I can’t even tell you how hard it was to go through the entries in the Freshpet Team Cuddle contest and pick the top five in each category. First of all, there were over 7000 entries. That’s about ten solid hours of sorting through cuddling photos.
Thankfully, all your kids and pets are ridiculously cute so it wasn’t too painful. Not to mention, many of you have some pretty impressive photo-taking skills.
Which actually makes the job of narrowing down to the finalists even tougher. All of the adorableness in the photos above? None of them made it. I had a really time letting some of those cuddlers go.
But it wasn’t all my decision. Both Freshpet and Jessica from Momma’s Gone City weighed in with their favorites too. (Translation: Don’t blame me if your photo wasn’t picked!)
My favorite thing about the photos we chose (and really all of the entries), is that you just can’t fake this kind of love to win a contest. Babies and pets aren’t going to cuddle together just because you ask them to for a photo.
The love here is real.
Thank you to everyone for sharing your beautiful photos. Looking through them has been a daily bright spot over the last few weeks that I will truly miss.
Here are the twenty finalists. Please vote for your favorite at the bottom of each cateory. You can vote once a day until 7pm ET on March 9th. The winners wil be announced on March 10th.
TOTS & PUPS
KIDDOS & KITTIES
SIBLING SNUGGLE
FAMILY CUDDLE
The winner of each category will receive a $250 cash gift card plus a $50 gift basket from Freshpet if your photo includes a pet. The grand prize winner will receive a $1000 cash gift card.
Please vote for your favorite photo across all the categories in the poll below for the $1000 grand prize.
GIVEAWAY
In addition to supplying prizes for the winners, Freshpet is giving away a $50 gift basket to one lucky reader who comments on this post. Just visit Freshpet.com and come back to tell me one thing you learned about feeding pets fresh food in the comment section below. Please include your pet’s name and which Freshpet treat he/she would like the most.
Freshpet treats have meaty options like chicken, beef, turkey bacon, plus chewy sweet potatoes, ready-to-bake cookies, and lickable ice creams and yogurts. Like all Freshpet products, they are all natural and never made with corn, wheat, or soy, so you can give your pet something delicious and feel good about it too.
Freshpet will also be donating $5000 to the SPCA, the Santa Cruz shelter where Jessica adopted Theo. Raising money for the SPCA has been a long time cause for Jessica, so we couldn’t be more thrilled Freshpet stepped up to the plate.
Good luck to everyone in the contest! I hope your little ones and furry friends keep cuddling together for as long as humanly (and petly?) possible.
All winners will be announced on March 10th.
Who are you rooting for?
It is hard! Took me sometime to vote. Love them all!
This just made my night my girls are right up top!!!
OMG! My Zooey and Zion made it! Honestly, I feel like I already won something just seeing them here. #ProudMom 🙂
I’ve learned that feeding my pets fresh food could help my cat Baby’s stomach issues…I should make the switch!
So hard to choose!! Thank you for hosting this giveaway, it’s been so fun and inspiring to see these glimpses into precious family moments – what a way to restore faith in humanity!
I’ve learned two things:
1. Even though I’m not a fan of cats, I will still make one of the kitty photos my top vote…because damn, Kailyn and Oliver are FRIGGIN CUTE!
2. Fresh Pet foods are concetrated nutrition, so I wouldn’t need to feed my pug as much. Which probably would reduce her level of chunk. Since Paige came along, she’s become a total beef. This polar vortex doesn’t help either!
(Thought about entering a pet cuddle photo, but Penny the pug has no interest in baby Paige except for a drive-by licking. Any photo I attempted would have been forced/fake)
Proud Mommy here, my Kailyn & Oliver made the top 5! Please vote for these two little best friends! Follow us on IG for more pics mriley919 #kailynandoliver!!
My son wanted to vote for the “the one with the 2 babies and the giant dad head”
(meaning Beverly and the twins)
Think my uterus skipped a beat. I’m so in love!!
They are all too cute. So hard to decide. I love these contests…not even for the prizes, but for the way the pics always make me smile. 😀
Cuddles are the best! These pictures melt my heart (:
go cous! we all support you and your babies.
