Caru Dog Food is owned and manufactured by a small family-owned company based in Florida. The company focuses on its wet food lines using carefully selected human-grade ingredients. All of the brand’s foods use USDA inspected proteins and reliably-sourced vegetables.
Caru’s advantage is that it creates the food in small batches so every food you feed your pup looks and tastes like a homemade meal you would make at your own house.
All the foods are made in the USA, and the company packages its ingredients using green materials.
Something we immediately noticed about Caru is the variety of foods and products in its line. In addition to the main offering of wet foods, the brand also has bone broths and treats that follow the same guidelines.
Now, let us all dive into our comprehensive Caru dog food review below, read on!
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Caru pet foods started like a lot of other pet food companies; it began with two dog owners and their canine friend. Pamela and Adrian Pettyan are Canadian medical professionals who ran a local primary care health center.
Their family dog, Karu, was dealing with constant ear infections and their veterinarian suggested switching their dog to a homemade diet consisting of natural, pure, and nutritious foods.
Once they switched their pup, they immediately noticed that their dog was more playful and energetic. With the family being from a healthcare background, they couldn’t understand why more pet food companies were not capitalizing on this type of opportunity.
They immediately realized what they had to do. They collaborated with pet nutritionists to create a complete line of nutritious meals and treats that were based on a healthy human diet.
In this section, we’re taking a more in-depth look at two foods from the Caru pet food line.
We want to break down the ingredients and nutrition in each of the lines to give you a more thorough look into what other customers and we think about Caru’s dog foods.
Hopefully, after reading this section, you’ll be able to decide for your pup.
Caru’s Daily Dish Stews are grain-free and nourishing recipes that taste just like home. These are all limited ingredient diets that are slow-cooked at low temperatures to bring your pup that delicious, hearty homemade taste.
Made with real chunks of chicken with chickpeas, apples, carrots, peas, and pumpkin. Natural recipe includes added vitamins and minerals to offer complete and balanced nutrition.
This chicken stew is slow cooked at low temperatures to help preserve the flavor and nutritional value of the ingredients. The food contains real chicken, vegetables, and fruit with no grains, gluten, GMO’s, or fillers.
Caru prepares all their foods in small batches in their family-owned facilities to closely mimic the taste and aroma of a home-cooked meal.
We’re impressed by these ingredients because the food does indeed resemble something you could eat. They are all human-grade ingredients combined into a delicious and nutritious moist food for your pup.
We included the first ten ingredients because we wanted to make our way even further down the line to show you that the elements do not get worse as you get down towards the middle of the list.
With a high-quality list of ingredients like this, you would imagine the cost of the food would be much higher. This food comes in a pack of twelve so if you serve your pup one of these per day the price would be much lower than a dry kibble containing the same ingredients.
Real Stew
The Real Stew range contains 100% gluten and grain-free recipes using human-grade ingredients. The simple diet makes it perfect for dogs with food sensitivities.
Features carefully selected USDA-inspected beef, veggies and fruit. Formulated with high quality protein for strong muscles and a healthy heart and fiber-rich vegetables and fruit for digestive health.
The main difference between the daily dish and the traditional stews is that the daily dishes contain more gravy, less protein, and a lower price.
These stews have more nutrients packed into each bite, so they are more intended as a treat instead of a daily serving. Caru recommends using this food alongside a regular diet of health dry kibble or other raw food.
First 10 Ingredients:
Beef
Beef broth
Green beans
Potatoes
Carrots
Peas
Apples
Sweet potatoes
Tapioca starch
Potato starch
This food is also grain-free and, as you can see, they do not make any sacrifices in the ingredients here. The primary difference is whole meat as the first ingredient instead of broth.
The cost of this food is a little bit higher than the daily dish but if you only give your dog this food as a treat every few days than the cost would equal out.
This is a great way to reward your pups for great behavior without worrying about what you’re feeding them.
