The 7 Best Dog Food Subscriptions Australia: Tested & Evaluated 2024

A dog food subscription makes life so much easier! No more endless trips to the pet store, just let the food appear at the doorstep. However, it also means you will trust one company to take care of your dog’s nutritional needs.

So how do you choose the right one? Today’s guide will help you in this quest.

We teamed up with veterinarians, canine nutritionists and dog parents to form a panel of independent experts and try out all of the most popular dog food subscriptions and suss out the best of the best. After several months of research and countless bowls of dog food later, we were finally able to agree on our list of favourites. Before we jump to the list, we'll share what to look for when shopping around for a dog food subscription. Let's check it out.

Australia's Best Dog Food Delivery Reviewed

Let's check out the best options in Australia, then we will step you through how to find the best dog food subscription for you. These are the dog foods our team of independent experts and their beloved pooches loved best.

Petzyo is a relatively new dog food subscription service that has quickly amassed a large number of faithful customers and has topped our list of the best dog food in Australia. The brand offers both raw and dry food ranges, each formulated with premium-quality, sustainable ingredients carefully combined into complete meals for pooches of all ages and sizes.

Whether you’re feeding your dog a raw or dried diet, Petzyo offers different formulas to choose from. Both ranges include three different recipes, so you can choose the source of protein your pooch is most keen on. Each of these formulas is complemented with fruits, veggies and nutrient-dense superfoods, assuring your dog gets proper nutrition each day.

Related: Petzyo Dog Food Review

By filling out a form with my dog’s info, the website created a meal plan specifically tailored to my dog’s lifestyle. Petzyo offers one-time purchases, but subscribing to a plan means you get your delivery on a regular schedule. Similar to our Doggy Grub option below, the Petzyo subscription saves up to 5% on each order, which makes quite a difference in the long run.

Our panel of experts especially appreciated that both raw and dry formulas are preserved with natural ingredients, such as rosemary and green tea. The shelf life of Petzyo food is much shorter compared to most commercially-produced dog food. But since it’s made in small batches every month, your delivery is always fresh.

Eureka pet food is one of the hottest newcomers on the Australian market. This small local company makes their food using locally-sourced ingredients as much as possible. And they are not just any ingredients - it’s the best protein you can find around.

Each of the three recipes offered by Eureka includes over 90% ingredients of animal origin (meat, bone, and offal). The meats in question include wild-caught protein like boar, venison, and kangaroo, along with free-range chicken and lamb. The food is gently air-dried and enriched with superfoods. Overall, it’s a great concept!

The Eureka subscription program is tailored to your dog and strives to be as hassle-free as possible, similar to our number one choice by Petzyo. What you’ll need to do is provide your furry friend’s details at the start, including age, weight, health conditions, and activity levels. Choose if you want to feed only Eureka, 50% Eureka or use it as a topper.

Related: Eureka Dog Food Review

Based on that, the Eureka calculator determines the exact amount of food your pooch should need per day, and packs it all nicely in a package delivered to your door every 3 to 4 weeks. The subscription can be paused or cancelled at any time.

Lyka offers quite a bit of versatility when it comes to recipes, so there’s something for pooches of all ages, sizes and fitness levels. Each recipe consists of carefully chosen ingredients that provide a balanced blend of all the necessary daily nutrients.

Like with Raw and Fresh below, all of the ingredients are human-grade, locally sourced and ethically harvested, so rest assured that your pooch eats only the good stuff. Each formula is lightly cooked at 90°C, so that all the good stuff is preserved while harmful pathogens are killed by the heat.

By answering a few questions about your Fido, Lyka tailors a personalised feeding plan for the whole week. Finally, pick which day of the week you want the food to be delivered, and the package with two weeks' worth of food will be on your doorstep and will arrive on schedule. This feature makes it one of the most convenient of this list of convenient services.

If your pooch is like mine and extremely picky, then consider ordering a starter box first. I was able to get a sample bag of all six formulas, so I could test my furry friend’s preferences. If the food passes the test, you can simply convert to a plan.

