Your dog’s food just arrived, but it’s defrosted—now what? Let’s go over when it’s still safe to serve and when you should reach out to our squad for further support.

We've carefully designed our packaging to make sure that your dog's pouches are at a safe temperature when they arrive with you. Occasionally, the pouches can start to thaw on the journey, but the good news is that as long as they have reached you within 50 hours of leaving our team and are still cold to the touch when you unpack them (even if they are completely soft), you can re-freeze them.

The reason our meals are safe to re-freeze is because they are cooked meat, not raw, and have defrosted in a controlled environment rather than in a microwave or in warm water. We have also conducted a series of microbiological and organoleptic analyses with an accredited independent lab so that we can say with 100% confidence that the meals are safe to feed when defrosted and cold to the touch.

You can also pop any thawed but cold meals straight into the fridge if you prefer. In this case, they can be kept for up to a week (two days once opened).

As pet parents with our own Butternutters, we can reassure you that we've often fed thawed or thawing pouches to our dogs with no ill effects.

You can also find further advice on this by reading our article: Re-freezing Thawed Meals: Safety Guidelines Explained.

In the unlikely event that your dog's pouches aren't cold to the touch when they arrive or they arrive past the 50-hour safety period, we would no longer advise you to use them. Please get in touch with our Customer Love team, and they'll make this right for you.

If you notice that your box has been delayed and it looks unlikely to reach you within the 50-hour safety period, please contact our team as soon as possible. After 50 hours in transit, we do not recommend feeding the meals to your dog. We're here to help and ensure you receive a safe and suitable replacement.