Gently cooked dog food has become a popular alternative for people who want to feed their dog fresh food without feeding raw. But foods sold as “fresh” or “gently cooked” can be surprisingly different.

Some contain mostly meat and whole foods. Others contain considerably more grains, vegetables or starches. Some get most of their vitamins and minerals from whole-food ingredients, while others use a vitamin and mineral premix. Even the cooking methods differ, from sous-vide to low-temperature kettle cooking.

So which gently cooked dog food is best?

We compared gently cooked dog foods available in Canada based on their ingredients, animal protein, protein on a dry-matter basis, supplementation, nutritional adequacy and manufacturer transparency. We also looked separately at foods formulated for dogs requiring lower fat or controlled phosphorus because those foods shouldn’t be judged using the same criteria as an everyday diet.

The Best Gently Cooked Dog Foods in Canada (Quick Summary)

Best For	Our Pick	Why We Chose It
Best Gently Cooked Dog Food Overall	Identity Imagine Gently Cooked Dog Food	95% animal ingredients in its core recipes, very high protein on a dry-matter basis and no synthetic vitamin or mineral premix
Best Gently Cooked Dog Food Without Synthetic Vitamins	Identity Imagine Gently Cooked Dog Food	Uses whole-food ingredients rather than a conventional synthetic vitamin and mineral premix
Best Single-Protein Gently Cooked Dog Food (for allergies)	Identity Imagine Gently Cooked Dog Food — recipe dependent	Several recipes combine very high animal-food content with relatively simple protein formulations
Best Value Gently Cooked Dog Food	Raised Right Beef Gently Cooked Dog Food	Highest Protein-to-Price Index in our comparison: about 55% more expensive per pound than the lowest-priced food, but about 156% more protein per pound.
Best Gently Cooked Dog Food for Pancreatitis	Raised Right Turkey Pancreatic Support Gently Cooked Dog Food	48% protein and only 10.43% carbohydrate on a dry-matter basis while being specifically formulated for pancreatic support
Best Gently Cooked Dog Food for Kidney Issues	Raised Right Turkey Kidney Support Gently Cooked Dog Food	Very low phosphorus while retaining substantially more protein than many conventional kidney diets

If you’re shopping for gently cooked dog food in Vancouver, we carry the foods compared in this guide at Moonlight Natural Pet Store, with pickup in Vancouver and local delivery across Greater Vancouver.

They May All Look Like Fresh Dog Food, but What’s Actually in the Package Is Very Different

One of the easiest mistakes to make when comparing gently cooked dog foods is looking at the crude protein percentage printed on the package.

Fresh foods contain a lot of water. One food might contain 65% moisture while another contains 78%. Comparing their as-fed protein percentages therefore doesn’t tell you how protein-rich the foods are.

That’s why we compare protein on a dry-matter basis (DMB) whenever the necessary nutritional information is available.

Removing the water reveals some very large differences.

For example, Identity 95% Chicken Gently Cooked Dog Food is made with 95% chicken and contains no synthetic vitamins or minerals. Identity also says its recipes contain 1.5 to three times more meat than several competing fresh-food brands.

By comparison, other gently cooked foods derive considerably more of their recipe from vegetables, grains or other carbohydrate sources.

That doesn’t automatically make those foods poor choices. It does mean that two packages labelled “fresh dog food” may provide very different nutritional profiles.

How We Ranked the Best Gently Cooked Dog Foods in Canada

We didn’t rank a food highly simply because it is fresh or gently cooked.

Every food first needs to be complete and balanced for its intended life stage. After that, we favour foods that provide more of their nutrition from identifiable animal foods and whole-food ingredients.

1. More Animal Protein

Dogs can eat carbohydrates, but when comparing otherwise complete and balanced foods, we give preference to recipes containing more animal protein.

Because moisture varies so widely between fresh foods, we compare protein on a dry-matter basis rather than relying only on the guaranteed analysis printed on the package.

2. Whole Foods Over Supplementation

We consider foods that achieve nutritional adequacy primarily through meat, organs and other whole foods rather than relying extensively on a synthetic vitamin and mineral premix.

