Gently-cooked is the newest and fastest growing category of pet food - and Tom&Sawyer was one of the originals! In fact, Tom&Sawyer launched the gently-cooked market segment in Canada in 2015, and have been a recognized global leader ever since!

Kibble and canned food was all about (excessively) cooking lower quality ingredients under immense heat and pressure, then adding back vitamins and minerals. Then raw came out, with no cooking at all, which introduces dangerous pathogens into our homes without proper regulation.

Looking for a healthier and safer alternative, gently-cooked was launched to use better ingredients and cooking them "gently" so as to retain nutrients and ingredient integrity, while hitting sufficient temperatures to kill pathogens. When Tom&Sawyer launched the category, we went out of our way to be as different and as high quality as possible....we opened Canada's first open-concept pet meals kitchen, we hired trained chefs to make our meals, we had a dog friendly barista lounge, and used restaurant quality ingredients.

At Tom&Sawyer, we focus on real food, prepared with care in our human grade kitchen, to nourish your pet the way nature intended.

More and more pet parents—and veterinarians—are recognizing the link between nutrition and long-term health. As rates of obesity, diabetes, and cancer rise in pets, a growing body of research supports the benefits of a fresh, balanced diet over ultra-processed options.

Whether your pet is a picky eater, managing health conditions, or just living their best life, we’ve seen firsthand the difference fresh food can make—from shinier coats and healthier digestion to more mealtime excitement.

Just real, fresh food made convenient, safe and highly nutritious for the furry members of your family!

At Tom&Sawyer, every meal is prepared in a human-grade kitchen—not a pet food factory. We gently cook our recipes at low temperatures to preserve nutrients and flavour, following the same safety and quality standards used for human food. Meals are then frozen right away to lock in freshness and ensure safe delivery.

Thanks to our convenient subscription model, your pet’s meals are made fresh—never shelf-stable, never full of preservatives like kibble that can sit for years. It’s a smarter, safer, and tastier way to feed your pet. 

Yes! Tom&Sawyer was the first Canadian pet food to meet the stringent AAFCO Human Grade Standards, and the FPFA Certified Human Grade requirements, and Tom&Sawyer is currently the ONLY pet food made in Canada allowed to be called Human Grade.

In 2023 we had to move out of our Tom&Sawyer open concept kitchen in Toronto and into a government inspected licensed human food facility - to comply with the strict AAFCO rules.

Many pet food companies in Canada put that they are "made with human grade ingredients" - that is highly deceptive and does not mean they are human grade. Unfortunately Canada lacks pet food regulations, so brands that only sell in Canada get away with this deceptive practice - but the US does not allow this.

The Human Grade definition brings a completely different level of ingredients quality and trust, human food inspected production processes to ensure food safety for your pet and your entire family (that food is stored amongst your own food in your fridge, is portioned on your counter, and is eaten by your family pet - who likely snuggles close on the couch or in bed), and confirmed lab testing and nutritional label compliance. No other pet food brand made in Canada is human grade (but we sure want more).

Tom&Sawyer has an exciting collection of human grade pet meals (for both dogs and cats) that resemble wholesome cooking we humans are more familiar with - Italian Beef Pasta dinner and Thai Coconut Chicken dinner! We use only the highest quality proteins (real chicken breast!), mixed with whole foods and balanced with vitamin and minerals.

We focus on using local farmers across Canada and the US, to support local business and lower environmental impact as much as possible, and all of our ingredients are 100% non-GMO, and always free from both added antibiotics and hormones. 

We never use the artificial form for our supplements. We use food-grade or pharma-grade, natural forms for all of our supplements to perfectly balance your pet’s meals. Our supplements make up less than 3% of our recipes for our meals, which means your pets are receiving their nutrients from fresh, whole foods!

Our meals are carefully developed by our award-winning animal nutrition Research & Development team members, with a dual focus of meeting the nutrient requirements according to both AAFCO and the NRC primarily through our top-quality ingredients (minimal supplementation) and making the meals as tasty and enjoyable as possible for your family pet!

Our in-house PhD animal nutritionist and nutrition specialized veterinary technician work with other leaders on our R&D team to find new ways to enhance pet health through nutrition.

