We should all eat clean foods. This means unprocessed high quality real food. A Whole Food Diet of human grade quality is far more healthy than kibble (hard dog food) or canned food.

A Whole Food Eastern Medicine based diet goes farther to increase health and prevent disease. All living beings are unique and prone to specific problems. Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine’s Five Elements theory categorizes the personality traits and disease tendencies of us and our pets. Think of your Element as your Eastern Medicine genetic profile. Eating based on our Element helps to support us as individuals and keep us balanced (less prone to disease).

Yes. Our recipes were formulated, by Dr. Susan Bohrer, based an Traditional Eastern Medicine concept of clean eating to prevent disease. We worked with Dr. Edward Moser, an experienced veterinary nutritionist, to balance our diets to meet and exceed AAFCO’s standards for all life stages, including the growth of large breed puppies. This means Chi Dog can be fed to all dogs, even growing puppies who will reach a mature weight of over 70 pounds.

Whole foods are real foods. When you read an ingredient on a package, you should be able to see it in the food. Chi Dog uses human grade ingredients that we would eat, not feed grade ingredients as in kibble and canned dog foods. When our labels read beets, carrots, and peas, you can see, feel, and smell these ingredients in the food.

Dog’s wild cousin’s diet of raw meat may be better than kibble in that it is not processed. Eastern Medicine finds benefit in cooking.

Lightly cooked fresh whole food ingredients are better to nourish. This is especially true for our sick old and young pets; any animal who is a little delicate.

Raw meat may be fine if you are a young adult and have a lot Of “Qi” (pronounced Chi) to digest your food. If you want to feed more gently, lightly cooked whole foods are ideal. Just as we would give a baby apple sauce and an old person soup, cooking the food brings some energy into the food to help them digest. Eastern Medicine recognizes raw foods as appropriate for very healthy and strong patients but not good for a weaker patient. It is completely appropriate to supplement a Chi Dog diet with raw vegetable in our young to middle aged, disease free companions.

No. We have supplemented our diets with Vitamin E (tocopherol) to help maintain the freshness of our diet and support your dog’s coat, healing and circulatory system.

Carbohydrates are essential to living beings and can be found in grains and plants. They are an excellent source of stored energy in our dog’s diets. Processed carbohydrates, which are in most if not all kibble (dry dog food) recipes, are poor sources of nutrition. While carbohydrates from whole foods, as found in Chi Dog diets, are excellent sources of energy. As any healthy person knows, a fresh pasta and veggie salad is healthy, while processed mac-n-cheese in a box is not.

No one knows your dog better than you. If there is an ingredient which you feel is a problem for your dog, you can try another Element Diet based on ingredients you know are right for your dog. You are also welcome to reach out to Dr. Bohrer via our Contact Us form with your concerns and we will find the best food for your dog.

Regarding allergies in general, Eastern Medicine would advise that an ingredient in a clean, unprocessed and whole food form may not bother your dog in the same way that it did in the processed, pro-inflammatory dog kibble (dry dog food) or canned food

Our eco-friendly shipping boxes are lined with Green Cell Foam and packed with enough dry ice to ensure that your pets meals stay cool until midnight of your delivery day. If your pet’s meals arrive after this time frame, or are partially thawed, the meals are still safe to consume as long as the food is cool to the touch.

Our PETE #1 food trays are BPA free and recyclable by most curbside recycling programs. Our shipping boxes are made from cardboard that can be picked up almost all curbside recycling programs and our dry ice will evaporate leaving only a small amount of water behind. We recommend leaving any remaining dry ice in the bag which it is delivered in and placing it in a sink overnight to evaporate. The Green Cell Foam refrigerant liner is the most eco-friendly packaging available. Green Cell is made from corn, is water dissolvable and non-toxic, is compostable and biodegradable.

Our deliveries are made through FedEx and do not require a signature. Our eco-friendly packaging is designed to keep your pet’s meals cold until midnight of your delivery day. When your pets order leaves our facility a tracking number for the delivery will be emailed, alerting you as to when the package arrives.

You will be charged upon placing your first order and then based on the shipping schedule you have chosen during check out. For example, if you have food delivered every two weeks then a charge will be assessed every two weeks, if you have food delivered every four weeks then a charge will be assessed every four weeks.

At Chi Dog we are fully committed to keeping you and your companion(s) as life-long members of our family. Although we do not expect this, if at any time you are not satisfied with our product and/or service please do not hesitate to reach out to our support team by phone or email so we can quickly resolve any issues. To cancel your subscription, go to your account by clicking on the account icon and logging in, then navigate to the subscriptions page. From this page you can cancel your order.

If you’re going on vacation or simply won’t be home to receive an order, you can pause your order by clicking the cancel button on the subscriptions page. First log into your account on the Chi Dog website then click My Subscription.  When you get back from vacation click reactivate your subscription by clicking resubscribe.

All meals will ship based on the frequency of your pet’s meal plan which is chosen at check-out. Our company ships on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday. This means that your dog’s delivery will arrive on either Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday depending on where you live. Of course, an email with shipping confirmation and a tracking number will provided once the order is prepared for shipping.

1. What if I need to change my pet’s information?

If your pet’s information has significantly changed, we suggest cancelling an existing plan and creating a new meal plan. If you simply need updated food serving calculations, click on the customized feeding menu of our site and input your pet’s updated information. Please feel free to call us if you need any help changing your pet’s information.

2. Can I pause my order?

Yes! Go to your account by clicking on the account icon, then navigate to the subscriptions page. From this page you can pause current subscriptions. If you want to resume a paused order, click reactivate.

3. Can I change the address for my delivery?

You can change your delivery by going to your account profile and clicking on addresses which will allow you to change both your billing and shipping addresses. Our orders ship out on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, so you will need to change your address prior to the shipment being sent, by the previous Monday at 8:00 A.M. (Eastern Standard Time).

4. What if I’m traveling or out of town?

If someone is unable to receive your package for you, please contact us as soon as possible. We ship our orders on Tuesdays & Wednesdays and will be able to delay your package to the following Tuesday or Wednesday, if you contact us by the previous Monday at 8:00 A.M. (Eastern Standard Time).

5. What if I’m running low and need to order more food?

You can order individual boxes of each of our recipes. Click on either dog food or cat food. Then click on which recipe you’d like to have delivered.

Your dog’s meals should be stored in the freezer until ready to defrost. After your dog’s meals are defrosted they will remain fresh in your refrigerator for 7 days.

Transitioning your dog onto a whole food diet is one of the best decisions you can make for their health. Although whole food is healthier for your dog, if they are not used to it a sudden change in diet can result in an upset tummy, diarrhea, vomiting and even a decrease in appetite. Time and patience is key when training your dog’s digestive tract to learn to digest highly nutritious food. If your dog is picky please give the transition period longer and be patient with the process. The transition period could take 7 to 14 days or longer. Please be attentive to your dog’s needs and use our suggested transition guideline.

Your meals will have a best before date stamped on them for their freezer shelf life. After your dog’s meals are defrosted they will maintain freshness while in your refrigerator for a duration of 7 days.

All Chi Dog diets are cooked in a human-grade commercial kitchen with only ingredients that are intended for human consumption. After a Chi Dog meal is crafted we perform laboratory testing on samples to ensure that they are free of any bacterial contaminants. Chi Dog is never shipped unless it has passed our lab safety tests.