Lyka Dog Food Review

Country of originAustralia
Available fromLyka (30% OFF your first order with this link!)

Feeding your dog Lyka isn’t about feeding your dog a better dog food, it’s about transitioning your dog from a dry processed food to real food. That’s what I love most about Lyka.

When I first reviewed Lyka dog food back in 2021 I thought it was great. Here we are in 2024, and I’m happy to say I was right.

I’ve had so much astounding feedback about Lyka. Not just about the quality, but how life changing it’s been for many Aussie dogs who suffered on their previous dog food. We’re talking about a complete turnaround in health, buoyancy, and longevity.

Who doesn’t want that for their dog?

Needless to say I speak to many people who’s dogs are suffering on processed kibbles – itchy skin, overweight, lethargic, stiff joints, old before their years… It’s not surprising given the diet they’re forced to eat (usually kibbles in fancy packets with cute collies and genius marketing).

Feeding a fresh food like Lyka is a game changer when you compare it to dry food, or even wet mush in a tin. For too long we’ve fed our dogs what some would call “junk food”, which some of the biggest companies in the world have convinced us is “healthy”, “nutritious”, and “balanced”.

But is it?

When you consider global conglomerates like Mars and Nestle have historically controlled the pet food market, and “science”, isn’t it amazing that an Australian company can succeed against them, offering us better foods for our dogs which are truly healthier?

I know Lyka has worked wonders in Victoria, supporting local people, businesses, and farmers.

So, if that has sold Lyka to you already, you can nip over to their website and check them out – it’s like Hello Fresh, delivered to your door.

Or, if you want to learn more, then read the review:

The Lyka dog food range

There’s a range of Lyka varieties which they call “bowls”, each with it’s own meat protein. They come in a pouch rather than a bowl, but you’ll feed them in a bowl so that’s the gist of it.

Here’s a few from the range:

  • Free Range Chow Chompin’ Chicken Bowl
  • Grass Fed Big Boppin’ Beef Bowl
  • Barn Raised Tail Tappin’ Turkey Bowl
  • Grass Fed Lip Lickin’ Lamb Bowl

All very cool, which seems to be the case for everything Lyka.

Lyka dog food review

Some background for Lyka dog food

Lyka was founded by Anna Podolsky, the owner of a Border Collie X called “Lyka”. Back in 2015 at the age of 5, Lyka was a classic victim of commercial pet food, with itchy skin, scratching, lethargy, and bad teeth (an ominous sign of periodontal disease which sadly effects so many dogs on kibble diets).

Lyka Dog Food Anna Podolsky & Dr Matthew Muir
Anna Podolsky & Dr Matthew Muir from Lyka Pet Food

Anna made the connection that kibble was causing the health issues, which is something many people overlook. She set about formulating a fresh food/raw diet at home, and the results were astounding.

Anna’s dog Lyka made a dramatic turnaround for the better within a few short months, which really showed how important a good diet is for our dogs.

On a mission to offer Australian dogs a better option she founded Lyka pet food in 2018, and since then many dogs have reaped the benefits of a better, more natural diet.

What the marketing says

Lyka dog food is made in a human-grade facility in Sydney. They swear by their product, so much so the staff will taste every recipe. If you don’t believe me, there’s a video down below which proves it!

Lyka is marketed as a “fresh, lightly cooked diet for dogs”, and in a rather humorous marketing strategy they tackle the fact many dogs suffer gas (and other issues) on poor quality dog foods. In our experience they’re 100% right, and most of the time dogs can recover from such symptoms when fed a healthier diet.

Here’s a quick video of Anna from Lyka on Channel 9’s Today Show:

What the ingredients really say

Knowing the ingredients in Lyka dog food are all human-grade whole foods, using wild-caught, grass-fed, or free-roam animals is a fantastic start. With kibbles the high-temperature cooking can destroy valuable nutrients, so with Lyka being gently cooked (at 90 degrees) you can rest assured these nutrients remain intact. That’s a huge plus.

All Lyka dog food bowls meet AAFCO standards for all life stages, so appropriate for puppies as well as older dogs.