I did the ‘My Fresh Selector’, answered a few questions, and found out my Max would like Freshpet Select
Love all these photos. I had a hard time voting.
I did the fresh selector for my pug. it recommended vital- chicken w peas, carrots and brown rice. sounds good enough for the 8 month old to have a few bites. he just started crawling and of course he goes for the dog’s dishes. maybe if I fed the dog fresh food, he’d eat it faster than kibble that sits in his dish. then I could hid the dog dishes… hmmm…
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! I think this should definitely make the list of annual contests. I don’t want to win the prize on this one, but just had to comment how much I enjoy looking at all the photos. What a happy way to spend a few minutes of my lunch. 🙂
This is so exciting!! I
We really should switch to fresh food for the dog. We are always concerned with the freshest food possible for the kids, why not the dog too?
I learned their high-protein meals with amino acids and other nutrients help build lean muscle, while the right ingredients help pets reach and maintain a healthy weight.
The pictures are TOO CUTE! Most adorable contest ever!
I can’t imagine looking at 7K of those!!! How did you ever narrow it down!?
I learned that Freah Per food isn’t processed – it’s cooked!
Great contest! I don’t know how you narrowed down 7000 pics!!!
There is a celebration cookie for dogs?? I can’t wait to tell our dog, Big George! This contest was too much cute!
Beverly’s name is actually Briana. I followed her on Instagram after you posted her twin pic a few days ago and when I saw she was a finalist, I was thrilled but I noticed the name was wrong.
I know- she told me. I thought it was weird that her name was Beverly and her kid’s name was Everly! Not sure how I read that wrong. Anyway, I’m planning on fixing it tonight when I get home.
A healthy diet works like a human’s: it helps energy, coat, and digestion and so much more. Good luck with the cuddlers! They’re wicked cute
Apparently the fresher food could give my pets more energy–which would be especially nice for my 15yo cat, Cleo! She’d dig the chicken & beef recipe, for sure.
So many cute cuddles!
Aiva, Ikaika & Makai all the way. My heart exploded and I’m pretty sure I’m pregnant again just so that I can get another shot of my hubby cuddling a teeny baby.
Georgia and sheldon
Too. Much. Cute!
Is it weird that I cried a little?
Im disappointed than none of the dogs in the first section are mix breed- ALL pure breed and unlikely adopted =( You havent picked better considering that Theo is adopted and a mix breed!!!!
*should have picked better
I learned that feeding my rat terrier Rango fresh food would increase his overall health, and that he would be happier with the amazing variety of food they have to offer! I did the quiz, and it said that Vital was the best product for him! He would also love the Dog Joy treats
Congratulations! Definitely my favorite! Got my vote 🙂
I learned fresh food is digested easier by the dog’s body, giving them more energy. This means my dog Shaft (and yes, my dog IS a bad mother…) will have more energy to use to sneak out the gate and make it farther down the street before I realize he’s gone and run frantically around my neighborhood looking for him. I’m sure he’d enjoy the dognation turkey bacon, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to give him a treat after running away.
Awww thanks ❤️ i didnt even expect i would be chosen out of 7k! Appreciate the vote
Love this contest! It was hard to decide! Love them all!
This is a whole lot of adorable. Love all the finalists!
So did I! Though the 8 months pregnant hormones could have something to do with that!
Millie is a pure breed that we got from a breeder however she was the runt and all of her family had already been sold so they put her on ‘clearance’ I feel like that’s a adoption ! We also have another pup max who we rescued off the streets when he was 2 months old and had lost his mama , he is not a pure breed . I don’t think these photos were picked on the basis of what kind of dog it was, the photos are heart melting whether it’s a pure breed, mut, or bunny!
Love all the finalists! It was hard to choose!! What a great contest!
Maria, you must know a TON about dogs to be able to tell by just one photo that a dog you’ve never met is purebred and not mixed. I don’t know much about cats, but do you think the same is true about the kitty finalists?
I officially want to get pregnant and adopt at least 6 dogs and maybe another cat.
One question. Indy, Asher, Sawyer & Navy… Are those TWO SETS OF TWINS?!
So cute!! Loved viewing all the photos!
