FAQ
Do you deliver to areas outside of Cape Town?
We absolutely do, but please contact us directly via email or WhatsApp on 078 289 0247 for us to set up the order for you. Unfortunately online orders only work for Cape Town addresses at this point! We currently service the Western Cape only but we do intend to grow to other provinces, so let us know if you'd like to see us in your hometown. We do also offer collection from our depot in Muizenberg on specific afternoons.
How long does delivery take and how much does it cost?
Please see our Delivery Info page for the full details. We endeavour to get all orders to you within 2-3 working days, but as we deal with a variety of suppliers we occasionally have a stock issue which may delay things (this is more likely with toys and other accessories than food or treats). If this is the case you'll get contacted straight away to see if you'd like to swap out a product, get a partial delivery in the meantime and the rest later, or delay the whole order.
I need to change the time or date of my delivery
If you haven't received your shipping confirmation email yet and would like to delay your delivery, please reach out to us and we'll be happy to arrange delivery for a day that suits you.
If you have already received your shipping confirmation email, that means your order is already out of our hands and is with our courier. In that case please contact them directly for an delivery detail arrangements. The link to their website will be in the confirmation email.
Unfortunately we cannot book specific time slots for your delivery as our courier partner has many customers to fit into their route. You are welcome to direct requests to them but we cannot guarantee times. We can change your day to a later date however so feel free to reach out if you need help with that.
How will my order be transported to me?
Since our products are frozen, we are pedantic about keeping the cold chain solid. All products are kept safe in our freezers until the last moment, and then packed into insulated polystyrene cooler boxes which keep everything hard frozen for up to a day. Our courier then delivers them straight to your freezer on the same day, or transfers them to a freezer at their depot for delivery the next day. Either way there should be no defrosting in transit. If you ever receive a defrosted order, please take a photo of it still in the cooler box and send it to us right away so we can replace the order. So far this has never happened!
Our courier will ask you to unpack your order and return the cooler box. This is one of the ways we try to keep costs down for both you and the environment by reusing what we can and avoiding adding to landfills.
How do I set up a recurring order?
Our popular recurring order service gives you 5% off on any pet food that you'd like to receive regularly, at 1, 2, or 4 week intervals. All you need to do is select the "Get a Recurring Order" option on the product page, and whenever your next repeat is due you'll receive an invoice by email which you pay with one click. From your second order on, the discount will be automatically applied. Never run out of food again! Orders can be edited, paused, or cancelled at any time. For more details on this service, please visit our How to Create a Recurring Order page.
How much raw food do I feed my pet?
Check out our raw feeding calculator, or read our blog post with more detail to help you. The short answer is that you work out how much to feed them based on a percentage of their ideal body weight. It's important that you calculate using their ideal weight not just their current weight, as they may need to lose or gain a bit!
Cats: usually 100g to 200g a day divided into two meals. 250g to 300g for a fully grown Maine Coon!
Puppies: 4%-8% of their ideal weight, divided into 3 meals a day. Drop this to 3%-6% if your pup is a giant breed (like bullmastiffs, Great Danes, etc – chat to us if you’re unsure).
Adult Dogs (Tiny to Large breeds): 2%-4% of their ideal weight per day, divided into 2 meals.
Adult Dogs (Giant breeds): 1%-3% of their ideal weight pet day, divided into 2 meals
Old Dogs (all breeds): 1%-3% of their ideal weight pet day, divided into 2 meals
We usually recommend you start in the middle of the range (e.g. 150g of cat food per day, or 6% of your puppy’s ideal weight pet day) and see how they’re looking after about 2 weeks. You can always make an adjustment and their bodies will regulate pretty quickly!
Why should I feed my pet raw?
We could write a book to answer this question, and will be sending out interesting new tidbits of information as the research keeps growing, so please sign up to our newsletter if you’d like to keep learning! The short answer goes something like this…
Dogs and cats are mammals who are biologically designed to eat real, fresh food. No ancestor of your pet ever ate dried food from a bag! Without real meat their bodies become deficient in vital vitamins, minerals, proteins, and other nutrients. This leads to disease, allergy, energy depletion, joint problems, and so on. Cats are especially prone to kidney problems on a dry diet, whereas on a raw diet which is full of moisture they can have happy healthy kidneys well into old age.
On a raw diet, your pets can look forward to healthier shinier coats, clear skin with no itches, better heart, liver, kidney, gut and brain function, more energy, better mood, and very importantly, far more enjoyment of their food! The humans can look forward to happier pets, lower vet bills, smaller poops that stink less and are easier to pick up, and the satisfaction of knowing you’re giving your beloved furkid The Best. Trust us, once you’ve been feeding raw for a while you won’t be able to remember why you ever doubted it.
How do I switch my dogs to a raw diet?
Puppies can eat raw as soon as they’re weaned from their mothers. If you're switching them from a dry or tinned diet, most dogs will eat the raw straight away with no hesitation. Don’t worry if there is a day or two of a runny tummy straight after the switch – that’s just because raw food and dry food are vastly different and it can be a bit of a strain on the digestion to handle both in the gut at once. This is not dangerous at all and will clear up as soon as the old food is out of the system.
