London Dog Blog - Poppy's Picnic raw pet food

Dogs in London - The London Dog Blog

Processed food is bad for humans. So it stands to reason that it’s also bad for pets.

My dog Alfie (a long coat Chihuahua) has always been on a quality dry food diet although I often wonder about exactly what’s in it.
So, sometimes we try different diets. And raw food is all the rage. So I tried Poppy’s Picnic.

It’s entirely natural food – just meat (lamb, chicken, beef, tripe, bone), vegetables (carrots, parsnips, squash and apples) and plants (wheatgrass, parsley, flaxseed oil). Experts suggest that a natural diet improves digestion, supports a healthier coat and skin, is better for teeth and gums, makes calmer and happier dogs and – smaller, less frequent poos.

There’s a great web site https://poppyspicnic.co.uk/ where you choose your food and order. The rule is that you feed your dog around 2-3% of his/her body weight. Alfie (yes, I realise he’s a portly Chihuahua) weighs 4 kilos so I calculated he needed about 120 grams a day.

A £1.50 pack contains 450g so that’s enough for my boy for about three days. So a month’s supply would be just £10.50. That seemed like good value to me. And convenient – no more lugging of large bags of dry food each week.

I was impressed with the way that the mixed hamper arrived – beautifully packaged in an insulated box. I had to shuffle around the freezer to fit all the food in. And organise a defrosting scheme. But Alfie couldn’t quite believe his luck when I presented it to him (“What – real meat for me? Are you sure?” he seemed to say as he hesitated for a fraction of a nanosecond before wolfing it down). So that was a success. And my two cats were so curious that I had to also give some to them. Which they loved. Much to Alfie’s annoyance.

I gave some of the food to my dog walker (Little Pets on Facebook) – she has three Chihuahuas and an Old English Sheepdog. Her verdict was “Loved by all – Nigel (the sheepdog) did very well on it and his poo was much easier to pick up and less sloppy. The little ones also loved it and the same with their poos. However, they have little tummies and I think I should have introduced it slower. I would definitely switch but Nigel weighs 75 kilos so that would mean 2.5 kilos a day which I think is five packs – so £52.50 a week which is a bit beyond our budget. But I loved it and my opinion would be that it is great and affordable for a small dog but expensive for a large dog – although I might buy a smaller amount and mix it in with dry good”.

I also gave some of the food to a friend who has a lean-but-not-so-mean Rhodesian Ridgeback. She is already on a (more expensive) raw food diet and has weekly deliveries of frozen food. The conclusion from the lovely Hazel’s owner was that she liked the food so there’s possibly a switch planned there.

Dylan, the owner of Poppy’s Picnic has lived in Brixton for 14 years and before that lived in Pimlico. He developed the food for his own dogs – Poppy and her daughter Slipper. He works in partnership with a vet from HolisticVet – who is available to all Poppy’s Picnic clients to answer dietary questions. The food is made in a village called Bromham in Wiltshire. So it ticks the “Buy British” box too.

And 10% of Poppy’s Picnic profits go to charity.

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Posted Date
Nov 1, 2016 in Dogs in London - The London Dog Blog by London DogBlog