I’ve been in touch with a new food maker, Peoplefood for Dogs, and we’ve been trying their product for the past few weeks. This company provides good food – and a service – what you’d probably do yourself if you had the time.
Company Overview
Chicken & Rice
This company is focusing on a simple, healthy, temporary diet that works well nursing a sick dog. The food is perfectly good to rotate into a normal, healthy diet too.
In a sick-dog situation, I totally support the notion of home-cooking versus picking up a different “simpler” commercial dry food. After all, dry food is already a “fast food” with inherent nutritional limitations. A “simpler” dry food (that a sick stomach can handle) probably includes even less nutritional value and will do nothing for your dog’s taste buds!
Peoplefood for Dogs’ chef mentions on their site that one of her dogs passed recently at nearly 21 years. She has another dog over 21. This is great! Diet is certainly a key factor – perhaps the #1 factor – in your dog’s health.
I totally get the name “Peoplefood for Dogs”. I myself have been finding it less and less appropriate to use the term “dog food”. At our house too, the food we provide our dogs includes the same healthy ingredients we eat. And we provide variety. For more information about a home-cooked diet, The Whole Dog Journal has an excellent series on the topic and recently published a summary article in their July journal.
Product Review
I can say without hesitation, our dogs (Sage, Logan and Rio) loved Peoplefood for Dogs! We tried:
- Chicken & Rice (meal)
- Chicken, Sweet Potato & Oatmeal (meal)
- Dried Butternut Squash (treat)
- Dried Chicken Breast (treat)
- Dried Sweet Potato (treat)
- Dried Carrot (treat)
I would be glad to continue integrating this product line into our dogs’ regular diet. Peoplefood for Dogs adds convenience for me, and variety for the dogs. As Peoplefood for Dogs meals are purposefully simple (for upset stomachs), they do not include the full balance of nutrients needed for an ongoing regular diet. But they are a perfectly great occasional meal (say, a couple times a week) or more regularly in combination with other foods (e.g. another type of meat or with veggie glop).
Butternut Squash Treats
The treats were great too. These go in my #2 category of treats – “just for fun (quick)”. I put treats into three categories: 1. training, 2. just for fun (quick) and 3. just for fun (long). These are not tiny enough for training, yet they don’t take long for the dog to eat. So, we use them for a “goodbye” treat when we leave the dogs alone in the house, or as a “NICE JOB” treat (e.g. when the dogs are quiet for a visitor).
The chicken treat can be kept in a drawer or cabinet; the other foods are recommended to keep in the fridge. As such, your Peoplefood for Dogs package may be mailed with a cold-pack. Just make sure you don’t let it sit too long (e.g. if the delivery comes while you’re away for the weekend).
This company uses one meat – chicken – “from the local grocery store”. I personally look for grass-fed, free-range, organic meats from sources I can visit. However, my motivation in carefully finding these sources is our inclusion of raw meat and bones in our dogs’ diet. Peoplefood for Dogs is cooked.
Cost
The price seems about right, $3.55 per pound (for the chicken meals). This is about one meal for an active 50-lb dog. As a couple points of reference, for an active 50-lb dog:
- I used to pay someone $5 per brownie meal before I learned how to make them myself. Now I do the work myself and pay about $1.50 per meal.
- I pay about $3 per meal (about a pound) for Bravo (a “balanced” dose of raw meat mixed with ground bone, organs, fruits and veggies).
As for the treats, each 2-ounce bag costs $4. This is a typical price I am used to paying for healthy treats. I like the relatively small bags. Smaller quantities = fresher food. Larger quantities sit on the shelf longer.
