Feeding “Fresh”: What It Really Means (and What It Doesn’t)
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If you watched the Super Bowl or spent any time scrolling on your phone, chances are you were targeted by ads from large pet food brands promising a “fresh diet” for your pet.
After more than 25 combined years in the pet industry, we’ve watched trends and fads come and go. “Fresh” is the latest buzzword, but what does it actually mean?
The Problem With “Fresh” Marketing
Many brands marketing themselves as fresh, like Freshpet, The Farmer’s Dog, Just Food For Dogs, Ollie, and others, sound appealing at first glance. But when you dig deeper, the reality often doesn’t match the marketing.
Many of these foods are:
- Very high in carbohydrates (often 12–78% carbs)
- High in fat (The Farmer’s Dog formulas range from 19–34% fat)
- Built around ingredients like wheat macaroni, which may look good to us but do not belong in a pet’s diet
- Associated with large recalls
- Lacking transparency, with ingredient sourcing and full details often hidden until after signing up for a subscription
- Cooked at high temperatures similar to canned pet food and kibble, or do not disclose what temperature they are cooked at
Beyond macronutrients, ingredient choices matter and this is where we start to see real concerns.
The Farmer’s Dog & Choline Bitartrate
The Farmer’s Dog includes choline bitartrate, a synthetic form of choline often added to highly processed foods. Recent research has linked choline bitartrate to the formation of a newly identified urinary stone in dogs known as Calcium Tartrate Tetrahydrate stones.
While research in this area is still emerging, this type of stone is not dissolvable through diet, making prevention especially important. When we see ingredients potentially associated with new and difficult-to-manage health issues, that’s a red flag for us.
Freshpet & Carrageenan
Freshpet uses carrageenan, a thickening and stabilizing agent commonly found in processed foods. Carrageenan has been associated with inflammation and gastrointestinal irritation, particularly in sensitive individuals.
While it helps improve texture and shelf life, we don’t believe ingredients linked to inflammation belong in foods marketed as “fresh” or health-forward, especially for pets already struggling with digestive issues.
Just Food For Dogs & Fillers
Several recipes of Just Food For Dogs rely heavily on high-glycemic carbohydrates, including ingredients like wheat macaroni, rice, and potatoes. While these may appear wholesome or appealing to humans, they are not biologically appropriate for dogs and can contribute to blood sugar spikes, weight gain, inflammation, and digestive issues over time. Many of their formulas are also relatively high in carbohydrates overall, which dilutes the amount of species-appropriate protein in the diet. When a food marketed as “fresh” is built around fillers and starches rather than meat-forward nutrition, it misses the mark of what truly supports long-term canine health.
For us, transparency and ingredient intent matter just as much as cooking method.
Why These Foods Are Popular Anyway
The main difference between these “fresh” foods and traditional kibble is how they’re cooked and preserved.
Instead of being cooked at very high temperatures and preserved with shelf-stable methods like dry food, these diets are:
- Cooked at lower temperatures
- Preserved through freezing or refrigeration
That does preserve more nutrients, but it comes at a cost.
Many of these foods are nearly double the price per pound compared to high-quality raw diets. Add in shipping delays, thawing during transit, subscription hassles, and constant recalls, and convenience starts to fade quickly.
The Hidden Cost of Heavy Marketing
Another important piece of the conversation, especially with brands like The Farmer’s Dog, is where your money is actually going.
The Farmer’s Dog spends millions of dollars on advertising, from Super Bowl commercials to nonstop social media targeting. While the marketing is polished and effective, that cost doesn’t disappear, it gets passed directly to the consumer.
When a significant portion of the price is funding ads and influencer campaigns, less of your dollar goes toward:
- Ingredient quality
- Ethical sourcing
- Rigorous testing
- Long-term formulation research
This is one of the reasons “fresh” has gained a reputation for being overly expensive. Consumers aren’t just paying for the food, they’re paying for the marketing behind it.
Unfortunately, this has given the entire fresh and gently cooked category a bad name, even though there are thoughtfully made options that prioritize nutrition over advertising budgets.
