Pet Food Comparison: Natural dry dog foods

A reader asked me what I thought of a certain dry pet food that was considered to be “all natural”. I thought I’d respond by giving you a chart and you can choose according to the standards that are important to you.
Let’s establish some definitions:

A “natural” pet food does not have the meat by-products, artificial colors and flavors, or chemical preservatives. Holistic vets might qualify this type of food as a “premium” food, maybe “super premium” if the ingredients come from the United States or are certified organic.

For what it’s worth, the commercial pet food industry considers corn, wheat, and by-products to be healthy ingredients and will market as “natural” a pet food that contains organic grains or simply uses natural preservatives vs. chemical preservatives. So you need to look beyond the advertising and packaging and read the labels.

A “holistic” pet food, remember, seeks to maintain health and prevent illness. To the “natural” list above, it avoids the inferior grains (corn, wheat, soy, sorghum), uses real meat as the primary protein source, and adds health-producing supplements such as bioavailable, proteinated, or chelated vitamins and minerals, herbs, probiotics, digestive helps… that sort of thing. This type of food might be classified as “ultra premium” by some of the holistic veterinary authors.

At a minimum, the foods below do not contain by-products, chemical preservatives, or artificial flavors. Some do contain corn and wheat, not something *I* like to see in a pet food but the choice is yours:

Assumptions: Analysis is based on feeding 30 lb dog, 20 lb bag of “normal” dog food (not “senior” or “working dog”), minimum guaranteed protein above 22%. 80 cups per bag. Assume ordering through PetFoodDirect.com, PetSmart.com, or the manufacturer’s online store, which “levels the playing field” by making these premium foods available to all.

There are two tables below. I compared five pet foods and the table didn’t fit so I split it and will add some more comparisons.

P.S. For those who want to compare standard commercial brands such as Beneful, Eukanuba, Flint River, Iams, Natures Recipe, Nutro Natural, Science Diet, Purina One, Purina ProPlan, and Wellness, HealthyPetNet has an excellent comparison chart. Click on Dog or Cat food and then select “Compare to your brand”.

	HealthyPetNet	Flint River	Wellness
What	Life’s Abundance	Original Puppy & Adult	Fish and Sweet Potato
Where to get	Independent rep mail order	Independent rep mail order	Natural grocer or specialty pet food store
Daily Serving Size for 30 lb dog	1.5 cups	2 cups	N/A presume 1.5 cups
Bag Size	20 lb	20 lbs	15 lb
Best Price w/o tax * See explanation about pricing	26.95 autoship + 7.95 S&H = 34.90	27.99 + No S&H + No tax	25.99 SALE + 15.49 S&H = 41.48
Cost per serving	.65	.70	1.03
Protein	26%	23%	22%
Metabolizable Energy (ME) Calories: kcal/cup	441	477	400
First five ingredients ** See cautions about reading too much into the ingredient placement	Chicken meal Ground brown rice Potato product Chicken Fat Dried Beet Pulp	Chicken Meal Whole Wheat Flour Ground Rice Lamb Meal Poultry Fat	Whitefish Ground Barley Rye Flour Menhaden Fish Meal Ground Pearled Barley
Chelated minerals	Yes	Yes	Yes
Probiotics, Digestive support	Yes	No	Yes
Antioxidants	Yes	No	Yes
Natural DHA/EPA	Yes	No	Yes
Other	Contains Lysine, an essential amino acid, one of the things I look for. Alfalfa leaf meal, another plus.	Note the inclusion of wheat in the ingredient listing;dehydrated alfalfa meal is a plus.	Contains Glucosamine, natural and generally harmless, but which some say should only be in a supplement due to unknown effects on puppies and varying dosage reqmts in adult dogs. Alfalfa leaf, a plus.