We’ll take a look at the Beef Bowl as it sits in the middle when it comes to protein/fat. Depending on your dog, they may offer something leaner like the chicken bowl, or something a little fattier like the lamb bowl.

It’s great to see Beef Mince and Beef Heart as the top two ingredients, both of which are providing your carnivorous pet with species-appropriate ingredients, but let me draw your attention to the finer details which really highlight why Lyka are offering a quality dog food :-

The minerals used are in chelated form. Chelated minerals are top notch, being absorbed far better than cheaper alternatives. Only real top end dog foods contain chelated minerals, so that’s a great sign of quality.

Going back to the main ingredients, we find purple sweet potato included as a low GI carbohydrate which will offer your dog a slow-burning energy source. Carbs are low in the food which fits in well with a carnivore diet, and shows how much of the food is made from beef and beef heart.

The animal ingredients don’t end there either, as we find beef liver as one of the most nutritious organ meats which all dogs should have in their diet. Sardines are included too!

Lyka Dog Food Review

We find a range of well-selected veggies, such as broccoli, carrot, and kale to add valuable nutrients to the food, boosting organ support, immune support, and overall wellbeing.

Even the ingredients further down the ingredients list have been included on merit, with a combination of fish, safflower, and flaxseed oil which not only will offer your dog a beautiful coat, but keep them healthy on the inside too. Psyllium husk is a wonderful source of fibre for digestive health.

Ginger, kelp, and spirulina are included too – it really is all good, high quality stuff!

Lyka dog food is a fantastic way of feeding your dog a really decent diet without going whole hog on a homemade fresh food diet. Having it delivered to your door on a regular basis means you can stop worrying about their dinner, and concentrate on more important stuff, like playing with them!

If your dog is allergy prone, itchy, scratchy, or lethargic with a dull coat, then I’m sure you’ll get results on Lyka dog food.

Give it a go!

Where to buy Lyka dog food

Lyka dog food is only available to buy directly from their website. As a reader of Pet Food Reviews we have a special offer for you:

Click here for 30% OFF your first box of Lyka dog food!!

While you’re at it, check out their fantastic range of air-dried treats – tripe, mussels, and sardine treats in particular (lots of great nutrition therein!).

What Australian dog owners say about Lyka dog food

The below three videos are really good to watch, and what the three Aussie dog owners say is very much inline with the feedback I’ve personally received about Lyka from many:

Lyka – In the news!

Below are numerous media articles about Lyka over the past years:

Ingredients of Lyka dog food (Beef Bowl)

Lyka Dog Food Beef Bowl

Ingredients of the Lyka dog food “Beef Bowl”:

Beef Mince, Beef Heart, Purple Sweet Potato, Broccoli, Carrot, Kale, Sardines, Beef Liver, Psyllium Seed Husk, Fish Oil, Safflower Oil, Celtic Sea Salt, Ginger, Flaxseed Oil, Kelp, Spirulina, Vitamins & Minerals (listed below).

Vitamins & Minerals: TriCalcium Phosphate, Vitamin E, Magnesium Chelate, Iron Chelate, Zinc Chelate, Manganese Chelate, Vitamin D3, Vitamin B1.

If you want to know where all the ingredients are sourced from, they tell you here.

Average composition of Lyka dog food (Beef Bowl)

Guaranteed analysis of the Lyka dog food “Beef Bowl” as of September 2021:

Average composition (as fed)Average composition (dry matter*)
Protein18%55%
Fat6%18%
Crude Fibre2%5%
Carbohydrates *5%14%
Moisture68%0%
* dry matter – these percentages reflect the composition without moisture

Note Lyka use an average composition due to the nature of the product being tailored to your dog’s specific requirements. The composition listed above is therefore not guaranteed and may vary.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our Lyka dog food review! Let us know if you feed this dog food and what results you’ve had!

Calling Aussie pet lovers – join the mailing list!

