Ollie’s New Recipes: A New Standard in Whole-Food Nutrition for Dogs

At Ollie, we believe in the power of whole foods and the nutrients they provide. That belief led us to take a hard look at a long-standing industry habit: leaning on synthetic vitamins and minerals to round out a recipe. We saw a better way. Our updated recipes are built around whole-food nutrition, where the vitamins, minerals, and beneficial compounds your pup needs come from real fruits, vegetables, and botanicals working together.

At the center of it all is the gut. So much of your dog's overall health is shaped by their microbiome, so we've added functional prebiotics and postbiotics to support a strong, balanced gut, the foundation for a healthy immune system and a happier dog. We've also swapped traditional fish oil for sustainable marine microalgae oil, giving your pup pre-formed omega-3s from their original source while easing the strain on our oceans.

What’s new, at a glance

• Whole-food nutrition and a simpler label: The essential vitamins (like B12 and folate) and trace minerals (like zinc and copper) your pup needs now come from natural botanical sources instead of synthetic premixes, for a simpler, more recognizable ingredient list.

• Targeted immune support: EpiCor® Pets postbiotic is research-proven to raise protective antibodies and help balance your pup's immune response to everyday challenges (Cargill, 2021).

• Better digestion: Prebiotics and postbiotics work together to support a balanced microbiome, encouraging ideal stool quality and crowding out harmful bacteria like Clostridium perfringens (Cargill, 2021).

• A calmer pup: Extensive research on EpiCor® Pets indicated dogs were 165% more likely to show a reduction in anxious behavior during an in home use trial (Cargill, 2023).

• Fresher breath: That same research indicated dogs were 211% more likely to have improved breath (Cargill, 2023).

• Concentrated omega-3s: EPA and DHA support your pup's brain, heart, and joints, all from a highly absorbable source.

• Better for the ocean: Choosing marine microalgae oil over fish oil delivers those essential fatty acids without contributing to overfishing or disrupting marine food chains.

Real nutrition starts with whole foods

For decades, the pet food industry has leaned on synthetic vitamins and minerals to meet established nutritional requirements. That approach works for hitting baseline standards, but it tends to overlook the added benefits that come from whole-food ingredients. At Ollie, we believe the next step forward in canine wellness lies in the natural power of whole foods, where nutrients come packaged together the way your pup's body is built to use them.

Our new recipes show our commitment to that idea. By choosing ingredients for their natural nutrient density, we're raising the bar for ingredient transparency and real biological benefit. At the heart of it is a proprietary blend of fruits, vegetables, and botanicals that deliver essential micronutrients in their natural context.

We didn't take that on faith. To validate the approach, we ran an AAFCO feeding study with additional biomarkers tested, confirming that these natural nutrient sources are not only bioavailable but also keep dogs healthy over time.

This blend is the cornerstone of our recipes, carefully curated for its nutrient profile. It means the vitamins and minerals that support your pup's vitality come straight from nature, in a complex matrix of phytonutrients. The table below shows the primary whole-food sources behind each essential nutrient in our new recipes:

Nutrients your pup can actually use

It's one thing for nutrients to be present in a recipe. It's another for your dog's body to actually absorb and use them. To be sure, we put our whole-food sources through comprehensive bioavailability testing. Even though we were confident in them from the start, we ran a six-month AAFCO feeding study with added vitamin and mineral metabolites tested, the kind of rigorous evidence it takes to question the industry's long-standing reliance on synthetic supplementation.

Our findings at the study's midpoint confirm that the Ollie formulation keeps dogs in a stable, healthy state: 

• Vitamins your pup can use: The group average for Cobalamin (B12) rose steadily at the start to Week 13. Folate held steady over the same period.

• Minerals that stay balanced: Plasma levels of zinc and copper stabilized nicely after dogs transitioned from a traditional kibble diet with synthetic supplementation. Zinc was especially steady, returning exactly to its baseline by Week 13.