We also employ very different methods than other pet food companies to maximize nutrition. One example is that we cook each individual ingredient separately to the optimal time and temperature to maximize its nutritional contribution to the meal, while adhering to human grade food safety regulations. We then gently mix all cooked ingredients together to make our final meals.

Our R&D team notes that studies have shown 95% of home-prepared diets have one or more significant nutrient deficiencies, which may place a pet at risk of developing serious health problems. So we provide high quality, safe and science-backed nutrition to those who really want a "home cooked" diet for their pets.

We do not provide veterinary medical diagnosis and treatment for the prevention, correction, or alleviation of disease, pain, injury, or otherwise. We provide information only and this does not substitute for appropriate professional veterinary care. 

All of our meals are formulated by our research and development team that is built up of culinary chefs and an in-house qualified PhD animal nutritionist in consultation with other food and animal nutrition experts. Our team continuously tests and assess our meals to ensure top quality nutrition for your pets. We also provide a thorough and in-depth nutrient analysis for all of our meals that pet parents can print and take with them to their veterinarians. 

We do provide a low-fat menu that meets the requirements for dogs with pancreatitis. We also have meals that include novel proteins for pup’s with food allergies, sensitivities, and intolerances. Our food also caters well to picky eaters. If you are unsure whether Tom&Sawyer meets your pets’ individual health needs we advise you to discuss your options with your veterinarian. 

We have worked with many veterinarians over the years and have received numerous referrals from veterinarians looking to use our meals to assist with treating patients with certain health issues.

The National Research Council (NRC) makes recommendations for nutrient requirements based on current research using purified diets for animals. In the US, the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) uses the information provided by the NRC and adjusts these recommendations according to the lower digestibility and bioavailability of feed-grade ingredients that is often used in pet foods. 

The fresh, whole food ingredients we use at Tom&Sawyer more closely resemble the nutrient bioavailability and digestibility profiles from the NRC. We ensure that all of our meals meet or exceed the recommendations from AAFCO and the NRC.

For the kitties, all of our meals are formulated to be complete and balanced for all life stages. For the pups, our meals are formulated to be complete and balanced for adult maintenance (and for seniors). But puppies don’t need to miss out on all the Tom&Sawyer goodness. Our Puppy Booster* can be added to any of our regular fat level meals to make them suitable for growth! 

*We do not recommend feeding only our meals (100 % of diet) for growing giant breeds or low-fat meals for any growing puppies, unless under direction of an attending veterinarian.

Unlike our other recipes, our Tummy Tamer meal is NOT complete and balanced. This meal was created simply to help calm an upset stomach or as a fun topper. This is not meant for long-term feeding. 

If feeding to calm an upset stomach, feed up to 1/2 a package for every 10 lbs in small, frequent meals. 

Two factors account for our premium cost.

1. Human Grade - we were among the very first pet food brands to meet both the AAFCO and FPFA Human Grade Standards, and remain one of the few today. This means all of our products are made in an inspected human food facility using ingredients, processes and standards for human food. Why does this matter? The majority of pet food uses inferior "feed grade" ingredients (sometimes with a few human grade ingredients included to confuse consumers) which is significantly lower quality. Then the rigour of lab testing and food safety protocols significantly increases the safety of the pet food you are storing in your own fridge (next to your dinner) and feeding to your pet who is likely snuggling with you in your bed. You introduce a hazard into your home with cheaper products. They are a cheap for a reason!

Ingredient Standards: Some human grade pet foods use lower quality ingredients, just like fast food uses low quality processed ingredients. We don't. We use real chicken breast, lean muscle meat proteins, non-GMO, organic in many cases...top quality all around, because these ingredients provide higher nutrition to pets, and we focus our recipe development on providing nutrition from high quality ingredients, rather than low quality ones that need tons of vitamin and mineral supplements.

