The Farmer’s Dog Foods ‘Grossly Out Of Line’ With Canine Nutritional Needs, Class Action Lawsuit Alleges

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges that The Farmer’s Dog deceptively markets its dog food as nutritionally complete and made with healthy, “human-grade” ingredients when, in reality, the products are formulated with excessive levels of fat that can be dangerous for dogs.

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The 22-page lawsuit contends that although The Farmer’s Dog promotes its subscription-based line of customized dog food as fresh, wholesome and superior to traditional kibble, these representations disguise the fact that the dog food’s high fat content falls short of canine dietary requirements.

The filing alleges that The Farmer’s Dog adds “excessive amounts” of fat to its dog food to make it more palatable and calorie dense while keeping the company’s costs low, given that “[f]at is cheaper per calorie” than the proteins or carbohydrates typically used in dog foods.

The suit highlights that high-fat dog food is “unreasonably dangerous” because it creates an increased risk of pancreatitis in otherwise healthy dogs.

According to the complaint, the defendant’s marketing relies on broad claims—such as the dog food being made with “whole meat”—that suggest that the products are an “inherently” better option. The complaint argues that these “vague representations,” coupled with claims that veterinary professionals deem the food safe and healthy, lead consumers to reasonably believe that The Farmer’s Dog products are nutritionally balanced and worth their price premium.

However, the lawsuit alleges that The Farmer’s Dog does not suggest that consumers have a veterinarian review its dog food for nutritional suitability before purchase, allegedly because the products are formulated with “unhealthy and dangerous” levels of fat.

The case also claims that consumers cannot readily access full nutritional information for The Farmer’s Dog food without first completing a multi-step registration process that requires information about their dog’s breed, age and weight.

Even then, the suit says, the foods’ fat content is presented on product labels on an “as fed” basis, meaning as a perfect of the mass of the food when fed, including moisture content. This is contrary to a “dry matter” basis, i.e., the amount of the nutrient as a percent of the dry mass of the food.

As a result, although The Farmer’s Dog promotes fat content between 4.5 and eight percent fat, the complaint argues that these figures significantly understate true fat content values.

“Three out of four of Defendant’s recipes ... have over 25% fat [dry matter], over 40% fat [as metabolizable energy], and over 45 g fat per 1000 kcal, which is well above typical or recommended levels of fat for most dogs,” the filing contends.

The complaint cites research indicating that high-fat diets can predispose non-working dogs to a host of serious health problems, including hypertension, obesity and pancreatitis in “otherwise healthy dogs.”

The Farmer’s Dog class action lawsuit looks to represent all consumers in the United States who purchased the company’s dog food.

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