Last Updated on February 29, 2024 by Kieran Beckles
Are you ready to feed fresh dog food to your dog but you can’t decide between The Pets Table and The Farmer’s Dog?
We believe in the merits of fresh dog food after we saw firsthand the difference healthy dog food had on our Alaskan Klee Kai dogs, especially our picky eater Skye.
Skye would regularly refuse to eat regular kibble bought from the local pet store, which resulted in digestive issues and lots of expensive visits to the vet.
But since introducing fresh dog food brands to Copper and Skye, my Alaskan Klee Kai have been happy and healthy with no visits to the vet because of an upset stomach.
If you’re ready to ditch your dog’s current food whether it’s dry food or wet food in favour of signing up to one of America’s many dog food delivery services, we believe you’re on the right path.
In this article, we’re going to take a look at The Pets Table and The Farmer’s Dog, examining their recipes, how their subscription plan works and give our verdict on these two fresh dog food companies.
Cut To The Chase: We recommend The Farmer’s Dog and you can save 50% on your first order through our discount here.
Who Is The Pets Table?
The Pets Table is the latest offering from well-known meal subscription service Hello Fresh as they look to provide fresh dog food to dogs in America to make life a little more convenient for pet parents.
At the time of writing, The Pets Table offer fresh dog food and air dried dog food to cater to the different preferences pet owners who want to feed fresh to their canine companion.
The Pets Table write on their website that they offer a personalized dog food service designed to keep pets happy and healthy, and make life easy for dog owners who want to feed fresh dog food.
The fresh dog food brand explain that The Pets Table use high quality ingredients including superfoods and vitamin A in recipes made in the USA that are formulated by veterinarian nutritionists. The Pets Table meets the standards set by the American Feed Control Officials.
The Pets Table have a focus on gut health because their fresh dog food and air dried recipes are high in fiber with probiotics to promote good gut health for dogs of all life stages.
To get started with The Pets Table, you’ll need to complete their sign up questionnaire to provide details about your dogs, such as your dog’s age, dog’s breed, your dog’s diet at the moment and whether your dog has any food allergies they should know about.
The Pets Table offer fresh dog food recipes – Chicken Casserole with Green Beans, Beef Stew with Carrots and Turkey Casserole with Broccoli. Alternatively, you can sign up to their air dried meals – Chicken & Sweet Potato and Beef & Berries.
The Pets Table offer a lot of flexibility when it comes to their subscription plans. There are four options – air dried dog food plan, fresh dog food plan, mixed plan and half of fresh plan. Of all the dog food subscription services we’ve reviewed, The Pets Table really do cater to all budgets and preferences.
Our Verdict On The Pets Table
I came across The Pets Table by chance when I was hit by an advertisement scrolling our Instagram feed. When I noticed The Pets Table was the brainchild of Hello Fresh, offering air dried food and fresh dog food, I wanted to test out their attempt at competing with other fresh dog food brands.
Their sign up process was familiar – if you’ve ever tried Hello Fresh, you’ll recognize the interface. The Pets Table make it easy to begin a subscription plan to receive their fresh food or air dried food.
However, I was disappointed that you need to do separate subscription plans if you’ve got multiple dogs. I found this quite inconvenient and cumbersome when compared to other dog food delivery services.
The Pets Table offer a lot of flexibility with their various plans – I like having so much choice, with regards to the different protein sources, the pet food formats and the subscription plans.
I opted to try their mixed plan, which cost me $217.56 a month to feed my two Alaskan Klee Kai dogs (for context, if I signed Copper and Skye up to their full fresh plan, I’d have to pay $255.40 a month. A air dried plan would set me back $154.84 a month).
When my first box arrived, I was impressed to see The Pets Table included a meal container. When feeding fresh food, it can get messy if you’ve got leftover dog food in the fridge. So I really appreciated this thoughtful inclusion.
The Pets Table use a feeding guide on each meal pouch to help pet parents practice portion control – you simply feed the allotted amount at each mealtime to ensure you don’t overfeed or underfeed your canine companion.
When it came to the taste test, Copper was relatively happy to eat The Pets Table but Skye wasn’t a fan. She didn’t finish their fresh dog food and nibbled at their air dried food. She’s a fussy eater, so it wasn’t a complete surprise.
Who Is The Farmer’s Dog?
The Farmer’s Dog is one of the leading fresh dog food companies in the USA., using human grade ingredients to create a range of recipes to allow pet parents to ditch unhealthy kibble or wet food.
The Farmer’s Dog explain that they use fresh food and real food in their recipes, gently cooked to lock in the nutritional goodness and maximize flavor and customized to meet your dog’s specific needs.
They only use human grade ingredient that are clearly displayed on their ingredients label, highlighting the healthy food in The Farmer’s Dog recipes that you or I would likely eat as part of our diet.
You can have peace of mind knowing that The Farmer’s Dog food is vet developed and “exceeds the standards” set out by the American Feed Control Officials. It’s truly human grade dog food!
You won’t find any meals or powders, preservatives, pellets or label tricks with The Farmer’s Dog.
To get started with The Farmer’s Dog, you’ll need to fill out their sign up questionnaire to allow the dog food company to tailor their recipes to ensure your dog is eating a balanced fresh food diet. They explain that The Farmer’s Dog food is pre-made and pre-portioned.
