Welcome to AOK9 Raw
Before your first raw meal plan delivery, it's important to get yourself (and your home) prepared. Please take a moment to read through how to prepare for your first delivery and what to expect for the first few months as your dog transitions.
Meal Storage
Your first raw meal delivery will include 4 week's worth of individually portioned meals, raw treats and 5 days of complimentary meals for backup food in case of an emergency or scheduling issue for delivery. You'll receive a delivery every four weeks from that point on of 56 meals with raw treats. Meals should stay frozen until ready to partially thaw for serving. They will hold their nutritional value for 12 months in the freezer.
Most people underestimate the amount of storage needed for a raw meal plan. The average household freezer does not have enough room so a deep freezer (chest or upright) is what is suggested.
A 5 cubic foot freezer is big enough for one dog's meals but a 7 cubic foot is suggested for a two dog raw meal household. Many of our clients have opted to purchase the 7 cubic foot freezer for the extra space because most of the time, they are around the same price.
Our clients have purchased their 5-7 cubic foot freezers from Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Lowes, Best Buy and Costco. If you'd like the link to a specific one that our clients have liked, please reach out and we'll text it to you.
Regardless of where you purchase it from, it will need to be plugged in and running for at least 48 hours prior to your food delivery. Please keep this in mind when it's time schedule your raw meal drop off. If you have already scheduled your first delivery and won't have your freezer up and running in time, please reach out to reschedule. We'll find a date/time that will work for your first delivery once your freezer is ready for us.
Your Delivery
Your dog's meals will be weighed, bagged, flattened, and vacuum-sealed into individual meal portions prior to freezing. This takes the guess work out of meal time for you and ensures your dog is getting the right amount of food each time.
Why flatten the meals? Flattening the meals prior to freezing creates easier storage but most importantly, even defrosting. If you've ever tried to defrost a tube of meat and were left with mushy outer edges and a hard/frozen center, you know exactly what we are referring to. Flattening the meals helps keep the texture of the meat even and easier to serve.
Your dog's meals may be arrive fully frozen or partially thawed from transport (both are normal and perfectly safe) and will be in reusable, silver bags designed for frozen transport. The meals should be placed in your deep freezer when received and can be kept in the bags or removed. Either way, please hang on to your bags until the next delivery and we will collect them from you. We aim to eliminate waste and hope to reuse your bags for your deliveries until we need to replace them.
Your delivery will include a selection of raw extras, which may change every week. If you've completed a food sensitivity panel with us, all of the extras in your delivery will be allergen free.
Check out the variety of RAW EXTRAS that may be included in your delivery and the tips on how to serve them.
Suggested Serving
Your dog's raw meals can be served anywhere from fully defrosted to completely frozen, but must remain cold. We always suggest a stainless steel bowl for meal time with raw fed dogs. Raw should be served in a nonporous container that is easy to sanitize. Stainless steel slow feeders can be purchased on Amazon if your dog is used to eating from one.
Never cook or heat up your dog's raw meals. In addition to depleting the nutrient value of the raw, their meals include ground bone which is only safe to consume when raw. Because your dog's raw meal plan likely includes ground bone and green tripe (refer to your dog's custom recipe if unsure), your dog's raw meal is not safe for human consumption. All other ingredients are human-grade.
The amount of time it will take for your dog's meal to partially defrost is dependent on many things, such as the main protein, meal size and your refrigerator temperature. The average 13 oz meal or larger can take about 24 hours to partially defrost in the refrigerator while smaller meal sizes may only need 12 hours or so.
You'll need to experiment with both the texture/temperature your dog prefers their meal at and the time it'll take to achieve that temperature in your refrigerator. You can start in the morning by transferring your dog's breakfast from the freezer to the refrigerator for the following day and then doing the same at dinner. Adjust as necessary.
Every dog's preference on eating raw meals is unique to the dog but in most cases, we've found that dogs with healthy teeth prefer to eat their raw meals partially frozen. This means the meat is still solid but is soft enough to be broken up by hand or cut with a knife into chunks. For reference, we break our dog's raw meals up into their bowl into chunks about half the size of a standard ice cube. If your dog eats very quickly, breaking it up into smaller pieces may be necessary.
Raw meals have a high moisture content so a completely defrosted meal may have a mushy texture. This is perfect for dogs in recovery from surgery experiencing a sore throat, dogs with dental issues and senior dogs but may not be the preferred texture for healthy dogs with strong teeth. Some dogs will eat their raw regardless of the texture.
Safe Handling
It's true that raw protein can develop harmful bacteria if not stored, served and handled properly. What most people don't realized that its the exact same with the raw proteins for human consumption. You are not putting yourself at any additional risk feeding your dog a raw meal than you are buying chicken from the grocery store, trimming it at home and cooking dinner.
Wear gloves and/or wash your hands after feeding before moving on with other activity. Sanitize your kitchen counter where you prepped your dog's food bowl. Run your dog's bowl through the dishwasher or hand wash with warm, soapy water and rinse thoroughly between every meal.
Meal Time
While some dogs are eager eaters that are excited and willing to eat anything put in front of them, that's not always the case. This is especially true for dogs who have gotten into "trouble" or been yelled at for eating human food off the counter or tables. It is not uncommon for dogs to be hesitant eating something they've never seen or been presented before. That doesn't mean that they don't like it or won't eat it. This just means they're unsure. It's ok!
If your dog is an eager eater, the switch to raw may amplify their excitement for meal time. For others, it may take a couple of days and some encouragement. Eventually, your dog will realize this is how meal time looks now and all will be good.