Don’t be fooled by excellent reviews of Crave from American pet food review websites – they have a completely different product. Sadly our Australian version, branded the same, isn’t quite as good. Let’s take a look at the Chicken & Salmon formula for the purposes of our crave dog food review…
What the marketing says
Mars Petcare, makers of Crave dog food, state it’s “High Protein”, inspired by a dog’s natural diet. They also state “Real Meat” is the first ingredient, although I’m wondering what meat would be if it wasn’t real? Fake meat?
What the labelling really says
Meat is the first ingredient but it’s a very ambiguous mix of meat from various kinds of poultry, and fish from various kinds of fish. It includes chicken and salmon, but this will likely be minimal. Usually ambiguous ingredients conceal the fact they’re using the cheapest possible source.
It’s possible the vegetables & vegetable extracts as the second ingredient is a similar proportion to the meat. This too is ambiguous, so we have no idea if this is a nutritious inclusion or (more) likely a combination of cheap scraps unusable for human food production.
Crave dog food certainly is high-protein and high-fat, with a respectably low carbohydrate percentage listed as 35%. There appears to be a decent amount of meat in the product, although we must assume some of the protein is comprised of ambiguous vegetables.
The ingredients scream “budget”, all being ambiguous – ask yourself what they could possibly mean by “natural flavours”. It’s worrying to see ambiguous “antioxidants” listed on a label, which I believe in this case are the carcinogenic chemicals BHA/BHT. These have been tested on rats, causing liver, thyroid, and kidney problems, and allergies to boot.
Vitamins and minerals are not very descriptive and added as a pack (powder form). They’re possibly sourced from China (as the cheapest option).
Crave Dog Food Review: Summary
Meat may be the first ingredient, and it may be grain free, but it’s hard to find anything positive about this product. It has to be said the protein and fat is very respectable, but it’s not something I would feed my dog. Would you?
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Ingredients
Meat from Poultry (including Chicken) & Fish (including Salmon); Vegetables and Vegetable Extracts; Chicken Fat; Natural Flavours (made with real Chicken); Beet Pulp; Vitamins and Minerals; Antioxidants; Vegetable Oil.
Guaranteed Analysis
| Protein | (min) 36% |
| Fat | (min) 17% |
| Crude Fibre | (max) 3.5% |
| Carbohydrates * | (max) 35% (listed on label) |
Crave Dog Food FAQ
Who is Crave dog food made by?
Crave dog and cat food is a product of Mars Petcare. The Australian formula differs from the version retailed in America.
Where is Crave dog food made?
The Australian Crave formulas are manufactured in Australia by Mars Petcare.
Where can I buy Crave dog food?
Crave dog food is available in Australia from Woolworths.
Thank you for this review. It confirms what I suspected of it being a poor product, dressed up to be something much better than it really is.
My dogs, Border Collies and other smaller breeds, have been eating Crave biscuits for some time now and they all lap it up and seem very comfortable and satisfied afterwards.
They have never tried the Crave tin foods because I just don’t think the flavours, ‘pate’ types are appealing to them.
This review only gets three stars based on what I’ve just read about this product, that many of the ingredients are really ‘ ambiguous’ and that Crave is a speciality for Woolworths whom I have lost a huge amount of respect for. Not really a company who can be trusted.
Petstock now stocks Crave, that’s not something I thought I’d ever see honestly, like thought it might be exclusive to Woolies, guess I was wrong.
This is an appallingly disingenuous (“ambiguous”) review with absolutely no facts actually used to support the writer’s claims. Words such as ‘possible/possibly’, ‘usually’, ‘I believe’, ‘I assume’ ALL indicate that this review is wholly I simply based on NOTHIBG more than the writer’s own biased opinion.
How about actually backing it up with some FACTUAL independent ANALYSIS???
Nah – the writer’s obvious motto is “why let facts get in the way of a good story?”
My dog loves Crave & there is nothing in the above review which will stop me from buying it. Take your uninformed OPINION to some other “influencer” site where u can appeal to the gullibles u “crave” to be liked by.
How can they take their opinion to another “influencers site”? You are on this person’s site. You have chosen to come here.
I personally am very grateful for this website and for a qualified not ‘uninformed’ opinion. Thank you for all of the reviews that you do for free and to help educate us pet owners.
By the sounds of it you simply don’t want to consider you may be wrong, or the food you’re feeding your dog might not be the best, but the information I’ve given you is free, and the decision is yours.
My dogs ended up with colitis and were passing blood and mucous in their stools after feeding them two bags of Crave. I will never feed this to them again.
I gave my elderly Kelpie Emily one can of Crave tonight and she lied down and vomited it up I am so upset. I will stick to her useally brand of food I wish I hadn’t given it to her as she is a little listless