It's All About Quality Ingredients: Best Food for a Safe and Healthy Dog
In early 2015, the law firm of Morgan and Morgan filed a class action lawsuit against Purina over ingredients found in its line of Beneful dog food. Despite this lawsuit — and the thousands of complaints of kidney failure that led to it — the products remain available to purchase at a store near you.
Of the pet owners we surveyed, 70 percent admitted that they didn’t know all of the ingredients in their dog’s food — including the very ingredients at the heart of the Purina lawsuit. All dog foods claim to be “premium” and “all natural,” but with very few regulations on what it takes to meet these qualifications, many of these claims are little more than flashy marketing gimmicks and false advertising. So, we dug behind the label to sort out which ingredients make an excellent dog food and which ones should be avoided.
At the end of the work, we settled on 134 formulas across 29 approved brands.
Ten people on our team dedicated full-time work to this project, investing over 1,400 hours into this single page.
We built a list of over 11,000 people with connections to the dog food industry and narrowed it down to the best.
Over 20 experts contributed their valuable time to our work, including veterinarians, dog trainers, animal behaviorists, university researchers, and authors.
We surveyed 300 dog owners and asked them if they knew what was in their dog’s food.
We gathered a list of over 8,000 search queries to find out what matters most to dog owners.
We read and analyzed 72 of the most popular articles and studies on dog food.
We compiled a list of 2,223 formulas from 115 brands and reviewed their ingredients.
Bad ingredients make dog food unsafe and unhealthy.
The Truth About Recalls and Manufacturing Practices
Safety has always been the biggest concern for pet owners — and one of the hardest challenges for dog food manufacturers to meet. Since the 2007 recalls on Chinese-sourced food, many consumers have started reading labels to see where their food was coming from, but even ingredients sourced in the US can be unsafe.
The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) sets and maintains standards for the proper levels of ingredients in pet food, but it’s the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that determines the quality. FDA regulations, however, don’t guarantee that all ingredients will be safe.
Ingredients from rendering facilities, for instance, should be avoided. You’ll recognize these ingredients on the label under generic, non-specific terms like “meat” and “meat meal.” In California, manufacturers have given them the appetizing name of “dry rendered tankage.” So why avoid them? It’s almost impossible to tell what’s being rendered: It can be roadkill, zoo animals, and sometimes even spoiled meat from the grocery store that’s still wrapped in plastic.
The experts we spoke with have seen a direct correlation between poor diet and many health problems in dogs. Most of these problems tie back to low-quality ingredients in dog food, but safety is still a concern.
“With the disastrous pet food recall of 2007 ultimately linked to tainted ingredients, and the mysterious deaths from jerky treats still ongoing, one of the best actions pet owners can take is to avoid products that are sourced or manufactured in China, and inform pet food companies of why you are making your choices.”
Cheryl Smith
Canine Behavior and Training Expert
Wheat and Grain Allergies
“Some dogs have different allergies and need to be on specific food that does not have any of these allergens. One big one is wheat or grain.”
Kenn Bell
Writer, Director, Producer
@dogfiles
Reputable companies matter.
“What I’m running into now is owners who refuse to use a proven, studied, quality-controlled, hypoallergenic, or hydrolyzed diet from a reputable pet-food company.”
Craig Webb
Associate Professor, Head of Small Animal Medicine Section
Colorado State University, Veterinary Teaching Hospital
Test everything.
“I would prefer ALL dog and cat food to undergo food trials and level 1 testing to assure that ingredients listed on the bag are actually what is in the food.”
Nancy Welborn
Clinical Assistant Professor
LSU, School of Veterinary Medicine
Bloating and Digestive Problems
“Having worked in emergency medicine, I have seen bloat. The most common dietary issues I see are allergy and IBD (inflammatory bowel disease). IBD is not a diagnosis in my opinion, but a syndrome that screams that the patient needs whole food that they can effectively assimilate. I also feel that anal sac problems can be related to the diet.”
Dr. Elisa Katz
Veterinarian
@animaldr72
Keep dogs lean.
“The long-term Purina siblings study demonstrated pretty conclusively that keeping dogs lean can increase lifespan by two-plus years, so the incidence of obesity is quite troubling.”
