Is kibble bad for dogs?

They sit at our table. They sleep in our bed. They greet us at the door like we've been gone for years, even when it's only been ten minutes. They are, in every way that matters, family.

We'd do anything for them. We take them to the vet the moment something seems off. We'd spend whatever it takes to restore their health. We chose them as our best friend, and we mean it.

But what if the very thing we put in their bowl every single day — the one thing we trust to keep them nourished — is actually working against them?

For the majority of dogs in the UK, that thing is kibble. And the truth about what's inside it — and what's done to it before it reaches the bowl — is something most pet food brands would rather you didn't look into.

It starts with the process: extrusion turns gold into dust

Kibble is made through extrusion — the same industrial technology used to manufacture Cheetos and breakfast cereals. Ingredients are forced through a machine at extreme temperatures (110–180°C) and high pressure, shaped into pellets, and sprayed with oils and flavour coatings.

Published research shows extrusion can destroy up to 80% of essential amino acids like lysine. Heat-sensitive vitamins are severely diminished. Omega-3 fatty acids are damaged. And the extreme heat triggers the Maillard reaction, producing toxic compounds including acrylamide. Manufacturers then add synthetic vitamin packs back in — trying to rebuild what they just destroyed.

To compensate, manufacturers add synthetic vitamin and mineral packs back in after cooking — essentially trying to rebuild what they just destroyed. The label might say "complete and balanced," but the path to get there tells a very different story.

But the problems don't end with the process

Even before extrusion destroys the nutrition, the starting ingredients in most kibble are poor quality. It's not just a bad process applied to good food. It's a bad process applied to bad food.

More than 50% is carbohydrate filler

Kibble needs starch to hold its shape. So manufacturers bulk out recipes with wheat, maize, rice flour, beet pulp. In many leading UK brands, carbohydrates make up more than half the recipe. Dogs have no biological requirement for this. Their digestive systems are built for protein and fat, not flour.

Very little actual meat

Typical kibble contains around 15% meat — usually listed as "meat meal" or "dehydrated poultry protein," rendered from parts that didn't make it into human food. Under UK regulations, a product only needs 4% of a named meat to feature it on the front of the packaging.

A label you need a chemistry degree to read

Pick up a bag of kibble and count the ingredients. You'll often find 40, 50, even 60 items — mostly synthetic additives, preservatives, and binding agents. Now look at a RAWR pack: every ingredient is something you'd find in a supermarket.

The palatability trick

Dogs don't naturally want to eat flour-based pellets. So after extrusion, kibble is sprayed with a cocktail of fats, oils, and flavour coatings — sometimes called "palatants" or "digest" — to make it smell appealing enough to eat. Without this coating, most dogs would walk away from their bowl.

Think about that. The base product is so unappealing to the animal it's made for that it needs to be artificially flavoured just to get them to eat it.

When dogs encounter real meat — the kind in freeze-dried raw food — they don't need convincing. In blind taste tests, 95% of dogs prefer RAWR to their previous kibble. No spray coating required.

The health cost

We already know what ultra-processed food does to humans. The same principles apply to dogs. Skin irritations and allergies are one of the most common reasons dogs visit the vet — often caused by diet. Obesity rates in UK dogs have reached nearly 60%, driven by carb-heavy kibble. And dogs are reportedly living shorter lives despite us spending more on their healthcare than ever. We love them more than ever. But we've been feeding them the wrong thing from the start.

We have the best intentions. But the best intentions fed through the wrong bowl means they never stood a chance.

"But my vet says kibble is complete and balanced"

"Complete and balanced" means kibble meets FEDIAF minimum thresholds — the nutritional floor a dog needs to survive. It says nothing about ingredient quality, nutrient bioavailability, or long-term health. It tells you the food won't cause a deficiency. That's a very different thing from saying it's good for them. You are what you eat. And so is your dog.

What do veterinary nutritionists actually say?

A growing number of veterinary professionals are raising concerns about ultra-processed pet food. Published research has consistently demonstrated that extrusion cooking reduces protein digestibility, destroys heat-sensitive vitamins, and produces potentially harmful compounds through the Maillard reaction. Studies comparing fresh and minimally processed diets with extruded kibble show significantly higher nutrient digestibility and bioavailability in the less-processed foods.

The science is clear — high-heat extrusion fundamentally compromises the nutritional integrity of raw ingredients. Freeze-drying is the only preservation method that maintains the complete amino acid profile, the natural vitamin content, and the bioavailability that dogs need to genuinely thrive, not just survive.

Dr. Anna Lineva

DVM, ECVCN Diplomate — Board-Certified Veterinary Nutritionist

Board-certified veterinary nutritionists — the small number of vets who have completed years of postgraduate specialisation in clinical animal nutrition — increasingly advocate for minimally processed, biologically appropriate diets. RAWR's recipes are formulated by exactly these specialists: European Board Certified Veterinary Nutritionists who design every recipe from the ground up for optimal long-term health.

Check Why Rawr.

There is a better way. The single best way.

Dogs are born to eat real meat — their teeth, their digestive tract, their biology is designed for raw, meat-first nutrition. Not extruded flour pellets. Feeding biologically appropriate food isn't a trend. It's a return to what their bodies were built for.

Freeze-drying is the single most advanced method of preserving raw nutrition ever developed. Originally pioneered by NASA, it gently removes moisture from raw ingredients at sub-zero temperatures under vacuum pressure. No heat. No extrusion. No destruction (learn how freeze-drying works at /pages/why-freeze-drying). The result retains up to 97% of its original nutrients, rehydrates in seconds, and is shelf-stable without a single preservative.

RAWR starts with 85%+ prime-cut meat: chicken breast, beef flank, chicken heart and liver. Our Gourmet Chicken and Gourmet Beef recipes each contain functional superfoods — blueberries for antioxidants, pumpkin for fibre and digestion, broccoli for vitamins. Board-certified veterinary nutritionists ensure every recipe is complete, balanced, and biologically appropriate.

See Full Ingredients list here and our formulation process.

Pure. Real. Food. Preserved perfectly, so your dog gets the very best, every time.

References