FAQs

Starting your pet on Steve’s Real Food is best achieved gradually over a couple of weeks. Begin by replacing a portion of your pet’s old food with the new food, and gradually adjust the ratio every few days—introducing a bit more new food while reducing the amount of the old. Most pets smoothly transition within about two weeks with no issues. Read more on transitioning here.

There are 40 patties in a 20-pound box. Bags of nuggets are packaged by weight and not by number of cups, so cups of nuggets may vary slightly per bag. You get approximately:

• 16-18 cups from our 20 oz freeze-dried bags
• 20 cups from our frozen 5 lb bags of nuggets
• 5-8 cups from our Quest cat food

Feeding a raw diet is super easy! For feeding our frozen diets, simply portion out the amount your pet needs for the day, place it in the refrigerator to thaw, and then serve it in a clean dish. This process ensures that your pet gets the right amount of nutrition while enjoying the benefits of a raw diet. If your pet is not very young, very old, or has special dietary concerns, feeding the food frozen may be appropriate. If you’re feeding our freeze-dried diets, you must rehydrate them before feeding. Add the appropriate amount of water to restore moisture and texture, creating a palatable meal for your pet. As a good practice, always wash your hands and any surfaces that come in contact with the food to maintain hygiene standards. This straightforward routine ensures that your pet enjoys a wholesome, raw diet without any fuss.

Once rehydrated, we recommend picking up any uneaten food after an hour. You can store rehydrated food in the refrigerator for up to three days

Ideally, Steve’s Real Food should be fed thawed or slightly warm. It’s important not to cook the food as it harms or destroys valuable enzymes and nutrients. Ground bone is in every recipe, which should only be fed raw. For optimal serving, thaw the food in the fridge overnight and let it sit on the counter for up to an hour before serving. You can mix in hot water or bone broth for a warmer meal. Warming enhances aromas, making meals enticing for picky eaters and aiding digestion, which is especially beneficial for seniors, puppies, and dogs with digestive sensitivities. While some pets may do fine with cold meals, room temperature or warmer is advantageous for cats, smaller dogs, and those sensitive to colder temperatures. Our customer support can provide personalized guidance for specific concerns about serving temperatures.

Our raw pet food is guaranteed to be fresh and nutritious through the date indicated on the package. In general, frozen diets maintain their quality for up to 18 months, while freeze-dried diets remain good for up to two years when stored properly. For optimal freshness, it’s crucial to adhere to storage guidelines. Keep frozen diets in the freezer until ready to use, and store freeze-dried diets in a cool, dry place. The food can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days. Ensure the packaging is sealed properly to prevent any compromise to the food’s quality.

The easiest way to feed raw food while traveling with your pet is to use our freeze-dried products, which are the same great formulation as the frozen ones, so no transition is needed! To feed freeze-dried, simply rehydrate it according to the packaging instructions. Frozen food can be kept in a thermal ice-filled cooler or in your motel room mini-fridge (thawed) for up to three days. To keep it frozen on your travels, use 5 lbs of dry ice in a cooler for every day of travel.

Generally, it’s unnecessary to transition between formulas within the same brand. However, we do recommend a gradual transition the first time they try a new protein. Once you know they do well on the new formula, it can go into their rotation with no transition period in the future. Check our transitioning guide for more information and tips to make it successful. Check our transitioning guide for more information and tips to make it successful.

Steve’s Real Food is versatile—you can use it as a complete meal or integrate it into your pet’s diet. Use Steve’s as a mixer, a food topper, or an alternating option with another brand or type of food. There are no strict rules. This is food, not a prescription, so choose what works best for your budget and lifestyle. The more fresh food included, the better, as studies have highlighted significant health benefits from replacing just 20% of a processed diet with fresh foods.

Yes, the original BARF diets are complete and balanced for both dogs and cats. Steve’s Real Food has developed a separate PREY model diet of frozen raw cat food and a freeze-dried raw cat food line to cater to our feline friends. Both options are complete and balanced for all stages of life.

The variation in color you may notice in our raw pet food is completely normal and is a result of using natural, real food ingredients. Because we prioritize using unprocessed, whole foods, differences in color, odor, and texture can naturally occur. The color of produce, for instance, can vary based on when it’s harvested. 

