Natalie Myers, Freshpet R&D Associate

This week’s blog post is written by Natalie Myers, Freshpet R&D Associate:

If you would have known me back when I was a child, working for a pet food company would be the last job you would have guessed I would have someday. I was PETRIFIED of dogs; it didn’t matter the size or type. Growing slightly older, my fears have since subsided and now I really enjoy spending time with our furry friends.

Previous to my days here at Freshpet, I received my undergraduate degree in Food Science. In high school, I was more of a science nerd than anything else and I LOVE to eat, so I figured Food Science was the perfect route for me. Why wouldn’t I want to spend all day researching and developing new food products to eat? (while of course, making sure the quality is perfectly up to standard).

Little did I know when I started into the food world, that I would one day end up here, at a pet food company. After all, our pets have to eat too, right? And now, my job is to make sure their food is nutritious and delicious while being made with high quality ingredients so everyone remains happy and healthy. Our technical team here in Quakertown, PA, where we make our fresh foods, does extensive research and testing before, during and after production on everything from the raw ingredients, to the equipment and of the course the finished product. Even though the product looks and smells good to us, we have to make sure pets enjoy our foods as well.

It’s an exciting job creating fresh ideas for food and treats to keep your pets coming back to the fridge, so stay tuned for our new products!

It’s official – Winter is here! Even though we know our loved ones like to run loose outside, there are many potential dangers of not being protected from the cold. Here are some tips to help protect our companion animals on those unbearable cold winter days.

Cold Weather Tips:

1. Keep your pooch or cat indoors. Those who are allowed to stray are exposed to infectious diseases, including rabies, from other cats, dogs and wildlife.
2. Bang on car hoods. Outdoor cats tend to sleep underneath car hoods. This is hazardous because fan belts can do serious damage. Before starting your car in the winter, bang on the hood to give a chance for outdoor cats to escape.
3. Never let your pooch off the leash when there is snow or ice. Dogs can easily lose their scent and become lost. There are more lost pooches in the winter than any other season, so make sure that your dog has an ID tag.
4. Get them jackets and sweaters. If they are going outside, it is best to choose something that has a waterproof nylon covering.
5. If your dog has a long coat, never shave it down. More hair will provide more warmth in the winter. Be sure to completely dry your dog after a bath when taking them out on long walks.
6. Never leave your dog or cat unattended and alone in a car during cold weather. A car can act as a refrigerator in the winter, holding in the cold and causing the animal to freeze to death.
7. Make sure your pooch wears booties. Booties protect your dog’s sole from cold weather and harmful substances use to melt ice.
8. Provide more food. Dogs use calories to stay warm, so make sure to feed them properly especially if they spend a lot of time outdoors.
9. Warm bedding. Make sure your companion animal has a warm bed that is at least 3 inches from the ground to avoid cold drafts.
10. Warm their hearts! Give your pooch or cat some Freshpet treats that will guarantee to warm their hearts and their spirits.

Tips provided by ASPCA, PetPlace.com, and MentorPatch

Looking for the perfect gift idea for your special pooch or cat this holiday season? Well, look no further! We’ve put together a list of 7 great gifts that includes pet accessories, treats, and toys. Our pets have given us unconditional love and affection all year round so don’t forget to get them a cute gift or two. The holidays are quickly approaching! Check out our list below:

1. Freshpet Foods – What greater gift than the gift of fresh? Keep your dogs happy and healthy by stocking your fridge with Freshpet this season.

2. Pet Santa Costume ($16.95) – This adorable Santa Claus outfit comes complete with the jumpsuit, belt, and matching hat.

3. Holiday Tartan Dog Boots ($26.95) – These boots not only keep your pup’s feet warm, but they’re also stylish!

4. Holiday Penguin Squeaker Mat ($17.99) – Playing with this long penguin squeaker toy will keep your pooch entertained for hours.

5. Comfortable Desktop Cat Seat ($29.95) – Ever want to keep your cat our of the way, but yet an arm’s length away while you’re working? Here’s the perfect solution.

6. Dog Silhouettes Canvas Tote ($22.99) – Perfect for carrying all of your dogs belongings to the beach, while traveling, or just on a stroll to the park.

