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We personally tested each of We Feed Raw’s dog food recipes with two dogs of different breeds, ages, and dietary preferences: Joules and Hobbes. It was the first time either of them had tried raw food, and they had mixed responses. We’ll get into it more below. But first, let’s discuss why you may want to feed your pet a raw food diet.
Many pet parents swear by the benefits of raw dog food. Raw, unprocessed ingredients possess all of their original nutrients, which may be reduced or destroyed when food is cooked. This means there’s more nutrition for your dog to absorb.
Raw food is also in its most natural state for dogs to digest. After all, canines never cooked their food in the wild. The canine digestive tract is short and tough and loaded with the hydrochloric acid necessary to digest raw food and bone minerals.
Raw food may also be better for your dog’s dental health since it lacks some of the sugars and starches found in kibble, which can promote unhealthy bacteria growth in your dog’s mouth.
We Feed Raw (sometimes mistakenly called “We Eat Raw Dog Food”) is a premium raw pet food brand that delivers fresh, nutritionally balanced meals to your door. This means your dog gets all of the benefits of a vet-approved raw diet, and you don’t have to deal with the mess or hassle of preparing it.
Learn more about it in this We Feed Raw review.
- Human-grade raw ingredients
- 90% muscle & organ meat; 10% ground bone
- AAFCO approved for all life stages
- Get 20% or more off your first subscription purchase
In this review:
- WeFeedRaw: At a glance
- Our We Feed Raw review
- How does We Feed Raw work?
- Meal options
- How much is it?
- How does We Feed Raw compare to other options?
- FAQs
- Other We Feed Raw reviews
WeFeedRaw: At a glance
- Natural, nutritious diet: WeFeedRaw is made with ingredients your dog is supposed to eat, the way they were supposed to eat them. By cutting out the fillers and processes kibble manufacturers use, your dog will enjoy a tastier and more nutritious diet.
- No hassle, no mess: WeFeedRaw delivers vet-approved, nutritionally balanced meals to your door, so you don’t have to deal with any of the hassles or mess of feeding your dog a raw diet. Doing this on your own is a lot of work.
- Human-grade: WeFeedRaw uses only human-grade meats from farms in the USA and New Zealand. All food is made in USDA-certified facilities that comply with BRC safe quality food requirements.
- Great for all ages: All WeFeedRaw recipes were formulated by veterinary nutritionists to meet AAFCO standards for all life stages, including large breed puppies (70 lbs.+)
- Grain & gluten-free: At the time of writing, all recipes are 100% grain- and gluten-free. Be sure to check the ingredients list on the recipe you choose if your dog has a grain intolerance.
- Six options: Choose from six different protein options, including Chicken, Turkey, Duck, Beef, Lamb, and Venison.
- One less to-do, permanently: Your dog’s meal will be delivered automatically on a subscription you choose, so you never have to deal with prepping raw meals or last-minute runs to the store for pet food. Skip or cancel your subscription at any time.
Our We Feed Raw review
We already touched on the benefits of raw dog food above. It’s the polar opposite of kibble, which is packed with fillers and extruded at extremely high temperatures to make it shelf-stable. This process destroys a ton of the bioavailable nutrients, even if you buy “premium” dry dog food.
But how did it go over with our canine food critics, Joules and Hobbes? The results were mixed.
Hobbes is a fresh food fanatic, and he always gobbles down cooked foods like Nom Nom or The Farmer’s Dog whenever we feed it to him. But this was his first time trying raw food, and he took a while to warm up to it.
He refused to eat it at first. He just sniffed at it and sneezed, as if he doesn’t prefer one of the ingredients used in each recipe. Then we mixed it with kibble to see if that would help. He picked out the kibble and left the raw food in the bowl.
We Feed Raw recommended lightly searing the food at first to help picky eaters transition into a raw diet, so we tried that and it worked! Hobbes still seems to prefer the cooked brands mentioned above, but he’ll eat We Feed Raw if we sear it in a skillet. Of course, searing the food sort of defeats the purpose of a raw diet, so we make sure not to cook the food all the way through. And we don’t do this each mealtime—we just cook it all when we open a new pack. He also prefers certain recipes, such as beef or lamb over chicken.
Joules—usually the picky eater—had no complaints. She got excited when we announced mealtime and devoured the raw food before going over to Hobbes’ bowl to see if any of his was left—every single time. We loved seeing her excitement over We Feed Raw since she often ignores kibble in her bowl.
We think the discrepancy in each dog’s response boils down to preference. Hobbes prefers cooked fresh food over raw food or kibble. But after reviewing each recipe’s ingredient list, we don’t think his pickiness is any indication of We Feed Raw’s quality. If your dog already eats raw food, We Feed Raw should be a success. And if they don’t, their response may very well be like Joules’—pure excitement.