The Farmer’s Dog offer four protein options – a beef recipe, a chicken recipe, a pork recipe and a turkey recipe. You can opt to get with The Farmer’s Dog’s suggested dog food subscription or make your own picks.
Once The Farmer’s Dog have created your dog’s fresh food, they’ll quick freeze the meals before sending your first box to your home within days of your signing up to their fresh dog food subscription service.
Our Verdict On The Farmer’s Dog
We decided to give The Farmer’s Dog a try because they seemed to be leading fresh food service, aiming to provide pet food in the style of homemade dog food to American dogs.
Copper and Skye loved eating a fresh human grade food brand in the UK called Butternut Box – and The Farmer’s Dog appeared to be the American equivalent (not just because they both use orange branding).
Of all the dog food delivery companies that I’ve reviewed over the past seven years, The Farmer’s Dog have one of the most user-friendly sign-up questionnaires to get started with The Farmer’s Dog meals.
I really like how The Farmer’s Dog makes it to see the human grade fresh food in each recipe – you can see they use USDA certified meats such as USDA beef liver, brown rice, green beans, sweet potatoes, fish oil like salmon oil, as well as The Farmer’s Dog nutrient blend.
Once I entered Copper and Skye’s details, The Farmer’s Dog quoted me $217 for a delivery every 40 days. That equates to around $193 every 30 days for The Farmer’s Dog gently cooked meals.
In my first box, I found a cooler bag but no meal container (which would have been nice).
I was impressed to see The Farmer’s Dog labelled Copper and Skye’s individual meals – something I haven’t seen any other fresh dog food delivery company do! They also display a handy graphic on the front of each meal pouch to show how much of the packet to feed each mealtime.
The Farmer’s Dog really delivered on the customized, pre-portioned element of their business, which sets them apart from most of the frozen meals provided by other dog food delivery brands.
Skye did enjoy eating The Farmer’s Dog, enjoying all the recipes except the turkey recipe. If you’ve got a fussy eater, I’d recommend going for the beef recipe, chicken recipe and pork recipe.
The Farmer’s Dog Vs The Pets Table: Our Verdict
So we’ve reached the key part of our comparison article: how does The Farmer’s Dog compare to The Pets Table and who do we recommend for your furry friend?
Based upon my experience testing out the fresh foods on my fussy Alaskan Klee Kai dogs, The Farmer’s Dog would be my pick if you’re looking to sign up to one of the best fresh dog food brands.
Skye much preferred The Farmer’s Dog over The Pets Table and that informed my verdict – but it’s important to remember every dog is different, so many pet parents may find their dog differed to Skye.
I like that The Farmer’s Dog have a lot of experience creating fresh frozen food for dogs in the USA, while their sign up questionnaire accommodated both my dogs on a single plan.
While The Farmer’s Dog and The Pets Table do provide a feeding guideline on each meal pouch to help dog lovers practice portion control, The Farmer’s Dog did a slightly better job.
The Farmer’s Dog only offer fresh dog food using human grade ingredients – so when comparing the price the meal plans, I’ll take a look at the cost of their fresh frozen meals.
The Farmer’s Dog cost me $193 a month (charged as $217 every 40 days), whereas I had to pay $255.40 for The Pets Table fresh frozen meals. That’s a difference of $62.40 a month or $748.80 a year.
Of course, The Pets Table offer more options and more variety, which will appeal to some dog owners.
But my recommendation if you’re stuck between these two dog food brands would be The Farmer’s Dog, based upon my overall experience.
Where To Buy The Farmer’s Dog?
You can only get started with The Farmer’s Dog by signing up to their subscription plan on their website.
Do We Have A Discount For The Farmer’s Dog?
We reached out to The Farmer’s Dog and managed to secure a 50% discount for our community.
Where To Buy The Pets Table?
You can only buy The Pets Table by completing the sign up process on their website.
Do We Have A Discount For The Pets Table?
We reached out to The Pets Table but we haven’t heard back – yet. We will keep you updated.
Anything Else To Consider
If you’re thinking about ditching the dry dog food or wet food and changing your pet’s food to a new food such as fresh dog food, raw food or custom dry food, you should speak to your vet first.
Whether you’ve got small dogs, large dogs, these dog food brands can cater to your pet’s needs. However, your vet can give an insight into the potential impact on your dog’s health.
If your dog is on a weight management diet or your dog struggles with food sensitivities, your vet can advise whether the new food could pose a potential problem.
Wrapping Up
We’ve reached the end of our comparison article taking a look at The Pets Table and The Farmer’s Dog.
My recommendation would be The Farmer’s Dog based upon my experience feeding their dog food to Copper and Skye. It’s their favourite fresh dog food brand that we’ve fed in the USA.
The Farmer’s Dog takes a couple of days to arrive once you’ve signed up and they make it easy to feed their fresh recipes thanks to their labelling and pre-portion guidelines.
Dog owners can feel food knowing that a board certified veterinary nutritionist has formulated the meals, while you can see all the “human food” that goes into each recipe.
While I don’t think you’ll go wrong if you opt for The Pets Table, The Farmer’s Dog is the best starting point on your fresh food journey.
Kieran runs Life With Klee Kai on social media and other online platforms alongside his wife Yasmin. With over 10 years of experience as a journalist and a passionate dog owner, Kieran loves to combine his passion for pets and writing to share useful insights and product reviews to help other dog owners.