I found this on another board today and thought I'd pass it along. Just another thing to look at when trying to figure out a food.

I've fed several of the foods with a 100+ score and either Jet or Ryan or both did not do well on them. Just because it scores well does not mean your dog will do well on it.

But anyway... here it is...


How to grade your dog's food:

Start with a grade of 100:
1) For every listing of "by-product", subtract 10 points
2) For every non-specific animal source ("meat" or "poultry", meat, meal or fat) reference, subtract 10 points
3) If the food contains BHA, BHT, or ethoxyquin, subtract 10 points
4) For every grain "mill run" or non-specific grain source, subtract 5 points
5) If the same grain ingredient is used 2 or more times in the first five ingredients (i.e. "ground brown rice", "brewer’s rice", "rice flour" are all the same grain), subtract 5 points
6) If the protein sources are not meat meal and there are less than 2 meats in the top 3 ingredients, subtract 3 points
7) If it contains any artificial colorants, subtract 3 points
8 ) If it contains ground corn or whole grain corn, subtract 3 points
9) If corn is listed in the top 5 ingredients, subtract 2 more points
10) If the food contains any animal fat other than fish oil, subtract 2 points
11) If lamb is the only animal protein source (unless your dog is allergic to other protein sources), subtract 2 points
12) If it contains soy or soybeans, subtract 2 points
13) If it contains wheat (unless you know that your dog is not allergic to wheat), subtract 2 points
14) If it contains beef (unless you know that your dog is not allergic to beef), subtract 1 point
15) If it contains salt, subtract 1 point
Extra Credit:
1) If any of the meat sources are organic, add 5 points
2) If the food is endorsed by any major breed group or nutritionist, add 5 points
3) If the food is baked not extruded, add 5 points
4) If the food contains probiotics, add 3 points
5) If the food contains fruit, add 3 points
6) If the food contains vegetables (NOT corn or other grains), add 3 points
7) If the animal sources are hormone-free and antibiotic-free, add 2 points
8 ) If the food contains barley, add 2 points
9) If the food contains flax seed oil (not just the seeds), add 2 points
10) If the food contains oats or oatmeal, add 1 point
11) If the food contains sunflower oil, add 1 point
12) For every different specific animal protein source (other than the first one; count "chicken" and "chicken meal" as only one protein source, but "chicken" and "" as 2 different sources), add 1 point
13) If it contains glucosamine and chondroitin, add 1 point
14) If the vegetables have been tested for pesticides and are pesticide-free, add 1 point

94-100+ = A 86-93 = B 78-85 = C 70-77 = D <70 = F

Dog Food scores:

Alpo Prime Cuts / Score 81 C
Artemis Large/Medium Breed Puppy / Score 114 A+
Authority Harvest Baked / Score 116 A+
Authority Harvest Baked Less Active / Score 93 B
Beowulf Back to Basics / Score 101 A+
Bil-Jac Select / Score 68 F
Blackwood 3000 Lamb and Rice / Score 83 C
Blue Buffalo Chicken and Rice / Score 106 A+
Burns Chicken and Brown Rice / Score 107 A+
Canidae / Score 112 A+
Chicken Soup Senior / Score 115 A+
Diamond Maintenance / Score 64 F
Diamond Lamb Meal & Rice / Score 92 B
Diamond Large Breed 60+ Formula / Score 99 A
Diamond Performance / Score 85 C
Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra Premium / Score 122 A+
Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Venison and Brown Rice / Score 106 A+
Dick Van Patten's Duck and Potato / Score 106 A+
EaglePack Holistic / Score 102 A+
Eukanuba Adult / Score 81 C
Eukanuba Puppy / Score 79 C
Flint River Senior / Score 101 A+
Foundations / Score 106 A+
Hund-n-Flocken Adult Dog (lamb) by Solid Gold / Score 93 B
Iams Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Premium / Score 73 D
Innova Dog / Score 114 A+
Innova Evo / Score 114 A+
Innova Large Breed Puppy / Score 122 A+
Kirkland Signature Chicken, Rice, and Vegetables / Score 110 A+
Member's Mark Chicken and Rice / Score 84 C
Merrick Wilderness Blend / Score 127 A+
Nature's Recipe / Score 100 A
Nature's Recipe Healthy Skin Venison and Rice / Score 116 A+
Nature's Variety Raw Instinct / Score 122 A+
Nutra Nuggets Super Premium Lamb Meal and Rice / Score 81 C
Nutrience Junior Medium Breed Puppy / Score 101 A+
Nutrisource Lamb and Rice / Score 87 B
Nutro Max Adult / Score 93 B
Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice / Score 98 A
Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy / Score 87 B
Nutro Natural Choice Puppy Wheat Free / Score 86 B
Nutro Natural Choice Senior / Score 95 A
Nutro Ultra Adult / Score 104 A+
Pet Gold Adult with Lamb & Rice / Score 23 F
Premium Edge Chicken, Rice and Vegetables Adult Dry / Score 109 A+
Pro Nature Puppy / Score 80 C
Pro Plan Sensitive Stomach / Score 94 A
Purina Beneful / Score 17 F
Purina Dog / Score 62 F
Purina Come-n-Get It / Score 16 F
Purina One Large Breed Puppy / Score 62 F
Royal Canin Boxer / Score 103 A+
Royal Canin Bulldog / Score 100 A+
Royal Canin Natural Blend Adult / Score 106 A+
Science Diet Advanced Protein Senior 7+ / Score 63 F
Science Diet for Large Breed Puppies / Score 69 F
Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice / Score 97 A
Solid Gold / Score 99 A
Summit / Score 99 A
Timberwolf Organics Wild & Natural Dry / Score 120 A+
Wellness Super5 Mix Chicken / Score 110 A+
Wolfking Adult Dog (bison) by Solid Gold / Score 97 A

