In most reviews I compare the ingredients of various kibbles (or biscuits as we shouldn’t glamourise them as in Australia), but if you ask my honest opinion I’m more an advocate for raw dog food rather than the kibble which most of us consider the “norm”.
Our dogs are more carnivore than omnivore, right?
For this reason, in 2024, it’s great to see Scratch – an already decent Australian dog food company – bring out a new line of raw dog food as well!
Take a look at the bowl of kibble and raw above. Have you ever thought about doing this?
Accordingly, this review will cover the original Scratch dry dog food (which for many will be the most practical choice), but also the new range of raw dog food.
So, if you’re scratching your head trying to decide whether to feed your dog dry or raw, my advice is read this review and settle on a mix of both!
Let’s take a look:
Scratch dog food review
What the marketing says
On the Scratch Pet Food website we find comparisons between store-bought kibble and Scratch, highlighting how most kibble you buy is owned 95% by big multinationals (they’re referring to the likes of Mars and Nestle if you want to know), with unregulated and misleading labelling.
I agree completely.
Although there is regulation around the labelling of pet food, they’re 100% right about how misleading it can be. For example, most of us are duped by terms like “Meat first ingredient”, which in truth means very little if the next several ingredients are inappropriate crap for your meat-loving pooch.
In contrast, Scratch is 100% Australian owned, using whole Australian produce and “premium” Australian meat. They state the labelling is fully transparent (we’ll take a look at that later), as well as being fresher for your dog (with a shorter turn around from being made to hitting your dog’s food bowl).
A lot of the marketing around Scratch dog food is how good it is for clearing up symptoms of dietary reactions, intolerances, and what we often incorrectly term as “allergies” (it’s not an allergy if it’s caused by ingredients your dog shouldn’t be eating anyway).
The above is certainly true, and I’ll tell you why in this review.
Scratch is a “subscription” dog food.
It’s worth noting Scratch works on subscription rather than being an off-the-shelf dog food.
This will suit you if you’re happy for your dog food to be delivered as and when you need it, and also cuts out the costs of the retailer as the “middle man”. The benefit to you, or more specifically your dog, is those costs can be put towards better quality ingredients (and arguably increased profits to a smaller independent pet food company).
What the ingredients really say
Kibble
Right then, let’s take a look at the ingredients to see if they truly are as transparent as they claim…. starting with the dry dog food (we’ll focus on Premium Turkey, Lamb & Beef Kibble as the benchmark).
The first point is the food can be considered expensive at over $10 per kilo, but perhaps not quite as much when you consider how cheaply most store-bought kibble is made. Processed nuggets of wheat can be made very cheaply, but are they healthy for your dog? (The answer to that is no, of course not).
Scratch boasts over 30% protein, which is what I would class as a high-protein dog food. That’s a great thing, as your dog will benefit far more from protein than starchy carbs from grains.
Fat content, another important factor in your dog’s diet, sits at 16%, and thanks to the transparency of Scratch we’re told total carbohydrates are respectably low at 32.5%. Find me a supermarket brand of dog food which tells you how heavy they are on carbs – they don’t tell you, because they don’t want you to know.
It’s great to see more transparency with the Scratch pet foods than other brands, and I really appreciate they have listed percentage amounts for all main ingredients. This really helps us understand what the food is made from.
It has to be said, like other similar dog foods in this price bracket, the recipe is more plant based than meat based.
We have 27% broad beans, and a further 27% of chickpeas. That’s 54% of the formula already.
When it comes to animal ingredients, which you should consider as more nutritious for your dog, we have 24% turkey meal (a protein dense form of turkey), boosted with 4.5% lamb meal, and 5% beef liver digest which I consider very welcome in the formula.
Combine the above 33.5% animal ingredients with a further 7% beef fat, and we have a figure of 40.5% animal ingredients. That’s decent for a dry dog food.
In case I’ve bored you too much with maths, let’s summarise the above and say the Scratch dry dog food is actually pretty decent, using better ingredients than most dog foods.
As a kibble, I feel Scratch is a good choice, and I have a good suggestion:
If you’re bothered by a kibble being more plant based than meat based, why not combine the convenience of the kibble with raw dog food (either home made or the Scratch raw dog food)?
