What is healthiest dog food

Just like you should do as a human, eat what humans eat and feed your dog what a dog would eat. They eat the stomach contents of the herbivores they hunt and get nutrients that way. We have become a society that cannot think for ourselves. We wish you and your dogs the best. I have had German Shepherd dogs for 50 odd years.

Now I am so confused with the different dog foods. Looking for the healthiest, and best product. Read all the pros and cons but nothing noted on Earthborn. Can anyone tell me the most nutritious and healthiest dog food available. Plus providing shiny coat. It certainly can be overwhelming to sort through all the foods on the market. All of the foods discussed above are super-healthy options that should work for your pooch. Earthborn is an acceptable choice, but there are some drawbacks to it, as you can see in the linked article.

Apparently you are ignoring the possible conclusions reference dilated cardiomyopathy and have listed the worst offenders in your list of healthy foods. Shame on you. Hey Betty: 1 At this moment, there is some evidence that grain-free diets are correlated with DCM, but that is not the same thing as establishing causality. Causality may be established in the future — or we may find that it was some other factor that has been causing the uptick in DCM cases you can read more about all this in our full article on the FDA alert.

Since there is no concrete evidence that grain-free diets are causing DCM, we are hesitant to suggest that owners abandon these high-quality foods from trusted brands in favor of less trusted alternatives.

Instead — talk to your vet! We recommend that owners discuss the issue with their vet, and — unless their dog has a specific intolerance or allergy to grains — feed a grain-inclusive option. You can read more about that here. Please read the entire piece before you accuse us of ignoring evidence! I agree with Betty!

Did your vet conclusively determine that the grain-free diet caused him or her to pass? Remember: Dogs have been suffering from DCM since well before grain-free foods hit the market. We base our advice on current science not simply headlines and always recommend that owners work closely with their vet.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. If you have a puppy, do NOT feed them grain-free food! It can cause permanent serious heart issues!!! Whoa…way bad list in light of extreme problems now being linked to grain free foods. Seriously needs updating.

This web-site is out of date especially concerning dog nutrition Nothing wrong with feeding grains to dogs corn included. No Kibble Is Healthy! That is a flat out lie causing all of these human diseases we now see animals- how can anyone think wheat or corn or any of that is good for dogs- they are not human — no matter how domesticated they are! Today I gave my dog Paco a wet food from the Wellness brand and he went crazy for it!!!

Paco usually has low to moderate energy. Maybe this food gave him some nutrtion he was not getting from the dry food? She also has to keep up with our 2year old Belgian Malinois.

She has always had gorgeous shining silly fur, never had bad breath. We are life long health advocates for humans and animals—domesticate and wild. Dogs rule. Laura Bella. These 2 were recommended by my breeder. A few of these brands were released in an article which stated it is giving dogs canine heart disease.

Hey, Tatyana. Several articles like that have been all over my news feed today, but this issue has been around for a little while. Personally, I feed my dog Blue Buffalo Large Breed Chicken and Rice which is obviously not a grain-free recipe , and I plan to keep doing so unless and until my vet recommends otherwise or my pooch starts displaying any troubling symptoms. Thanks for reading and sharing the link! Human foods are recalled all the time, but they rarely change our buying habits regarding our own foods.

But many of us still continue to purchase products made from these companies. Best of luck! Blue Buffalo, Fromm, Merrick… All foods that have repeatedly been recalled…. And they have managed to get on the best foods list??? Really… I think I will stick to the raw food for my dog… No recalls and the vet says he is the healthiest patient he has!

All items will have recalls from time to time — what is more important is did the company do a voluntary recall when they realized their mistake, or were they forced to do a recall from the FDA or similar groups?

Blue Buffalo did a voluntary recall of a wet food in All these were done without any reports from owners of dogs even getting sick or ill — they were done by the companies voluntarily. But fear-mongering about recalls is misleading for most owners and not fair in my opinion. Hi Steven — Hills Science Diet is not generally a food we recommend.