7. Cat Scratch Tower ($26.99) – This tower has dual toy teasers that will orbit over your cat’s head for hours while he scratches this post.

Treat your family to fresh this holiday season! Getting in the spirit of this time of year, Freshpet will be giving away several prizes through a sweepstakes. Enter the Keep Your Holidays Fresh Sweepstakes for your chance to win a $1,500 gift card to your favorite fresh food store. Three runners-up will also win a $250 gift card. Now there’s no excuse to keep the fridge stocked with fresh foods!

Follow these simple steps below to enter:

1. Click on the Keep Your Holidays Fresh tab on our Facebook fan page
2. Fill out the sweepstakes entry form
3. Invite your friends to increase your chances of winning

You better hurry, the contest ends on December 21, 2011 at 12:00 AM (EST).  See Official Rules for details.

Thanksgiving is a time for getting together with family, being grateful for all of life’s blessings, and eating wonderful foods. It’s also a time for our dogs to sneak off with the holiday scraps. While it’s ok to toss your dog a piece of turkey here and there, there are potential hazards of giving your dog popular Thanksgiving foods.

Check out this list below that we found on I Love Dogs of 10 foods you should avoid feeding your dog on Thanksgiving, and any other day for that matter.

1. Natural Bones: It seems counter-intuitive, we know, but natural bones are bad for dogs. Carmela Stamper, D.V.M., a veterinarian in the Center for Veterinary Medicine at the FDA, said, “Bones are unsafe, no matter what their size. Giving your dog a bone may make your pet a candidate for a trip to your veterinarian’s office later, possible emergency surgery or even death. Make sure you throw out bones from your own meals in a way that your dog can’t get to them.”

2. Raw or undercooked turkey: One reason: salmonella bacteria. You can get sick from handling raw food, and even though you may believe your dog’s stomach is iron-clad – it’s not.

3. Turkey skin: Seems harmless enough, right? It’s just the skin. But, as blogs.dogtime.com puts it, “High-fat foods, such as turkey skin and gravy, can be hazardous to your dog. Since the skin is hard to digest, it can lead to pancreatitis (symptoms are vomiting, extreme depression, reluctance to move and abdominal pain).”

The skin isn’t good for you either, so it’s best to throw it away and make more room for the mashed potatoes and gravy.

4. Dough and cake batter: It may sound like an urban legend, but the combination of raw dough and your dog’s body heat can actually cause the dough to rise inside his stomach. This can result in vomiting, severe abdominal pain and bloating. Not to mention that the batter used in cakes and pies has raw eggs, which could contain salmonella bacteria. If you’re making a cake or pie, make sure your dog is not in the kitchen and, clean up any scraps or droppings that hit the floor right away.

5. Beer: Dogs love beer – but this doesn’t mean you should share a cold one with your dog. Beer can really do a number on your dog’s stomach.

Alcohol, especially the hops in beer, can be particularly harmful to dogs, causing intoxication, panting, fever, racing heart, liver damage, even coma, seizures and death.

6. Walnuts and macadamia nuts: These two nuts in particular are very bad for your dog. In fact, they could cause a toxic reaction called macadamia nut toxicosis. blogs.dogtime.com says, “Within twelve hours of eating the nuts, dogs can start to develop symptoms such as an inability to stand, ataxia (walking wobbly), depression, vomiting, muscle tremors, hyperthermia (elevated body temperature), weakness and an elevated heart rate. Usually the symptoms go away within 48 hours but the weakness, vomiting and fear can lead to dangerous, and sometimes deadly, shock.”

7. Mushrooms: Fungi are good for you, but bad for your dog. Should your dog ingest mushrooms, you can expect a slew of unwelcome symptoms that could become quite severe. Mushrooms can damage a number of internal organs, including kidneys, liver and the central nervous system. If your dog eats mushrooms, you can expect seizures, coma, vomiting and possibly death.

8. Onions: This is always on the list of foods your dog should not eat and for very good reason. They make your dog sick, period. Here’s why: Onions contain sulfides, which are toxic to dogs and can cause the destruction of red blood cells leading to Heinz body anemia.