- Mitigate existing health issues: If your dog is suffering from unresolved food allergies or other digestive issues, improving their diet could help. Of course, you should consult your vet to pinpoint the cause of any acute symptoms.
- Prevent future illnesses: Feeding your dog a nutritious, nutrient-rich diet improves their immune system, which can help prevent them from getting sick in the future.
- Promote dental health: Raw food may be less likely than kibble to promote bacterial growth that leads to plaque and tartar buildup. But remember that you should regularly brush your dog’s teeth, or at least give them something abrasive to chew on, like a dental treat.
- High in protein: 90% of each recipe is made up of muscle meat and organ meats, so your pet’s meals will be packed with protein.
- Higher energy levels, less poop: More bioavailable nutrients without fillers means there will be more for your dog’s body to absorb and less to pass on as waste.
- Eager eaters: If your dog has grown tired of their usual kibble, introducing this new fresh food could reignite their excitement about mealtime, as it did with Joules. You can also mix it with their kibble to cut costs and get them to finish their meals.
- Softer skin, shinier coat: Raw diets are rich in amino acids and other nutrients that promote healthier skin and shiny coats.
- Cat-friendly: We Feed Raw says their food is also appropriate for cats, and the raw meat-based diet is plentiful with naturally occurring taurine, an important nutrient for cats. We Feed Raw doesn’t make meal plans for cats, but you can order your own bulk shipments and feed your cat accordingly. If you want to see another brand that offers fresh, cooked meal plans for cats, check out our Smalls Cat Food review.
- Mixed results: One of our two pet food aficionados (Hobbes) was underwhelmed with some of We Feed Raw’s meal options. He preferred cooked fresh food, such as The Farmer’s Dog. However, the other dog we tested the food on absolutely loved it and gobbled it down every bite. We think this discrepancy simply boiled down to pickiness and not the quality of the food overall.
- Make room in the freezer: Fresh frozen food always requires freezer space (for all of the food your dog won’t eat in the next day or two). But We Feed Raw especially favors bulk orders. If you order without a subscription and want to build your own box, you have to order in 30-lb. increments. This may be a lot if you have a small dog breed. However, if you make a meal plan or subscribe to one of their pre-portioned Essential boxes, you can receive less food in each shipment.
- Cost: Feeding your dog fresh, human-grade food isn’t cheap. But that’s because you’re providing your dog with a nutritious diet of real food, which should improve their overall health and may even reduce future vet bills. And although it isn’t cheap, We Feed Raw isn’t the most expensive fresh food brand we’ve reviewed. You can also combine it with kibble to balance cost and quality.
How does We Feed Raw work?
You can only get We Feed Raw pet food by placing an order on their website. You can order food in one of three ways: pre-made boxes, bulk orders, or by setting up a custom meal plan.
Bulk orders allow you to purchase large quantities of the specific recipes you choose. However, you can only order in 30-lb. increments, which may be too much if you’re feeding a small dog or cat.
Essential boxes come in three sizes: the Big Box (27 lbs.), the Classic Box (18 lbs.), or the Small Box (9 lbs.). These boxes come with three pre-selected recipes—beef, turkey, and lamb—so you may not be able to get the recipes you want with this option.
Custom meal plans are your most convenient option because you’ll get tailored feeding instructions for your dog, you get to choose exactly which recipes you want, and you’ll receive automatic, just-in-time shipping, so your dog never runs out of food. Plus you get 20% or more off your first subscription order.
Setting up a meal plan is super easy and only takes a couple of minutes. We Feed Raw will ask you a few basic questions about your pet, such as whether they’re a dog or cat, their breed, age, weight, and sex, whether they’re spayed or neutered, and which proteins they prefer.
We Feed Raw works with veterinary nutritionists to calculate the precise number of calories your pet needs per day based on their breed, weight, activity level, and more. After you fill in the relevant information, you’ll get a custom meal plan with feeding instructions for your pet.
Regardless of how you order, your food will come in an insulated box with dry ice to keep it cold until you arrive home to move it to your freezer. Our shipments have always been completely frozen when we received them, but as long as yours is still cool to the touch, it is safe to feed to your pet.
Your instructions will indicate how much of each pack to feed to your pet per meal. For example, my instructions for Hobbes told me to evenly divide my pack into 8 squares, and then to feed six of those squares (about 13 oz. total) to him per day.
This is basically how most pet food subscription services work, although some, such as Nom Nom Dog Food, pre-portion each meal for dogs of certain sizes.
Feeding is easy—just defrost your next pack of food in the refrigerator overnight and scoop it into the bowl at mealtime. If you ever forget to defrost the next pack, you can just place the sealed package in a bowl of warm water until it softens.