They do have a number of prescription lines that may be temporarily beneficial for dogs with specialized health issues, but generally Hills Science is a low quality food. While exact recipes vary, they often do not even feature meat as the 1 ingredient, and usually include fillers like corn and generally low protein levels. What do you think about Instinct brand? I randomly started my puppy on it and she loves it, but I have to decide whether to continue or switch? Hey, Jane.

I just came across this site love it very informative I have eight dogs very concerned about what they eat will be checking out the list that you provided thank you so very much for being so concerned about all dogs. Recently I heard a commercial on the radio that, to me was very disturbing. This lady was talking about her dog that she had lost. He was a 6 yr old Great Dane. He died from a form of cancer. She believes it was caused by the ingredients in his dog food.

So I am trying to find the right food for my dog Bandit. He is a 3 yr old Pitbull. Regardless of all the breed negative reviews he is the most well behaved dog I have ever had. Thanks for the information.

Hey Tom! I think in many cases these people are upset and grieving about the loss of their dog, and looking for someone to blame. There are many reasons why dogs may become sick, just like there are many reasons humans become sick.

Folks get very emotional about their dogs!! Few people have any real sense regarding their own food, let alone their animals. Modern convenience packaged Dog Food is another feature of our now very spoiled existence! We used to hunt together spending most of our short lives working to find enough to eat!! I feed my three dogs — ages 12 to 13 years — Purina kibbles plus cooked meat that I eat.

They love to eat and are all very healthy dogs that still act like puppies! Obviously no nutritional shortcomings at all. I have fed them various brands thru the decades along with meat and vegetables that I eat. Regards, Danny. Is Science Diet not a quality dog food? I would stick to feeding that if it works for your dog.

Their foods are well formulated by their staff who remain there for oversight and proven to be well balanced. Blue has 2 major class actions for misrepresenting their products.

Linked to renal failure in canines. Largest class action in the history of pet food. My dog is in renal failure after eating Blue. Has your vet conclusively determined that his kidney failure is the result of eating Blue Buffalo?

Blue Buffalo explained that the problem resulted from miscommunications with their supplier. Blue Buffalo has initiated a couple of recalls over the last decade or so, but most have only involved a very narrow range of products. What really happened: An owner sued the company over an allegedly high level of lead in a Blue Buffalo food, but the lawsuit was dismissed, and evidence confirming the presence of elevated lead levels has never been presented.

This recall was initiated due to high levels of cow thyroid hormone in the food. Despite the best intentions of many owners, homemade diets are almost always a bad idea. Simply put, very few owners have the necessary knowledge and expertise to properly balance a custom-made diet. Thanks for reading, and let us know how things go for your pup. Are you still feeding your pups BB?

I switched to Nutro and am definitely a fan! I am currently still searching for the best dry dog food for our 84 pound, 5 year old spayed mixed lab. I switched from Blue Buffalo light adult dry dog food to Zignature about 5 months ago to get her weight down, but not give her too much protein. She went from 94 to 84 pounds. She has eaten four different flavors and she is enjoying them. She gets 2 cups of dry per day, less than what the bag requires for her weight.

She also gets an occasional carrot and one scrambled egg 2 times a week. We work. We take her on half hour to one hour walks two times a day plus all the other potty breaks. A good quality food is very important to me.

Also too many carbohydrates in dog food can lead to diabetes. Be sure to calculate that with your dog food. Our dog gets 2 teaspoons of nonfat plain yogurt with one of her feedings. Three weeks ago we stated to give her one cranberry table twice a day. There are a lot of pros and cons to the different dry dog foods. After I had my Abbie tested for allergies, the allergist recommended a kangaroo based diet.

Said that it was the best for allergies. Hi are you familiar TLC puppy dog food? MY puppy was on it and it is recommended by breeder. I was thinking why would anyone take one strangers own personal statement. Reading the comments the family no longer owns the company and drop the mic!

We care about what we are feeding our dogs and hope to get information and comments from other pet owners. I have been using Taste of Wild for my year old Rot since he was a puppy. He is shedding horrible and he is currently an inside dog. I used Blue Buffalo prior for my other large dogs Old English Mastiff and 2 Rots allat one time and they hardly ever lost hair like this. My Rot is not overweight and has no idea what table scraps are.

