Portland Pet Food Company: Reviews of Dog Meals 2024

Overview

Family-owned Portland Pet Food Company offers meals and treats for dogs and meals for cats. Founded in 2014, it caters to your pet's nutritional needs and contributes to charity by supporting dog shelters with a part of its sales. The service also commits to sustainability, providing an easy way for customers to recycle packaging.

The business sources its ingredients from U.S. suppliers, primarily from Oregon. Its food is free from unnecessary and potentially harmful products. And, the company's meals contain ingredients that have been proven and tested by a reputable institution. Portland Pet Food Company also claims it doesn't include hidden ingredients in its recipes. 

The provider features various pros and its website teems with pet parents' positive reviews. But upon closer inspection, I discovered various cons besides pros. Whether these are deal-breakers or not depends on you and your pup's preferences. So check out my Portland Pet Food Company: Reviews of Dog Meals article to find out for yourself. 

Portland Pet Food Company Meals

PPFC has around a dozen canine meals and treats, as well as various extras such as toys and leashes. It even has T-shirts for pooch owners. 

If you have a cat besides dogs, it has a few feline meals on offer, too. Check out our Best Cat Food Delivery services review for a wider variety of mouser options.

Plans and Recipes

I found 5 fresh meals and 8 biscuits for dogs on offer while I reviewed Portland Pet Food Company. The main meal ingredients were beef, pork, chicken, turkey, and salmon. For the biscuits, the primary animal proteins were bacon and beef broth. Besides meats, both meals and treats contained a variety of plants and grains.

Meals on offer are Rosie's Beef N' Rice, Hopkins' Pork N' Potato, Tuxedo's Chicken & Yams, Wally’s Salmon N’ Rice, and Grandma Ada's Turkey & Yams. You can also buy variety packs, 1 of which includes each meal on the menu while another adds biscuits to the bundle. The third variety pack contains 4 of each of Rosie's and Tuxedo's meals.

I was impressed by the near-perfect star ratings for each meal and bundle offered by Portland Pet Food Company. These products consistently received 4.8 or 4.9 out of 5 stars, based on reviews from hundreds, or in some cases, dozens of customers.

The company's recipes can serve as meals and toppers. Considering the size of the meal pouch (9 oz.), it can meet the daily nutritional needs of a small dog. But, if your pup is medium or large, I recommend considering using the company's recipes as toppers to avoid hefty costs. You can check out the best dog food delivery for Rottweilers and other large dogs, like Great Danes and German Shepherds, in our dedicated reviews.

The pet food delivery service offers 3 types of biscuits. Its Grain & Gluten-Free options include Pumpkin, Bacon, Gingerbread, and Apple & Mint Biscuits. Brew Biscuits are Bacon, Pumpkin, and Beef Broth. Malt Biscuits with Bacon Dog Treats is another variety offered. 

The PPFC treats have equally high, if not higher, customer ratings. Every product I checked had a 4.9 or 5-star rating from dozens or hundreds of customers. 

Use filters to refine your search when browsing meals and biscuits. The side filter includes 3 main categories, which are Sort by, Out of stock (where you can choose to Show or Hide), and Price. Under Sort By, there are several sub-categories, some of which are Featured, Best Selling, Price, low to high, and Price, high to low.

The provider asserts that its recipes are free from preservatives, antibiotics, hormones, by-products, and other unwanted or potentially harmful ingredients. Also, it emphasizes that its recipes don't contain rendered meats.

The service has a basic Feeding Calculator. The questions cover aspects like your dog's age (under 2 years, 2-7, 8+ years), weight, feeding style (e.g., A Full Meal, A 50/50% Mixer), and a few specific health issues. Note that you'll need to provide your email address and phone number to receive the results.

While I find the calculator helpful, I’ve reviewed companies that offer more detailed meal personalization questionnaires. The Farmer's Dog is 1 of them, and it provides first-class fresh dog meals.

Katie McCarron, the founder of the company, has a professional background in medical research and nutrition. She created the service's very first meal, Rosie's Beef N' Rice, to help her aging dog Rosie regain her appetite. The meal improved Rosie's health and helped her live a few more years of quality life.

