Tuesday, June 14, 2016

That's The Way The Patty Crumbles - A Chewy.com Influencer Report


This is WITHOUT A DOUBT my favorite activity. I do this two times a day, at a minimum. If I had my way, I would do it TWENTY-FOUR/seven,

You might recall that we are doing a 30 DAY CHALLENGE for Chewy.com for a product called Stella and Chewy's Chicken Dinner Patties. It is a raw food limited ingredient diet which is supposed to feed us dogs like we would in the wild. Well, honestly, in the wild I DO NOT think I would sit around for 10 minutes waiting to reconstitute a meal. That is SHEER TORTURE, I tell you. Even Molly gets in on the WHINE and cheese routine during that eternal wait. And all the while that delicious aroma is wafting down to my adorable twitching PUG NOSE.

This is the food re-hydrated and topped with kibble



So WE, Molly and Noodles, and Sunshine the Cat who insists on having some as a topper to her kibble - we are completely all in on this food. All in. We run when the bag comes off the fridge. We WHINE, as said before, while waiting for our meal to be SERVED. We gobble up each and every morsel as if it were dripping in BUTTAH! Yum yum yummy is how I would describe this food. It is good on the palate and filling in the tummy. It is admittedly a perfect meal.

Note the well-formed round patties. This
will be important a ways down the review
And for the clinically minded, our poops are firm and good sized indicating that our meal is digesting properly and we have no issues with the lack of grain and stuff. Our coats (mine fur, Molly's hair) are shiny and soft and healthy looking. Aside from my eye goop from grass allergies, my eyes are clear and alert. Clearly - we are thriving on this food.


This is a broken patty



Mommy has a PROBLEM, though. Actually, a couple of PROBLEMS.

First of all - it takes a while to prepare. She has to breakdown the patty, add very warm - hot water to the patty, then let it sit to soften AND cool down. THEN she can feed it to us. And all the time we are screeching like BANSHEES to be fed. Even the cat! It is not a fun way to start her day, I am sure. And since in the evening she is usually preparing the family dinner when she feeds us, it is one more source of stress she DOES NOT NEED.

Secondly, portioning is proving to be hard because although the chart is on the bag by pet weight, everyone knows a pug cannot necessarily follow those guidelines. She is watching me like a hawk to make sure I don't gain weight. At the same time, she is worried I am actually LOSING weight so she is watching me like a HAWK for signs of malnutrition. In other words, she is not sure she is feeding me the correct portions.
But what makes portioning HARDER is this 

  
More broken pieces and crumble than patties

That's how the bag of food looks after removing the TOP layer of well formed patties. A lot of chunks AND EVEN MORE crumble. How do you portion 1 - 1.5 patties a serving when there are NO PATTIES? Luckily Mommy anticipated this problem (or maybe she just looked below the layer of PERFECT PATTIES) and decided to measure how much crumble a patty makes. The answer is ONE-HALF a cup. this is how she has had to determine our servings this week - halfway into the challenge.

She knows this is a danger when packaging freeze-dried foods. They break and crumble - that is a known fact. She just wishes more attention was paid to packaging and to the portion table.

We want to emphasize that these are not really COMPLAINTS but more observations. This food is a well thought out meal complete with our daily requirement of vegetables. All in a convenient freeze-dried form.

Mind you, she could also feed us JUST the patty, broken up. It is not necessary to re-hydrate the food although it makes more sense to do so. Expecting a dog to drink enough water to counteract the dryness is kinda WONKY, if you ask me. And the food can be used as a topper to kibble making even a cheap dry dog food a better nutrition source. So that is something.


Stay tuned for the final review in two weeks.











10 comments:

stellaroselong said...

We are reviewing the same food. We like it as a topper with our normal food, so mom has to figure it into the equation also, we do like them though...Accept I DID not when I could smell the chicken next door....lol stella rose

Mary Ann said...

WE are also reviewing the same food for Jester the Boston. He likes them a lot, and his big sister Lilly the retriever really likes them... I ordered a 25 ounce package this morning, along with some beef bites for treats. I am hoping the grain free diet proves very well for both of the dogs. I can't wait to read your final review.

Frankie Furter and Ernie said...

WE KNOW,,,, that Waiting was what sort of put MOM off... We Screamed and CRIED ....fur like 87 HOURS until they would be COOL ENOUGH fur our Delicate tongues... BUTT we DO agree that since they SMELL So Good you know they TASTE that way too... We loved the small Sample patties that we got 2 years ago...
At that time MOM (the big ol' Doofus) never THOUGHT of using it as a Topper to our Kibble... THAT is a GRRRREAT Idea... butt we would STILL have the WAIT while they rehydrate...
We did not know that they crumbled in the package... ours were SINGLE PACKS ONLY... so the Crumble sort of surprises us... BUTT that would make them Easy to use as a Topper...
It was REALLY smart to have Measured what a full patty should be equal to... in crumbles... BUTT we think the Company should SAY that on the Portion Section... so somebuddy who ISN'T as smart... would not SHORT CHANGE or OVER FEED.. Just Sayin.

Two French Bulldogs said...

Sounds like a good topper for sure
Lily & Edward

Hilary said...

Waiting is soooo hard!

Julie said...

Oh that foodables looks real tasty, I'm sure I can smell its yumminess from here
Butt…..well…..I'm not sure about the waiting thingy, this Princess doesn't do patience!
Loves and licky kisses
Princess Leah xxx

Robin + Christmas said...

Hi, Noodles! My name is Christmas (or Chris for short) and I'm a Dachshund that's running for mayor of Blogville! My blog is www.pawprovince.com and today I announced I'll be hosting a summer dance on my blog. If you'd like to come (I'm still looking for a date! You're a girl, right) check out my blog for the info! Thanks!

Pug Slope said...

The patties sound like they taste amazing, but there is no way I could wait for 10 minutes to eat my breakfast. I start screeching if it's not served in 10 seconds after my dad wakes up in the morning! :)

-Love,
Sid.

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