I want to keep him healthy but asking for suggestions. This is an outrageous list of dog foods you say is the top brands. Champion which makes Acana and Orijen is also in a lawsuit and was in the process to sell to Purina. Beneful killed my friends dog!!!

Corn is a filler as is wheat and soy. They only care about the money…. Hi Jeanne — thanks for commenting and for contributing your own thoughts on various dog foods. The individual who is the plaintiff in this case tested Taste of the Wild food in his own home and determined himself that the food had heavy metals including arsenic, lead, mercury, and cadmium, as well as pesticides, acrylamide, and BPA.

In fact, heavy metals are found in tap water too. It seems a largely baseless allegation. This was another situation where the plaintiff decided to do his own testing at home, and appears unsubstantiated.

You can read more about this case on Snopes. Instead, Blue Buffalo took the initiative and issued a recall, even without complaint from customers. I consider voluntary recalls a huge vote of confidence for a brand, and the quality of Blue Buffalo is largely solid. I think owners can rest easy at night knowing that — when there is an issue — Blue Buffalo will take the initiative and issue a recall themselves, rather than waiting until they are forced to due to media backlash or the FDA.

Ultimately the food you choose to feed your dog is a personal choice, and different foods work better for some dogs than others. We do our best to help readers narrow down the huge list of dog foods available to them, but the best dog food for your individual canine depends on a variety of factors that only the owner is knowledgable of.

You mentioned you were happy with your dog food. What is the name? Orijen is very high-quality and a great choice! My wife inherited a ShihTsu puppy 21 years ago.

She was bound and determined to feed this dog raw food. Started with roast beef sliced from the deli mixed with carrots and broccoli.

Lately he got oven roasted turkey breast. Just died last week. Pretty long life for that breed. I hate to add up the cost of his meals in his lifetime. Funny story. Once I tried to sneak grocery store roast beef. She claimed he threw it up. I could not believe my ears. I have a bulldog, who has a lot of food issues. I have tried most of theses top brands, Core being most resent.

He did ok, but still having skin problem, hot ears, and sinsive tummy. Cost more than car payment. Hoping to get recipe to make own freezed dried nuggets. I had to have my Abbie tested for allergies and it came back that she was highly allergic to chicken and white potatoes so check to see if the current food you are or have been feeding him has chicken or white potatoes in it. I have since found out that alot of dogs are allergic to these. Her being a cocker, I kept her hair cut short also.

She also was allergic to grass so I had my yard guy cut it as short as his mower was and that helped too. She had yeast too and it helped giving her a bath every week.

The yeast was mostly during the summer. I used paw diet to compare some of your top picks to my food I just switched my dog to after a ton of research. Nulo ranked better than the other dry foods and had zero recalls. Some on this list have many. What do people think about Science Hills dog food? Thought up till now its the best dog food.. They do tend to also have problematic ingredients like corn gluten.

When in doubt, the easiest thing to do is at least see what the first few ingredients are. Meat protein should always be ingredient 1 at the very least!

It took ALL THAT to finally get a check up where nobody needed to be put under general anesthesia for a professional tooth cleaning, though.

Knock on wood we can avoid that again this year … but is TD Dental Canine healthy and complete nutrition? Even most mid-tier dog foods have meat as the 1st ingredient. Corn is not recommended for dogs, and chicken by-product is also quite bad — you never want to be feeding your dog by-products. Nothing in the first several ingredients is any kind of good meat protein, so this seems like a very poor dog food from a nutritional standpoint. I keep reading newer articles that grain free foods are causing DCM in thousands of dogs.

What is your take on this? I have been giving my three dogs Taste of the Wild High Prairie for a few years now. Seems like everything is bad. Hey Chris. Folks suspect maybe lentils, chickpeas, and some of the grain alternatives could be the problem. But no one knows for certain! He had the worst yeast infections on his skin.

I was using Beneful and everytime i bought a bag the food was different. I event contacted the company about it and sent them pics. They had nothing to say about it really. So I needed something without issues. With the limited ingredients I find he is still hungry. But I guess in his case this is not going to hurt him.