Cheryl Smith
Canine Behavior and Training Expert
Obesity, Allergies, Bloating, and More
“Yes, it is common in EVERY single client that comes to us, especially if they come from conventional veterinary medicine treatment. So what do we see in addition [to] this — ALL ailments, including ear infections, yeast overgrowth, kidney, liver, organ issues, cancer, diabetes, pancreatitis, IBD, and IBS.”
Dr. Kim Bloomer
Animal Naturopath
@dockim
Dogs are not humans.
“Like us, dogs can eat both vegetables and meat, capable of digesting and utilizing a wide range of foods. However, unlike us, your dog’s digestive system is much more suited to meat consumption so benefits from a meat-rich diet.”
Marc Abraham
TV Vet
@marcthevet
Poor Diet, Bad Behavior
“Hyperactivity, excessive need to drink — when a dog does not feel good, he does not behave or train well.”
Lack of Concentration
“If not healthy and feeling good, the dog cannot focus or concentrate. Plus if [the] dog is not fed correctly, it can result in physical defects which affect temperament.”
Martin Deeley
Dog Trainer
@martindeeley
Food impacts the brain.
“I always ask what the dog is fed. Owners bring their own dog’s food. There are some that don’t feed the brain or the body very well, I won’t feed them and advise them ahead of time to make a change.”
Mary Mazzeri
Dog Trainer
Bad Ingredients, Poor Health
Just verifying all the ingredients in your food are “safe” doesn’t mean they are optimal or even healthy for your best friend. Dogs need the right combination of protein, fat, moisture, fiber, and nutrients to live healthy, happy lives. The wrong ingredients in the wrong combinations can lead to a host of health problems, both physical and mental.
Digestive problems, including bloat and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), are symptomatic of poor ingredients that don’t contain enough whole, unprocessed foods. Food allergies can also lead to digestive issues — many of the experts we reached out to have seen evidence that dogs are sensitive to wheat and corn, both popular fillers.
Obesity is on the rise in dogs. One main reason for this is overfeeding, but many of the experts we talked to were quick to point out that poor grain-based ingredients are also to blame.
Physical problems are only half of it. There was a unanimous consensus among trainers and behaviorists we talked to that poor diet causes mental health issues in dogs, including poor temperament and lack of focus. Marc Abraham elaborates: “Certain popular pet food brands on the market contain extra colorings, additives, and E numbers that, in my opinion, can affect behavior, leading to hyperactivity and difficulty with training.”
The first step in choosing the best dog food for your pet is to identify the bad ingredients in dog food. From there, you can combine that knowledge with an understanding of what good ingredients to look for. The experts we spoke to weighed in.
Paleo Pets?
“Pet nutrition often follows trends in human nutrition — with nutrients taking on a life of their own — high protein, low carbohydrate foods. Currently there is interest in minimal ingredients (natural, organic, or “free of” artificial colors; preservatives; or avoid a particular ingredient — no soy, by-products, no grain, etc.). In parallel to the paleo diet, there is interest in raw, meat-based diets.”
Julie Churchill
Associate Clinical Professor
University of Minnesota, Veterinary Clinical Sciences
No Corn, No Wheat
“Corn — not appropriate for a carnivore. It is an incomplete protein, contains gluten, and is one of the more allergenic food substances, especially since pretty much all of it is GMO. Wheat — similar reasons as corn.”
Dr. Elisa Katz
Veterinarian
@animaldr72
Source of Ingredients
“I’m really picky about brands because first you have to be able to trust whatever company you are choosing, then you have to know where the brand sources their ingredients. Source is key these days.”
Mary Haight
Blog Owner and Writer
@dancingdogblog
Avoid These
“Dogs don’t digest corn well, if at all. Wheat, Soy, and Beet Pulp should also be avoided.”
Darlene Arden
Author and Lecturer
@petxpert
Manage Carbohydrates
“We feed high concentrations of crude protein and fat in dog diets in order that the complete diet fed to the dog is highly digestible. Carbohydrates are very important dietary constituents, but the amount added needs to be managed as they oftentimes will result in lower digestibility.”
George Fahey
Professor Emeritus
University of Illinois, Department of Animal Sciences
Quality Matters
“Ensuring the right balance of protein and nutrients is correct, depending on your dog’s age and health and wellbeing is key. Achieving this is another question entirely as the quality is also very important.”
