Dry Dog Food

Big question. We get that question all the time. It can be. It usually is. But it shouldn’t be.

You see, crap ingredients = crap food. Most Aussie dogs eat dry dog food (or kibble as some call it) as part or all of their diet, but it turns out that a lot of it isn’t doing old mate any good.

Not because dry dog food is bad – that’s just the way it’s prepared – but because big dog food companies do things on the cheap, using high GI ingredients, straight in/straight out fillers, and very little actual meat (plus additives so it lasts longer on supermarket shelves). Eaten regularly, this gets your woofer’s body out of whack and can cause short-term upset and long-term illness.

We put better ingredients in, and get a healthier dog out. Pretty simple but business gets in the way. So, is dry dog food bad? No – much of it is but Scratch is the dry dog food should be.

Sure is! We don’t mind the stuff personally, but not in our dog food. All of our recipes are dog food without corn.

Scratch is independently own and operated within Australia. We’re a remote-based company with dog lovers spread around the country, but our dog food is made in New South Wales.

We pride ourselves on Australian-made dry dog food ingredients, with 85-97% of our ingredients (depending on the recipe) coming from sustainable Aussie farmers.

We love old fashioned customer service, but we’re new school in how we distribute our food. You can only order our dog food online, directly through our website.

That ensures we don’t have to pay stores, distributors and salespeople and can put more money into the food. Our direct to you model helps ut to make a better dry dog food than most places to buy dog food online.

You betcha. All of our recipes are 100% nutritionally complete from puppy through to adult.

We’ve written more about what makes Scratch the best puppy food here.

Sure is!

All of our dry dog food recipes are 100% nutritionally complete from puppy through to adult dog and exceed the AAFCO minimum standards.

That means that you don’t need to feed anything other than Scratch to ensure your dogs nutrition is met. Of course, if you prefer to give your dog a little extra variety you can mix feed, but nutritionally you don’t need too.

With an average rating of 4.9 after nearly 3 years of making our dry dog food, we’re proud to rank as the highest-rated dry dog food in Australia.

We’re not aiming to be the biggest – just the most trusted.

You can mix wet and dry dog food for sure, though it’s important to make sure that your wet food is healthy if it’s going to be a regular thing.

Wet dog food is full of lots of gelatins and preservatives that are put in there just to make sure that the food doesn’t go off. Dry dog food doesn’t need them as the ingredients are aired and dehydrated.

So yes, mix wet and dry dog food if your dog likes the variety – but nutritionally there is no need if you have a healthy dog food to start with.

We’re a little biased, but we think the healthiest food to feed your dog Scratch – of course!

Raw dog food can be extremely nutritious for dogs too (just get a butcher you can trust and plenty of freezer space), and can be mixed with Scratch for the best of both worlds.

When you go through Scratch sign-up, we’ll ask if you intend on mix-feeding in order to give you the most suitable way to feed the healthiest dog food.

See how long each box of Scratch will last for your dog by taking our quiz and how much food your dog must eat.

Dry do foods generally don’t include added sugar, but the ingredients can produce sugars. That’s because all dry dog food contains carbohydrates – a form of energy that breaks down in the body into simple sugars.

Carbohydrates aren’t bad for dogs. In balanced amounts, they can provide a practical source of energy. But many dry dog foods include too many carbs.

Scratch is low in carbohydrates (and thus sugar) compared to most dry dog foods. Our Turkey, Beef & Lamb recipe is the lowest carb option in our line-up.

The majority of dry dog foods contain grains. Generally, you’ll find grains included in the cheaper recipe options in the supermarket aisle.

In the past 5 years, there has been a huge rise in grain-free recipe options at higher prices. While grain-free dog foods are positioned as ‘premium’ dog foods, grains aren’t necessarily bad and grain-free isn’t necessarily good.

qual. “Grain” can mean a whole lotta different things, from highly processed and refined wheat and corns, to healthier alternatives of ancient grains and pseudo-cereals like spelt, freekeh, bulgur, farro, oats, brown rice, chia and pseudo-cereals like quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, and chia.

If you’re looking for dog food with healthy grains, avoid wheat, corn, maize and rice – particularly it’s a processed grain. Scratch’s grain-inclusive recipe only use whole ancient grains (like chia, brown rice and oats) that includes the full nutrition of the grain.

If you are looking for grain-free dog food, make sure that your food isn’t just swapping cheap grains like wheat for just as processed grain-free options like potato and tapioca.

At the end of the day, dog food recipes are only as good as the ingredients they include, and the quantities used. Too much of something or too little of something else, and over time you can create imbalances. Speak to your dog food company to learn the quantities of ingredients used.

Yes – most senior dogs eat dry dog food. Dry dog food can help with portion control and to maintain regular disciplined feeding amounts that are harder with other types of dog food.

Due to lower activity and exercise, senior dogs will benefit most from dry foods that are lower in starches and carbohydrates, such as Scratch’s senior dog food.