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What’s actually in Dr. Marty?
Dr. Marty Nature’s Blend Essential Wellness is a freeze-dried raw food formulated by veterinarian Dr. Martin Goldstein, and it is best known from heavy TV advertising. The ingredient deck leads with turkey, beef, salmon, and duck — four named muscle meats — followed immediately by beef liver, turkey liver, and turkey heart. That is roughly 81% animal ingredients by the label’s own claim, which makes this one of the most meat-forward decks we score. After the meats come flaxseed, sweet potato, egg, pea flour, and a long run of whole-food produce: apple, blueberry, carrot, cranberry, pumpkin seed, spinach, dried kelp, ginger, broccoli, kale, and sunflower seed. It is grain-free with no corn, wheat, or soy, and the only preservative is mixed tocopherols. Shop on Amazon →
Freeze-drying removes moisture at low temperature, so the raw ingredients are preserved without cooking and the food is shelf-stable until you rehydrate it with water. The guaranteed analysis is high — 37% protein and 27% fat minimum — which is typical of a concentrated raw product. One thing worth knowing up front: freeze-drying is a preservation method, not a pathogen kill step. We found no high-pressure processing (HPP) or other documented pathogen-control step on this formula, so the same raw-handling hygiene you would use for raw meat applies here.
The good stuff
The headline strength is the protein base. Four named muscle meats plus three organ meats lead the deck, and organ meats like liver and heart are nutrient-dense whole foods that supply naturally occurring vitamins and minerals you would otherwise add synthetically. At a claimed ~81% animal content, the meat-forward profile is genuinely near the top of what we see in freeze-dried raw, and the named species mean you know exactly what protein your dog is eating — no vague “meat meal” or unnamed by-products.
The supporting cast is clean and purposeful. There is no corn, wheat, or soy, no artificial colors or flavors, and the only preservative is mixed tocopherols, a natural vitamin E form. The whole-food additions — flaxseed, pumpkin seed, sunflower seed, kelp, and a range of fruits and vegetables — carry real nutritional contributions rather than acting as cheap bulk. Crucially, there is only a single legume on the deck (pea flour at position 11) and no stacked pea/lentil/chickpea ingredients, so the formula carries low diet-associated DCM context risk compared with many grain-free recipes that lean heavily on legumes.
The not-so-good stuff
The marketing is where this product needs the most scrutiny. The central TV-ad hooks — “supports a healthy lifespan,” longevity, and “youthful energy” — are structure/function marketing claims, not outcomes proven by a feeding trial on this specific formula. They are not lies, but they are also not evidence that this food extends your dog’s life. “Vet-formulated” is accurate, since Dr. Goldstein did formulate it, but a vet’s name does not change how the adequacy was established. And the “no fillers” framing sits a little awkwardly next to pea flour, which functions partly as a plant-protein and binding ingredient.
The substantiation is the main reason this is a B and not an A. The AAFCO statement is “formulated to meet” adult maintenance — a recipe-on-paper standard — rather than a feeding trial, which is the stronger form of proof that a real population of dogs thrived on the food. Separately, that single pea-flour ingredient modestly boosts the crude-protein number, so the 37% figure is not entirely muscle-meat protein. Neither of these is a quality defect; together they form a substantiation-and-formulation ceiling that keeps an otherwise excellent deck just under the top tier.
Two smaller notes. The synthetic vitamin and mineral premix is notably light: rather than a long added-nutrient list, the formula leans on whole foods — kelp for iodine, organ meats, and seeds — to cover micronutrients. That can work, but it leaves less margin and there is no added taurine on the visible deck. And the price is firmly premium: a direct-to-consumer bag runs roughly $30–$60 and works out to several dollars a day, which is why many owners use it as a topper over a complete base food rather than as the sole diet.
How it compares
Among freeze-dried and raw peers, a small group of brands edge ahead of Dr. Marty. Stella & Chewy’s freeze-dried (A/90), Primal (A/90), Open Farm (A/90), ZIWI Peak (A/90), and Sundays (A/90) all clear the A line, generally on stronger substantiation or documented pathogen control. The closest comparison is Badlands Ranch (B/88), another TV-advertised premium product that lands at the same grade for similar reasons.
For head-to-head detail, see Dr. Marty vs Badlands Ranch, which compares two heavily marketed premium foods at the same B/88, and Dr. Marty vs Stella & Chewy’s, which shows exactly where the two-point gap to an A comes from. The short version: Dr. Marty’s deck is competitive with the A-tier names, but the A-tier brands tend to back it with a feeding trial or an HPP pathogen step that Dr. Marty does not document.
The bottom line
Dr. Marty Nature’s Blend is a genuinely strong, meat-forward freeze-dried raw food that earns a solid B (88/100). The deck is excellent; what holds it below an A is formulation-only AAFCO substantiation, a pea-flour ingredient that nudges the protein figure, and an unusually light synthetic premix — not a quality problem. If the longevity marketing is what drew you in, treat that as a claim rather than proof, budget for a premium price, and handle it with raw-food hygiene since freeze-drying is not a pathogen kill step. For most dogs it is a high-quality choice, whether as a full diet or a topper. Shop on Amazon →