That doesn’t mean a supplemented food is nutritionally inadequate. It is simply that premixes can and have been erroneously over supplemented in the past leading to sick pets which we prefer avoiding. Wholefoods are better.

3. Lower Reliance on Grains and Starches

We favour meat-rich formulations over recipes in which rice, pasta, potatoes or other starches make up a substantial part of the food especially when price is factored in.

Again, that doesn’t mean every dog needs a carbohydrate-free diet.

4. Simpler Protein Sources

Single-animal-protein recipes receive additional consideration, particularly for people who have pets with “allergies” needing elimination diets.

5. Transparent Cooking Methods

Some foods are cooked sous-vide. Others are kettle cooked or use another controlled low-temperature process.

We record the cooking method, but don’t award extra points simply because a manufacturer uses sous-vide instead of a kettle. There isn’t enough evidence to say that one of these methods automatically produces a nutritionally superior dog food as long as the juices from the kettle cooking are not thrown out.

6. Nutritional Transparency

We consider manufacturers that publish complete nutrient analyses rather than only the minimum information required on a guaranteed analysis.

Raised Right is particularly good in this respect. Its full nutrient profiles allow us to compare protein, fat, carbohydrate and phosphorus on both an as-fed and dry-matter basis.

Best Gently Cooked Dog Food Overall: Why Identity Ranks #1

Under our methodology, Identity Imagine Gently Cooked Dog Food currently stands out as our best gently cooked dog food in Canada.

This is because Imagine as a brand, combines three things we prioritize: a high proportion of animal protein with whole-food nutrition while meeting AAFCO compliance. For example, its Identity 95% Chicken Gently Cooked Dog Food is made without grains, potatoes, legumes or peas and contains no synthetic vitamins or minerals.

The difference becomes even clearer when moisture is removed from the comparison. Identity Imagine Bison provides approximately 77.1% protein on a dry-matter basis, Beef 74.1%, Chicken 69.0% and Turkey 65.0%. All four rank among the highest-protein gently cooked foods we compared.

High protein alone doesn’t make a dog food better. But when we combine Identity’s protein concentration with its 95% animal-food content, whole-food formulation and complete and balanced nutrition, Identity does the best job of meeting the criteria we established before comparing the foods. That’s why it earns our #1 ranking.

Best 10 Gently Cooked Dog Foods by Formulation in Canada

We compared more than 25 gently cooked dog food recipes sold in Canada, including different proteins and formulations from Identity, Raised Right, The Butcher’s Pup, Caravan Country Cookhouse, Open Farm Gently Cooked, Freshpet and Tom&Sawyer.

Beyond the foods that made the Top 10, our comparison included Caravan Salmon, Turkey and Beef; Raised Right Pork; The Butcher’s Pup Lamb and Pork Sausages; Open Farm Harvest Chicken, Homestead Turkey, Grass-Fed Beef and Surf & Turf; Freshpet Vital Chicken, Salmon & Ocean Whitefish, and Beef & Bison; and Tom&Sawyer Classic Pork Stew, Kangaroo, Beef & Broccoli, Italian Beef Pasta and Turkey Gobbler.

We also looked separately at foods designed for more specific nutritional needs. These included Raised Right Pancreatic Support Turkey, Pork and Beef, Raised Right Kidney Support Turkey, Pork and Beef, and lower-fat or lower-phosphorus formulations from Tom&Sawyer. As these foods are deliberately reducing nutrients such as fat, protein or phosphorus to achieve a particular nutritional purpose, so we compare them separately in our pancreatitis and kidney sections below.

We therefore compared the foods using the same formulation criteria: protein concentration on a dry-matter basis, protein source, whether nutrients come primarily from whole foods, carbohydrate sources and whether the food is complete and balanced under AAFCO nutrient profiles.

Based on those criteria, the top 10 formulations in our comparison are:

The ranking isn’t simply a protein leaderboard. Protein DMB gives us a useful way to compare foods after accounting for their different moisture levels, but we also consider where that protein comes from, the rest of the formulation, carbohydrate ingredients, nutritional adequacy and whether the food relies on a conventional synthetic vitamin and mineral premix.