At Local Paws, we’d rather see your money go into what’s in the bowl, not what’s on your screen.
Why This Matters
When fresh food is positioned as a luxury product through aggressive marketing, it creates the belief that feeding better is inaccessible or unrealistic. The truth is, fresh doesn’t have to mean expensive—it has to mean intentional.
Brands that invest in:
- Transparent sourcing
- Simple, species-appropriate ingredients
- Safety testing and feeding trials
often cost less in the long run than subscription-based foods designed to impress advertisers instead of pets.
Our Philosophy and Honest Take
We don’t partner with brands because they’re trendy or loud. We partner with brands that:
- Let the ingredients speak for themselves
- Invest in quality, not commercials
- Educate rather than oversell
That’s how we help pet parents make choices that are sustainable, nourishing, and realistic, without the marketing markup.
We’d love to recommend raw food to everyone, but the truth is, not every pet does well on raw. That’s why we spent the last year carefully comparing lightly cooked options to find ones that actually align with our standards.
Here’s what we look for:
- Longevity in the industry
- Full transparency with sourcing, ingredients, and analysis
- Lab safety testing for pathogens like salmonella, listeria, and E. coli
- Verified feeding trials and accurate guaranteed analysis
After extensive research, two brands rise to the top.
Smallbatch Gently Cooked
We have actually carried this line since we were in the mobile trailer in 2020! What we love about it besides everything listed above? Less packaging, low fat, and less carbohydrates. Most gently cooked or lightly cooked options are individually wrapped in plastic in around 1-2 lb chubs and cooked in that plastic. Talk about waste and time to thaw! Smallbatch's sliders come in a 2lb and 5lb bags and 10lb boxes and are small enough to thaw quickly!
Made and sourced on the West Coast with humanely sourced and harvested meats, certified organic produce, limited ingredients, and no synthetic vitamins or fillers like grains, potatoes, peas, legumes, or heavy starches. They place their classic batches in water baths, bringing the internal temperature up to 150F for just 5 minutes. By gently cooking their batches this way, they're ensuring pasteurization making it easier for delicate tummies. This is a great complete and balanced food for dogs of all sizes and our go-to for those pancreatic kids.
Raised Right
While most plastic packaged companies combine all of their ingredients (produce and meat) into a plastic bag and then cook it well over 160 degrees to reach that kill stage for e-coli, listeria, and salmonella, Raised Right actually cooks their produce and meat separately to preserve more of the vitamins and minerals in the product while cooking the meat to safe temperatures and then combining them. This extra step helps ensure your pet is getting all of the benefits of that produce without cooking them in the process like other brands.
- Most of their formulas also contain less than 2% carbohydrates (compared to 78% in some of The Farmer's Dog).
- Transparency - no guessing what's in these foods! They'll tell you everything you need to know, and more!
- Traceable Ingredients - they'll show you on their website exactly where their ingredients are sourced!
- Lab Safety Testing - yup this is on their website too for you to view!
Raised Right is also formulated by Dr. Karen Becker! If you've been in the store we've probably talked to you about Dr. Becker and her #1 best selling book The Forever Dog and The Forever Dog Life. So not only is their food veterinarian formulated, but veterinarians are recommending their recipes as a source of nutrition beneficial to healthy dogs & cats as well as pets with a variety of health issues. They were recognized by the Innovative Veterinary Care Journal for the impact their recipes are making in the lives of dogs & cats by being awarded the 2019 Innovation Award for Nutrition.
Additionally, they were able to formulate their adult dog recipes to meet AAFCO’s requirements for a complete & balanced diet through using ONLY whole foods without having to add any synthetic vitamins or minerals.
The Bottom Line
Don’t let slick marketing, subscription models, or TV commercials decide what goes in your pet’s bowl.
“Fresh” doesn’t always mean better, but informed choices do.
If you want to learn the difference between kibble, air-dried, dehydrated, freeze-dried, canned, lightly cooked, fresh, and raw diets, we’re here to help.
Stop by the shop, ask questions, and let’s find what truly works for your pet. 🐾💚