Overview

Stella and Chewy's Carnivore Crunch is the treat you buy when ingredient quality is a non-negotiable principle and price is a secondary concern. One ingredient: 100% grass-fed beef. Nothing added, nothing removed except water through freeze-drying. The sourcing story is best-in-class -- responsibly raised, grass-fed cattle from supply chains the company actually traces and publishes. If you care about where your dog's food comes from and how the animals were raised, Stella and Chewy's has built its entire brand around answering those questions transparently.

The friction point is unavoidable: at $14.99 for 3.25 ounces, you are paying $4.61 per ounce, making this the most expensive treat in our comparison by a wide margin. That is not a typo. A single bag contains a modest handful of freeze-dried beef pieces that an enthusiastic Labrador could demolish in a single training session. The product itself is excellent -- dogs love it, the nutrition is preserved through raw freeze-drying, and the ingredient integrity is bulletproof. But the economics force a practical question: is the sourcing premium worth nearly five dollars per ounce when other single-ingredient freeze-dried treats exist at half the price? For some owners, the answer is an unequivocal yes. For others, the math simply does not work.

Features Deep-Dive

Grass-Fed Sourcing and Supply Chain Transparency

This is where Stella and Chewy's genuinely separates itself from every competitor in this comparison. The company does not just claim responsible sourcing -- it publishes detailed information about its supply chain, from ranch to finished product. The beef comes from grass-fed, pasture-raised cattle that were not treated with added hormones or antibiotics. This matters for two reasons beyond marketing. First, grass-fed beef has a measurably different fatty acid profile than grain-finished beef, with higher levels of omega-3s and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). Your dog is getting a nutritionally distinct product, not just a feel-good label. Second, sourcing transparency means accountability. When a company tells you exactly where its ingredients come from and how the animals were raised, it has committed to a standard that is expensive to maintain and impossible to quietly abandon without someone noticing.

Freeze-Dried Raw Nutritional Preservation

The freeze-drying process Stella and Chewy's uses preserves the nutritional profile of raw beef in a shelf-stable format. Unlike cooking, which denatures proteins and destroys heat-sensitive vitamins, freeze-drying removes moisture through sublimation at sub-zero temperatures. The result is a treat that retains the amino acid profile, fat-soluble vitamins, and naturally occurring enzymes of raw beef. For owners who feed a raw diet or believe in the nutritional superiority of minimally processed food, this alignment is important -- your treats are not undermining the philosophy of your dog's primary diet. The raw preservation also contributes to flavor intensity. Dogs respond to freeze-dried raw treats with a level of enthusiasm that cooked or baked treats rarely match, because the aromatic compounds in raw meat are preserved rather than transformed through heat processing.

The Small Bag Reality

Here is the uncomfortable truth about Carnivore Crunch: 3.25 ounces is not a lot of product. Hold the bag in your hand and you will immediately feel the disconnect between the price tag and the physical volume. Freeze-dried treats are lightweight by nature, so the bag is not completely empty -- there are a reasonable number of individual pieces inside. But for heavy treat users, a single bag can disappear in a week or less. The practical implication is that Carnivore Crunch works best as a high-value reward in a treat rotation rather than your everyday go-to. Using it for every sit, every recall, and every down command will drain your wallet at an alarming rate. Strategic deployment -- recall training, new skill acquisition, behavior modification -- preserves both the product's motivational impact and your monthly budget. The crumbly texture also means some of those 3.25 ounces will end up as dust at the bottom of the bag rather than as usable treat pieces.

Pricing Analysis

At $4.61 per ounce, Stella and Chewy's Carnivore Crunch is the most expensive option in this comparison and among the priciest dog treats on the market in any category. For perspective, you could buy nearly an entire 24-ounce box of Milk-Bone biscuits for the price of one bag of Carnivore Crunch. Even within the single-ingredient freeze-dried space, Stewart Freeze Dried Beef Liver offers a comparable purity level at $2.58 per ounce -- roughly 44% cheaper. The premium you are paying for Stella and Chewy's specifically buys three things: grass-fed sourcing, supply chain transparency, and brand reputation. Whether those three factors are worth an additional $2 per ounce depends entirely on your values. For owners who consider ethical sourcing a core purchasing criterion and are willing to pay for verified supply chain integrity, the premium is the cost of living their values consistently. For owners who simply want a clean, single-ingredient treat that their dog loves, Stewart delivers a nearly identical eating experience for significantly less money. Annual cost for moderate use (one to two treats daily) runs approximately $80-120 for Carnivore Crunch versus $45-70 for Stewart Beef Liver.

Who Is This For?

