Whats the best commercial dog food on the market today?

Question

only food you can buy at petsmart, petco etc.

Please explain your answer...why is it the best?

Answer 1

Here is a formula that I found for making decisions about dog food. Many people are surprised by what they read here.



Scoring Your Dog Food
*Please note that the following is for entertainment purposes only and has not been researched by DAN and may not be a "true" grading of food. If you have any questions regarding the food you are feeding your dog consult your veternarian.
This is a very interesting way to check out the quality of the dog food that you are feeding. It's interesting, because sometimes paying more, does not get you more and vice versa.
The scores are rather interesting.
How to grade your dog's food: (Some brand reviews already calculated here)
Start with a grade of 100:
1.For every listing of "by-product", subtract 10 points
2.For every non-specific animal source ("meat" or "poultry", meat, meal
or fat) reference, subtract 10 points
3.If the food contains BHA, BHT, or ethoxyquin, subtract 10 points
4.For every grain "mill run" or non-specific grain source, subtract 5
points
5.If the same grain ingredient is used 2 or more times in the first five
ingredients (i.e. "ground brown rice", "brewer rice", "rice flour" are all
the same grain), subtract 5 points
6.If the protein sources are not meat meal and there are less than 2
meats in the top 3 ingredients, subtract 3 points
7.If it contains any artificial colorants, subtract 3 points
8.If it contains ground corn or whole grain corn, subtract 3 points
9.If corn is listed in the top 5 ingredients, subtract 2 more points
10.If the food contains any animal fat other than fish oil, subtract 2
points
11.If lamb is the only animal protein source (unless your dog is allergic
to other protein sources), subtract 2 points
12.If it contains soy or soybeans, subtract 2 points
13.If it contains wheat (unless you know that your dog isn't allergic to
wheat), subtract 2 points
14.If it contains beef (unless you know that your dog isn't allergic to
beef), subtract 1 point
15.If it contains salt, subtract 1 point
Extra Credit:
1.If any of the meat sources are organic, add 5 points
2.If the food is endorsed by any major breed group or
nutritionist, add 5 points
3.If the food is baked not extruded, add 5 points
4.If the food contains probiotics, add 3 points
5.If the food contains fruit, add 3 points
6.If the food contains vegetables (NOT corn or other grains), add 3
points
7.If the animal sources are hormone-free and antibiotic-free, add 2
points
8.If the food contains barley, add 2 points
9.If the food contains flax seed oil (not just the seeds), add 2 points
10.If the food contains oats or oatmeal, add 1 point
11.If the food contains sunflower oil, add 1 point
12.For every different specific animal protein source (other than
the first one; count "chicken" and "chicken meal" as only one protein
source, but "chicken" and "" as 2 different sources), add 1 point
13.If it contains glucosamine and chondroitin, add 1 point
14.If the vegetables have been tested for pesticides and are
pesticide-free, add 1 point
94-100+ = A 86-93 = B 78-85 = C 70-77 = D 69 = F
Here are some foods that have already been scored. If you don't see your dog's food here, ask and someone will score it for you.
Brand Dog Food scores:
•Authority Harvest Baked: 116 A+
•Bil-Jac Select: 68 F
•Canidae: 112 A+
•Chicken Soup Senior: 115 A+
•Diamond Maintenance: 64 F
•Diamond Lamb Meal & Rice: 92 B
•Diamond Large Breed 60+ Formula: 99 A
•Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra Premium: 122 A+
•Dick Van Patten's Duck and Potato: 106 A+
•Foundations: 106 A+
•Hund-n-Flocken Adult Dog (lamb) by Solid Gold: 93 D
•Iams Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Premium: 73 D
•Innova Dog: 114 A+
•Innova Evo: 114 A+
•Kirkland Signature Chicken, Rice, and Vegetables: 110 A+
•Nutrisource Lamb and Rice: 87 B
•Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy: 87 B
•Pet Gold Adult with Lamb & Rice: 23 F
•ProPlan Natural Turkey & Barley: 103 A+
•Purina Beneful: 17 F
•Purina Dog: 62 F
•Purina Come-n-Get It: 16 F
•Royal Canin Bulldog: 100 A+
•Royal Canin Natural Blend Adult: 106 A+
•Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice: 97 A
•Science Diet Advanced Protein Senior 7+: 63 F
•Science Diet for Large Breed Puppies: 69 F
•Wellness Super5 Mix Chicken: 110 A+
•Wolfking Adult Dog (bison) by Solid Gold: 97 A

Answer 2

I really do not agree with many of the answers here. Pedigree, Eukanuba, Purina... not high quality foods. Anything you can buy at the grocery store/walmart is NOT good food.
I personally feed Canidae, which you can not get at Petco/petsmart. I currently work at Petco and we do sell some good quality foods. Each Petco has a grocery section, a "premium" section and a natural foods section. The only stuff I would feed comes from the hollistic foods section. They have Natural Balance Ultra Premium-which is one of the top dry foods. There is also Solid Gold which is very good, Organix is an all organic food and very good, though expensive (well, for me as I feed 4 high engery dogs so I go through a bit of food), Avoderm Naturals and Wellness and some others that I cant think of right now. Those are the best ones. If you have to go to Petco and you want a high quality food, I say go with the Natural Balance. If you can get it, Chicken soup for the dog lovers soul has got to be one of the absolute best dry foods... I also suggest Merrick dog food, though that is also very spendy. You want meat sources (i.e. chicken or chicken meal) to be either 2 of your top 3, or 3 of your top 5. Dont want any by products of any kind, you want specific meats.. (i.e. chicken meal, NOT poultry meal, animal meal or meat and bone meal), at least 2 different protein sources (i.e. chicken meal, lamb meal- chicken and chicken meal dont count as two different ones) no corn, wheat or soy as those are the top 3 allergins in dogs and no fillers or BHT or BHA which are chemicals. The points system above works very well and I suggest using to check out the foods you are thinking about...