You are so right. My dog didn't tolerate Evo or Innova, California Natural Lamb & Rice. I guess it's just a guideline of sorts. I'm a new dog owner and it has been helpful to have some way to "rate" a dog food since there are so many out there and they all claim that they're the best.

Kirkland Signature Chicken, Rice, and Vegetables / Score 110 A+!!!

I'm surprised, is this the Costco brand?

Purina Beneful / Score 17 F
Purina Come-n-Get It / Score 16 F

Dang! It seems like you have to WORK to make dog "food" this bad!

Interesting list. I think I'll print it out and include it in all our adoption packets so no one ever asks me again if "X" is a good food...

I just added up the points for Merrick's Wilderness Blend and came up with 112. I wonder how accurate these scores are?

NOTE: I'm really lousy at math so I could be wrong!

Yes it is.. and my dogs do really well on it.

Great information. My dogs do well on Kirkland food and people have commented on how shiny and nice their coats are. I have been feeding it for years to my greys

Thanks Trudy, that's great info to have. And some scores are surprising.

Good reading. We've been researching foods so much lately, it makes my head spin. Makes me want to "grade" a couple foods that aren't there. . .

I just started my greys on the Kirkland Chicken, Rice and Vegetable due to cost. I had been feeding Blue Buffalo which they did well on, but I cannot afford it. I am currently mixing the two until the Blue runs out. I have heard good things about the Kirkland brand on this forum. I have noticed their poops are not as firm as they were (Blue has 5% fiber and Kirkland only 4%, but hopefully this will get better with time.) They sure don't turn their noses up at it, tho! When we got home, I pulled out a handful of the kibble to see if they would eat it, and they sure did! I am hoping that this is a good quality (so I've read) affordable kibble.

That Blue Buffalo is a really interesting line of foods. Love what's in there. If my "problem child" needs to change foods again, that's one I would look at very seriously. The Costco works wonderfully for my female grey and sheltie. Our chi ended up on Avoderm for some odd reason, and our male grey has been on AvoDerm, too.

None of the AvoDerm is rated here, though.

It's just a bit spendy. I wish we could stay on it.

Not being on the list with a rating means nothing - a bunch of people rated what they used and this list was complied. Not all foods or all varieties will be on it.

Thanks for posting this Trudy, I just printed it out.

John and I were at Costco on Sunday and I looked at the Kirkland Chicken and thought the ingredients looked good so I bought a 40 pound bag and it was only $20. I'm glad to see it ranked 110 A+. We have been feeding Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra Premium, which is rated 122 A+, but is now $43 for a 35 pound bag. I have been mixing them together and I think I might switch over to Kirkland.

My brother and his daughter have been watching his co-workers puppy for the past month. She sent a bag of Blue Buffalo with the puppy which is also rated high, 106 A+. They had to take her to the vet (worms) and the vet told them they should be feeding her Eukanuba (which has a low score of 79 C) I couldn't believe a vet would recommend Eukanuba over the Blue Buffalo.