That’s why this is a ranking by formulation, rather than a claim that the food with the highest protein percentage is automatically the best food for every dog.

Looking for a Low-Fat Dog Food? Don’t Just Compare the Percentage on the Package

Dogs with pancreatitis are commonly fed lower-fat diets, but simply choosing the food with the lowest crude-fat percentage doesn’t give you the whole picture.

Fresh foods contain different amounts of water and different numbers of calories.

We therefore compare fat on a dry-matter basis and fat per 1,000 calories, then look at what the food provides in return particularly protein and carbohydrate. We discuss the relationship between pancreatitis and diabetes in more detail in our guide to diabetes in pets.

Which Gently Cooked Dog Foods Are Actually Lowest in Fat?

Gently Cooked Dog Food	Protein Source / Recipe	Fat DMB*	Protein DMB*	Fat/1,000 kcal	Wholefoods-Based	Carbs From	AAFCO Compliant
Raised Right Pancreatic Support Turkey	Turkey	17.0%	48.0%	43.2 g	No	Carrots, zucchini, berries, psyllium	Yes — Adult Maintenance
Raised Right Pancreatic Support Pork	Pork	17.0%	48.0%	45.8 g	No	Zucchini, carrots, berries, psyllium	Yes — Adult Maintenance
Raised Right Pancreatic Support Beef	Beef	24.0%	36.0%	56.0 g	No	Pumpkin, carrots, zucchini, berries, psyllium	Yes — Adult Maintenance
Tom & Sawyer Thai Coconut Chicken & Rice	Chicken	8.2%	~33.3%	~ 25 g	No	White rice, carrots, spinach & coconut milk	Yes — Adult Maintenance

* Raised Right Approx. Fat DMB based on Nutrient Profile Analysis provided by Raised Right. Tom&Sawyer DMB calculated from its guaranteed minimum protein/fat and maximum moisture are not equivalent to the complete analyzed nutrient data published by Raised Right.

Tom&Sawyer Thai Coconut Chicken Gently Cooked Dog Food is considerably lower in fat. If a veterinarian wants a dog on the lowest-fat food possible, that difference can be important.

But lowest fat and best overall formulation aren’t necessarily the same thing.

Raised Right Turkey Pancreatic Support Gently Cooked Dog Food nutrient analysis reports 48% protein, 17% fat and about 43.2 g per 1000 calories.

Veterinary nutrition references commonly describe less than about 25–30 g of fat per 1,000 kcal as low fat, while roughly 30–50 g per 1,000 kcal is considered moderate fat. These are practical guidelines rather than proven cutoffs for pancreatitis, and individual tolerance can vary depending on disease severity, recurrence and other health factors. We compare fat per 1,000 calories because it accounts for differences in moisture and calorie density between fresh foods, making it more useful than simply comparing the fat percentage on the package.

Best Gently Cooked Dog Food for Pancreatitis: Raised Right Turkey Pancreatic Support

We give Raised Right Turkey Pancreatic Support Gently Cooked Dog Food the overall win because it combines controlled fat with high protein and relatively low carbohydrate on a dry-matter basis especially for cases where it is non-chronic.

However, Tom&Sawyer Thai Coconut Chicken Gently Cooked Dog Food remains lower in fat. A dog requiring more aggressive fat restriction may therefore be better suited to the Tom&Sawyer formulation.

Pancreatitis can vary considerably in severity and individual fat tolerance, so diet selection should be discussed with your veterinarian.

Does Your Dog Really Need a Low-Protein Kidney Diet?

This is one area where our methodology differs from simply looking for the dog food with the least protein.

Low-protein diets have traditionally been used for dogs with chronic kidney disease partly because reducing dietary protein can reduce nitrogenous waste products such as urea.

But the scientific evidence is more complicated than saying less protein is always better.

