It’s my personal philosophy that flavorful, high-quality dog food is key to a dog’s happiness and long life. Since I’m not the world’s greatest chef, I’ve been looking a little more into fresh dog food brands. These brands offer freshly prepared food with the intent of improving your pet’s quality of life.
The Farmer’s Dog and Ollie are two dog food companies that amazed me right off the bat. Both companies offer custom meal plans for every dog that orders from their website. They even design their meal plans to meet your dog’s lifestyle and nutritional needs. But in the end, only one of these companies was a clear winner.
To determine the superior brand, I compared the quality of Ollie’s dog food and customer experience with The Farmer’s Dog. I even went as far as taste testing both companies’ fresh dog food recipes.
Below, I share my first-hand experiences with the quality of the food (I ate recipes from both), the convenience of their services for pet owners, and of course, the price.
Who should buy The Farmer’s Dog?
If your top priority is the quality of the food, and you want a company that offers a high level of convenience with great customer support, The Farmer’s Dog is an excellent choice.
CLICK HERE: Get my best deal for The Farmer’s Dog →Who should buy Ollie?
Although their customer support, shipping, and packaging is good, I really wouldn’t recommend Ollie to anyone. The dog food is poor quality when it comes to taste, smell, and appearance. I could never justify feeding it to a dog.
CLICK HERE: Get my best deal for Ollie →Quality
I evaluated both dog food brands’ appearance, smell, taste, and ingredients to get an idea of their level of quality.
Appearance
Both the pork and chicken recipes from The Farmer’s Dog had big, savory chunks of ingredients, especially the meat and vegetables. Needless to say, they looked very appealing.
By comparison, Ollie’s chicken and beef dog food recipes resembled something closer to a paste. The recipes looked more like traditional wet dog food than the fresh dog food that was promised.
Smell
Both recipes from The Farmer’s Dog smelled exactly like their main ingredients—the proteins. A few other components came through, too, like the aroma of carrots. But in general, all three dishes from The Farmer’s Dog smelled pretty much like what one would expect, given the names of the recipes.
Ollie’s smells, on the other hand, were difficult to pick out. The aromas were more convoluted. In both the beef and chicken recipes, the most prominent scents were the greens. There was a slight sour scent—not like the food was spoiled, just acidic. Unfortunately, neither recipe smelled appealing.
Taste
I was surprisingly impressed by the quality of the food from The Farmer’s Dog. All three recipes were quite tasty and had a pleasant texture. These recipes were a pleasure for humans to eat, so I’m sure dogs will love them even more.
With Ollie’s beef and chicken recipes, what struck me right away was the texture. As I suspected, it was as pasty as it looked. The dog food gets caught in your mouth as you chew. Not only was the texture pasty, it was also sandy. Feeling the grainy texture on one’s tongue makes the experience fairly unpleasant. The flavor itself was very strong, which probably came from the inclusion of too much organ meat. The Farmer’s Dog uses organ meat in their recipes, too, but it didn’t make the taste off-putting like it had for Ollie’s.
Ingredients
Both companies use whole ingredients. They also supplement their dog food with a mix of nutrients in order to meet AAFCO standards.
CLICK HERE: Get my best deal for The Farmer’s Dog →Veterinary nutritionists designed both companies’ recipes. However, The Farmer’s Dog makes a point of stating that their veterinary nutritionists are board certified, whereas Ollie does not. Both companies make their dog food in USDA-inspected kitchens, too.
When it comes to nutrition, I like to look at dog food’s protein level as a quick assessment. The Farmer’s Dog has 8-11% protein, while Ollie has 9-11%.
Convenience
How easy is it for pet owners to buy from these companies? Below, I give an honest assessment of my experience with purchasing, shipping, and packaging through Ollie and The Farmer’s Dog.
Purchasing
Both The Farmer’s Dog and Ollie require a subscription before you can order fresh dog food for your pup. However, both companies have a user-friendly dashboard that makes it really easy to cancel.
Shipping
Shipping will vary based on your location within the US. In my experience, The Farmer’s Dog was really fast. I placed my order on Sunday night, and by the following Wednesday it was on my doorstep—that’s basically two full business days in transit.
With Ollie, I placed my order on a Saturday and received it the following Friday. So, it took four full business days to arrive.
Both products arrived well-packed on dry ice, which kept the food frozen solid. The only difference I found was that The Farmer’s Dog’s food came with cellulose insulation. The best way to get rid of cellulose insulation is to dissolve it and wash it down the sink. Ollie, on the other hand, was packed with completely recyclable materials, making it a little bit easier to dispose.
Packaging
In terms of how the food itself was packed, I really liked the way that The Farmer’s Dog prepared its frozen patties. They were laid out nice and thin, which meant they were quick to thaw in the fridge. Each frozen patty weighs about a pound. I thought this was a reasonable amount to defrost.
By comparison, Ollie’s were more like bricks. They were large and thick, and took longer to thaw. The packages are 1.5 to 1.75lbs frozen patties, which is a bit much to defrost for one meal. They do provide a puptainer and a scoop, however, making it convenient to store your dog’s food in the fridge for four days.
Cost
I prefer to evaluate the cost of the food on a dollar-per-pound basis, because the comparison is more clear. My calculations show that The Farmer’s Dog comes in at about $7/lb, whereas Ollie comes in at about $6/lb. Although a little pricier than other brands, these costs are expected for fresh dog food.
CLICK HERE: Get my best deal for Ollie →My Recommendation
If you’re willing to pay a touch extra for fresh dog food, there’s no question that The Farmer’s Dog is a better tasting option. Your pup will appreciate the superior flavor, too. Use my link below to get the best deal I currently have access to:
CLICK HERE: Get my best deal for The Farmer’s Dog →