It's quite normal for some of the lentils, carrots, and peas to come out the other end looking just the same as how they went in! This is often because our furry friends don't chew their food in quite the same way as we humans do, so the initial stage of mechanical digestion is skipped and most of the food is often swallowed whole.

As dogs have a shorter digestive tract than humans, this means there's less of a journey for the vegetables and so there's less time for it to be broken down in the gut. But don't worry - once in the gut, all the useful vitamins and minerals will still be absorbed. Think of it like a sponge - even after all the water (nutrients) has been squeezed out, the sponge is still the same shape.

The bit left over is classed as the insoluble fibre. This is what helps to provide bulk to your dog's poo and keeps everything moving through their gut. It also provides the colon with lots of friendly bacteria.

So rest assured, these bits aren't just passing through without offering any nutritional value, it's all providing lots of the good stuff. Most pet parents do notice an improvement the longer their dog eats Butternut, as the gut flora begins to adapt.

The lentils that we use in our meals turn dark when cooked, giving the appearance of black dots in your meals. Though your first time seeing this could be a little worrying we can reassure you that this is simply a natural result of the cooking process.

Given that our meals are hand cooked you may find that these dots seem more visible in some batches compared to others, again this is nothing to worry about. All of our meals are mixed and then portioned into individual pouches which are then sealed and steam cooked. After cooking, they are immediately frozen meaning that there would be no opportunity for any food to go bad.