If you set up a meal plan, your next shipment will be delivered automatically, and you’ll be billed when that order is processed. However, you can pause, skip, or cancel your subscription at any time, as long as your next delivery hasn’t already been prepared (about 24 hours before shipment). This cut-off time is generally Saturdays at 8:59 pm ET.
Meal options
We Feed Raw offers six meal options, each based on a different, human-grade protein (see the list below). Each recipe was formulated by veterinary nutritionists to meet AAFCO standards for All Life Stages, which means you can feed it to every dog from puppies to senior dogs. This includes large-breed puppies (70 lbs.+).
Additionally, each recipe includes finely ground, edible bone to meet a dog’s nutritional needs.
You can choose from three livestock and three fowl options. However, if your pet has dietary restrictions, note that the duck recipe also includes some turkey ingredients, and the venison and lamb recipes also include beef.
If you want a venison or lamb recipe that includes no beef, check out our Just Food For Dogs review or our Pet Plate review.
Dog food recipes
- Chicken: Chicken Hearts, Chicken Backs, Chicken Leg Quarters, Chicken Liver, WFR vitamin + mineral mix*
- Turkey: Turkey Gizzards, Turkey Tails, Turkey Wings, Turkey Liver, WFR vitamin + mineral mix*
- Duck: Duck, Turkey Gizzards, Turkey Liver, WFR vitamin + mineral mix*
- Beef: Beef Heart, Beef Liver, Beef Kidney, Beef Necks (with bone), WFR vitamin + mineral mix*
- Venison: Venison, Beef Heart, Beef Liver, Beef Kidney, Beef Necks (with bone), WFR vitamin + mineral mix*
- Lamb: Lamb, Beef Heart, Beef Liver, Beef Kidney, Beef Necks (with bone), WFR vitamin + mineral mix*
*WeFeedRaw vitamin + mineral mix: Flaxseed, Calcium Carbonate, Zinc Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin Supplement, Copper Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Calcium Pantothenate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Calcium Iodate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid
Cat food
Although it doesn’t offer a specific line of cat food, We Feed Raw markets its raw food line to cats as well.
They can do this while many other fresh dog food brands can’t because of how their recipes are formulated. While other brands include grains, carbs, and other fresh veggies suitable for dogs, We Feed Raw uses only meat, bone, and minerals. This suits the dietary needs of cats, which are obligate carnivores.
And since the ingredients are raw, they include the natural taurine cats need to maintain healthy organ functioning.
But if you feel a little weird feeding your cat food mainly marketed toward dogs, we have a solid backup option: Smalls. You can learn all about it in our Smalls Cat Food review. But to put it simply, Smalls is a brand made by cat owners for cats. It’s clear from their product offerings and options that cats weren’t an afterthought, as they are with some dog food brands.
You can see another solid option in our Open Farm Cat Food review. However, it’s important to point out that neither Smalls nor Open Farm is raw.
How much is it?
Your price will depend both on how much your dog eats, the recipes you choose, and how you decide to order the food.
If you have a large dog that likes one or two recipes and you have plenty of freezer space, you can use the brand’s bulk order option, which ranges from a little more than $0.41 / oz. for the cheapest recipe (beef) to a little over $0.62 / oz. for the most expensive option (venison). My 35-pound dog, Hobbes, eats 13 oz. per day, which comes out to $5.33 per day for the beef recipe. This is similar to the price of most human-grade fresh dog foods. If you own a small breed, you’ll pay significantly less.
The only catch is you have to order a minimum of 30 pounds of food. And if you need more than 30 pounds, you have to jump straight to 60 pounds. Fortunately, if you subscribe to purchases, you can receive them as infrequently as once every six weeks, giving you time to work through the food.
We Feed Raw’s Essential boxes (priced in the table below) come in more manageable sizes, and they offer a variety of recipes. However, they don’t include the venison, chicken, or duck recipes.
If you want to include one of these other recipes, or if you’d just like a plan tailor-made for your dog, we recommend clicking the button to start a meal plan at the top of We Feed Raw’s website. This will allow you to enter some basic details about your dog and choose which recipes you’d like to receive, as often as you’d like to receive them. You can go through this process and create a meal plan without committing to a purchase, and after you’re done you’ll see how much it would cost you per delivery.
| WFR Essential Boxes | Price | Recipes included |
| Big Box (27 x 16 oz.) | Full price: $264 ($0.61 / oz.) Sale price: $199 ($0.46 / oz.) | Beef, Turkey, Lamb |
| Classic Box (18 x 16 oz.) | Full price: $193 ($0.67 / oz.) Sale price: $149 ($0.52 / oz.) | Beef, Turkey, Lamb |
| Small Box (24 x 6 oz.) | Full price: $125 ($0.87 / oz.) Sale price: $99 ($0.69 / oz.) | Beef, Turkey, Lamb |
Is it worth it?