Such great cute finalists! I didn’t know that the temperature at which pet food is made makes a difference. My dogs’ names are Coco and Jasper and I’ve loved to give them Freshpet for shinier coats and clearer eyes. They’d LOVE the Wag-gurt Apple & PB Frozen Yogurt!
If the owner of the dog with the two kids lying on top of her sees this – please be aware that that dog is showing anxiety, and isn’t comfortable with that situation. Just don’t want anyone to get bitten.
I really hope the parents of the Child/Children get the prize money if won and NOT the photographer. Or at least split the winnings…..Just saying =)
I fully agree with your assessment and feel that IF they do win, some of the money should be used to hire Cesar Millan. Hiring Cesar Millan will help with any future Anxiety Tank might have.
As a zoologist and expert Googler, I agree with both Nanook and Darcy. Placing unneeded weight on poor Tanks side could result in unexpected health issues. The poor dog looks annoyed and a very poor Freshpet Team Cuddle contested. If this picture was attached to any pet related products i would blog and twitter the removal of said picture. Or at best, contact PETA. We all know how they take care these things.
If my daughter Kailyn wins we are putting the money in her savings account, it will be great to tell her she win a contest as a baby later on! Oliver will get to enjoy his basket tho! Please vote for us!!!
I can assure you that pure or mixed breed had nothing to do with the selection. Just which photos we thought were the cutest cuddlers. I don’t know enough about dogs to pick along those lines!
I kinda assumed with most of these photos, the photographer and the parent were one on the same. Hard to say on instagram when so many parents are also professional photographers!
I didn’t see the photo as anything other than adorable but admittedly, I do not know a lot about dog behavior. Tank looks very well cared for in his instagram feed but I left his owner a comment about your concern so he would know and in case he wanted to respond.
I know some of the photos the photographer submitted the picture and wasn’t planning on sharing with the parents of the child IF he/she won. My opinion its messed up.
Tank was adopted at age 1… Pure bred and 100% adopted
Thanks for the concern but all good here.This kind of playfulness happens all the time. Hop over to Instagram to see more if the goofyness unfold. Love and hugs Tank!
Hahahaha I’m 75 lbs of pure muscle. I carry my own pack in the mountains, swim for ducks, and sprint for days. Pretty sure my 2 best friends(weight in at a wet pair of jeans) laying on me for 5 seconds isn’t going to cause long term issues but I’ll take it under advise. Also my very existence as a hunting dog probably repulses PETA but that’s ok since everyone else that’s ever met me gets a lot of love. Again thanks for the concern and expert opinions. Love and hugs Tank!
All Freshpet meals and treats are made of fresh meats and veggies. The kind of wholesome, quality ingredients you’d use to prepare a healthy meal for your family.
Would love to try any of the dog food choices
They are all so sweet, but Oliver and Kailyn are my favorite. She is just loving her kitty.
Thank you! They are best friends he sleeps with her everyday, sadly she isn’t winning anymore, please vote again and pass on to your friends and family to vote for them. Thank you!
Phoebe and Colbey are so cute! Especially when you see the scar on little Colbey’s head and realize her kitty is her cuddle companion after BRAIN SURGERY. And even more when you read the story at her mommy’s blog and realize the two are CONSTANT companions. Phoebe seeks her out and is lonely when she is at the hospital. Lots of love in that photo!
Ever since we started feeding our dogs with fresh food, our 11 lb chi jack Russell mix lost a MUCH NEEDED couple pounds. Fresh pet food is the way to go! My dogs Odie and Ginger would love the sweet potato chews 🙂
Proud mommy moment! My little miss Colbey and her best friend Phoebe made top 5! These two have been through so much in their short lives together it’s amazing!If you want a treat visit us on IG @napswithphoebe these two really love to snuggle :). And if you are having a hard time choosing who to vote for we would love and appreciate your votes!!
Thank you! Will you please vote for Kailyn & Oliver again, they aren’t in the lead anymore
Thank you! Will you please vote for them again? They aren’t in the lead anymore
Some very cute entries. Good luck to everyone
great contest!!
What time does the contest end? I thought 7pm et, but the numbers are still changing, at 7pm Kailyn was .08 % off from
First place but it keeps changing so just seeing if it’s over, it’s a very close race!