“This should be ZERO STARS. Poor quality product with huge lumps of bone and excessive bone content. Customer service just as poor as the food quality - then the outrageous lie that no one else has complained about the same thing!”
“I’m absolutely devastated by my experience with Durham Animal Feeds (DAF). After feeding their raw dog food to both of my dogs, they became severely constipated and in pain. One of them had to undergo an anaesthetic procedure to remove excessive bone buildup—costing me over £1,200.
The food was labeled as containing 10% bone, but this was completely inaccurate. The actual bone content was vastly higher, and had I known, I would never have fed it to my dogs. This mislabeling put their health at serious risk.
I contacted DAF with a vet report, expecting at least a response, but they have completely ignored me. No apology, no explanation—just silence. It’s shocking that a company supplying pet food would show such a total lack of care for their customers and, more importantly, the health of their animals.
I strongly urge other pet owners to think twice before buying from them. The risk simply isn’t worth it.”
“My dog loves their venison chunks but from now on I am finding another brand. We have occassionally found it boney when it is not meant to contain bone but last week my dog suddenly dropped something metal from his food and it was a BULLET! It wasn't even complete it looks like it went through the cutting machines as it is very sharp. Complained to my local pet shop who were disgusted, they pulled the food from from the shop and put a complaint in. I also complained to Durham but they will not reply to my emails so i have now reported it to the FSA. He is eating through what we have but we check everything but the quality is appauling the last bag had a chunk of hair in it. AVOID at all costs because their food could cause you pet damage.”
“If I could score 0 I would.
Look at the pictures and you can see for yourself.
This is a £70 fish order containing 16x 1kg bags of sardines, which i have ordered before. What i received was visably not sardines nor was they fit for consumption. all bags were in the was condition.
Company fobbed me off and said the fish was fine and actually human grade.
Please see the pictures of the quality products they sell along with the first class customer service email response.
They are disgusting and in my opinion harmful to my boys health and that of the rest of the canine community.
I Will never use nor recomend them to anyone EVER.”
“Would leave a zero star review if I could. Absolutely atrocious food, I have spent 20 minutes picking huge shards of sharp bone out of my dogs food and 6 molar teeth, I thought it was a faulty batch so tried another flavour to find 4 teeth still attached to the gum and more sharp shards of bone, Absolutely disgusting and appauling quality. My Dog was pooping blood. We have since changed to another brand which is a similar price and has been Absolutely fantastic. Don't buy this food unless you want to end up in the vets!!”
“Stay away from this company twelve months ago my dog ended up with a blockage in his bowel and ended up in the vet hospital .The vet found during xray and ultrasound scan he had boney material all along his intestines he was quite poorly . I thought it was because he was a fairly small dog that he was not chewing the small bones . I changed him to tin dog food anyway wasn’t taking that chance again .
Today I am writing this as my other dog who is a large breed ended up very poorly in the vets with intestine obstruction and had been yet again in the vet hospital and had scans and the exact same boney material all in his intestines that has caused the blockage .So it was not my small dog not eating the bones but they actually have loads of bones in this food which they shouldnt and it should be bonemeal . My dog was really poorly and had to have an anaesthetic to clear the blockage this firm could have killed my dog .
I am going to report this firm to the foods standards agency they are cutting corners and adding bone instead of bonemeal and some of the food smells awful .
Do not use this company because your best friend could potentially die I have all the evidence and going to take them to court as they need to stop producing raw food and have their licence revoked and fined”
“A company you CAN'T TRUST.
Bone content is so high in some batches it feels like wet sand and cement. If my dog had eaten that he would have no doubt been in need of urgent vets assistance. Like others, I too have found 1" (knife sharp) bone shards, split tubular bone, thin long bones in high quantity in every single pack to date which is just not acceptable, its simply not safe!. You dont expect to have to dig through every single pack of raw meat checking for dangers. If it states its 80/10/10, then thats what it should be, Durham does NOT sell what it says they are selling on the label. Minces are NOT consistant from week to week. Sometimes you'll get meat so sloppy and wet its just slime, other times it is SO full of ground bone its inedible for the dog.
They also sent me a FULL 24 box of duck that was completely rotten on defrosting. The meat was grey and stank so badly I had to throw the entire box out.
Dogs are not human, no... but we love and cherish them just as much as our own children and we want to give them the best food we can afford to look after them so they are healthy and happy. They look to us to feed them and keep them safe. If this so called pet friendly company thinks this is what is safe and suitable to feed our animals then they need shutting down as thier standards are NOT what they should be.
This companys products are dangerous and could cause some very serious problems, especially to smaller breeds.
Not one of my reviews has been shown on thier website either, funny how there are so few reviews on thier own website when the company has been around for so long too.
Just avoid this company at all costs if you care about your animals.”
“I've tried many different suppliers over the years & always found DAF to be the poorest quality but cheapest price. It's the only brand I've ever found pieces of plastic in. Recently the quality has deteriorated further - some so called mince is like sludge. It smells like very old meat to the point my dogs often turn their noses up. My guess is they scrape up the slop from the slaughterhouse floor.”
