Pet Cube is a new brand of dog food in the market, we have fed a couple of guests with this food and have decided to write our opinion on this. Because Pet Cube is created locally, we'd like to emphasize that we have no relations to the company or whatsoever, all the information posted here is based on our PERSONAL OPINION and EXPERIENCE, if anyone is not happy with how it is written, just stop reading the blog.
When we first heard about the food, we thought that this was a new brand of freeze dried because of the name (Cubes), however after feeding the first guest who brought this food along, we came to learn that Pet Cube actually comes in the form of either Raw or Cooked food. After reading and hearing some reviews, we thought that the positive and negative reviews sounds too far apart, either it is very positive or very negative, they all didn't seem to link together and we were wondering why, hence we came up with little experiments based on our experience on dog nutrition, so here comes our personal review on the food.
Advantages of Pet Cube vs DIY Food
View at first glance
Convenient
Pet Cube is much more convenient, you have 4 cubes in a tray, just need to feed the amount of cubes depending on how much your dog needs to eat, most toy breeds take about 1 cube per meal, which means that each tray is enough to feed a toy dog for 4 meals.
Ease of mind
Pet Cube is designed to let owners have an ease of mind without having to figure out how to calculate the nutritional value of each meal.
Long shelf life
Pet Cube seems to have much longer shelf life, which means that you can buy in large quantity and will be able to keep for months without having to worry about expiry, as long as you keep it frozen.
Our personal take on Pet Cube
Our view
Taste
The first dog who took it seemed to be okay with the taste of Pet Cube. The second dog didn't like the food, when preparing it was very interested, however once it took a few sniff the dog rejected the food, this dog was very interested in previous kibbles though. So far we've had about 10 dogs taking pet cubes, I'd say that 50% did not like the food even though they just had it for just a couple of weeks, most of them were never picky about their food in the past.
Packaging
The outer packaging of Pet Cubes looked nice with a soft touch to the design and colors. Both the outer packaging and inner trays had expiry dates stated, which is a necessity for all food.
The packaging is one of the most important key to ensure freshness and quality, this is even more important when dealing with raw food. Tray is made of plastic, the top of the tray is sealed with plastic sheet, we have to peel the top plastic off and the food can be transferred to a bowl easily, this is a plus for convenience wise. Pet Cube mentioned that their food is vacuum sealed into the tray, but I did not feel that it is tight enough, the sides seemed to come off easier than some of the trays, there is the lack of consistency with tightness. Most toy breeds will not be eating more than 2 cubes per meal, which means that the rest of the food must be stored in the refrigerator till the next meal, this risk bacteria because the plastic sheet is not strong enough to keep the remaining food air tight, the instructions also mentioned that refreezing is not advisable, they should just be kept refrigerated AFTER opening. The best material for storing wet food is actually aluminum cans, there may be myths that aluminum causes alzheimer's (NOT scientifically proven) and such but in our opinion this is still much safer, hygienic and better than plastic, aluminum is more expensive so it may not be as profitable. Packaging should be of individual cubes instead of 4, I do not encourage saving money in this area where hygiene is of concerned.
Ingredients
What is more important in a food packaging than the food itself! Pet Cube boast to use the freshest and most natural ingredients, based on the ingredients of cooked chicken, the first 3 listed - Chicken (32%), Liver (5%), Gizzard (5%) are meat, which is a good choice though the amount used are too low for a proper diet. After the 3rd ingredient the rest are just plants and supplements, which does not benefit dogs in our opinion, most kibbles need starch like potatoes to hold them together but cooked/raw food do not, pumpkin is good for dogs with constipation but 15% is too much when added with other ingredients like green beans, carrots, broccoli etc., although the ingredients listing under the website does not state so, the description mentioned that Spirulina, Alfalfa, kelp and "Calcium" was also added, this is a bit confusing as all ingredients used should be listed under the ingredient listing itself (maybe website needs to be updated). Spirulina is high in protein and vitamins but plant protein cannot be absorbed well by dogs, this is considered a supplement and healthy dogs should NOT be taking supplements for no reason. Kelp, which is a form of algae and again this is not a dog's natural source of food. As for Protein, we are wondering what Protein, the Protein in supplement form or some other source of ingredient that were not listed?