A review of dietary management of chronic renal failure in cats concluded that there was no consensus on the effect of protein intake on progression of chronic renal failure and that protein restriction alone had not been shown to profoundly alter its course. The authors also noted that moderate-to-high protein intake has not been shown to cause renal failure in otherwise healthy dogs.

The difficulty is that renal diets often change several things at once.

Protein may decrease, but so can phosphorus and sodium, while fat, carbohydrate and other nutrients change at the same time. When the dogs or cats eating the renal diet do better, it can therefore be difficult to determine which dietary change was responsible.

That distinction is particularly important with phosphorus.

Phosphorus retention is an important concern as kidney function declines, and phosphorus restriction has an established role in nutritional management of chronic kidney disease. The same renal-diet review notes the importance of phosphorus while explaining why studies that change both phosphorus and protein cannot tell us that protein restriction alone produced the benefit.

Why the Lowest-Protein Kidney Food Isn’t Automatically Our First Choice

Some integrative veterinarians take an even stronger position.

Dr. Judy Morgan has argued for looking beyond protein alone when feeding animals with kidney disease and emphasizes the importance of factors including phosphorus, hydration and the individual stage of disease.

These integrative positions shouldn’t be confused with proof from controlled clinical trials. But they raise a legitimate nutritional question: if phosphorus can be controlled without severely restricting high-quality animal protein, is the lowest-protein food automatically the better food?

We don’t think the evidence justifies making that assumption.

Nor do we believe that protein should never be restricted.

Dogs with advanced kidney disease, significant uremia or other complications may require different protein levels. The appropriate diet depends on disease stage, bloodwork, urine results, body condition and the individual dog.

What We Look for in a Kidney-Support Dog Food

For our comparison, we therefore look at:

1. Phosphorus first
2. Adequate high-quality animal protein
3. Protein per 1,000 calories
4. Carbohydrate content
5. Moisture
6. Overall ingredient formulation

We don’t award a kidney food extra points simply because it contains less protein.

Which Gently Cooked Kidney Food Gives You More Protein Without More Phosphorus?

Gently Cooked Dog Food	Protein Source / Recipe	Approx. Protein DMB	Phosphorus DMB*	Protein/ 1,000 kcal	Carb DMB *	Carbs From	AAFCO Compliant
Raised Right Kidney Support Turkey	Turkey	37.0%	0.43%	89.7 g	18.88%	Berries, carrots, zucchini, psyllium	Yes — Adult Maintenance
Raised Right Kidney Support Pork	Pork	38.0%	0.46%	84.5 g	14.31%	Carrots, berries, zucchini, psyllium	Yes — Adult Maintenance
Raised Right Kidney Support Beef	Beef	30.0%	0.49%	56.0 g	16.52%	Carrots, berries, zucchini, psyllium	Yes — Adult Maintenance
Tom & Sawyer Fisherman’s Best Friend	Pollock	~25% manufacturer stated DMB	~0.59%	~ 25 g	Higher than Raised Right	Brown rice, white rice, squash, kale & cranberries	Yes — Adult Maintenance

* Raised Right DMB based on Nutrient Profile Analysis provided by Raised Right. Tom&Sawyer phosphorus DMB calculated from published minimum fed phosphorus and max moisture value.

Best Gently Cooked Dog Food for Kidney Issues: Raised Right Turkey Kidney Support

We give Raised Right Turkey Kidney Support Gently Cooked Dog Food the edge because phosphorus is our first consideration for this category.

At a maximum of 0.43% phosphorus DMB, it has the lowest phosphorus of the Raised Right kidney-support foods we compared while still supplying substantial animal protein.

Raised Right Pork Kidney Support Gently Cooked Dog Food is an extremely close second and arguably has the better general macronutrient profile because it contains slightly more protein and fewer carbohydrates.

If phosphorus were identical, Pork might win.

But when specifically evaluating a kidney-support food, we give Turkey’s lower phosphorus level greater weight.

This recommendation is intended to help compare foods, not replace veterinary advice. Kidney disease varies substantially by stage and individual dog, and diet should be adjusted alongside appropriate veterinary monitoring.

