The 6 Best Sustainable Pet Food Brands of 2023

Best Overall

Open Farm

View On Openfarmpet.com

For pet owners who want the most comprehensive possible account of companies’ morally conscientious practices you can’t beat Open Farm. Since opening in 2014, sustainable Canadian pet food brand has made hyper-careful sourcing a top priority, in reaction to the horrifying practices that they saw employed by the mainstream pet food industry. Just as impressive, Open Farm enforces high standards throughout their supply chain.

Open Farm impresses even without considering environmental bonafides, with a product line that offers a wide range of options, including dry and wet food, freeze-dried raw food, gently cooked food, treats, and bone broth.

You can use a filter function on their site to find products that won’t exacerbate your pet’s allergies, intolerances, or sensitivities, whether you’re looking for gluten-free, soy-free, poultry-free, single-protein options, or more. If you’re worried about whether a given product will provide enough sustenance for your pup, never fear: all of Open Farm’s products meet AAFCO’s Dog Food Nutrient Profile standards for all ages (their product line includes recipes for puppies, dogs, high-protein diet dogs, and senior dogs) and breeds.

The company’s carefully vetted sourcing partners include Certified Humane, Ocean Wise, Global Animal Partnership, and Terracycle, all of whom practice humane and environmentally conscientious practices and deliver top-end organic ingredients. Through working with these suppliers, Open Farm is can trace almost every ingredient in its products all the way back to its source. They also pay very close attention to regulating their emissions footprint and make sure to use sustainable packaging.

There aren’t many drawbacks to Open Farm dog food when it comes to sustainable pet food options. Products that use fresh, human-grade ingredients are obviously pricier than other less painstakingly sourced products—that’s true of everything on this list—but not exorbitantly so. With Open Farm, you’re certainly paying fairly for quality and for ethical sourcing and transparency.

Best Organic

Castor & Pollux

View On Castorpolluxpet.com

Ranking alongside The Honest Kitchen as one of the first major organic pet food brands, Castor & Pollux frequently cite the fact that their ORGANIX products are the only pet foods that are 100 percent organically certified by the USDA. Their high ratio of 95% or more organic ingredients is rare even within the sustainable pet food world. All of Castor & Pollux’s products—an impressive spread of dry and wet foods for dogs and cats—are also certified as non-GMO. The sourcing of their ingredients is also exhaustively traced on their site.

Their central ingredient is always chicken or turkey, mixed with additions like blueberries, coconut oil, and flaxseed, so it’s not a good vegetarian option. Some consumers have noted that the food has a high amount of carbohydrates compared to its protein and fat content. Still, most agree that the quality of the ingredient is high. With their variety of size options, it’s also easy to find a purchase option that’s a reasonable deal for your specific needs.

Best Human-Grade

Wet Noses

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Founded in 1998, the Seattle-based dog food company Wet Noses’ principles are based on the M.O. that pet owners shouldn’t feed their pup anything they wouldn’t be willing to eat themselves. It’s a tall order, but the company has built its strong reputation on marketing dog treats and pet food entirely made of human-grade ingredients. Wet Noses’ sustainable practices are based on making dog food with non-GMO ingredients. No product sold by the company contains wheat, soy, preservatives, or any artificial ingredients whatsoever. They also source all the meat used in their carnivorous products from farms and suppliers that are less than 40 miles from their headquarters northeast of Seattle—a Safe Quality Food (SQF) Level III-certified, human-grade facility. 

Though Wet Noses has local roots, its operation these days is enormous, with international distribution. This network is a testament to both customer satisfaction, the innovativeness of its business model, and its well-tested commitment to sustainability and food safety.

Best Raw Food

Maev

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Maev claims a number of advantages to their raw food offerings, including improved digestion and immune health; better liver and pancreatic function; healthier skin and coat; and increased energy.

Established veterinary organizations are less convinced. The American Veterinary Medical Association advises against raw food diets: "The AVMA discourages the feeding to cats and dogs of any animal-source protein that has not first been subjected to a process to eliminate pathogens because of the risk of illness to cats and dogs as well as humans." The American College of Veterinary Nutrition concurs.

Check out our guide for more of the pros and cons of raw food diets.

But if you've done your research and want to try out a raw food diet for yourself, then Maev is an excellent option. In their products—available on a subscription basis—Maev includes lean protein, raw edible bone, organ meat, and bits of fresh produce to cover all the bases of the doggie food pyramid.

Maev’s diets are rich in probiotics, proteins, enzymes, fish oil, and more to exacerbate positive health effects outside nutrition. One of the best aspects of Maev’s products is that most of them are full, well-balanced meals—carefully curated bundles to assure your pup gets everything it needs nutritionally and more.

One practical downside, however, is that a lot of Maev’s options are bulk shipment or subscription-based; although you can cancel your subscription at any time, it may not be all dog owners’ ideal business model if you want to mix and match their pup’s diet a bit more. Also, be extra careful with raw meat, which are easily contaminated with bacteria if you’re not extra conscientious about cleanliness.

Most Trusted

The Honest Kitchen

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The Honest Kitchen is one of the most trusted brand names in the sustainable pet food industry, having been an innovator in the world of fresh and organic dog and cat food since its founding in 2002. The company has spent years continually refining its sourcing and product line and growing its business. Today, their extensive catalog of human-grade pet foods includes dozens of dry, dehydrated, and wet cat and dog diets, plus toppers, treats, and supplement options.

Chock full of essential nutrients and vitamins, and sourced almost entirely domestically, Honest Kitchen’s products will check every box for most pet owners who value organic ingredients and sustainability. For some obsessive consumers, there are a few ingredients in some of their products that may raise an eyebrow—honey, potatoes, and sodium selenite—for their lack of nutritional value. But there are no specific health drawbacks to these ingredients.

With a comprehensive nutritional profile across so many different product options, Honest Kitchen has really earned its stripes in the human-grade, ethically sourced pet food world, making it a great option for conscientious pet owners. It isn’t the cheapest organic product on the market, but the price tag seems commensurate with human-grade ingredients.

Best Vegan

Wild Earth

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It was a hit on Shark Tank—Mark Cuban helped them raise $23 million—and it’s proven to be a hit with vegan pet owners, too. Wild Earth produces the rare fully vegan pet food that seems to be sufficiently protein-rich and nutritionally balanced to be the center of a dog’s diet. In business since 2019, the company has created its products using clean and sustainable plant proteins that offer more protein by weight than most meaty dog foods. Wild Earth’s go-to ingredients include chickpeas, sweet potato, spinach, pumpkin, oats, and more.

Some are skeptical of vegan dog food’s ability to compete with other omnivore-friendly products on the market when it comes to nutritiousness and positive health effects. However, Wild Earth was developed by veterinarians and pet nutritionists and has vegan pet products that meet the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) guidelines for balanced dog food.

For the environmentally conscious, Wild Earth is an excellent choice, too, because the meat used in most kibble dog foods is estimated to be responsible for a little over a quarter of the environmental impact of meat consumption in the United States.

There are a few potential drawbacks to Wild Earth, however. Though its products contain clean ingredients with no artificial fillers or preservatives, they are not certified organic or non-GMO. It is also significantly pricier than traditional kibble dog food. One of the wild card factors with any dog food is the possibility that your pup will not like the dog food you select. Because of dogs’ omnivore tendencies, there is a higher risk with Wild Earth that they will not take to it.