Are you looking to ditch the kibble and adopt a fresh approach to your dog’s diet?
If you’ve been feeding your dog store-bought kibble or wet food, you may have noticed lots of confusing ingredient names on the label.
Some traditional dog food options aren’t balanced, complete and fresh, but contain additives, binders, fillers, nasties and preservatives.
Over the past five years, there’s been a big shift towards fresh dog food as Canadian dog owners look to promote a happy and healthy lifestyle for their pup.
These meals use human-grade ingredients and their recipes are formulated to meet your canine companion’s specific needs before being delivered to your home.
In this article, we’re going to take a look at the best dog food delivery options in Canada available right now.
We’ll look at some of the top options for Canadian dog owners who want to switch to fresh dog meals.
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What We Looked For In Dog Food Delivery Company
When we looked at the best dog food delivery companies providing meals to Irish dogs, we considered some key factors. Let’s take a look at some of the criteria in closer detail.
Whole Ingredients – If you’re ditching the kibble or gravy in favour of fresh dog meals, you want to know that your new dog food suppliers are using fresh and whole ingredients. We like dog food delivery companies that use fresh ingredients that are locally and responsibly sourced. We like to see high-quality ingredients used in the dog food and you should be able to read and understand ingredient labels.
Recipe Variety – While the switch from dry or wet food to fresh dog meals should hopefully help any fussy dogs get excited about mealtime. However, if you’ve got a particularly picky dog, you’ll be exited to know that most dog food delivery companies have lots of different recipe options to keep your canine companion enticed. You can also select from super tasty meals for fussy eaters or low-fat meals if you’ve got a dog who needs to shed some pounds.
Ordering Experience – You can permanently remove dog food from your shopping list if you make the switch to a dog food delivery company. However, it’s important that these dog food brands have an easy-to-use website that isn’t overly complicated or confusing. Their websites should be easy to navigate, especially when it comes to customizing your subscription plan or alternating their recipes.
Price – While you should be prepared to pay a little extra for your dog food delivery subscription service, it shouldn’t break the bank either. You’re paying for quality ingredients in recipes that have been formulated by experts such as vets and pet nutritionists. However, your monthly price shouldn’t be extortionate.
Packaging And Preparation – If you’re willing to pay a little more to feed balanced and complete meals to your dog, you don’t want to see a damaged box on your doorstep or defrosted dog food inside the packaging. Therefore, it’s crucial that these dog food delivery companies use sufficient insulation to protect the integrity of the food and keep their meals frozen.
Delivery Schedule – If you’re relying on fresh dog food to show up on your doorstep, you want to be confident that your dog food company will deliver your pup’s food when they say they will. You don’t want to have to dash to the local shop at the last minute because your canine companion’s balanced and complete meals haven’t shown up.
Sustainable Approach – We like to see that dog food delivery companies are taking steps to protect the planet as well as promote a healthy lifestyle for our four-legged friends. Therefore, it’s impressive when dog food delivery companies have a sustainable approach to their business, whether it’s through green deliveries, recyclable packaging, ethically sourcing ingredients or giving back to the environment.
Customer Service – If you have questions about your dog’s new food, you’ll want to be able to contact the pet food company with minimal faff and waiting time. Perhaps you need advice on how to feed your dog their new meals or where to store them. Either way, these dog food delivery companies need to have efficient and professional customer service teams.
How Dog Food Delivery Works
So you’ve decided to give a Canadian dog food delivery company a try and ditch the stale kibble or unpleasant-smelling wet food. That’s great.
First of all, you’ll need to head to the dog food brand’s website and complete their sign-up questionnaire so they can learn a little bit more about your dog.
They’ll usually ask for age, breed, size, weight, activity level, diet, allergies or illnesses. You can often add any more information about your canine companion if required.
The dog food delivery company will suggest some recipes for your four-legged friend based upon the answers inputted by Canadian dog owners in the sign-up questionnaire.
However, you’ll usually have the ability to customize the recipes if you think your dog would prefer pork over chicken or lamb over beef. It depends on each company, of course.
You’ll have to select how often you want your dog meals to arrive – whether it’s every two weeks, every month or in some cases every couple of months.
