A likeable Australian brand that earns its spot for sensitive dogs on the strength of its novel proteins, not marketing. The food is good and the value holds up in the big bags, so the main things to weigh are spottier availability and a price that climbs once you drop to the smaller sizes.
Australian brand with a real point of difference in novel proteins like kangaroo and sardine, which makes it a go-to for dogs with sensitivities. Both grain-free and grain-inclusive ranges are available, value sits at the friendlier end of premium, and quality is genuinely good. The main catches are narrower availability and a price that creeps up in the smaller bags.
Reviewed by Adam Lorimer
Contributing reviewer, brand and product sideIndependent scoringUpdated August 2026Not veterinary advice
Retailer coverage on this page, meaning the cheapest-retailer column in the pricing table, the answer to where this brand is cheapest and the stockist list, is our editorial team’s work. Adam Lorimer takes no part in retailer scoring, ranking or comparison.
Nutrition and health claims on this page, meaning the ingredient and health claims in the pros and cons and the dog-suitability claims under who it's for, are reviewed by Dr Chris Wolmarans BVSc.
Licensed stock photograph
Meals for Mutts at a glance
Every figure below is read from our own index. Prices are editorial estimates for a ~15kg adult dog, entered and checked by hand.
Checked
A likeable Australian brand that earns its spot for sensitive dogs on the strength of its novel proteins, not marketing. The food is good and the value holds up in the big bags, so the main things to weigh are spottier availability and a price that climbs once you drop to the smaller sizes.
Scored out of 100 across 6 weighted pillars
dogfoodreviews.com.au
The detail
Seven of the dry foods we price list chicken itself as the first ingredient, and four of the supermarket bags open with cereals or meat meal. Meals for Mutts is one of the few brands on a specialist shelf that leads with something else on both of the bags we hold: kangaroo on the 20kg Kangaroo and Pumpkin Grain Free, and sardine on the 9kg Sardine and Salmon, which is the only bag in our index that opens with sardine at all.
The price is what turns that into a real argument. On our editorial estimates the 20kg kangaroo bag works out at $9.95 AUD per kg and about $2.60 a day. Prime100, the other kangaroo brand sitting on the same four retailers, prices its SK-D 8kg dry at $14.88 per kg and $3.20 a day, and its kangaroo roll at $11.00 per kg and $4.40 a day. Novel protein is usually the expensive road. Here it is not.
The overall 74 is unusually flat. Value 75, ingredients 76, nutrition 75, transparency 72, availability 68 and sentiment 78 means nothing in the profile climbs above 78 or drops below 68. Set that against ZIWI Peak at 88 on ingredients and 64 on value, or Frontier Pets at 95 and 62, and the shape of the brand is clear: no pillar is selling you anything, and no pillar is quietly costing you.
Transparency at 72 is the second-softest pillar behind availability at 68, and the brands beating it mostly do so by cutting retailers out. Scratch and Lyka score 95 and 91 with no stockists in our index at all, Petzyo 88 through one. Meals for Mutts is Australian owned by Doglovers and Australian made, but the panel detail is thinner than the direct-sold brands publish. That is the trade for being on four retailers' shelves.
The 20kg kangaroo bag is where this brand earns its place. On our editorial estimates it works out at $9.95 per kg, undercutting Black Hawk's grain-free 15kg at $10.60 and Ivory Coat's grain-free 13kg at $10.38, and $2.60 a day is competitive for a single named novel protein. Budget Pet Products holds the cheapest everyday price at $195, while $189 is reachable two ways: Pet Circle's subscription or Petbarn's member price.
Skip it if you are buying the 9kg sardine bag as your default. At $12.11 per kg and $3.15 a day it costs 55 cents a day more than the same brand's big bag, and more per kg than both grain-free rivals above. Skip it too if you want peak protein, since 28% and 27% sit under Black Hawk's grain-free 30%, or if you shop where supermarket house brands run $2.25 to $2.72 per kg. Not veterinary advice.
The breakdown
Carries 25 of the 100 points
Carries 25 of the 100 points
Carries 20 of the 100 points
Carries 15 of the 100 points
Carries 10 of the 100 points
Carries 5 of the 100 points
The index
Where Meals for Mutts sits
Every dog food brand score we publish, on one axis. Meals for Mutts is marked; the shaded band is the middle half of the index.
| Brand | Overall score out of 100 |
|---|---|
| Black & Gold | 44 |
| Baxter's | 46 |
| Julius | 48 |
| Woofin' Good! | 50 |
| ProBalance | 54 |
| Leaps & Bounds | 60 |
| The Nosh Project | 62 |
| Providore | 64 |
| Hill's Science Diet | 66 |
| Royal Canin | 68 |
| Ivory Coat | 71 |
| Meals for Mutts | 74 |
| SavourLife | 75 |
| Black Hawk | 76 |
| Prime100 | 78 |
| ZIWI Peak | 81 |
| Petzyo | 83 |
| Scratch | 86 |
| Lyka | 87 |
Dog Food Reviews index
The record
The balance
The fit
The range
The formulas we have priced and scored, with cost per day worked out for a ~15kg adult dog so the bags are comparable rather than just cheap or dear.
Cost / day
$2.60
~15kg adult
Cost / feed
$1.30
2 meals/day
Price / kg
$9.95
20kg bag
First ingredient
Kangaroo
Protein
28%
A genuinely useful single-novel-protein option for itchy dogs, and the value stacks up nicely in the 20kg bag.
Cost / day
$3.15
~15kg adult
Cost / feed
$1.58
2 meals/day
Price / kg
$12.11
9kg bag
First ingredient
Sardine
Protein
27%
The fish-based recipe is a good shout for skin and coat, though the smaller bag is where the per-kg price starts to bite.