Ingredients

Portland Pet Food Company sources ingredients from the USA Pacific Northwest, Oregon more precisely. It gets human-grade, USDA-approved meats from its trusted partners, such as Cascade Natural Meats and Carlton Farms. It gets fluor for biscuits from Bob’s Red Mill and upcycled spent grain from Laurelwood Brewery and Deschutes Brewery.

I chose Rosie's Beef N' Rice meal to analyze the ingredients because this recipe has the most ratings. But note that every meal the service produces contains veggies, eggs, and grains or fruits. In general, meals contain the highest percentage of meat, then veggies, grains/rice, eggs, and the smallest amount of fruit, if any. 

Rosie's Beef N' Rice dish is a wheat- and gluten-free recipe. Its calorie content per 9-oz pouch is 316 kcal, equalling 1,230 kcal per kilogram. The meal's ingredients are beef, beef heart, eggs, peas, brown rice, carrots, millet flour, powdered eggshell, and vegetable oil.

Beef is a great source of protein, vitamins, and minerals for canines. Peas contain antioxidants beneficial for skin, eye health, and heart, while brown rice eases constipation. Carrots provide vitamin A, while powdered eggshell provides calcium without the risks associated with bones, especially large ones. 

If you're looking for a meal with a higher animal protein content, consider the Tuxedo's Chicken & Yams pouch. If aiming to include more vegetables and fruits in your Fido's diet, Grandma Ada's Turkey & Yams should make a better option. Note that each meal contains up to 11 ingredients. 

Nutrition

I'm sure that Portland Pet Food Company reviews its meal contents carefully after reviewing Rosie's recipe. Next, I used Rosie's recipe to outline the nutritional value of the company's meals. I found the following guaranteed analysis values in the process:

• Crude protein: min. 12%

• Crude fat: min. 9%

• Crude fiber: max. 1%

This provider cooks its ingredients in small batches at low temperatures. That way, it preserves their nutritional value. Also, the team handcrafts treats before cooking.

What Makes It Different

Portland Pet Food Company commits to charity and sustainability. So, you can rest assured that you help dogs in need and invest in a greener future if buying its products. 

Sustainability Commitment

You can actively take part in sustainability efforts with Portland Pet Food Company. Use an on-site contact form to order a free envelope with a prepaid return label. Once you've emptied a pouch, place it in the envelope and drop it off at your nearest USPS location.

Animal Shelters Donation

Portland Pet Food Company donates part of its net profits to non-profits and shelters that care for homeless animals. Specifically, it donates 5% of each purchase. So every time you shop, you partake in its efforts to help animals in need.

Unboxing

You'll get your Portland Pet Food Company products in a cardboard box. Each product is clearly labeled in its original bag, ensuring there's no confusion about the contents. The pouches are shelf-stable. Along with the products, you may also find a printed feeding guide inside the package for added convenience.

You'll get meals fresh in their original packaging. Meal packages can withstand high temperatures, so they'll be safe for consumption.

You can keep PPFC's bags unopened for up to 24 months. Once opened, food should remain safe for 3 to 5 days in the fridge at temperatures from 37°F to 40°F. You can serve recipes at room temperature or optionally warm them in a microwave or boiling water. 

Prices

Portland Pet Food Company has a varied pricing policy depending on the type of product. Prices of individual meals and biscuits are uniform, while variety packs provide certain savings. Take a look at the following table for a quick breakdown.

In my research for the Portland Pet Food Company: Reviews of Dog Meals, I found that all individual meals and biscuits are priced the same, regardless of the type you choose. 

The most affordable variety pack includes all 5 PPFC meals. The priciest bundle was Rosie's and Tuxedo's pack with 4 pouches of each. Dog Variety Meal & Treat Pack, containing 5 meals and 2 treats, was available for $52.95. Note that you can review biscuit packs by typing Biscuit Pack in the search bar in the top-right corner of the screen. You won’t find these among Biscuits. 

