8 Best Raw Dog Food Companies

Raw dog food has become popular nowadays, but also has brought fierce debate. Before you even consider raw food, you should be aware of its benefits and risks. Many vets are against raw dog food, so please do as much research as possible.

Supporters argue that feeding raw more closely mimics the diet of a dog’s closest ancestor, the wolf. Opponents argue that dogs have been eating cooked food leftover from human meals for many generations and are adapted to it.

It isn’t clear which of these opinions is correct, but the fact remains that many people find that their dog’s health improves when they are fed a raw or partially raw diet.

Whether you want to choose a primarily raw diet or you’re looking to mix raw with healthy fruits and vegetables, there is a raw food maker for you. Sellers normally offer raw food in frozen form, freeze-dried form, or raw-infused kibble varieties.

While raw food purists won’t feed anything other than fresh or frozen raw food, your dog can still get a lot of the same health benefits from freeze-dried raw food. Further, raw-infused kibble is as easy to feed as regular kibble, and packs an extra nutritional punch.

In this blog post, I discuss the 8 best raw dog food companies including what they have to offer. By the way, I also have a separate article on the best raw dog food delivery services.

As an affiliate and Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, but I only recommend products I find trustworthy and you pay nothing extra.

My Top Picks for Best Raw Dog Food Companies

1. Instinct (Most Popular)

Instinct is one of my top picks for best raw dog food companies.

They pride themselves on making raw dog food accessible for the average pet parent. Their food contains only natural raw ingredients, no artificial ingredients or unnecessary preservatives.

Their food does not contain any grain or gluten, which makes it a good pick for pets that have food sensitivities.

They include natural oils and Omega fatty acids to promote a healthy and shiny coat. Their raw food contains the whole animal, including meat, bones, and organs, which enables complete nutrition and strong muscles.

They use cold pressure technology, also known as high-pressure processing, rather than heat to make their raw food safe. Instinct offers their raw food formulas in a number of forms to meet your needs.

What Does Open Farm Offer?

Frozen Raw

There are two options in frozen raw food. The Signature Raw Diets are made up of 95% meat, organs, and bone with 5% fruit, vegetable, and other whole ingredients.

The Instinct Raw diet is made up of 85% meat, bones, and organs and 15% vegetables, fruits, vitamins, and minerals. Both are made without corn, wheat, grain, artificial colors, or any preservatives.

They come in a number of options including beef, chicken, duck, rabbit, and lamb. The high-pressure treatment is designed to eliminate harmful bacteria and is a USDA-recognized anti-pathogen treatment.

Freeze-dried

Choose from three protein sources: chicken, beef, or lamb. You can also choose from a chicken-based freeze-dried raw meal for senior dogs and one for puppies.

Freeze-dried food is made from 85% meat and organs and 15% fruits, vegetables, vitamins, and minerals.

For their freeze-dried raw options, they remove moisture without heating so that you don’t need to thaw or refrigerate the food before giving it to your pet.

Kibble Mixes

Instinct offers a number of kibble options As well. Their kibble contains 70% real animal ingredients and 30% vegetables, fruit, and other wholesome ingredients.

You can choose a kibble with freeze-dried raw coating or a mix of kibble and freeze-dried raw.

2. Open Farm Freeze Dried (Most Meticulous Sourcing of Ingredients)

Open Farm is a dog food brand dedicated to feeding fresh and nutritious food to dogs. This company offers a number of different food options, all created to be both healthy and environmentally sustainable.

One of the best features of Open Farm is their use of only Certified Humane meats and non-GMO produce. Customers can purchase their food and have it delivered right to their front door.

Another great thing about the brand is that they don’t use any fillers in their food. All their meals are made from nutritious ingredients. They don’t use wheat, soy, or other fillers. This is true of all their food varieties, including their freeze-dried raw foods.

What Foods Do They Offer?

Freeze Dried Raw

Open Farm’s Freeze Dried Raw dog food is a high-protein freeze-dried dog food. It combines raw animal protein and organic, non-GMO produce to create a delicious and nutritious meal for your dog. Each bag of food contains 85% protein from raw animal ingredients.

This grain-free food is great for dogs with food sensitivities. They offer full and complete nutrition according to AAFCO standards. Just like other Open Farm foods, their website provides full transparency about the ingredients used and how they’re sourced.

