Raw vs cooked dog food: which fresh diet suits your dog?

The short answer

Choose raw if you’re comfortable handling raw meat every day, have the freezer space and your vet is happy. Choose gently cooked if you want a fresh diet without raw-meat handling, or if anyone at home is more vulnerable to food poisoning. Neither is the right answer for every dog. Ours eat raw, and we’ll explain why, but cooked is a perfectly good choice for many households.

What’s actually different

The difference is simply whether the food has been cooked before it reaches your dog’s bowl. Both are usually made from fresh meat and vegetables, both are usually sold as complete meals by subscription, and both are a long way from a bag of kibble.

Raw food is uncooked meat, often with ground bone, usually sold as complete recipes. It arrives frozen. Bella & Duke, for example, says its recipes are at least 80% meat and 20% fruit, veg and healthy fats. Because raw recipes often contain bone, they aren’t meant to be heated: Bella & Duke says there is no cooked range: the food contains bone and should not be cooked.

Gently cooked food is fresh meat and vegetables, lightly cooked, then portioned and sent out. Butternut Box describes its food as fresh, gently cooked meals; Different Dog as fresh, cooked meals. How it’s stored varies by brand: for Butternut Box, it’s cooked meals delivered for the freezer and fridge (reported; check their site).

Brand details are from each brand’s own site, checked on 15 November 2026. Anything marked “reported” we couldn’t confirm there.

Handling and safety

This is where the two really differ. With cooked food, the cooking happens before it reaches you, so you aren’t handling raw meat. With raw food, you are, at every meal, and that carries a real risk of spreading harmful bacteria around your kitchen.

The Food Standards Agency tested 380 samples (277 dog, 103 cat) of raw pet food bought in the UK between March 2023 to February 2024. It found harmful bacteria in 35% of samples, including Salmonella in 21%, Campylobacter in 14% and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli in 12%. The survey didn’t name brands, so it tells you about raw pet food in general, not any one product.

That doesn’t mean raw can’t be fed carefully. It means hygiene isn’t optional: defrost in the fridge, keep raw food away from your own food, wash bowls, boards and hands after every meal, and don’t let your dog lick faces straight after eating. Food Standards Scotland publishes similar handling advice. Our guide to raw dog food safety covers the full picture and the routine we’d recommend.

Cost

We can’t give you a fair like-for-like price, because we only have verified prices for raw. What we can say is that both are premium fresh foods and both cost more than most dry food.

Bella & Duke advertises raw from £1.18 a day, based on a 5–10 kg, 4-year-old dog on Adult Premium Complete with an 8 kg delivery. All About Dog Food puts the average across Bella & Duke’s products at £2.52 a day for its own reference dog. Bigger and more active dogs cost more, whichever food you choose. We don’t have a verified per-day figure for Butternut Box or Different Dog, so get a quote for your own dog from each.

New-customer offers soften the first few boxes on both sides. Bella & Duke’s friend code gives 40% off your first two boxes, then 20% off the third, each capped; Butternut Box advertises 25% off your first 2 boxes plus a free gift; 50% off your first box for mailing-list sign-ups; Different Dog advertises 20% off your first 2 boxes plus a free treat, code REAL202. Compare the price after the offer ends: that’s what you’ll be paying. Our guide to raw dog food cost per day explains what drives the price, and our raw dog food offers page lists the current deals.

Convenience

Cooked food is usually the easier of the two day to day, because there’s no raw meat to handle. Raw adds a defrosting step and a bit more cleaning up, but once it’s a habit it isn’t much work.

With raw, you move tomorrow’s food from the freezer to the fridge each day. Bella & Duke says defrosting takes around 24 hours and that defrosted food keeps in the fridge for up to four days. Forget, and you’re waiting. The other big practical point is freezer space: Bella & Duke’s smallest delivery is 4 kg, and it all needs to fit in the freezer when it arrives.

Cooked food still needs space in the freezer or fridge, depending on the brand, so it isn’t storage-free. But you can generally serve it without the same raw-meat precautions. Our guide to storing and defrosting raw food covers the raw routine in more detail.

Pros and cons of each

Raw

Gently cooked

Why we chose raw after trying cooked

Our dogs ate cooked food before they ate the raw food they’re on now. Raw is simply what has worked best for our two. That’s a household verdict, not a judgement on cooked food in general.

This is what we noticed in our two dogs, not a promise of what any food will do for yours. A starting point, not veterinary advice. Ask your vet before changing your dog's diet, especially for puppies, pregnant or nursing dogs, or dogs with a health condition.

The trade-off is the one this whole page is about: raw means handling raw meat and finding freezer space, which cooked food largely avoids. If that trade-off doesn’t work for your household, cooked is the sensible choice, and nobody should talk you out of it.

If you’re weighing these two specific brands, our Bella & Duke vs Butternut Box comparison goes into offers, storage and which suits which dog. And our Bella & Duke review covers three years of feeding it.

Switching between cooked and raw

If you decide to move from one to the other, do it gradually and talk to your vet first. A sudden change of food is a common cause of upset tummies, whichever direction you’re going.

A few practical points we’d pass on to a friend:

• Sort the freezer before the first box. A raw delivery arrives frozen and needs to go straight in. Clear the space the day before.
• Use the brand’s portion guide as a starting point. Each brand works out daily amounts from your dog’s weight, age and activity, and the amounts aren’t interchangeable between foods. Weigh portions for the first few weeks and adjust with your vet’s help.
• Set up your hygiene routine on day one. Decide where raw food defrosts, which bowls and surfaces it touches, and how you clean up, before it becomes a habit.
• Give it a few weeks. Appetite, energy and what comes out the other end can all change as a dog adjusts. If anything worries you, slow down and speak to your vet.
• Watch the offers. Most fresh brands discount your first box or two, and codes can’t usually be combined, so pick one and check the price after it ends.

Our guide to switching to raw is written for dogs coming off kibble, but the same gradual approach works from cooked food too.

Who should choose cooked

Cooked food is the better choice if any of these describe you:

• Someone at home is more vulnerable to food poisoning: young children, older or pregnant people, or anyone with a weakened immune system.
• You don’t want to handle raw meat every day, or can’t keep raw food well away from your own.
• Your vet advises against raw for your dog, for example because of a health condition or medication.
• Your dog visits places that don’t allow raw, such as some kennels and therapy-dog schemes. Check before you switch.
• You want fresh food but your dog is moving from kibble and you’d like a gentler step first.

And raw is worth a try if none of those apply, you have the freezer space, and your vet is happy. Whichever you choose, switch gradually and keep an eye on how your dog gets on. If you’re also weighing dry food, read our raw vs kibble comparison, and for brand-by-brand picks see the best raw dog food in the UK.