Last updated: July 2026.
This page explains how OnlyDogFood works: how we reach a verdict, where the facts come from, who pays for the site, and what happens when we get something wrong. If you only read one section, read How we make money - that is the one that tells you whether to trust the rest.
What we are
OnlyDogFood is an independent dog food rating and comparison site. We are not owned by, funded by, or commercially controlled by any pet food manufacturer, retailer or veterinary group. We rate foods that we are not paid to rate, including foods whose makers would prefer we did not.
How we reach a score
Every food is scored by the same published algorithm, applied automatically to the ingredients and analytical constituents the manufacturer itself declares. The full formula is public at How we rate, and every food page shows its own point-by-point working, including where it lost points.
That matters for a specific reason: because the method is fixed and published, a score is reproducible. Anyone can check our arithmetic against the label. We publish the formula precisely so that a brand which disagrees with its score can argue with the method in the open, rather than with us in private.
A score is our opinion, honestly held and consistently applied - not a statement of fact about a food’s quality, and not a substitute for your vet’s advice about your individual dog. The Disclaimer sets out the limits of what a score means in more detail.
Where our facts come from
Ingredient lists, analytical constituents, feeding guidance and pack details come from manufacturers’ own websites, packaging and published retailer listings. Prices are collected from retailers at a point in time. Recipes change without announcement, so the packaging in your hands always beats this website.
Our health and safety content - the “can dogs eat…” pages in particular - is written from published veterinary toxicology references, and each of those pages lists the specific sources behind its verdict and the date it was last reviewed. We link sources so you can check us rather than believe us. We are not vets; where the honest answer is “ask your vet”, that is the answer we give.
How we make money
Running this site costs money, and being straight about where that money comes from is the price of asking you to trust the ratings. We earn from three things:
- Affiliate links. Some links to retailers earn us a commission if you buy. This never costs you more, and it does not influence scores or rankings - the commission is identical whether a food scores 30 or 90, and plenty of our highest-scoring foods earn us nothing at all.
- Brand accounts. Manufacturers can claim their brand to correct product data, add missing foods, and reply publicly to reviews. Some of those features are paid.
- Advertising and placements. Clearly labelled ad space, governed by our Advertising Policy.
What money cannot buy, at any price: a higher score, a better ranking, the removal of a bad review, the removal of a low score, or the quiet burial of a product page. Nobody at OnlyDogFood has the ability to hand-edit a score - the number is computed, not decided - and we will say so publicly if we are asked to.
What a paying brand actually gets is the ability to correct facts about its own products, to reply to reviewers in public, and to advertise in space that is labelled as advertising. That is the whole list.
Who writes this
Editorial content is written and checked by people, and a named human is accountable for what appears here. Scores themselves are produced by software rather than by anyone’s impression of a brand, which is the point of having an algorithm; data is processed automatically and reviewed by hand where it looks wrong. Where a qualified veterinary professional has reviewed a page, that person is named on it. Where nobody has, we do not imply otherwise - an unreviewed page simply carries no review claim.
Reviews from dog owners
Owner reviews are the opinions of the people who wrote them, not ours. We do not write reviews ourselves, we do not pay anyone to write one, and we do not accept payment to publish, alter, suppress or delete one. Brands get a free right of public reply to any review of their products - the reply appears alongside the review rather than replacing it. Reviews are moderated against our Review Guidelines.
Corrections
We will get things wrong: a mistyped ingredient, a stale price, a discontinued product, a reformulated recipe we have not caught up with. When we do, we want to know.
- Tell us at [email protected], or use the corrections and removal form. Brands do not need an account to report an error, and there is no charge for a correction - ever.
- We aim to acknowledge within a few working days and to fix clear factual errors promptly once we can verify them.
- If a correction changes a food’s score, the score changes too. We do not protect an old verdict to save face.
- Where a correction materially changes what a page said, we say so on the page rather than editing quietly.
Disagreeing with our opinion is different from reporting an error, and we treat the two differently. We will correct a fact quickly. We will not withdraw an honestly held opinion, reached by a published method, because a brand would prefer a better number - but we will publish the brand’s reply to it.
Independence in practice
Commercial conversations and editorial decisions are kept apart. If a brand advertises with us, buys a placement, or holds a paid account, that fact changes nothing about how its foods are scored, and it is not disclosed to anyone as leverage. If we ever cannot cover something impartially, the honest move is to say so on the page - and we would rather do that than quietly pull a punch.
Tell us we are wrong
If you think a verdict, a score, a fact or a source on this site is mistaken, write to [email protected]. Corrections from readers, brands and vets are all welcome, and we would genuinely rather be corrected than be consistent.