Delivered Food? Ollie, The Farmer's Dog, etc.

[Torney907]

Hello,

I am thinking of adding some real food into my Tornado's everyday diet.

Tornado is one year old and he is about 21 pounds.
He was very sensitive when changing his dry food (he wouldn't eat the new one when we switched the brands) so we were stuck to Royal Canin.
Currently, we occasionally give him Blue Buffalo wet food.
In the past, we gave him Merrick's wet food for a while but his poo poo would be so runny all the time.

I found some delivery human grade food services online like Nom Nom Nom, The Farmer's Dog, Ollie, etc.
They look really good and I want to feed Tornado some good quality food.
But I am not sure it would be more beneficially than the canned wet food like the one that we are giving him right now (Blue Buffalo)...

Planning out his diet has always been very difficult for me...
Does anyone feed their Sheltie any of the delivery food services mentioned above?

Thank you!!

 

[Ann]

I'm not familiar with the delivery services, but I did use Dr. Harvey's freeze-dried products for a while. It's a mix that you rehydrate with water and add a cooked protein to. It's pretty labor intensive and I found it hard to manage for multiple dogs with different dietary needs. I think that if you can do it, fresh food is always better than processed food, whether it's canned or kibble. I'm told that canned is better than dry kibble but my dogs have always done well on high-quality kibble.

 

[RikyR]

I researched the delivery services, most that I liked were the frozen type. I was concerned about delivery to my part of the world during the summer months. The local pet store was able to order/stocked one of the brands I was considering. Zulu really liked it, but it was a hassle making sure I had enough thawed out, and then the ground fault on the freezer tripped, everything was ruined, so that ended that adventure. I have since switched to a balanced freeze dried raw food (Bravo). Zulu and I could not be happier. Mix it with some warm water, wait a few minutes, and it is ready to go. No muss, no fuss. No digestive issues with the change, one benefit is smaller, less smelly poops. It is not any more expensive than the delivery services, I have it set up on autoship with Chewy. They sell small samplers that you can try before you make the change. That was really nice, I tried them all to be sure that he did not have any issues with the recipes. Zulu gives it 5 woofs!

 

[Bailey's Mom]

Just a question when you switched did you blend the dried food together and he just picked out the new stuff and wouldn't eat it or did you give him all the new stuff? I ask because the girls will literally eat ANYTHING, but Bailey had a much more tender tummy especially as he got older and we would introduce the stuff we wanted to move to with the stuff we knew he'd eat to see if he was interested and if it worked for his digestive system. He literally would pick around some brands and other brands he'd act as if he didn't notice a difference or really attack the new stuff.

 

[RikyR]

Just a question when you switched did you blend the dried food together and he just picked out the new stuff and wouldn't eat it or did you give him all the new stuff? I ask because the girls will literally eat ANYTHING, but Bailey had a much more tender tummy especially as he got older and we would introduce the stuff we wanted to move to with the stuff we knew he'd eat to see if he was interested and if it worked for his digestive system. He literally would pick around some brands and other brands he'd act as if he didn't notice a difference or really attack the new stuff.

I blended it slowly at first, just to be sure that it did not upset his digestion. Zulu is not a fussy eater, he gobbled all right down. I believe the smell really turned him on. Once re-hydrated, it still has that fresh meat smell. After a week, I had him totally off kibble. BTW, I also add a can of sardines a week (packed in water, no added salt) to the mix. They smell terrible to me, but Zulu is hopping up and down when I open the can!