9.6 Total Score
Fantastic high-quality fresh food diet for your dog, delivered!

PROS
  • Human grade, wild-caught, free-range, and free-roam ingredients.
  • Cooked at a low temperature to retain nutrition.
  • Chelated minerals and quality ingredients all round.
45 Comments
  1. I concur…an over 20% price increase during harsh economic times, no less, isn’t as palatable as the Lyka itself is for most dogs.

    • Agreed. That increase was a deal breaker for me, plus being treated like an idiot when I received a couple of rancid pouches and brought it to their attention. I’ve just changed my dogs to WolfIt Box, a newer contender in the fresh food subscription game. They seem to be just as high quality as Lyka, significantly more affordable, more flexibility with the subscription, and dare I say it, the customer service is much friendlier. My dogs seem to enjoy it more too Could be worth looking into!

      • Agree with you. I contacted them today to ask what the taurine content was, a reasonable question I would have thought. Instead I received a generic email pointing me to links that never answered my question.

  2. Our Basil has been eating Lyka Turkey, chicken and fish for maybe over a year now. Loves it, especially the fish. His belly doesn’t grumble and gurgle like it used too, his coat is shiny and he has more energy.

  3. My little bichon started off well with Lyka, but nearing the end of his first batch he wouldn’t touch certain flavours, like Kangaroo – he didn’t eat for a whole day coz he was pretty vehement he wasn’t going to touch the stuff. Then he eventually decided he wanted to become a picky eater and not eat the other flavours, which is quite sad. He would even prefer the taste of the basic MyDog wet food packet over it.

    I was moving house so had to pause the second batch. Then came the price hike – frustrating timing. I really wanted to persist a bit longer in case his tastes changed, but with his pickiness and the price jump, I’ve switched back to TOTW kibble for now before trying something else.
    Nosh Project looks pretty good?

  4. I’d like to see pet food companies abandon the use of cheap processed vegetable oils such as Canola oil. Corn oil. Cottonseed oil. Grapeseed oil. Rice bran oil. Safflower oil. Soy oil. Sunflower oil.
    These oils are incredibly bad for humans and so would be incredibly bad for your pets They create inflammation within the body, cell damage (and cancers) with increased free radicals, and a host of other serious health issues.
    More companies should be using just animal fats/oils, cold pressed olive oils, coconut, flaxseed, etc, oily fish as opposed to fish oil which could already be rancid prior to adding

  5. I love the Lyka food for my dogs. We have two border collies, a golden retriever and a papillion. All love the food and we can see the health of our dogs has improved. Health comes from the inside out. We’ve used Lyka now for over a year. Best food. Love that its delivered to my door.

  6. Big Lyka fan here for my two mini labradoodles, one of whom has a very sensitive stomach. No issues with Lyka at all – no farts, healthy poo, happy energetic dogs.

  7. My girl isn’t a huge fan of Lyka and she isn’t known as a fussy dog. I can only convince her to eat it when mixed with a dog gravy/ broth. The fish one she is more inclined to finish but I can’t offer her fish in every meal long term. While I really wanted it to be suitable my girl just said no. Previously on k9 natural and billie and margot kibble.

  8. Have you seen Larry’s Lunch? It popped up on my Instagram. Seems similar to Lyka. Will you be doing a review? There seem to be so many new fresh dog food companies coming out. It’s great for variety…but keen to see what you think.

  9. My whippet absolutely will not touch Lyka. Wish he would, but he takes one sniff and walks away. I tried all three over 14 days. Nope. Same with my friend’s Cavoodle. Wasted money. I couldnt recommend for the more fussy dogs.

    • Reply
      Pet Food Reviews (Australia) June 14, 2023 at 6:23 pm

      Hi Donna, what food do they usually eat? It’s not often I hear of dogs being picky with Lyka, but good information to know.

  10. I’m forever getting your emails about dog foods from Lyka.
    Let me get this straight , I called and emailed about a vacancy at your Wetheral Park Warehouse, and all I kept receiving back is emails about the range of dog foods available, I’m really fed up with it all , and want you to remove me from your data base as I instructed my solicitor about this constant harassment from your Lyka page . I was instructed to let you know of this and an immediate cancellation of my email address is instructed .
    I’m no longer interested in that vacancy, as I was told by people that work there that there were job vacancies at the Wetheral Park Warehouse.