You can benefit from a 10% discount on the prices mentioned above if you subscribe. For example, by creating a PPFC account, you'll pay $6.29 instead of $6.99 for meals. The offer applies to most biscuits, too, save Malt Biscuits with Bacon Dog Treats. 

But note that this subscription discount doesn’t apply to accessories, such as toys, T-shirts, and leashes. BTW, you can find these items through the search bar, like biscuit packs, or by right-clicking on the Dog link in the side menu without expanding it. 

The shipping fee depends on whether you reach a certain purchase amount. If you shop as a guest, you won't pay for shipping if your order is $40 or more. Members must reach $25 to enjoy free shipping. 

Otherwise, you'll pay $7 for shipping. The fee appears to be the same for all customers who don't reach the above amounts, wherever they are in the continental US, Hawaii, or Alaska. 

The pet food provider accepts various payment methods. These are Shop Pay, PayPal, and 8 credit cards. The credit cards you can use to pay for your purchase are Visa, MasterCard, Amex, Discover, Diners, JCB, UnionPay, and ELC.

Shipping & Delivery

Portland Pet Food Company ships products across the mainland U.S., as well as to Hawaii and Alaska. It dispatches orders from Monday to Friday, with orders placed after 12 pm PT scheduled for shipment on the following Monday. 

If you register an account with Portland Pet Food Company, you can set up recurring deliveries every 4, 6, or 8 weeks. Choose a delivery schedule while selecting items for your pooch. If you prefer to shop as a guest, you can make one-time purchases only. 

You’ll get notifications every step of the way: when your order is packed, shipped, out for delivery, and when it has arrived. The company usually ships orders in 2 days. It may need an extra day during sales and holidays. Once the order ships, it cannot be rescheduled. 

How Portland Pet Food Company Works

PPFC offers the option to order either as a guest or a member. Being a member comes with benefits like membership discounts and customizable delivery schedules. If you find that the provider's products suit your dog well, you can easily subscribe in a few easy steps.

How to Sign Up

The registration process is virtually the same as placing an order. Once you complete your purchase and set a delivery schedule, you'll get items from your most recent shipment unless you choose other products in the meantime. To subscribe, you should do the following: 

1. Choose the product from the menu and set your delivery schedule. If you prefer, you can select the item to check it first. Either way, click on the Add To Chart button. 

2. Review your purchase. You can add a note about your order at this point, but it isn't mandatory. 

3. Enter your personal information and delivery address. 

4. Choose a payment method if you didn't choose Shop Pay or PayPal in one of the previous steps.

5. Once you have filled in the required information, click the Pay Now button. I recommend saving your information by checking the corresponding box in the Remember me section for faster checkout in the future.

There's an extra step in the process if your billing address differs from your shipping address. Between steps 4 and 5, you should uncheck the Use shipping address as billing address option. Then, repeat the process you completed in step 3. 

Once you select items and set delivery intervals, you will continue to receive these selections at the frequency you specify until you decide to make changes.

Managing Your Subscription

You can access your account after completing the initial purchase. To do so, click on the corresponding icon in the top-right corner of the screen. 

When you select the icon, you'll have to type your email address to access your account. Then, you can tailor your future orders. 

Customer Service

Portland Pet Food Company offers a convenient live chat feature. When I opened the live chat bubble in the bottom-right corner of the screen outside of the agents' operating hours, I came across a list of commonly asked questions with answers. But, as my queries were specific, I wanted to speak with an agent. I sent messages and received a promise that they would get back to me as soon as possible.

First, I wanted to inquire about typical delivery times to New York. Unlike some dog food delivery services that provide a delivery map or info on their websites, this one doesn't. To get this information, I sent the following message:

I sent another message to Portland Pet Food Company to clarify its delivery policy. As I couldn't find information on rescheduling or leaving packages with neighbors, my goal was to understand the company's stance on these issues. To get this information, I sent the following message:

I got a reply on Tuesday, which could definitely be quicker, but never mind. It answered 2 of my questions but failed to address the third. 

