RAWR Dog Food Review: Freeze-Dried Raw Put to the Test

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We test RAWR dog food, a new UK brand offering freeze dried food and treats

Like the idea of raw dog food but don't want the hassle?

That is the promise from RAWR, a new UK brand serving up complete freeze-dried raw dog and cat food that has the convenience of ‘scoop and serve’ kibble but the nutritional value of raw dog food.

It is a bold pitch, and one we were keen to put properly to the test. So we tested their full range of dog food, handed the bowl to Freddie, our ever-willing 12kg Cockapoo, and spent 3 weeks finding out whether freeze-dried raw lives up to the fanfare.

Three weeks on, the bags were empty and Freddie was hooked, but our wallet had opinions.

Not sure which dog food is right for your dog? Our complete guide covers every food type, with a full comparison table and honest tested recommendations - How to Choose the Best Dog Food

View RAWR Dog Food

TABLE OF CONTENTS

RAWR Dog Food Review 1. RAWR at a Glance

2. What is Freeze Dried?

3. Who Are RAWR?

4. The RAWR Range

5. Ingredients and Nutrition

6. Our Testing Results

7. Pricing and Value

8. Ordering and Delivery

Our Verdict

The Rivals

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RAWR DOG FOOD REVIEW

RAWR at a Glance

Food type	Complete freeze-dried raw
Recipes tested	Chicken, Beef, Chicken & Wild-Caught Salmon
Bag sizes	175g and 600g
Prices from	175g Chicken and Salmon recipes - £9.99 175g Beef - £12.99 600g Chicken and Salmon recipes £29.99 600g Beef - £32.99
AADF rating	91%
Suitable for	Adult dogs (complete and balanced)
Tested by	Freddie, our 12kg Cockapoo
Smart Bark score	★★★★☆ – only the price tag holds back the fifth star

What is Freeze Dried?

Before you read on, let's talk about the freeze dried concept.

Freeze-dried dog food is raw food with the water whipped out, not the goodness.

photo credit : smartbark

The raw meat, organs and veg are first flash-frozen at around -40°C, then placed in a vacuum chamber where the ice turns straight into vapour and is drawn away, skipping the liquid stage altogether (the clever bit, known as sublimation).

Because no heat is involved, the nutrients, natural flavour and aroma stay locked in, unlike kibble, which is cooked at high temperatures.

What's left is a light, dry, shelf-stable food that keeps for months in the cupboard, no fridge or freezer required. Just scoop and serve.

Who Are RAWR?

Long established in America, freeze-dried is now one of the fastest-growing corners of the UK pet food market, and RAWR has timed its arrival to perfection.

photo credit : RAWR

A young British brand with a simple recipe for standing out: real meat, and lots of it. Every meal is 85% prime-cut meat and 15% functional superfoods and veg, gently freeze-dried rather than cooked into kibble.

The brand says freeze-drying locks in 97% of nutrients, and every recipe is formulated with a board-certified vet nutritionist, Dr Anna Lineva.

The RAWR Range

The range keeps things tidy. Three complete dog food recipes, two freeze-dried treats, a Norwegian salmon oil supplement and a couple of starter bundles. No sprawling menu, no confusing tiers.

We rather like that. If you've ever lost half an hour comparing seventeen near-identical recipes, you'll appreciate the restraint.

All three complete recipes come in 175g and 600g bags -

🌟 Gourmet Chicken with Superfoods: chicken breast, heart and liver with blueberries, broccoli, pumpkin and sweet potato

🌟 Gourmet Beef with Superfoods: built around raw beef flank

🌟 Chicken & Wild-Caught Salmon with Superfoods: pairing chicken with wild-caught salmon.

It's worth mentioning that the smaller 175g bag only covers about a day's meals for an 11 to 15kg dog, so it's no good for a full transition. Where it earns its keep is as a taste tester, sprinkled alongside your dog's usual food for a couple of days to see if it gets the tail wagging.

photo credit : smartbark

We loved that you have the option of serving it in two ways. You can serve it dry, straight out of the bag for crunch, or add twice the amount of warm water, wait three minutes and serve it soft.

That simple switch opens RAWR up to dogs a dry diet can leave behind -

✅ Senior dogs with sore or missing teeth get a meal that needs next to no chewing.

✅ Picky pups get a proper nudge, as warm water wakes up the meaty aroma that makes fussy eaters forget they were fussy.

✅ Dogs that need more moisture too, since plenty of dry-fed dogs drink less than they should.

✅ Dogs recovering from surgery or hiding a pill from their dinner.

One thing to note: once softened, leftovers need binning after two hours, so grazers who like to wander back to the bowl when they feel like it, are better served dry.

Ingredients and Nutrition

This is where RAWR really wants to be judged, and the label makes a strong first impression. Taking the Chicken recipe as our benchmark: 85% chicken (70% breast, 8% liver, 8% heart), then sweet potato, blueberries, broccoli and pumpkin, plus salmon oil for skin and coat. No grains, no meat meals, no by-products, no fillers.

The numbers are punchy too. Crude protein sits at 56% with 19% fat and 396 kcal per 100g, which reflects just how concentrated freeze-dried food is once the water is removed.

The independent All About Dog Food directory rates RAWR at an impressive 91% which places it alongside the high scoring raw dog foods.

Our Testing Results

Marketing claims are one thing. A Cockapoo with opinions is quite another. We put RAWR through the full Smart Bark testing process, from unboxing to bowl-licking, and here's what we and Freddie found.

Out of the box. The first surprise is how light the bags are. After years of lugging hefty kibble sacks, and boxes of raw dog food, picking up a bag of RAWR feels like picking up a bag of crisps. That's freeze-drying for you.

