Two Paws Up: Kemosabe’s Review of Bark Bistro Dog Food

BioStar’s own Kemosabe gives his unique canine take on Bark Bistro Dog Food:

This winter in Florida my tummy went through a period of upset at both ends. Went to the veterinarian, got meds, everything improved. My human decided to switch me from raw to cooked for a while, and got out her crock pot and commenced to make some home-cooked meals for Wookie and me: chicken with rice and split peas; white-meat turkey with a little oatmeal and cooked carrots; and always plenty of cooked pumpkin.

Then one evening she forgot to turn on the crock-pot, and when she went into the kitchen the following morning to give us breakfast….there was no food.  Boy, did she freak out.  Luckily she had some of our frozen raw food in the freezer, so she commenced to zap it in the microwave, telling us repeatedly how sorry she was to have to expose our food to microwaves.

She decided to see what kind of cooked foods were available at the local pet specialty store. It couldn’t be kibble, and it couldn’t be canned.  She noticed a new food in the refrigerated section called Bark Bistro Bark Bowls  It was cooked food in three varieties: “Turkey-n-Mac” (turkey with egg noodles, zucchini, carrots, cranberries, pumpkin, and salmon oil); “Chicken-n-Quinoa” (chicken with quinoa, kale, peas, carrots, apples and salmon oil); and “Beef-n-Mash” (beef with russet potatoes, butternut squash, green beans, carrots, green peas, apples, and olive oil).

She bought one of each.

Now, we all know that I have a good appetite.  I do, of course, have my likes and dislikes. Don’t feed me raw carrots—yuck—or fresh cantaloupe, peach slices, bits of pears or apples.  I don’t like frozen green beans. These are a sadistic treat for a dog watching his or her waistline, dreamed up by humans in a version of the starvation diet. Don’t give me strawberries or blueberries unless they are well combined with salmon, venison, duck or rabbit.  You can give me peanut butter anytime. And French fries, and cheese and yogurt. I am allowed, in fact, to dumpster dive at BioStar in Rick’s office for his daily empty yogurt container, which I lick clean.  Rick and I have an agreement on this: I get to lick the container but not carry it around in my mouth throughout the offices and production area. The other dogs at BioStar could get jealous.

Bark Bistro Review
The first variety of Bark Bistro I tried was the Beef-N-Mash. My human was hesitant to try the Chicken-N-Quinoa first, as she wasn’t sure what I’d think of the quinoa. The beef with potatoes was awesome.  I sucked it up in about four nanoseconds, and then tried to horn in on Wookie’s bowl.  She would have none of that.  I had to wait until she was finished. By then, to my disappointment, I found that she had already licked her bowl clean.

Seeing as my human is totally obsessed with our poop, she was quite elated to see that our GI tracts did very well on Bark Bistro with beef.

Next was the Chicken-N-Quinoa.  Again I managed another land-speed record in devouring my meal.  Then it was Turkey-N-Mac (noodles!), my personal favorite. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

I hate to say this, because I don’t want to hurt my human’s feelings, but her crock-pot meals are not quite up to Bark Bistro.

When we returned from Florida, my human put Thunderbear on Bark Bistro, as he was starting to exhibit picky-eater syndrome.  Now that he is eating it, he dives into his food bowl at every meal.

Now that we are home from Florida, I am back on raw with Crockett and Buckaroo. Wookie has stayed on Bark Bistro because she tends to have a sensitive stomach and the stuff keeps her GI tract happy. My human says I will get to eat Bark Bistro again when we go back to Florida in the winter, when my system gets a little stressed.

For you humans out there looking for a convenient cooked meal that your canines will love, Bark Bistro gets two thumbs up from my human. I give it two paws up for sheer yumminess.

Whether you do raw, home-cooked, or Bark Bistro, it’s important to add a multivitamin/mineral.  At our house we get BioStar’s Optimum K9 because it is whole food and doesn’t have a lot of junk in it. The nutrients are all from food, and the minerals are plant-chelated for better bioavailability. Even picky eaters like Thunderbear just gobble it up.

Now, although I am known for my generosity and helpful tips…the yogurt cup Rick leaves every day in the office? That still belongs to me.