Perfect Bowl keeps the ingredient lists simple, but that doesn’t mean they offer nothing less than a complete meal for your pooch. Each recipe is designed by animal nutritionists, so I was able to rest assured they fulfil all the requirements of every dog’s daily nutritional needs.

There are three recipes to choose from: chicken, lamb and beef. You can go with a single-protein option, or pick all the three. If you can’t decide, that’s not a problem either. Perfect Bowl offers a tailored plan, based on your canine’s weight, age and activity levels. And if your pooch ends up not liking Perfect Bowl, for whatever reason, you have a moneyback guarantee on your order.

Perfect Bowl dog food is gently cooked and preserved with natural ingredients like rosemary and turmeric, so the shelf life isn’t very long. That’s why the food is delivered frozen and packaged in isolated boxes so that it doesn’t melt until it reaches your hands.

Another aspect that our panel of experts loved and that you should know is that $1 from every sale goes to Pound Paws, a non-profit charity organisation that helps rescue dogs find their new homes. So aside from providing your Fido with high-quality food, you’re also helping the dogs all over Australia!

We might not realise it, but dog food bags make up for quite a big portion of the waste we create. That’s why Fetched has made its mission to make a difference, by switching to 100% recyclable bags - the first one to do so in Australia.

Kibble comes in so-called PawPacks, 150 gram bags made of biodegradable paper. This means you only open the amount of kibble your dog eats in a meal and simply dispose of the bag. No more large food bags that cause the kibble to go stale within days.

Unlike the other options on this list, there’s just a single recipe. However, our team of independent experts were happy to see that it’s nutritionally formulated to suit most adult dogs, regardless of their physical activity. The protein of choice is a mix of kangaroo and lamb, both of which are considered to be hypoallergenic and low in fat. But they’re packed with proteins, which is important for maintaining strong muscles.

The subscription calculator helps you determine the optimum feeding plan, so there’s no guesswork. Depending on your dog’s weight and level of physical activity, the calculator recommends how often you should receive a new order containing 46 bags of kibble.

While dogs don’t mind eating the same old thing every single day, they certainly won’t complain about spicing up their diet. And that’s where toppers shine.

Not only do they add flavour and moisture to kibble, but they can also be a good additional source of nutrients. Doggy Grub toppers offer a great mix of quality proteins and nutrient-rich veggies, providing your pooch with all the necessary vitamins and minerals.

When ordering, I was able to choose between the two available formulas, kangaroo and chicken or a mix of both. Each recipe is preportioned in the amount suitable for your dog’s size and packed in a pouch that keeps the food fresh and moist. The customer portal initially lets you choose between bi-weekly and monthly delivery, but you can customise your delivery schedule better later.

While you don’t need to subscribe to order Doggy Grub, joining the loyalty program gets you 10% off your order, similar to our number one choice by Petzyo. Plus, you collect Paw points with every subsequent purchase, which can be redeemed as discounts in future. So in the long run, having a membership can save you a pretty penny.

Creating a nutritionally complete BARF (Biologically Available Raw Food) diet at home can be quite challenging, especially if you’re new to raw feeding. Luckily, there are brands like Raw & Fresh that offer a wide range of recipes formulated on BARF principles.

Similar to Doggy Grub, there are two food ranges to choose from. If you want a complete meal for your pooch, the Essentials range contains all the necessary nutrients. The Basics range, on the other hand, only contains proteins and offal, while complementing the meal with veggies is left up to you. This is a better option for picky dogs or those, like mine, with allergies to certain ingredients.

All the ingredients are human-grade, locally and ethically sourced, similar to Lyka, our number three choice, so you can rest assured your pooch eats nothing but the best. The food arrives on your doorstep fresh, and since it contains no preservatives, it doesn’t have a long shelf life. You should store it in the freezer and thaw portion by portion.

If you're like me and don’t have a large fridge, don’t worry. I was able to choose the food to be delivered every one to six weeks, so choose a schedule that suits you the best. What’s also great is that you don’t even have to be home when the delivery arrives. Food is packed in insulated boxes with ice packs, so it stays chilled for up to 10 hours after it’s delivered.

