Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How do I get my product?

A: When you place your order there will be a list of delivery options: UPS Ground, UPS Second-day air, and Customer Pick Up.

Shipping: Your product can be shipped through UPS Ground and arrive in about 24-72 hours. Your order will be packed with thermal insulation that keeps our product cold for 72 hours, because of this you may need to select UPS Second-day Air in order to have the product arrive within 72 hours. Shipping orders are printed and prepped Sunday and sent out on Monday. Orders that are placed after Thursday must wait for the following week.

Customer Pick Up: Live in the Santa Cruz Area or feel like taking a road trip? Picking up from our location is always an option and it’s always free! Just contact us to make an appointment so we can ensure someone is on site. Pick ups are in Felton CA and appointment times are available Friday & Saturday 2pm-6pm, and Sunday & Monday 8am-12pm. To schedule an appointment please text or call +1(408) 438-0075.

Q: How much should I feed my pet?

A: Use Blue Ridge Beef’s handy feeding calculator here. Be advised the amount it calculates for is the TOTAL approximate amount your pet needs in a day. Divide that number by however many meals you feed per day. Use this number as a starting point. Adjust up or down depending on weight gain or loss.

Q: What makes Blue Ridge Beef special?

A: Blue Ridge Beef is a third generation family business that prides itself on creating raw cat and dog food products that are economical, safe and highly nutritious. After 40 years in production, we think they’re pretty darn good at it. Blue Ridge Beef’s products are fresh and flash frozen, this preserves amino acids and live digestive enzymes essential for healthy pets.

Blue Ridge Beef foods never include:
Artificial ingredients
Gluten, grain or imported materials
Preservatives or additives
Meat and bone meal or organ fillers
Color or taste additives

Q: What is High Pressure Processing (HPP) and how does it work?

A: HPP is a cold water process that applies pressure on our foods that fractures the cell walls of pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella, E. coli 0157:H7, and Listeria Monocytogenes killing them while leaving all nutrients intact.

During this process in which the product is immersed in a pressurized container with water and put under 87,000 psi for a short amount of time. The product never reaches a temperature above 38°F during the process, and after a hold time the product is placed in a blast freezer for freezing.

This process effectively kills all harmful bacteria in the product while leaving proteins and enzymes intact and unchanged so pets receive the same amount of nutrition.

Q: Should You Supplement Your Foods?

A: Depending on what route of raw feeding that you want to take your options are endless in terms of supplements.

We manufacture multiple sole proteins and meat/bone only mixes so that the addition of vitamins, minerals, and other supplements in your pet’s food is completely in your control.

We have also formulated from years of experience and trials our BRB Complete that makes complete and balanced feeding for your dog as simple as unwrapping and feeding.

Q: Why feed raw pet food?

A: Dogs and Cats at the core of their diets are carnivores. Feeding raw muscle meats, organs, and bones offer proteins, fats and enzymes that are more biologically available for your pet to utilize. Leaving these nutrients in their natural and unaltered state is what makes feeding raw beneficial. Cooked bones become brittle and can splinter, puncturing your pet’s internal organs. Feeding raw eliminates that risk although choking is still a potential hazard for dogs who like to eat quickly.

Feeding closer to your companion’s natural diet will release abounding health benefits noticeable in the coat and skin, oral health, and general well-being of your pet. That’s why we like and offer raw products that are ground.

Q: How do I know what to feed?

A: Our “complete” mixes, that is, mixes that contain muscle meat, bone and organ meat, can be fed as is. These products are BRB Complete, Puppy Mix and Kitten Mix. That being said, you are always welcome to add your own vitamins and supplements. All other products are considered to be “supplements” to a raw diet. That can be interpreted in a couple different ways. The first is that your dog is not on a full raw diet. Whether it’s for convenience or you’re still on the fence about raw, some owners feed one raw meal a day and one kibble or cooked meal a day. The second way is the most common. Owners who don’t have the time to source various proteins, have multiple dogs, or just like to swap up their meal profiles can buy multiple “supplements”. This gives them the ability to adjust and change diets as needed.

Q: How do I introduce it?

A: This is one of those scenarios where you know your pet best and will be the best person to decide. The most common method is to feed one meal of raw and one meal of the existing diet for a week before you fully switch to raw. If your pet has severe allergies or a strong stomach, you may be able to just swap them over to raw without an introduction period. For some animals, raw is so utterly foreign they may not realize that it’s food at first. This is most typical in indoor cats. This is the only situation in which we recommend mixing canned wet food (ie, cooked food) with a small amount of raw. Over the period of a week, increase the raw amount and decrease the amount of canned food until it’s almost all raw.

This can be the trickiest part of feeding raw. If you have questions or just need someone to confirm you’re on the right track, call or email us.

Q: Can my dog still eat veggies?

A: YES! When dogs evolved from wolves, they became more omnivorous. They NEED fruits and veggies! A homemade stew of various veggies and and some fruits (e.g. sweet potatoes, pumpkin, green beans, and blue berries) is great for your pet. However, we don’t recommend feeding cooked foods at the same meal as raw due to their varying digestive rates.

Q: Is raw pet food safe? 

A: Yes! We only carry products that utilize human grade food handling practices. In the case of Blue Ridge Beef, their company founder originally worked in a human-grade meat facility. When they opened Blue Ridge Beef in 1979, they brought these same practices with them even though at the time there were little to no regulations in the industry. Blue Ridge Beef’s products are fresh and flash frozen, this preserves amino acids and live digestive enzymes essential for healthy pets. To this day they continue to be an industry leader in best practice pet food safety standards.

Q: Should I cook raw food?

A: We do not recommend cooking raw product for many reasons, some of which include: to maintain optimum nutritional sources, enzymes and nutritional value (most of which is lost in the cooking process). This is in addition to the fact that If the product you cook has ground bone in it, you will be cooking that too. The cooking process will make it brittle and can cause upset stomachs or worse.

Q: How do I handle raw pet food?

A: Common sense rules, as with any raw meat, mean that certain practices are recommended. Keep raw pet food frozen or refrigerated, thaw in the refrigerator or cold water, use in 2 or 3 days, never leave out in room temperature for long times, keep unused portions frozen. Always wash your hands, cutting boards and all utensils in hot soapy water immediately after use. Think of how you would handle raw chicken as you prepare dinner! It’s the same idea.






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