My dog uses Eagle Pack Hollistic Duck and Oatmeal. He loves it and it really makes his fur feel like silk. He was on the ancovey and salmon, but the fish oil was too much for him and it made his stomach upset.

This is great info for a newbie like me. I'm surprised about the kirlands being rated so high. Makes me wish we had a costco closer to us. Might be worth the drive once a month or so.

I created a page with the rating system and the rated foods separated by grade if anyone wants to print it for their adoption packets.

http://www.psgreyhounds.org/DogFoodGrades.htm

I think Nutra Nuggets must have changed their recipe because I just calculated the score for their lamb and rice formula (available at Costco) and it came out to be a 96 A. Unless I did my math incorrectly or missed something major on the scoring sheet, the "81 C" that is listed is wrong.

Audrey

Has anyone heard of Prairie dog food? We just brought our first greyhound home and have been slowly changing his diet from the food he came with. He was on Purina when he arrived and now he is up to 1 1/2 cups of Prairie and a half a cup of purina twice a day. We also have added fish oil to his food. His dumps are fine ,but he is drinking more water. Is that normal? The food was recommended by a pet store whose orientation is healthy and all natural. There is no corn, wheat or soy in this brand. I would love any comments.

DH and I did some Math today to try to figure out what we were going to feed our new friend...Thought that I would share for those who may be mathematically challenged (Like myself!)

Calitfornia Natural, herring & Sweet Potato ~ 92
Canidae ~ 112
Halo Spot's Stew ~ 105

I was really surpirsed with the Kirkland. I really like Costco - many good and healthy products at really low prices. Def. worth the membership price.

Duke and Tankala are doing great on the chicken & rice. I add some stuff a friend of mine makes - a mash of squash, potatoes, beets, fruits and other stuff and turkey necks to floss.

As a newbie, thanks so much for this list!

I saw the Costco brand, and wasn't sure about it, but I think we'll try it. Pike has been on Hill's Prescription Bland Diet for his loose stools -- I just started adding 1/8 parts California Lamb & Rice (which is twice as much as Costco), and it is giving him terrible gas!!! And the loose stools are back. Poor guy just pooped four times on his walk!

Kirkland is made by Diamond, Diamond had recalls as most did, but 3 of theirs are really good and the maintenence is a 64 F. Why should they be bad to good? I would like to use their food, as Canidae dropped in size and gained in price

Just my 2 cents. . .

Be aware that several foods have changed their formulations since this grading system first appeared.

For example, Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice (which USED to be Nutro Natural Choice Lamb MEAL and Rice)
made significant changes to its formulation when it was bought out by Mars Pet Foods last year. The new
formulation will not score nearly as high as the old formulation, for example.

I personally look for a dog food that is made in a company-owned plant, rather than by a large co-packer
that makes lots of different foods. That's the situation that caused so much cross-contamination of foods
last year at the Menu Foods plant.

I would give points for a food being made at a company-owned plant, and subtract points if made by a large
co-packer.

Make sense?

I'm surprised that Pro Plan is not graded on this list in that it is so popular. Has anyone taken the time to add up Pro Plan's score?

It may have a crappy rating, but Beneful Prepared Meals is the only thing that Zoe will eat since she was on the brink of death last month. And if that's what it takes to keep her healthy and happy at her age, then she can have it. She's an absolute eating machine since she was sick - and this is the dog who wouldn't eat for days before!

Kirby eats Life's Abundance from healthypetnet.com althought he'd eat anything at all.

After reviewing the incredients in Beneful, I was not surprised that it received a grade of "F." Unfortunately, my dog turned up its nose at Canidae, and a couple of the other kibbles, but would happily gobble down Beneful. Probaly analagous to the enthusiasm with which I gobble down a NutRageous candy bar. I finally hit on a compromise. The dog loves Purina One, and gobbles the food down so fast that she chokes. Fortunately, it has substantially better nutritional properties than Beneful which to me seems a recipe for non logevity of the dog (speaking of using it with younger dogs). Of course in your situation, you had to do what you had to do.

Having said all that, my fiance was feeding her 11 year old lab Beneful, and she has been doing quite well with it. I did get her to switch to Purina One however.