They offer six recipes:

• Surf & Turf (made from beef, beef hearts, beef liver, and wild-caught Pacific salmon)
• Grass-Fed Beef (made from beef, beef hearts, beef liver, and ground beef bone)
• Homestead Turkey (made from turkey and turkey livers, necks, and gizzards)
• Harvest Chicken (made from chicken trim, frames, necks, and liver)
• Pasture-raised Lamb (made from lamb and lamb hearts, livers and ground bone)
• Farmer’s Table Pork (made from pork and pork hearts, livers and ground bone)

All six recipes combine humanly sourced protein and top-quality organic fruits and vegetables. Open Farm’s Freeze Dried Raw foods can be used as a complete meal or added to the top of your dog’s other food.

3. Stella and Chewy’s (Perfect Mixers Tailored to Your Dog’s Health Needs)

Stella and Chewy’s uses responsibly sourced animal protein that is cage-free, grass-fed, responsibly wild-caught or farm-raised, and 100% organic fruits and vegetables.

Their diets are fortified with minerals and vitamins. This fortification ensures that your pet gets the nutrition they need and they never use artificial preservatives, flavors, or colors.

Stella and Chewy’s uses high-pressure processing for all of their freeze-dried and frozen foods.

This process naturally destroys harmful bacteria while protecting the nutrition in the food. They offer a range of options whether you want to feed their diets exclusively or mix in.

What Does Stella and Chewy Offer?

• Frozen raw. This food is made of 90 to 95% organs, meat, and bone along with certified organic fruits and vegetables. It’s also enhanced with antioxidants and probiotics and free of ingredients that may bother your dog like peas, lentils, potatoes, or grain.
• Freeze-dried raw. Stella & Chewy’s offers a completely balanced freeze-dried raw diet with 90 to 95% organs, bone, and meat along with organic fruits and vegetables. It’s also enhanced with antioxidants and probiotics.
• Freeze-dried mixers. If you’re not ready to leave your kibble altogether, but you want some of the benefits of raw, Stella and Chewy’s meal mixers may be perfect for you. Choose from a primary meat mixer with 95% organs, meat, and bone or a mix with superfoods or specially designed for conditions like digestive support, heart-healthy, hip and joint support, or more.
• Freeze-dried treats. Stella and Chewy’s offers a number of freeze-dried treat options as single-ingredient offerings in chicken, beef liver, etc.

4. Orijen (The Top Brand for Raw-Based Kibble)

If you want some of the advantages of raw food but you want to feed kibble, Orijen has you covered.

They make their kibble from two-thirds fresh or raw ingredients, using only refrigeration or freezing for preservation. One-third of their food is made up of dried ingredients for concentrated protein.

They make their kibble from a mix of meat, organs, and bone to provide vitamins and minerals from the whole prey animal, just as wolves get their vitamins and minerals in nature.

Since this mix gives your dog all the nutrients they need in highly bioavailable forms, there’s no need for synthetic vitamin and mineral additives.

What Does Orijen Offer?

Orijen offers raw-based kibble, freeze-dried raw dog food, and freeze-dried treat.

Choose from a number of different kibble for all life stages from puppy until senior, and incorporate ingredients from your choice of fish, venison, wild boar, goat, mutton, and much more.

If you’re choosing Orijen, it’s important to keep in mind that this is kibble, not raw food.

They start with fresh or raw ingredients from whole food sources, but these ingredients are then cooked at 90C for 3 to 5 minutes into the kibble that you will feed your dog.

5. Primal (Perfect For Tailoring Kibble to Your Dog’s Specific Needs)

Primal offers a selection of raw foods that are sourced from organic produce and humanely raised animal products including muscle meat, meaty bones, and organ meats with no added hormones and that are antibiotic and steroid-free.

They use unrefined supplements like alfalfa leaf powder, apple cider vinegar, and kelp powder to provide your dog with all the nutrients they need with whole food sources.

What Does Primal Offer?

Primal offers frozen raw food, freeze-dried raw food, and dried meat treats.

• Frozen raw. Primal offers a number of raw food from beef, chicken, duck, lamb, turkey, sardine, and more. You can choose the protein that works best for your pet even if they need to be on a limited ingredient diet. Whichever diet you choose, you’ll be glad to see that you can recognize every single ingredient, and vegetable and fruit offerings are always organic.
• Freeze-dried nuggets. Primal freeze-dried offerings are very similar to the frozen raw ingredients, with the difference that they have the moisture removed to make them stable on the shelf and ready to serve right from the container. Many people choose to rehydrate them to make them more enticing for your dog.
• Dried treats. Primal provided single-ingredient dried meat treats that look much like jerky and which dogs love.

Primal offers a unique offering in the build your bowl feature. You can choose important information about your dog like their size, age, weight goals, activity levels, current diet.

