What's in the Bowl
How We Developed Our Food for Dogs
The science behind our food for dogs.
We prioritized using ingredients needed for a high quality and nutritious recipe without adding trendy ingredients that don’t add value. The formula is also defined by what’s not in it: There are no fillers such as corn or wheat; no artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives; and no animal by-product meals. Animal or meat by-product meal is a common ingredient in many commercial pet foods. A “meal” is any product that has been ground and then powdered, such as cornmeal. We chose not to include animal by-product meals in our recipes because of the inability to accurately source and determine their exact nature.
In line with the Association of American Feed Control Officials’ (AAFCO) guidelines, Kismet’s dry food is 100% complete and balanced. This means the food contains all the nutrients needed for your pet (complete) and that they’re present in the right ratios (balanced).
All of the ingredients we chose are represented at meaningful inclusion, a.k.a. the amount necessary to provide nutritional benefits. The fruits and vegetables aren’t just pixie dust. Everything in the formula has a job to do. We did this even though it costs a little more.
Kismet’s dry food is for dogs at all life stages.
In the context of pet food, dogs fall into four life stages: puppy, adult, lactating or breeding, and senior. Nutritional needs may differ depending on the stage, so we worked with vet nutritionists to ensure that our final formulas were complete and balanced for dogs at any life stage.
Achieving this balance came down to ingredient selection and inclusion rates. There’s no magic number for when an adult dog becomes a senior dog – and large breed puppies are typically in the “puppy” stage longer than small breeds. If your mature dog isn’t having issues on adult food, there’s really no reason to switch to a senior food; nutritionally speaking, there’s nothing else beneficial there, unless you're looking for joint health or weight management support. We used ingredients in amounts that meet the requirements of dogs at every stage of their life and provide the nutritional support they need.
Why we opted for a dry food formula, a.k.a. kibble, instead of raw or fresh.
When developing our formulas we felt strongly about using the safest, most proven method out there. With kibble, existing processes have been used for decades. We know how ingredients hold up, and we know the degradation curves and shelf life of all the vitamins and minerals. When done well with great ingredients, kibble yields the safest, most effective, and most consistent results for the longest term.
Our recipe formulators work in all forms [e.g. raw, dehydrated, fresh, etc.] and encounter far fewer problems with dry food. Raw food presents issues with microbial control, and fresh food has a higher chance of recall due to contamination – and comes with the added inconvenience of needing to keep it frozen or refrigerated. We took this all into consideration when designing Kismet’s food offerings.
Ultimately, we determined that raw and fresh are not necessarily any better nutritionally, and they carry a higher risk – and a much higher price tag.
Not all kibble is created equal.
Like any recipe, what goes into dry food for dogs determines its caliber, nutritional value, and flavor. At Kismet, we only use high quality ingredients to create high quality food for your dog.
Our dry food is as nutritious as fresh food but more convenient and accessibly priced.
Kismet’s manufacturing process.
Making dry dog food is a little bit like making cookies. You start by blending all the dry ingredients together – such as the brown rice, sweet potatoes, and dried carrots in Kismet’s formula – and then you add the wet ingredients, which in this case are the fresh meats and/or seafood.
Now you have a dough. You add water and pre-cook the dough to get it up to a certain temperature. Then you run it through an extruder, which is basically a pressure cooker. Our target temperature when cooking is 200 F.
Next you press the cooked dough through a die – much like making pasta – which cuts it into bite-sized pieces, but it’s not quite ready yet. If you take a piece of kibble and pull it apart at this point, it will tear like a piece of bread – it has a cell structure, and it's about 22% moisture. You run it through a dryer to drive off the moisture content and get it down to around 10% moisture.
At this stage we put a coating on it – like additional fat and natural flavors to help with taste. This is also where we add prebiotics and probiotics. And now, it's ready to be packaged.
Why we include pre and probiotics.
Both of our dry food formulas – Salmon & Brown Rice and Chicken & Barley – have pre and probiotics. These are great for digestive health, which ultimately supports overall animal health. When pet parents support digestive health, they’ll see all the benefits that come from supporting a GI system, such as better skin and coat quality and better mobility.
What’s up with the nuggets.
On its own, our dry food is 100% complete and balanced, so your dog is going to get all the nutrients they need without the addition of the freeze-dried nuggets.
But we wanted to give the formula an extra boost of flavor and nutrition, while still keeping it easy to serve and store. The freeze-dried nuggets provide that additional flavor and offer even more protein. We love the benefits they provide, and dogs love how they taste. Win-win.
Where my dogs at?
