Spot and Tango Dog Food Review

It can be difficult to find dog food that isn’t jam-packed with empty fillers and preservatives. Even veterinarian-recommended products sometimes come with more ancillary ingredients than you’re comfortable with. 

If that’s the case, a fresh dog food subscription, such as Spot and Tango, might be the answer you’ve been waiting for.

Spot & Tango: At a glance

• Recipes designed by board-certified veterinary nutritionist Dr. Susan Lauten, Ph.D., to give your dog everything they need for a healthy lifestyle
• Human-grade ingredients are slow-cooked and flash-frozen while fresh to preserve nutritional value
• Two types of food to choose from: fresh food (for a wet texture) and UnKibble (if your dog prefers a crunchy texture)
• Customizable meal plans tailored to your dog’s health, weight, and breed
• Option to mix fresh food with current diet or switch completely to Spot and Tango
• Meals cooked in USDA- & FDA-approved kitchens in New York and Wisconsin
• Automatic, free delivery in fully insulated and biodegradable packaging
• Meal portions are vacuum-sealed in BPA-free packages that lie flat for easy storage
• Two-week trial includes a money-back guarantee if your dog doesn’t like their Spot and Tango meals

Our Spot and Tango review

Spot and Tango is a locally sourced fresh dog food subscription service that creates personalized meal plans based on the breed, weight, fitness, energy levels, and health issues of each individual dog it serves. 

The company pre-portions its meals to ensure your dog gets the precise nutritional levels they need each day without any extra work from you. You can also note any medical issues you’re trying to address, so the company can recommend meals that suit your dog’s needs.

Using recipes curated by veterinary nutritionists, Spot and Tango prepares its fresh dog food in USDA- and FDA-approved kitchens here in the United States. Their meals combine whole meats, fresh vegetables, and high-quality carbohydrates to provide your dog with a more nutritionally rich diet than regular kibble affords.

Spot and Tango has also developed Unkibble, a dried kibble alternative, so you can give your dog a convenient diet free from the artificial preservatives and hollow fillers most commercial kibbles include.

All of Spot and Tango’s recipes meet the AAFCO nutritional requirements for all dog life stages.

What we like

• Healthy: real, fresh ingredients instead of 12-month-old kibble.

• Precise: nutritionally balanced meals prepared in FDA-certified kitchen by animal nutritionists.

• Convenient: regular delivery in environmentally-friendly packaging. No more last-minute trips to the pet store.
• Variety: Two food types and six recipes to choose from.
• Treats!: Option to include high-quality treats as a part of your subscription.
• Extras: Unkibble comes with a specialized scoop just for your dog.
• Crunch: Unkibble isn’t as good as Fresh, but it’s still a big upgrade from the most common store-bought brands.
• Toppers: You can subscribe to a partial “Topper plan” to mix food with your dog’s current diet (to save money or just to make a picky eater’s kibble more interesting).

What we’d change

• Non-animal proteins: Each recipe contains whole meat as the first ingredient (which is good!) but then relies on vegetables to deliver the rest of the protein and healthy fatty acids. Other brands have a healthy mix of meats and veggies, too, but some include nutrient-rich organ meat as a second source of protein. Raised Right dog food has the highest content of animal protein.

• Expensive: The cost of certain meals is more expensive than other subscription plans.

• Storage: Fresh meal pouches you don’t plan to use in the next day or two must be stored in the freezer. This can be a problem if you don’t have much freezer space but is common across all fresh dog food brands.
• Not flexible (yet): You can’t currently customize your delivery schedule (although that’s coming!)

Is Spot and Tango good for dogs?

Yes! Spot and Tango uses whole, human-grade ingredients instead of meat meals, powders, and artificial fillers and preservatives. If you’re currently feeding your dog big-brand kibble, Spot and Tango will almost certainly be a nutritional upgrade.

How does Spot and Tango work?

The first thing Spot and Tango asks you to do is set up your free pet profile. This includes basic contact info as well as comprehensive details about your pet.

Spot and Tango needs details about your pet, such as their sex, neutered status, breed, body type, current weight, and target weight, to calculate the precise number of calories your dog should have in each meal. They optionally ask for the dog’s birthday (for a special birthday treat!).

Spot and Tango will also ask for specific details about your dog’s health, such as their activity level and any known allergies or health conditions. This will help them determine which recipes to recommend.

 From here on out, you are deciding what your dog eats, starting with the choice between Unkibble (“Fresh Dry” food) and Fresh food. 

