If you’re considering feeding your dog fresh, pre-portioned food from The Farmer’s Dog, you may have questions about what’s in the food, where to get it, how to sign up, and more. The good news is that, in addition to being healthy for your friend, The Farmer’s Dog food is easy to order and feed. Here’s what you need to know about our food, and how to get started.
Signing up for The Farmer’s Dog food
If you’re interested in fresh food from The Farmer’s Dog, you can make a customized subscription plan for your dog right on our site. We’ll ask you a few short questions about your dog so that we can create a plan to meet their unique needs, and we’ll deliver the food right to your door.
Our fresh food comes pre-portioned for your dog, taking into account their age, weight, body condition, breed, activity level, spay/neuter status, and other factors. This more precise portioning system (no weighing, or guesstimating cups or scoops vs. weight ranges) makes it easier to manage your dog’s weight. And it’s easy to change their portions as they grow, as their needs change, or as directed by your veterinarian.
What is in The Farmer’s Dog food?
Every recipe from The Farmer’s Dog is made from fresh, whole, human-grade food.
“Human-grade” means that all the ingredients used to make our food, and the facilities where the food is made, meet the same safety and quality standards that govern the food humans eat. Very few pet foods are made to this stringent standard.
Our food is gently cooked to destroy potential pathogens but retain the nutritional value and moisture of the ingredients, then frozen so it can stay fresh and safe as it travels to your home.
Our on-staff, board-certified nutritionists carefully formulate each recipe to be 100% complete and balanced according to AAFCO standards. All our recipes provide the right amount, and balance, of protein, fat, fiber, and vitamins and minerals to sustain your dog’s health and vitality over their whole life.
We use only human-grade ingredients sourced from reputable food suppliers, local farms, and other human-food purveyors that meet human-grade standards.
Because our recipes are made from real, whole meat and vegetables, and lightly cooked, our food is highly digestible—in fact, our food is clinically shown by third-party research to be highly digestible and palatable. Digestibility is an important measure of pet-food quality—it refers to how much of a food’s nutritional value can be absorbed into an animal’s bloodstream. “Palatable” means that dogs love eating it!
The Farmer’s Dog offers a variety of human-grade recipes using different proteins, vegetables, and macronutrient profiles to suit dogs with diverse needs.
How to defrost The Farmer’s Dog food
To defrost The Farmer’s Dog food, just remove it from the freezer and put it into the refrigerator 12 hours before you want to feed it to your dog. Once thawed, the packs should keep safely in the fridge for up to four days.
To thaw the food more quickly in a pinch, you can run packs under cold water in your sink. However, please know that we prefer and recommend the refrigerator-defrosting method.
How long can The Farmer’s Dog food sit out at room temperature?
Since our food doesn’t contain any preservatives, if your dog isn’t eating the food and it has been out of the fridge for 2 hours (1 hour if above 90°F), we recommend following USDA guidelines and tossing it out to be as safe as possible—the same way you would with fresh food for yourself and your human family members. Don’t put the food back in the refrigerator—once it’s been out that long, re-cooling won’t make it safe again.
Can you heat up The Farmer’s Dog food?
Our food is already cooked, and we don’t recommend cooking it again. Whether you do so on the stove or in the microwave, you could hurt its nutritional value. If your dog prefers their meals a bit warmer, try adding a touch of warm water to their food before serving it to them.
Can you mix The Farmer’s Dog food with kibble?
Yes. Some fresh food in your dog’s diet is better than none, so we offer mixing plans. For more information on how to set up a mixing plan for your dog, and make fresh food work for your budget, talk to one of our customer service representatives.
Is it safe to feed my dog home-cooked food?
You can cook for your dog at home, but research has found nutrient deficiencies in the vast majority of recipes for homemade dog food available online and in books. Serious complications from deficiencies or toxicities can arise if a recipe hasn’t been properly formulated.
That’s why, in addition to our pre-portioned, ready-to-eat food, we offer a Do-It-Yourself Nutrient Mix and recipes developed by our board-certified nutritionists. This is a great option for customers who have time to home-cook for their dogs. Following these recipes and using our nutrient mix ensures that your home-cooked diet is complete and balanced, and safe for daily feeding.
Where to buy The Farmer’s Dog food
You can make a fresh-food plan for your dog on our site. We sell our fresh food directly to customers because it is the best way for us to deliver the right recipes for their dogs, in the right portions. Our subscription model allows us to deliver convenience to dog owners, while delivering all the benefits of real, complete and balanced food to dogs.
Does The Farmer’s Dog make cat food?
We don’t make cat food right now, but we’ll let you know if that changes!
Where is The Farmer’s Dog food made?
The Farmer’s Dog food is always made in the United States, in human-food facilities. That means they meet the same safety and quality standards as those making food for people.
Every step of our sourcing, cooking, packaging, and storage process is subject to these strict standards.
Is The Farmer’s Dog dry food? What about raw? Is it wet food?
The Farmer’s Dog is fresh food, which is different from dry, raw, and wet (or canned) food options.
Kibble is an ultra-processed food, subject to a high-heat manufacturing process, including high-heat drying to remove moisture (making the product shelf-stable). The process also often includes the addition of preservatives. The processing used to create this type of pet food significantly damages ingredients’ natural nutrients.
Raw food, as its name suggests, is totally raw—it’s never cooked at all.
“Wet food” or “moist food” usually describes highly processed canned food.
The Farmer’s Dog delivers fresh, pre-portioned food. Our food is made from fresh, whole ingredients with added vitamins and minerals to ensure it is complete and balanced for daily feeding. It’s fully cooked to destroy potential foodborne pathogens, but at temperatures lower than those used in more traditional pet-food processing methods like extrusion and canning. As a result, it retains more of its natural nutritional value and moisture, along with high digestibility.
Reach out with any other questions
Our team is available around the clock, every day of the year, to field your messages and phone calls. Just get in touch, and we’ll get you answers—and help your dog start eating healthy, fresh, complete and balanced food.
