Freshpet Select Dog Food Review 2023: Recalls, Pros & Cons

Introduction

You may have noticed that your local pet store has been installing more and more refrigerated sections. That’s to accommodate foods like Freshpet, which use fresh, natural ingredients that need to be kept cold, lest they spoil.

Freshpet is a relative newcomer to the dog food game, as it was established in 2006. The company believes in using real, locally sourced ingredients, with no artificial additives, cheap fillers, or animal by-products.

Their food is made at the kitchen in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, using ingredients found in the surrounding areas. New batches of ingredients are delivered fresh every morning.

The food comes in very small portions, so it may not be suitable for larger dogs. However, you can also sprinkle it over kibble to give your pup a nice little treat.

At a Glance: The Best Freshpet Select Dog Food Recipes:

Freshpet Select Dog Food Reviewed

Who makes Freshpet Select and Where is it Produced?

Freshpet Select is made by Freshpet, an independently owned dog food company with headquarters in New Jersey.

As mentioned above, all their food is made at their processing plant in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. They only use locally sourced ingredients as well.

Which Types of Dogs is Freshpet Select Best Suited For?

Freshpet Select is perfect for any dogs that need more high-quality, nearly raw food in their diets.

Their products use real, high-end ingredients, so they’re full of vitamins and minerals.

Which Types of Dogs Might Do Better with a Different Brand?

All dogs would do well to eat Freshpet Select, but it’s not necessarily ideal as their sole source of food. It’s expensive, for one thing, and it goes bad quickly, so you’d need to make frequent trips to the store. However, it can be chopped up or shredded to act as a topper over regular kibble.

If you want a raw-style kibble that will last longer and is capable of feeding larger dogs, try Instinct Raw Boost Grain-Free Recipe Natural.

Discussion of the Primary Ingredients

Ingredient Breakdown:

Real meat is the first ingredient in all their recipes, and there are usually a few animal-based protein sources at the top of the list. This ensures that your dog gets all the essential amino acids she needs.

They fill their foods with high-quality fruits and vegetables as well. These include carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach, blueberries, cranberries, and more. You won’t find cheap filler grains like wheat or corn, nor will you find nutritionally inferior veggies like white potatoes.

One issue we’ve had with their foods is that they can be heavy-handed with the salt. As a result, their recipes may not be ideal for diabetic pooches.

Use It or Lose It

The company recommends using the entire package within a week of opening it, so expect to have to go back to the store several times a month to keep your dog fed.

You’ll also need to keep it in the fridge, so be careful when you make a half-asleep midnight snack run.

The Food Comes in Rolls and Packages

Many of their foods are available as processed rolls, and the label is marked so you can easily measure out the exact amount you want to slice off. These rolls are easy to shred as well if you want to use the food as a topper.

They also have bags of food. The food in these bags are small and soft, like little treats. In fact, you can use them for that very purpose.

Their Food Isn’t Raw, Exactly

While it looks raw, it’s actually cooked at very low temperatures. This makes it more stable and kills off some of the germs inside without damaging too many vitamins and minerals.

However, it’s unavoidable that some of those nutrients will be damaged in the cooking process, so this food may not be as healthy as a truly raw option. However, it’s less urgent that you wash your hands after touching it.

A Quick Look at Freshpet Select Dog Food

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Recall History

Despite doing some heavy research, we were unable to locate any mention of a recall of this food.

However, in 2015, there were reports on social media of mold in their bagged foods. This wasn’t enough to trigger a recall, though.

Reviews of the 3 Best Freshpet Select Dog Food Recipes

To give you a better idea of what to expect from their foods, we looked at three of their top recipes a little more in-depth:

1. Freshpet Select Chunky Beef Recipe

This food has beef, chicken, beef liver, and beef broth — and those are just the first four ingredients.

We like how much protein and moisture your dog will get from those foods, and she’ll probably love the taste as well. It’s an excellent choice for active pups.

The veggies are pretty good, too. It has peas, carrots, and brown rice, all of which offer complex carbs and are easy for most dogs to tolerate.

There are two ingredients we’re not fond of, however. Eggs can often cause digestive issues, and we think they should have used a different protein in their place. This stuff also has soy flour in it, and soy give a great many dogs tummy problems.

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2. Freshpet Select Chunky Chicken & Turkey Recipe

The first four ingredients on this roll are similar to those in the food above, except this relies more heavily on poultry. You have chicken, turkey, chicken liver, and broth, with some carrots in between.

They omitted the soy but kept the eggs, so there still might be some food sensitivity triggers in here. Luckily, the rice should go a long way towards soothing upset stomachs.

This one has a few more high-quality veggies, most notable spinach. They should give your dog all the vitamins and minerals she needs to stay healthy.

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3. Freshpet Select Multi-Protein Complete Meal

This bagged option bills itself as a “complete meal,” and after looking at the ingredients list it’s easy to see why. It has chicken, beef, beef liver, eggs, and salmon, and those are just the meat dishes.

As for fruits and veggies, you’ll see oats, sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, and spinach. Add it all up and you have a pretty nice (not to mention complete) dinner indeed.

You already know our feelings about eggs, and this food has a little more salt than we’d like to see, too. Overall, though, the healthy ingredients outweigh the questionable ones, and all the delicious foods in here should have your dog wagging her tail like crazy.

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What Other Users are Saying

• Dog Food Advisor – “This looks like the profile of a dog food containing a notable amount of meat.”
• Labrador Training HQ — “Freshpet offers a great way to give your dog the best quality food.”
• Amazon – Pet owners should always double-check Amazon reviews before making a purchase. You can read these here.

Conclusion

If you’re looking to transition your dog to a raw-style diet, Freshpet Select can be an important step in the process. While their foods aren’t truly raw, they have nearly as many nutrients as raw options, and they’re much easier to deal with.

Price and convenience are still a concern, though, as these foods are available in small portions that must be used within a week of opening. As a result, it may be more trouble than it’s worth to feed these foods to your Great Dane, unless you want to live at the pet food store.

Still, we can’t argue with the quality of their ingredients, and each package is filled with the vitamins and minerals your dog needs to stay healthy and happy.

See also:

• Freshpet Vital Grain-Free Dog Food Review: Recalls, Pros & Cons
• FreshPet Dog Food Review: Recalls, Pros & Cons