What is a dog food topper, and how do you use one
They loved the food. Then they didn't. If dinner has turned into a negotiation, here's what a topper is, and why you don't need to ration ours.
The short answer
A dog food topper is real food added on top of your dog's bowl. With Rigby, that's organic or wild-caught whole food squeezed over whatever they already eat, as much as you see fit. At 63 to 109 calories a pouch, it's low enough to say yes every day.
We don't think dogs should eat the same dinner every day for life. A topper fixes that.
It's 6pm. You put the bowl down. Your dog looks at it, looks at you, and walks off to lie on the rug with the air of someone who has been deeply wronged.
If that sounds familiar, you're in good company. It's the number one thing our customers tell us.
It usually goes like this. You find a food they love. For a week, maybe two, they love it. Then they don't. So you buy another bag. And another. Somewhere along the way they start grazing, picking at the bowl all day like a critic who hasn't decided on the review. Dinner turns into a negotiation, and you start dreading 6pm.
It shouldn't be a battle. You should be able to put the bowl down and know it's getting eaten.
Here's what we think is going on. Feed twice a day and that's the same dinner 730 times a year. That's not a diet. That's a rut.
What a dog food topper is.
A dog food topper is real food added on top of your dog's bowl. Whatever they already eat stays put. The top of the bowl just got a lot more going on.
We call it the everyday nutrition bump. Real food over dinner, as much as you see fit, every single day.
What we believe about dogs and dinner.
You wouldn't eat the same meal every day for ten years. Nobody would. Yet somewhere along the way, that became the rule for dogs: pick one food, never change it, don't add anything.
We disagree. Dogs do better at the bowl with real food, real smells and a bit of variety, and owners should be able to give them that without overthinking it. That's why Rigby exists. Not to replace what's in the bowl, but to give you permission to make it better, every single day.
Squeeze as much as you see fit.
No measuring spoons. No maths. No rationing. Rigby Essential Pouches are low enough in calories, and good enough in what goes into them, that you can squeeze as much as you like. A little over the top, or the whole pouch.
- Grass-Fed Beef. 63 calories a pouch.
- Free-Range Chicken. 78 calories a pouch.
- Wild-Caught Salmon. 109 calories a pouch.
Up to one pouch a day suits dogs of every size, from the dog who fits in a handbag to the one who thinks he's a sofa. Squeeze it over, stir it in or don't. Most dogs aren't waiting for you to stir.
What's actually in it.
Here's the whole Grass-Fed Beef recipe. Not the highlights. All of it:
That's everything
Organic sweet potato, organic grass-fed beef, water, organic spinach. 63 calories a pouch.
Four real ingredients or fewer in every Essential recipe. Organic or wild-caught. Whole food you'd recognize in your own kitchen, with no gums, no fillers and nothing artificial. Made in the USA.
Why whole food.
There's no shortage of things to pour over a bowl. Broths. Gravies. Pastes. Powders. Most are built to add flavor. Ours is built to add food.
We believe whole food is the best thing you can put in front of a dog: ingredients you can name, in the form they grew, grazed or swam, made into something your dog can't resist.
It took us three years to get it right. There was a quicker way. Add preservatives, binders and fillers, and you can make a pouch faster and cheaper. You also make a much worse one. So we said no, and kept going until four real ingredients or fewer could do the job on their own.
That's the standard. Organic where the recipe allows. Wild-caught where it doesn't. Printed in full. Your dog's dinner deserves the same effort you'd put into your own.
The nutrition bump, with a job to do.
Same pouch, same squeeze, with something extra to do. Rigby Targeted Pouches are made to support one need each:
- Hip & Joint. Organic beef organ blend, collagen, eggshell membrane and boswellia. Made to support joints.
- Gut Health. Organic pumpkin, psyllium husk and slippery elm. Made to support digestion.
- Skin & Coat. Wild Alaskan salmon, pollock oil and spirulina. Made to support skin and coat.
It's the simple thing you can do every day. Miss a day and nothing is lost. It's the months that count, not the days.
How to start.
- Pick a recipe. Beef, chicken or salmon, or the Targeted pouch for the need you care about most.
- Squeeze as much as you see fit. A little or the whole pouch. Introduce it over a few days if your dog isn't used to anything new in the bowl.
- Rotate. Beef this week, salmon the next. That's the whole point.
Put the bowl down. Walk away. Come back to it empty.
Same bowl. Better dinner. Every single day.
