# Thoughts on Fresh Pet dog food?



## LisiMarie (Oct 18, 2011)

I'm going to give this food a try for my finicky eater. It seems a good In-between from a dry and wet food. (Someone has described it as hot dog consistency) . Any thoughts or anyone used this food ?


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## Yellowsnow (Feb 5, 2014)

LisiMarie said:


> I'm going to give this food a try for my finicky eater. It seems a good In-between from a dry and wet food. (Someone has described it as hot dog consistency) . Any thoughts or anyone used this food ?


You have no idea what the food is or who it's made by, yet you want to feed it? What are your dogs eating now? why doesn't it work for your "finicky eater"?


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## Dog Person (Sep 14, 2012)

I believe I fed my last dog Fresh Pet (forget brand as it's been over 1 1/2 years) as a topper for her dry food and she ate it for a while. Yes, it's like a hot dog or bologna and I used to warm it up for her and mix it into her dry food. I'm not sure how much it cost or how much I gave her but honestly she enjoyed roasted chicken quarters better as she never refused to eat with that. She was a 40 lb. dog and she probably got almost a week of meals with the quarters mixed with her dry food, my thoughts were that her dog food is giving her the nutrition she needs and the chicken is making her eat the food and is there for flavor.


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## LisiMarie (Oct 18, 2011)

Yellowsnow said:


> You have no idea what the food is or who it's made by, yet you want to feed it? What are your dogs eating now? why doesn't it work for your "finicky eater"?


Of course I know what the food is and who it's made by!! I would never feed my dog anything without checking it out first. I've been through a few good quality brands trying to find something he will eat happily and with passion. The Blue Buffalo he is currently on he can take it or leave it depending on the day. Some days he eats eagerly and other days he turns his nose up at and walks away. I was merely asking if anyone had tried it and what their thoughts were on it. 

And since my post, I did go to the store and purchased a log of FreshPet Vital beef and bison, gave him the amount it said for his weight, and I'm happy to say he ate it eagerly. I hope he continues to like it as he did today.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

It's kinda expensive but not crazy. A little heavy on the veggies, smells strongly of garlic. Dogs seem to like it a lot in general. I used to get it fairly regularly because nobody else bought it so the grocery store would always have it marked down because it was short-dated . Now it seems more popular so it doesn't get marked down as much.


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

We've been using this food for our picky, 14 year old Poodle/Bichon mix and he's doing great on it. He used to have red toes and terrible eye gunk but now he's perfectly white. It's a bit expensive but he's small and it lasts him a while.

He does best on the Turkey based Deli Fresh rolls:









and Pet Fresh Chicken (we're trying beef this time though)









The Vital line is just too expensive for me so I'm sticking to the grain inclusive ones (which he does fine on).


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## LisiMarie (Oct 18, 2011)

Little Wise Owl said:


> We've been using this food for our picky, 14 year old Poodle/Bichon mix and he's doing great on it. He used to have red toes and terrible eye gunk but now he's perfectly white. It's a bit expensive but he's small and it lasts him a while.
> 
> He does best on the Turkey based Deli Fresh rolls:
> 
> ...



Thanks for your replies everyone. I bought the vital because my guy has had some sensitivity issues in the past ,so as not to get into that again, I went with the grain free, it is expensive but if he eats it as happily as he did today, I am thrilled and I'll set out a money jar for my spare change to help pay for it !


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

Willowy said:


> A little heavy on the veggies, smells strongly of garlic.


I've never noticed a garlic smell. It has a certain odour but it's definitely not garlic. The beef formula (6lb) we have on hand right now has 4.35lb of beef, liver and eggs, 11oz vegetable and 4oz rice and remaining weight is water/broth. This is the least expensive of the formulas.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Hmm, yeah, I just looked at the ingredients. I'm pretty sure it had garlic powder when I used to buy it, maybe they changed the formula. It seems heavy on the veggies because they're big chunks and not blended in, but it probably doesn't have more veggies than most dog foods. Just more visible . I only even bought the Select chubs, I think the others are newer.


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

The visible pieces are few and far between. I just sliced up a slab for Toby and there was like a total of 4 peas and 3 small carrot chunks. I wouldn't really call that veggie heavy 

There's no garlic in the natural flavours either. Just vinegar, lemon juice, hickory and celery juice(?).

Edit: The visible vegetable pieces are easily smushed so they're very well cooked (more easily digestible) I personally think they're visible to please the human eye.


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## NicoleIsStoked (Aug 31, 2012)

Yellowsnow said:


> You have no idea what the food is or who it's made by, yet you want to feed it? What are your dogs eating now? why doesn't it work for your "finicky eater"?


This comment is rude and out of line. 

