How UK dog foods score: 2,120 foods compared

What we found

Median score by type: raw 88, air-dried and freeze-dried 76, fresh 74, wet 61 and dry 30.
33% of foods score 60 or more (Good or better), and 55% score under 45 (Weak); 88% of the Weak foods are dry.
Half of dry foods score between 23 and 37, the best dry food scores 78, and 16 dry foods score 60 or more.
Price says little about the score within a type: the cheapest and dearest thirds by price per kg have median scores of 62 and 60 for wet food, and 26 and 35 for dry food.
Median price per 1,000 kcal: dry £1.22, raw £4.05, fresh £5.26, wet £6.11 and air-dried and freeze-dried £8.98.
Median declared meat: raw 90%, air-dried and freeze-dried 80%, fresh 68%, wet 60% and dry 33.5%.

Scores by type

Type	Foods	Median score	Score 60 or more	Median meat	Median carbs (dry matter)	Median price per kg	Median price per 1,000 kcal
Raw	258	88	99%	90%	3.3%	£5.70	£4.05
Air-dried and freeze-dried	29	76	100%	80%	9.5%	£39.93	£8.98
Fresh	23	74	100%	68%	20.8%	£9.73	£5.26
Wet	639	61	57%	60%	14.4%	£6.02	£6.11
Dry	1,171	30	1%	33.5%	44.6%	£4.44	£1.22

Each figure is a median of the foods in that row. The air-dried and freeze-dried and fresh rows are small, so read them as a guide. Dry food is cooked at high heat and needs starch to hold together, which is what our scale measures, so the best dry foods score below the best wet, fresh and raw foods.

Where the scores fall

Each bar covers five score points. Half of these foods score between 26 and 62.

Excellent: 270 (13%)
Good: 420 (20%)
Fair: 255 (12%)
Weak: 1,175 (55%)

Does a higher price mean a higher score?

We split each type into thirds by price per kg and compared the median score of each third. Prices are the best-value pack we found, in stock where there is one.

Raw food
Price group	Price per kg	Foods	Median score
Cheapest third	£2.00 to £4.99	82	88
Middle third	£4.99 to £6.40	83	90
Dearest third	£6.42 to £11.18	82	87.5

Wet food
Price group	Price per kg	Foods	Median score
Cheapest third	£1.25 to £4.53	208	62
Middle third	£4.53 to £7.47	208	60
Dearest third	£7.47 to £28.60	208	60

Dry food
Price group	Price per kg	Foods	Median score
Cheapest third	£0.55 to £3.68	376	26
Middle third	£3.68 to £5.33	377	32
Dearest third	£5.33 to £28.00	376	35

Brands with the highest average score

Makers with at least five scored foods (94 makers qualify). Raw foods score highest as a type, so raw-food makers lead this list.

Brand	Scored foods	Average score
Rawtdoor	10	96.1
Mersey Raw	14	94.8
Paleo Ridge	27	93.9
Henley Raw	22	93.3
Kay Ryder's Raw Made Simple	8	89.5
Bella & Duke	9	88.3
Albion	8	86.8
ProDog Raw	19	86.2
Rathlin Raw	6	85.2
Natural Instinct	18	84.9

How to read these figures

A scored food is a complete food with a score. Complementary foods and veterinary diets are left out.
Scores come from the label on one 0 to 100 scale. A score never reads price, commission or brand. How we score.
A median is the middle value: half the foods in a row score higher, half lower.
Price per 1,000 kcal puts wet, dry and raw food on the same footing, because wet food is mostly water.
The figures are worked out again from the live data each time we publish a release. Where our data comes from is on the data sources page.

You are welcome to quote any figure here. Please link to this page. To browse the foods behind the figures, start at all foods or the top picks.

How UK dog foods score: what we found across 2,120 foods