• Clinical safety: Markers for metabolism and organ health stayed consistent with healthy function. Liver markers ALT (Alanine Aminotransferase) and AST (Aspartate Aminotransferase) remained well within normal clinical limits. Protein and kidney markers, including Total Protein and Glucose, held stable throughout the study.

Together, the data confirm that our whole-food formulation delivers essential micronutrients in a highly absorbable form, meeting every clinical safety and nutritional milestone we set.

A healthy gut is where it all begins

So much of your pup's immunity and overall wellness starts in the gut. That's why our new recipes use a two-part prebiotic and postbiotic strategy to keep their gut flora strong and balanced.

• Prebiotics are non-digestible fibers that feed the beneficial bacteria already living in your pup's gut. Chicory root is central to our approach, a rich source of inulin, a fermentable fiber shown to support a healthy gut microbiome (Beynen et al., 2002).

• Postbiotics are different from probiotics, which depend on live bacteria surviving the journey through the gut. Postbiotics are the bioactive compounds created during fermentation, and they deliver benefits on their own. We use EpiCor® Pets, a fermented Saccharomyces cerevisiae product, for functional immune and digestive support (Palić et al., 2011).

The connection goes beyond digestion. The gut-brain axis is the two-way line of communication between your dog's digestive system and their brain, so by keeping the microbiome in balance, we're also supporting the signals that shape mood and behavior.

A balanced gut also drives something every pup parent pays attention to: consistent digestion and good stool quality. When the microbiome is well supported by prebiotics like chicory root and functional postbiotics, your pup absorbs nutrients more effectively and produces firm, healthy stools. Because our recipes are built around these highly digestible ingredients, pup parents often notice a real improvement in their dog's poops. In fact, an Ollie diet can help bring a dog's stool to an ideal state—firm, formed, and easy to clean—in as little as 4 days.

The proven benefits of EpiCor® Pets

Research shows that EpiCor® Pets helps raise levels of beneficial bacteria like Anaerostipes and Megamonas (Cargill, 2021). These good bacteria produce butyrate, a compound that strengthens the gut lining so it can act as a healthy shield for the rest of the body. By putting gut health first, our updated recipes build a proven foundation for whole-body wellness.

Across multiple studies, EpiCor® Pets at a target rate of 7 mg/kg of body weight has been shown to offer specific benefits:

• Immune health: EpiCor® Pets helps support a balanced immune response by modulating T-cell activity. It's been shown to significantly increase serum IgA, a key antibody for mucosal immunity, while reducing IL-4 positive cells and IFN-γ positive cells, markers tied to balanced immune function (Cargill, 2021).

• Digestive and microbiome health: EpiCor® Pets supports a healthy microbiome by increasing beneficial, butyrate-producing bacteria like Anaerostipes and Megamonas. It's also been shown to reduce populations of Clostridium perfringens, a harmful bacteria (Cargill, 2021).

• Behavior and breath: In-home validation studies found that dogs given EpiCor® Pets were 165% more likely to be less anxious than control dogs, and 211% more likely to have fresher breath (Cargill, 2023).

Omega-3s that are better for your pup and the planet

The final pillar of our updated recipes is marine microalgae oil (MMAO). This high-potency oil is a direct, plant-based source of the essential omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Unlike traditional fish oil, MMAO comes from the original source of these fatty acids, the algae itself, which lets us deliver a concentrated nutrient profile while putting the health of the ocean first.

Going straight to microalgae is a real win for the environment. Traditional fish oil depends on harvesting huge quantities of forage fish, which can disrupt marine food chains. MMAO is grown in controlled, land-based settings, skipping commercial fishing entirely. Because it's cultivated in a closed system, it's also naturally free from common ocean-borne contaminants like heavy metals. Microalgae are remarkably efficient producers of EPA and DHA, so by sourcing from them directly, we secure a sustainable, scalable, and renewable supply of essential fats for our recipes. 