How you want to balance cost and quality is a decision only you can make. As with other fresh food brands, We Feed Raw isn’t cheap. But that’s because you’re feeding your dog real, unprocessed food instead of cheap kibble.
This could pay dividends down the line if your pet develops fewer health issues due to a high-quality diet.
However, the other reason we believe We Feed Raw is worth considering is how easy it makes feeding your dog a raw diet. Feeding your pet a DIY raw diet is no easy task. You have to purchase a variety of expensive and uncommon ingredients, painstakingly balance precise nutrients and minerals, and clean up the mess. We Feed Raw makes all of this as simple as opening a fresh package of food. If you want to feed your dog raw, then We Feed Raw is a no-brainer.
- Human-grade raw ingredients
- 90% muscle & organ meat; 10% ground bone
- AAFCO approved for all life stages
- Get 20% or more off your first subscription purchase
How does We Feed Raw compare to other options?
So far, We Feed Raw is the only fresh raw food company we’ve reviewed. We’ve tried some freeze-dried raw food, such as what’s sold by Open Farm Dog Food, but these options don’t really compare to the quality of We Feed Raw since they’re a little more processed. We Feed Raw does an excellent job sourcing high-quality, human-grade ingredients for your pet, and we think it’s a great choice.
But if you’re not determined to feed your dog a raw diet, there are some other human-grade fresh options to consider. The Farmer’s Dog is one of our favorite food delivery services. They offer four gently cooked, high-quality recipes that our dog, Hobbes, absolutely loves. And even though there are merits to feeding your dog a raw diet, Hobbes gets a lot more excited about eating The Farmer’s Dog. If you want to try it out, we’ve partnered with the brand to give our readers an exclusive 60% off their first box. Or you can learn more about it in our The Farmer’s Dog Food review.
A close runner-up is Nom Nom Dog Food, which offers the same sort of gently cooked recipes, plus some great gut health probiotics and diagnostic kits. You can learn about it in our Nom Nom Dog Food review.
Neither of the brands offer quite as high a protein content as We Feed Raw, since their recipes are constituted almost entirely of meat. But there is one other fresh food brand that impresses protein fanatics: Raised Right. You can learn all about it in our Raised Right Dog Food review, but we will say that our readers who have tried it out keep coming back for more.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is We Feed Raw safe?
Yes! We Feed Raw uses a process called high-pressure processing (HPP) to eliminate food-borne pathogens like E. Coli, Salmonella, and Listeria. HPP is a process that utilizes extremely high water pressure rather than heat. This allows We Feed Raw to deliver safe food that is still totally raw.
Is We Feed Raw the same as We Eat Raw?
“We Eat Raw” is a misnomer some people mistakenly use when referring to We Feed Raw.
Where is it available?
We Feed Raw is available in every state other than Alaska and Hawaii. It’s not currently available in U.S. Territories. Order via the We Feed Raw website.
How much is shipping?
Shipping is free everywhere in the contiguous U.S.
Has We Feed Raw ever been recalled?
No, there have been no reported recalls as of the publish date at the top of this article.
>> Read more:
Can I cook We Feed Raw?
You can cook We Feed Raw, but you aren’t meant to. The whole point is to feed your dog an all natural, all-raw diet.
However, if this is your first time feeding your dog raw meat and they’re being picky, lightly searing it may help encourage them to try it out.
Just throw it on a skillet at a medium-high heat until you get a nice sear on the outside, but pink in the middle. Over time, try to cook it less and less until they’re used to eating it fully raw.
Other We Feed Raw reviews
Here’s what others are saying about We Feed Raw:
Deborah B.
“I used to feed ‘high-quality’ kibble because I didn’t know better and my dogs became sicker, weaker, and ‘old’ before their time. Since switching to We Feed Raw, their health, mental, physical, and emotional states is nothing short of miraculous. I highly recommend this company — it will change your fur babies’ lives.”
Jesika B.
“I can’t even believe there was a time when I was not feeding my dog a raw diet. Since switching her over about 2 years ago she has been in perfect health. She has more lean muscle, healthy teeth, super soft fur, and now only rarely gets skin allergies during certain times of year. Giving her the appropriate nutrition for her body is another form of health insurance.”
Sunny B.
“Before we switched him to raw, he was very allergic and always itchy, even with medicine. His stools were inconsistent and he would often throw up. Now he has no allergies and his poop is solid and odorless! On kibble, he was such a finicky eater, but now he can’t wait to eat. He does the happy dance every time he sees his dinner.”