How I Choose a Dog Food Subscription Company

As mentioned, choosing a good company that you can trust for your home delivery of dog food is important. And we have highlighted a number of dog food subscription options available to you. Below are the main criteria our team of independent experts used to find the top picks for our list. No matter if you choose a subscription option from this top list or not, it’s always good to ask these questions:

Ingredients

Of course, you want your pooch to have a balanced diet made with quality ingredients. The same rules for choosing the best dog food apply with subscriptions. Check out the ingredient list, and look for wholesome healthy ingredients instead of fillers and preservatives.

Once you determine the ingredient list looks good, you can ask more detailed questions. Are the ingredients human-grade? That’s not necessary, but it certainly helps give you peace of mind. Where do they come from? Are they ethically and locally sourced?

Reputation

Due to the relative lack of regulation of dog food in Australia (1), it’s not advisable to blindly trust any options you see on the market. Of course, it’s also not possible to personally check everything, from the sources of ingredients to the facilities the company uses, but you can still stay informed. It’s always best to choose a company with lots of happy customers and positive reviews.

Related: What is AAFCO? The Association of American Feed Control Officials
Related: What Is the Pet Food Industry Association of Australia (PFIAA)?
Related: AAFCO vs PFIAA: Dog Food Standards Comparison Australia

Transparency

Transparency is a tell-tale sign of a responsible dog food manufacturer. If they are willing to tell you everything about their product, down to every ingredient and its source, that’s a good sign!

Types of Dog Food Subscriptions

As we discovered during our testing phase, there are many kinds of dog foods you can have delivered to your home. However, we can divide them into three main types: kibble, cooked dog food, and raw dog food subscriptions.

Dry

Dry dog food, or kibble, is what most pet parents start with. Quality kibble should include the same ingredients as a nice cooked diet, only in dry form (2).

Dry dog food is usually the most affordable, and it does come with its own set of benefits. First of all, it’s much easier to store dry food than wet options, for which you typically need freezer space, even with a subscription.

Moreover, some believe that crunching on kibble improves the dental health of dogs. Plus, you can take kibble anywhere with you and integrate it easily into toys and food puzzles.

Cooked

If your dog is used to wet food, then cooked food subscriptions are a great choice. It’s basically the same thing as store-bought wet food, but cooked freshly for your dog every week (or however else you arrange the subscription).

Some companies offer ‘lightly cooked’ food, which is an attempt to combine the best of both worlds: heat the food enough to kill the pathogens, but not too much so that most of the nutrients are preserved.

Raw

A raw dog food diet can have many benefits for dogs, but it also comes with its own set of risks (3). Raw food is really where dog food subscriptions shine: you don’t have to deal with balancing the ratios of the ingredients or sourcing your meat, it all gets delivered right to your door.

Raw meals typically arrive frozen, and you will need to have enough space in your freezer to store the meal for the week, or at least the next couple of days. Frozen deliveries also require more care, as you’ll need to be home in time to store the food before it defrosts. Many subscription companies will deliver your food in insulated boxes that can keep the food frozen for a couple of hours, but extra care still needs to be taken to keep the food safe.

Final Verdict

The best dog food delivered to your home according to our independent team's research? Petzyo is a universal option that can work for almost any dog. They deliver dry food plans as well as raw food plans, both of which are made with top notch-ingredients and include single protein options combined with superfoods.

What Petzyo does not offer is cooked meals. If that’s what you are looking for, perhaps consider Eureka or Lyka.

References

1. “How is the pet food industry regulated in Australia?”. August 12, 2019. RSPCA Knowledge Base. Retrieved February 5, 2024. https://kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/how-is-the-pet-food-industry-regulated-in-australia/
2. Hoffman, H. January 8, 2021. “Dry Dog Food vs. Wet Dog Food: Which Is Better?”. PetMD. Retrieved February 5, 2024. https://www.petmd.com/dog/nutrition/dry-dog-food-vs-wet-dog-food-which-better
3. Lee, E. “Raw Dog Food: Dietary Concerns, Benefits, and Risks”. FETCH by WebMD. Retrieved February 5, 2024. https://pets.webmd.com/dogs/features/raw-dog-food-dietary-concerns-benefits-and-risks#1