What’s up with the fridge in the dog food aisle?

Before I got on this bandwagon, I had noticed the refrigerator located in the middle of the dog food aisle at my grocery store. I was kind of scared of it. #truth.

And once I began my journey into the RAW, I decided I needed to give it a look-see so I know what’s what in the world of raw dog foods.

There were 2 coolers side-by-side. One was filled with Freshpet Vital brand food. It’s wrapped in plastic like ground sausage, and marked with measures down the length of it like butter. There was a chicken option with peas & carrots, and a beef option with cranberries & blueberries. Still a tad hesitant because it’s got a pretty long shelf life (3+ months), but reasonably priced with seemingly wHOLesome ingredients; I got one of each to try.

This past weekend, I got so caught up in freezing everything, I forgot to put anything in the fridge to thaw. Crap! (And Alabama kick-off was at 5, Roll Tide!). What’s a girl to do?

Thankfully, I had the Vital logs up in there.

I cut open the chicken one. Smelled like potted meat.

It’s very densely packed. But I could see Forrest & Jenny (peas & carrots). (Sorry. Had to).

Dogs sniffed it for a few seconds, but both dove in, and raised up licking lips a couple minutes later. (Couple minutes, yes. This raw food thing is slowing them down in the race to clean the bowl, which I think is better for their systems).

This seems like a good option for when I have to travel. I have an awesome dog daycare/kennel (Just Happy Hounds. HOLla!) and as wonderful as they are, nobody has time to be fooling with my dietary particulars. But they can cut open one of these fridge packs. Easy peasy lemon squeeze-y.

There’s another brand that comes in frozen form. I’ve not tried it yet. I’ll report on it when I do.

For us, this is an option for when I’m out of town or short on time. I’m still convinced that what I make for them will taste better and be better in the long run. It’s always going to be fresher when homemade. I can control what’s in it. But for every now and then, I’m glad to have an alternative.

Don’t be afraid to try it.

pugs & kisses!