There’s still some great points to make about the Scratch dry dog food when we consider the more minor inclusions.
It’s great to see a range of oils – not just the beef fat, but salmon, flaxseed, coconut, and sunflower oils – a good mix of omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. It’s nice to have a mix, right?
We find a few veggies – carrots, pumpkins, spinach – and also chicory, beet pulp, alfalfa, and yucca extract for fibre and probiotics.
These more minor ingredients should benefit your dog and tick off the “gut health” box.
Why is Scratch good for digestive health, and dietary sensitivities?
In my experience, the Number 1 cause of itchy scratch dogs is the many poor quality excuses for “dog food”, particularly those made of cheap cereal grains, wheat, ambiguous antioxidants and preservatives, food colourings, or poor quality ingredients in general.
When it comes to Scratch you don’t have those inclusions, which offers you a much better option for your dog.
My main concern is the significance of Scratch being more plant-based than meat-based, but if you’ve looked at whole-prey kibbles like Orijen, or the growing range of freeze and air-dried raw dog foods, then you’ll note they come at a significantly higher cost.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a decent Australian brand of kibble, and you’re happy with the subscription style, then Scratch could be a good choice for you.
Raw
When it comes to raw dog foods, mixes, or BARF (biologically appropriate raw food) you can get purist animal-based raw or a mix of animal and veggies.
The Scratch raw dog food falls into this latter category, but don’t let you put off – it’s a really good mix of meats, organs, salmon frames, and a range of veggies and other nutrients which I see as beneficial for your dog.
Raw foods are almost always healthier and more appropriate for your dog, which is why my heart lies in raw feeding, and pre-made raw like this is undeniably convenient.
In the Scratch raw dog food you’ll find beef muscle meat (30%), beef heart (25%), Atlantic salmon frames (8%), beef liver (4.5%), and beef spleen (3%).
This is excellent for your dog whether you consider them an omnivore or a carnivore (I view dogs as more carnivore than the pet food industry wants me to do so).
All other ingredients are well chosen, including sweet potato (10%) as one of the best carb inclusions, green beans (4%), zucchini (4%), and in smaller moderations peanut butter, kale, blueberries, wheat germ, bone flour, cold pressed wheat germ oil, aquamin (a mineral complex good for bone and joint health), salt, kelp, fortified yeast, and zinc yeast.
The ingredients really speak for themselves, and I would highly recommend the Scratch raw dog food. You can combine it with kibble (good for cost saving and practicality), or feed it as a 100% nutritionally complete and balanced diet.
My one gripe with all raw dog foods or BARF like this is your dog won’t benefit from gnawing and chewing on raw meaty bones – what I consider optimal for dental health – but you can cater for that with decent animal-based chews.
Ingredients
Please note the ingredients of Scratch dog food (Premium Turkey, Lamb & Beef Kibble) are taken from the Scratch Pet Food website, and are not the conventional form you would usually find on an ingredients panel. The types of ingredients are categorised rather than being list in a descending order of significance.
Note: The ingredients of Scratch raw dog food are covered above, so won’t be repeated here.
Meat Turkey Meal 24%, Lamb Meal 4%, Beef Liver Digest 5%, Veggies Broad Beans 27%, Chick Peas 27%, Beet Pulp, Chicory, Alfalfa, Yucca Extract, Carrots, Chia, Spinach, Pumpkin, Kelp, Turmeric, Fats & Oils Beef Fat 7%, Sunflower Oil 2.7%, Salmon Oil, Flaxseed Oil, Coconut Oil, DHA from Algae, Vitamins & Minerals Monosodium Phosphate, Salt, DL Methionine & Taurine, Zinc Sulphate Monohydrate, Essential Vitamins & Minerals, Natural Antioxidants, Mixed Tocopherols and Rosemary Extract.
Turkey Meal 24%,
Most dog food ‘Turkey’ has plenty of chicken in it. Not here! Our Turkey comes from Inghams, is 100% Australian and with no added hormones.
Lamb Meal 4.5%
100% Australian pasture-fed lamb with no added hormones.
