NutriCanine Raw Dog Food Review

NutriCanine is a subscription-based, raw dog food company in Toronto, specializing in tailored meals to suit your dog's needs. They offer raw and gently cooked diets and high-quality ingredients while also taking the environment into consideration by recycling their shipment packaging. Their meals are formulated by pet nutritionists and they offer 10+ premium protein blends.

As someone who studied holistic nutrition, I find the science behind what we eat to maintain our overall health equally as important for our furry friends. More often, animals are developing the same conditions many of us humans struggle with daily, and a large number of these ailments are caused by poor diet and lack of proper nutrients. As I've said in some of my previous posts, why are we so keen to live healthful lives ourselves and feed our dogs whatever is cheap and easy? As a pet owner, it's our responsibility to take care of our pets in the best way possible. By providing them a proper nutritional diet we will ultimately limit the unnecessary health problems and excessive vet bills that will come down the road.

I strive to find transparent and ethical companies that produce products for the pet industry. While many companies will put out any product they can to make a quick buck, some companies legitimately care for the well-being of your pet; NutriCanine is one of those honest and trustworthy companies.

Here's why:

Product Description

NutriCanine offers a raw subscription-based meal plan for your dog.

They offer standard meal plans based on age, weight, breed, and known illnesses/allergies. They get to know your dog before putting together your rotating meat menu of muscle, organ, and bone blends to ensure total nutrition is established in the diet.

If your pet has specific allergies or health conditions, NutriCanine will work with your veterinarian to determine the best suitable meals for your dog. They will even adjust the bone-muscle-organ content to specifically suit their needs.

Subscription Information

NutriCanine raw dog food is an auto-renewing subscription with no long-term commitment, allowing you to pause or cancel at any time.

Due to the personalization of your meals, payments are automatically processed seven days before your next order. This gives NutriCanine time to customize and pre-portion each of your meals. So consider that when selecting how often your orders arrive.

You can choose to have deliveries every 2, 4, 6, or 8 weeks.

Products Available

NutriCanine offers raw pre-portioned dog meals. On their site, you will also find holistic supplements to benefit the overall health of your dog.

Available Meats:

The standard meal plan offers the bellow meats that include 80% muscle, 10% organs, and 10% bone.

• Chicken
• Beef
• Rabbit
• Pork
• Turkey
• Duck
• Venison
• Lamb
• Kangaroo

They also offer salmon meal that is made of 90% ground whole salmon and 10% ground chicken. 

But do keep in mind, if you need a specific veterinarian-recommended diet, these percentages and ingredients will be altered to suit your dog's needs.

How Are They Packaged?

The meals come pre-portioned and frozen, mailed to you in thermally insulated packaging.

The individually packaged meals indicate their protein type, making it super easy to plan your dog's next meal. 

Getting Your Meals

NutriCanine offers free delivery anywhere in Ontario. And due to the order arriving in thermally insulated packaging with included ice packs, you don't even need to be home! Your order will be left on your doorstep or with your concierge should you reside in a condo.

They are truly a direct-to-consumer brand; by doing so, they are able to cut out retail costs to bring their consumers a pocket-friendly product. However, if you live in or visit downtown Toronto, you can find them in only one store -- Paws in The Six. They sell 1lb and 2lb meal packs. So if you want to try the product before committing to a subscription, check them out. You'll have your dog hooked! 

Product Quality

Honest opinion, they are probably the highest standard for raw foods that I've seen on the market. You can tell they put a lot of love into the meals they feed your dog by the quality of ingredients they use.

Let's talk meat. NutriCanine controls its entire supply chain by raising the bird, lamb, and rabbit proteins within their free-range family farm. Their farm is also free of hormones and antibiotics. For even more peace of mind, they don't use artificial preservatives, colours or flavours either. They produce every aspect of their product in house and then package and deliver it straight to your front door. Each meal is flash frozen to ensure the utmost freshness. Talk about an ethical company; they may just be the best.

Their reason for taking such strict measures is to ensure that every meal adheres to their strict standards on animal welfare, environmental protection and the safe handling of meals.

Another thing to note is a certain stamp on their packaging, 'Ontario Approved.' This means that each item has an Ontario provincially inspected legend on it. There are very few brands in Ontario that offer this. Not to mention that NutriCanine is the only company offering this for raw food. They are currently the only brand in Ontario making "human-consumable" or "human-edible" raw dog food; it would just have to be heated like any raw meat product. Talk about impressive.

Cost

The cost of your order will entirely depend on your dog's weight and how much food they need to consume in one day. It will also be based on whether they need a customized, vet-prescribed diet vs the standard meal plan.

For example, Rocky's ideal weight is 11lbs. The standard diet will cost roughly $64.16 CAD bi-weekly, which works out to $4.58/day. This is amazing, considering I currently pay $150 bi-weekly for his food. I find NutriCanine's pricing to be incredibly fair, especially when you factor in the quality of their meat and overall product.

Customer Service

Their customer service team is very responsive and happy to provide you with any extra information you don't already have; they are also available 24/7. Reach out to them if you need a custom meal plan, or have any related questions. You can contact them via the Facebook chat icon at the bottom of their website, directly on Facebook, by emailing info@nutricanine.ca, or calling them directly at (416) 726-1311.

Notable Information

- NutriCanine offers a return program that allows you to leave out your old recyclable boxes, and they will reintegrate them into their logistic chain. As long as they have access to your door, they will pick up the boxes, and the insulation/ice packs they come with. -- Very environmentally friendly! 

- When Covid-19 first impacted the factory farming industry and limited the supply of raw dog food, NutriCanine wasn't impacted because they aren't tied to any industrial farming practices. They care for the health of your dog and the humane treatment of the animals they raise.

- NutriCanine cares about your well-being as well as your pets. In March, when Covid-19 took hold and the economy began shutting down, they donated 1,000 lbs of dog food to vulnerable and immunocompromised members of the community, as well as those who were impacted financially by the outbreak.

- Every new customer will be sent a pdf document that outlines how to properly transition your dog to raw. The pdf also outlines the expectations of a raw diet, benefits of rotational feeding, health and safety tips and how they partake in keeping a greener and healthier planet. This booklet details everything you'll need to know when you start your NutriCanine meal plan. 

*** DISCOUNTS ***

The more meals you order per delivery will save you between $5 to $20 each time.

But, for your FIRST order, I am happy to provide a 50% off coupon exclusive to Rockys Journal. Use coupon code RockysJournal50 to get 50% off of your first meal subscription order.

*Note that it can only be used one time, only on your first purchase.

FAQ

Overall Opinion

Simply put, I'm impressed. I love everything this company stands for and the quality product they provide.

Unfortunately, I am unable to feed Rocky raw food, so I can't review his personal experience on NutriCanine raw dog food. However, based on the research I've done, I would use them in a heartbeat if I could.

Rocky has so many underlying conditions that makes his diet difficult to manage. We tried going raw once and he did not do well on it. My best advice is to try it out if it's of interest to you. Be sure to transition properly and take notice of how your dog reacts to the new diet. I know many dogs who thrive on raw. Every dog is different, so do your research and ask your vet or meal supplier any questions you may have beforehand. 

If you are going to try raw, I have no doubt that NutriCanine is the best company you'll find.

Does your dog eat NutriCanine raw meals? Are you condisering switching to NutriCanine? Leave your feedback below. We'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences!