Grade For Dog Kibble

[Guest CometAndDasher]

ProPac K-9 Adult mini chuck was recommend to us by a friend and we have been purchasing it from www.gooberpetdirect.com (free delivery). I just used the info you provided and it came out 92 = "B". It looks like I will be trying the Kirkland brand!

[MauCarden]

Does anyone have any experience with the top-rated kibbles, such as Timberwod Organics Lamb and Venison, Solid Gold Bison, Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance, Eagle Pack Holistic, Authority Harvest Blend, Innova, Natural Balance, Canidae, and Kirkland (I note some good comments on Kirkland)?

 

I am very happy with Innova's EVO. But it is expensive so I might start looking at the prices of the other high rated brands.

 

 

 

[Guest CometAndDasher]

Thank you very much for this information. We just returned from the Pet store with an expensive bag of Nutro Ultra Holistic Superfood - Adult. I rated it using your guide and came up with 70 which is just barely a 'D'.

 

I apologize. I think I did this incorrectly. I took 10 points off for each: lamb meal, salmon meal, and chicken fat for #2 but I think I shouldn't have since these are specific. Also, I took off the 10 points for chicken fat when I should have only take off 2 points. So, if I am doing this correctly now then the Nutro Ultra Holistic Super Food - Adult is actually quite good at 100 points! "A"

[Guest jesimadi]

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/

Love this site - I belong to another Pet board" and we use this quite a bit. There is even sections on why things are rated as they are. Check it out.

We feed Taste of the Wild and it is really really good and fairly inexpensive.

[Guest RWM]

Does anyone have any experience with the top-rated kibbles, such as Timberwod Organics Lamb and Venison, Solid Gold Bison, Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance, Eagle Pack Holistic, Authority Harvest Blend, Innova, Natural Balance, Canidae, and Kirkland (I note some good comments on Kirkland)?

 

I am very happy with Innova's EVO. But it is expensive so I might start looking at the prices of the other high rated brands.

 

I agree. The Innova EVO fish-based kibble is very good, as is the Orijen fish-based kibble. The problem is the ingredients are expensive, and so, the product is expensive. It's hard to find a high end kibble that approximates raw food that is not expensive. I feed my guys Orijen fish-based kibble about twice a week, and then raw food the rest of the week. That way, the kibble lasts longer, and I can justify the cost.

Edited January 26, 2010 by RWM

[Guest LineDancerDana]

WOW!!! I should have read this before my last post about Amelia's food.

[Guest happygrey]

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/

Love this site - I belong to another Pet board" and we use this quite a bit. There is even sections on why things are rated as they are. Check it out.

We feed Taste of the Wild and it is really really good and fairly inexpensive.

 

 

Thanks for posting this site!

[Guest earlkattangrey]

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/

Love this site - I belong to another Pet board" and we use this quite a bit. There is even sections on why things are rated as they are. Check it out.

We feed Taste of the Wild and it is really really good and fairly inexpensive.

 

I was just about to post about http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/, and incidentally I feed Taste of the Wild too I've done a lot of research on this and imo there are few better foods and it is substantially less money than Blue Buffalo, etc.

 

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php/product/1285/cat/8

[Guest bluefawn]

YAY! Glad to see that my homework paid off before buying Penny a few food! The Wellness gets a greyt grade!

BTW, she has not peed on hers (or my) bedding one time last night, or all day today! (I am taking the bag of IAMS back to Walmart tomorrow for a refund!!)

[Guest jaws4evr]

Ours are both on Orijen-chicken.. the GH is having some shedding/dandruff issues so the jury is sitll out whether it's the perfect fit for her. We have a Pitty mix as well with some food allergies, and we wanted to try Kirkland since we'd heard good things about it. The Pitty got fierce hot itchy swollen rashes within one day of eating Orijen with a little bit Kirkland mixed in! AFter three days of increasing rashyness we called it quits and donated the rest of the bag.

 

I haveh eard other people have great luck with it, but it did NOT work well for us.

 

The Pitty still has flareups with the Orijen, but we're pretty sure those are environmental, not food related.

[Guest Lgyure85]

Blue Buffalo Wilderness (Duck)- 110! Yay

[Guest Paige12]

Hah!!! I love this discussion!! We left our vet of 20 years because he always pushed us to buy science diet which we did forever. Then our pet sitter gave us the rate your food sheet!! !! Came to find out it was Crap!!! We now do half home cooking (which he always said was horrible!) and rotate Wolf King with Dog Lover's gold. As far as by-products being bad or good, Animal By-Product meal is defined as rendered products. Read Ann Martin's book - Food Pets Die For - for the answer to what are rendered products. Trust me, you won't like it.

[sarabz]

Thank you very much for this information. We just returned from the Pet store with an expensive bag of Nutro Ultra Holistic Superfood - Adult. I rated it using your guide and came up with 70 which is just barely a 'D'.

Hmmmm.... either your math or mine is wrong - I came up with a mid-90's score for that food.

 

Makes me wonder if my 110 score for Earthborn Holistic is really accurate

 

(Excuse any typos - I can't see what I'm typing with this outdated browser that I can't update because it's at work)

 

OK, just saw your updated post with the revised score - disregard what I'm saying OK, going home and not responding on GT for the rest of the day if this is how it's going to go

Edited June 8, 2010 by sarabz

[sarabz]

You know, reading this thread again this evening, I've come to just one solid conclusion.

 

You can drive yourself nuts trying to find the perfect food!

The food that works best for you and your hound(s) is the best one. I've got to stop looking at the comments, reviews, websites, and calculations otherwise Bella will be on a different food every month!

[Guest BlingDogs]

www.dogfoodanalysis.com also rates dog food from 1 to 6 stars.

