Far Fetched Foods
Why fresh?
Dogs do better on real food. That isn't a slogan — it's what the research keeps showing. Here's the honest version: what the evidence actually says, what it doesn't say, and the questions we get asked most. We make fresh, complete meals for dogs, cooked right here in Atlanta and delivered in a reusable cooler and compostable packaging so feeding your dog well doesn't mean creating waste.
The short version
Fresh, gently cooked food is more digestible than kibble, built from ingredients you'd recognize in your own kitchen, and balanced to meet the same nutritional standard every complete dog food is held to. It isn't magic and it isn't a cure. It's just good food, made carefully, for an animal that's part of your family.
The evidence
What the research actually says
Dogs absorb more of what's in fresh food
In a controlled study, dogs fed gently cooked fresh diets — including a turkey-based one — digested significantly more of their protein, fat and calories than the same dogs eating a comparable kibble. They also produced noticeably less stool, because less of the food passed through unused. Kibble is made at very high heat and pressure, which is part of why its nutrients are harder for a dog to break down.
Source: Apparent total tract nutrient digestibility of fresh vs. extruded diets, NIH / PubMed Central. Read the study →
The vegetables earn their place
A long-running study at Purdue found that dogs eating green leafy and yellow-orange vegetables a few times a week had a meaningfully lower risk of a common bladder cancer than dogs that didn't. That's exactly why our recipes include spinach and carrots — not as filler or color, but because whole vegetables bring antioxidants and micronutrients that isolated supplements don't fully replace.
Source: Raghavan et al., Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 2005. Read the study →
Less processing means fewer compromises
Kibble is cooked twice, at temperatures high enough to degrade heat-sensitive nutrients. We cook gently, just enough to be safe, and then we add the things heat would damage — the salmon oil and the vitamin and mineral mix — cold, after the food is already chilled. It's a small detail that protects the nutrition you're paying for.
Background: pet-food digestibility & processing, American Kennel Club. Read more →
Complete and balanced — and we'll show you the numbers
Fresh doesn't mean improvised. Both of our recipes were formulated to be complete and balanced by the board-certified veterinary nutritionists at Pet Recipe Designers, and the finished food is sent to an independent lab (Eurofins) to confirm it meets AAFCO's adult-dog standard. We publish the results. The veterinary mix we use is Chef Canine Complete, designed by Dr. Rebecca Remillard, DACVIM — we name it because most brands won't.
Standards: AAFCO · how to evaluate any dog food: WSAVA nutrition guidelines →
Straight answers
The things people worry about
"Fresh food is too high in fat — won't it cause pancreatitis?"The honest answer
Part of this is true, and worth taking seriously: a sudden, very rich, fatty meal — think bacon grease or holiday table scraps — can trigger pancreatitis, especially in dogs that are overweight, have had it before, or belong to a predisposed breed like a Miniature Schnauzer. A 2008 veterinary study found that dogs who'd eaten unusual fatty foods were several times more likely to develop it.
But "fresh food" and "a high-fat meal" aren't the same thing. The trigger is the amount of fat and the individual dog — not whether the food is fresh or dry. Our Turkey recipe is formulated at a moderate fat level (roughly 10–12% on a dry-matter basis), which sits inside the range vets recommend for healthy adult maintenance and works for many dogs who need fat kept in check. If your dog has a history of pancreatitis, talk to your vet about a target fat level — and we're glad to hand over our full guaranteed analysis so the two of you can decide together.
Source: Lem et al., dietary factors and pancreatitis in dogs, JAVMA, 2008. Read the study →
"My dog needs kibble to keep his teeth clean."The honest answer
This one's mostly a myth. Most kibble shatters the moment a dog bites down, so it never really scrubs the gumline where plaque and tartar do their damage. Large surveys haven't found cleaner teeth in dry-fed dogs — in fact, roughly 80% of dogs show signs of dental disease by age three regardless of what they eat.
The products actually proven to reduce plaque and tartar are the specially engineered dental diets and chews that carry the Veterinary Oral Health Council seal — not ordinary kibble. The thing that genuinely protects your dog's teeth is brushing and regular vet dental care. Feeding fresh costs you nothing on that front, and it skips the refined starches that feed plaque in the first place.
Authority: Veterinary Oral Health Council (the list of products clinically shown to reduce plaque & tartar).
"Doesn't cooking destroy all the nutrients anyway?"The honest answer
Heat does affect some nutrients — which is the whole reason for how we build a batch. We cook the proteins, vegetables and rice gently, then blast- chill them, and only after that do we fold in the salmon oil and the vitamin and mineral mix. The fragile ingredients never see the heat. Then the finished food is lab-tested so we know what's actually in the bowl, not just what's on the recipe card.
"Fresh and raw are the same thing — isn't that risky?"The honest answer
They're not the same. Raw food is uncooked; ours is cooked, which removes the food-safety concerns that come with raw meat for both your dog and your household. You get the digestibility and whole-food benefits of minimally processed food without the raw-handling risk. We make it in a licensed commercial kitchen, not at home, under a written food-safety plan.
Full transparency
What's actually in the bowl
Turkey
Everyday recipe ยท moderate fat
- Ground turkey
- Chicken liver
- Bone broth
- Brown rice
- Pumpkin
- Carrots
- Spinach
- Blueberries
- Salmon oil
- Chef Canine Complete vitamin & mineral mix
Chicken
For variety & active dogs ยท slightly richer
- Ground chicken
- Chicken liver
- Bone broth
- Brown rice
- Pumpkin
- Carrots
- Spinach
- Blueberries
- Salmon oil
- Chef Canine Complete vitamin & mineral mix
See the recipes
Two complete recipes, real ingredients, delivered fresh in a reusable cooler.
The research, in full
- Apparent total tract nutrient digestibility and metabolizable energy in commercial fresh and extruded dry kibble dog foods. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Raghavan M, Knapp DW, Bonney PL, Dawson MH, Glickman LT. Evaluation of the effect of dietary vegetable consumption on reducing risk of transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder in Scottish Terriers. JAVMA, 2005;227(1):94–100. avmajournals.avma.org
- Lem KY, et al. Associations between dietary factors and pancreatitis in dogs. JAVMA, 2008;233(9):1425. avmajournals.avma.org
- Veterinary Oral Health Council — accepted products for plaque and tartar control. vohc.org
- All About Pet Food Digestibility. American Kennel Club. akc.org
- Global Nutrition Guidelines & selecting a pet food. World Small Animal Veterinary Association. wsava.org
This page is for general education and isn't a substitute for veterinary advice. Every dog is different — if yours has a medical condition, talk to your veterinarian about the right diet, and we'll happily share the full guaranteed analysis for either recipe.