Aunt Jeni’s Home Made Dog Food receives the Advisor’s second-highest tier rating of 4.5 stars.

The Aunt Jeni’s Home Made product line includes the 7 frozen raw dog foods listed below.

Each recipe includes its related AAFCO nutrient profile when available on the product’s official webpage: Growth, Maintenance, All Life Stages, Supplemental or Unspecified.

• Aunt Jeni’s Home Made Fish [A]
• Aunt Jeni’s Home Made Pork [A]
• Aunt Jeni’s Home Made Beef [A]
• Aunt Jeni’s Home Made Goat [A]
• Aunt Jeni’s Home Made Turkey [A]
• Aunt Jeni’s Home Made Lamb (2 stars) [A]
• Aunt Jeni’s Home Made Chicken (3 stars) [A]

Aunt Jeni’s Home Made Beef was selected to represent the others in the line for this review.

Ingredient Analysis

The first ingredient in this dog food is beef. Beef is defined as “the clean flesh derived from slaughtered cattle” and includes skeletal muscle or the muscle tissues of the tongue, diaphragm, heart or esophagus.¹

This ingredient also includes beef heart. Although it doesn’t sound very appetizing to us humans, heart tissue is pure muscle — all meat. It’s naturally rich in quality protein, minerals and complex B vitamins, too.

The second ingredient is beef liver. This is an organ meat sourced from a named animal and thus considered a beneficial component.

The third ingredient is apple, a nutrient-rich fruit that’s also high in fiber.

The fourth ingredient is celery. Although raw celery can be very high in water, it can still contribute a notable amount of dietary fiber as well as other healthy nutrients.

The fifth ingredient includes whole eggs. Eggs are easy to digest and have an exceptionally high biological value.

The sixth ingredient lists collard greens. Due to their notable vitamin and mineral content, collards boast a high nutrient Completeness Score² of 81.

The seventh ingredient is kale. Kale is a type of cabbage in which the central leaves do not form a head. This dark green vegetable is especially rich in beta-carotene, vitamins C, vitamin K and calcium.

And like broccoli, kale contains sulforaphane, a natural chemical believed to possess potent anti-cancer properties.

From here, the list goes on to include a number of other items.

But to be realistic, ingredients located this far down the list (other than nutritional supplements) are not likely to affect the overall rating of this product.

With 4 notable exceptions…

First, flaxseed is one of the best plant sources of healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Provided they’ve first been ground into a meal, flax seeds are also rich in soluble fiber.

However, flaxseed contains about 19% protein, a factor that must be considered when judging the actual meat content of this dog food.

Next, garlic can be a controversial item. Although many favor the ingredient for its claimed health benefits, garlic has been linked to Heinz body anemia in dogs.³

So, one must weigh the potential benefits of feeding garlic against its proven tendency to cause subclinical damage to the red blood cells of the animal.

In addition, this food contains alfalfa meal. Although alfalfa meal is high in plant protein (about 18%) and fiber (25%), this hay-family item is more commonly associated with horse feeds.

And lastly, although we find no added vitamins or minerals on the ingredients list, it’s reassuring to find a list of naturally included nutrients (for each recipe) detailed on the company’s website.

Nutrient Analysis

Judging by its ingredients alone, Aunt Jeni’s Home Made Dog Food looks like an above-average raw product.

The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 57%, a fat level of 29% and estimated carbohydrates of about 6%.

As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 53% and a mean fat level of 30%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 9% for the overall product line.

And a fat-to-protein ratio of about 57%

Above-average protein. Near-average fat. And below-average carbs when compared to a typical raw dog food.

Even when you consider the protein-boosting effect of the flaxseed and alfalfa meal, this looks like the profile of a raw product containing an abundance of meat.

However, due to its exceptionally high fat content, we cannot in good conscience recommend feeding the lamb formulation.

Our Rating of Aunt Jeni’s Dog Food

Aunt Jeni’s Home Made is a grain-free raw dog food using an abundant amount of named meats and organs as its main source of animal protein, thus earning the brand 4.5 stars.

Highly recommended.

Aunt Jeni’s Dog Food Recall History

The following list (if present) includes all dog food recalls since 2009 directly related to Aunt Jeni’s. If there are no recalls listed in this section, we have not yet reported any events.

• One Lot of Aunt Jeni’s Dog Food Tests Positive for Salmonella (2/15/2020)
• FDA Warning: Do Not Feed Certain Lots of Aunt Jeni’s Dog Food (8/31/2019)

You can view a complete list of all dog food recalls sorted by date. Or view the same list sorted alphabetically by brand.