Pros
- Flavor is their highest consideration. The perfect match for terribly picky eaters!
- Ordering on their site is quick and easy. No subscription required, but you can subscribe if you want automated deliveries.
- A lot less expensive than most fresh dog food delivery services. You can end up paying up to 50 percent less compared to other fresh dog food brands.
- Sustainability is a chief priority to them. A Pup Above’s packaging is 100 percent recyclable and their ingredients are sourced from sustainable and ethical farms. Their suppliers are traceable too so you can verify this information yourself.
Cons
- Lacks customization. Since their main focus is to just make fresh dog food that dogs of all taste preferences can enjoy, they didn’t lean into the custom recipes angle at all.
Taste is often a secondary priority to even the best fresh dog food brands. Personally, I am more concerned that my pups are getting the best nutritional value from their meals—as I’m sure other fresh dog food companies are. Sure, I also want their food to be part of the clean bowl club, but that takes a backseat to health and optimal nourishment. Not so with A Pup Above. The main focus of this fresh dog food brand is to give dogs the best gourmet experience possible, while still being fairly healthy. How are they able to manage that? In my A Pup Above review, I’ll go over this gourmet fresh dog food’s features, as well as the pros and cons.
A Pup Above says they manage to provide superior quality fresh dog food without costing you an arm and a leg. These big upsides do come with some significant disadvantages, however, primarily in the custom and specialized recipes department. Are these worth giving up to give your dog some good eating? Read to the end of my review so you can decide for yourself if this is the best dog food delivery service for you.
Features of A Pup Above
Uses Sous-Vide Cooking
This is perhaps the most important feature separating A Pup Above from other brands. All their fresh foods are slow-cooked using the sous vide cooking method, which entails putting them in vacuum-sealed bags and immersing them in hot water. This allows them to deliver fresh-cooked meals that taste as if they were each given special individual attention. Not to mention, sous-vide is great for locking in nutrients too.
Gourmet Focus
A Pup Above is committed to delivering only the finest dining experience to their canine clientele. Thanks in large part to their unique style of cooking, their fresh meals are all tender and juicy as can be, which only serves to enhance the taste of their expertly crafted recipes. Their in-house crew of veterinary nutritionists have more of a generalist focus when it comes to nutrient content [1], allowing them to concentrate on making each meal as great-tasting as possible.
Protein-Rich
A Pup Above isn’t particularly healthier or better at producing specialized recipes than other brands, but what it does excel at is crude protein content. Their recipes have up to 77 percent more protein per gram than that of other fresh dog food brands. This has the added bonus of making their recipes that much tastier. They have chicken, turkey, beef and pork recipes.
Website-Hosted Food Calculator
A Pup Above lets you formulate an optimal feeding plan using their website’s food calculator. In lieu of specialized weight loss recipes, this can let you control how much food your dog eats just enough to help him or her shed those extra pounds. It also has the option to account for whether you plan on feeding your dog a 50/50 mix of A Pup Above and other kinds of dog food.
Sustainable Sourcing
All of A Pup Above’s ingredients are sourced from sustainable farms who are committed to ethical practices. As is standard among fresh food subscription services, their ingredients are also USDA-approved. They also make it a point to use “ugly produce” which are vegetables that don’t pass aesthetic standards but are otherwise completely edible. This minimizes food waste, further adding to their sustainability points.
Each Ingredient is Traceable
In case you want to verify that each ingredient is sourced from sustainable and ethical farms, you can trace each of them through the codes on the back of the box your dog food comes in. These codes will lead you to the websites or the credentials of each farm that A Pup Above sources their ingredients from to make human-grade dog food.
For Pet Parents by Pet Parents
A Pup Above was founded by pet parents, along with their co-founder and chief pup officer Lola, a lovely little husky. So they are keenly aware of what pet parents of every stripe experience. This makes for great customer support and a service that’s intimately in-touch with the wants and needs of pet parents today.
Other Sustainability Commitments
Since A Pup Above was started by two people who are pet parents themselves, they understand the importance of giving to the collective effort to make life better for all pets, and animals in general. That’s why 1 percent of all of their profits are donated to White Buffalo Land Trust, an eco-friendly agricultural organization. Additionally, their packaging is made up entirely of 100 percent recyclable materials, right down to the box lining.
Is This The Right Choice For You?
If your main concern is giving your dog the best dining experience out there, A Pup Above may be the one of the best fresh food brands for your furry friend. The texture and taste of their gently cooked fresh meals are downright restaurant-quality, sure to please even a picky eater.
The biggest downside to them is the fact that they don’t really have customization options. This makes them incompatible with your pup if he or she has food sensitivities or health conditions. Their meals are also by and large grainless, which will be appreciated by the canines, but perhaps less so by their humans who think grain should have a place in their diets.
However, this does come with the advantage of costing less than other brands. Many of their recipes can cost up to 50 percent less than comparable products from other fresh dog food services. Since they don’t need to direct resources to customizing recipes for specific health profiles, they can afford a more competitive price point.
Their many sustainability commitments are a huge plus, too. If you’re big on reducing food waste, recycling, and sustainable, ethical farming, A Pup Above is a great brand to support.