When we opened Pet Cube, we cannot smell any meat present in the food, the whole meal looks green and mushy, everything smells like chunks of vegetables, this caused us to feel uncomfortable feeding the guests such food, the owners mentioned that the ingredients are promoted to be mostly meat but I am not too sure about this. I also noticed that the stools of most dogs turned greenish and sometimes orange in color, which probably means vegetables like greens and carrots were excreted. From the feedback of owners we learned that it is possible to have more meat in Pet Cube but it will be considered "customized", which means that owners will have to top up more money, in this case the price of the food will not be as affordable.
Side note
Plants may be thought to be healthy for dogs but isn't true in our opinion, a small amount may help with digestion but too much are just junks for their body, it will just try to excrete as much useless ingredients as possible until one day they just break down, then you will be finding your dog going to the vet regularly for no reasons, some owners feed their dogs vegetables and fruits because they truly think that it is healthy for their dogs, but business don't, they do that because it is profitable to replace meat with cheaper ingredients.
Preparation
Preparing Pet Cube is simple, depending on the type of food fed the instructions are different, for example Raw food needs to be transferred from freezer to the refrigerator compartment 1 day before meal, then on the day of feeding it is to be taken out to thaw naturally before serving.
Pet Cube uses deep freezing, which is a traditional way of preserving both raw and cooked food, doing correctly can actually keep the food edible for a few years. However when done wrongly, this method can actually cause the food to expire much earlier than expected, this can be dangerous and even life threatening if the dog digest something that is contaminated. In our knowledge, when it comes to deep freezing the food must be stored in a deep freezer right away once it is cool, this is to ensure that the food is just as fresh when thawed. Frozen food should be used right away after taking it out from the chest freezer, which means that once the frozen food is taken out into the fridge to thaw, it will already be starting to expire like a normal meat/meal, thawing should never be done in room temperature otherwise it will encourage bacteria growth.
I do not understand how the food is transported, unless chest freezer is carried along in the vehicle, frozen food would just be thawed eventually even if it is at a slow pace (when placed in normal freezer). Though feeding is easy, many owners might skip instructions not considering about the consequences of bacterial contamination, there is little education on this and we think it is important for owners to know all the risks of not following instructions.
Feedback collected (so far)
Below are the feedback we got from owners whose dog are taking this food, we will not be held responsible for any misinformation.
Negative
Meat content getting lesser
Owner noticed that meat is reduced, after addressing the problem the content increased, then decreased again after awhile.
Decreased weight
Some of the dogs started to experience decrease in weight, is it linked to the meat content?
Less appetite
Not interested.
Not drinking water
Probably because of the amount of plants which are high in water content.
Diarrhea
Common issue when introducing new food.
Vomiting
After eating they'd sometimes vomit the food out, maybe introduction wasn't correct.
Black stool
Black sticky stool became obvious, looked like tar and this is not a good thing.
Positive
Skin problems subsiding
Usually when certain ingredient is removed, some dogs who are sensitive to a particular food may experience better skin condition.
Nicer coat
Similarly to above, if the dog is not allergic to certain food, it should have proper nice coat.
Save money
Cost is cheaper than other commercial food.
Save time
Easy to serve for busy owners.
Our personal opinion
We personally think that this diet is not suitable for dogs, especially not in the long run, sure enough some dogs have certain reaction to particular ingredients - some dogs cannot take too much protein, they need a special diet, however this does not mean that all healthy dogs should eat like this. Pet Cube might be more suitable for owners that insist in feeding their dogs home cooked meals, or their dogs have conditions that needs to be customized. For raw diet anyone can do this by themselves within minutes, even better knowing the content, quantity of meat used, it is also fresher and safer, simple Chicken, liver, gizzard and occasional tripe chopped into fine pieces could've been the perfect ingredient for most dogs.
We do believe that the creator is sincerely trying to make pet's lives better by creating better food, however based on the feedback and our opinion it is still far off from being better than quality kibbles, we just felt that this is just a wet version of science diet kibbles. There might not be enough experience and studies for a proper dog diet, after all they are not dog nutritionist just like you and I.