Mark Walden
Dog Handler and Writer
@MarkRWalden
Look for Organic
“Organic” is a term that is defined and regulated. If you want to avoid GMOs, growth hormones, chemical fertilizers and herbicides, look for a product certified organic.”
Cheryl Smith
Canine Behavior and Training Expert
What About Nutrients?
“Certainly ingredients matter, particularly when you look at the quality and specific amino acid make-up of the protein, but I’m actually concerned that the pendulum has swung too far towards ingredients and away from nutrients in some owner’s minds (we survive space travel using packets of liquefied nutrition that doesn’t resemble any of the ingredients I put on the dinner table!).”
Craig Webb
Associate Professor, Head of Small Animal Medicine Section
Colorado State University, Veterinary Teaching Hospital
Good Ingredients and How They Relate to Your Dog
However, many ingredients can’t simply be divided into “good” or “bad.” Some are downright controversial. Beet pulp, for instance, is a common binding agent found in many dog foods, but many conscientious consumers avoid it over concerns of digestive health issues. There is no scientific research as of yet to back this up, but the experts we talked to unanimously agreed: It’s best to avoid it.
Not only do ingredients matter, but also having the right combinations and ratios of ingredients matters. There’s an oft-quoted statistic that claims good dog foods contain 30 percent protein and 18 percent fat, with enough side nutritional content — omega-3s, vitamins, and fiber — to round out your dog’s diet. The experts we talked to disagree. To them, it’s really what’s best for your individual dog. “Protein is very important for your dog, but there are instances, such as old age or liver issues, where your dog should be on a lower-protein diet,” says Dog Files creator Kenn Bell. “Make sure you have a conversation with your veterinarian.”
Scientific evidence has yet to show whether or not a raw, homemade diet is the right choice for dogs. However, about half the experts we spoke to are in favor of feeding their pets a raw diet. As a pet owner, there are several factors that play into feeding your dog a raw diet that you need to consider, like preparation time and ensuring you don’t feed your pet a harmful human food.
Is raw right?
“Raw food practically became a religion with some people, yet there were no scientific double-blind studies to support any of the claims made for raw food diets. Also, we are warned not to eat our hamburgers rare because of E. coli concerns. So if the raw food supply is not healthful enough for us to consume, why should we want to feed it to our dogs?”
Cheryl Smith
Canine Behavior and Training Expert
Whole and Homemade
“I recommend whole foods and honestly I promote homemade diets with balanced supplements and raw diets to our clients.”
Dr. Carol Osborne
Veterinarian
@carolonpets
Simply Raw
“I feed my dogs raw.”
Fred Hassen
Dog Trainer
@fred_hassen
38 Years of Raw Diets
“Raw prey model diets. No veggies. No grains. No cooked foods. Dr. Jeannie has been raw feeding for 28 years and I have been raw feeding for 10 years.”
Dr. Kim Bloomer & Dr. Jeannie Thomason
Animal Naturopaths
@dockim, @docjeannie
Dog Food Types
When we made our picks for the best dog foods, we looked at all varieties: dry, wet, homemade, dehydrated, and frozen raw varieties. No matter the type of food, the most important determining factor is still the ingredients. After that, what matters is what’s best for you and your dog.
Life Stages
Your dog’s life stage should factor into his or her diet. Puppies and seniors both have specific dietary needs. Large-breed puppies can develop developmental orthopedic disease (DOD) if they eat too much calcium — the maximum amount of calcium listed in their food should be no more than 1.5 percent. Senior dogs often require less protein because they are less active. And if they suffer from arthritis, many formulas contain glucosamine and chondroitin, both of which alleviate joint pain.
Some people say age-specific formulations are simply a marketing tactic. Just about all the experts we spoke to believe puppies and older dogs have specific nutritional needs that need to be addressed through diet.
Age matters.
“Life-stage diets are extremely important when feeding pets. At a young age, puppies are growing fastest so will require increased frequency of meals containing raised levels of protein and calcium compared to adult or old-age diets; so it’s important to stick to feeding guidelines on packaging. Recent research shows that large-breed puppies should not be fed a diet that contains too much calcium due to increased risk of developing bone abnormalities.”
Marc Abraham
TV Vet
@marcthevet
Puppies have unique needs.
