Bixbi Liberty Dog Food Review 2024

Liberty dog food is one of two main product ranges from Bixbi — the other is Rawbble, a limited ingredient recipe series that’s formulated to help dogs with sensitive stomachs and may be beneficial for picky eaters.

Bixbi also produces a large selection of treats, including Hop & Joint Jerky, Original Jerky and Pocket Trainers training treats (available in flavors including peanut butter).

This review is going to focus on Bixby’s Liberty dog food though, which — pleasingly — is available as a dry dog food, wet dog food and even as a freeze-dried dog food. Plenty of options, then, and covering for a wide range of tastes and dietary preferences. 

Let’s take a more in-depth look at the Liberty dog food range from Bixbi, including recipes, flavors, reviews from pet parents using the food, and the brand’s history, too.

Should you feed your dog wet food or dry food? There’s really no right or wrong answer — it comes down to your pup’s preference in terms of taste, dietary requirements and potentially other factors too, such as age, breed size and weight.

The good news is that Liberty dog food is available as both a dry food and a wet food — there are freeze-dried recipes too — so if you like the brand, you have lots of choice.

Bixbi Liberty dry dog food

There are nine dry recipes in the range from Liberty dog food, most of which are grain-free. Among these are two specialist recipes; one formulated for puppies — Liberty Puppy Original Recipe with Fresh Turkey, Chicken & Fish — and another for small breeds. The Small Breed Chicken recipe has smaller kibble, so it’s easier for little dogs to eat and digest.

One of the key features across the recipes is that dry Liberty dog food doesn’t include any meat or fish meal. Now, meat meal isn’t always a bad thing, necessarily; if the meat used to produce the concentrate is of good quality, it can be a source of high protein. But, some meat meal isn’t good quality — read our guide to understanding a dog food label here, so you know what to look out for.

Bixbi uses real meat in its Liberty dog food, which is always a positive. Its Chicken Recipe uses deboned cage-free chicken, while its Beef Recipe uses deboned pasture-raised beef. Real meat or fish is always the lead ingredient in recipes, supported by red lentils, whole yellow peas, egg, and chicken fat (for example). Recipes are cooked at low temperatures, which helps to retain nutrients and there are no added preservatives, colors or flavors.

Recipes in the Liberty dry dog food range include:

Grain-free: 

• Beef Recipe
• Original Recipe (Turkey, Chicken, Fish)
• Chicken Recipe
• Original Recipe Puppy (Turkey, Chicken, Fish)
• Lamb Recipe
• Fisherman’s Catch
• Small Breed Chicken

Grains:

• Game Bird Feast (Turkey, Quail and Duck)
• Rancher’s Red (Beef, Lamb and Goat)

Liberty wet dog food

The Liberty wet dog food range is significantly smaller than its dry food selection, with five recipes available. Again, like the equivalent dry food recipes, there’s no sign of any meat or fish meal here so Bixbi is staying true to its principles.

Wet food is a great option if your pup prefers a softer texture, or more moisture from its meal. Dipping into the ingredient list of one recipe — Chicken Paté — we can see that it features chicken and chicken broth as its lead ingredients, accounting for 90% of the recipe. Chicken fat, and veggies such as sweet potato, carrots and spinach are in there, too. 

Recipes in the Liberty wet dog food range include:

• Beef Paté Recipe
• Chicken Paté Recipe
• Game Bird Feast Paté Recipe
• Lamb Paté Recipe
• Surf ‘N Turf Paté Recipe (Ocean whitefish and beef)

Liberty freeze dried topper and treats

There are fewer recipes still in the Liberty freeze dried dog food range, though the three flavors available are supported by a trio of freeze-dried topper and treat recipes. Looking at one of the three freeze dried recipes, Lamb, we can see it has a combination of 80% lamb heart and liver, with ground lamb bone. Other prime ingredients include apples, broccoli, eggs, squash and carrots, so plenty of good stuff. 

All three Liberty freeze dried dog food recipes are made without gluten, or grains.

Recipes available are: 

• Freeze-Dried Chicken Recipe
• Freeze-Dried Lamb Recipe
• Freeze-Dried Beef Recipe

Fresh ingredients — including real meat or fish

Bixbi makes a big play about its Liberty dog food not using any meat or fish meal — it’s flagged on its packaging – and rightly so. While good-quality meat or fish meal can have its benefits, having recipes that use real meat or real fish as the main ingredient is always a plus. For us, it puts a big tick in the box when it comes to reasons to buy Liberty dog food.

Caters for different tastes

We’re impressed that the Liberty dog food range isn’t just dry dog food. Not all dogs like kibble, so it’s great to see that Bixbi also produces wet dog food, and freeze-dried dog food, as well as toppers and treats.

Strict safety checks

Pet parents should be reassured by the brand’s recall record — Bixbi has had no recalls as of November 2023. If the company’s testing process is anything to go by, that’s no coincidence. On its website, Bixbi says every batch of its food is tested for Salmonella, E-coli and Listeria, and products are also tested for contaminants.

No dedicated senior food

It’s difficult to be critical of Liberty dog food, but something to consider is that although recipes are suitable for all life stages, there’s no specific senior dog food. If you plan to feed your dog Liberty food throughout its life, you might find it disappointing that there’s nothing specifically formulated for older dogs.

There are supplements for senior dogs though - Bixbi Organic Pet Superfood has products to aid joint health, immunity, digestion and skin and coat condition.

Mixed bag sizes

Again, this is probably a minor point of criticism, but not all recipes are available in the same size of bag. For example, the Liberty Puppy Original Recipe is only available in 4 lb and 11 lb bag, not the larger 22 lb bag, as other recipes are. This might be an issue if you’re having to place more regular orders.

“I am so happy to have found Bixbi Liberty dog food. I was on a hunt to find some cleaner dog food for my dogs that did NOT contain seed oil and I finally found it. This dog food is made with coconut oil. THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!”

“I have been searching for a high-quality food that IS grain inclusive, but without "meal". I have only found 2-Brands that do NOT have meal (chicken meal, turkey meal, duck meal etc.) in the ingredient list, as "meal" is just ground up bone, and whatever else a brand uses for a filler. My dogs LOVE this food, their stool is firm, and they poop less with the higher-grade food. Only available at Chewy. I (highly) recommend.”

“My boy loves this kibble, even as a snack/treat. This kibble works great in his puzzle feeder and snuffle ball. I will definitely keep him on this brand as he is a happy boy, and I don't want to upset his stomach by trying anything else. So glad I found this food.”

Read more reviews on Chewy.

Bixbi was founded by James Crouch in 2009 — it’s named after Bixby Ranch in Santa Barbara, near where James used to surf in childhood. Working on the family mushroom farm, he developed a passion for farm foods and later produced organic mushroom supplements for dogs. That became Bixbi.

Rawbble was the first range of dog food produced by Bixbi. The Liberty dog food range was launched in October 2020, as a more affordable option to Rawbble.

Bixbi is based in Boulder, Colorado.

At the time of writing, there have been no cases of a Bixbi Liberty dog food recall.

Our online friends and partners, Dog Food Advisor, provide a free dog food recall alert service. Click here to sign up.