How accurate is the "How to Grade your Dog's Food" quiz thingy?

Question

Have you heard of it? Well if you have, then how accurate is it really?

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

That was the quiz.... How accurate is it?

Answer 1

I've never heard of it but the best thing is to read the ingredients in the food. Research food, read about the different ways of feeding and the different kinds of food out there.

Here is a quick start for you, I highly recommend doing research and asking people.

When it comes to nutrition there are many ways too feed your pets, And the "cheapest" food is not necessarily the best solution. First I will describe the different ways of feeding based on digestibility rate.

There are several different ways of feeding your dog.
1. Raw diet- (BARF) There are many different was of feeding a raw diet but it currently has the highest digestibility rate. It is the best way to feed because it has the highest nutrient absorbtion content.

Natural diet.... what is it?
By Christie Keith
http://www.caberfeidh.com/naturaldiet.ht...

2. Homemade cooked diet- Just like the Raw diet you know what you are feeding your dog so you don't have to worry about the ifs and butts.

* These are two of the best ways of feeding your dog ,you know what they are eating, you can monitor what foods are causing allergies, you can easily control obesety and illness.

3. Dry dog food- This is the easiest way to feed a dog, no real prep time involved.
a. "High" quality kibble- these foods although sometimes a little more costly you don't have to feed as much because the digestibility rate is much higher than that of more inexpensive foods. They are made with real meat, vegetables that have a nutritional value and provide a good base of health. The don't contain ingredients such as corn fillers and byproducts. If you do not want to make the time or have the time to make your own food this is what I recommend it's still a quick alternative, and more cost effective. You feed less than other kibbles so you buy less food, you get smaller poops because the dog is actually absorbing more of the nutrients, you will have a lot less health problems because the dog is getting a more nutrients to support their immune system, less vet visits.

4. "Low" quality kibble- not always less expensive. Here is where you should take some notes. This includes Iams(more expensive) and Pedigree(Less expensive). The digestibility rate of these foods are much less, which means your dog will poop more because they aren't able to absorb the necessary nutrients because most of this food is filled with Corn fillers and Byproducts. Now your #1 ingredient should be meat, but these companies get away with it by calling Corn and byproducts 3-4-5-6-7 different things in the ingredients list so it APPEARS that corn isn't the first ingredient. Corn is NON digestible(ever eat corn and seen the end results???? Doesn't digest), has no nutritional value but it is CHEAP so it is a great filler for these companies which is why their food is generally a little cheaper or a lot cheaper. And Byproducts are used in many different things like makeup, soaps ect... They usually consist of road kill, unwanted diseased meats, euthanized dogs and cats, ect... Not good for human or pet consumption, but they seem to meet the minimum requirements to sell as dog food.

I would suggest if you don't want to end up with hefty vet bills, a healthy alternative other than making the food yourself would be to get a food like: Wellness(by Old Mother Hubbard- where I live PetQuarters gives you a free bag every 10 bags you buy); Candidae(a lot of feed stores carry this and Wellness); Both reasonably priced; Some Nutro foods are good, Wysong(pet stores and healthfood stores carry them)... There is a whole list of foods that you can try.

A book I would recommend everybody with a pet to get is
Dr. Pitcairn's New Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats by Richard H. Pitcairn

The Whole(istic) Truth About Pet Food
by Christie Keith, excellent article everybody should read
http://www.caberfeidh.com/truth.htm...

What's Really in Pet Food
API (Animal Protection Institute)
http://www.api4animals.org/facts.php?p=3...

It is a fantastic book, great reference book and cheap too. Every dog owner should have this book. But he talks about how dog food affects the health of your dog. Go to the link below for a list of links on dog food.

Great treats are feeding things like carrots as treats, and pick a food that isn't going to cause allergies to your dog or illness later in life, and feed an appropriate amount.

If you dog has a bigger problem such as thyroid, liver or any other problem I would highly recommend researching the raw diet, talk to people who are using it, join groups on yahoo that have people who can help you through it.

So remember, make sure the food you choose has no corn or byproducts in it and you will come out ahead and your dog will thank you for it! Good luck with your search I hope this helps!

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After seeing the test that looks pretty accurate!!! It brings up good points. What I listed above will help you on your way to finding the right food! I use welleness and Bravo (www.wellness.com; www.bravo.com)

Answer 2

I take it very seriously, because I am a very discriminating connoiseur of my dog's kibbles. When you compare ingredients in the foods that get an A+ to the ingredients of a food which receives an F, you can see the test is extremely accurate.
I feed Natural Balance, Castor and Pollux, and AvoDerm to my 9 dogs, different varieties, and they are are thriving.
My dogs could never thrive on something like Pedigree or Iams or Purina, because that stuff is crap.

I especially like it because even if you do not know much about the company that makes it, you can just do the test on it and decide whether or not it makes a great food.
For instance, store brands are crap, but if you do the test on the Costco brand, Kirkland, you will see easily that it is a great choice.

Another way to judge is to just read the ingredients list yourself and pass by anything with by-products, wheat, corn, poultry meal, beef, or anything you yourself would not eat.

So, yes I approve of it and thank you for posting it.
Also, www.dogfoodproject.com
and,
www.dogfoodanalysis.com
are great resources.

Answer 3

I'd say that scoring system is quite accurate. You can defintely know your dog is eating a higher quality food if it ranks an A level score (90 or above).
I also agree that the Raw Diet is an excellent diet as long as dogs are fed properly according to nutritional needs of the dog. http://www.rawdogranch
Has great info on raw feeding.
I raw fed my dogs for about five mos. and that was great for their skin and coats. Where I live though, there are hurricanes over the hot mos (about five mos of the year) and when I realized how their diet would be affected if refrigeration was out, if we had to evacuate, etc. Plus the time that goes into balancing out the diet ahd preparing the food since one of my dogs had pancreatitis when she was young, it just wasn't convenient or practical for me. That's when I went to a food where the meat source was Venison. Also a food that doesn't contain wheat. It's one all three of my dogs can eat. BHA and BHT are toxic preservatives. I know BilJac has one of them in their dog food formula. They also have beet pulp which is not good for dogs. Neither is molasses. Plus list two sources of by products.

Answer 4

It look accurate to me.. I feed NutroMax, which my vet says is one of the best dog food products on the market, and it scored a 98. (A). I made it all of the way to question 5 before subtracting. (-5 on q.5, -3 on q.6, -2 on q.10) and I scored 8 extra credit points. I know another really good brand is Pro Plan. I like the quiz and am going to forward it to fellow breeders.

Answer 5

It is pretty accurate. They graded some of the dog foods with this quiz and the score system scored most foods that are considered to be holistic quite high while the brands that are popular (and high priced) did not score as high. Some of the results were surprising because a few of the brands scored Were suppose to be really good brands of dog food.
btw: Ch. OTCH how can you have been a Vet tech of 8 years
Dog trainer/behavioralist of 12 years when according to one of your questions you claim you are 22 yrs old. Did you become a vet tech at 14 or a behaviorist at 10?

Answer 6

I don't do facebook quizzes, infact, I hardly do anything on facebook maybe some of the choosing the top 5 or the polls, but other than that it's just joining groups, answering/sending messages, and adding friends, which will be friends that don't know I have facebook or relatives.

Answer 7

Not very. A bad food with a few god ingredients will rate well, due to the extra credit section.

Answer 8

It is accurate. You will find when u do it that there is so many BAD dog foods out there. Science diet is one of them.

Answer 9

Katie S. Your big news here...
:)! http://www.osoq.com/funstuff/extra/extra02.asp?strName=Katie_S.