Pure Pet Food Review | Our Honest Dog & Owner Test
Pure Pet Food offers bespoke dog food delivered to your door, with cupboard-friendly meals you mix with water before serving.
If you are keen to try your dog with raw or fresh dog food but are constrained by lack of fridge or freezer space then Pure pet food could be the solution. Offering nutrient packed air dried dog food that sits in a cupboard rather than the fridge or freezer, Pure allows you to feed your dog high quality food without worrying about freezer space.
As one of the UK’s best established dog food subscription brands, Pure offers a range of tasty and nutritious air dried meals that are delivered directly to your door and that are simply mixed with water as and when required and fed to your eager dog.
Designed to be complete meals, easy to store and convenient, Pure should be on your list if you are looking for top quality food and ease of feeding. Our Pure Pet Food review looks at the food, the ingredients, ordering and everything else that dog owners may be asking.
Quick Answer - Did Charlie Like Pure Pet Food In a nutshell, yes (and so did our cats Oscar & Eccles). We would say that Charlie took a day or two to get used to the texture as Pure contains a range of whole ingredients which results in an interesting texture that is different to for example |
Introduction - All About Pure Pet Food
So, who exactly are Pure Pet Food and what do they offer? Pure Pet Food is a Yorkshire based dog food company started by childhood friends Daniel Valdur Eha and Mathew Cockroft back in 2012.
Determined to make an alternative to conventional dry kibble, the pair set about creating highly nutritious, tailored meals, removing all of the moisture by slowly air drying the food and leaving behind nutrient packed dry food that could be stored in the cupboard.
Simply add a scoop off food, add a scoop of water and, viola, fresh, healthy dog food in an instant.
What is Pure Pet Food, and how does it work?
Pure Pet Food makes dehydrated dog food that you mix with water before serving. The moisture is removed during production, so the food can be stored in a cupboard without taking up fridge or freezer space. At mealtimes, you measure out your dog’s portion, add water and stir. It’s a different routine from scooping dry kibble, but you don’t need to defrost anything.
To order, you answer questions about your dog, including their age, breed, weight and any concerns such as a sensitive stomach. Pure then suggests a feeding plan, and you can choose up to two recipes for each delivery. The food arrives by subscription; you can also choose a partial plan if you want to feed it alongside your dog’s existing food. Delivery frequency, recipes and portions can be changed through your account, and Pure says you can pause or cancel the plan there too.
Benefits of Pure Pet Food
Pure’s biggest advantage is practical: it lets you serve a moist meal without storing boxes of food in the fridge or freezer. The food stays dry in the cupboard until you add water, which also lets you adjust the consistency to suit your dog.
There are a few other benefits worth considering:
A feeding plan for your dog: Pure uses details such as age, weight and activity level to suggest recipes and portions.
Clear recipe information: Its recipe pages list ingredients and nutritional figures, so you can check what you’re feeding.
Flexible deliveries: You can change your recipes or delivery schedule, pause an order, or choose a partial plan alongside your dog’s existing food.
No defrosting: You measure the food, add water, stir and serve.
These are useful features, though whether Pure is better for your dog depends on the recipe you choose and how your dog responds to it. We wouldn’t treat the subscription or the way the food is dried as proof of a health benefit on its own.
How we tested Pure Pet Food
We tested Pure Pet Food with Charlie, our 12-year-old Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier. He tried [recipe names] over [number of days or weeks]. We prepared each meal using Pure’s feeding instructions and paid attention to how easy it was to measure, mix and serve, as well as the food’s smell and texture once water had been added.
We also checked the ordering process, delivery, packaging, ingredient lists and cost against Charlie’s recommended portions. Most importantly, we watched whether he ate the meals willingly and noted [any genuine observations about appetite, stools or other changes]. Charlie’s experience tells us how Pure worked for him; it cannot show how every dog will respond or establish a health benefit.
Our experience feeding Pure
Pure Pet Food ingredients and nutrition
Pure’s recipes combine dried meat or fish with ingredients such as potato, rice, vegetables and oils, plus added vitamins and minerals. The exact mix varies considerably by recipe, so it’s worth checking the label for the meal you choose rather than judging the whole range by one ingredient list. Pure describes its meals as complete and balanced.
For example, Pure’s current Chicken recipe lists 45% chicken, made up of 40% dried chicken and 5% chicken fat. It also contains potato, pea protein, carrot and egg. The Turkey recipe lists 46% turkey, including 6% turkey fat, while Salmon lists 33% salmon and white fish, including 2% salmon oil. Those headline percentages include fat or oil; they are not all dried meat or fish. Pea protein appears in some recipes too, so you cannot assume all the protein shown in the nutritional analysis comes from animal ingredients.
The published figures are for the dry food before you add water. Chicken, for instance, lists 39% protein and 16% fat in its dry form; Pure gives its fat content as 5.9% once rehydrated. Adding water changes the percentage by weight, but it does not remove fat or calories from the portion. That distinction matters when comparing Pure with wet food, kibble or another dehydrated recipe.
How much does Pure Pet Food cost?
Pure Pet Food advertises subscriptions from 89p per day, but that is a starting price for a small dog, not a guide to what every owner will pay. Pure says the cost depends on factors including your dog’s size, age and activity level. To get a useful figure, you need to complete its questionnaire and look at the price of the plan it recommends for your dog.