“Puppies should be fed a food formulated specifically for puppies, and large-breed puppies should be fed a food made just for them.”
Lower Protein for Older Dogs
“Recently, more research has been done on aging dogs, and some advances are being made in nutrition for our older companions. Protein levels should not be excessively high, and the quality of protein should be excellent. But there are also some changes in micronutrients that can help stave off decreases in cognition (indeed, some of this canine research is driving discoveries in Alzheimer’s disease in humans).”
Cheryl Smith
Canine Behavior and Training Expert
Breed-Specific Diets
According to the experts we interviewed, there’s no indication that specific breeds need specific diets. What you feed your dog is dependent on his or her size and activity level. Foods formulated specially for small dogs, for example, are beneficial because the smaller pieces of kibble are easier for them to eat and digest.
Dog owners need to be as careful as ever.
After putting in 1,400 hours of research and analyzing over 2,223 formulas, we discovered even some of the most popular brands still make food with unhealthy or unsafe ingredients. Of the 2,223 formulas we looked at, only 134 met our standard of approval — about 6 percent overall. With so many choices on the market, it’s as important as ever to read labels and make informed decisions.
The good news? There are 134 great formulas to choose from, and they represent the best of what the industry has to offer.
A Note on Price
Because we did, in fact, want to offer the best in the industry, we made these considerations with a distinct focus on quality — and without an emphasis on cost to the consumer.
We understand that the price points of our top-rated choices may be higher than the average unit price in the industry, and might be simply too costly for many consumers. Still, our goal was to surface other key considerations — like ingredients and history of handling recalls — when deciding which formula is best for your dog. Moving forward, we also hope to provide more clarity around affordability, as well.
13 Great Formulas From Some of Our Favorite Brands
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We removed products where the first ingredient is not a meat of any kind.
194 disqualified
2
We removed products containing corn, soy, wheat, grain, or flour.
578 disqualified
3
We removed products containing beet pulp or sugar.
146 disqualified
4
We removed products that contained by-products or sauces.
44 disqualified
5
We reviewed brands for recalls, ingredient sources, history, and customer satisfaction.
956 disqualified
6
We reviewed the remaining formulas based on the best ratio of protein, fat, and carbs, as well as the source of protein.
171 disqualified
Formulas and Ingredients
Ingredients matter most, so we started by eliminating formulas with ingredients we determined to be unhealthy, unsafe, or unfavorable. It was important that each formula have a meat protein listed first — we removed 194 dog food formulas based on this criteria. We next removed 578 additional formulas that had corn, soy, wheat, grain, or flour in any part of the ingredient list. Overall, this eliminated 772 formulas, taking us from 2,223 to 1,447.
Next, we took out all formulas containing beet pulp or sugar, eliminating 146 more and further reducing the number from 1,447 to 1,301. Formulas that contained by-products and sauces led to 44 additional cuts, narrowing our choices from 1,301 to 1,257.
The 1,257 dog food formulas left did not have any ingredients we wouldn’t feed our own dogs. This was too large a number, however, so our next step was to review the brands themselves and return to formulas later.
Brands and Recalls
The original 2,223 dog food formulas we analyzed comprised 115 brands. But after reducing the number of formulas to 1,257, the number of brands dropped to 93.
Brands That Were Cut Because of Their Ingredients:
Cesar
Chicken Soup
Eukanuba
Fruitables
HI-TOR
Hill’s Prescription Diet
Hill’s Science Diet
Iams Veterinary Formula
Nummy Tum-Tum
Nutro
Nutro Ultra
Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets
Royal Canin
NRG
Breeder’s Choice
Natural Planet
Now Fresh
Nutro Natural
Indigo
Pet Naturals of Vermont
Himalayan Dog Chew
Of the 93 brands left, we went straight to their recall history to look for any major recalls, any significant controversies, and unusually high numbers of customer complaints and reports.
Next, we took out brands that had been sold to large companies and, as a result, may be changing or have changed their formulas in a manner that compromises integrity. Just as in human food, often, acquisitions and changes in ownership can lead to changes in formulas and manufacturing processes. In dog food, that can mean dramatically different ingredients that pet owners may not even notice.
For this reason, we eliminated dog food brands that had recently been acquired by large companies like Procter & Gamble (P&G), because we couldn’t guarantee that the data we had on them, or the ingredients listed, were up-to-date and reliable.
