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Pet Plate Review

Pet Plate Review
Latest posts by Talitha van Niekerk (see all)

Knowing what to feed your dog is a challenge. The market is bursting with brands, types, and strange choices like fresh food meals. Having tried out a few, I landed on Pet Plate, and I haven’t looked back since. However, I never refer people to a product I don’t know well. 

I want to share my personal experience and in-depth knowledge of this great fresh pet food delivery service. Just a warning, you may wonder why they don’t make a pet plate for people since these meals are bursting with goodness, and no, you shouldn’t eat your dog’s food. I mean, you can, but you shouldn’t. 

The Ins and Outs of Pet Plate

Unlike some other pet food services, Pet Plate delivers freshly cooked meals for your pet’s unique dietary needs. Other services such as Darwin’s Dog Food Service deliver raw meals based on the premise that raw food is more natural. However, Pet Plate respects your dog’s dietary needs while ensuring safe meals that have been cooked in a human-quality kitchen. 

Ordering Through Pet Plate

To order through Pet Plate, simply go to their easy-to-use website, fill in your dog’s information, and order is then a quick 4-step process. Meals are delivered speedily and fully frozen. All you need to do is defrost and serve. Fresh pet food doesn’t get easier than that. 

Pet Plate Meals

All of the meals sold by Pet Plate are designed by leading vet experts. This means you will be hitting the mark on your dog’s nutritional requirements with every bite. The meals that Pet Plate designs and sells across the U.S. were designed after Renaldo Webb, the founder of Pet Plate, discovered what ingredients go into mass-produced dog food. 

In an attempt to create nutritious meals that will improve dog health, leading to a longer life, Pet Plate worked with their vet nutritionist, Dr. Renee Streeter, to design their meals. The quality of the ingredients that go into Pet Plate is on par with those used in top human restaurants and family supermarkets across the U.S. 

As Pet Plate states, they don’t make dog food; they make food for dogs. Meals are designed according to the information you upload about your dog. This means you never have leftovers or have to feed more as the meals are exactly the correct portion size and offer the best nutritional value to meet your dog’s needs. 

Pet Plate Convenience

When you have created your pet profile, you simply order meals as needed. The ready-cooked meals arrive frozen, which means you can either stick them all into your freezer and defrost in your microwave as needed, or you can store as much as a week’s worth of meals in your fridge. The containers are all microwave safe, so you can simply defrost and warm from the fridge or freezer. 

If you suddenly acquire another dog, you can add more dog profiles to your account, and the guys at Pet Plate can send you multiple orders in one delivery as per your needs. This makes for an easy-to-use system you can rely on. As my puppy grew, I simply updated the information for her profile with Pet Plate, and they adjusted the meals as her nutritional needs changed. 

An Overview of Pet Plate Meals

With Pet Plate, you can opt for a full meal, which is a day’s worth of fresh food for your pet. You can also choose the topper option, where you combine Pet Plate meal ingredients with your traditional kibbles. This is a great way to transition your dog to fresh food, and it is handy when you want to simply add to your dog’s existing diet to cover a better spectrum of nutritional needs. 

There are several meal options to choose from, and like humans, pets like variety, but some dogs also prefer one meal type to the other, so you can play around and find what works for your dog. 

The Pros and Cons of Pet Plate Meals

Pet Plate Meals have several pros and a few cons to consider:

Pros

  • Meals are prepared from fresh human-grade ingredients
  • Meals are cooked in a human quality kitchen
  • Food is shipped frozen to clients to ensure freshness
  • Meals are frozen and only need defrosting or heating to feed to your dog
  • Each meal is uniquely designed as per your dog’s needs
  • Meals combine fresh meat, vegetables, and fruits as well as nutritionally dense supplements

Cons

  • Meals do contain some preservatives
  • The vitamin and mineral supplements may not be entirely natural
  • The moisture content is a large part of the meal when analyzed, which can mean less meal value per gram
  • Protein content is a mere 7.9% of the meal, which can cause some issues if you have a dog that struggles to keep weight
  • Fiber content is quite low, which can lead to digestive issues

The Pet Plate Menu

Barkin’ Beef Meals

Starting at $1.43 per day, this is an affordable option. Toppers are less at $0.56 per day. Made with grain-free beef, the Barkin’ Beef meals are only made from ground beef and livers, which are both nutritionally dense. Included in the Barkin’ Beef meal is a range of vegetables and fruits that are all beneficial for optimal health. 