    • Reply
      Pet Food Reviews (Australia) May 15, 2023 at 5:18 pm

      Hi Michael, I think this was meant for Lyka rather than this website, but the Lyka emails have an “unsubscribe” at the bottom which you can use.

  11. Lyka looked really good – the marketing is exemplary.
    My dog loved all the various “bowl” varieties.
    BUT:
    After using ~ 40 packs, my dog one day spat out a piece of bone which was large enough and sharp enough to cause serious problems in the bowel and possibly need extensive veterinary attention, if not a worse outcome.
    Lyka was not prepared to refund me for the unused packs I had received and they stated they have a NO RETURN policy.
    Rather, they refunded only the cost of the last delivery, leaving me ~ $500 dollars out of pocket as I was not prepared to continue feeding Lyka to my dog considering the seriousness of having bone in the food – I have also removed a number of other large pieces of food which obviously made it past the mincing process.
    In summary, Lyka looks good BUT BEWARE.

    • Reply
      Pet Food Reviews (Australia) February 5, 2023 at 10:10 pm

      Hi Brian, may I ask how big the piece of bone was? As a raw bone there’s less risk to dogs, but I understand your concerns.

      • The bone piece was ~ 15mm long x 10mm wide x 3mm thick with sharp edges all round.
        It had gone through the cooking process so created a higher risk than a raw bone piece.
        It allegedly had not been detected by the X-ray examination made by the supplier who supplied the kangaroo mince to Lyka and obviously was not subsequently detected by Lyka.
        I have a photograph if you can tell me how to upload it to you.

  12. I was having a look at slow cooked, all rounder, dog food. In my search, Lyka and Nosh project came up. I couldn’t see a review here for the Nosh Project. I was wondering if one is better than the other? I can see that Lyka is grain free where as the Nosh Project seems to use pasta and rice. Are you planning to do a review on the Nosh Project?

    • Lyka isn’t meant to be completely minced it should have big chunks throughout it

      • Hi Jim Lyka doesnt have chunks through it at all. Unless it is the new Kangaroo formaulae and they are slowly starting to change the other meat as well they are pretty much just mush. Hence i only partial feed with Lyka then add raw chicken wing, necks, duck wing/neck, whole sardines or lamb cutlets (small dogs) so they actually get bone to clean teeth and the meaty chewing sensation. The price increase has me looking elsewhere as the quality seems to slip

    • Reply
      Pet Food Reviews (Australia) February 2, 2023 at 4:52 pm

      Hi Millie, a review of the Nosh Project is long overdue… sorry :/ I’ll get around to it soon…

      • I have just started my 13.5 year old poodle on Lyka…for now mixed with his regular small bite kibble while he transitions. He’s always been a very picky eater and I’ve cooked fish, brown rice and pumpkin to add to his kibble for years, on the advice of a vet. He’s more enthusiastic about Lyka than any other food I’ve tried, so great to see this positive review. My one concern is that he is now always thirsty, which makes me think it’s very high in sodium…. which I am guessing is no better for dogs than it is for us.

        • Interestingly my dog is drinking a considerable amount more since lyka

        • Pet Food Reviews (Australia) May 9, 2023 at 9:19 pm

          Hi Francis, that’s interesting to hear as usually dogs drink less on a raw (or slightly cooked diet in this case) than they would on a dry food.

  13. Is there something comparable that is not as expensive and can be bought in store? Like Sasha above, it would be way to expensive for us to put the whole family on Lyka.

    • Reply
      Pet Food Reviews (Australia) January 21, 2023 at 7:21 pm

      Hi Greg, unfortunately it mostly boils down to “you get what you pay for”, but options are having something like Lyka as part of the diet, or being inventive with some raw/fresh.