Additionally, animals harvested at different ages, during various seasons, and while consuming different diets can influence the color of recipes such as pork, beef, and chicken. They can range from a light tan or grey to a darker red, reflecting the natural diversity in the ingredients we source.

It’s important to understand that these variations are not a cause for concern; rather, they signify that we are using all-natural ingredients and keeping our processing to a minimum. There is no uniformity in nature, embracing these natural differences is integral to our commitment to providing wholesome, unadulterated nutrition for your pets. If you have any specific questions or concerns, send a picture of the food to our customer support team at help@rawpetfood.com. 

Raw meat diets are safe to feed your pets when manufactured correctly, and common-sense precautions are taken. At our facility, the safety of our raw pet food is a top priority. We begin by sourcing ingredients from human-grade providers to ensure high-quality standards.

A crucial step in our manufacturing process is the implementation of high-pressure processing (HPP), a cold-water pressure method that effectively eliminates harmful bacteria from the food. Furthermore, every batch undergoes thorough testing for pathogenic bacteria, and nothing leaves our facility without obtaining negative test results.

At home, treating your pet’s food with the same care as you would raw meat for your family is important. Keep the food at a safe temperature and practice good hygiene by washing hands and surfaces that come in contact with the food. Following these safe handling practices significantly minimizes the risk associated with feeding raw foods,ensuring the well being of your pets.

You may be seeing frost instead of freezer burn. Check for the difference between frost and freezer burn:

• Frost: Forms when food is frozen, and the moisture creates ice crystals, which can evaporate and condense on the surface. It will resemble “snow” in the bag. These crystals can increase during small temperature fluctuations (even opening a freezer door for a few minutes). The presence of frost does not indicate that the food has thawed and refrozen. It will not affect the nutritional quality, nor should it compromise taste or texture.
• Freezer Burn: This generally occurs when the food is exposed to air in the freezer, leading to the dehydration of the outer layer of the food, which usually takes months and months. Freezer burn manifests as discolored, dried-out patches on the surface of the food. Freezer burn can affect the food’s taste and texture, making it dry and less flavorful. While it doesn’t pose a health risk, it can lead to a decline in the overall quality of the frozen item.

To avoid freezer burn at home, don’t buy more food than you can use in a couple of months, rotate your stock, prevent long-term exposure to air, and keep your freezer running at its best. Routine defrosting and cleaning of the coils is recommended.

The parasite that causes the most concern in pork is a roundworm called Trichinella spiralis. It can cause the disease trichinosis. It used to be common in the United States, but that was long ago. Even though the risk is already very low, we take several steps to ensure our pork diets are clean and safe, starting with sourcing from high-quality family farms that raise free-range pigs fed a species-appropriate diet. Our manufacturing process includes high-pressure processing. This cold-water pressure method effectively eliminates pathogens such as harmful bacteria and parasites. Finally, we freeze the pork to temperatures well below what the CDC recommends for killing trichinella and other parasites.

While many of our ingredients are organic, they don’t all have the certification. Steve’s Real Food strictly uses 100% certified USDA-inspected raw meats, fruits, and vegetables. All ingredients are non-GMO and free of pesticides, antibiotics, and added hormones. Our food meets almost every requirement for organic, but the organic certification is too expensive for many of our small farm partners. We prioritize the humane treatment and well-being of farm animals over organic status. All meats are pasture-raised, grass-fed, cage-free, or wild-caught in the case of fish.

Yes, we solely use GMO-free ingredients.

All of Steve's ingredients are sourced from local US farms. Each farm is vetted to ensure that they are both sustainable and humanly raising their herds. The meat is free range, grass fed, and antibiotic-free. The poultry is free-range, antibiotic-free, and hormone-free.

We ship all frozen foods in a box with an insulated liner using dry ice to keep the food cold. We include enough dry ice to keep the food frozen during transport. If you receive an order without dry ice and the raw food nuggets still hold their shape, then that means we used he perfect amount of dry ice and the last bit evaporated right before you opened the box. If there is still dry ice in the box, wear gloves to remove and discard it.