• Ethical sourcing advocates who extend their values about food production to their pet's diet. If you buy grass-fed beef for yourself, choose cage-free eggs, and read sourcing statements on packaging, Stella and Chewy's is the only treat in this comparison that fully matches that commitment. The verified supply chain gives you the same confidence in your dog's treats that you demand for your own food.

• Raw diet feeders who want treats that complement rather than contradict their dog's primary diet. If you are investing the time and money to feed raw, handing your dog a grain-filled biscuit between meals undermines the nutritional philosophy. Carnivore Crunch maintains the raw, minimally processed standard across your dog's entire intake.

• Owners of dogs with multiple food sensitivities who have narrowed down their dog's tolerated proteins through elimination diets. The single-ingredient formula with verified sourcing reduces the risk of hidden allergens or cross-contamination, and the grass-fed distinction matters for dogs that react differently to grain-finished versus grass-fed beef proteins.

• Gift-givers and premium pet product enthusiasts who want to give or receive the best available option regardless of price. Stella and Chewy's brand recognition in the premium pet space is strong, and the packaging and product quality reflect a premium experience from purchase to use.

Who Should NOT Use This

• Budget-conscious owners or multi-dog households will find the per-ounce cost genuinely prohibitive. If you have two or three dogs receiving treats multiple times daily, Carnivore Crunch can easily exceed $200-300 per month, which is unreasonable for most households. Stewart Freeze Dried Beef Liver delivers comparable single-ingredient purity at nearly half the price and in a container more than four times the size.

• Heavy treat users who train daily or use treats as routine rewards will burn through a 3.25-ounce bag in days rather than weeks. The small bag size combined with the premium price means this treat is economically viable only for strategic, high-value use. If you need a treat you can dispense freely without tracking consumption, Rachael Ray Nutrish or Milk-Bone will serve you better for everyday situations.

• Owners who are indifferent to sourcing ethics and primarily care about ingredient simplicity and dog enjoyment will overpay for attributes they do not value. If grass-fed, responsibly sourced, and supply chain transparency are not meaningful differentiators to you, Stewart Beef Liver provides the same single-ingredient, freeze-dried experience for substantially less money.

Bottom Line

Stella and Chewy's Carnivore Crunch is the best-sourced, most ethically transparent dog treat available, and the product quality matches the brand promise. The price-per-ounce is steep enough to make it a strategic tool rather than an everyday treat, but for owners who value verified sourcing integrity, nothing else in this category comes close.

FAQ

Is grass-fed beef actually better for dogs than conventional beef?

The nutritional differences are measurable but modest. Grass-fed beef contains higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acid, and certain antioxidants compared to grain-finished beef. Whether these differences produce noticeable health outcomes in dogs receiving treats in small quantities is unproven. The more compelling argument for grass-fed is about what is absent -- no added hormones, no routine antibiotics, and no feedlot conditions. For many owners, the sourcing ethics matter as much as or more than the nutritional profile itself.

Why is the bag so small compared to other treats?

Stella and Chewy's prioritizes ingredient quality and sourcing over volume, and grass-fed, responsibly sourced beef is genuinely expensive to produce. The 3.25-ounce size also reflects the brand's positioning as a high-value treat rather than an everyday snack. Freeze-dried products are deceptively lightweight -- the bag contains more individual pieces than the weight suggests because water removal makes each piece very light. That said, the bag size is a legitimate complaint, and Stella and Chewy's would benefit from offering a larger, more cost-effective size option.

Can I use Carnivore Crunch as a food topper?

Absolutely, and this is one of the more economical ways to use the product. Crumbling a piece or two over your dog's regular kibble adds flavor, aroma, and nutritional value without burning through the bag as quickly as using whole pieces as standalone treats. The freeze-dried texture breaks apart easily into smaller fragments that distribute well across a bowl of food. This approach can also help entice picky eaters to finish their meals. Just be mindful of the additional caloric content and adjust meal portions slightly if you are topping regularly.

How does Stella and Chewy's compare to Stewart for training?

For pure training effectiveness -- meaning your dog's enthusiasm and willingness to work for the treat -- Stewart Freeze Dried Beef Liver has a slight edge because organ meat has a stronger aroma that dogs find more compelling than muscle meat. Stewart also comes in a much larger container (14oz vs. 3.25oz) at a lower per-ounce cost, making it more practical for extended training sessions. Where Stella and Chewy's wins is in sourcing integrity and protein type -- grass-fed whole muscle beef versus conventional beef liver. If your dog responds equally to both, the practical choice for training is Stewart. If sourcing ethics drive your purchasing decisions, Stella and Chewy's maintains that standard.