  14. How does Lyka help with dental & oral health? As it looks to be a wet and soft type of food.

    • Reply
      Pet Food Reviews (Australia) January 12, 2023 at 7:06 pm

      Hi Ruby, I replied more in depth on your other comment on the Frontier Pets review, but generally I wouldn’t rely on any soft/wet/BARF or even dry foods for dental health. Having species-appropriate ingredients in a dog food (i.e. not a load of carbs and sugars) will definitely benefit dental health, when it comes to fighting tartar then gnawing and chewing is what I would recommend, so chewing on raw meaty bones.

  15. My dog loves Lyka. Has been on it for a few weeks now and no tummy issues. Has had issues in the past. His coat is so shiny and this has definitely changed in the last few weeks. I feed him Luka and Eureka as a topper. It is nice to know that he is getting good quality ingredients with the convenience of being delivered to my door. You can actually see the chunks of meat and ingredients. I don’t have time to make his food, so this is the next best thing.

  16. My dog loves Lyka. He has had tummy issues in the past. He has been on it for a few weeks now and has had no tummy issues. His coat is so shiny and soft too. Very happy with Lyka. Nice to know he is getting high quality food, with such convenience.

  17. Lyka is definitely my number 1 dog food choice for my fur baby.

  18. I have 3 senior pugs, i started using Lyka 2 months ago for only half bowl feed , cant afford the full bowl. So in the morning they get Lyka food half of the daily allowance and afternoon they get a bit of kibble Petzyo brand. One fussy pug two eat everything. They get a chicken and turkey bowl selection. it is very convenient, the pack is great and arrived in a very cool packing what actually you can use in your compost for the garden. Wish i could afford the full bowl feed. But sometimes i question my self if its really worth it as only see a tiny little meat or liver pieces mostly all smashed vegetables. So not sure how much meat my pugs actually get? It is hard to find the right and affordable dog food. I reading a lot in your webside and very thankful for all your reviews.

  19. I want to order this but I am away and won’t be home for a week.

  20. Ok, this food might be ok but I just did the questionnaire to figure out what my dog needs and it’s going to cost me $21.80 per day per dog.. so over $60 a day.. for my dogs! I could go to the local butcher and actually know what I’m feeding my dog for a quarter of the price.. with the extras added in. This is becoming a rort and the descriptions seem misleading like wild caught etc. Food like this is aimed at small dogs and owners who want to spend money on them and think because this stuff is ridiculously expensive it’s good.

    • Reply
      Pet Food Reviews (Australia) August 9, 2022 at 4:48 pm

      Hi Sasha, I’m guessing you have three big dogs! May I ask what you currently feed?

      I realise foods such as Lyka (and similar brands) are more easy to feed smaller dogs, or for those who own only one dog, but for many who have busy lives and don’t have the time to prepare (or understand the complexities of) raw a brand like Lyka can really help offer their dog a good and more convenient diet. I realise it’s not for everyone, and costly for those who have multiple larger breeds.

      • I’ve been using Lyka for about a year. My cavoodles are doing well on it, but I’ve just received notice of a 20% price increase. 20% !
        It has always been expensive, but I haven’t minded because of the quality and convenience, but a 20% price increase in one hit is just taking the piss.

      • My older dog, 15.5 has been on Lyka for two years, his heart disease hasn’t changed. The vets are amazed he hasn’t needed an increase in meds. He acts 8.
        My 11 year old maltese has no allergies since being on Lyka. And my 8yr old JRT has perfect teeth. I’d rather spend money on good food than vet bills.

  21. I’m just wondering which bits are wild caught, and what inspection measures are in place for these?

  22. Lyka is amazing. My frenchies are different dogs on it. The bowl gets pushed all around the kitchen every meal – and they love swapping bowls to see what the other had! Their coats are lovely and shiny too.

  23. My dog had stomach issues and was vomiting regularly, even on K9 Naturals and Frontier Pets. Now on Lyka for several months she hasn’t vomited once and she has become more active. Superb food.

  24. I started using Lyka 2 months ago and my cavoodle is now not suffering with tummy issues, has an abundance of energy and his poo is not smelly very regular and great consistency. I did have to transition him but followed the advice on the lyka site. Also using the probiotic for gut health that lyka provide I couldn’t be happier and Maui is a happy content fur baby

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