Lindsay Perreault

Behind Kibble Shelf

About

The drop-leaf dining table in my West Asheville craftsman bungalow doubles as a review desk. Laptop on the left, Bluetooth keyboard in the middle, OXO kitchen scale on the counter to the right, always tared before a weigh-in. The spiral-bound quad-ruled notebook on the shelf below the kitchen window is labeled 'Bowls & Numbers' and holds four years of penciled weight entries, energy notes, and stool grades. Freelance UX research is the actual job. Tracking behavior patterns and noticing when claimed outcomes don't match observed data is what that work trains you to do. It transfers to dog food more directly than you'd expect.

The household is me, Banjo (a nine-year-old shepherd mix), and Pickle (a four-year-old beagle rescue who has been present for every food transition I've run and has opinions logged accordingly in the notebook). Two ranked sets of stainless bowls on the kitchen shelf, one per dog.

The subscription rotation started in 2022. I worked through The Farmer's Dog, Ollie, Nom Nom, Spot & Tango, and JustFoodForDogs over eighteen months, logging weekly weights and daily energy observations across each switch. Stool grades follow the Purina 1-to-7 fecal scoring scale for the first two weeks of any new food. Around month seven of the food rotation, Banjo's sleep quality started slipping, which pulled the research into supplements and CBD. Last spring the local clinic went to a waitlist for non-emergency visits, which pulled it into pet telehealth. The 'Bowls & Numbers' notebook expanded to cover all of it.

My neighbor Dylan Hatch has a twelve-year-old lab mix named Biscuit who was transitioning off kibble at the same time as Banjo. We compare notes at the French Broad dog park most weeks. He brings a fabric tote of sample pouches and insists the stool grade scale goes to ten. I show him the Purina reference every time.

Research methodology is the actual background here, not animal health or nutrition. The posts are detailed first-hand tracking notes from a dog parent who has been running careful transitions for four years. Anything that looks medically off in your dog is a vet appointment, not a subscription page.

Posts by Lindsay Perreault

Disclosure

Some outbound links on this site are affiliate links. Buy through one, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Nothing here got reviewed without at least one of my dogs eating it or trying it. Details in the Editorial Policy.