With all the recalls in the pet food industry in the past few years, many pet owners are left looking for a new diet for their dog. Whether you're concerned about the food that you've been feeding or you're just looking to try something healthier for your pup, Pet Plate Fresh Cooked Dog Food is a brand worth checking into.
We all know that fresh food is one of the healthiest pet food diets available. Of course whole food ingredients are healthier and safer than by-products, artificial ingredients and useless fillers.
The best way to provide your dog with fresh food is to make his meals yourself. When prepared and balanced properly, homemade dog food is quite possibly the healthiest food choice. But, most pet parents don't have the time to prepare home cooked meals for their dogs and cats.
Not only is it time consuming, most homemade dog food recipes are not balanced! A recent study from UC Davis evaluated 200 recipes from 34 different sources. The recipes came from veterinary textbooks, web sites and pet care books.
The researchers evaluated the ingredients and the cooking instructions for each recipe in order to quantify the nutritional content. Sadly, they found that only nine of the 200 recipes (including some written by veterinarians) met the minimum standards established for adult dogs by the AAFCO.
If you want the benefits of feeding your pet fresh cooked dog food without the hassle of researching and cooking, fresh dog food delivery may be just what you need. Pet Plate delivers balanced, pre-portioned, fresh meals for your pet right to your doorstep.
Pet Plate Fresh Cooked Dog Food Review
Pet Plate Fresh Cooked Dog Food
Pet Plate offers vet-nutritionist designed recipes that are prepared in a human-grade kitchen. Every recipe is made with human-grade ingredients. Their staff veterinary nutritionist is Dr. Renee Streeter (DVM and DACVN), and you can learn more about her on the Pet Plate website (linked above).
There are 6 entrée recipes available, and they all meet the standards and guidelines set by the WSAVA Global Nutrition Committee and the AAFCO. The 6 recipes you can choose from include:
- Barkin' Beef
- Chompin' Chicken
- Tail Waggin' Turkey
- Lip Lickin' Lamb
- Power Packed Pork
- Lean and Mean Venison
Pet Plate works like most traditional subscription dog food services. You share information about your dog including sex, whether or not your dog is spayed/neutered, breed, age, current weight and ideal weight, activity level and whether or not your dog has any food allergies/sensitivities.
Pet Plate will create recipes to meet your dog’s needs. The food is hot-filled for safety and flash-frozen to lock in freshness. The meals are portioned in the correct amounts and delivered to your door frozen and packed with dry ice to keep them cold on the journey.
Each meal comes in a microwave safe container that is BPA-free and recyclable. Every Pet Plate package comes with a handy guide that includes information on properly transitioning your dog to his new diet.
You’ll get an online account that allows you to make changes to your dog’s needs, add additional dogs, track your shipments or make changes to upcoming deliveries. There are options for full meal plans and food-topper plans available.
There is a price estimator on the company’s website to help you budget. All you have to do is put in your dog’s age, breed and weight, and it will give you an estimate of the cost for a topper plan or a full meal plan. For my 7-year-old, 75-pound Labrador Retriever, the estimate is $1.49 per day for the topper plan and $4.26 per day for the full meal plan.
Obviously that cost isn't going to fit into everyone's budget. Doing the math for a 30-day month, that would be $44.70 for a month's worth of food toppers of $127.80 per month for a full meal plan. And, that's just for one medium-sized dog.
If you can afford it, Pet Plate offers one of the highest quality commercial diets for dogs. If you can't afford it, you could always opt for the food topper plan to add some additional nutrients to your pet's diet without breaking the bank.
ALSO: Organic Dog Food with Limited Ingredients Recipe
Pet Plate Organic Dog Treats
Pet Plate has introduced a line of USDA Certified Organic dog treats. They are high protein snacks made with no fillers or artificial ingredients. They are made with only 6 ingredients each, and all flavors are grain-free.
These treats are also made with 100% human-grade ingredients in a USDA inspected kitchen. As you'll see in my video review above, my dogs love the way they taste.
I love that the treats are soft enough to break apart easily. When we're working on training, I can break small pieces off so I don't overload my dog's diet with extra calories.
The treats are available in 3 flavors:
- Organic digestive cookies
- Organic mobility cookies
- Chicken, apple, sausage treats
The only thing that I don't like about these treats is that you have to buy them in a 4-pack. You can get 4 packages of the same flavor or mix-and-match the flavors to give your pup some variety.
Like all high quality treats made with top quality ingredients, these treats are not the most affordable canine snack on the market. The chicken flavor sells for $11.94 per bag and the mobility and digestive cookies are priced at $16.95 each on the company's website.
You get 25-30 treats per bag, but you'll have to spend at least $50 on the cheapest 4-pack option. That's a lot of money to spend on dog treats. Not to mention, if you only have one dog, you may not go through treats quickly enough to justify buying 4 bags at once.
With that said, if you would use these treats before they spoil and you can afford them, I do believe they are a good value for the money. Compared to other USDA Certified Organic treats made with human-grade ingredients, these Pet Plate dog treats are actually cheaper than some similar products.
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