As anyone who follows my blog by now knows, we have a house full: 11 cats, 1 dog, 1 turtle, and 1 rabbit. All are rather spoiled if I do say so myself.
Well, today, we are focusing on Scooby, our beloved pup. She is a picky eater when it comes to her dog food. Table food? No problem. Stealing cat food? Delicious! But her own food? It's like pulling teeth! So when a company called Grocery Pup reached out with trying some food for her, I was excited, yet still skeptical based on our experience with her pickiness.
Who is Grocery Pup? Grocery Pup provides fresh dog food that’s as close to homemade as it gets without making it yourself. Grocery Pup meals are cooked sous-vide to lock in the nutrients, taste, and texture of its meats and whole vegetables and fruits.
We were sent the Beef Stew and the Turkey Pawella foods for her to try. I was skeptical at first and didn't think it was going to work out. The food was shipped frozen, to it needs to be thawed before it is used. Instructions are included, but you can also find information on the website or through the amazing customer service. I had to reach out because I was 'blind' when it arrived and didn't notice the included instructions for 'getting started FAQ' page! So let one bag of food thaw at a time to keep it fresh. As I said, further instructions can be found on the website if need be.
So it's been about 2 weeks, give or take, that we have been on the dog food at this point. I keep Scooby's regular dry food out but started off with very small portions to introduce Scooby to the new food.
On the first day, after the food was completely thawed out, I gave Scooby a small scoop in a dish. It was thawed out, I mashed it up a bit so it wasn't a big chunk and let it be. She sniffed it, but didn't seem too interested. She then started to just sit in front of the dish and would growl at any of the cats that attempted to even sniff the food! So clearly some interest was there, but she wasn't really touching it.
On day two, I decided that I would warm the food for 1 minute. Maybe Scooby isn't into cold food? Well, her interest definitely peaked with that. While I'm not a fan of how it smells warmed up, Scooby sure did! She was excited, but I would put her dish down and come check in and a few minutes later it was gone. Yet, while I was in the room she would just stare at it. So what's the deal? She's wagging her tail, sniffing, won't let anyone near the dish, but wasn't touching it. I began thinking the cats were eating it and not her.
Finally, I decided to do the routine of warming up the food and setting out and this time I did some work in the kitchen. After a minute, sure enough, after a few minutes of staring and sniffing, Scooby would go and gobble down the food! So all those times, it had been her eating it! I had been so convinced it just wasn't going to be to her taste, but it seems she wants her food warmed up but gives it a few minutes to cool down before eating it to a temperature she likes.
For us, Scooby still eats her dry food, but she perks up a LOT more when it comes to the Grocery Pup Human-Grade dog food. I love that the food is actually cooked with quality ingredients and is much healthier than the 'regular' brand we buy. There's no 'byproduct' and 'junk ingredients' as I call them. It's healthy and is much better for your dog's health, in my opinion.
Best of all, if it turns out your dog just isn't a fan of the food for whatever reason, Grocery Pup offers a money back guarantee! So you have nothing to lose except missing out on probably one of the best dog food brands that we've tried in my house!