Another reason why we are more expensive? We are truthful and transparent when it comes to estimating how many calories your pet really needs. When we compared our online Tom&Sawyer nutrition calculator findings to other brands (and even the suggested serving on their packaging), we were shocked to see that many fresh pet food brands are significantly under-estimating the calories your pet needs (in some cases not even enough daily calories to survive) so they can make it look like you need less of their food for your pet. Once you buy their food, and your pet likes it better than the kibble they were eating (good luck trying to go back!) your pet is losing weight and not doing well - you reach out to the brand and they say that every pet is different and yours must need more food - and they get you to buy more!

We don't do that - we really do bring our 3 principles of accountability, transparency and integrity to every aspect of Tom&Sawyer.

The short answer is no. All our meals are carefully formulated to provide complete and balanced nutrition for a wide variety of pet health needs, and we've tried to create an extensive meal recipe collection to help the widest collection of pets.

The way our kitchen works, we are unable to accommodate one-off recipe requests for individual pets, at this time

Since our food is truly made fresh and we donʼt use any preservatives, we rely on flash freezing as our natural preservative!

Within seconds of each sealed Tom&Sawyer meal package being perfectly flattened, it gets put into a blast freezer that flash freezes it (rock hard!) in minutes. That Tom&Sawyer meal then never leaves a frozen state until you get it at home and decide to thaw it to serve to your pet.

There's also some interesting science behind why we use a blast freezer - when we freeze the meals faster, the food (at a cellular level) freezes evenly and the food cells do not increase in size and rupture, as they do if left to freeze over a longer period of time in a normal freezer. When thawing, ruptured cells release their moisture and our meals would have more visible moisture when emptied from the package. Science! Who knew!

Serving Tom&Sawyer to your pet is actually very easy and convenient, once you get the routine down!

1. Store in Freezer - keep your packages in the freezer until you need them. We've chosen our flat packaging to maximize efficient use of freezer storage space.

2. Thaw - we suggest that you place any packages you want to serve to your pet in the refrigerator overnight to thaw. Alternatively, we keep our packages flat so you can quickly thaw food from the freezer under running water.

3. Portion and Storage - our meals are already cooked and ready to eat! As literally every dog and cat has its own caloric needs, and thus portion per meal, we sell only one size of package to allow flexibility for pet owners to portion and store for their own pet's needs. For Sawyer, we empty a full meal package into a glass storage container with a lid, and we portion is his meals from there and keep the leftovers sealed in the fridge.

Pro tip: our Co-Founder Peter gets every morsel of food out of each package by placing the opened package on a cutting board and using a dough scraper on the outside of the package to push all of the remaining food out!

Another pro tip (especially for smaller dogs and picky eaters) - we feed Sawyer in a microwave safe dish so we can warm up his portioned food for 10-15 seconds before serving. Warmed up food is always more flavourful and your pet can smell the deliciousness more!

We have launched a collection of special Trial Boxes so you can sample our Tom&Sawyer meals to see how your pet likes our meals.

Discount: given the incredible high quality of Tom&Sawyer, you won't see it discounted like other pet foods - but to make it easier for you to try it we allow each household to buy 1 Trial Box at a significant discount.

Fewer Packages: our customer orders contain a minimum number of frozen packages (to maintain a thermal density to keep everything frozen), but we include dry ice in our Trial Boxes so your box can have fewer packages in it for you to try (and still keep things frozen).

Outside of our Trial Boxes, you can fill a box with your own customized meal choices to try.

If your pet loves it (which we know they will), you can become a Loyal Companion subscriber and get a discount and perks of our rewards program.

There are two ways:

1. Calorie Calculator - in the upper menu bar of our website is a teal calculator icon, which is our feeding calculator. If you enter basic info about your pet, it will let you know how many calories your pet needs, and therefore how many packages of food you should put in your box for your order.

2. Quiz - if you want even more detail, you can take the Quiz on our Shop page that will ask you much more detailed questions about your pet, and our algorithm will create meal plan options for you. This Quiz is the way we also make recommendations for specific pet health issues - it helps us provide a precision nutritional consultation for your specific pet.

At Tom&Sawyer we have developed numerous therapeutic diets to help support specific health issues. Sawyer's mom Kristin takes pride in being a "problem solver" for families experiencing stress because of pet health issues (including picky eaters etc).

