Ollie dog food review

Following in the footsteps of other popular food subscription services, Ollie is targeting a new niche in the market: specialized food recipes for dogs. The pet food brand offers customized meal plans for your four-legged best friend based on factors like their age, gender, breed, weight, activity levels, and more. It sure seems like a convenient avenue to ensure there's always food in Fido's bowl. But is Ollie legit? Better yet, is it worth it?

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We're here to find out, and we've got a very willing test subject. Charlie, our three-year-old Australian Cattle Dog, proved to be more than up for the challenge of sampling some new food. So we ordered a plan from Ollie and got to work.

First, what is human-grade dog food?

Human-grade dog food must be prepared with a certain set of standards—it must adhere to FDA and USDA regulations for human food and it must be prepared in USDA-compliant kitchens.

Ollie sources its ingredients from reputable suppliers in the United States and incorporates chicken and turkey that are raised without added hormones as required by the USDA. The brand also claims its produce, seeds and oils contain zero by-products, fillers, artificial flavoring, or preservatives.

What certifications does Ollie have?

Ollie says its recipes are designed in conjunction with a veterinary nutritionist in order to meet AAFCO guidelines. Of course, that would require an understanding of AAFCO, which stands for the Association of American Feed Control Officials. In a nutshell, AAFCO is an independent organization that provides guidance on ingredient definitions, label standards, and laboratory standards with the goal of prioritizing the health of both people and animals.

The important distinction here is that AAFCO does not regulate, test, approve, or certify pet food. Instead, it "establishes model language that states and other governing bodies may adopt into law." So, it's not accurate to describe Ollie food as AAFCO-certified, since that sort of certification doesn't actually exist. But Ollie does say its food does meet the guidelines set forth by AAFCO, for what it's worth. 

What do vets think of Ollie?

Cards on the table, I have an inside track here thanks to having a partner who happens to be a veterinarian. We had a discussion about Ollie, its methods and both the food and services it provided.

The good news is, she generally agrees with the basic principles that Ollie operates on. The service says it determines feeding guides based on a variety of factors, including a dog's age, weight, breed, activity level, and potential allergies. According to my partner, those are the very same principals that most veterinarians use to make recommendations to clients about how to determine a diet plan for their own pets.

She also wholeheartedly agreed with Ollie's main mantra on its About Us page—that food plays an integral role in a dog's health, happiness, and longevity. Proper nutrition is one of the biggest keys to raising a healthy dog, she said, and Ollie's claimed commitment to quality ingredients is a great sign in that regard.

With Ollie's available information about its food and philosophy being largely surface-level instead of diving deeper into the science behind it, she did have some questions. For instance, Ollie says it worked with a veterinary nutritionist to develop its recipes. But to what extent? Was this a consulting role only, or did the nutritionist have an active hand in crafting recipes that put the wellness of your dog first?

Ollie reached out with additional information on how involved their nutritionist is during the development process. Bridget Meadows, Ollie's Head of Food, explained that "the formulations are drafted by the internal team to take into consideration how the food is handled and processed and how we want the end result to look, but we rely on vet input from the start and throughout the process to ensure the ingredient choices and amounts are giving us the nutrition we need, as well. All formulas are tested thoroughly to check everything is complete and balanced before they are finalized."

Additionally, she did have concerns about the level of quality control that can be achieved with Ollie's small-batch production methods. To be fair, this was before she reviewed Ollie's FAQ page, where the brand emphasized its obsession with food quality and safety, claiming that it tests every single batch and uses a metal detector to consistently screen batches for the presence of foreign materials.

In response, Ollie explained how they ensure quality control for their food: "From start to finish we have a number of processes and controls in place to make sure nothing could ship to you that is not safe. All of our main-meal products are made in human-grade kitchens where we are required to abide by all the same FDA standards that govern the food you would eat. This also means that all raw ingredients coming into the facility are sourced from human food suppliers rather than feed-grade sources. All of our ingredient suppliers are vetted to ensure they can meet our quality and food safety standards. We partner with all of the kitchens we work with to perform risk assessments on their processes and conduct appropriate testing on every batch. We aim to provide a consistent product that meets our quality standards, but we also have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to food safety risks. We never receive product that has not passed all of these tests so we can focus on providing customers with the best delivery experience."

After reviewing the ingredients included in the food we were sent, my partner concluded that nothing in the chow we were sent was potentially harmful to our Chuck. In other words, if you try Ollie with your own dog and see positive results, she wouldn't stop you from continuing with the feeding plan. She would, however, suggest screening your pup for potential diet-related problems that could arise from a change in diet.