Beef Liver Digest 5%
We top it off with some Beef Liver. While it does have some nutritional value, our premium liver digest makes dogs go nuts for the taste. Veggies
Broad Beans 27%,
Great source of protein, fibre and vitamins & minerals. “I guess veggies are ok…. As long as it means it is Grain & Soy Free”
Chick Peas 27%,
Great source of protein, fibre and complex carbs.
Beet Pulp,
Moderately fermentable fibre to support good gut health
Chicory,
Prebiotic that promotes beneficial gut bacteria
Alfalfa,
Protein, fibre and vitamins & minerals
Yucca Extract,
Plant extract to help reduce stool odour. You’re welcome, Poo Slave.
Carrots,
Natural Source of Vitamin A & Beta Carotene. “Carrots help me see better right? All the better to see you with!”
Chia,
Omegas, fibre & B vitamins
Spinach,
Antioxidants, Vitamin K & Iron. “Soo much tastier than Kale”
Pumpkin,
Fibre, Vitamins & Potassium
Kelp,
Concentrated source of iodine, zinc, iron & copper
Turmeric
Source of Curcumin, a powerful antioxidant. “Like a daily Golden Latte! Hey, when’s our next trip to Byron?” Fats & Oils
Beef Fat (7%),
Great tasting source of energy. “Can I pleassse lick the bowl?”
Sunflower Oil (2.7%),
Excellent source of Omega-6 to help maintain healthy skin and glossy coat. “Shiny fur helps me get my strut on at the dog park”.
Salmon Oil,
Tasmanian Salmon oil is a great source of Omega-3 EPA & DHA to support brain development in puppies.
Flaxseed Oil,
Included for its high percentage of Omega 3
Coconut Oil,
Concentrate source of energy that helps maintain healthy skin. “This is paleo right?”
DHA from Algae
Long-Chain Omega-3s that help brain development in puppies and promote a healthy coat and skin. Vitamins & Minerals
Monosodium Phosphate,
Needed for healthy bone development.
Salt,
Salt is required to maintain the electrolyte balance, organs and nervous system.
DL Methionine & Taurine,
Extra amino acids for heart and eye health. Especially important for large breed dogs and breeds predisposed to some heart conditions.
Zinc Sulphate Monohydrate,
Important for a healthy coat, skin, and immune system. “Silky smooth skin = more belly rubs”
Essential Vitamins & Minerals
Concentrated supplement of vitamins and minerals to ensure that your woofer has everything he needs to thrive. Bet you can’t say them in one breath! – Choline chloride, Calcium carbonate, Zinc sulphate, Vitamin E, Ferrous Sulphate, Vitamin C, Copper Sulphate, Vitamin B3 Niacin, Vitamin B5 D-Calpantothenate, Vitamin B2 Riboflavin, Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12 Cyanocobalamin, Vitamin B1 Thiamine, Selenium, Manganous oxide, Vitamin B6, Pyridoxine, Potassium Iodide, Vitamin B9 Folic Acid. Natural Antioxidants
Mixed Tocopherols and Rosemary Extract
Vitamin E and other natural mixed Tocopherols combine with Rosemary Extract to make sure everything stays fresh.
Never had any issues with scratch my 3yo lab is on the high protein Turkey mix. Of course not all pups have same needs. If anyone wants to try discount code is REFNDC3BQVKE2
So our Bull Arab has two humans that provide food for him among other duties like throwing ball and pulling rope. In the beginning we had tried many brands of kibble but he wasn’t happy with the “deposits”. As care, home and transport providers we thought we might have to move to a raw diet as this seems to work for many with this breed, until we tried Scratch. Within a couple of days the “deposits” solidified, to the extent that after a “deposit” he would come bounding back into the sitting room with a look of sheer joy on his face. This also makes clean up on the back lawn and doggy parks much easier for the care takers thankfully. Then there is the obsession with the dried beef treats which when chopped up make for excellent training treats. Now, don’t get me wrong, his royal highness does have a discerning taste and can from time to time not fancy the same bowl of kibble day after day, and so we as care givers have to mix it up a little, mixing in some chicken works wonders for this. Thank you to Scratch for keeping the royal one happy, we must go now and pay the cheese tax.