Two Gently Cooked Foods Can Cost the Same, but One May Have More Than Twice the Protein

Price per pound is a fairer starting point, but even that can be misleading because the amount of crude protein in a pound of food varies substantially.

For each food, we calculated price per pound and then compared both price and protein with the lowest-priced food in the comparison to come up with our Protein-to-Price Index. A positive result means protein increased proportionately more than price relative to the baseline; a negative result means price increased proportionately more than protein. It is a protein-value measure, not a standalone measure of overall nutritional quality.

Best Value Gently Cooked Dog Food: Why Raised Right Beef Wins

Raised Right Beef Gently Cooked Dog Food produced the highest Protein-to-Price Index in our comparison. At $13.95 per pound, it costs about 55% more than the lowest-priced foods at $8.98 per pound but provides approximately 0.23 lb of protein per pound of food, which is about 156% more protein than the baseline food of Freshpet Vital salmon.

That produces a Protein-to-Price Index of +64.42%, the strongest result in our comparison. Caravan Chicken is the strongest lower-priced alternative: at $10.99 per pound, it costs about 22% more than the baseline while providing about 89% more protein, for an index of +54.26%.

The calculation simply shows why the cheapest food per pound is not necessarily the best value.

At the other end, The Butcher’s Pup Beef costs 78% more than the baseline while providing 67% more protein. Because its price rises slightly faster than its protein, its index is −6%. That doesn’t mean it contains 6% less protein or is 6% worse. It means you’re getting slightly less protein for each dollar spent than with the baseline food.

The effect becomes easier to see with Open Farm Harvest Chicken. It costs 89% more per pound while providing approximately the same amount of protein as the baseline, producing an index of about −47%. Open Farm may still justify its price through factors such as sourcing and traceability, but protein per dollar isn’t where its value lies.

And Tom & Sawyer Turkey Gobbler, at −53%, costs 67% more while containing about 22% less protein per pound than the baseline. Again, that doesn’t make it a poor food. Tom & Sawyer deliberately takes a more meal-style approach that includes ingredients such as potatoes, squash, spinach and cranberries. The index simply tells us that if protein for the money is your priority, you’re paying for characteristics other than higher protein concentration.

How to read the Protein-to-Price Index: +50% means you receive roughly 50% more protein for each dollar spent than the baseline; 0% means protein and price move together; −50% means you receive roughly half as much protein for each dollar spent compared with the baseline.

What Is Gently Cooked Dog Food and How Is It Different from Kibble?

Gently cooked dog food sits somewhere between raw food and conventional processed dog food.

Instead of extrusion which utilizes a high-temperature, high-pressure process commonly used to manufacture kibble, fresh ingredients are cooked using methods such as sous-vide, steam cooking or low-temperature kettle cooking.

The food is then generally refrigerated or frozen rather than made shelf stable.

At Moonlight, our gently cooked dog food selection includes foods made using both sous-vide and kettle-cooking methods, including Identity, Open Farm, Raised Right, The Butcher’s Pup, Tom&Sawyer, Freshpet and Caravan.

“Fresh dog food” is a broader term and is often used for the same category. That’s why throughout this guide you’ll see us discuss both gently cooked and fresh dog food.

Sous-Vide vs. Kettle Cooked: Does One Actually Make Better Dog Food?

Sous-vide foods are generally sealed and cooked at controlled temperatures. Kettle-cooked foods are cooked in batches at comparatively low temperatures.

Caravan, for example, describes Caravan Country Cookhouse Gently Cooked Dog Food as being cooked low and slow in small kettles before being flash frozen.

We don’t currently see enough comparative research to say that a food is nutritionally superior simply because it is sous-vide rather than kettle cooked.

That’s why we record cooking method but don’t award a “Best Sous-Vide” or “Best Kettle-Cooked” food.

What’s in the finished food matters more to our ranking than the name of the cooking technique.

