Texas woman feeds her dog and her parents’ dog The Farmer’s Dog. Then they both get pancreatitis

Premium dog food might be pricey, but it theoretically buys owners peace of mind. That is, until their pets get sick anyway.

One dog owner says her family's pups got ill. She claims there's one common denominator.

‘I'm too tired to get sued right now'

Dallas content creator Courtney Vucekovich (@courtneyvucekovich) shares a video about her family's two dogs and The Farmer's Dog, an alternative dog food brand. Her video has more than 159,000 views.

“So allegedly, [The] Farmer's Dog … is … killing dogs,” Vucekovich says. “And at best, sending them to the emergency room for pancreatitis.”

Vucekovich says her parents adopted a rat terrier named Ruby about a year and a half earlier, and that Ruby had only eaten The Farmer's Dog since then. About two months prior to posting, Ruby stopped eating for roughly five days.

“There's blood in her stool and her vomit,” Vucekovich recalls. “We go to the emergency room. She has pancreatitis. I've never heard of a dog having pancreatitis.”

Two months later, Vucekovich says her own dachshund, Pearl, got sick. Pearl was about 8 years old and had eaten The Farmer's Dog for roughly two years.

“She was vomiting for three days,” Vucekovich says. “And then one day I was walking out to go to the gym. Pearl projectile vomited blood everywhere … Pearl [was] also diagnosed with pancreatitis. Both dogs [were] very, very close to death.”

‘You cannot tell me these two dogs in my family both got pancreatitis by coincidence'

Vucekovich says she posted about the fiasco on her Instagram story. Similar stories came flooding into her DMs.

“I'm not kidding, I had no less than 50 people say that their dog, who is also on [The] Farmer's Dog only, went to the ER for pancreatitis,” Vucekovich says.

While Pearl was in the emergency room, Vucekovich says she did some research on the brand.

“There is a class action lawsuit against [The] Farmer's Dog for giving dogs pancreatitis,” she says. “You cannot tell me these two dogs in my family both got pancreatitis by coincidence. And all of the people that sent me DMs. I do think that it's a lot more common in small breeds. I think the food is too rich for them to process.”

Vucekovich ends her video by directly addressing the brand.

“[The] Farmer's Dog, if you see this—I hope that you will—I will not be letting this go,” she says. “And I will spend a lot of my free time letting people know how allegedly dangerous your food is for their dog.”

Was there actually a lawsuit against The Farmer's Dog?

The lawsuit Vucekovich mentioned exists, though the specifics in it differ from her account. Trott v. The Farmer's Dog, Inc. was filed April 24, 2026, in New York's federal court. The plaintiff alleged, “The Farmer's Dog has failed to warn about the ‘excessive' levels of fat in its products, which can cause serious medical issues for dogs.”

“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 is ‘grossly out of line' with canine dietary requirements,” ClassAction.org writes. “The suit highlights that high-fat dog food is ‘unreasonably dangerous' because it creates an increased risk of pancreatitis in otherwise healthy dogs.”

The Farmer's Dog called the suit “baseless” in a June 2026 post on its own website. The company said pancreatitis is “a common and idiopathic condition.” It also said “there is no established diet that fully prevents pancreatitis.”

The brand also wrote that its recipes are overseen by on-staff board-certified veterinary nutritionists.

What do experts say about The Farmer's Dog food?

The American Kennel Club (AKC) calls a high-fat diet “one of the most common triggers for pancreatitis” in dogs. However, other causes can include obesity, diabetes, trauma, and certain medications. The AKC also says Miniature Schnauzers and “some smaller toy and terrier breeds” are more at risk.

In 2020, The Canine Review reported on veterinarians being “skeptics” of the food. The website said it “heard from veterinarians who were adamantly against the food and said that they would not feed The Farmer's Dog to their own dogs or recommend the food to clients, regardless of cost.”

There has been no independent, investigative reporting confirming that individual dogs have become sick due to The Farmer's Dog. The numerous anecdotes Vucekovich says are in her direct messages have likewise not been verified.

@courtneyvucekovich

Subplot News reached out to Vucekovich and The Farmer's Dog via email.

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