myCompanion Vet-formulated Dog Food Delivered - Review

Written by Australian Dog Lover 13:39:00 - 0 Comments

Earlier this year we discovered new start-up myCompanion, which offers lightly cooked dog meals delivered to your door in the Sydney metro area.

We were intrigued by their novel idea of leaving pet owners in charge of creating their own unique recipe for their dog, whilst promising to deliver a balanced diet right to the door. We decided to trial this innovative concept with our senior dog Conner, focusing on his ageing issues (arthritis) and you can read our first review here.

Our twin Malinois, Aramis and Porthos, were quite jealous of his special meals so towards the end of our trial, we started adding a spoonful to their food bowl as well...

This time around, we wanted to try the Anti-inflammatory recipe goal with Porthos, who's always had a sensitive stomach. For any change to his diet (even a minor addition) we are usually "rewarded" by a massive barf in the early hours of the morning... Late July, we create a new recipe, designed with his special needs (and preferences!) in mind.  

Dog food deliveries are always a cause for celebration!

About myCompanion

The mission behind myCompanion is simply to give dog owners back the control over their pets’ nutritional health and happiness whilst offering variety to those dogs who get easily bored with their food.

In collaboration with a certified Vet Nutritionist, Founder Jonny has developed a world first in pet tech nutrition to meet your dog's health needs. The algorithm used by the myCompanion website, allows you to build your own unique recipe/s from thousands of combinations of fresh ingredients.

Every recipe you create is complete and balanced by AAFCO standards (the same nutritional standards used by the big pet food companies). It's a bit like cooking in the kitchen but with a Veterinary Nutritionist!

How easy was it to create our own myCompanion recipe? 

The first time around we were a bit daunted by all the options available so you could simply let the experts come up with a balanced meal tailored to your dog (Surprise me!) once you've completed your dog profile.

The myCompanion world-first algorithm has tested millions of combinations of ingredients and portions to ensure every recipe created is complete and balanced to global industry standards (AAFCO). 

Since this was our second trial, we decided to put a whole new combination of protein, vegetables and fruit to the test.

Porthos' unique recipe created on myCompanion: 

1. His choice of ONE protein base: (Chicken / Beef / Lamb or Combination) 
The meat is sourced from a Bondi (Sydney) butcher and all selected options are human-grade meats (not pet grade meats). 

2. His choice of TWO Carb options: (Brown or White Rice, Chickpeas, Lentils, Potato or Sweet Potato, Barley). 

3. His choice of up to TWO from a variety of Superfoods (including fruit and vegetables e.g. Kale, Blueberry, Carrot, Pumpkin, Broccoli, Zucchini, Apple).

The algorithm kicked in to add extra ingredients for balance including Kale, Barley and Beef Liver as well as supplements (Sunflower Oil, Cod Liver Oil, Iodised Salt and an expertly crafted blend of vitamin & mineral premix). 

We received our personalised email within 24 hours which detailed Porthos' recipe, including: portion size, full list of ingredients  as well as the cost so you can review before confirming your order. You can choose from 'Pay-as-you-create' for a first trial or 'Subscribe and save'.

The first thing we noticed is the much larger daily portion size (953g) for Porthos who's a 7-year old, 30kg active Malinois compared to our 14-year old Tervuren (only 723g) who needed to lose some weight. The price will depend on your chosen ingredients and your dog's weight goal!

Our personalised email also confirmed the next available delivery date (conveniently this falls on a Saturday or Sunday). Depending on how much space is available in your freezer, you can select to receive your delivery on a fortnightly or monthly basis.

Even if you're not home, the food is pre-portioned in daily packs and well packaged so it will safely keep on your doorstep for a few hours. Each box (100% recyclable cardboard) is fully lined with insulation (100% biodegradable) and 4 reusable ice packs.

If you're using them regularly, myCompanion will even collect and re-use your old packaging when they deliver your new food making sure it's safe before reusing, so there's zero waste!

Porthos' experience with myCompanion

Regardless of the recipe you design for your dog, you can be certain that there aren't any fillers or preservatives. The food is made of 98% wholefoods (which you can see and trust) blended with 2% of essential vitamins and minerals. 

Plus all the ingredients are locally sourced and prepared in myCompanion's human-grade safety kitchens.

If you really want to know what is in your dogs' food and see your dog excited over his meals every single day, then myCompanion is the dog food delivery service for you! 

Fully aware of our dog's sensitive tummy, this time we transitioned him slowly over a full week. myCompanion recipe made 25% of his daily portion on Day 1-2, increased to 50% on Day 3-4, 75% on Day 5-6 and only 100% from Day 7 and it all went perfectly smoothly...

This time, we remembered to grab a couple of pouches from the freezer to thaw in the fridge every other day, as soon as we opened our last one! 

Once thawed, the meals can be used within 3 days. 

But even if you forget, it's easy enough to immerse an unopened frozen pack in warm water for a few minutes. 

The company says that every batch is inspected before being mixed to make sure chunks are left in to give the gift of different textures to your dog. 

This was one of the things that really impressed us the first time around so it was great to see that same top quality being provided 4 months later. 

We could easily identify the beef, broccoli, sweet potatoes and even the lentils in every single portion served! 

Being a more active dog and with a faster metabolism than Conner - Porthos has always been a lean dog - his daily portion of 953g was much larger (31.8%), which was divided into breakfast and dinner. 

Over the past four weeks, not only was every bowl licked clean (checked by his sister) but we also had no vomiting incident, which is a great indication of how easily digestible his tailored recipe was. 

Price & Where to Buy

myCompanion is available online with deliveries across an increasing list of Sydney suburbs. 

RRP: $12.80/day based on Porthos’ (30kg, active) daily portion of 953g. At $89.60/week (or $13.43/kg) this is not the cheapest dog food option available but it's definitely worth every cent for the high quality of the food but also the personalised customer service you receive.

Note:  There is a unique price for every dog as each recipe is custom made. If you have a 10kg dog with an average activity level (based on this recipe), the cost goes down just $6 per day. For a 6kg active dog, it would only be $4 per day.

Why not take a look at mycompanion.com.au to discover what other dogs are eating?

Follow myCompanion on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mycompanionlife/ or 
on Instagram at www.instagram.com/mycompanionlife 

Disclaimer: 28 days of meals (anti-inflammatory recipe goal) from myCompanion were provided for our editorial consideration.

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