[Guest dianegreymom]

www.dogfoodanalysis.com also rates dog food from 1 to 6 stars.

Anyone know anything about Castor & Pollux?

[Guest RainShine]

I'm surprised about Kirkland and would have to do the math myself? The ingredients are not impressive to me nor to any vets or nutritionists I know. My Grey won't touch it. I've done allot of research and cross-referenced ingredients, and Kirkland didn't even come close to other brands out there. It is quite reasonable however and isn't horrible so if you have allot of dogs, I can understand how it could work for some.

[Guest Jesse22]

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

 

I don't know if I'm posting this right, but does anyone feed Taste of the Wild?

 

opps think I messed that up! sorry.. I'l figure it out eventualy

[Guest caiteag]

I'm surprised about Kirkland and would have to do the math myself? The ingredients are not impressive to me nor to any vets or nutritionists I know. My Grey won't touch it. I've done allot of research and cross-referenced ingredients, and Kirkland didn't even come close to other brands out there. It is quite reasonable however and isn't horrible so if you have allot of dogs, I can understand how it could work for some.

 

I believe Kirkland has changed their food since this was originally posted and tabulated. My dogs did well on it for quite a while but then we started having all sorts of problems. We no longer use it.. but when this thread was started, it was a pretty decent food.

[Guest grammarules]

I tried Authority & Pedigree and Shelby got sick on it. My son's Rotty got a bad bladder infection on Authority. Shelby loves her Iams. I am curious about how many suggested the Kirkland brand. I'm wondering if it is work a switch.

[Guest Diadado]

Dog food ratings:

 

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/

[Guest grammarules]

I wonder if this list would also apply to canned food? Does anyone have a similar list for canned? I like to mix the two for her morning feed.

[Hubcitypam]

You know, reading this thread again this evening, I've come to just one solid conclusion.

You can drive yourself nuts trying to find the perfect food!

The food that works best for you and your hound(s) is the best one. I've got to stop looking at the comments, reviews, websites, and calculations otherwise Bella will be on a different food every month!

Exactly. This chart is one person (or organizations) idea of what constitutes the "perfect" food.

 

There are others out there that use different criteria. For example, beet pulp is not a no no on this chart but is on others. Another example is this charts giving bonus points for fruit and sunflower oil (among other ingredients). I find it VERY hard to believe if sunflower oil was included in my dogs food it would be there in enough quanitity to make any difference (if it made any significant difference in the first place, which I strongly doubt).

 

Poodles Wellness has flaxseed, apples and blueberries. Very impressive on this chart. However, they are on the ingredient list after "natural chicken flavor" and just before the vitamins. How many blueberries are there in a 12 pound bag? 6? 8? Well, that's worth a bonus point.....

[Guest IrskasMom]

There is another aspect to the whole Food Situation.Yes I know we have to go with Progress and Technology. Some 60 Years ago , my Mom and Dad adopted a wire Hair Fox Terrier.At that time there was no Kibbles or all Natural Dogfood. The Dog got all Tablescraps and then some . He became a nice Age of 14 Years old. Its what Technology makes out of everything something good or bad. We go for it and have to make it better and better .

[Guest Profgumby]

Wow....

 

It is enough to drive you nuts! I have the site bookmarked for Dog food analysis, and I honestly have no problem feeding anything from grade 4 on up..as long as the dogs do well with it!

 

When we got PatC she was being fed Nutro Natural Choice, Large Breed Adult, Lamb Meal and Rice. So when we got Beauty we switched her onto that as well. Both dogs ate the food just fine, seemed happy and healthy and their coats felt fine. Beauty had some dry skin issues though. So I wondered about a better food etc...

 

Recently we were at anniversary celebration at the local pet shop and the Wellness rep (among others)was there. I was impressed by their info and started switching the girls to the Wellness Super 5 Lamb Rice and Salmon mix. I went with the lamb and rice as that was the same blend in Nutro natural we had been feeding. (The rep was going for us to get their Super 5 adult)

 

Well the soft poo brigade showed up as we started transitioning them. Now, we really like wellness and so do the girls. They both eat it all every time! And their coats are really soft and shiny! Beauty no longer has the dandruff/flaking skin issues. I cannot attest much to the shedding as they both went through their fall shed real recently.

 

Anyway, I e mailed wellness as the soft poo was still a nearly full time issue with PatC and occasional with Beauty. We also cut their food from 2 cups - 2x daily to 1 1/2 cups - 2x daily. I suspected the adage we hear, high quality food, less is needed and too much of said food = pudding poo! I also have added a tablespoon of plain yogurt or cottage cheese to their food frequently. They love it and it is supposed to help firm the stool and the pro-biotics help the gut. With so, so results...

 

Wellness recommended their whitefish and sweet potato blend as there was a single source of protein and I also noticed no fruit in the blend. I have read from several dog owners that fruit in the blends was giving their dogs the soft serve #2's, so we gave this food a go. We are about 1/2 way through a 15 pound bag and PatC is having the same issue as bad as ever!

 

Now I have to qualify, we had very little of the lamb and rice food left so the transition was a we bit abrupt. I know this can cause issues so I am content to wait this out a bit. Beauty is having similar issues at the moment, though she is consistently better off when carpet bombing the yard. Neither dog seems to have any problems, pain, difficulty going, accidents inside or gastro-intestinal distress other than dog poo brand yard pudding being the end result!

 

Has anyone had any experience with Wellness causing this issue? I am going to get some canned pumpkin as we all know what that is supposed to do. I have no problem switching food again and realize one may need one food and the other another. I am hesitant to knee jerk react and change food every sodding bag so I am looking to you who have had similar issues or had hounds for many years...

Edited October 12, 2010 by Profgumby