When we first heard about the food, we thought that this was a new brand of freeze dried because of the name (Cubes), however after feeding the first guest who brought this food along, we came to learn that Pet Cube actually comes in the form of either Raw or Cooked food. After reading and hearing some reviews, we thought that the positive and negative reviews sounds too far apart, either it is very positive or very negative, they all didn't seem to link together and we were wondering why, hence we came up with little experiments based on our experience on dog nutrition, so here comes our personal review on the food.
Advantages of Pet Cube vs DIY Food
View at first glance
Convenient
Pet Cube is much more convenient, you have 4 cubes in a tray, just need to feed the amount of cubes depending on how much your dog needs to eat, most toy breeds take about 1 cube per meal, which means that each tray is enough to feed a toy dog for 4 meals.
Ease of mind
Pet Cube is designed to let owners have an ease of mind without having to figure out how to calculate the nutritional value of each meal.
Long shelf life
Pet Cube seems to have much longer shelf life, which means that you can buy in large quantity and will be able to keep for months without having to worry about expiry, as long as you keep it frozen.
Our personal take on Pet Cube
Our view
Taste
The first dog who took it seemed to be okay with the taste of Pet Cube. The second dog didn't like the food, when preparing it was very interested, however once it took a few sniff the dog rejected the food, this dog was very interested in previous kibbles though. So far we've had about 10 dogs taking pet cubes, I'd say that 50% did not like the food even though they just had it for just a couple of weeks, most of them were never picky about their food in the past.
Packaging
The outer packaging of Pet Cubes looked nice with a soft touch to the design and colors. Both the outer packaging and inner trays had expiry dates stated, which is a necessity for all food.
The packaging is one of the most important key to ensure freshness and quality, this is even more important when dealing with raw food. Tray is made of plastic, the top of the tray is sealed with plastic sheet, we have to peel the top plastic off and the food can be transferred to a bowl easily, this is a plus for convenience wise. Pet Cube mentioned that their food is vacuum sealed into the tray, but I did not feel that it is tight enough, the sides seemed to come off easier than some of the trays, there is the lack of consistency with tightness. Most toy breeds will not be eating more than 2 cubes per meal, which means that the rest of the food must be stored in the refrigerator till the next meal, this risk bacteria because the plastic sheet is not strong enough to keep the remaining food air tight, the instructions also mentioned that refreezing is not advisable, they should just be kept refrigerated AFTER opening. The best material for storing wet food is actually aluminum cans, there may be myths that aluminum causes alzheimer's (NOT scientifically proven) and such but in our opinion this is still much safer, hygienic and better than plastic, aluminum is more expensive so it may not be as profitable. Packaging should be of individual cubes instead of 4, I do not encourage saving money in this area where hygiene is of concerned.
Ingredients
What is more important in a food packaging than the food itself! Pet Cube boast to use the freshest and most natural ingredients, based on the ingredients of cooked chicken, the first 3 listed - Chicken (32%), Liver (5%), Gizzard (5%) are meat, which is a good choice though the amount used are too low for a proper diet. After the 3rd ingredient the rest are just plants and supplements, which does not benefit dogs in our opinion, most kibbles need starch like potatoes to hold them together but cooked/raw food do not, pumpkin is good for dogs with constipation but 15% is too much when added with other ingredients like green beans, carrots, broccoli etc., although the ingredients listing under the website does not state so, the description mentioned that Spirulina, Alfalfa, kelp and "Calcium" was also added, this is a bit confusing as all ingredients used should be listed under the ingredient listing itself (maybe website needs to be updated). Spirulina is high in protein and vitamins but plant protein cannot be absorbed well by dogs, this is considered a supplement and healthy dogs should NOT be taking supplements for no reason. Kelp, which is a form of algae and again this is not a dog's natural source of food. As for Protein, we are wondering what Protein, the Protein in supplement form or some other source of ingredient that were not listed?