“I was pleased that our pet food shop had changed to a company that has a good variety until I started to notice the very high bone content and the bones were not crushed down to an acceptable size. One was the size of a 2p piece. I am disappointed with Durham foods, their standards have gone down which will not help them as a business.”
“Our bully loves every flavour of this food, staff are very friendly and helpful.
Delivery driver Andy was friendly and helpful.
Overall great company”
“Thier raw food minces are NOT the stated ratio, nor are thier batches consistant.
I've had batches where its like putting your hand into a bag of crushed glass theres so much bone crushed up in there! A more honest ratio on this food is 605bone 405 meat... and thats in a good batch.
I've also had batches of duck mince that once thawed are ROTTEN and STINK to high heaven. I've taken comparison pictures of the food and batch numbers as am planning on reporting this company. More people need to do the same or this kind of thing is going to contine. Send your reports to "the Food Standards Agency (FSA)"
Be VERY careful if feeding your dog Durham minces as the sheer size and ammount of bone in it is dangerous.
There should be more regulations in this country regarding dog food.
So many bad reviews on this company all over the internet (DURHAM ANIMALFEEDS) where pets that are being fed thier raw food have ended up at the vets with gastro problems or blockages etc. I was sceptical about the bad reviews until I started actually putting my hands in the mince. Its shocking they are even allowed to sell raw food like this.”
“Started using DAF pet foods stupidly from a recommendation from the raw food store I used. Found large pieces of blue plastic that was sharp and curved in the product. Also this is NOT 10% bone. The bone content is very high and has made my dog ill. I’ve raised this to the store and DAF. The store said the plastic issue happens from time to time as it’s from what the slaughtered animals have eaten….why? They should be cared for too not eating plastic. Seems like a totally rubbish excuse to me. They also said DAF is boney….but it shouldn’t be it’s quoted as being 80/10/10! In regards to my dog being ill this was dismissed. DAF themselves have not responded to me. Since looking DAF foods up I’m horrified to see how many people’s poor pets have suffered as a result of DAF’s raw food with many animals requiring emergency surgery. Please avoid and buy a reputable food for your beloved pets that won’t harm them as this product clearly does….not that DAF or their endorsed sellers seem to care.”
“We have used Durham dog food for a few years with no problems but the last year we have have had a few problems. We have had packs coming up very short on weight, sometimes as much as 80grams. We have had packs that have made all our dogs sick. We have also noticed the duck mince getting pinker and more like pate than a mince the last month or so. The last batch of duck we had to return to our local raw stockists because every single pack absolutely stank of ammonia. We contacted Durham but they have not replied, not surprised given their reputation. We won't we using this company again .”
“I have been feeding my 5 dogs this food for nearly 3 years and have not had a problem…….until recently. Bone content I am sure is more than stated but also the size of the bones. Pieces have been as long as an inch and half inch wide, some pieces have been also been very sharp. my dogs have squealed a couple of times when toileting and have been very constipated. I now dilute with none bone meat. I emailed them and a very lovely man did call the next day and explained the way the meat was ground and what size blades were used which didn’t really mean much to me. So I saved and thoroughly washed some bone content and sent them to the County Durham office on 5th December 2023. As of yet I have not heard from them. I’m wondering whether to contact DEFRA. I know the DAF food is competitive price wise but it should still be right for our pets.”
“If I could leave 0 stars I would, this product is DANGEROUS DO NOT BUY, my poor Frenchie has had to have an emergency vet trip because there was so much bone in this food, what are you playing at?! We found sharp prices of bone and teeth!! This should be illegal, we woke up in the middle of the night to her projectile vomiting out of her crate and has been throwing up yellow froth for 2 days since and has gone off her food entirely, we are now scrambling to find an alternative product that is suited to her allergies and she’s having to eat raw store bought turkey and beef mince until we can find an alternative, and she is allergic to beef and turkey! We are appalled and will be taking things further legally.”
“Dangerous !!!! Beware, high nine content, sharp bones and too much that compacts and causes the need for surgery to remove !!! Dog currently having surgery to try to remove it all as he’s bleeding. They won’t be paying your vets bill or caring if your dogs harmed - avoid!!!!”
“Delivery driver left frozen order on doorstep without knocking, we have a sign on the door for sales canvassers or cold callers to not knock, so he chose not to. Not a call to say the order is outside, in the 32° heatwave! It was left there for an hour! 2 previous orders they managed to deliver so why not today? I opened the order to slits in the packets and mushy defrosted food falling on the floor. I contacted customer service who seemed rude and stuck up with the driver?!? They offered an exchange to which I asked what date, then I have had no response since, half a day later, when my dog's need a delivery as they have no food! There is no compassion or empathy whatesover. They seem to not care about retaining loyal customers, I will not be using these again and will advise people to stay away.”