My Staffy did great on the kangaroo one… until she didn’t. By the time I finished the third bag she started throwing up and having loose stools randomly until one day she woke up with a distended stomach (I was terrified thinking she had bloat). I fed her a bland diet and she was back to her normal happy self in no time.
Upon reading your review, I strongly suspect it is the peas. Ordering Petzyo now, fingers crossed it will work for my girl.
Enquiry re cost + delivery for ur range. Could I have paper display, not tech savvy!
Hi, you would need to contact Scratch direct, sorry!
Hello, our blue heeler/border collie x is approx. 16+years old, has a beautiful double coat however now has signs of early renal failure. He is 25kgs in weight and also has some arthritis in his back legs.
Does your dog kibble have food for this type of issue, ie low protein food?
Stop feeding your dog kibble altogether with those two ailments. Make him some brown rice & veggie stew, add raw meat to it and maybe an egg occasionally & get him supplements for arthritis such as Green lipped mussel, glucosamine etc. I give mine all of that plus 4Cyte gel. Your vet can also give him a shot of glucosamine if needed. If you aren’t comfortable making fresh food for him yourself you can buy air-dried or freeze-dried food that you add water to or fresh food from Pet stores. I realise your comment is old and this reply may be too late but other people reading this might get something from it.
As pet owners all we can do is apply are due diligence when researching dog food in the hope that we find and feed our dogs good quality food. For me finally the researching has come to an end, from feeding raw food, freeze dried food, my dog is doing really well on Scratch, he’s gone through 2 x Bags of Lamb, Beef and Turkey he’s now on the Kangaroo which he love’s. Everything from ordering to the team answering my emails has been excellent. I really like the transparency on the ingredients log, so if you have a dog with food intolerances and the recipe is changed due to supply issues you can see whats been substituted, I know of no other company that does this. Of course, you need to do your own research and at the end of the day our dogs have the final say. I remember during our journey feeding my dog a highly recommended weel known company food, bang he hated it and shat everywhere, so at least grab some samples and check out scratch well done team.
Tried this dog food for my 11 yo Scottish Terrier, after our favourite Ivory Coat Dog Food Co sold out their Australian operation to overseas interests and the quality deteriorated.
Yes Scratch’s website and marketing is really cool, but the lack of flexibility isn’t. My dog was first put into the Lamb and Ancient Grains Kibble (no samples or one offs you had to sign to a plan) and really didn’t like it from the get-go after always being a good eater.
I contacted the company and they offered to replace with another variety (not the variety I wanted) that I had to pay for in addition to the initial purchase. When I asked about returning the one initial unopened bag I had in exchange I was told to not send it back but donate it to a dog shelter. I haven’t as yet been able to find one that wants the kibble.
To me this is gross waste, as now my dog also dislikes the replacement and after a few months of trying I’ve changed to another food brand and I’m left with two bags of half used kibble and one unopened.
Companies like Scratch need to think through some of their processss a bit better to call themselves sustainable, including greater flexibility to trialling and purchasing the product
You cant really get away from the ads for Scratch so finally caved and ordered some. Great online buying experience.Didnt work out for my dog, tried for 3 weeks but even small amounts triggered unhappy movements. Glad I tried but wont re-order.
Ads are abound for literally every brand ever, I look past them, not really into the flashy parts, I just need the ingredients and if they look good and the protein fat etc looks good. I may try it, depending on the meat, mine didn’t like this or any other kangaroo kibble.
You should try Orijen from Very Pet, cause you can get a sample like bag for $15. My dogs love it and do very well on it.
I have a list of foods I think are good based on reviews, my own experiences etc that might be of use to you.
Wellness Core
Holistic Select
Instinctive Bite (not the salmon) budget
Orijen and Acana when available
Vetalogica bioglogically appropriate
Taste of the Wild
Meals for Mutts
Balanced Life/non kibble options as well
Xp3020
Nutra gold budget version of ToTW
Phoenix
Cherish
Aldi Natural Elements is not bad for budget/GF version is high fat 18%
Stockman and Paddock GF version (high fat) budget
Pure life kibble and freeze dried mixture
Man’s Best
PurePro if you need super high calorie (716 kcals a cup)
Non kibble range
Ziwi peak
Woof
K9 Natural
Absolute Holistic
Providore with 2 for $88 specials, can be considered a budget air dried (for now) price keeps increasing.
