As devoted dog owners, we all want to make informed choices about what we feed our dogs. But when choosing a dog food, which features matter most?

A survey shared by All About Dog Food asked 1,266 dog owners:

“What’s the first thing you look for in a dog food?”

About the Survey

The results discussed in this article come from a survey published by All About Dog Food and are based on 1,266 responses in November 2024. 

The results provide an interesting snapshot of the priorities reported by this particular group of respondents. They shouldn’t, however, be treated as representative of all UK dog owners or the wider dog food market.

🐾 The Survey Results at a Glance

• High Meat Content – 55% (702 votes)
• Natural Ingredients – 9.9% (125 votes)
• Hypoallergenic – 7% (89 votes)
• Clear Labelling – 6.2% (79 votes)
• Grain-Free – 9.6% (122 votes)
• Flavour – 1.5% (19 votes)
• UK Made – 4.1% (52 votes)
• Price – 4.5% (57 votes)
• Company Ethic – 1.7% (21 votes)

What Did These Dog Owners Care About Most?

Among the 1,266 respondents, high meat content was by far the most commonly selected answer, receiving 55% of the votes.

Protein is an important part of a dog’s diet, providing amino acids required for normal functions including the growth, maintenance and repair of body tissues.

However, high meat content and crude protein aren’t the same measurement. A food’s animal-ingredient percentage describes the proportion of animal-derived ingredients used in the recipe, while crude protein is an analytical measurement of the protein content of the finished food.

Learn what 80:20 dog food means and how animal-ingredient percentage differs from crude protein.

Other respondents prioritised factors including natural ingredients, grain-free recipes, hypoallergenic qualities, clear labelling, UK production, price, flavour and company ethics.

These results tell us what mattered most to the people who participated in this particular survey rather than establishing the priorities of dog owners generally.

How Wolfworthy Compares with Those Priorities

Several of the features highlighted by survey respondents are also central to the way we make Wolfworthy.

1. High Animal-Ingredient Content

Wolfworthy recipes are made with 80% animal ingredients, including high levels of freshly prepared meat or fish.

This shouldn’t be confused with crude protein. Our finished recipes contain approximately 36–37% crude protein, depending on the recipe.

2. Carefully Selected Ingredients

Our recipes combine high levels of animal ingredients with other carefully selected ingredients to create complete food suitable for all life stages.

You can see exactly what goes into each recipe here.

3. Grain-Free Recipes

All three Wolfworthy recipes – Original, Oily Fish and Countryside – are grain-free.

Every dog is different, and being grain-free doesn’t automatically make one food better than another. It is simply one of the characteristics of our recipes and one that some dog owners specifically look for when choosing a food.

4. Hypoallergenic

Wolfworthy recipes are hypoallergenic and made using carefully selected ingredients.

If your dog has a known food allergy or specific dietary requirements, check the full ingredients for the individual recipe before feeding and speak to your vet if you need individual dietary advice.

5. Clear Labelling

We believe dog owners should be able to see what they’re feeding.

Our ingredient lists clearly identify the ingredients used in each recipe, while our analytical constituents provide information including crude protein, fat, fibre, ash, moisture, calcium and phosphorus.

6. Made in the UK

Wolfworthy is made in the UK, giving us a close relationship with how our recipes are produced.

7. Ingredient Sourcing

We care about where our ingredients come from and the quality standards behind them.

Find out more about where Wolfworthy sources its ingredients.

What About Price?

Price was selected as the first priority by 4.5% of respondents in this particular survey.

That doesn’t mean price is unimportant to the other respondents – only that it wasn’t the factor they selected first when answering this question.

Wolfworthy is a nutrient-dense food, so dogs generally require smaller portions than they would with some traditional kibbles. The most useful way to understand the cost for your individual dog is therefore to calculate their recommended daily feeding amount.

And What About Taste?

Flavour was selected first by 1.5% of respondents.

Of course, whether an individual dog enjoys a food still matters. Wolfworthy recipes contain high levels of freshly prepared meat or fish and are gently cooked to retain flavour while creating a convenient dry food.

Every dog has individual preferences, so we also offer 60g samples as a simple taste test before committing to a full-size bag.

What Can We Take from the Survey?

This All About Dog Food survey provides an interesting snapshot of what 1,266 participating dog owners said they looked for first when choosing dog food.

Within this group, high meat content was the clear leading response, while natural ingredients, grain-free food, hypoallergenic qualities, clear labelling and several other considerations also received votes.

It would be too broad to conclude from one survey that these results represent every dog owner or demonstrate a market-wide trend.

What they do show is that the people who responded considered a range of factors when choosing their dogs’ food – and many of those factors, including high animal-ingredient content, grain-free recipes and clear ingredient information, are also important to how we approach Wolfworthy.