Raw Dog Food on £20 a Week for a Rescue Mongrel

Raw feeding done well can be genuinely excellent for dogs — but done badly it creates nutritional gaps that cause real harm over time, and the difference is balance and sourcing. With a rescue mongrel of unknown breed mix, that balance matters even more because you're working without a full picture of their background or any breed-specific sensitivities. So before I point you anywhere: what size is your dog roughly, have you fed raw before or is this your first time, and are you looking to build meals yourself from scratch or would a ready-made complete raw do the job if the price is right?

That coat and digestion picture is really common on lower-quality kibble, and raw often makes a noticeable difference. At 18kg she'll need roughly 360–400g of food per day — about 2% of her body weight to maintain condition, possibly nudging up slightly if she's on the lean side after the rescue period. Now, for a first-time raw feeder on £20 a week, I'd actually steer you away from DIY to start. Building a balanced raw diet from scratch means getting muscle meat, organs, and bone ratios right, and without experience it's easy to miss something — usually calcium or key micronutrients. A nutritionally complete frozen raw is the safer entry point, and it'll tell you exactly what she's getting. Can I ask — does she have any known sensitivities, or has she reacted to any proteins on the kibble?

Good — a clean slate makes this straightforward. My recommendation is Natural Instinct Pure Chicken Raw Dog Food. It's a genuinely complete raw meal: chicken meat, bone, and liver in the right ratios, no fillers, no added nonsense. At 18kg feeding 380g a day, a 1kg pack lasts just under three days. You're looking at roughly £18–20 per week buying it regularly from Amazon UK, which puts you right at your budget. Chicken is also the best protein to start with for a dog new to raw — it's mild, highly digestible, and if she does have any hidden sensitivity you'll spot it clearly before you've introduced anything else. Start with that for four weeks, watch her coat, her stools, and her energy, and then you'll have a solid baseline to work from.

With Natural Instinct Pure Chicken, no — it's formulated to be nutritionally complete on its own, so don't add supplements at the start or you risk tipping the balance the other way. Veg is fine as an occasional extra but it's not necessary and some dogs find it harder to digest raw plant matter anyway. The one thing worth adding after a month, once you know she's settled, is a small rotation of proteins — duck or lamb — just to broaden her nutritional profile over time. But for the first month: keep it simple, keep it consistent, and let her system adjust.

Exactly that — defrost in the fridge overnight, feed within 24 hours of thawing, and never refreeze once it's been defrosted. Serve it at fridge temperature rather than straight from cold if she's reluctant at first; some dogs take a few days to accept the texture change from kibble. One practical tip: keep two or three days' worth defrosting in rotation so you're never caught short. She should start showing coat improvement within three to four weeks — that's usually the first thing owners notice.