Tasty Tuesday: Instinct Raw Boost Minis

I was contacted by Chewy.com asking if I would be interested in reviewing some Instinct Raw Boost Minis. These are small freeze dried treats that are made for cats. With a great list of ingredients and a company that I trust, I absolutely said yes.

The treats were delivered quickly. I've previously had some issues with delivery to my house through FedEx, but I ran into the FedEx guy while he was trying to figure out which door to knock on (my house is confusing like that). I talked to him a little bit, showed him which door was mine, and he gave my dogs a treat out of his pocket. But all together, it meant that he remembered having talked to me and found my door no problem this time, making the whole delivery go really smoothly.

I first opened up the bag of treats to try out at home. They are labeled as cat treats, so I decided to try them on both my cats and my dogs.

Both cats ate them. Theodore Trex absolutely loved the treats, though I think they would be a bit large to use for training. He spent some time nomming on each treat, but eagerly came begging for more. Martha is a bit pickier normally, and proved that here too. She liked the treat, and ate it, but was a bit weirded out at first, I think by the texture. She kept picking up the treat, then spitting it out and staring at it. She did end up eating it, and came over and asked for more. The second treat was eaten much faster and with less confusion.

Doing some "leave it" practice. Clue thought her mom was stupid for doing this

The dogs, now, were both totally jealous of the cats. I gave each of them a couple of the treats, which were inhaled quickly enough that I am unsure if they actually tasted them at all. And then I proceeded to be absurdly busy and put off doing any training with the treats to see how motivating they were until yesterday. A friend of mine invited me over to do some training, and I brought the treats.

Pallo was pretty happy to do just about anything I asked in exchange for one of these. I even taught him to retrieve my cell phone using these (you may want a protective case for your phone before trying this, since his tooth cracked the screen).

Clue is looking at her mom- and I am positive she is thinking "Can I just eat them already?!"

My friend's dog Clue kept coming over to me the second her person wasn't working her, and begging for treats. I let her try some of them, and it was amazing how much she would work for just one little taste.

Overall, I really liked these treats. They have a great list of ingredients. They are freeze dried, so you don't have to worry about them rotting in the pocket of your training jacket, but also aren't a hard crunchy treat. I like that a dog basically can just tongue them to pick them up and each them as well. They also don't seem to crumble like many freeze dried treats can, which reduces the overall amount of treat residue coating your pockets. Also, the size of these was great for training. Small enough to be able to feed a few handfuls of them without worrying about it, large enough to be visible to the dog if tossed. Plus, at $7.99 for a package, they are much more affordable than most comparable freeze dried training treats. Clue's mom said she needed to pick some up!

Finally! Nom.

Disclaimer: I was given these treats for free in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, and I was not compensated in any way other than the treats themselves.