We also removed anything that is manufactured in countries that don’t have strong food-quality regulations, that were known to include lesser-quality ingredients, or do not have enough available information:
Canidae: Many negative customer reviews, manufactured by Diamond
Canine Caviar: Not enough information
Dave’s Pet Food: Not enough information
Dogswell: Some ingredients come from China
Evanger’s: Many consumer complaints and false labeling
EVO: Sold to P&G and also lost a class-action suit over false labeling
Farmina: Not enough information
Go!: Lesser-quality ingredients and issues with upset stomachs
Great Life: Mediocre reviews and not enough information
Holistic Select: Holistic Select’s parent company, WellPet, no longer has any ties to Diamond. However, Holistic Select has still received customer complaints of gas and loose stool in pets.
Innova: Bought by P&G
Merrick: History of recalls
Nature’s Recipe: Manufactured by Del Monte
Nature’s Variety: Many recent recalls
Newman’s Own Organics: Some products made in Uruguay
Nulo: Not enough information
Nutrisca: Contains ingredients from China
Pioneer Naturals: Not enough information
Premium Edge: Too many recalls
Solid Gold: Customer complaints of packaging and ingredient changes
Taste of the Wild: Manufactured by Diamond
Tiki Dog: Manufactured in Thailand
Vital Essentials: Not enough information
Wellness: Was associated with Diamond’s 2012 massive recall, but has since cut ties with Diamond. We’ll revisit Wellness in the future.
Weruva: Some of their products are made in Thailand.
Wild Calling: Food is manufactured and packed by Evanger’s.
Our Stance On Recalls
We understand our methodology isn’t perfect, and we continue to evaluate it each day, especially when it comes to recalls. We took a hard stance on not including brands that had a history of multiple recalls.
Though recalls happen, not all companies respond as swiftly, carefully, and transparently as we’d like. Which means that even after a problem is corrected, they may continue to cut corners, which could lead to future safety concerns.
So while a recall in and of itself isn’t necessarily the last straw for a dog food company, a slow or sloppy response is. In our research, we didn’t initially look at recall response, but we’re adjusting our judgments on a case-by-case basis.
That doesn’t mean the products from these brands are worse than the products from brands on our recommended list. Many of these products pass all of our tests when it comes to assessing quality ingredients. Some of the recalls were created proactively by the brands themselves, meaning there were no incidents reported. Still, we had to draw the line somewhere, but we plan to continue to modify and improve our methodology over time.
On that note, we also removed any and all products that had previously been associated with Diamond brand dog foods. Diamond pet foods have a history of recalls, including one extremely large and dangerous incident in 2012, which impacted many of its smaller labels. Dog foods that appear to be of higher quality, like Taste of the Wild, Canidae, and Solid Gold, were all involved at the time, though many consumers were unaware that these particular labels were associated, and several brands have since separated from Diamond and its manufacturers. We did not feel that Diamond was transparent or diligent enough in its response to meet our criteria.
For this reason, we initially excluded dog foods that were owned or manufactured in Diamond’s factories, because we just could not assure their ongoing safety. However, we are reconsidering those brands that have severed ties and found new manufacturing locations on a case-by-case basis, based on the visible work the brand has demonstrated. We’ll continue to consider these brands moving forward, but maintain our hard stance on recalls.
Our Final Choices
This left us with roughly 300 remaining formulas. The final step was to determine if they had the proper ratio of protein, fat, and carbs based on our research. And we made sure the largest source of protein came from an animal.
After reviewing all 2,223 formulas, we ended up with 134 dog food formulas — manufactured by 29 brands — that we confidently recommend.
Viewing 12 of 134
Brand
Formula
Price Per Pound
Buy Now
ACANA
ACANA Chicken & Burbank Potato Formula Dry Dog Food
We went by a very rigid and specific review methodology that brought our list from 2,200-plus dog food formulas down to 134. If your dog food is missing from our list of 134, it is most likely because it didn’t meet the requirements set forth within our review methodology.
If you think that there has been a mistake, please let us know by tweeting @reviews and we will fix the mistake and update our review!
Our Other Dog Food Reviews
We also looked at the best dog food based on specific types. If you’re interested in seeing our top picks for each type, check out the articles below:
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