I was searching for a new food for my extremely active poodle, and Nulo popped up – with an endorsement from none other than Simone Biles. This piqued my interest, so I decided to take a chance and order some Nulo. 

I bought the FreeStyle Turkey Recipe and eagerly set a bowl in front of my pup, Bear. But he just… looked at it. I put a topper on the food to make it more appetizing, which worked. The next day it was the same routine. He’d only eat Nulo with a topper. After several days of these shenanigans, I knew we needed to try another brand. I went for a fresh food option: Ollie. And the more I learned about it, the more I realized I should have just gone for that in the first place! 

Kibble vs. Fresh

After seeing how much more Bear loved eating his Ollie Fresh Turkey and Blueberries, I started to wonder if in fact that was a bad sign. You know how kids don’t want to eat their broccoli, even though it’s good for them, but they’ll devour McDonald’s? I thought that maybe the fresh food was the junk food of doggie chow. But after a little research, I learned that it was actually the opposite…

For the uninitiated, it turns out that most kibbles, including Nulo, are produced with a heat extrusion process that absolutely blasts the nutrients out of the meats and other ingredients in the food. And to make up for the loss of nutrients, they actually have to add vitamins and minerals back in so that the kibble can meet AAFCO standards. 

This is in stark contrast to Ollie’s fresh recipes, which are gently cooked and human-grade. The low-and-slow cooking process means that the whole, natural ingredients retain their nutrients – and their flavor, making it a thousand percent more palatable to pups. 

The shelf-stable nature of the Nulo kibble, while convenient, also means that they have to add preservatives to the food. I don’t want preservatives in the food I eat, and I sure as heck don’t want them in the food my dog eats. Ollie is frozen, which is a little bit more work (remembering to defrost the food in advance can be annoying), but means that there aren’t chemicals added to my dog’s food just to keep it safe. 

When stacking up the sheer facts of Nulo kibble vs. Ollie fresh, it’s hard to deny that fresh wins out almost every time. Yes, it’s more expensive – but you get what you pay for: premium food with everything your dog needs to thrive, and zero gross fillers. Plus, Bear just prefers the taste of Ollie. I can’t argue with that!

Don’t Forget To Like And Subscribe

Both Nulo and Ollie have a subscription option – for Nulo, you can choose Autoship on Chewy, and Ollie offers a subscription directly through their site. (Plus, your first box is 50% off!) 

Honestly, I found the process of choosing a Nulo food and figuring out how much was right for my dog to be pretty complicated. I basically had to guess which kibble Bear would like out of almost 60 different options. Luckily, I was able to narrow down by small breed, grain-free, and turkey protein, but it was still overwhelming when I first started looking. 

Ollie made the whole experience super seamless. They asked a ton of personalized questions about Bear, which helped me craft a customized meal plan for him. Another cool thing? Once you subscribe, you get to use the Ollie app, which has a ton of health screenings you can do on it! There was a digestive screening and I totally took a picture of Bear’s poop and had them evaluate it. How often do you get to send a picture of poop to somebody?? Their health experts kindly let me know that Bear’s digestion was in top form. 

The Proof Is In The Pupping

Simply put, Bear didn’t like Nulo. He had been on kibble before and wasn’t a huge fan, but I thought that going for an Olympian-approved brand like Nulo would tempt his palate. Alas, dogs are not as swayed by celebrity as humans.

He was, however, impressed with Ollie. I decided to subscribe, so we’d always have fresh, minimally-processed food in the freezer, and Bear devours his Turkey recipe like it’s McDonald’s fries (if McDonald’s fries were loaded with essential vitamins and antioxidants). He even tries to lick the frozen packages right out of the shipping box. 

If you want to start your dog on their journey to enjoying mealtime, try Ollie today, and enjoy 50% off your first box!