Here is my experience with these products:
About a year ago I got a pack of the deli fresh that looks like kibble (chicken and egg or something) and a roll of the vitals turkey. I mixed some of each onto my dogs kibble as a topper and he went CRAZY for it! He does this with all wet food or even just with water on his kibble. 
The next morning I noticed him scratching quite a bit around his neck and behind his ears. I didn't think anything of it. A few days i gave him some more. I used the kibble type as training treats and put some of the vitals on his kibble. The next morning he was very itchy again. Once again I disregarded it. Sometimes he itches right when he wakes up. 
Worrying that it was going to go off sitting open in my fridge, I froze the rest of it. About a week later I fed him some more of it and once again he was itching like crazy the next day. I should note that he has no known allergies whatsoever. He eats chicken, beef, grains, etc with no problems. 
After 3 or 4 times reacting to this stuff I did a google search and found another forum where someone said they actually tasted it and that it is extremely salty. Since pet food doesn't list sodium content, it's believable. If I was not a vegetarian, I would've tasted it myself. 
Anyways I wound up giving the rest away to a co-worker who's dog was used to eating pedigree and did fine on it. The only thing that I can think of is that the high levels of sodium caused him an irritation and therefore I won't use these products. That much salt is not good for anyone.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

There are things that taste salty without having sodium though. Certain amino acids, etc. I wouldn't necessarily assume a high sodium level based on salty taste. I wonder if that's something the company could answer if someone contacted them. . .


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

NicoleIsStoked said:


> This comment is rude and out of line.
> 
> Here is my experience with these products:
> About a year ago I got a pack of the deli fresh that looks like kibble (chicken and egg or something) and a roll of the vitals turkey. I mixed some of each onto my dogs kibble as a topper and he went CRAZY for it! He does this with all wet food or even just with water on his kibble.
> ...


The food has natural flavours from lemon juice, vinegar and celery. I can see why it might have tasted salty. Anyway, I just emailed the company asking about the sodium content of the food. When I get a reply, I will post it here.

Edit: This is from the website:


> "Salt provides the essential nutrients sodium and chloride. Although sodium content in prepared foods is of concern to humans, pets do not suffer from cardiovascular diseases like humans do. Our salt levels are within the ranges recommended by veterinary nutritionists."


That said, I'm still waiting for a response.


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## NicoleIsStoked (Aug 31, 2012)

Hmm that statement makes me suspicious.


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

Why? (Too short)


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## NicoleIsStoked (Aug 31, 2012)

I feel like its a way of them trying to justify a potentially ridiculous amount of salt in their product. And to say that pets dont get cardiovascular diseases is a straight up lie.


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

NicoleIsStoked said:


> I feel like its a way of them trying to justify a potentially ridiculous amount of salt in their product. And to say that pets dont get cardiovascular diseases is a straight up lie.


I try not to make assumptions until I know the facts. I do know that if a diet is excessive in salt, the first symptom is increased thirst. Which my 17lb dog has not experienced. He drinks and urinates the same as he always has.

A link in regards to sodium intake and dogs:
Sodium & Chloride Requirements

Currently looking more into this.


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## TobysDad (Aug 11, 2013)

This is very interesting. I bought several tubes of this(green package) over several months when my boy Toby had teeth problems. He absolutely loved it, and fortunately had no ill results. He never ate it exclusively, but it was often a complete meal with nothing added. I would still use it as added variety, but for some reason the local Petsmart has stopped stocking any/all refrigerated dog and cat food. I distinctly remember the pieces of carrot and the blueberries that were visible throughout. I'm anxious to hear more about this.


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## Fade (Feb 24, 2012)

I fed this to a very young kitten that wouldn't nurse well. ( kept eating and swallowing the bottle nipples) she was a spirited one lol For the first few weeks I mooshed it in with formula and made a paste. then as she became older I fed it to her straight. it was soft and small bits. it worked wonderful. her poops were always good ( which for a little kitten they can sometimes be to soft) I really liked it for the cat. It was sorta pricey but her overall health did wonderful on it. She was emaciated and had a broken leg. and all her muscles were wasted away so she was also paralyzed for a few days till I built up her nutrition. It was amazing she lived but this food she just LOVED she would scarf it down and it was perfect for her. The canned cat food just didnt seem to do as well as this did. and it was nuggets easier to preserve then canned food.

expense wise...I could not imagine feeding this to a large dog lol It would be cheaper just to feed raw. but a small dog it would make more sense.


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## Kayota (Aug 14, 2009)

There is a version called Vital that is grain free and not as heavy on the veggies. It comes in a "soft kibble" form too, just the same thing in a different form with fresh chicken and cranberries added.

http://www.petco.com/assets/product_images/8/851893001755C.jpg
http://lifeordepth.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/vital-kitchen-3-500x290.jpg

I REALLY like it and would honestly feed it a lot more if I could afford it.


