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Best and worst dog food brands
There are hundreds of dog food options available, from dry to grain-free to raw, but which ones will have your furry friend licking the bowl clean?
We surveyed 2,304 dog owners about the pet food they buy to uncover the brands that customers (and their dogs) love and which offer the best value for money.
See how brands such as Burns, Harringtons and Royal Canin are rated by customers, as well as supermarket options from the likes of Aldi and Lidl.
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Dog food brands rated
Our top-scoring dog food brand achieved an impressive customer score of 82%, and five-star ratings for how much pets liked it, as well as their wellbeing when eating it.
At the other end of the scale, two brands scored less than 60%, with just two stars out of five each for how healthy the dog seemed when eating food from that brand.
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Table notes: Survey of 2,304 Which? Connect members who owned a dog in July 2023. Customer score is based on overall satisfaction with the dog food and how likely people are to recommend it to a friend. n/a means not enough responses to include a star rating.
Make sure your furry friend is covered see our guide to the best pet insurance for your dog
How to choose the best dog food for your pet
Deciphering all the pet nutrition information on the internet can seem like an impossible task. It can range from confusing to completely contradictory.
We spoke to real pet nutrition researchers to understand what actually matters. Good news: it isnt as complicated as it seems.
The most important part of choosing a food is actually monitoring your pet, said Dr Teresa Hollands, senior lecturer in veterinary nutrition at the University of Surrey. If you're feeding your pet a particular brand of food, and they have plenty of energy and seem well in themselves, then you are on the right track.
Dr Nigel Kendall, lecturer in nutrition at the University of Nottingham, agreed: If your pet is on completely the wrong diet, then there will be physical signs.
Signs that your pet is eating a nutritious diet, and the right food for their needs, include:
- good overall health
- plenty of energy
- good sleeping habits
- regularly passing firm stools
- maintaining a healthy weight.
Also a cat owner? See our guide to thebest and worst cat food brands
How to feed your dog the best and healthiest diet
As well as choosing the right food, you can also maximise the nutritional value of your pets diet by feeding them in the right way.
We spoke with Dr David Gardner, professor of physiology at the University of Nottingham, to find out more:
Choosing a complete food
Start by making sure you are feeding your pet a complete food, he said. Thats really important, but it isnt always clearly labelled.
Complete foods are designed to give your pet all the nutrients they need, so you can feed them the same thing every day without causing a nutritional imbalance or deficit.
Weighing your pet food
David also highlighted the importance of weighing your pets food every time you feed them.
Remember, you may not notice that you're overfeeding your pet if you increase the size of their feed very slightly each day.
Varying your pet food
If you want to take additional steps to ensure your pet is getting the best nutrition, David also suggested varying the food you give them, provided that this doesnt upset their stomach.
These changes could be as small as varying the flavour of food that you give to your pet.
If you buy a bag of lamb dog food one month, try the chicken next time, David suggested.
If you do want to try changing the type or brand of your pet food, remember to do so gradually. Your pet's meal should be no more than 25% new food for the first couple of days, increasing over the course of a week.
Dogs can be fussy, so know that varying your pet food is not essential. The main thing is that they eat and enjoy their food and that it's nutritionally complete.
Best dog harnesses see our pick of the best and worst as tested by dog owners
Is wet or dry dog food better?
Both wet and dry foods can be nutritionally complete, meaning that they should contain all the nutrients your pet needs. That means there is no significant advantage to either food type.
David recommended feeding your pet a mixture of wet and dry food.
Evidence suggests that there are slight differences in the nutritional composition of wet and dry food. That means you are going to cover more nutrients if you mix them together.
If you want to feed your dog exclusively one type of food, then wet food does tend to be more appealing. However, it is often more expensive and it can predispose pets to dental disease.
In contrast, dry food is beneficial to dogs teeth and gums, and it is usually easier and cheaper to use and store. Just make sure that your dog has access to plenty of fresh water, as they will not be getting hydration from their food.
Best food and drinkwe've rated the tastiest food for humans too. Discover our top picks, from chicken soup to red wine
Can dogs be vegan?
Yes, provided you are careful about the type of food you give them.
There are commercial dog foods available that are vegetarian or vegan and nutritionally complete.
Some people may want to prepare homemade vegetarian or vegan meals for their dog, which is not typically recommended by experts.
This is because evidence suggests that homemade food (including meat-based diets) is typically not nutritionally complete even when people follow recipes labelled as such.
Is raw food good for dogs?
Raw pet food has become more popular over the past few years, especially for dogs, but experts don't generally recommend it.
I would not recommend a raw food diet due to the risk to human health, says Dr Heather Bacon, dean of veterinary medicine at the University of Central Lancashire.
Bacteria present in raw meat can include salmonella, listeria, campylobacter and E-coli. These cause significant illness in humans and animals, particularly young, old and immune-compromised individuals.
These can be spread around the house during food preparation and eating. They can also be passed from animals to humans if your pet kisses your face after eating.
All of these bacteria are destroyed when meat is correctly cooked.
How much should my dog weigh?
According to a 2022 survey by UK Pet Food, 50% of dogs (and 43% of cats) are overweight or obese.