Occasionally we have known a fussy dog who isn’t convinced when they first see raw food. This is rare! The most important thing is that you as the human don’t hover over the dog waiting impatiently for them to eat… if they pick up that you’re anxious they’re even less likely to eat. If you’ve put the raw food down, walked away, and they haven’t touched it after 20 minutes, then you can do a phased approach where you mix the old food and the new food for a few days until they have acclimatised. Expect a bit of a runny tum if you go this route, but it’s really nothing to worry about. If you do decide to go with the phased approach, go in this ratio:
Day 1: 75% old food, 25% raw
Day 2: 50-50 old food and new
Day 3: 25% old food, 75% raw
Day 4: 100% raw.
If you’re still struggling on day 4, give us a call and we’ll help. There are some other tips and tricks we can give you and it is most certainly worth having a little patience and completing the process. Your dogs will learn to love their new food!
How do I switch my cats to a raw diet?
Cats are biologically programmed to be a little fussy when it comes to food, so please don’t be put off if they don’t clean the plate on the first go. We’ve never had a cat owner regret putting the time in to switch their cats over.
Start with two meals a day, and resist the urge to treat them in between – it’s good for kitty to be a little hungry at dinner and breakfast. Never leave the food out for more than 30 min at a time – if your cat hasn’t finished, or even if they haven’t touched it, pick it up and try again an hour later. You can safely fast your cat completely for up to 24 hours if needed so don’t freak out if they’re leaving you hanging.
First up, try a straightforward switch. Put down a bowl of the new food and walk away without making a fuss. If your cat ignores a few attempts, read our blog post for our top tips – try them out and call us if they don’t work, there are more where these came from!
What ingredients go into your raw pet food?
One of the best things about feeding a raw diet is that you will recognise all of the words on the ingredient lists of our products. Many commercial pet foods are constituted of artificially-created chemicals and so the ingredients lists are indecipherable, but our registered raw dinners are made up exclusively of human-grade meat, vegetables, and natural supplements. There are no hormones, preservatives, antibiotics or artificial flavours. Just the real, fresh food that your pets would eat in nature.
How do I know my pet won’t get salmonella or worms from raw meat?
There is a reason we won’t sell a product that isn’t registered with the Department of Agriculture. That registration is how we know that all our products are manufactured and packed in kitchens that have passed the strictest of hygiene testing. All the dinners are regularly tested for salmonella and other bacteria, as well as worms and other parasites. Please also note that while it is dangerous for humans to eat raw meat, dogs and cats have shorter digestive tracts and much stronger digestive juices to protect them in any case. We still urge you to observe safe practises around handling raw meat – clean up any spills after dishing your pets’ dinners and wash your hands as normal – but you have no reason to worry that the pet food is putting you or your families at risk.
How do I know that my pet will get all their nutritional needs met?
All the ready-made dog and cat dinners that we sell have been designed in consultation with animal nutrition experts to make sure that they provide all the goodness your pet needs. Meals that are registered “complete and balanced” technically mean that you could feed only that meal every day for the rest of your pets life and they would be healthy (though we do recommend variety if your pet isn’t restricted by food allergies), whereas those that are registered as “complementary” need to form part of a varied diet of other complementary meals, whole foods, or complete dinners. Chat to us if you’re unsure, but you should have no need to supplement your pets’ meals unless they have a particular medical need that requires some addition.
How do I defrost the food? Can I microwave it?
Safe defrosting practise is your part in keeping the food at its optimum when it goes into your pet’s mouth. The big advantage of feeding raw is that it is real food, but of course that does mean that it needs to looked after in the same way you would look after your own fresh meals. So the important points:
- Defrost at room temperature out of direct sun, or preferably in the fridge (though this takes longer)
- Always defrost in a container so that you don’t lose the juices which form an important part of the nutritional balance
- Please do not microwave the food or cook it in any other way, as this denatures the calcium and diminishes some of the nutritional quality
- Should you have an “oopsie” and forget to defrost food in time for a meal, put the whole bag of food (still sealed) in some warm or hot water for about 15 minutes. The food will defrost quite quickly for you to serve. It is perfectly safe to feed it still partly frozen if needed, though your pet might not be impressed with you on a cold day!
I have a pet with allergies. Can you help?
Absolutely. All our product listings have the full ingredients lists which will help you pick out the ones that are appropriate for your pets. If you’re unsure what your pet is allergic to but suspect it is food related, please reach out to us for help on a process of elimination. The most common food allergies for dogs are chicken and carrots, and luckily we have options that don’t include either - look out for the chicken-free and carrot-free stickers on the product images to help you find those.
I heard it’s not safe to give bones to dogs?
This is a common misconception – the key point is that it is not safe to give cooked bones to dogs, as they become brittle through the cooking process and are at risk of splintering. This can injure your dog. Raw bones however are soft enough to be completely digested, and are really beneficial to your dogs and cats. As well as being the single best source of natural calcium your pet could dream of, the actual process of chomping down bones does wonders for your pets jaw and paw development, as well as naturally cleaning teeth which freshens the breath.
