Decoding The Label: Dog Food Brands to Avoid and Ones to Love

Hi there, I'm Matt, an experienced pet owner, and today on PetsFI, our aim is to help you make more informed decisions about the kind of food you are feeding your dogs. After thorough research and a keen eye for details, I've discovered some concerning aspects about four popular dog food brands that you might want to reconsider.

Let's kick off our journey with Purina. A quick glance at its ingredient list, reveals a disappointing discovery - it includes meat only once among the first four ingredients, with overrepresentation of corn and rice. Ingredient splitting, such as this, can be rather misleading, especially to unsuspecting pet parents. Furthermore, Purina is widely noted for being feed grade and not human grade, meaning its meat ingredients are unfit for human consumption. This is certainly off-putting as most responsible pet owners, including myself, prefer feeding our pets human-grade food that is fit for our own consumption.

Additionally, Purina’s food also has several controversial ingredients that well-researched pet parents or holistic veterinarians would advise against. Among these questionable ingredients is soybean which is typically genetically modified and used as a filler to falsely inflate the protein content. To add fuel to the fire, Purina’s lack of transparent sourcing along with unnecessary additives like caramel coloring and ambiguous 'natural flavors', raises big red flags.

Our next stop is a once highly-respected brand - Now, that unfortunately no longer holds its reputable position in the industry. Although Now is family-owned and US-based, their ingredient list narrates a different story. Unnecessary ingredient splitting with rice, barley, and potatoes, alongside dubious content such as oat groats, make this brand a less desirable option.

Wellness, another popular brand, also does not impress when it comes to its first seven ingredients, which overly highlight plant-based fillers like barley, oatmeal, peas, and potatoes. The addition of vague components like 'natural flavorings' in their food raises questions about the overall quality and necessity of these additives. The lack of concrete information about their sourcing further lands them on our 'avoid list'.

Canaday, once favored among pet nutritionists, now disappoints with six non-meat filler ingredients listed in quick succession. The absence of a high-quality meat source is comparable to feeding our pets a bowl of fortified cereal. Additionally, the ingredient splitting with rice listed in three different forms, combined with over 19 synthetic vitamin packs, push Canaday to the avoid list.

Rounding off our list of dubious dog food brands is Taste of the Wild. The high protein content of 32% looks attractive initially, but it's questionable whether this protein majorly comes from non-meat sources. They exhibit probable ingredient splitting with similar ingredients like sorghum and millet. Further, their marketing practices are questionable - their much-touted probiotics and blueberries, listed after salt, represent less than 1% of the mix, making their nutritional addition negligible.

Now, we’re not all about negatives here on PetsFI, so allow me to share some of my absolute favorite brands that I highly recommend for your furry friends.

Starting the 'love list' is Front of the Pack. This transparent brand not only responsibly sources its ingredients but also includes all of them on the front of the pack. Their air-dried method of food preservation retains both moisture and nutrients, providing a nutritious meal for your pets.

Next up is Open Farm. This one stands out for its exceptional transparency in sourcing, making it one of the most ethically-responsible brands in the market. Make sure to check out my specific recommendations in the link below.

Lastly, but most certainly not least, is Carna4. This family-owned business is one of the only companies that provide synthetic-free kibble. The impressive aspect here is that their kibble is baked at lower temperatures, ensuring that the nutrients, moisture, and proteins remain intact in their food.

In the end, no dog food brand is perfect, but it's crucial to make informed choices for our furry friends' health. The links below will lead you to the dog food brands that I absolutely love and explain why I recommend them.

Remember to follow the PetsFI blog for more posts like this one, where we make the world of pets a bit more understandable. Leave a comment below with your experience or thoughts on these brands and let's keep the pet community informed and thriving!

Until our next pet adventure, I'm Matt. Stay happy, healthy, and informed!