Our bags arrived with over a year until expiry, so no short-shelf-life shenanigans, and they live happily in the cupboard. Once opened, aim to use it within 8 weeks.

photo credit : smartbark

The packaging. No transparent window, so you can't peek at the food before opening, though there's a small photo of the meaty morsels on the back.

More importantly, the feeding guidelines are printed clearly on every pack, so there's no guesswork on grams.

And a big win for a big bugbear of ours: bags that won't reseal. RAWR's strong reseal strips closed cleanly every time in our testing, keeping the food fresh with zero fuss.

photo credit : smartbark

The sniff test. Add warm water and the aroma is instantly fresh and meaty. Every recipe smelled of actual meat, and the Chicken & Wild-Caught Salmon carried a proper salmon scent.

Freddie needed no persuading. The moment the water hit the bowl, he was front and centre and fully focused.

Wet or dry? Freddie happily hoovered up both and showed no preference either way. Freddie's 12kg frame needed around 180g a day before adding water.

Since we tested during a heatwave, we leaned towards adding water, as any extra hydration was welcome. It's a handy bit of flexibility that kibble can't offer.

photo credit : smartbark

The verdict on taste. RAWR's own numbers set a high bar, with the brand reporting that 95% of dogs preferred it to leading kibble in its taste tests. On our evidence, Freddie sits firmly in the majority.

Pricing and Value

Quality this good comes at a cost, so let's crunch the numbers.

Feeding RAWR as a complete meal takes deep pockets. A 15kg dog needs around 200g a day, which works out at roughly £10 a day. That's £70 a week on dinner, which puts full-time freeze-dried feeding out of reach for most owners of medium and large dogs.

Smaller dogs fare far better, as a 5kg companion needs a fraction of the portion and a fraction of the price.

photo credit : smartbark

But writing RAWR off on price alone would be missing the point. We think that where it really earns its place is as a topper.

A sprinkle over your dog's usual food adds a hefty hit of nutrition, with 85% prime-cut meat and 56% protein in every scoop, for £1-£2 a day rather than £10.

Fussy eaters get a nudge, and everyday kibble gets a proper upgrade. Little scoop, large payoff.

Ordering and Delivery

RAWR is online only, so no high street hunting, and ordering through their website is a quick and painless job.

You can buy individual recipes one-off, or set up a Subscribe & Save plan with deliveries every 2, 4, 6 or 8 weeks. It's worth noting that you can pause or cancel your subscription at any time.

Newcomers are well catered for too. The Starter Kit (£16.98) pairs a bag of food with a bag of treats, the RAWR Duo bundles dinner and a treat, and there's 10% off your first order just for joining the newsletter.

UK shipping is free over £29, which you'll clear easily on anything beyond a taster bag.

Delivery lands within three to five working days, with tracking the whole way. There's a loyalty programme for repeat customers, and a reassuring taste guarantee: if your dog turns their nose up, RAWR promises to make it right.

One more thing worth knowing for multi-pet households: RAWR makes a matching cat range, so feline family members needn't feel left out.

Our Verdict

RAWR arrives with big claims and, for the most part, backs them up in the bowl.

The 85% meat content is real, the class-leading AADF rating tops its freeze-dried rivals, and Freddie was smitten from the first sniff. Add the cupboard-friendly storage, proper reseal strips and the wet-or-dry flexibility, and this is raw-style feeding with none of the freezer faff.

The catch is the cost. At roughly £10 a day for a 15kg dog, full-time feeding is a stretch too far for most medium and large breeds. But judged as a topper, a taste-booster or a complete meal for smaller dogs, RAWR goes from pricey to persuasive.

That price tag is all that stands between RAWR and a fifth star: ★★★★☆

Who's it for? Small dogs eating it as a complete meal, toppers-and-treats households, and anyone raw-curious who isn't ready to surrender the freezer drawer.

Who should think twice? Owners of bigger dogs on a budget, and grazers who like to revisit the bowl, since softened leftovers need binning after two hours.

Freeze-dried is one of the fastest-growing corners of UK pet food, and on this evidence RAWR deserves its place at the front of the pack. Feed it wisely and it earns every penny.

View RAWR Dog Food

The Rivals

RAWR hasn't got the freeze-dried field to itself. Three names should be on your shortlist before you buy.

Pure Pet Food is technically dehydrated rather than freeze-dried, but the routine is identical: add warm water, stir and serve. The Yorkshire brand builds personalised plans around your dog and generally works out kinder on the wallet for full-time feeding. Considerably cheaper but what you gain in price you lose in meat content, though, as Pure's recipes don't reach RAWR's 85%.

Natures Menu is the raw feeding veteran, and its freeze-dried 80/20 range is the most direct rival here. 80% meat with fruit, veg and superfoods making up the rest, and a strong 88% AADF rating that sits just behind RAWR's 91%. Where Natures Menu wins is availability, sitting on shelves at pet shops across the country while RAWR is online only.

James & Ella is the one with the famous footprint, founded by James Middleton. Its freeze-dried raw nuggets are human-grade, hypoallergenic and much loved, with a five-star Trustpilot rating from over 900 owners and an 87% AADF rating. It's the priciest of the three, though, so expect to pay a premium on top of a premium.

The bottom line: Pure for the budget, Natures Menu for the high street, James & Ella if money's no object. On paper, RAWR beats the lot, topping the table on both meat content at 85% and that 91% AADF rating.

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Thanks for reading, from Claire and Freddie (mostly Freddie).

Facts checked against rawrpet.com, July 2026. Prices correct at time of writing.