When we opened Pet Cube, we cannot smell any meat present in the food, the whole meal looks green and mushy, everything smells like chunks of vegetables, this caused us to feel uncomfortable feeding the guests such food, the owners mentioned that the ingredients are promoted to be mostly meat but I am not too sure about this. I also noticed that the stools of most dogs turned greenish and sometimes orange in color, which probably means vegetables like greens and carrots were excreted. From the feedback of owners we learned that it is possible to have more meat in Pet Cube but it will be considered "customized", which means that owners will have to top up more money, in this case the price of the food will not be as affordable.
Side note
Plants may be thought to be healthy for dogs but isn't true in our opinion, a small amount may help with digestion but too much are just junks for their body, it will just try to excrete as much useless ingredients as possible until one day they just break down, then you will be finding your dog going to the vet regularly for no reasons, some owners feed their dogs vegetables and fruits because they truly think that it is healthy for their dogs, but business don't, they do that because it is profitable to replace meat with cheaper ingredients.
Preparation
Preparing Pet Cube is simple, depending on the type of food fed the instructions are different, for example Raw food needs to be transferred from freezer to the refrigerator compartment 1 day before meal, then on the day of feeding it is to be taken out to thaw naturally before serving.
Pet Cube uses deep freezing, which is a traditional way of preserving both raw and cooked food, doing correctly can actually keep the food edible for a few years. However when done wrongly, this method can actually cause the food to expire much earlier than expected, this can be dangerous and even life threatening if the dog digest something that is contaminated. In our knowledge, when it comes to deep freezing the food must be stored in a deep freezer right away once it is cool, this is to ensure that the food is just as fresh when thawed. Frozen food should be used right away after taking it out from the chest freezer, which means that once the frozen food is taken out into the fridge to thaw, it will already be starting to expire like a normal meat/meal, thawing should never be done in room temperature otherwise it will encourage bacteria growth.
I do not understand how the food is transported, unless chest freezer is carried along in the vehicle, frozen food would just be thawed eventually even if it is at a slow pace (when placed in normal freezer). Though feeding is easy, many owners might skip instructions not considering about the consequences of bacterial contamination, there is little education on this and we think it is important for owners to know all the risks of not following instructions.
Feedback collected (so far)
Below are the feedback we got from owners whose dog are taking this food, we will not be held responsible for any misinformation.
Negative
Meat content getting lesser
Owner noticed that meat is reduced, after addressing the problem the content increased, then decreased again after awhile.
Decreased weight
Some of the dogs started to experience decrease in weight, is it linked to the meat content?
Less appetite
Not interested.
Not drinking water
Probably because of the amount of plants which are high in water content.
Diarrhea
Common issue when introducing new food.
Vomiting
After eating they'd sometimes vomit the food out, maybe introduction wasn't correct.
Black stool
Black sticky stool became obvious, looked like tar and this is not a good thing.
Positive
Skin problems subsiding
Usually when certain ingredient is removed, some dogs who are sensitive to a particular food may experience better skin condition.
Nicer coat
Similarly to above, if the dog is not allergic to certain food, it should have proper nice coat.
Save money
Cost is cheaper than other commercial food.
Save time
Easy to serve for busy owners.
Our personal opinion
We personally think that this diet is not suitable for dogs, especially not in the long run, sure enough some dogs have certain reaction to particular ingredients - some dogs cannot take too much protein, they need a special diet, however this does not mean that all healthy dogs should eat like this. Pet Cube might be more suitable for owners that insist in feeding their dogs home cooked meals, or their dogs have conditions that needs to be customized. For raw diet anyone can do this by themselves within minutes, even better knowing the content, quantity of meat used, it is also fresher and safer, simple Chicken, liver, gizzard and occasional tripe chopped into fine pieces could've been the perfect ingredient for most dogs.
We do believe that the creator is sincerely trying to make pet's lives better by creating better food, however based on the feedback and our opinion it is still far off from being better than quality kibbles, we just felt that this is just a wet version of science diet kibbles. There might not be enough experience and studies for a proper dog diet, after all they are not dog nutritionist just like you and I.
Our rating **
If you have numerous large animals, it can be tempting to just buy the biggest bag of food that is offered to cut down on errands at PetCareRx. However, it's more crucial to compare the portions of various items than the total weight of the package.
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