And MMAO isn't only the more sustainable choice, it's the more effective one for your pup. Most plant-based omega-3s, like flaxseed, provide alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), which a dog's body then has to convert into EPA and DHA, a process that's notoriously inefficient in dogs (National Research Council, 2006). MMAO skips that step, giving your pup pre-formed EPA and DHA their body can put to work right away. Our recipes are designed for all life stages, and they're especially valuable for puppies, whose bodies are even less able to convert ALA into EPA and DHA during early growth (National Research Council, 2006).

A new standard for your pup

These recipes mark a real shift in how dog food can be made, moving away from a long history of synthetic additives toward whole-food nutrition and environmental responsibility. By building our recipes around a proprietary whole-food botanical blend, we've shown that essential vitamins and minerals can be delivered in highly absorbable forms that meet or exceed traditional standards. Our AAFCO feeding trial and bioavailability study confirm that these natural sources keep dogs physiologically stable and support organ health, laying a foundation for long-term vitality.

It's an approach grounded in rigorous science and a genuine commitment to whole foods, and it's the standard we'll keep building on, one recipe at a time. By combining marine microalgae oil with our whole-food botanical blend and functional biotics, this next generation of Ollie recipes gives your pup a complete nutritional foundation that's as kind to the planet as it is to them.

References and further reading

Beynen, A. C., Baas, J. J., Feldbrugge, J. H., & Wentel, G. H. (2002). Fecal bacterial profile, nitrogen excretion and essence of fecal odor components in dogs fed a diet supplemented with oligofructose and inulin. Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition, 86(9‐10), 298-305. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1439-0396.2002.00388.x

Cargill, Inc. (2021). Comparison of effects of postbiotic supplementation in adult dogs (FOR_PS104p). Cargill Health & Food Technologies.

Cargill, Inc. (2021). Safety and immune benefits of EpiCor® Pets postbiotic supplementation in adult dogs (FOR_PS001p). Cargill Health & Food Technologies.

Cargill, Inc. (2023). In-home validation of EpiCor® Pets postbiotic supplement efficacy in dogs (FOR_PS002p). Cargill Health & Food Technologies.

Dominguez, T. E., Kaur, K., & Burri, L. (2020). Enhanced omega‐3 index after long‐ versus short‐chain omega‐3 fatty acid supplementation in dogs. Veterinary Medicine and Science, 7(2), 370–377. https://doi.org/10.1002/vms3.369

DSM Nutritional Products. (2021). life’s®OMEGA 60: Product data sheet. DSM Nutritional Products, LLC.

Freeman, L. M. (2010). Beneficial effects of omega‐3 fatty acids in cardiovascular disease. Journal of Small Animal Practice, 51(9), 462–470. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-5827.2010.00968.x

Logas, D., & Kunkle, G. A. (1994). Double-blinded crossover study with marine oil supplementation containing high-dose eicosapentaenoic acid for canine pruritic skin disease. Veterinary Dermatology, 5(3), 99–104. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3164.1994.tb00020.x

Mehler, S. J., May, L. R., King, C., Harris, W. S., & Shah, Z. (2016). A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled evaluation of EPA and DHA on osteoarthritis in dogs. Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids, 109, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plefa.2016.03.015

National Research Council. (2006). Nutrient requirements of dogs and cats. The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/10668

Ollie & Summit Ridge Farms. (2025). Study # OPIMNTC00125: 3-month NutriFusion bioavailability review & Week 13 blood results updated.

Palić, D., Rowe, E. W., Kimura, K., Roth, J. A., Noxon, J., May, E., & Madson, D. (2011). Effect of EpiCor fermentate on immune response, safety, and welfare of dogs. Journal of Animal Science, 89(E-Suppl. 1), 209.

Rodrigues, R. B. A., Macedo, H. T., de Oliveira, V. V., de Lima, J. P., & de Oliveira, C. A. (2023). The supplementation of docosahexaenoic acid-concentrated fish oil enhances cognitive function in puppies. Animals, 13(18), 2938. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13182938