Kiwi Kitchens
FrontierPets
I joined scratch with the hope of improving my dogs skin allergies and ear infections. He ate the food no problem however about a week after starting him on it he refused to eat his breakfast which was VERY unusual for him. We took him to the vet and found that the food had caused serious stomach issues for him and he was throwing up and also had diarrhea for the next week. According to our vet grain free biscuits are actually very dangerous especially in large breeds.
So it’s likely based on the DCM thing, where honestly the number of cases was only a few hundred over 5 years didn’t even reach 1000. We have 900 million dogs in the world, at least 300 million I’d say would be eating grain free. So less than a thousand cases in 300 million dogs is incredibly fishy.
It just doesn’t make any sense to why they would blow it up that much, I think it was because the Big 4 were loosing money and they made up some shit. Now the problem with making stuff up, is you have to back it up eventually.
They still can’t back it up, it was debunked plenty of times. However one thing they did find, was beet pulp and lamb foods cause issues with taurine in the body.
They also found that increasing taurine in dogs fed this diet helped tremendously. Taurine can actually be bought from GreenPet is it’s ever a worry. The doses are tiny and it’s cheap.
There was also mentions of, most kibble nowadays are loaded with legumes, they have more legumes than meat. This is the reason why some dogs are having issues.
There is no sure fire way to tell how much meat a kibble has, meat first doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. Lots of foods are meat first and only contain 9% actual meat.
If you have a large breed or any breed who is predisposed to heart problems, add meat to their food, add air dried/freeze dried toppers. Meat is high in natural taurine, which is lacking in pet food.
Orijen is a good “kibble” because it has 85% raw meat, this amount obviously lowers once the food has been cooked. But this food is rich in natural taurine, it’s got it all. Meat/fish/organs/bone. But it’s unfortunately expensive. It’s low carb, it may appear to have a lot of legumes but it doesn’t.
Any kibble with 4+ meats in the first line, will usually have more meat, but without percentages we don’t really know how much, unless they say how much.
Vetalogica biologically appropriate says 65% meat and Instinctive Bite writes how much meat they use as well from 49% to 70% for the salmon. Does it actually contain that much salmon? No idea, all I know is it’s their worst offender for bad reviews.
The other flavours are good, just never buy the salmon, unless you want a sick dog. I reckon they’ve used too much salmon frames and oil and it’s so incredibly rich that only a select few pups can actually eat it without issue.
There’s a few brands with a few meats in the first few lines, but yeah I can’t really remember them all at the moment.
As one of the founders of Scratch I wanted to thank you for the review.
We believe that all pet foods should transparently list all their ingredients and percentages of all the main ingredients as pet parents deserve that level of information so thank you for recognising that. Leading the way with this, we do expect some shock reactions as people are not used to seeing the truth about pet food.
Very few single animal protein kibbles will have more meat content than we have in “Scratch” when considered equally on a dry basis. The reason there is not more kangaroo was to make sure key nutritional ratios were not breached. So, while Broad Beans are cheaper than Kangaroo, they are similar to the cost of chicken and more expensive than a generic “meat meal”. They are also a much more expensive ingredient than grains or the typical grain free ingredients of potato starch or tapioca starch. We also believe it is much better to have a whole ingredient-based diet instead of the refined proteins and starches.
Broad beans are a good source of protein and fibre as well as vitamins & minerals. Tapioca or potato starches as alternatives are basically pure carbohydrates making Broad Beans a much better choice. Raw Broad Beans should not be fed to dogs, but the time and temperature of the extrusion process de-activates the enzymes that cause protein absorption problems when raw. Feeding trial research(published in Journal of Animal Science) has measured total tract digestibility of Broad Beans consisting up to 30% of the diet, and showed almost no difference than the control diet.
On our website ingredient page, we explain the reasons why we have included each ingredient.
If anyone has any further questions, feel free to reach out to me at doug@scratchpetfood.com.au For a small fee we now also ship to Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra.