum of 8% crude protein. Compared to my dog’s favorite soft treat, which has a minimum of 20% crude protein, this seems rather low.
While I am really glad there are high protein options from Stella and Chewy for treats, I think a truly soft, high protein treat would be great for dogs like mine who have a hard time with large or crunchy treats.