Classics
The Classics feature recipes made with delectable chunks of meat in tasty gravy. The line is made for adult dogs and carries added vitamins and minerals for a completely balanced nutrition.
These hearty stews are prepared in small batches without any grain, gluten, or wheat. Not to mention, real USDA-inspected meat is the first ingredient.
The Caru Classics Chicken Stew is a grain-free wet food containing USDA-inspected meat and high-quality whole foods packed with natural nutrients.
Meals are prepared in small batches with the company's very own unique process to retain the freshness and integrity of each of the carefully sourced ingredients.
The recipe is free from artificial preservatives and harsh chemicals, thus making this recipe a sensible choice for pet owners who are wary of what is in their pups’ meals.
The main ingredient of this recipe is chicken, which provides protein for lean muscles and a healthy heart. The selected fruits and vegetables, on the other hand, offer fiber to improve better stool management in your pets.
First 10 Ingredients:
Chicken
Chicken Broth
Sweet Potatoes
Carrots
Potatoes
Green Beans
Apples
Tapioca Starch
Tricalcium Phosphate
Salt
Notably, there are no animal by-products present in the stew—just chunky bits of real chicken drenched in a delicious gravy. The chicken broth also adds more flavor to the meal and moisture to a dog's diet.
This classic stew can be served as a complete meal or a fresh topper over dry food to whip up an enjoyable treat. You just need to adjust the serving as per your pet's needs.
A handful of reviews from dog parents revealed how this recipe stimulated their dogs’ appetites leading them to empty their bowls up to the last lick.
Needless to say, finicky eaters and dogs that have sensitive tummy can definitely thrive on this wet food.
Food Topping Reviews
Daily Dish Broth
Daily Dish Broths are delicious liquid treats that taste homemade. The liquid toppers are designed to add palatability to meals and add extra hydration and nutrition to a dog’s regular diet.
If you want your feline or canine friends to get extra moisture in their diet, then this topper is a good recommendation.
This limited-ingredient broth features premium fruits and vegetables without nasty additives. It is a great supplement for dry foods and encourages your pets to receive more nourishing hydration than plain water.
Like all Caru pet food products, the Daily Dish Pumpkin Broth is cooked in small batches sealing its natural freshness. The packaging is BPA-free, which does not alter the taste or flavor of the recipe.
It also has an easy-open screw cap that is practical for handling and storing.
All 7 Ingredients:
Water
Pumpkin
Yeast Extract
Apple
Natural Flavor
Arrowroot
Kale
Some key benefits of pumpkin, apple, and arrowroot include providing relief for constipation and diarrhea. The green leafy veggie kale, however, supports good vision and helps avert infections.
It is good to note that this well-prepared soup does not contain garlic, onion, or MSG ensuring you are giving your pets the best food possible.
Remember, though, that this does not qualify as a completely balanced meal. It purely offers additional flavor and nourishment to your pet's existing diet or what we call supplementary feeding.
Adding this meal topper to your pet’s regular diet is an excellent way to boost hydration whether they have urinary tract issues or they just won't drink enough water.
It is packed with high-quality, flavorful ingredients that your pups and furballs can feast on to their heart's content.
Bone Broth
The Bone Broth line by Caru features broth recipes reimagined for pets from the centuries-old practice of families sharing a steamy pot of savory broth.
The formulations in this line feature slow-simmered natural bones of free-range chicken or grass-fed beef and then heaped with helpings of organic veggies for more flavor.
This is another limited ingredient recipe that makes every meal a lot more appealing.
The broth’s primary ingredient is the chicken bone from free-range chickens free from antibiotics or other hormone additives. It is tossed together with organic vegetables that are well-combined to wrap up a pleasant nutritional liquid treat.
Just like the Caru pumpkin broth, this chicken bone stock serves as a supplementary diet to the regular food intake of your pets.
Some pets don’t seem to get the hang of eating kibble or other dry food so this broth may come in handy to attract selective eaters to dig in. Or pet parents may just want to give variety to their dog’s everyday meal.