Also, if you have a costco near you.. Kirkland Signature Lamb, Rice and Veggies.... a good food. All organic and a good ingredients list.

Another also... I dont particularly listen to what vets recommend... They usually recommend the big name stuff and haven't done enough research to really know....

Answer 3

There is no one best food, it depends on the age of your dog, the breed, allergies etc.

Some breeds have very specific requirements - for instance, giant breeds should NEVER be fed puppy food. Protein and fat levels are different for various breeds and for their condition.
Some people prefer to feed raw food only, and you can buy prepared frozen raw meals

A good guide for dry kibble is to look at the list of ingredients. The first thing listed (the main ingredient) should not be corn or any other grain, it should be meat. Byproducts do not count as meat - it could be ground up chicken feet or feathers.

Some dogs may be allergic to a specific ingredient, and some to preservatives. I do not buy any of the "big name" brands, I prefer quality dog food, where the money goes into good ingredients, not a lot of TV advertising.

Quality dog food may be more expensive, but you feed much less of it, because it does not contain fillers which only bulk up the food and are of no nutritive value. So the price balances out in the end.

Answer 4

There are several good foods on the market and a lot of not so good ones. In our vet practice we usually rec. Eukanuba dog foods because they have a lot of fatty acids which are good for all body systems- good levels of protein, and they tend to be very digestable. Another really great food, and I am not sure if you can get this at petsmart or not - is Enova. The Enova foods are all natural and they use only human grade products in their foods. You can't ask for better than that. Another good tip- If you have a puppy- feed a food for the size of your breed- especially if you have a large breed puppy. An adult dog - just make sure you feed the proper amount- our guide is approx. 1 cup of dry food for 20lbs of body weight. Good luck!

Answer 5

Petsmart and Petco don't carry any of the best commercial dog foods on the market. The high quality dog brands don't sell their product to big chain stores. If you really want to feed your dog the best, go to your locally owned pet store and buy some Innova Evo. http://www.naturapet.com It contains no grains and simulates a raw food diet in a kibble. IAM's, Eukanuba, Pedigree, and Purina are NOT high quality foods.

Answer 6

The most important thing to look for in a dog food is the ingredients not the pretty colors on the bag.

I know that sounds like a no-brainer. But, so many manufacturers put absolute junk into their dog food, but put it into fancy packaging and sell millions of pounds of the stuff a year!!

The first ten ingredients in a dog food is one of the main things you will want to look at.

Ingredients like corn are useless for dogs, and are only fillers used by the dog food company to stretch their product.

Unfortunately that is usually one of the first ingredients found in most pet foods. This is very unhealthy for dogs because they are carnivores and need a diet of mostly high quality meat to be healthy. The meat that is used in most major pet food manufacturers are meat by-products. In other words the "nasty" stuff deemed not suitable for human consumption like ground beaks, tails, intestines, feet etc.. Even diseased animals that couldn't be used in human meat markets are used in animal food.

Blue Buffalo is sold at Petsmart, and is a holistic, dog food made from high quality human grade ingredients.

I highly recommend this product. Dogs usually find this food to be highly palatable. But, if your dog happens not to like it Petsmart will take it back even though you've already opened it.

By the way, Iams is involved in an animal cruelty case that involves unesessary testing and cruel treatment of it's research animals. Even if they had a high quality food, (which a quick look at their ingredients tells you they don't).. I wouldn't knowingly support a company that is responsible for the mistreatment of animals

Answer 7

I'm wondering the same thing :( I also feed my cat dry Purina food...A few of Purina's wet foods have been recalled--I'm a little nervous. By the way, the only dry food that has been recalled (so far) is Hill's Pet Nutrition Prescription Diet m/d Feline dry cat food.

Answer 8

My top picks at PetSmart or PetCo are:
Nature's Recipe, Authority Harvest Baked, Royal Canin, Pet Botanics Lamb Roll or Beef Roll, Eukanuba all natural lamb- available for different ages.
For dogs with allergies to wheat, chicken, beef, lamb, Nature's Recipe has an excellent food in their Venison and Rice.
To any of these foods you can add a little plain yogurt which is a treat but also healthy for the dog.
On occasion I add a few spoons of pumpkin pie filling and cottage cheese to my dogs food.
They also take Vitamin supplements.

Answer 9

I agree with one of the answers above....BLUE BUFFALO is by far the best food I have found. People actually comment on how shiny my dog's coat is. It contains only human grade ingredients and the vitamins are cold packed rather than heated. Heat can destroy the nutrients.

Answer 10

There is no ONE BEST since all different dogs do differently on different foods. Some people love Canidae but mine can't eat it. Mine love Nutro NC Lamb & Rice.

I usually go for a high quality food with no corn, wheat or excessive grains in them.