Frequently Asked Questions

It’s true that most existing pet food options contain the right balance of vitamins and nutrients for a dog to survive — but we believe there’s a big difference between surviving and thriving. As pet obesity, cancer, and diabetes rise at alarming rates, there is a growing body of scientific evidence that points to the health benefits of a fresh food diet, and to the dangers of many commercial pet food manufacturing processes. And whether your dog is a picky eater grappling with a particular health issue or perfectly healthy and willing to eat just about anything, we’ve seen first-hand the positive impact of feeding fresh to our own pups and our customers’.

There really isn’t anything fancy or magical about what we’re trying to do: real, fresh food made convenient. It’s still dog food, just how it should be.

Our meals are prepared in USDA kitchens, where each recipe is gently cooked at low temperatures according to USDA-facility standards. They’re then quickly frozen (never deep frozen!) for safe shipping and your storage convenience. Since we package and deliver your meals on a convenient subscription, your food is truly made fresh and never contains preservatives which allow kibble to sit on a shelf for years at a time. Sometimes things just work out to be a win-win.

The Farmer’s Dog creates a variety of human-grade recipes that are simple in nature using different proteins and vegetables to account for dietary restrictions. Our board-certified veterinary nutritionists carefully formulate each recipe to be 100% complete and balanced according to AAFCO standards, and we use all human-grade ingredients and processes to do so.

Every recipe has clean USDA proteins, mixed with simple whole foods, and balanced with vitamins and minerals. That’s it. We never use feed-grade ingredients, and we don’t process our ingredients to be shelf-stable, ensuring your dog is getting the highest quality, most natural nutrients available. All of our ingredients are human-grade and sourced from reputable food suppliers, local farms, and other human food purveyors that meet USDA standards.

You can find the specific ingredient lists for the meal plan we recommend on the “Your Plan” section of our meal plan questionnaire.

Yes! Since our food is truly fresh and we donʼt use any preservatives, itʼs essential that you treat it like real food (because it is!). Keep the food at a safe temperature in a refrigerator or freezer. Your box will also include an easy guide on how to store and feed the food properly (it’s very simple!).

No need, our food is pre-portioned and ready-to-serve! You can serve it directly from the fridge or add a touch of hot water if your dog prefers warm food.

We work closely with vets to figure out the optimal meal plans for different combinations of breed, age, activity level, and ideal weight. That way, we can ask you the right questions to create a plan that’s truly customized to your dogs’ characteristics and needs. After you start, our trusty team is here every step of the way to help monitor your dog’s progress and make adjustments to your plan.

Please do! They will take comfort in the fact that we work alongside board certified veterinary nutritionists, and while many vets fight over different food trends, just about every vet agrees that fresh, nutritionally-balanced food is great for dogs. Our recipes are formulated to fully replace a standard diet, but many pups with a range of health issues are also doing great on our meals.

You can! But recent research found 95% of recipes online to be lacking in crucial nutrients for dogs. Serious complications from nutrient deficiencies (and, more commonly, overdosing) could arise if a recipe hasn’t been properly calibrated. For those interested in home cooking, The Farmer’s Dog DIY program (in development) provides pre-mixed nutrient packs formulated by our veterinary nutritionists to use with suggested recipes — subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates on our DIY program.

Yes! We have recipe options suitable for every life stage, and we’ll recommend a plan that’s just right for your dog’s age – you can enter your dog’s exact age on our dog profile questionnaire.

Every dog is different, and your exact plan and price options will depend on your dog(s) and their food needs, factoring in age, weight, activity, recipe choice, and more. Plans start at about $2/day, and delivery options mostly range from 1 week to 3 months of food and include free shipping. Because we deliver the food right to your door, your dollars are going towards the highest quality ingredients, and not to the mark-ups of a big retail store.

To see your exact pricing options, simply fill out our short questionnaire.

Click here to tell us about your dog and weʼll determine their perfect plan. Itʼll only take a few minutes!

We work closely with our vet nutritionists to figure out the optimal calorie needs for different combinations of breed, age, activity level, and ideal weight. Certain dogs can metabolize faster than others, so some plans may need further adjusting.

We did. (The dogs helped).

We currently ship to the 48 contiguous states. With our meal plans, customers receive deliveries of freshly prepared food on a recurring and flexible basis. Plans are customized to fit your dog’s needs and come in convenient serving packs to make feeding easy. Your pup’s food arrives in refrigerated and environmentally friendly boxes that keep the food safe. We perfectly time deliveries to make sure you never run out of food and you will have the ability to adjust deliveries at any time online.

As long as one pack is still partially frozen and all packs are cold to the touch, theyʼre safe to feed and refreeze!

Thatʼs okay! Our insulation and dry ice are meant to keep your food safe and cold until at least 11pm the day of intended delivery.

Click here to see tracking info for your shipped orders. We also send an email notification with this information for each order.

Very! You can change addresses, rush, delay, or edit the amount of food we send. Once you’re signed up, you can easily make tweaks to your plan to your personal preference online.

This planet gave us dogs, so taking care of it is a priority. We pack our boxes with the environment in mind. You can recycle the cardboard box the food is delivered in and our insulation is biodegradable. You can compost it, or even just put it in the sink, run some water over it, and it will dissolve right down the drain. The food storage container that comes in each shipment is also biodegradable, and all of our packs are made from BPA-free materials and are non-toxic.

Your order will arrive in a cardboard box with corn starch insulation and either dry ice or cold packs to keep the food at a safe temperature while in transit. Dry ice should be left untouched in the box, where it will disappear very quickly. The cold packs can be refrozen and reused, or can be safely disposed of by allowing them to fully defrost, then cutting the top off and pouring the thawed contents down the drain (itʼs drainsafe and nontoxic!). The empty cold pack, our empty food packs, and the corn starch insulation wrapper are all recyclable with #4 plastics—and once removed from its wrapper, the insulation itself can be composted or dissolved under running water, which is pretty fun.

You can reset your account password by visiting this page. You’ll receive a reset link in your email inbox where you can then input a new password.

If your dog doesn’t love our food, we can send you additional recipes to try, or you can opt for a refund if you donate the food to a shelter.

Click here to see a summary of your orders. Once an order is in transit, you’ll see its tracking link appear and can keep an eye on the anticipated delivery date.

You can find a summary of upcoming orders here . You’ll be notified via email about each order prior to billing and shipment.

Yes, you can easily pause, cancel or reactivate your subscription anytime. Click here to visit your Customer Account to do so.

Yes! In the Subscription tab of your Customer Account you can easily reschedule your upcoming order to receive it sooner, or to delay the shipment. Click here here to reschedule your orders.

Definitely! You can change the delivery address on your next order in the Shipping Details section of your Customer Account. If you’d like subsequent orders to ship to your regular address, just be sure to update your details again before your pup’s next batch of meals is cooked!

It’s easy to feed The Farmer’s Dog while on the move! If you prefer to send food directly to your destination, you can change your shipping address in your Customer Account at any time. If you’d rather travel with your food and are running low, just rush an order to your home before you leave. When traveling with fresh food, it’s best to keep it in an insulated container or tote along with a few ice packs.