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

Kayota said:


> There is a version called Vital that is grain free and not as heavy on the veggies. It comes in a "soft kibble" form too, just the same thing in a different form with fresh chicken and cranberries added.
> 
> http://www.petco.com/assets/product_images/8/851893001755C.jpg
> http://lifeordepth.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/vital-kitchen-3-500x290.jpg
> ...


I'd like to feed it but it's way too expensive and our dogs have no issues with rice and cooked vegetables.


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

I got this response from Fresh Pet today:


> Thank you for contacting us. The sodium amount in Freshpet Select Chicken, Vegetable and Rice recipe is-
> 0.299% as fed and 0.97% dry matter basis


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

That is a lot! No wonder dogs love it. 

0.97% is equal to 970mg per 100grams dry weight. If Max ate kibble [generally 10% water but pretty dry] he generally would eat 150 grams a day but only needs all of 200mg sodium a day. He would be getting 600% of his requirement of this food just rounding it off very roughly and ignoring the 10% water content of kibble. For healthy dogs that probably isn't a concern but older dogs that could be starting to lose heart, kidney or liver function this might be a poor choice of food. Most kibble does have a lot of sodium as it is a flavor enhancer though.

AAFCO states sodium needs to be .3% for growth and .06% for adult for a kibble that is 350 calories per 100 grams but doesn't state an upper limit.


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## xoxluvablexox (Apr 10, 2007)

I gave those to my dog a while ago and he really liked it. I could see using it as a treat but since he's raw fed now, I probably wouldn't bother getting it to feed it as his whole meal. It is salty tasting, I read that, licked a piece (it was disgustingly salty in just one lick lol) but I guess something else could result in the salty taste rather than actual salt. I got the Vital and one of the larger ones, forget which. My store only sold small packages of the vital and they were just as expensive. (I don't even know if they come in a larger size?). So, I would definitely say that it's way too expensive just to be grain free. I think the meats are more exotic though, I got bison I think.


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## NicoleIsStoked (Aug 31, 2012)

Well I'm glad to know I'm not crazy. I'm now thoroughly convinced that my dog reacted to the excessive amount of sodium.


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

Kathyy said:


> That is a lot! No wonder dogs love it.
> 
> 0.97% is equal to 970mg per 100grams dry weight. If Max ate kibble [generally 10% water but pretty dry] he generally would eat 150 grams a day but only needs all of 200mg sodium a day. He would be getting 600% of his requirement of this food just rounding it off very roughly and ignoring the 10% water content of kibble. For healthy dogs that probably isn't a concern but older dogs that could be starting to lose heart, kidney or liver function this might be a poor choice of food. Most kibble does have a lot of sodium as it is a flavor enhancer though.
> 
> AAFCO states sodium needs to be .3% for growth and .06% for adult for a kibble that is 350 calories per 100 grams but doesn't state an upper limit.


Well, that's a bummer. Toby has done so well on this food.


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

I'd continue feeding it then. She may be fine with more sodium than required. Who knows how much sodium is in most kibble, could be she is getting less than in whatever kibble she didn't like!

Most companies don't post complete AAFCO analysis which includes sodium content. Orijen does, .3% and Max would eat about 150 grams of this one. THK does, .54% for Embark - Max would eat about 110 grams by dry weight. Ziwi Peak does, .31% - Max would get 120 grams or so a day to get in about 600 calories a day.

Could have been the sodium then! It is common for raw fed dogs to do poorly on 'enhanced' meats that can have up to 600mg of sodium per serving where natural meat is less than 100mg per serving.


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## LisiMarie (Oct 18, 2011)

Well since I first posted about buying fresh pet and giving it to my dog, which he ate passionately at first, he has since decided that it isn't as good as it once was. I don't get this! When I first bought it and gave it to him he ate it without even breathing! And now.....I know he is hungry but he keeps walking away from it now, until he is so hungry he eventually eats a few bites. Can someone explain this to me, because I really thought I had finally found the one food that he would eat happily, and now this.....again! Do they just get tired of the same thing? I guess I'll hold out until he gets hungry enough to scarf it down. I just wish he wouldn't do this!


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## LisiMarie (Oct 18, 2011)

I started this thread asking about fresh pet bc I was trying so hard to find a food my dog would love to eat. Well, I've come to find out that my Max was diagnosed with a liver shunt on 4/25/14 which is why he was acting like he was a finicky eater, when in fact he was feeling horrible after he would eat protein. He has had surgery 3 weeks ago 5/15/14 and doing well. And now eats his hepatic ld food with vigor! Also is on neomycin and lactulose 3xday for now until bile acid test comes back good or may have to stay on this for life. Hopefully not! Just wanted to give a quick update.


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## Jacksons Mom (Mar 12, 2010)

I fed a small bag of this once and Jackson looooveddd it. It was the one that looked like kibble but was soft. I actually wouldn't mind feeding it full-time, but I wanted to research the company a bit more first. Does anyone know where it's made, what facility? What company owns it... etc?


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