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Did you know that April 1-7 is officially National Raw Feeding Week?
An increasing number of dog owners are shying away from buying processed dry or canned dog food these days, opting instead to either source human-grade meat from their own butchers or dedicated pet food outlets or started cooking for their pets. We don’t have exact numbers on this trend but we’ve all seen the huge increase in premium options available locally for our own dogs in the past 2 years and reviewed some of these in the past.
The main criticism levelled by (some) nutritionists and vets alike (not to mention the 'big end of town' pet food manufacturers) is that feeding only a fresh high-meat diet (or a typical homemade dog diet) does not meet all your dog’s nutritional needs.
Faced with that argument, you could say that most of the manufactured pet food sold barely meets the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient profiles for maintenance and growth. Same as with our human diet, meeting basic requirements for survival is not the same as being pro-active with your health!
When fed occasionally, feeding raw meat only may not be an issue but if you’ve opted to “go it alone” long-term, you really need to add a balanced supplement to your pet’s food to avoid long-term deficiencies in essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals.
Newcastle-based Bestie Kitchen has impressed us by their professionalism over the past 9 months and we were keen to trial their AllRounder Balancers supplement, a superfood blend of 19 all-natural ingredients to balance meat and boost your dog’s joint, gut and immune system health.
For these types of trials we always favour our senior dog Conner who, at 13.4 years, started to slow down (mainly due to arthritis) and needs some assistance to enjoy a better quality of life.
Anecdotally, we learnt that Bestie Kitchen’s dogs Mondoe and Alfy reached the ripe old age of 22 and 20 following Founder Amanda's move away from processed food so this certainly got us thinking...
What’s in the Bestie Kitchen AllRounder Supplement?
The Bestie Kitchen AllRounder list of ingredients reads like a who’s who of superfoods.
It includes a mix of 6 fruit and veg (apple, carrot, sweet potato, organic shiitake mushroom, pumpkin, kale) 2 super herbs (chicory, nettle), 5 superfoods (manuka honey, kakadu plum, kelp, wheat grass etc), green-lipped mussel, cod liver oil, pre- and probiotics, bone broth and MCHA bonemeal from pasture-fed Australian cattle!
Another big tick for us is that it is made in Australia using at least 83% Australian ingredients and is 100% human-grade.
In these troubled times, we like to know that we’re helping support small local businesses that put their ethical principles ahead of profits.
How to best use your AllRounder Supplement?
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| Conner's Meal Plan - Week 1 (3 proteins) |
It only takes 3 simple steps and a few minutes to work out the right portion size for your dog (based your choice of proteins depending on any known food allergies, taste preferences and budget!).
The app gives you a 7-day meal plan suggesting rotating the proteins for optimal health. Some people argue that feeding one type of diet only increases the risk of allergies, often manifesting as itchy skin and how many of our readers report their dogs suffer from those!
Yes to variety but you'll also notice consistency over 5 days not to upset your dog's stomach (that's if you don't want to end up with vomiting, diarrhoea, burping, farting or a combination of all of the above!).
As with all changes in diet, it's a good idea to transition your dog slowly, ideally over a 7-day period.
Starting with 75% current food / 25% new food (first 2 days), then reduce to 50% current food / 50% new food (two days) and finally 25% current food / 75% new food (2 days).
Depending on your dog [2], it may not be such a big deal and you could bring this down to 3-4 days as we did.
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| Conner's Shopping Basket for 7 days of meals |
The app is best for working the quantities but as a rule of thumb, for adult dogs, you would add 5 grams of AllRounder for every 95 grams of protein (12 grams for every 88 grams of protein for a puppy or lactating dog).
The first thing we learnt when planning meal prep for the first week was that each meat has a different nutritional composition (and fat content) so you need to feed more AllRounder supplement and lean kangaroo meat than bestie and chicken or beef mince for example. Buying 4-5kg of meat (just for one dog) certainly requires more fridge space than normal but we found we quickly got into our new routine.