Range highlights
A genuinely useful single-novel-protein option for itchy dogs, and the value stacks up nicely in the 20kg bag.
Lower-scoring on our value-and-quality blend at $12.11/kg. Compare carefully on cost per day before choosing it over the rest of the range.
Where to buy
Illustrative everyday pricing for Meals for Mutts key products. The cheapest retailer can shift with sales, member and subscription pricing, so always check price per kg before you buy.
Prices checked
The comparison
Price per kg, against the alternatives
Each row is the cheapest, middle and dearest formula we price for that brand. Meals for Mutts is the highlighted row.
| Brand | Cheapest | Median | Dearest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meals for Mutts | $9.95 | $11.03 | $12.11 |
| Ivory Coat | $10.38 | $10.38 | $10.38 |
| Black Hawk | $8.45 | $9.52 | $10.60 |
| SavourLife | $8.06 | $9.00 | $9.93 |
Editorial estimates, entered by hand
| Product | Size | Price / kgand cost per day | Cheapest retailer | From | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meals for Mutts Kangaroo & Pumpkin Grain Free 20kg | 20kg | $9.95/kg$2.60/day | Budget Pet Products | $195 | 76 out of 100 |
| Meals for Mutts Sardine & Salmon Grain Free 9kg | 9kg | $12.11/kg$3.15/day | Budget Pet Products | $105 | 75 out of 100 |
Lowest everyday price in this table.
Stockists
4 retailers in our index list Meals for Mutts. Each one has its own review on PetReviews, where the delivery, subscription and price-match terms are scored.
Compare
The field
What a point of score costs
Every dog food brand we price, set by what it costs a kilo against the score it takes on our card. Meals for Mutts is the ringed point, and well scored and cheap sits towards the top left. The brands we would put beside it are listed under the chart.
Our score out of 100
Median price per kg (log scale)
| Item | Median price per kg | Our score out of 100 | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lyka | $9.95 | 87 | Super-premium tier · 6 products priced |
| Scratch | $12.56 | 86 | Premium tier · 4 products priced |
| Petzyo | $8.37 | 83 | Premium tier · 4 products priced |
| ZIWI Peak | $77 | 81 | Super-premium tier · 2 products priced |
| Prime100 | $12.94 | 78 | Premium tier · 2 products priced |
| Black Hawk | $9.52 | 76 | Premium tier · 2 products priced |
| SavourLife | $9.00 | 75 | Premium tier · 2 products priced |
| Meals for Mutts | $11.03 | 74 | Premium tier · 2 products priced |
| Ivory Coat | $10.38 | 71 | Premium tier · 1 product priced |
| Royal Canin | $12.60 | 68 | Super-premium tier · 2 products priced |
| Hill's Science Diet | $12 | 66 | Super-premium tier · 2 products priced |
| Providore | $9.58 | 64 | Premium tier · 1 product priced |
| The Nosh Project | $9.33 | 62 | Premium tier · 1 product priced |
| Leaps & Bounds | $7.27 | 60 | Mid-range tier · 1 product priced |
| ProBalance | $4.94 | 54 | Budget tier · 1 product priced |
| Woofin' Good! | $2.72 | 50 | Budget tier · 1 product priced |
| Julius | $2.50 | 48 | Budget tier · 1 product priced |
| Baxter's | $2.61 | 46 | Budget tier · 1 product priced |
| Black & Gold | $2.25 | 44 | Budget tier · 1 product priced |
Editorial estimates, entered by hand
The shortlist
Premium · Good
A competent grain-free all-rounder, but it's mid-pack on every measure and now sits inside a big multi-brand portfolio where recipes have moved with ownership. Fine if the price is right on the day: just don't expect it to out-spec a more focused independent brand.
Best forGrain-free everyday feeding where 'good enough' is fine
Premium · Good
Fine on a discounted big bag if you choose a named-meat-first recipe, but don't assume the whole range is equal: the cheaper lines pad the panel with grain and rice, and a chunk of the price is reach and marketing rather than ingredients. Compare the specific formula on cost per kg against SavourLife and Ivory Coat.
Best forEveryday feeding if you pick the right recipe
Premium · Good
Fair value and the rescue donations are real, not greenwash: but the food itself is good rather than exceptional, with mid-premium panels and a narrow range. Buy it because the per-kg value stacks up, not because the cause makes the ingredients better than they are.
Best forValue-conscious feeders who want a clean enough panel
The bottom line
Meals for Mutts takes 74 of 100 on our card, which places it 8 of 19 among the dog food brands we have scored. Its strongest pillar is customer sentiment, at 78 of 100. It is a premium tier range made in Australia.
The reading
Meals for Mutts
74/100
Scored out of 100 across six weighted pillars. Not veterinary advice.
4 questions
Meals for Mutts scores 74/100 overall (Good) on our 100-point model, with a value score of 75/100. A likeable Australian brand that earns its spot for sensitive dogs on the strength of its novel proteins, not marketing. The food is good and the value holds up in the big bags, so the main things to weigh are spottier availability and a price that climbs once you drop to the smaller sizes.
Across the retailers we track, Budget Pet Products currently shows the lowest everyday price on a key Meals for Mutts product. Prices are illustrative and change often, so compare price per kg and member or subscription pricing before you buy. See our full price comparison above.
Worth comparing carefully against Ivory Coat, Black Hawk, SavourLife. Each sits in a similar tier; check cost per day and ingredient quality for your dog's size and needs.
Within the range we rate, Meals for Mutts Kangaroo & Pumpkin Grain Free 20kg scores best on our value-and-quality blend. Match the bag size to your dog's daily serve so you are comparing cost per day, not just sticker price. This is general information, not veterinary advice.
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