You can also disclose any health concerns you may have like maintaining a healthy coat, joints, dealing with aging, urinary tract health, or immunity.

Once they have all of the information they need, they’ll suggest ingredients to build the bowl, including a raw base, toppers like power greens, or hydrators like goat milk or bone broth, to help you build the ideal meal for your dog.

6. Stewart (Safest Freeze-Dried Foods)

Stewart belongs to a number of pet safety programs to ensure that each batch is quality and safe.

They offer a range of freeze-dried raw dog food that offers complete nutrition but is shelf-stable and lightweight, making it as convenient for you to feed as it’s healthy for your dog to consume.

They use either single or limited proteins to make recipes that are perfect for dogs with food sensitivities. Their foods are free of artificial preservatives and are carefully processed in the USA.

They also utilize random testing and third-party food safety audits to ensure the quality of their products. Products are tested at an independent USDA and FDA-accredited third-party lab that tests for E Coli, listeria, and salmonella.

Only when tests come back negative are food products released to the public.

These freeze-dried diets are cold pasteurized to get rid of harmful bacteria while leaving healthy enzymes and nutritional value intact. They work well as a sole source of food or as an add-in with kibble.

What Does Stewart Offer?

Stewart offers freeze-dried dog food and freeze-dried treats.

Each diet contains 80% single-source protein, 18% vegetables and fruit, and 2% supplements and vitamins. All of the ingredients they use are human-grade and approved by a certified pet nutritionist.

7. TruDog (Highest Freeze-Dried Meat Content)

TruDog offers diets to be mixed in with your dog’s kibble or to feed as a sole diet.

They offer one of the highest concentrations of meat diets you can find in freeze-dried food along with a more affordable option that contains fruit and vegetables as well as meat.

What Does TruDog Offer?

High Meat Content Freeze-Dried Raw Diets

At 99% meat, organs, and bone, TruDog offers the highest percentage of meat of any freeze-dried raw food producer.

Each diet contains only a single source of protein along with 1% natural Omega blend from Herring oil and vitamins and minerals.

Meats are flash-frozen to dehydrate while preserving freshness at -85 degrees Fahrenheit. Choose from beef, turkey, lamb, and more. You can also choose a Boost multi-pack that comes in multiple flavors

Affordable Dehydrated Diets

TruDog understands that their customers want to feed their dogs well, but the price for high-content freeze-dried meat products can be overwhelming.

That’s why they introduced Rawgo, which is dehydrated raw dog food that contains a mix of meat and vegetables along with added vitamins and minerals to create a complete diet.

The premium cuts of meat, vegetables, and fruit are gently air-dried to preserve their nutrients and are also highly attractive to dogs thanks to the meaty aroma.

Freeze-Dried Treats

TruDog offers single-ingredient freeze-dried treats in a number of different flavors, including salmon, mussels, beef, and turkey. They also offer bully sticks.

8. Merrick (Top Rated Raw Coated Kibble)

Last, but not least on my list, for best raw dog food companies is Merrick.

If you’re looking for a reasonably priced high-quality dog food option with some of the advantages of raw but you’re not willing to give up the kibble, Merrick might be the food for you.

Their kibble contains 90% protein from animal sources, which is higher than you’re likely to find in the vast majority of kibbles. Each piece of kibble is coated with a freeze-dried raw food powder.

What Does Merrick Offer?

Merrick kibble is made from whole food ingredients like USDA-certified meat and fish and fresh fruits and vegetables.

They also include lots of glucosamine and chondroitin to support healthy joints. You can also choose a freeze-dried mix in to add even more raw nutrition to each bowl of kibble.

Recipes are tested multiple times throughout the process to be sure that they exceed safety standards, and all of their manufacturing facilities meet FDA guidelines.

Choose protein sources like beef and bison, chicken and duck, lamb and venison, salmon and whitefish and more. There are also specific formulas for puppies, large-breed dogs, etc.

Merrick offers a number of great options that are not raw or freeze-dried but are made of high-quality ingredients.

Conclusion

Many people report significant benefits from feeding raw food to their dogs, while others claim there are risks.  I recommend doing further research on raw dog food’s benefits and risks before deciding.

However, with so many options on the market, it can be challenging to find the best raw dog food companies for your pet.

Whether you want to feed raw or partially raw is up to you. There are several product options to choose from including frozen, freeze-dried, or raw-infused kibble.

Hopefully, you will find the perfect fit with one of these 7 companies listed above.

Please let me know your experiences down in the comments.