On our Shop page we have a very specific Quiz so we can really get to know your pet and the issues they (and you) are facing. We ask about very specific issues like allergies or the need for specific support diets - all so we can provide a very precision health approach to recommending meals and amounts for you. This makes placing your first order much simpler.

All of our Loyal Companion subscription customers also get access to our nutritional consultation team.

It depends where you live! If you are in Canada, you can find us in hundreds of your favourite local pet retailers across the country.

If you are in the US, we only sell direct to you online and quickly (and safely) ship direct to your home.

We love our retailer partners, and that's how many of you have learned about Tom&Sawyer. One advantage to buying online is that our products are freshly made, frozen and shipped to you immediately. Some retailers may have our products sitting in their freezers for a while longer, but our products have a freshest before timeline of 2 years, and frankly given our vacuum sealed packages and flash freezing are fine for longer than that....if you happen to go to a retailer.

The very nature of making fresh food, freezing it and shipping it out quickly requires a TON of planning! That's why we want all of our customers to be part of our Loyal Companion subscription. It gives us crucial information around how much food to make and have ready to ship out.

Flexible: Let's get this out of the way....you are NOT locked in, and you don't need to call someone (who dodges you) to try to cancel your subscription. You have full control over your subscription and orders in the My Account section of the website. You can pause an order, change delivery dates, change the meals or quantities in an upcoming order, or cancel your subscription - all without needing to leave the My Account section.

Discount: we don't offer discounts very often on our website, because we save those for our subscription customers.

Rewards: we also provide lots of fun gifts, R&D insights and events for our pack to feel the love.

Hooray! We are excited that you've placed your first order. When you finished your order check-out online it will have told you when your order will get shipped and when it is expected to arrive to your home through one of our trusted national courier partners.

But don't worry, we will also email you this information to keep you informed...because we know how exciting it is! The morning that your box gets packed by our team, you will receive an email with your courier tracking information. Depending on where you live, you may be getting delivery same day, or up to 3 days later...

Once your order arrives, you get to unbox your frozen food and place all of the packages into the freezer, except for any packages you want to serve first.

Dry Ice: we are very premium food, so we go the extra mile to include dry ice as a natural way to really keep your meals frozen. Dry ice is safe, just don't touch it with bare hands because it is crazy cold and will burn bare skin!

Recycling: Our boxes and thermal liners are recyclable in most communities, so place those in your recycling and/or garbage (unless you want to keep the box to use it for storing things in your garage!).

It depends on where you live, and if it's your first order or if you are already a Loyal Companion subscriber.

In some areas, we provide same-day delivery for a small premium, so that can be chosen for a first time order.

Our subscribers can flexibility choose their delivery date on a calendar in the My Account section. Depending on where you live, certain days of the week will be available, while others will be greyed out. The reason for this is that if you live somewhere that requires 2-day courier shipping, we tend to not ship your order out say on a Wednesday for Friday delivery, if the courier does not deliver on Saturdays as well. If there is a delay with the courier (out of our control) and they miss the expected delivery on Friday, and if there is no Saturday delivery in your area, then the box would sit at a courier depot until Monday and may thaw and/or spoil. You surely wouldn't want that, and we don't want food to go to waste because of a courier delay. So, we have shipping rules based on delivery date.

We will always provide tracking information by text or email and you will be notified when your order has been delivered. If you are not home when it is delivered, don't worry about the meals - they will keep frozen in our special thermal boxes. Just get everything into the freezer as soon as you get home.

Just don't let your box get stolen off your porch - that's not an "us" issue....

Many of our courier partners will show live tracking of your box, with an estimated delivery time to your home - just to make life a little easier. Again, this depends on where you live and what courier is used for your delivery.

We go to great lengths to keep your Tom&Sawyer meals order food safe while in transit to your door!

Dry Ice: Its a nerdy science thing, but dry-ice is actually super cold - like -79C/-109F cold....BBBrrrr! Unlike an ice pack (which is the same temperature as our meal packages coming out of the freezer), the dry ice actually makes our meal packages colder than they were in the freezer they came out of...and keeps them colder until all of the dry ice brick becomes gas and is gone. Then the super cold meal packages can sustain a longer time in the box while in transit and arrive to your door frozen or partially thawed....but most importantly still food safe at/below 4C/39F.