If you meet order minimums, food will ship for free! The order minimums are as follows:

• 5 Lb bags bundles: get free shipping
• 20 oz bags of freeze-dried nuggets: buy 3, get free shipping
• 10 oz Quest freeze-dried raw cat food: buy two bundles, get free shipping
• 20 Lb box of patties: get free shipping

Due to the perishable nature of the food, we do not accept returns of the product. If you are dissatisfied for any reason, please contact us at help@rawpetfood.com as soon as possible after receiving your delivery.

If your order arrived with the food warm to the touch or no longer holding shape, please take photos right away and email our team at help@rawpetfood.com. You can find more information here.

We ship frozen orders out Mon-Thurs in order of shipping radius. Our shipping facility is in Tulsa, OK. Orders that have a 4 day transit time ship out first on Mondays, followed by orders that have a transit time of 3 days on Tuesday/Wednesday, and orders with a transit of 1 to 2 days are shipped on Wednesday/Thursday. Orders are delivered between Thursday-Saturday.

Orders without frozen product (freeze-dried/merchandise) ship in 3-5 business days.

We choose liners based on transit time and weather. During the warmer months, we may opt to use a non-recyclable metallic liner to ensure orders arrive at their destination cold and fresh. When possible, we prefer to use recycled or recyclable liners that are more eco-friendly; however, they may not perform as well during long transit in hot weather. Regardless of the liner, we always pack enough dry ice to account for potential short delays.

Raw cat food is an uncooked diet that typically includes raw muscle meat, organs, and bone to mimic a cat's natural prey. Because it is not cooked, the good bacteria, microbes, phytonutrients, vitamins, amino acids, enzymes, antioxidants all stay intact for your cat's benefit.

Raw food for dogs usually consists of uncooked ingredients such as meat, organs, and bones. Raw dog food also usually includes fruits and vegetables to balance the diet.

Most kibbles are produced at temperatures between 300 and 600 degrees F, a heat that will destroy all the enzymes, some of the known antioxidants, and perhaps many of the known and unknown phytochemicals and flavonoids. These changes to the nutrient makeup of the food alters the bio-availability making it more challenging to digest. Cooked diets will compensates for this loss by adding synthetic vitamins back in. So if you see things like Manganese Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrae, or Vitamin B12 Supplement, in your food's ingredient list, that means the food itself does not have enough vitamins and minerals and therefore needs them added back in.

The high-heat cooking process alters various essential components in food. It destroys beneficial elements like good bacteria, microbes, phytonutrients, vitamins, amino acids, enzymes, antioxidants, and more. Dogs and cats depend on these elements, and a heavily processed diet may not provide the full spectrum of nutrients their bodies require. This exclusive reliance on processed foods can result in a deficiency of vital natural compounds that support health and disease resistance, potentially contributing to accelerated aging and a lower quality of life. Including fresh, raw foods in your dog or cat’s diet provides their bodies with the diverse nutrients needed for optimal well-being. This approach allows their bodies to harness the full power of disease-fighting and age-defying mechanisms, promoting a happier and healthier life for your beloved pets.

Yes, there is no issue mixing raw and kibble.

Absolutely! Feeding your puppy or kitten a raw diet is a fantastic way to give them the healthiest start to life. Raw feeding closely aligns with their natural dietary needs, supporting optimal growth and development. We recommend beginning with an easy-to-digest protein, such as chicken or turkey.

All our formulas offer complete and balanced nutrition for all life stages, including the growth of large breed puppies. This means they contain all the nutrients required to help your puppy develop, grow, and thrive. As a bonus - you won't have to transition foods when they reach adulthood and can keep feeding the same thing!

Dogs with digestive issues do best on food that’s easy to digest and free from fillers that can cause irritation. Raw diets are naturally rich in digestive enzymes, which help your dog’s body break down and absorb nutrients more efficiently. The added moisture in raw food also supports healthy digestion and can help prevent constipation. Plus, the natural probiotics present in raw food diets can keep your dog’s gut bacteria balanced, reducing issues like gas, bloating, or loose stools.

As the official online shop of Steve's Real Food, we only carry Steve's!

To find a store that carries Steve's Real food near you, check out our Store Locator!

Yes, we offer gut healthy Protein Bites! They incorporate the benefits of fermentation, which introduces gut-soothing nutrients, prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics!

Yes, we offer 20 lb bulk boxes.