The Kabo Food Trial

One of the nice things about blogging is not only having people reach out to you for information and being able to help them with your own experiences, but knowing you can help connect people to new and exciting things. This happened to be the case when I was contacted through my blog by one of the founders of Kabo, a local fresh dog food delivery business (https://kabo.co/). They wanted to know about the raw food diet my dogs were on and if I would be interested in trialing their take on raw food for dogs. I was asked to try something called Toppers. which is a boost of nutrients to add on top of what we already feed our guys. I immediately went to the website and checked things out, making sure to see what was added into the this topper food (https://kabo.co/science) and everything that I read about seemed healthy and natural. I was excited to go forward with the trial and I emailed them back and agreed to give it an honest review. Hopefully our trial and blog about it will help not only this Canadian dog food brand gain some new loyal customers but also help you readers find a new and exciting healthy food to try with your own beautiful dogs.

We were told we would receive the box with the freshly cooked dog food delivered to our door within a few days and sure enough a few days later a medium sized green and white box showed up on my front porch.. My name and address was clearly printed on the box and Zeus was eager to see what was inside.

When I opened the box I was greeted by a lovely printed out copy of the directions on how to feed the topper food and a plastic clip to keep the food packages closed between use, which was a pleasant surprise and a thoughtful touch. I read over the directions which were very clear and easy to follow, a bonus for first time users. The helpful guide goes over storage and feeding, a note on sustainability, the recipe, transitioning your dog, and welcoming you to the Kabo community which shows the benefits of feeding your dog their food.

Next in the box I pulled out some grey bags full of sheep's wool (www.woolcool.com) that were keeping the food cold. Normally I find when things are shipped there is so much wasted product for garbage, but this insulation was reusable and the wool was compostable and biodegradable. A huge bonus for anyone who loves to be green! As someone who is always going up to our cottages I couldn’t wait to reuse this and try it out in our coolers and for keeping things cool when going down to the beach.

Next, we pulled out the topper food trials. The first one I pulled out was chicken and rice packages which contains fresh ground chicken, chicken gizzards, chicken liver, rice, green peas, carrots, apples, kelp, fish oil, sunflower oil, and nutrient mix. Then we pulled out the beef packets bundled together and this one contained fresh ground beef, beef liver, russet potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, green peas, apples, kelp, fish oil, sunflower oil, and nutrient mix.. They were bundled together in packs of four, wrapped in elastics, also something I would reuse, and as we were only trialing the toppers part of Kabo's food products the packages were small and easy to lift out of the box. I took them out and let Zeus have an inspection. It had to pass the sniff test and a lick test, but it got the snort of approval.

We decided to to leave one package of the beef out to thaw and the rest we kept in the freezer. We would add one topper to Zeus' food in the morning and once used we would replace it with a topper from the freezer to thaw in the fridge for the next day. The packages were sealed well and we never had an issue with them leaking out into the fridge or into any other foods. When the first topper was thawed we tried feeding it to Zeus without adding anything else to make sure he had no issues digesting it and to make sure he didn't have any reactions to the new food source. I opened the bag with scissors as I didn’t find it easy to rip open the bag with my just my hands. The food came out of the package easy enough and I placed it in Zeus’ bowl and presented it to him. Zeus gave it another sniff test but quickly decided it smelled yummy and he gobbled it right up! Success! Zeus loved the first trial. We went on with our day making sure to watch for any reactions to the new food but Zeus was fine so the day after I tried adding the topper onto Zeus’ regular food and again he ate it right up. The beef ones turned out to be a huge win and I would get those again and recommend it.

Next up to trial was the chicken and rice. It also had some veggies in it so again I tried feeding it to Zeus on it’s own to make sure he had no reactions to it and again it got the sniff test, but this time Zeus wasn’t as eager to eat it. It took a little coaxing to get him interested but he did eventually eat it up. The next day we tried it on top of his regular food and again there was some hesitation. He did eventually eat it but it was not a hit like the beef one. I don’t think I would order this one in the future only because Zeus wasn't as big of a fan.

Overall, I really like the food and the way the cooked diet is being presented by Kabo dog food. They are trying to make this food as easy and convenient for people as possible, especially those wanting to try a healthy alternative to raw food with a homemade-style cooked diet.. Because it comes fully cooked there is less chance of salmonella and because everything is pre-made and portioned out for you it's very easy to use, just pour and feed. It’s fast, clean, and the best part is that it comes delivered right to your door so never have to run out to pick up food again.. I highly recommend giving Kabo Food a try!

Video of Zeus enjoying his first try of the Kabo Food - Savoury Beef

https://youtu.be/blZ6RLYzh1w