The recipe follows Caru’s proprietary food processing and packaging that resembles a tasty and freshly homemade meal.
It is slowly simmered at low temperatures without salt or other additives preserving the inherent nutritional qualities of the ingredients.
The Caru Free Range Chicken Bone Broth can work as a cooling treat when frozen in cubes, used as a meal topper to moisten dry dog food and rehydrate freeze-dried food.
However you want to incorporate this chicken bone broth into your pet’s diet, go ahead and indulge your four-legged friends with this savory treat.
Dog Treat Reviews
Natural Treats
Called the Natural Treats line, the recipes here feature soft-baked morsels of real meat with heapings of blueberries and cranberries for a balanced treat.
Finding healthy snacks should be given the same amount of dedication as it is in scouring for a holistic meal that owners provide their pets.
The reason behind this is that just like regular meals, treats are given every single day. It is only proper to give your dogs a wholesome snack to maximize and enjoy its health benefits and not just scarf down on empty calories.
This is where Caru Soft n’ Tasty Baked Bites Venison Recipe comes in. This grain-free scrumptious grub highlights a novel meat ingredient – real venison sourced from New Zealand.
It also features organic cranberries and blueberries that contain antioxidants rich in vitamins and nutrients, which aid in optimal digestion.
These soft-baked treats don’t include animal by-products, wheat, corn, soy, or GMO ingredients so pets are sure they are in for a real treat.
All 10 Ingredients:
Venison
Chickpeas
Beet Molasses
Coconut Glycerin
Potato Flour
Blueberries
Cranberries
Dried Cultured Skim Milk
Salt
Mixed Tocopherols (A Preservative)
Caru’s venison recipe can be given to dogs every day. It is soft and gentle on canine teeth and can also be broken into bite-sized pieces for smaller dogs to chew.
This guilt-free treat is perfect as a reward during training, active play, or just about anytime you want to show your dogs some appreciation. After all, they need the extra boost during these kinds of activities.
Daily Dish Smoothies
These are creamy, lickable treats perfect for everyday snacking. Crafted with human-grade ingredients, no artificial colors or preservatives, and with no added sugar or salt, these are the ideal treats for pets who need a reward for good behavior.
These also make nice toppers on regular dry pet food.
Each tube contains all the goodness your dog craves like real peanut butter without those not-so-desirable ingredients like added sugar, salt, preservatives or colors.
Daily Dish Peanut Butter Smoothies feature real creamy peanut butter transformed into a lickable treat suitable for all dog breeds in all life stages.
It only has 6 ingredients that are 100% human grade and devoid of unwholesome components like sugar, salt, or artificial preservatives.
This snack is packed in small tubes from where your pups can straight up lick the savory goodness out of it or squeeze it into a bowl.
It can also work as a tasty topper on your dog’s favorite meal or let it freeze to turn into a cooling treat on hot days.
All 6 Ingredients:
Water
Peanut Butter
Tapioca Starch
Yeast Extract
Egg White
Sunflower Oil
The smoothie adds a boost to your dog’s hydration and can motivate your fussy pooch to finish up a meal once you add it as a topper. The peanut butter and sunflower oil provide protein and fatty acids that make it an ideal high-value training treat.
Please note that these goodies are not intended to replace your dog’s daily diet and are just for supplemental feeding. You can pair it with other Caru dishes so your dogs can receive optimal health benefits in each meal.
What Types of Dog Food Does Caru Offer?
Caru calls their foods, “stews” and these are moist foods made in small batches that are all formulated without artificial preservatives, by-products, flavors, and colors.
The ultimate goal of this pet food company is to create food that closely mimics what you could make for your dog in your home kitchen.
They offer grain-free, gluten-free and wheat-free options
In addition to their traditional moist food offerings, they also have bone broth and something they call daily dish stews. Moist foods are often used as treats on special occasions so a lot of pet owners don’t see them as something they would want to give their dog daily.
