Frequently Asked Questions

A Pup Above was founded by pet parents Ruth and Javier Marriott and their pup, Lola Marriott. Ruth and Javier were tired of not knowing what was in Lola's bowl and Lola was tired of not liking anything they put in her bowl! Together, they created A Pup Above, a food that's delicious, nutritious and fully transparent, farm to bowl!

Lola now happily eats her fresh A Pup Above food each and every meal. And, today she’s on a mission to share her delicious and healthy eats with all of the pups!

See a video of their story here 😍

We’re located in the fun dog loving city of Austin, TX 🐶🤠 

Transitioning your dog's food can take up to a week and in some cases two weeks, especially if your pup has eaten kibble their whole life. Think of it as having eaten rice cakes every day and then suddenly eating a big juicy steak. We highly recommend following our transition guide so your pup's stomach has the appropriate time to adjust his or her stomach to the new food. While it may take some time, it's totally worth it because it's 100% better for their health so they can live long happy lives and avoid pesky vet visits.

Below is the recommended transition guide: 

• Days 1-2: 75% old food + 25% A Pup Above
• Days 3-4:  50% old food + 50% A Pup Above
• Days 5-6: 25% old food + 75% A Pup Above
• Days 7+: 100% A Pup Above goodness!

Once your pup has transitioned to A Pup Above, you are able to rotate to different recipes within the same product line. In fact, we encourage it! A rotational diet is an excellent way to ensure your pup is receiving a variety of nutrients from his or her diet. 

If your pup is trying a new line, then we recommend a similar transition schedule to what you used prior. For example, if your pup eats our Gently Cooked and wants to try our Air Dried, follow a similar transition plan that your pup followed to transition to the gently cooked. 

A Pup Above has never been recalled.

Our fresh food is gently cooked sous-vide to preserve nutrients, enhance flavor, and keep your pup safe. With more research showing the risks of highly processed diets and the benefits of fresh diets, we’ve seen firsthand how real food can help dogs feel better, live healthier, and love mealtime again.

We make our fresh food recipes use a long, slow cooking method called sous-vide—a technique trusted by top chefs to bring out flavor and cook proteins perfectly.

For pups, sous-vide offers key benefits:

1. More Flavor – It enhances taste and creates a natural meat gravy dogs love.
2. More Nutrients – Cooking in a sealed bag helps lock in nutrients that would otherwise be lost.
3. More Healthy Protein – Our recipes contain up to 50% more protein than other gently cooked brands. That means fewer fillers, more of what your dog actually needs.

Yes! Our food is real food so it’s important you treat it the same as your own fresh food. Keep the food at a safe temperature in a refrigerator or freezer. Your delivery box will come with dry ice and liners to ensure it arrives frozen. The packaging also includes info on how to store and feed the food properly (it’s very simple!).

Nope! We do the cooking for you. All you have to do is defrost and serve to your pup. You can serve it directly from the fridge or add a touch of hot water if your dog prefers warm food.

Our food is good in the fridge for 5-7 days once defrosted and open. Each bag holds individually sealed one pound patties. This allows you to keep the bags in the freezer and just defrost one patty or one pound of food at a time. Since the patties are vacuum sealed, they are good in the fridge for 14 days unopened.

It is best to be fed once thawed. If it needs to be re-frozen, ensure this is done quickly after thawing and be sure the product has been kept cold.

You can! But recent research found 95% of recipes online to be lacking in crucial nutrients for dogs. Serious complications from nutrient deficiencies (and, more commonly, overdosing) could arise if a recipe hasn’t been properly calibrated. If you do decide to cook at home, please please please work with a vet nutritionist to ensure everything is properly calibrated.

Air-drying is a slow, low-heat method that locks in the nutrition and flavor of fresh ingredients—then transforms them into a scoop-and-serve meal your pup will devour.

It’s the best of both worlds: far less processed than kibble, and easier to serve than frozen. Just scoop, serve, and watch the tail wags begin.

Absolutely! Air Dried and Gently Cooked are the pawfect combo! Our Chief Pup Officer Lola loves having variety in her meals, so she eats the Gently Cooked with Air Dried for texture and flavor variety. Feeding both in the same meal, or even rotating the Air Dried with the Gently Cooked is a good way to keep picky pups interested in their meal times.

We currently ship to the 48 contiguous states - excluding Alaska and Hawaii. 

Live in Alaska and Hawaii? Checkout our store locator or request your local pet store to carry A Pup Above!

To make sure your pup’s food stays frozen in transit, each box is packed with curbside recyclable box liners and with plenty of dry ice to keep the food at the appropriate temperature while in transit. If you live in a warmer climate, our team modifies dry ice quantities according to regional weather as well as seasonal patterns.

For our frozen gently cooked recipes, you don’t need to be home for your delivery. Just pop the food into the freezer as soon as you can the day of delivery.

Only feed our gently cooked recipes if the food arrives frozen or very cold (as if just out of the fridge). Partial defrosting is okay, but the food should still be below 40°F.

You’ll receive a shipping confirmation with your tracking number as soon as your order ships out. Give that tracking number 24 hours to update once you receive it, and then you can follow your order on its journey to you.

Orders are processed Mondays - Fridays with standard 1-2 day delivery for a majority of the country. To guarantee same week delivery, we recommend adjusting your order date to renew on Mondays. Please note that this schedule is subject to change during holiday periods. To view our transit times based on where you live, visit our shipping page.

We’re big believers in creating products that are good for the planet and healthy for our pups! Our cardboard boxes and insulation are curbside recyclable. Our food bags are fully recyclable through our partnership with Terracycle shown here. Our food bags are also made from BPA-Free materials and are non-toxic.

If you’d like to make a change to a processed order, send us an email at contact@apupabove.com as soon as you can! We’ll do our best to catch your order before it ships out. 

Although we do our best to make changes for our customers, once our fulfillment team starts the process of shipping out the package we’re unable to make any additional adjustments.

Yes, you can easily pause, cancel or reactivate your subscription anytime.

Yes! Once you login to your account, you can easily reschedule your upcoming order to receive it sooner, or to delay the shipment.

Yep! Login to your account, click “Manage Subscriptions” and select “Get it Now”. Your order will then process immediately.

If you’d like to have your order delivered to a different address one time because you're going on vacation and would like to send the food to your hotel or want to send it to your dog sitter, simply select Gift Next Order when you login. Fill in the shipping address and voilà! Your pup is all set for his or her vacay.

We work closely with a team of veterinarian nutritionists and food scientists to formulate recipes that prioritize the safety and long-term health of our pups first. Every meal is formulated to meet AAFCO guidelines for complete and balanced nutrition for adult dogs.

Please do! They will take comfort in the fact that we work alongside board certified veterinary nutritionists, and have conducted thorough nutrition research to validate our meals are completed and balanced for adult maintenance.

If your veterinarian is interested in learning more about A Pup Above recipes, please have them reach out to contact@apupabove.com.

A Pup Above follows WSAVA guidelines by having our recipes formulated by a Vet Nutritionist, managing nutrients in raw materials through quality control processes, and following AAFCO guidelines for creating foods that are complete & balanced for adult maintenance, which we verify through lab analysis and feeding studies.

Your pup’s food quality and safety are our top priority. For that reason, all of our food is cooked in licensed, human-grade facilities using only human-grade ingredients.

Before our recipes are sent out, they undergo rigorous microbial testing for pathogens to ensure the final product is safe to eat and avoid illness or diarrhea. 

Our delivery process for our frozen meals includes temperature-controlled packaging and dry ice to maintain food safety and freshness during transit.