Is Gently Cooked Dog Food Actually Better for Dogs? Here’s What the Research Has Found

There are good reasons to be interested in gently cooked dog food, but the research is still developing. While several studies have found differences in digestibility and the gut or skin microbiome, there isn’t enough evidence to conclude that every gently cooked food is healthier than every well-formulated kibble.

One of the more useful studies directly compared adult dogs fed extruded, mildly cooked and raw diets. Algya and colleagues measured nutrient digestibility as well as fecal characteristics, metabolites and microbiota in dogs eating the different foods. The mildly cooked and raw diets had higher apparent total-tract digestibility for several macronutrients than the extruded diet and produced differences in fecal characteristics and microbial populations.

That’s important because it provides evidence from dogs eating the different diet formats rather than relying only on laboratory measures of digestibility. However, the foods also differed in ingredients and nutrient composition, so the study cannot tell us that cooking method alone caused every difference observed.

A later study followed 20 healthy adult beagles eating either an extruded kibble or a mildly cooked human-grade diet. After 12 weeks, the mildly cooked diet produced substantial changes in the dogs’ fecal microbiome, including changes in numerous bacterial species and metabolic pathways. The researchers also measured skin, coat and gene-expression outcomes, but most of those differences were relatively minor.

Again, that’s evidence that diet format and formulation can meaningfully affect the gut environment. It isn’t evidence that those microbiome changes necessarily translate into longer life or a lower risk of disease.

Research into digestibility provides another piece of the picture. Oba and colleagues evaluated six commercial human-grade dog foods and found high nutrient and amino-acid digestibility. However, that research used a precision-fed cecectomized rooster assay rather than feeding the foods to dogs in a long-term clinical trial. It therefore provides useful information about the digestibility of these foods, but not evidence that eating fresh food produces better long-term health outcomes in dogs.

Fresh food has also been studied in relation to the skin microbiome. A small study of eight healthy pet dogs found greater skin microbial diversity and changes in bacterial composition when the dogs consumed fresh food compared with dry food. Because the study was small and some of the researchers were affiliated with Freshpet, we think these results are interesting but should be interpreted cautiously.

Taken together, the available research suggests that gently cooked and other fresh diets can be highly digestible and can produce measurable changes in the gut and skin microbiome compared with extruded foods.

What the research has not established is that gently cooked food as a category prevents disease, extends lifespan or is universally healthier than every well-formulated kibble.

5 Reasons Pet Owners Choose Gently Cooked Dog Food

You don’t need exaggerated health claims to find practical advantages to gently cooked food.

More Moisture

Fresh foods contain considerably more water than kibble. That can be particularly useful for people who want to increase the amount of moisture their dog consumes through food.

Whole Foods You Can Recognize

Many gently cooked foods make it relatively easy to see what you’re feeding.

Identity, The Butcher’s Pup and Caravan are good examples of foods where meat and recognizable whole-food ingredients form a substantial part of the recipe.

High Animal-Protein Options

As our dry-matter comparison shows, some gently cooked foods contain very high concentrations of animal protein.

An Alternative to Raw Food

For people attracted to fresh-food feeding but uncomfortable handling raw meat, gently cooked food provides another option.

Cooking can kill harmful bacteria such as Salmonella, E. coli and Listeria that may be present in raw ingredients. Cooking can substantially reduce foodborne pathogens when appropriate time and temperature controls are used. In a 2024 study, researchers inoculated beef with Salmonella and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli and found that sous-vide cooking at 62.5°C for 120 minutes produced greater than a 5-log reduction in both pathogens. Shorter cooking times did not consistently achieve this same reduction.

This is an important distinction between properly cooked food and raw food, but it doesn’t mean that every product labelled “gently cooked” is automatically pathogen-free. For households that want to feed fresh food without handling and serving raw meat, gently cooked food provides another option.

Normal food-safety practices still matter. Gently cooked food should be stored, thawed and handled according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Palatability

Fresh food’s moisture, aroma and texture can also make it appealing to dogs that are reluctant to eat dry food.

Gently Cooked vs. Raw vs. Kibble: Which Is Better for Your Dog?

There isn’t one answer for every dog or every household.

