Pooch and Mutt: In Review

Hello peeps and pups!
Way back when (I think before even Crufts!) The lovely folk at Pooch and Mutt asked if we would like to do a review for them, which y’know was a bit of a daft question giving that it entails food; but I put the proposition to the crew anyway and it was a resounding paws up (surprise, surprise).

Pooch and Mutt kindly offered to provide a tube of treats and a bag of food in our choice of flavour and benefit. Now, I have heard of the company before because one of my very good friends has had some products from them, but we have never tried them out ourselves and I didn’t know they did actual FOOD! So I popped over to their lovely website for a peruse (which, you can do here http://poochandmutt.co.uk/) and was excited by what I saw!

Lets talk about the food first.
My three terrors (yes terrors, not terriers, terrors) are fed on a kibble based diet anyway, so this was perfect and actually we are quite happy with our choice. We put a LOT of research into what was best, but they’ve been on the same thing for a few years now and since then we’ve definitely looked into the benefits of switching to grain-free. Pooch and Mutt food IS  grain-free so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it out.

The foods come in five different types:
Calm and Relaxed: A Turkey and Sweet Potato blend for dogs that tend to be anxious or excitable – (Ellie = Check)
Move Easy: Made with Scottish salmon for dogs with mobility issues or those that are highly active – (Errr hmmm possibly?)
Slim & Slender: Made with fresh, British, free-run chicken and sweet potato for dogs that are overweight – (Looking at you Myfie, sorry dude)
Fresh Breath: Ingredients as above, promotes breath freshness, oral hygiene and digestion – (Applies to all what dogs’ breath couldn’t use a little freshening?)
Digestion and Wind: Made with Scottish salmon and sweet potato, for dogs that have poor or sensitive digestive systems – (Triple DING!!!)

Yep, we went for Digestion and Wind… for the same reasons as why you would want your dogs breath to smell fresher, just… y’know, the other end. Also, Ellie does have a very sensitive tummy, she always has had so our other food is formulated for this and it helps to keep the others nice and trim (at least that’s the theory).

We had read other glowing reviews for this stuff on the website before we ordered and many people had said that rather than changing their dogs diet completely, they added this to the food and even that helped. So that reassured me a little too, since changing over your dogs food should ALWAYS be done gradually and should never be a speedy, off-the-cuff thing.

The little pellets look quite similar to their existing food, and the pups did seem to be loving the smell… which yes, was decidedly fishy. I let them have a little taste straight from the bag, and it seemed to go down well.

So what was the outcome?
Well, Myfie and Ellie loved the stuff! They wolfed that first, after sorting it from the usual food. Millie, however, also sorted it from the other food but instead of eating it, she lined it up alongside her dish. She discarded it, basically. Nevertheless, I persevered because she CAN be a creature of habit so it could have just been that she needed to get used to it.
Despite initially eating what I gave her out of my hand as a treat, she stopped eating it that way too. Maybe she just isn’t a fish girl? I don’t blame her, I am not keen either.

Results-wise (and please do bear in mind it can take time to switch over a food) it WAS decidedly less, erm, gassy(?) in the evening… from the two Westies at least. The food, to me seemed to be high quality and good value for money (particularly compared to other high-end grain-free kibble brands). I definitely WOULD give it another chance, and consider swapping completely but it would have to be in another flavour.
Typical, Millie. Little Miss Fussy Pants.

So what about those treats?

Now the treat tubes come in SEVEN different varieties. Four of which are the same as the foods listed above, in addition to:
Feel Good, Brain & Train and Puppy Development.

We opted for Fresh Breath, in a bid to rid smells from all, err, parts! 😉
All Pooch and Mutt dog treats are natural, ethical, low-calorie (like just 3 per biscuit) and gluten-free. They are hand-baked and in the shape of little mini bones, as you can see in the picture above! I was trying to take a picture for size comparison but apparently Millie thought the best way to do that was by having them in her mouth.

Not that I want to spill any of her secrets here but, poor Ellie does have breath that smells a little fishy on occasion. So I really got these to see if they would make any difference to her! Did they? I’m not sure! Ellie would say they only work after eating the full box… nice try Ells!

No, Myf! Not LITERALLY eat the box *eye roll*

But one thing IS for sure, all three pups absolutely LOVED these treats. See Millie up there? That’s her special beg she usually saves for Canine-Crack Dentastix. I loved the fact that they are so low calorie and good quality, despite them being small you really feel like you are giving them something special and worthy. I think the price is quite good too, £2.99 for 150 treats isn’t bad is it?

So, in conclusion?
Yeah, we’ll definitely be using Pooch and Mutt again. We’ll try all of the treats (that are appropriate) I think, and although the composition isn’t probably the same, the flavours should be. That would perhaps help with choosing a food? We’ll see… If you are looking for a high quality grain-free UK produced food? I would absolutely recommend you give these guys a try!

On a completely unrelated note, we all loved the packaging too! I’m a bit of a packaging snob, you all know that about me, so I appreciated that… for many more people though, I know it doesn’t make a big/any difference.

It’s worth noting too, that beside from the treats and food, Pooch and Mutt also do supplements. I am very interested in this, particularly as later in the year my little man will be not-so-little as he makes his journey into ‘Senior’ territory!

So… What do you think? Have any of you tried these goodies, or fancy giving them a go?

*DISCLAIMER: All views are our own, we have not and will not be paid for this review… nothing dodgy to see here!*