As pet owners, we always want to give our fur babies top-quality meals. One way that we can give our pets premium food is by choosing fresh food. Fresh food has become quite popular, with many pet owners switching from canned to fresh. One of the rising stars of the pet fresh food industry is NutriCanine. I was excited to see if my girl, Lorraina, would become a fresh food enthusiast!

A Canadian-based company, NutriCanine solely focuses on making top-quality fresh food for all dogs. To get started with this subscription service, go onto their website and fill out a brief questionnaire about your dog to get the best recipe.

Fresh food needs to be delivered under strict conditions not to compromise the food’s quality. I was new to giving my dog fresh food, so I was curious and excited to see how Lorraina would like NutriCanine’s recipes.

Our Favorite NutriCanine Fresh Food Recipes

NutriCanine’s Turkey Recipe Reviewed

About NutriCanine’s Products

NutriCanine has four fresh food recipe selections that are recommended for your dog: Chicken, Turkey, Beef, and Lamb. Chicken is the most popular recipe ordered from the company, as chicken is a generally safe choice as well. Chicken, of course, is the star ingredient and is mixed with vegetables and mixed berries.

If you have a dog that is a bit pudgier than they should be, NutriCanine recommends their Turkey Recipe because it has fewer calories per serving. Besides having turkey, turkey liver, and kale as the main ingredients, it contains similar foods as the Chicken Recipe.

If you have a picky eater, the Beef Recipe is bound to please them. Made with beef, rice, and beef liver, the other ingredients include vegetables and some mixed berries. This recipe is also recommended for dogs with gluten allergies.

NutriCanine’s last recipe is made with lamb, rice, liver, and vegetables. The Lamb Recipe was made specifically for hypoallergenic dogs, but some dog owners may want to try this recipe as lamb is a less common animal protein for many standard commercial diets.

All the recipes include the NutriCanine Vitamin & Mineral Mix. This mix and the choice of animal protein, vegetables, berries, and quality carbohydrates, help promote your dog’s energy levels and digestive health.

Who Makes NutriCanine and Where Is It Produced?

NutriCanine’s company is based in Canada. A strong selling point for this company is that all recipes were developed by a dog food formulation specialist, adhering to AAFCO guidelines. This helps ensure that your dog is being fed top-of-the-line food.

Since this is a subscription company, unfortunately, you will not be able to find their recipes in pet stores. However, subscription plans make getting this fresh food easy!

Which Types of Pets Is NutriCanine Best Suited For?

NutriCanine has four different recipes that are suitable for adult dogs. These dogs can be slightly overweight, hypoallergenic, or just plain picky. When you fill out the questionnaire on their site, you can select the age group of your dog, indicating that NutriCanine’s recipes can be suitable for puppies and seniors.

Discussion of the Primary Ingredients (Good and Bad)

Breakdown of Primary and Secondary Ingredients

Your NutriCanine recipe will have one of the following animal proteins as the main ingredient: chicken, turkey, beef, or lamb. The second ingredient is either a grain or vegetable:

The rest of the ingredients are almost similar across all four recipes, with some minor variations. But expect your recipe to include most of the following:

None of the recipes contain corn, which some dog owners try to avoid when getting their dog’s food. There are no fillers and unheard-of ingredients. These recipes are simple which is great for promoting your dog’s overall health.

Fresh Food vs. Raw Food

Most dog owners are only familiar with canned food and dry food (kibble), so they might think that “fresh food” and “raw food” are the same thing. But this is not the case.

Fresh food has been gently cooked at a low temperature, whereas raw food has not been cooked. Raw food contains ingredients like bones, organs, muscles, and eggs. These diets may also contain vegetables and fruits. However, not all veterinarians feel comfortable about the raw food diet, as preparation for these meals needs to be done with extreme care.

NutriCanine’s food is fresh, not raw. However, they still test it for any foodborne issues, like salmonella and E. coli.