Gently cooked dog food can be a good fit if you want fresh, moisture-rich food without feeding raw.

Raw dog food may appeal if your priority is feeding minimally processed animal ingredients and you’re comfortable with raw-food handling and freezer storage.

Dog kibble remains considerably easier to store, travel with and feed economically.

The format alone doesn’t determine whether a food is well formulated.

If you’re deciding between formats, our research on the Best Raw Dog Food in Canada and Best Dog Kibble in Canada goes into the same kind of ingredient and nutritional comparisons we use here.

How the Other Gently Cooked Dog Foods Compare

The foods below didn’t take our overall #1 position, but that doesn’t mean they’re interchangeable. Each brings something different to our gently cooked dog food selection. Depending on whether you care most about protein, cooking method, sourcing, specialized nutrition or nutritional transparency, one may make more sense for your dog than another.

Want a Meat-Rich Food Cooked Sous-Vide? Look at The Butcher’s Pup

The Butcher’s Pup Gently Cooked Dog Food gives shoppers a meat-forward alternative to Identity while taking a different approach to cooking.

Its foods are vacuum sealed and cooked sous-vide. The Chicken recipe contains 16% protein as fed and approximately 64% protein on a dry-matter basis, putting it among the higher-protein gently cooked foods we compared.

The recipes also use recognizable whole-food ingredients rather than relying on a conventional synthetic vitamin and mineral premix. For shoppers looking for a high-protein, whole-food gently cooked food but who specifically prefer sous-vide preparation, The Butcher’s Pup offers something meaningfully different within our selection.

Want More Meat Without Paying $14–$19 a Pound? Look at Caravan

Caravan Country Cookhouse Gently Cooked Dog Food takes a noticeably different approach. Rather than sous-vide cooking, Caravan cooks its food “low and slow” in small kettles before freezing it.

Its recipes contain 80% meat and don’t use rice, pasta or potatoes. Caravan Chicken provides 17% crude protein while costing $10.99 per pound at Moonlight, making it one of the stronger lower-priced options in our comparison.

Price alone doesn’t tell the whole story. Caravan Chicken costs about 22% more per pound than the lowest-priced food we compared but provides approximately 89% more protein.

That puts Caravan in an interesting position between inexpensive, lower-protein fresh foods and considerably more expensive meat-rich options: relatively high meat content and protein without moving into the highest price tier.

Care About Where Your Dog’s Ingredients Come From? That’s Where Open Farm Stands Out

Open Farm Gently Cooked Dog Food isn’t the highest-protein food in our comparison. Its advantage is different: ingredient sourcing and traceability.

Open Farm provides information about ingredient origins and uses third-party animal-welfare standards for its animal proteins. Its Chicken, Turkey and Beef gently cooked recipes contain about 9% protein as fed and approximately 37.5% protein on a dry-matter basis.

That puts them below Identity, The Butcher’s Pup and Caravan under our meat- and protein-focused methodology. But protein isn’t the only reason someone chooses a food. For shoppers who put particular importance on knowing more about where ingredients come from and how animal proteins are sourced, Open Farm brings a different priority to the gently cooked category.

Want Fresh Dog Food That Looks More Like the Meals We Eat? Look at Tom&Sawyer

Tom&Sawyer Gently Cooked Dog Food approaches fresh dog food differently from the meat-heavy formulations at the top of our ranking.

Its recipes are inspired by familiar meals people might recognize. Combinations such as Beef & Broccoli, Italian Beef Pasta, Turkey Gobbler and Thai Coconut Chicken & Rice but formulated to provide the nutritional balance dogs require.

For people attracted to the idea of feeding their dog recognizable, freshly prepared meals rather than a meat-dominant formulation, it offers a distinctly different interpretation of fresh dog food.

Raised Right Publishes More Than the Guaranteed Analysis

Raised Right Gently Cooked Dog Food stands out both for what goes into its regular recipes and for how much nutritional information the company makes available.