9. Sage: This multi-purpose herb is used in countless recipes and for cleansing a new home, but to a dog, sage is bad. It contains essential oils and resins that can upset a dog’s stomach and do a number on his central nervous system.

10. Nutmeg: Nutmeg is a sneaky spice. Found in pumpkin pie and most desserts, nutmeg has mild hallucinogenic properties that when ingested by your dog can cause, “seizures, tremors and central nervous system problems. In severe cases, shock and death have been reported,” according to blogs.dogtime.com. Note that both pumpkin and sweet potatoes are good for your dog; just make sure no nutmeg is on them before you share them with your dog.

Source: I Love Dogs

We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare. In return, dogs give us their all. It’s the best deal man has ever made.

— Margery Facklam

Our dogs provide us with so many good things on a daily basis. They humor us when we’re feeling down, put a smile on our face, and most importantly, give us unconditional love. We’ve all heard the phrase “Dog is man’s best friend” being thrown around, but have you ever wondered about its origin? I came across this great article on NPR that gives us a view of how this close relationship between dog and man came about.

Naturalist Mark Derr explains that dogs descended from its early ancestor, the wolf, and their close bond with men through hunting. Early humans began following wolves as they  hunted for similar game. As these two started working and living together over time, the skeletal features of the wolves changed to resemble today’s modern day dog.

Even though we don’t speak the same language, there is no doubt that there is a deep love and empathy for each other which has lasted through the test of time. Make sure to share some stories with your best friend in the comments below.

The Freshpet Protest 4 Fresh Contest has come to an end! We received numerous photos of your pets protesting for 4 fresh, and so we want to send a special thanks to all those who participated over the past 2 weeks.

And now the envelope please…

The grand prize goes to Allison and her pooch Henry.

Henry (an animal activist which can be viewed to the left) captured our hearts with this cute, satirical take on current Occupy events.

Don’t worry Henry we’ll keep the protest going to make sure that all poochies have fresh food. You are part of the 99% who want fresh food, but you’ve definitely captured 100% of our hearts!

Another special thanks to our fan favorite Jennie and her dog Stanley.

Stanley (seen to the right) gets very nervous when he sees that there is only half of a Freshpet log left.

No need to worry Stanley, we will make sure that your supply of Freshpet is never low. Well deserved!

Thanks for the on-going support of Freshpet and happy protesting!

This week’s blog is written by a new member of the Freshpet Team, Courtney.

When we finally moved out of our small apartment in New York City to the Jersey suburbs, the first thing I wanted to do was add to the family.  Although I plan on having a small herd of critters in the future, I decided to ease the family into it by starting with a kitten.  We adopted him from the Jersey Animal Coalition.  He was a tiny little thing that instantly melted our hearts, and my son named him Bally.  We had a great time picking out all the new kitty essentials: litter box, comfy bed, bowls, feathers and spiders that hang from sticks and doorways, and jingling bells.  But the most important decision was choosing the right food.

I grew up on a farm with a dozen cats.  We fed them dry food without giving it a second thought.  There just didn’t seem to be anything better out there.  I cannot tell you what a big “a-ha!” moment I had when I first came to Freshpet.  I thought, “Wow!  There is a solution for those of us wanting to feed our pets like we feed our family – fresh and healthy.”

I started Bally on Freshpet Select Roasted Meals for Cats twice a day.  At first Bally was skeptical.  After all, he wasn’t even fully weaned when we brought him home, but it didn’t take him long to realize fresh meat and veggies taste great.  Now he paces in front of the fridge whenever I’m in the kitchen, as if to say, “Come on Mom, I know where you keep the good stuff!”  He’s so full of energy, has a beautiful shiny coat, and is growing like a weed (do I sound like a proud Mom or what?).

I am so happy to be part of a team dedicated to helping pet Moms and Dads make better choices for their furry kids.  And I know Bally is very happy, too!

We asked people to help us tell the Freshpet story.  What is Freshpet?  Why is fresh best for your pet? 

We received great responses, some goofy, and some thought provoking.  But we thought the best one told a personal story.

Our winner told us about his dog, Palmer, and how Freshpet made a difference in their lives.  

 To see all the videos that were submitted, click here.