Fresh food is what most dog food subscriptions are known for. It’s much better nutritionally for your dog, but it will also cost more because it’s entirely made from fresh, human-grade ingredients. Unkibble is a new take on the dog kibble you can get at any store, with better ingredients and less processing.

Both options come in three different recipes, and once you’ve selected a type of food, you can decide whether to mix and match recipes for some culinary variety or to stick to one recipe in particular.

When starting out, choosing a variety of recipes can help you figure out what your dog likes best, but there’s no right answer here. Note that your price can vary significantly based on the recipe(s) you choose.

You will also need to choose whether you want to feed your dog exclusively Spot and Tango, or whether you want to subscribe to a topper portion to mix with your dog’s current diet.

While a full diet of fresh food is better, mixing the Topper Plan with kibble is a good way to improve your dog’s nutrition while cutting down on costs. It’s also a good way to interest a picky eater who has grown tired of their usual food. Both options commit you to a two-week trial with a money-back guarantee if your dog doesn’t like the food.

Finally, there’s an option to add healthy, single-ingredient treats to your subscription. As with the dog food, the treats are hormone and GMO-free, and they make for a great snack in between meals. We really like the snack option because store-bought dog treats are notoriously full of weird additives and chemical preservatives, but not these.

After that, it’s a simple matter of reviewing your choices and deciding whether you want to try it out. Once your order is complete, your first shipment should arrive within 3 to 5 business days.

The whole process is incredibly easy to complete and should take you less than 5 minutes.

Meal options

As mentioned above, Spot and Tango offers two types of food: fresh dog food and Unkibble (which they describe as fresh dry dog food). All recipes across both options were crafted by veterinary nutritionists to meet AAFCO standards for all age groups, and all meals are prepared in FDA-approved kitchens in Wisconsin and New York.

Fresh dog food

If you’ve ever wanted your dog to eat as well as you do, Spot and Tango’s Fresh recipes are a great place to start. It’s made from locally sourced, fresh ingredients, and it looks just like food you or I would eat. That’s because you can!

There are no strange flavor additives or bad pet food smells to be found. Just simple, healthy meals cooked at a low heat to preserve nutrients and shipped promptly, so you get it fresh. There are three human-grade recipes to choose from, and all are gluten-free and non-GMO:

Turkey & Red Quinoa

This protein-packed recipe is great for growing dogs with lots of energy.

Ingredients:

Turkey, Red Quinoa, Spinach, Carrots, Peas, Apple, Eggs, Parsely, Apple Cider Vinegar, Safflower Oil, Vegetable Stock, Vitamins & Minerals 

Vitamins & Minerals:

Calcium Phosphate, Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Magnesium, Kelp, Potassium, Vitamin E, Zinc, Iron, Manganese, Vitamin D3, Copper, Selenium, Folic Acid, Iodine, Vitamin B12

Guaranteed Analysis:

Crude Protein: 13.69% (Min), Crude Fat: 5.86% (Min), Crude Fiber: 1.44% (Max), Moisture: 68.5% (Max)

Beef & Millet

Beef is an all-around favorite for meat-loving dogs, and apple cider vinegar may help promote gut health.

Ingredients:

Beef, Millet, Spinach, Carrots, Peas, Cranberries, Eggs, Parsley, Apple Cider Vinegar, Safflower Oil Vegetable Stock, Vitamins & Minerals

Vitamins & Minerals:

Calcium Phosphate, Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Magnesium, Kelp, Potassium, Vitamin E, Zinc, Iron, Manganese, Vitamin D3, Copper, Selenium, Folic Acid, Iodine, Vitamin B12

Guaranteed Analysis:

Crude Protein: 11.85% (Min), Crude Fat: 5.85% (Min), Crude Fiber: 1.04% (Max), Moisture: 69.84% (Max)

Lamb & Brown Rice

Lamb is an excellent alternative for dogs with digestive sensitivities to more common meats. The healthy fats in this recipe will also promote a healthy coat.

Ingredients:

Lamb, Brown Rice, Spinach, Carrots, Peas, Blueberries, Eggs, Parsely, Apple Cider Vinegar, Safflower Oil, Vegetable Stock, Vitamins & Minerals

Vitamins & Minerals:

Calcium Phosphate, Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Magnesium, Kelp, Potassium, Vitamin E, Zinc, Iron, Manganese, Vitamin D3, Copper, Selenium, Folic Acid, Iodine, Vitamin B12

Guaranteed Analysis:

Crude Protein: 11.80% (Min), Crude Fat: 6.64% (Min), Crude Fiber: 2.64% (Max), Moisture: 70.10% (Max)