A Comprehensive Tier List of Dog Food Brands

Hey there, pet lovers! Today, I want to provide you with a tier list of various dog food brands and rank them based on their nutritional value. Please keep in mind that the opinions expressed in this post are based on my expertise as a professional pet nutritionist, and I continuously conduct research in this ever-evolving field.

Before we dive into the list, let's address a few important points. Firstly, it's crucial to understand that kibble, while popular and affordable, is not the most biologically appropriate option for your pet. Ideally, you should add moisture to your pet's diet by incorporating canned food or raw diets. However, for the purposes of this post, we will focus solely on kibble. If you'd like me to cover canned or raw diets in a future post, let me know in the comments, and I'd be happy to oblige.

Now, let's get started with the tier list:

Tier 1: Pee Pee Poo Poo
These are brands that either don't qualify as dog food or are associated with questionable practices. They are definitely not suitable for your furry friend's nutrition.

Tier 2: Yucky
Brands in this tier include foods that contain ingredients like corn, wheat, soy, or by-products. These ingredients can lead to allergies, endocrine disorders, or simply don't provide the necessary nutrients for your pet.

Tier 3: Cheers
Foods in this category have fairly clean ingredient panels, with only a few ingredients I'm not particularly fond of. If you're feeding your pet at this level, you're doing great! However, there are still better options available.

Tier 4: Ohelia
If you're feeding your pet at this level, congratulations! You're doing an excellent job. At this stage, you can focus on adding additional benefits to your pet's diet, such as supplements or other add-ins.

Tier 5: Chef's Kiss
This is a special tier reserved for foods that have done something unique or noteworthy in terms of their nutrition. It's important to note that this doesn't necessarily mean these foods are superior in every aspect to the previous tiers. It simply recognizes their positive attributes.

Now that we have our tier list framework in place, let's move on to the evaluation of different dog food brands available in the market.

Brand #1: Purina Alpo
Alpo's ingredients are laughably bad. Ground yellow corn, beef and bone meal, soybean meal, animal fat preserved with mixed trichophyrols, and animal digest are the top ingredients in this food. It's no surprise that Alpo falls into the Pee Pee Poo Poo category.

Brand #2: Diamond Naturals
Diamond Naturals is a step up from Alpo. Its ingredients include beef meal, grain sorghum, ground white rice, dried yeast, and egg product. While not perfect, Diamond Naturals earns a spot in the Cheers tier.

Brand #3: Purina Beneful
Beneful's ingredient panel consists of beef, whole grain corn, barley, rice, whole grain wheat, and corn gluten meal. However, with the sketchy use of beef as the first ingredient and being made by Purina (owned by Nestle), Beneful falls into the Pee Pee Poo Poo tier.

Brand #4: Hills Science Diet
Hills Science Diet trademarked the term "prescription," which raises red flags. The ingredients include lamb meal, brown rice, whole grain wheat, brewer's rice, and corn gluten meal. Hills Science Diet finds its place in the Pee Pee Poo Poo tier.

Brand #5: Taste of the Wild
With water buffalo, lamb meal, chicken meal, sweet potatoes, and peas as the first five ingredients, Taste of the Wild is a decent food. However, misleading packaging claiming bison and venison puts it a few notches lower. Taste of the Wild secures a position in the Cheers tier.