Best 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 to uncover the food that customers (and their dogs) love. We've also tracked the prices of major brands to find out which offer the best value for money. 

See which brands make the top rated dog food - from veterinary brands like Burns, Harringtons and Royal Canin, to supermarket options from the likes of Aldi and Lidl. 

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Dog food reviews

Our top rated dog food brand achieved an impressive customer score of 82%, while two brands at the bottom of the table scored less than 60%.

Which? members can log in to unlock the full results. If you're not yet a member, join Which? to get instant access. 

Customer scores ranged from 56% to 82%. Some brands received just two-star ratings for value for money and/or the dog's wellbeing on the food.

Our top scorer recieved five star ratings for both the dog's reaction to and wellbeing on the food.  

Best cheap dog food

We tracked the price of different dog food brands at eight of the UK's major supermarkets (Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose), plus Pets at Home and Amazon, over a three-month period from May 2024 to July 2024.

We averaged the price of every brand's standard range (i.e., not designed for a specific age range or dietary requirement) and used this to calculate the price per day for feeding a medium-size (25kg), moderately active dog. 

We've split the results into dry and wet foods because feeding your pooch dry dog food is the most cost-effective option. Wet food costs an average of 337% more per day than dry food.

This information can give you a guide to the relative cost of different brands, but bear in mind regional variations in prices, product promotions, and ranges available (among other factors) will all impact the average price of your dog food. 

Best cheap dry dog food

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Best cheap wet dog food

How to calculate dog food price per day

If you are looking to calculate the price per day of a pack of dog food from your local supermarket, you need to multiply the price of the pack by how much of the pack (or how many packs) are needed to feed your dog per day. 

Most dry food packs contain multiple portions, so first you'll need to divide the portion size by the size of the pack to calculate how much of the pack you need to feed your dog per day. 

For example, if the portion size is 300g per day and the pack size is 15kg, you will need to feed your dog 0.02 of the pack every day (300g divided by 15,000g = 0.02). 

Then multiply this figure by the price of the pack. If the pack costs £20, the price per day will be 40p (£20 x 0.02). 

For wet food, the portion size will likely be in the region of two to four packs per day. If one pack costs £1.50, and you need to feed your dog three packs per day, the price per day will be £4.50 (£1.50 x 3). 

If it's a multipack, you'll need to do the same as for the dry food.

For example, if you need to feed your dog three packs per day, and a multipack contains 12 packs, you need to feed your dog 0.25 of the multipack everyday (3 divided by 12). 

If the multipack costs £20, the price per day will be £5 (£20 x 0.25). 

Also a cat owner? See our guide to the best and worst cat food brands

How to choose the best dog food

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 expert pet nutrition researchers to understand what actually matters. Good news: it isn’t 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. 

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.

How to feed your dog

As well as choosing the right food, you can also maximise the nutritional value of your pet’s 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. ‘That’s really important, but it isn’t 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 pet’s food every time you feed them. 

Remember, you may not notice that you're overfeeding your pet if you accidently 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 doesn’t 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.

Make sure your furry friend is covered – see our guide to the best pet insurance for your dog

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, 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. 

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, but this 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 can be spread around the house during food preparation and eating. They can also be passed to humans if your pet kisses your face after eating. 

All of these bacteria are destroyed when meat is correctly cooked.

Can dogs eat raw meat?

The risks of your dog getting sick from raw food is higher if you feed them raw meat from the supermarket. 

This is because supermarket meat is designed to be cooked, so it typically contains higher levels of bacteria than is safe for dogs to eat. 

If you want to feed your dogs raw food, a commercial raw food will be much safer. 

How much should my dog weigh?

According to 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 illnesses, including: 

• diabetes
• heart disease
• cancer.

Is my dog overweight?

Dr Teresa Hollands recommends an easy method for checking your pet’s weight. 

‘Create a fist with your hand, and feel your knuckles with your fingers,’ she said. ‘If your pet’s 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.

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How we calculated dog food ratings and prices

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. 

To find the cheapest dog food, we collected the prices of our surveyed dog food brands on a weekly basis for a three-month period between May and July 2024. Prices were taken from eight of the UK's major supermarkets (Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose), plus Pets at Home and Amazon. 

We did not include loyalty card prices, but we did include promotional prices that were available to all.

We excluded any products that were on sale for less than 80% of the three-month period, made for senior cats or kittens, or made for a specific diet (eg weight loss or incontinence). We excluded grain-free products unless a brand only makes grain-free products (ie grain-free products are the brand's 'standard range') and brands where no products or only one product met our criteria.

We averaged the price of every product over the three-month period then used the brands' feeding guidelines to calculate price per day to use that product to feed a 25kg, moderately active dog. We averaged the price per day of each product to create average price for each brand. 

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