Its regular Chicken, Beef, Turkey and Pork recipes are protein-rich and use whole-food ingredients without a conventional synthetic vitamin and mineral premix. Raised Right Beef, for example, contains 23% crude protein, and our value comparison found that its increase in protein substantially outpaced its increase in price.

Raised Right becomes even more distinctive with its pancreatic- and kidney-support recipes.

Rather than providing only the minimum information found on a guaranteed analysis, Raised Right publishes detailed nutrient profiles that allow us to compare protein, fat, carbohydrate and minerals on a dry-matter basis and per 1,000 calories.

That level of transparency is particularly useful when choosing food for a dog with specific nutritional requirements, where knowing that a food is simply “low fat” or “kidney support” isn’t enough. It allows us to compare what the formulations provide, which is why Raised Right features prominently in our pancreatitis and kidney comparisons below.

How to Store Gently Cooked Dog Food Without Wasting Your Money

Most gently cooked dog food needs to be kept frozen or refrigerated.

For frozen foods, move the amount you need into the refrigerator and allow it to thaw before feeding. How long it remains fresh after thawing varies by manufacturer.

Caravan, for example, recommends moving Country Cookhouse into the refrigerator about 24 hours before feeding and says thawed food can be refrigerated for up to 5 days. We generally err on the side of caution to suggest 3 days.

The manufacturer’s instructions should always take priority because package size, formulation and processing differ between brands.

For smaller dogs, this is worth considering before buying large packages. A lower price per pound isn’t much of a saving if part of the food regularly goes to waste.

Can Puppies Eat Gently Cooked Dog Food? Check This Before You Buy

Some can. Some shouldn’t.

Whether a gently cooked food is appropriate for a puppy depends on the nutritional adequacy statement, not simply whether the ingredients look nutritious.

Some gently cooked foods are formulated for adult maintenance. Others meet AAFCO requirements for growth or all life stages.

For example, Open Farm Homestead Turkey Gently Cooked Dog Food is formulated for adult maintenance. Caravan says its Country Cookhouse recipes are complete and balanced for all life stages, from puppies through seniors.

Check the nutritional adequacy statement for the specific recipe you’re considering, particularly when feeding a growing large-breed puppy.

Where to Buy Gently Cooked Dog Food in Vancouver

If you’ve decided that fresh food makes sense for your dog, the next challenge is finding it locally.

Frozen food doesn’t lend itself to ordinary Canada-wide parcel shipping, which makes local availability important.

Moonlight Natural Pet Store carries gently cooked and fresh dog food in Vancouver from brands including Identity, Open Farm, Raised Right, The Butcher’s Pup, Tom&Sawyer, Freshpet and Caravan. You can shop in our Vancouver store, order online for pickup or choose local frozen van delivery across Greater Vancouver.

Not sure which one makes sense for your dog? Ask us. We’ll help you compare the foods based on your dog’s needs rather than simply pointing you toward whichever package costs the most.

References

1. Algya, Kiley M., et al. “Apparent Total-Tract Macronutrient Digestibility, Serum Chemistry, Urinalysis, and Fecal Characteristics, Metabolites and Microbiota of Adult Dogs Fed Extruded, Mildly Cooked, and Raw Diets.” Journal of Animal Science, vol. 96, no. 9, 2018, pp. 3670–3683. doi:10.1093/jas/sky235.
2. Geary, Elizabeth L., et al. “Effects of a Mildly Cooked Human-Grade Dog Diet on Gene Expression, Skin and Coat Health Measures, and Fecal Microbiota of Healthy Adult Dogs.” Journal of Animal Science, vol. 100, no. 10, 2022, skac265. Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/jas/skac265.
3. Polzin, D. J., C. A. Osborne, S. Ross, and F. Jacob. “Dietary Management of Feline Chronic Renal Failure: Where Are We Now? In What Direction Are We Headed?” Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, vol. 2, no. 2, 2000, pp. 75–82. doi:10.1053/jfms.2000.0077.
4. Morgan, Judy. “Diagnosing and Treating Kidney Disease.” Dr. Judy Morgan’s Naturally Healthy Pets. drjudymorgan.com.
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