Tails.com Example Recipes Adult Review

<p>We don't usually do full written reviews any more (as they are just too time consuming to write and keep up-to-date) but with the sheer amount of questions we're getting about Tails.com right now, we think this one is well warranted.</p> <h5>What is Tails.com?</h5> <p>Tails.com is the first and best known 'bespoke' pet food producer in the UK. Using your dog's details, they create a food that is "perfectly tailored to your dog's unique nutritional needs", deliver it to your door in just the right amounts each month and even put your dog's name on the bag!</p> <p>The concept has proven extremely popular and, as a result, Tails.com has quickly established a huge presence in the industry.</p> <p>In 2018 Nestl&eacute; Purina acquired a controlling share in the business.</p> <h5>Are Tails.com recipes really bespoke?</h5> <p>More or less. Tails has a selection of stock recipes with titles like 'Active Mobility', 'Calorie Management', 'Healthy Activity' and so on. The details a customer enters into the Tails.com website determine which stock formulas are blended together and in what ratios to provide over a million possible combinations. So while it's true that each dog's food is not prepared and cooked individually (which would frankly be impossible), the final mix of ingredients and nutrients is effectively bespoke.</p> <h5>How do I see my bespoke ingredients list?</h5> <p>At the very least you will have to register an account (including providing your email address and filling in a questionnaire) before you get access to any specifics like ingredients, typical analyses etc. and even then it's not guaranteed. Several times while we were creating test formulas on the Tails.com website, the ingredients lists and nutritional breakdowns were not provided at any stage in the process.</p> <p>Of course, we understand it's impossible for Tails.com to declare the full ingredients lists before customers provide their dogs' details but for the sake of transparency, Tails should really remove the registration requirement, ensure the ingredient list is always provided and publish the ingredients lists of all of their stock recipes so that customers at least have some idea of what they are in store for before signing up.</p> <h5>Is Tails.com food any good?</h5> <p>The big question. Naturally, with so many different permutations available, some formulas are better than others. By our standards, the majority of the ingredients lists we were able to generate through the Tails.com website were scored between 45% and 65%. For some specific dogs with quite niche nutritional requirements, it was possible to generate formulas rating up to 71%.</p> <p>At the higher end, Tails.com formulas generally contain relatively high proportions of meat (including fresh meat), some good quality whole grains and a decent array of nutritional supplements. Conversely, at the lower end, Tails formulas often contain large quantities of wheat and/or maize, numerous unclear ingredients and artificial additives.</p> <p>Interestingly, what you pick as your dog's <i>current diet</i> has a sizeable impact on the formula Tails generate for you. Essentially, if you are currently spending a lot on dog food, they will aim to match that by generating a higher quality, more expensive formula and for those currently spending less, the bespoke formula will be lower grade and less expensive.</p> <h5>Is Tails.com food expensive?</h5> <p>From our findings, feeding a dog on Tails dry food is slightly more expensive than the market average. For example, for an average 14kg adult dog with no special dietary requirements you would be looking at around &pound;1 per day (compared with the market average of 85p/day).</p> <p>It's worth noting that this is also considerably higher than Tails themselves advertise (49p/day for an average small dog, 68p/day for an average medium dog).</p> <p>As you might expect, the more special dietary requirements you add, the higher the price gets.</p> <h5>Conclusions</h5> <p>To sum up, Tails formulas are generally quite unremarkable in terms of quality and come in at a slightly above average price.</p> <p>You can make specific requests on the website's questionnaire to improve the quality somewhat but that will also bump up the cost.</p> <p>For some dogs with very specific dietary needs, Tails.com's customisability might be helpful but for the vast majority a quick search on our <a href="/the-dog-food-directory" alt="Dog Food Directory">dog food directory</a> will likely prove more productive with no shortage of higher quality, lower cost, more transparent options to fit almost any nutritional requirements.</p>