The key number is the regular price after introductory discounts. Divide that by the number of days the box is intended to last to get a daily cost, then multiply by 30 for an approximate monthly cost. For example, a box costing £84 and lasting 28 days would work out at £3 per day, or roughly £90 per month. That is an illustration of the calculation, not a Pure quote.
Pure offers both a full feeding plan and a partial plan for owners who want to mix it with their dog’s existing food. A partial plan reduces the amount of Pure you buy, but you’ll still need to include the cost of the other food when comparing monthly bills. Pure says subscription delivery is free and that ordering every eight weeks offers its best value. Before signing up, compare the first box, the next box and the undiscounted recurring price; the introductory offer may make the first delivery look much cheaper than feeding Pure long term.
Our view: Pure’s starting price tells you very little if you have a medium or large dog. The fairest test of value is your dog’s full-price daily portion against the food you currently buy, taking preparation and cupboard storage into account as well as price.
Pure Pet Food Cost Calculator
Subscription, delivery and cancellation
Pure starts by recommending a plan based on the details you provide about your dog. You can choose up to two recipes per delivery and feed Pure as a full diet or alongside your dog’s existing food. Deliveries are scheduled around the recommended feeding amount, but you can change the frequency, switch recipes, update your dog’s details or move a delivery date through your online account.
Subscription delivery is free across the UK. Pure says it dispatches orders Monday to Friday, with orders placed before noon dispatched the same day, excluding bank holidays. The food arrives dry and can be stored in a cupboard, so you don’t need to make space in the fridge or freezer for each box.
Pure says there is no fixed-term commitment: you can pause or stop the plan in your account without a cancellation fee. Make any changes well before the next billing date, though. Stopping a subscription applies to future deliveries and may not cancel an order that has already entered processing. Check the cut-off shown in your account before assuming your next box has been stopped.
What we liked and what could be better
Pure vs Butternut Box
Pure Pet Food and Butternut Box both deliver personalised dog food plans, but the meals work quite differently. Pure’s dehydrated food is stored in a cupboard and mixed with water before serving. Butternut Box gently cooks its meals and delivers them frozen; you store the pouches in the freezer and defrost them in the fridge before feeding.
Pure Pet Food | Butternut Box | |
Food format | Dry food rehydrated at home | Gently cooked, frozen meals |
Storage | Cupboard until prepared | Freezer, then fridge while defrosting |
At mealtimes | Measure, add water and stir | Defrost, open pouch and serve |
Best practical fit | Limited freezer space or trips away | Owners who prefer a ready-prepared meal |
Neither format tells you, by itself, which is more nutritious. Both brands describe their meals as complete dog food, but ingredients and nutritional figures vary by recipe. Price needs a like-for-like check too: enter the same dog’s details with each company, compare a full feeding plan, and use the ongoing daily cost after introductory offers have ended.
For us, the clearest deciding factor is the routine. Pure wins on storage flexibility; Butternut Box wins if you’d rather skip measuring and mixing. Which one your dog prefers is something only a real feeding test can answer.
Pure vs Different Dog
Pure and Different Dog both tailor food deliveries to your dog, but they offer very different meals. Pure’s original food is dried and kept in the cupboard until you mix it with water. Different Dog cooks its recipes in small batches and delivers them frozen in pots. You keep most of the delivery in the freezer and move meals into the fridge to defrost before serving.
Pure Pet Food | Different Dog | |
Food format | Dried food that you rehydrate | Freshly cooked meals delivered frozen |
Storage | Cupboard before preparation | Freezer, with the next meals defrosting in the fridge |
Preparation | Measure, add water and stir | Defrost, then serve |
Main practical advantage | Easy to store and take away | A ready-prepared meal once defrosted |
Different Dog is the more natural choice if you want the look and texture of a cooked meal and have room in your freezer. Pure is easier to accommodate if freezer space is tight or you regularly travel with your dog, although mixing every portion adds a small step at mealtimes.
I wouldn’t choose between them using a headline ingredient percentage or starting price. Dry and fresh foods contain very different amounts of water, which makes their percentages misleading when compared directly. For cost, get full-diet, regular-price quotes for the same dog from both brands, then compare the daily portions. Charlie’s taste test matters too: the best plan on paper is little use if he leaves it in the bowl.
Pure vs Tails
Pure and tails.com both ask about your dog before recommending food and setting up regular deliveries. The main difference is what arrives in the box. Pure recommends from its range of dried recipes, with portions tailored to your dog; you add water to make a soft meal. tails.com creates a tailored kibble blend that you can serve dry, with the option to add wet food to the monthly box.
Pure Pet Food | ||
Main food | Dried recipes mixed with water | Tailored kibble blend |
Personalisation | Recipe recommendations and portions | Kibble blend and portions |
Mealtime | Measure, add water and stir | Scoop and serve; wet food is optional |
Storage | Cupboard | Cupboard for kibble |
If you want a soft meal every day without buying separate wet food, Pure is the more obvious fit. If you prefer the ease and crunch of kibble, tails.com has the simpler routine. Both offer flexible subscriptions, so “tailored and delivered” alone isn’t much of a reason to choose one over the other.
tails.com advertises a lower starting daily price, but the two entry prices don’t represent the same dog or meal plan. For a fair comparison, get regular-price quotes for the same dog and check whether the tails.com quote includes wet food. Then compare the actual daily portions, ingredients and, of course, which meal your dog enjoys eating.
Pure Pet Food Review |Is Pure Pet Food worth it? Our verdict
Frequently Asked Questions