You can expect the meal to include:

  • Ground beef and beef liver
  • Potatoes
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Apples
  • Carrots
  • Salmon Oil
  • Pumpkin
  • Peas
  • Vitamin and mineral supplementation that include vitamin B, iron, and manganese
  • Natural preservatives like tocopherols

Chompin’ Chicken Meals

Dog Food with Real Chicken & Vegetables: Chompin' Chicken

Starting at $1.43 a day for a whole meal and toppers at $0.56 per day, this is an affordable high-protein and low-fat chicken meal option. The meal is very flavorsome, and most dogs happily dive in when offered the chicken meal. 

Ingredients include the following:

  • Ground chicken and chicken liver
  • Green beans 
  • Lentils
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Apples 
  • Safflower oil 
  • Salmon oil
  • Vitamin and mineral supplements that contain vitamins E, B, and D, as well as zinc, copper, and manganese

Tail Waggin’ Turkey Meals

For older dogs, a meal with some grain can help with incontinence issues and also assist with much-needed weight maintenance. These needs are ideally met by the turkey meals. With its great taste, your senior dogs will happily munch away at this tasty meal. 

The turkey meal includes:

  • Ground turkey and turkey liver
  • Brown rice 
  • Apples 
  • Pumpkin 
  • Carrots 
  • Red bell peppers
  • Salmon oil 
  • Wild rice
  • Vitamin and mineral supplements 

Lip Lickin’ Lamb

With the gentle flavor and texture, lamb is a great choice for puppies that struggle with allergies and stomach sensitivities. With the added benefit of quinoa, this meal has antioxidant benefits, and it’s rich in fatty acids for great hair growth. 

The ingredients of the lamb meals include:

  • Ground lamb and lamb liver
  • Apples 
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Broccoli 
  • Quinoa 
  • Vitamin and mineral supplements 
  • Salmon oil 
  • Added calcium 

Pet Plate Treats

If the pet plate meals aren’t hitting the spot, you can always try their wholesome treats selection that far outstrips the boring doggy biscuits you buy from the corner market. 

Chicken Apple Sausage Bites

Healthy Organic Dog Treats with Chicken and Sausage

Almost yummy enough for humans to try, these sausage slices are a real winner with dogs. When adding the treats to your meal plan, you pay a lot less per packet, which makes it all the more affordable to spoil your dog. 

Inside the Chicken Sausage Bites, you can expect:

  • Organic chicken 
  • Organic rosemary extract
  • Organic apple 
  • Organic vegetable glycerin 
  • Organic pumpkin 
  • Organic vinegar powder

This organic treat contains a whopping 31% protein, making it a healthy snack for rewards or in between meals. 

Tummy Ticklin’ Digestive Cookies

Puppies tend to have the runs quite often, and feeding probiotics seems to be one of the best ways to help normalize their digestion. Why not feed them a great probiotic treat to help maintain healthy stool and aid in better digestion? 

Inside these great health-boosting treats expect all organic ingredients like:

  • Oats
  • Chia seeds 
  • Vegetable glycerine 
  • Coconut oil 
  • Dried eggs
  • Dried Bacillus coagulans (which is produced by fermentation)
  • Dried Bacillus subtilis 
  • Dried Bacillus licheniformis
  • Rosemary extract 

With a microorganism content of 45B CFU per pound & 2B CFU per treat, your puppy is sure to get the digestive boost they need. 