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	Diamond Naturals	Breeder’s Choice	Wysong	Castor & Pollux
What	Lamb Meal & Rice Adult Dog Food	Avoderm Lamb Meal & Brown Rice	Maintenance Dog Food	Organix Dog Food
Where to get	Pet food stores like Petsmart, PetCo	Natural grocer or specialty pet food store	Natural grocer or specialty pet food store, Wysong online	Natural grocer or specialty pet food store, Solid Gold online
Daily Serving Size for 30 lb dog	2 cups	2 cups	N/A, presume 2 cups due to corn	N/A, presume 2 cups
Bag Size	20 lb	17.5 lb	8 lb	15 lb
Best Price w/o tax * See explanation about pricing	16.79 + 15.49 S&H = 32.28	19.59 in store25.49 + 15.49 S&H = 40.98	10.75 in store13.29 + Actual UPS Shipping est. 10 = 23.29	27.99 + 15.49 S&H = 43.48In store price is 25.99
Cost per serving	.80	.55 to 1.17	.67 to 1.40	.64 to 1.08
Protein	23%	20%	24%	28%
Metabolizable Energy (ME) Calories: kcal/cup	337	341	N/A	N/A
First five ingredients ** See cautions about reading too much into the ingredient placement	Lamb meal Whole grain Brown rice White rice Cracked pearled barley Fish meal	Lamb Meal Ground Whole Brown Rice Ground Whole Rice Oatmeal Rice Bran	Chicken Ground Corn Ground Wheat Ground Brown Rice Ground Oat Groats	Organic Chicken Chicken Meal Organic Peas Organic Extruded Soybean Seeds Organic Barley
Chelated minerals	No	No	No	No
Probiotics, Digestive support	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Antioxidants	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Natural DHA/EPA	No	Yes	No	Yes
Other		Avocado oil		Contains glucosamine, soybean seeds

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	Kumpi	Blue Buffalo	Canidae	Solid Gold
What	Adult Dog Food	Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe	All Life Stages	Hund-N-Flocken Adult Dog Formula
Where to get	Natural Grocer of specialty pet food store, Kumpi online	Pet food stores like PetSmart, PetCo	Natural grocer or specialty pet food store	Natural grocer or specialty pet food store, Solid Gold online
Daily Serving Size for 30 lb dog	N/A, presume 2 cups because of corn prominence	1.5 cups	1.5 cups	N/A, presume 1.5 cups
Bag Size	20 lb	15 lb	20 lb	15 lb
Best Price w/o tax * See explanation about pricing	25.99 in store priceor 34 with free S&H from online store	22.99 + 15.49 = 38.48 PetSmart s&H is only 7.99	21.99 + 15.49 S&H = 37.48	20.75 + 14.18 S&H = 34.93
Cost per serving	.64 to .85	.96	.70	.87
Protein	22%	25%	24%	22%
Metabolizable Energy (ME) Calories: kcal/cup	N/A	462	468	367
First five ingredients ** See cautions about reading too much into the ingredient placement	Corn Meal Chicken Meal Chicken Fat Dried Beet Pulp Lamb Meal	Deboned Chicken Chicken Meal Whole Ground Brown Rice Whole Ground Barley Oatmeal	Chicken Meal Turkey Meal Brown Rice White Rice Lamb Meal	Lamb Lamb Meal Brown Rice Cracked Pearled Barley Millet
Chelated minerals	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Probiotics, Digestive support	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Antioxidants	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Natural DHA/EPA	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Other	Website does not provide ME or kcal. States: “Can you compare the calories in a three ounce brownie to the calories in three ounces of chicken?”	Alfalfa meal a plus.	Sun-cured alfalfa meal, a plus.

Special Notes:

* Shipping

Online stores understand that they must compete with in-person store sales, so generally, the price of the pet food plus shipping is close to what you might get in a store. Some companies, such as PetSmart and HealthyPetNet, have clearly negotiated deals with the trucking companies and/or are subsidizing the shipping cost because their rates are well below other manufacturers and PetFoodDirect.

** Ingredients

Don’t be fooled by “the first ingredient must be” and “the first five ingredients must be”. We simply don’t know what percentages the manufacturers use. Generally, we believe that when a holistic food gets to the “brown rice” or potatoes, those ingredients are used as “binders” to hold the food together and keep it from sticking to the machinery; they are not the primary protein source. They should be USDA (US grown and inspected).

Think logically. My rule-of-thumb is that when I get to the fats, I’m now moving from the main ingredients to the supplements. You can see from the additional ingredients and supplements if the manufacturer knows what they’re doing. But if a food has only one protein source in the first five ingredients, it could be in the same total quantity as a food that has two or more protein sources. And a whole chicken or deboned chicken is full of water so that alters the picture. So simply seeing many ingredients or just one ingredient doesn’t tell me much.

*** Additives such as glucosamine

Note that Blue Buffalo adds natural glucosamine. Some pet food manufacturers such as Solid Gold and HealthyPetNet advise that because of differing nutritional needs and related dosages, it’s better to make a standard pet food and then supplement for your particular pet’s needs. Glucosamine, for instance, is an excellent supplement for both humans and pets, but in humans, it is advised not to give to children because studies have not been done to show if it affects their joint development. Active working dogs (rescue dogs, farm dogs) benefit from higher calories, vitamins, and energy supplements. Animals with long coats have yet a different need to support smooth, glossy hair.

Teresa Holladay, “The Pet Food Lady”
http://holisticpetfood.wordpress.com

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