What we like

It's easy to set up and manage

Ollie makes it incredibly easy to sign up for a subscription. From the Ollie website, click on "Get Started" and proceed to answer a variety of questions about the dog you're ordering food for. These questions included your pup's gender, birthday, breed, its current weight and ideal weight, whether or not it's spayed/neutered, how active it is, any potential food allergies it had, and your dog's typical stool situation. The service will use these answers to curate a specific recipe and plan for your dog. From there, it's a matter of adding a shipping address and payment information before your order starts getting ready to ship.

In all, it took three days from the point my order was placed to the moment it was delivered at my doorstep. Just as conveniently, the available Ollie app makes it even easier to manage your subscription after your account has been set up. Want to change your delivery date? You can do so from the app's home screen. The same goes for the frequency of your delivery, the type of prep option you'd like to receive (you can choose from a full fresh plan, a half fresh plan to mix in with your dog's regular food, or a mixed bowl plan). If needed, you can even adjust the recipe that's been curated for you, or add on extras to your orders. Plus, back on the website, you have the option to edit your current pup's details or add a new dog into the mix. In all, it's a streamlined way of managing a dog food subscription.

The plans are straightforward

In addition to the fresh and baked packaged food (with instructions on how to store each), Ollie included step-by-step guidelines for feeding Charlie his new grub. That started with a tutorial on transitioning him to Ollie food, which is roughly a 7-day process that slowly mixes the new food in with the old until it completely takes over.

From there, Charlie has his own, designated daily portions based on his stats, which in this case meant one half pack of the fresh recipe food and one cup of the baked food daily. With additional information like nutritional information for all of the food included in your box, tips for potentially picky eaters and even calls to action to recycle all materials that Ollie provided in its packaging (including the box itself), it truly felt like Ollie offers all the literature you'd need to quickly, easily get your dog into a new routine with his food.

Charlie liked the food

Charlie is many things: a wonderful cuddle partner, a ridiculously energetic hiking and running buddy, and an overwhelmingly weird eater. With our standard dog food (Hill's Science Diet), he would randomly, inexplicably become disinterested in his dinners. We didn't necessarily have an explanation, but instead just kept his leftover food away from our other dogs and waited for him to get hungry enough to snack on it.

It was a small, two-week sample size with Ollie. But from the moment he started with the beef dish with sweet potatoes until his last helping of gently baked chicken, Charlie ate every last bite. Now, it's totally possible that this is simply coincidental, and knowing just how odd this dog truly can be, there could be a lot of truth to that. But the fact of the matter is, a certifiably picky dog wasn't picky with Ollie. Better yet, there weren't any gastrointestinal side effects, at least not any that I had to clean up.

I can't say if the change in diet improved Charlie's energy levels or stamina, since he's naturally the most athletic, high-energy pup I've even known. But I can say that we didn't experience any negative effects on his levels during our trial. Morning after morning, he was as ready as ever to burst out the front door for a brisk jog.

What we don't like

It's expensive for what you get

As with most human subscription services, the true pitfall of Ollie is just how pricey it's services are. A week's worth of Ollie food ranges from $38.50 per week to $55 per week, depending on the recipe you choose. If we were to pick individualized meal plans for all three of our dogs (since all three are of varying degrees of age, breed, activity level, and weight), we would be shelling out close to $600 monthly for pet food.

Comparatively, we typically spend $150 monthly on standard dog food. It's Hill's Science Diet, which is widely recommended by veterinarians and considered to be good quality. And without a wealth of science publicly available on Ollie's site about its recipes, it's hard to say how much better its food is than a counterpart meal from Hills. Or, to take things further, it's difficult to say if it would make a significant difference at all. For the drastic disparity in price, most folks would want a guarantee that their food is going to have a lasting impact on their dog's health. As it currently stands, there just isn't evidence to support that.

Should you buy it?

Maybe, if you're willing to pay the price

In no uncertain terms, Ollie absolutely nails what it means to be a subscription service. It provides a pain-free setup experience, fast shipping, and simple step-by-step directions to help you and your dog adapt to the new diet. Its app is handy, its packaging is completely recyclable, and overall, it's a far easier process than finding time in the day to lug yourself down to the pet store.

The problem here is price. From a monetary standpoint, Ollie just isn't a value in any sense of the word. It costs exponentially more than traditional high quality food, without definitively proving that it is worth so much more from a health standpoint. To be clear, Ollie's food is made with good ingredients. But are those ingredients worth hundreds of dollars more than vet-recommended, standard dog food? For most people, probably not.

That said, if you are hoping to streamline the way you feed your dog, Ollie is a great, painless route to go.  Just be prepared to pay a premium for your pup.