25 Comments

AADF Privacy Policy

Sign in to comment

	Sign in to comment

HushHoney •15 days ago I tried Tails dog food for my dog, Rex, and unfortunately, it was a terrible experience. Over time, he lost 2kg while eating this food, and he also suffered from frequent diarrhea. After a visit to the vet, I was advised to switch his food, and since making the change, his health has improved significantly. For the price, the amount of food you receive is disappointing, making it poor value for money. Given our experience, I wouldn’t recommend Tails to other dog owners. 0 0 • Reply Sign in to reply

shavy makh •6 months ago Hi All, I'm not being paid to write this review but all I want to say is that my 8 month Goldador loves the food (both wet and dry). His Poo's are great and his coat etc looks good. I have tried other brands and although he does eat them (half lab after all) his poos etc were not good. Unfortunately tail prices are going up and I may need to see if there is an alternative. 0 0 • Reply Sign in to reply

Neil Beard •10 months ago Hi there, I’m currently using tails for my springer spaniel but I’m wanting to go onto a raw diet obviously a lot out there. Any guidance or experiences of what brands to look at would be much appreciated. Had no problems with tails and neither has my dog but he will eat anything so it’s not saying much. 0 0 • Reply Sign in to reply Alana K Neil Beard •10 months ago Hi, there are many good raw food brands - I would recommend a complete food for simplicity and so he gets all nutrients required. Benyfit Natural, Natural Instinct, Paleo Ridge, Naturaw, Dougies, Nutriment and Naked Dog are all good brands. I would recommend using a range of brands and proteins to get variety, Stefs pantry is a good place to order from and stocks many brands, hope this helps :) 0 0 • Reply Sign in to reply

Anna Walker •one year ago After speaking with a 'nutritionist' at tails. I would absolutely advise people to avoid this brand at all costs. They are unable to give clear analytical breakdowns of all ingredients. Nestle sell far more nutrionally complete foods at a cheaper price. They were unable to give me a percentage of nutrients, particularly the taurine content which as very concerning. They use chicken meal as the main ingredient to reduce costs at manufacturing level and then sell at a premium price. They state 'poultry' which can include both duck and turkey. They could not give me a breakdown of how much meat meal/gravy was used and to find out that the food is made up of a whopping 48% carbs is disgusting for a food that presents itself as a premium brand. AVOID THIS FOOD AT ALL COSTS 0 0 • Reply Sign in to reply Critters Kitchen Anna Walker •one year ago Because it depends on the recipe for each dog, or do you not understand the words bespoke and tailor made 0 0 • Reply Sign in to reply

MartaAS •one year ago I know this varies depending on details you enter but it’s so different from mine! Mine has way more protein, maize is third on list (first three are meat). Very weird 0 0 • Reply Sign in to reply Critters Kitchen MartaAS •one year ago Because they are biased to the brands that pay them best 0 0 • Reply Sign in to reply

slljarvis •one year ago I have 2 border terriers staying with me who are fed on Tails. Apparently specialised to help with anal gland problems. They seem to poop quite a lot, 4/5 times a day, and one of them drinks a lot. On the plus side they don't fart and are keen to eat it. My own dogs (whippet crosses) were fed on Nature's Menu minced tripe, or Butchers with plain mixer and occasional sardines, carrots, healthy human food scraps. They did not poop or drink as much as these little guys, also rarely farted . 0 0 • Reply Sign in to reply

Patrick Murray •2 years ago Hey folks,just got my delivery today,dog loves it,french bull dog,I do like the scooper you set up yourself,but dog destroyed the food,but like every thing tasty doesn't mean healthy,royal canin etc he will leave sitting for hours,this stuff from Tails blink and it's been eaten.but this is only day one.post back soon if any updates needed. 0 0 • Reply Sign in to reply

nathan gittins •2 years ago As the review suggests each blend will be difference so I suppose you have to try to see if it works but this is my experience. I had a free trial which I carried on after the first month. I have a 3 year old fairly active lurcher, an hour total walk per day. He was in great shape and had many comments on his coat and condition from Vets and other dog owners. Wishin 2 months tho he has lost weight and his coat looks terrible. I increased the quantity on the calculator and this made it over £70 a month. He couldn’t finish the extra quantity of food and although he did enjoy this brand more so than others because of his condition and health I will be going back to Dr John’s Titanium and Butchers Tripe asap. 0 0 • Reply Sign in to reply