Your pet being overweight can have a huge impact on its quality of life, including limiting their ability to exercise or sleep properly. According to the RSPCA, it also predisposes them to illness including:
- diabetes
- heart disease
- cancer.
How to if tell your dog is overweight
Dr Teresa Hollands recommends an easy method for checking your pets weight.
Create a fist with your hand, and feel your knuckles with your fingers, she said. If your pets ribs feel like that, they are underweight.
Then lay your hand flat, and feel your knuckles again. If their ribs feel like that, they are the perfect weight.
Finally, keep your hand flat, turn your hand over, and run your fingers over the pads on your palm at the base of your fingers. If their ribs feel like that, they are overweight.
Physical signs that your dog is overweight
- Very thin(more than 20% below ideal body weight) Ribs, spine and hip bones easily seen (in short-haired pets), obvious loss of muscle bulk, no fat can be felt under the skin.
- Underweight (10-20% below ideal body weight)Ribs, spine and hip bones easily seen, obvious waist and abdominal tuck, very little fat can be felt under the skin.
- IdealRibs, spine and hip bones easily felt, visible waist and abdominal tuck, small amount of fat can be felt.
- Overweight(10-15% above ideal body weight): Ribs, spine and hip bones are hard to feel, waist barely visible, broad back, layer of fat on belly and at base of tail.
- Obese (more than 15% above ideal body weight)Ribs, spine and hip bones extremely difficult to feel under a thick layer of fat, no waist can be seen and belly may droop significantly, heavy fat pads on lower back and at base of the tail.
How we rated dog food brands
To uncover the best and worst dog food brands, in July 2023 we surveyed 2,304 Which? members who had bought dog food recently, and asked all about their experiences with their chosen brand.
We asked them to rate the brand on various attributes including value for money, how their dog responded to the food, and its perceived wellbeing on the food.
Overall customer scores are based on how satisfied customers were with the brand overall and whether or not they would recommend it.
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Earls Moist & Meaty Review
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Suitable for all breeds of dogs
Private label(or
white label) pet foods are pre-formulated recipes that companies can order from certain factories, add their own label or packaging and retail to the public as their own brand. They are therefore available from numerous suppliers.
Click here for more info.
Mixing bowl composition
This is the ingredients list as printed on the packaging or manufacturer's website.
Think of the 'mixing bowl' composition like a recipe - all the ingredients you would need to put in a 'mixing bowl' in order to make the food.
Ingredients have to be listed in descending order of their weight so the higher it appears, the more there is.
Highlighted ingredients
Ingredients that we believe to be controversial or inferior are highlighted in yellow with particularly low grade, highly contentious or excessively vague ingredients in red.
As fed composition
While the 'mixing bowl' composition is useful for knowing what went into the food, it doesn't always reflect what your dog is actually eating. This is because the processes that turn the ingredients into the finished pet food can significantly alter the relative weights of the ingredients.
For this reason we've calculated the approximate 'as fed' percentages for the main ingredient categories in the finished product.
Please note that these figures are very approximate. They are estimates based on the information provided by the manufacturer in the ingredients list so the clearer the terminology and the more percentages they provide, the more accurate our estimates will be. Wherever information is lacking, we always assume the worst.
Ingredient categories
Meat ingredients: includes all meat and fish ingredients except isolated fats/oils.
Added oils and fats: includes all isolated oil and fat ingredients.
Carb-rich ingredients: includes all ingredients derived from grains, pseudo-grains, potatoes and other starchy root vegetables, sweet potato and legumes (except whole peas which are categorised under fruit and veg) except for isolated protein and extracted oils. Also includes fibre supplements.
Fruit and veg: includes all whole vegetables and fruits.
Other: all other ingredients. Mostly made up by nutritional supplements and additives.
For more information on any ingredient, please take a look at our Dog Food Ingredient Glossary
The dry matter level of a nutrient is the percentage there would be in the food if all of the water was removed.
With water taken out of the equation, these figures allow the nutrient levels of foods of different types (like wet and dry) to be compared on an even playing field.
Click here for more information
The
price per dayof feeding this food based on feeding the manufacturer's recommended daily amount from 3kg bags bought at their rrp to a dog of:
Note:All suggested feeding amounts and costs are only approximate and may vary considerably from dog to dog. Be sure to contact the manufacturer if in any doubt.
22 out of 100-Poor
Our unique product ratings are calculated based on a number of characteristics including the quality and quantity of the stated ingredients, certain nutritional and technological additives and the processing methods used to create the food. They are designed to indicate how beneficial we think a food is likely to be for the majority of dogs when fed on a daily basis for an extended period. Click here for more information
Country of origin: United Kingdom
A technological additive is any substance added to a pet food "for a technological purpose and which favourably affects the characteristics of feed".
The most common categories of technological additives include preservatives and antioxidants, gelling agents and thickeners and probiotics.
While the primary effects of technoloical additives are certainly 'favourable' (increased shelf life in the case of preservatives & antioxidants, better food texture and consistency in the case of gelling agents and thickeners etc.) some have been linked to health problems in pets and should be treated with caution.
Unfortunately, many technological additives do not have to be declared by the manufacturer so just because they do not appear on the label does not necessarily mean they are not in the food. If in doubt, ask the manufacturer directly exactly what technological additives their foods contain.
