Product Frequently Asked Questions

The box your shipment arrives in, the kraft packing materials, the cans, and the cartons are all recyclable. Please check with your local recycling program to be sure that all materials are accepted.

Yes! All of the cans and cartons used for our pate and stew diets are BPA-free.

Our canned food product textures are sensitive to ingredient variability because we do not use carrageenan—a hydrocolloid commonly used in canned pet and human foods to firm and bind meat products. Carrageenan is very reliable at making different batches of food match in texture. We don’t use carrageenan because of questions regarding its association with a variety of health issues in pets. Instead of carrageenan, we use an ingredient called guar bean gum—guar beans are ground into powder and mixed with the meat—and sometimes cassia beans. Guar and cassia beans are less effective binders than carrageenan and also create a less forgiving formula that is more likely to react to even small changes. Despite these challenges, we believe using these healthier ingredients is the right thing to do for pets eating our diets.

This primarily because we use whole food ingredients in our jerky treats. The use of real meat means that fat content will vary from batch to batch; however, even if the meat is leaner in a batch, we still must cook the jerky at the same temperatures due to FDA regulations. This can lead to a dryer looking batch of jerky. Depending on different environmental factors, our manufacturing team may also choose to dry a batch more than usual to prevent mold.

Working with kangaroo meat is challenging. 100% of the world's supply of kangaroo comes from humane population control in Australia. As it is a wild killed animal, the nature of the meat changes for many reasons. Not only is it a very naturally lean meat, but due to the nature of the way the kangaroo is raised (wild), we are at the mercy of the lifestyle, environment, and the diet of the kangaroos. As a result, the meat can come out dark and tough, or fattier and soft, and anything in between. If you, or anyone you know is a hunter who eats their catch, they will be able to vouch for the nature of wild caught meat, and the texture of the meat varying. With kangaroos, living in a very hot climate, there are many long periods of drought, and this can also result in the meat being darker, tougher, etc.

To ensure a consistent, high-quality supply of a protein, it must be one that is being raised for human consumption. In North America, we tend to keep rabbits as pets, not for food, and there are very few rabbit meat breeders. Rayne sources the rabbit for our novel protein diets from Europe (Italy and France), countries where rabbit is a common staple in the human diet.

 The rabbit industry is a small farm, cottage industry, and the rabbits bred for meat vary in breed, size, diet, etc. We have a high protein content for our diets, meaning that we require a lot of meat to produce them. Because of this, certain batches may be darker, have less moisture, etc.