The scoop provided in the pack measured exactly 5 grams so it was pretty easy to measure the required one or two scoops per meal (based on our 30 kg dog).
Our Experience with Bestie AllRounder
The first thing that impressed us dealing with Bestie Kitchen's Founder Amanda directly was the amount and quality of the nutritional information and high level customer service provided. I strongly believe that the same personalised customer experience is provided to everyone and we did not receive any special treatment. Our questions (specific to our own dog’s needs) were answered very quickly and with a lot of details and this definitely gave us a lot of confidence when dealing with a brand new product.
We started our trial on March 12 just as the worldwide COVID-19 health crisis was breaking...
We had planned our first 7 days of meals ahead for Conner after choosing 3 easy to source proteins (kangaroo, beef and chicken) so we were set for a successful start but cue panic buying at most supermarkets and sourcing what we wanted the following week proved a bit more challenging!
It’s as if Australians had suddenly discovered the meat aisle in their supermarket!
Luckily people have now backed off stockpiling and we were able to source our normal range of meats after a week even though we try to avoid going out shopping as much as possible.
In Australia, 41% of dogs are overweight or obese and this has serious consequences on their health (causing a host of diseases) and reducing their lifespan [1].
With our senior dog, we found his main health issue was less an overall weight problem but more the gradual loss of muscle mass in his hips / back legs as he's reluctant to move...
Every time we've put Conner (or our other dogs) on a more varied diet (raw or home cooked meals), there's no doubt that they've been a lot more excited at meal times and have thrived both physically and mentally. They definitely sleep better too...
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| "What do you call this again? - AllRounder, Conner... Yeah, but that's what you do with it, mum!" |
What we really liked was the simplicity as it took no time at all to mix and add the AllRounder to his food (unlike chopping and cooking vegetables etc.) whilst knowing we gave him that little bit extra to boost his health!
Bestie Kitchen AllRounder is shelf stable when stored at 25°C or less but if used infrequently or in a humid environment, it's recommended to refrigerate.
Please Note: always speak to your vet before making any changes, especially if your dog suffers from any known medical conditions or allergies.
[1] A recent study of 50,000 dogs showed that the lifespan of overweight dogs was up to 2.5 years shorter than their ideal-weight counterparts.
[2] Whilst nearly all dogs readily tolerate a seven-day transition period, a much longer transitional period is recommended if the food change is significant or your dog has demonstrated a poor tolerance to such changes in the past or is a fussy eater and food refusal is expected.
(Small animal clinical nutrition http://markmorrisinstitute.org/sacn5_chapters.hml)
Price & Where to Buy:
(Small animal clinical nutrition http://markmorrisinstitute.org/sacn5_chapters.hml)
Price & Where to Buy:
RRP*: $15.00 (70g sample pack); $54.95 (350g) or $119.95 (1kg) at bestiekitchen.com
* does not include shipping
NB: A 70g sample pack is enough for about 10 meals, for an average, 10kg dog.
Find the app here: bestiekitchen.com/pages/homemade-dog-food-calculator
The combination of bestie ALLROUNDER and rotated proteins in recommended quantities, typically meets the nutritional levels in the FEDIAF guidelines and AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles for all life stages, including large breed dogs i.e. 31kg (70lbs) or more as an adult.
Disclaimer: a 350g pack of Bestie Kitchen AllRounder balancing supplement was provided to us to complete this trial over a 4-week period for the purpose of this review.
* does not include shipping
NB: A 70g sample pack is enough for about 10 meals, for an average, 10kg dog.
Find the app here: bestiekitchen.com/pages/homemade-dog-food-calculator
The combination of bestie ALLROUNDER and rotated proteins in recommended quantities, typically meets the nutritional levels in the FEDIAF guidelines and AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles for all life stages, including large breed dogs i.e. 31kg (70lbs) or more as an adult.
Disclaimer: a 350g pack of Bestie Kitchen AllRounder balancing supplement was provided to us to complete this trial over a 4-week period for the purpose of this review.
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