Addition of Sunflower and Fish Oil

Some people might raise an eyebrow at the inclusion of oils, particularly sunflower oil. Sunflower oil does have omega-6 fatty acids, which are beneficial for your dog in small amounts. Additionally, fish oil has omega-3 fatty acids, which help dogs with the following issues:

NutriCanine has added these oils to their recipes because these oils have essential fats that help with the dog’s overall skin, coat, and joint health. Most dog foods have these omega fatty acids added to their recipes, but usually in low quantities. NutriCanine makes sure that dogs will reap the benefits of the omega fatty acids by adding a healthy amount.

Planning Ahead Is Essential

NutriCanine’s fresh food requires a little more preparation than your average kibble but I can assure you, it’s not much trouble and your pet will be forever grateful. The food must be stored in the freezer if you do not plan on using it for a few days. It cannot be stored in the fridge long term, as the food will need to be used in four days.

This means that you need to plan. For example, if the instructions state that you need to give your dog half the packet daily, always have two packets in the fridge and the rest in the freezer. Once one pack is used up, take one from the freezer and put it in the fridge so it can be used in two days.

NutriCanine Turkey Recipe Review

If you are familiar with pate-style canned food, you will be extremely pleased with the quality of NutriCanine’s recipes. With most canned food, everything is blended, so identifying each ingredient is impossible. But with NutriCanine, you can see just about every ingredient they use for their recipes. It is reassuring for any dog owner to know that the recipes were developed with care about quality and not about profit and quantity.

Ingredients Analysis of the Turkey Recipe

Calories Per Cup Breakdown

NutriCanine does not provide a calorie-per-cup breakdown. Instead, they provide you with suggested daily caloric intake based on a few questions you answer about your dog before you order the food.

Based on the answers, NutriCanine will give you an idea of how much your dog should be eating per day.

Here is Lorraina’s information:

According to my answers, Lorraina should get 387 calories a day. Once she has fully transitioned to eating entirely fresh food, she will get approximately half of the packet.

Our Experience With NutriCanine’s Turkey Recipe

Lorraina is a 10-year-old female who is a tiny bit on the chubby side. While she likes gentle walks and chasing chipmunks, Lorraina prefers a luxurious life. Because of this, I selected the Turkey Recipe for her, as NutriCanine advertises this as the leaner choice. Lorraina also has a sensitive stomach, but turkey is a mild animal protein that I hoped would sit well with her.

Lorraina normally gets Blue Buffalo Healthy Weight Formula Dry Food with a few spoonfuls of Blue Buffalo Homestyle Chicken Recipe as a topper. According to NutriCanine’s instructions, I should give her 25% fresh food and 75% kibble for the first two days to ease her into it. When I was serving her the food, it did not look like a lot, but this was the point: ease her into the new diet slowly.

Lorraina is a fast eater with her regular dog food, but she changed to turbo-mode when I gave her the first serving of NutriCanine’s Turkey Recipe. Within a few short minutes, the bowl was completely empty. I was so pleased Lorraina loved the recipe, but the real test would be if it upset her stomach.

In the past, we had tried beef canned food, and it gave her diarrhea for several hours (poor thing!). So, I crossed my fingers and hoped that the Turkey Recipe would be gentle. I was thankful that the company instructed new users to gradually introduce this food to their dogs.

After 24 hours, Lorraina showed no signs of stomach upset or diarrhea, which made me so thrilled! We continued with feeding her 25% for another day and then switched to 50% and eventually 75%. All her feedings—including when we gave her 100% fresh food—went down without incident. I always get so worried about changing Lorraina’s diet, but NutriCanine’s recipes were perfect for my girl!

While we have only been feeding her this diet for a little over a week, we are not sure if there will be any changes to her weight yet. Regardless, Lorraina will still benefit from the lean protein, omega-3 and -6 fatty acids, and vitamins from vegetables and mixed berries.

Conclusion

NutriCanine, I tip my hat to you and your fantastic recipes! If you are curious about switching from standard canned food and kibble, I highly recommend NutriCanine’s fresh food recipes. My dog has a sensitive stomach, but the combination of NutriCanine’s gentle cooking process and high-quality ingredients made the transition easy for her. And she loved it! I think that we are going to be a “fresh food house” from now on.

• Related Read: Vital Essentials Dog Food Review: An Expert’s Breakdown