Jumpin’ Joint Mobility Cookies

Joint Jumpin' Mobility Cookies 4-Pack

How about spoiling the oldies in your home with a cookie that will also boost their mobility with a real dose of chondroitin and glucosamine? Sounds good? Try these mobility cookies as a healthy snack to boost your dog to live a better life. 

The cookies contain organic ingredients like:

  • Oats 
  • Coconut flakes 
  • Cane molasses 
  • Blueberries 
  • Dried whole eggs 
  • Strawberries 
  • Glucosamine hydrochloride
  • Chondroitin sulfate
  • Rosemary extract

With a high-fat content, these cookies will help lubricate tired joints and help your older dog live their best life. The cookies contain 22,000 mg/kg and 220 mg/treat of glucosamine hydrochloride and 13,000 mg/kg & 130 mg/treat of chondroitin sulfate. 

Some More Details About Pet Plate Before You Decide

Shipments

Pet Plate meals are only shipped on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. Deliveries can be changed up to the Thursday before your order ships as this is when the orders are processed. Shipping is free.

Pet Plate Freshness

When you order your Pet Plate meals, you should keep in mind that the meals can only be stored long-term in the freezer. The meals will keep in the fridge for about a week. Once a meal has been opened and defrosted, you should feed it to your dog within five days. 

Feeding Pet Plate

Meals are calculated according to your dog’s calorie requirements per day. Each meal will be sufficient for the day’s requirements. 

Smaller breed dogs tend to need 2-3 meals per day, so you simply split one meal into 2-3 portions. Larger dogs require 1-2 meals per day, so you split the meal serving into 1-2 portions. Puppies may require more than what they should eat if they were older dogs. This is to meet their growing nutritional needs. 

Transition Time

PetPlate: Fresh Dog Food Delivery

When I first fed Pet Plate meals to my dog, she was very enthusiastic, but after a few days, she didn’t seem so keen on the food anymore. This is because it takes 7-14 days to transition a dog to any new food. 

You should slowly introduce your dog to the new food. Start by adding a quarter of their meal as a Pet Plate portion, with ¾ of a meal being their normal food. Keep feeding this way for a few days, then slowly increase the Pet Plate and decrease their regular food. 

If your puppy doesn’t accept Pet Plate, they have a great care team on call to help you with any questions and helpful suggestions to assist your dog into transitioning to Pet Plate more smoothly. 

Pet Plate FAQs

Question: Is Pet Plate human-grade food?

Answer: Yes, Pet Plate is made from human-grade ingredients in USDA kitchens to produce the highest quality fresh meals for dogs. 

Question: Is Pet Plate sold in stores?

Answer: While you can order your Pet Plate online and have it delivered free of charge to your home, you can also buy Pet Plate meals at selected Pet Supplies Plus stores across the U.S. This is great if you suddenly run out of Pet Plate meals and it’s not an order day yet.

Question: Where is Pet Plate manufactured?  

Answer: You can find the Pet Plate production facilities in upstate New York. This facility is regularly inspected by USDA officials, ensuring the best quality food goes into the fresh meals cooked there. 

Question: Do you need to refrigerate Pet Plate meals?

Answer: Yes, you should keep Pet Plate meals refrigerated if they have already thawed. Should they be frozen, keep them in your freezer until you need to defrost more meals. Only keep Pet Plate meals in the fridge for a week at most. 

Question: Is Pet Plate raw dog food?

Answer: No, Pet Plate is fresh dog food that is prepared as cooked meals for pets to enjoy. This helps reduce the risk of salmonella infection of the ingredients in Pet Plate’s meals, which also makes Pet Plate safer for puppies to eat. 

The Final Verdict

I would recommend Pet Plate to those with picky eaters. The meals are flavorsome, and they are nutritionally balanced. That said, I do feel somewhat concerned by the protein percentages of the meals as many of the competition pet food services offer meals with a far higher protein percentage. 

To include some more protein in my dog’s diet, I do like to feed some kibbles with at least one meal a day. This also helps to lower the cost even further, making Pet Plate an affordable option. 

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