Thawed meals: even if entire meal packages are completely thawed, as long as they are still refrigerator temperature (4C/39F), they are food safe and should be placed immediately into your freezer to re-freeze until ready to use. Re-freeze, but isn't that bad? Nope, completely fine as we know the food as not gone above refrigerator temperature!

Yes - you just don't want to touch it with your bare skin because it's so cold that it can burn your skin.

Why do we use it? Our Tom&Sawyer meals are super premium, so we decided to invest in a premium way to ensure the meals stay food safe while in transit to your home, and the gold standard is dry ice!

Dry Ice: Its a nerdy science thing, but dry-ice is actually super cold - like -79C/-109F cold....BBBrrrr! Unlike an ice pack (which is the same temperature as our meal packages coming out of the freezer), the dry ice actually makes our meal packages colder than they were in the freezer they came out of...and keeps them colder until all of the dry ice brick becomes gas and is gone. Then the super cold meal packages can sustain a longer time in the box while in transit and arrive to your door frozen or partially thawed....but most importantly still food safe at/below 4C/39F.

Why is there snow/frost on my packages? Depending on the humidity level of the air, you may have a small amount of snow/frost on your Tom&Sawyer meal packages when you unbox your order.  The dry ice is so cold that it freezes the moisture in the air inside the box, and that turns to snow (just like when it snows outside!).

Why is the dry ice bag is empty? Dry ice is actually natural carbon dioxide gas (the same thing we exhale with every breath) that has been compressed into a very cold block, so as it warms up it turns back into a gas. The brick of dry ice will completely turn to gas and disappear, leaving the empty bag inside - meaning that it has done its job! The only reason it is put into a bag is to keep the individual bricks from sticking together when a large container is shipped to our packing facility. The bag plays no other role.

There is still some of the dry ice "brick" inside my box: that just means you got your order delivered fast, and the dry ice has not had enough time to completely turn back into gas. Remove the dry ice touching the plastic bag, or use gloves or tongs, just to make sure you don't touch it with your bare hands - it's so cold it could burn your skin. We suggest that after you have removed your meal packages from the box to put in the freezer, put any remaining dry ice back in the box and let it fully disappear into gas. Make sure no children or pets can touch it so it doesn't hurt their skin!

The My Account area of our website gives you full control to change just about anything related to your upcoming orders:

- pause or skip a delivery
- change the meals in your box (recipes and quantities)
- your delivery date
- your pet profile data

In the My Account section, we give you full control over your subscription.

We make it very easy for you to:

Pause: your account remains active but no orders are shipped. This is helpful if you are going away on vacation, moving to a seasonal home in another country, or need to make a temporary diet change to accommodate vet recommendations in dealing with a serious medical issue.

Cancel: if you find yourself in a situation where you no longer need Tom&Sawyer meals, you can click "cancel" to end your subscription. That's it.

We offer a satisfaction guarantee on all of our pet meals! If your dog or cat doesn’t eat our food, new subscribers will receive a credit towards new recipes to try in your next order.

Please contact us at info@tomandsawyer.com or +1 (647) 247-3212 and we will help you select the best meals for your fur-baby.

If you’ve received incorrect items in your order, or if you have any questions about our fresh prepared pet meals, please contact us at +1 (647) 247-3212.

Due to the frozen nature of the product, all sales of pet meals and treats are final, and we cannot accept returned food. If you have leftover food that your pet hasn’t eaten, we suggest donating the food to a shelter or giving it to a friend with a cat or dog.

Definitely! You can change the delivery address on your next order in the Shipping Details section of My Account. If you’d like subsequent orders to ship to your regular address, just be sure to update your details again before your pup’s next batch of meals is cooked!

When you create your pet’s account you will have the option to choose either a one-time order or to join our subscription service. If you choose the one-time purchase we will save all of your fur-baby’s information to their account so you can always come back to our recommended menu selections and switch over to a subscription so that you and your pup never have to miss a meal!

To start your subscription head over to your account!