You can contact PPFC customer support via email and phone, too. The email address you can send a message to is support@portlandpetfoodcompany.com. If you prefer a word of mouth, call at 503-980-3219. The support team is available from Monday to Friday from 8 am to 3 pm. An agent usually responds to messages within 48 hours.

Portland Pet Food Company has a help center and a FAQ section, though they require some navigation to locate. The quickest way to find FAQs is by typing the term in the search box. Similarly, you can access the Help Center by using the search function or via the Contact Us link in the website's footer.

What I also like about this dog food subscription service is its educational resources. Click on Education in the footer to access various useful and interesting articles, such as Tips to Keep Your Senior Dog Healthy and What to Feed a Finicky Cat. 

Note that all sales from PPFC are final. Unlike many pet food delivery services, this one doesn’t offer a satisfaction guarantee or a money-back policy. The only exception is if you get a defective or damaged product. 

So, you can't return items simply because you change your mind or your dog doesn't like the meals or treats. Check out our best fresh dog food delivery services to explore options for risk-free shopping. Most of the providers listed have some form of satisfaction guarantee. 

Portland Pet Food Company Recalls

This service had no recalls at the time of my research for the Portland Pet Food Company: Reviews of Dog Meals article.

How PPFC Compares to Other Meal Delivery Services

Portland Pet Food Company vs. The Farmer’s Dog: Both Portland Pet Food Company and The Farmer's Dog specialize in fresh meals for canines. PPFC's small pouches may suit little dogs, while The Farmer's Dog is a better option for owners of larger dogs. Also, The Farmer's Dog is known for one of the best dog meal personalization services and offers refunds, which PPFC doesn't.

Portland Pet Food Company vs. Ollie: Both Ollie and Portland Pet Food Company provide fresh dog meals, but Ollie also offers high-quality dry meals. Ollie presents 3 meal plans so you can find the right balance between your budget and your dog's dietary needs. Moreover, you can keep a close eye on your pet's health closely with Ollie's health screenings.

Portland Pet Food Company vs. Nom Nom: Like PPFC, Nom Nom makes high-quality dog meals with wholesome ingredients and no fillers or additives. But Nom Nom has 2 board-certified veterinary nutritionists on board, which ranks it highly among pet food delivery services. And it has supplements to help with digestion and immunity. 

The Bottom Line: Is PPFC Worth It?

Having reviewed the Portland Pet Food Company extensively, I think it's worth a try if you have a small dog or need flavorful toppers. The provider offers quality products, which has allowed it to run a successful business since 2014. The service ships its items beyond the continental US, catering to dog owners in Hawaii, Alaska, and elsewhere. 

Unfortunately, Portland Pet Food Company doesn't offer a money-back or satisfaction guarantee for risk-free shopping. I find this to be a drawback, especially considering the price of the products. This leads me to conclude that using this business as the main food source for medium and large dogs can be pretty costly. 

If you share my concerns, I recommend checking out our list of the best human-grade dog food delivery services. Many services you can find there provide an exit strategy for pet parents whose dogs may not like their products.

FAQ

Who owns Portland Pet Food Company?

Portland Pet Food Company was founded by Katie McCarron, motivated by her love for her poodle, Rosie. Katie's journey began when she created nutritious homemade meals for Rosie, who struggled with health and appetite issues in her old age. This personal experience inspired Katie to start the company, aiming to offer similar wholesome, fresh food options for pets everywhere.

Is Portland Pet Food Company good?

Yes, Portland Pet Food Company is good, especially for its high-quality, fresh, and locally sourced ingredients. It has a decent selection of meals/toppers and treats and encourages customers to be environmentally conscious. Still, the lack of a satisfaction guarantee and high meal prices may be deal-breakers for owners of larger doggos. Check out the Portland Pet Food Company: Reviews of Dog Meals article to learn more.  

Which is the best dog food company?

Many customers and experts rate The Farmer's Dog as a top choice by many standards. It stands out for having board-certified veterinary nutritionists on its team, a thorough meal personalization quiz, and high-quality food offered at a reasonable price. Moreover, it maintains transparency in labeling, avoiding the misleading practices common in the pet food industry.