Emma Smith •2 years ago We use tails for our 2 bulldogs, its the first food we have found that they haven't had allergies to!! We have tried many many foods and we've had to stop them eating or theyv had upset stomachs, but since being on tails they do 2 poos a day, their coats are so healthy and most importantly no allergies!! 0 0 • Reply Sign in to reply

Maureen •3 years ago How strange - I have hypoallergenic recipe from Tails for my Husky (super happy) - over 35% of salmon and my second dog (new puppy) has 36% of chicken in it. I did some research as Tails only have chicken for puppies but this website got something wrong. Seems like really out of date info or simply value range... I think those examples are carefully selected. I have not seen recipe for my dog like that (I have Husky and Staff)... at the end it suppose to be tailored product so I guess not really good representation. Yet another "i know it all" blog :-/ 0 0 • Reply Sign in to reply Team AADF Maureen •3 years ago Hi Maureen. As mentioned above, we entered the following criteria into the Tails site three months ago and got back the above recipes: 4 year old neutered male at ideal weight doing 1 hour exercise per day with no special dietary requirements. All other settings were just set to their defaults. Another quote from above: "You can make specific requests on the website's questionnaire to improve the quality somewhat but that will also bump up the cost." So I guess we're more or less on the same page. 0 0 • Reply Sign in to reply Critters Kitchen Team AADF •one year ago Also the fact that they don't pay you well enough for a good review 0 0 • Reply Sign in to reply Critters Kitchen Maureen •one year ago The site is biased to the brands that "pay their bills" 0 0 • Reply Sign in to reply Give Animals Real Fo Critters Kitchen •2 months ago Hi Critters Kitchen, can you please clearly state your position and what stake you have in this? You are just making the company look desperate and dodgy as you must have some connection to it to have. Can you please elaborate about payments to the website/sponsorships? As far as I know, it was originally created to be transparent in an opaque world of marketing. 0 0 • Reply Sign in to reply

melanie •3 years ago Terrible. 10 year old terrier lost condition - no energy, got fat, poohed constantly. Back on Arden Grange, is now 12 and runs around on 3 hour walks happy as anything. Lean, shiny coat and no excessive poo. 0 0 • Reply Sign in to reply

Monica •4 years ago OMG... Tails is amazing! I just got my food for pup and he loves it more then Eukanuba we got from breeder. Biscuits are so much bigger so he crunches it. I think it helps with his teeth (he is now biting a lot). Easy scoop and clear instruction. I was a bit worried about price but I was told by lovely guys in Tails that as my dogs grows the price stays the same!!! OMG - I can't believe it! Great ingredients too! Prebiotics - perfect when you think about immune system. Guys - where have you been hiding! 0 0 • Reply Sign in to reply The Wick Monica •2 years ago Wow that's one of the fakest reviews I've seen in a long time. 1 0 • Reply Sign in to reply Critters Kitchen The Wick •one year ago The truth is hard to believe isn't it 0 0 • Reply Sign in to reply WATTS1204 Monica •one year ago Fake review why not produce high quality high scoring dog food then you won’t have to have staff be sneaky and lie on here. Dishonest company! 0 0 • Reply Sign in to reply Critters Kitchen WATTS1204 •one year ago Because this site only gives high scores to high paying brands 0 0 • Reply Sign in to reply Lorna doone Critters Kitchen •one year ago My EBT seems to like her trial bag,but I’m not so sure after reading these reviews,I have noticed that she poos a lot ,🤷†â™€ï¸ðŸ¤·†â™€ï¸ðŸ¤” 0 0 • Reply Sign in to reply