Next up, you enter your payment details for dog food subscription before waiting for your first box of food to arrive on your doorstep.
Best Dog Food Delivery Canada
1) Open Farm
Website: openfarmpet.com
Open Farm Grass Fed Beef (Photo: Open Farm)
Our top pick is Open Farm based upon their versatile range of dog food options. While we prefer to feed our Alaskan Klee Kai fresh meals, Open Farm offer not only gently-cooked fresh dog food but they’ve got dry food, wet food and freeze-dried options to cater to all Canadian dogs. They offer beef, chicken, turkey, lamb, pork, venison, fish and plant-based recipe options. Open Farm only use premium ingredients in their recipes – 100% humanely raised and antibiotic-free meats, wild-caught and sustainably sourced fish with no antibiotics or growth hormones and zero artificial flavors or fillers. Open Farm offer recipes for all life stages and they cater to dogs with a sensitive stomachs because they can offer single-protein recipes. Aside from ethically sourcing their ingredients, Open Farm’s recipes use ingredients that are 100% traceable so there is complete transparency. They’re also committed to minimizing their carbon footprint and emissions over the next 10 years.
2) Kabo
Website: https://kabo.co/
Kabo dog food (Photo: Kabo)
Kabo describe themselves as the perfect dog food for picky eaters on their website. They add that they’ve worked with the best canine nutrition experts to formulate healthy and tasty recipes for Canadian dogs, even the pickiest pups! They’ve got six fresh meal recipes on offer: Luscious Lamb, Hearty Turkey, Irresistible Chicken, Hypoallergenic Salmon, Savoury Beef, Tender Chicken. If you prefer kibble, they’ve got Delicious Duck Kibble and Hearty Turkey & Salmon Kibble. Their recipes don’t contain any artificial flavours or colors and there are zero by-products or fillers. Their ingredients are all sourced within in Canada and formulated to meet and exceed AAFCO standards. Kabo get an incredible 4.8 stars out of 5 based upon nearly 1,000 reviews on Trustpilot.
3) Tom & Sawyer
Website: tomandsawyer.com
Tom & Sawyer dog food (Photo: Tom & Sawyer)
Tom & Sawyer promise real meals for Canadian dogs on their website. They claim that their food will result in less scratching, a shinier coat, a healthier weight and satisfy picky eaters. They’ve got a number of enticing recipes for Canadian canines: Italian Beef Pasta, Classic Pork Stew, Buddha Bowl, Goji Berry Beef, Coconut Chicken, Beef & Broccoli, Fisherman’s Best Friend, Kangaroo and Rosemary Venison. There’s something for every dog! Tom & Sawyer only use natural ingredients – you won’t find any ingredients you can’t pronounce in their recipes. Their meals are gently cooked for good digestion and better absorption of nutrients. You can have peace of mind knowing that your Tom & Sawyer meals are antibiotic and hormone-free, non-GMO, chef-made in Canada and made with human-edible ingredients.
Anything Else To Consider?
Hungry Shih Tzu puppy holding an empty bowl (Photo: Adobe Stock)
You should speak to your vet before you decide to make a change to your dog’s diet to avoid a potential tummy upset.
If you make the switch too quickly, you risk upsetting your canine companion’s stomach and creating a further headache.
Your vet can offer guidance on how to make the transition to their new food after ditching the kibble or the wet food.
All three dog food delivery companies in this article can also offer help on how to make a successful transition to their food.
Wrapping Up – Our Final Verdict
Irish Setter eating out of dog bowl (Photo: Adobe Stock)
We’ve reached the end of our article on the best dog food delivery in Canada at the moment.
Our top pick is Open Farm based upon their premium nutrition, ethical sourcing, complete transparency and sustainable approach to their pet food business.
Not only that, they offer gently-cooked meals in eight different recipes but they’ve also got dry food, wet food and freeze-dried raw options for dog owners who aren’t ready to switch to fresh meals.
However, Kabo and Tom & Sawyer are two excellent options for Canadian dog owners if you decide to go with either of these dog food brands ahead of Open Farm.
By selecting one of the dog food companies in this feature, you’ll be promoting a happier and healthier lifestyle for your canine companion thanks to their new balanced and complete meals.