Caru believes that they created a moist food that you can feed your dog every day. Their daily dish foods contain no GMO’s, and they are affordable for families on a budget.
Based on our research there are no current or previous recalls of Caru pet foods.
Consumer Feedback
We believe that the only way you can decide if the dog food is right for you and your pup is to try it out for yourself. The next best way to make that decision is to read what other customers have said after they tried it.
Many of the positive reviews for this food say that their dogs love the food and they genuinely look forward to feeding it to their pup because they know they are giving them some of the best food money can buy.
Many critical reviews say the exact opposite that their pups will not eat the food. We believe this is because their dogs did not get adequately weaned off their other food.
Changing your dog over to a primarily wet food diet requires a slow change throughout a few months.
Here are honest reviews from real customers.
Positive
Delicious
We recently tried Caru Daily Dish Chicken Stew and LOVED it! Our pup can have a sensitive tummy, but he's never short on energy, so we sometimes struggle to keep weight on him. When we added this food to his dry food, he devoured it, and it sat really well. We even found that he slept more soundly when we have it to him for dinner! Just the product we've been looking for to supplement his regular diet. – Chewy Customer
Best out there!
Listen up furiends! Got some important information to share on this Tasty Tuesday..if you are a picky eater like moi, this is the best kibble topper/food out there. I can vouch for it as my pawrents have gone through and tried more than ten brands and nothing else has been as appealing to me as the @carupetfood daily dish stew! And the best part is that it is 100% human grade and all natural ingredients. You gotta give it a try! – Chewy Customer
Negative
My dog will not eat it.
I am sure that some dogs would love this food, but my small dog will not touch it and is completely not interested in the food. He is normally not that picky, but this food is just not for him. I plan on donating what I bought to a shelter. I wish you could buy just one to try because it is pretty expensive. I wish he did like it because I liked that it was made with human grade ingredients. – Chewy Customer
All-Natural Moist Food for a Balanced Diet
If you’re already in the habit of feeding your pup wet food but you're concerned about the nutritional value of the food than switching the Caru is an excellent choice for you.
This food is also useful for pet parents who want to add wet food to their dog's diet, but they want something that is all natural. Caru is paving the way for other well-rounded and nutritious moist foods to enter the market.
Who owns Caru Pet Food Company?
Caru Pet Food Company is a family-owned business operated by two Canadians who originally founded Karu’s Canine Cuisine in 2010. Adrian and Pamela Pettyan are medical professionals who care about the happiness and well-being of every pet.
If I change my dog’s diet to Caru stews, will it cause digestive upsets?
Some vomiting and/or diarrhea can be expected when introducing new foods because there is an intricate and delicate balance between the naturally occurring bacteria in your pet’s digestive tract. That’s why we recommend slowly transitioning your pet to Caru stews over a period of about 7 days so that the new food is not a sudden shock to their system. We suggest mixing 25% of the new food in with 75% of the current food for the first 2 days, then mixing 50% new food with 50% existing food for the next 2 days, then mixing 75% new food with 25% current food for the next 2 days. By day seven, you can feed your dog 100% new food. If your pet experiences any kind of digestive upset during this time, try slowing down the process.
What’s better – wet dog food or dry?
Pet parents commonly feed dry kibble to their dog due to its relatively low cost. However, from a nutritional standpoint, there are many excellent wet dog food options that are frequently overlooked. You might also consider topping your dog’s dry food with their stews; together they make an especially tasty and healthy meal.
Where are Caru products manufactured?
In the United States. They create and develop their own recipes in collaboration with an accomplished Ph.D. animal nutritionist. They are proud to say that all of their products are manufactured in facilities that are USDA approved and inspected.
A huge animal lover, born and raised around dogs, cats, chickens...
Self-educated pet care nerd. Currently parent of three adopted cats and one small mutt. Animal adoption advocate. Loves a good book (about animals) and playing the piano.
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