He is doing great. I have been using Natural Balance Grain free for my two dogs. When a third rescue came into my life I needed to buy something they would all eat. Buy it: Amazon. Burbidge likes Nutro Natural Choice because the brand has many options for dogs of all breed sizes and ages, from puppies to seniors. According to the Cleveland Clinic , a complete protein is a protein source like eggs, edamame, or fish that contains all nine amino acids; they're considered the "building blocks" of proteins because they form a chain of polypeptides , which neither we nor our canine pals can make ourselves.

The brand uses other natural protein sources like lamb and venison as well. Both Burbidge and Dr. Burbidge likes that it uses high-quality proteins, especially in the fish variety.

Stacy Choczynski Johnson , DVM, the veterinarian on staff at Pumpkin Pet Insurance , explains that hydrolyzed food, which is prescribed by your veterinarian, is best for dogs with food allergies and bowel diseases because the ingredients are broken down to a molecular level to help them digest the food without issues. There's even a similar version of food for human babies called Nutramigen, which she used with her daughter and that functions in the same way.

Quality animal byproducts are also nutritious. These include organ meats and entrails, which often contain more nutrients than the muscle meat consumed by humans. Regulated byproducts do not include hooves, hair, floor sweepings, intestinal contents, or manure.

One way to decipher a good dog food from a bad dog food is to read the label. This is easier said than done, as labels can be hard to read, both due to the small print and just plain awkwardness of handling big bags of dog food in the store!

But labels can also be misleading, as the Merck Veterinary Manual explains. Dog food labels are required by the Food and Drug Administration FDA to tell you eight key pieces of information, and individual states may also have their own labeling requirements:. The ingredient list on a dog food label will not tell you the quality of the ingredients or where they came from, and some manufacturers split up the ingredients to make the distribution more equal.

For instance, different types of corn, such as flaked corn, ground corn, or kibbled corn, can be listed separately. This bumps corn down on the list of ingredients, even though the actual content of corn in the food is high. Meat is another tricky ingredient. Whole meats contain a large percentage of water weight, which means that the overall percentage of meat after processing is lower than it appears. While the ingredient list might not tell you the quality of the ingredients, it does tell you what is in the food.

This is especially important for dogs with special dietary needs or allergies and is also useful for owners who wish to feed their dogs specific sources of fiber, protein, and carbohydrates.

The analysis does not, however, give the exact amount of these components, which means there is room for considerable variation.

You can always contact the dog food company directly to get more information about its product. The World Small Animal Veterinary Association has a helpful sheet with questions you can ask a company representative. Small breed dogs and large breed dogs have different nutritional needs. Large breed dogs are more prone to musculoskeletal problems than smaller breeds, and so they often require large-breed dog food with different balances of certain nutrients to promote musculoskeletal health, especially as puppies.

Small breed dogs, on the other hand, can choke on large-sized kibble and have their own nutritional requirements that can be accommodated with a small-breed dog food.

The nutritional needs of dogs vary throughout their life. Puppies have different nutritional needs than adult dogs, and senior dogs have their own nutritional considerations. Your puppy requires a different nutrient balance than an adult dog. This is especially true for large breeds.

Feeding a large breed puppy food can help, as their growth needs to be monitored carefully to prevent bone and joint problems. Always consult your veterinarian for recommendations on puppy feeding, and advice on how to switch puppies to adult dog food. Younger senior dogs may struggle with being overweight and older senior dogs may struggle with being underweight, which is why there is such a variety. Choosing the best senior dog food may come down to what your dog finds palatable. Many older dogs prefer wet food while others may need their food warmed up to enhance the aromas.

Ultimately, your vet can help choose the best dog food for an older pet. Allergies, sensitive stomachs, and dietary restrictions affect dogs, as well as people. Feeding dogs with special dietary needs can be tricky. Your best course of action is to consult your veterinarian for advice about the dog food that best helps with their condition.

The most widely available and affordable dog food is dry dog food. Dry dog food does not require refrigeration, which is its main advantage over wet dog food, as it contains approximately 90 percent dry matter and 10 percent water.