What is the best dry dog food?

Question

I have a one year old 8 lb Papillon! He's my whole world, i want a dry dog food that is has the best nutrition! So he can be healthy and happy forever! I want the best dog food that is out there! I have heard many different! Science Diet, Iams, Purina Pro Plan, etc.. I would appreciate a vet or vet tech's expert opinion! But any opinions would be great! Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

All the brands you mentioned are full of by products and other junk. My dogs deserve only the best which does not include supermarket brands.
Take a look at how to grade your dogs food, as you can see Iams doesn't even compare to the better brands.
How to grade your dog's food:
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’s 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 3points
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.
Dog Food scores:

Authority Harvest Baked / Score 116 A+
Bil-Jac Select / Score 68 F
Canidae / Score 112 A+
Chicken Soup Senior / Score 115 A+
Diamond Maintenance / Score 64 F
Diamond Lamb Meal & Rice / Score 92 B
Diamond Large Breed 60+ Formula / Score 99 A
Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra Premium / Score 122 A+
Dick Van Patten's Duck and Potato / Score 106 A+
Foundations / Score 106 A+
Hund-n-Flocken Adult Dog (lamb) by Solid Gold / Score 93 B
Iams Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Premium / Score 73 D
Innova Dog / Score 114 A+
Innova Evo / Score 114 A+
Kirkland Signature Chicken, Rice, and Vegetables / Score 110 A+
Nutrisource Lamb and Rice / Score 87 B
Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy / Score 87 B
Pet Gold Adult with Lamb & Rice / Score 23 F
ProPlan Natural Turkey & Barley / Score 103 A+
Purina Benful / Score 17 F
Purina Dog / Score 62 F
Purina Come-n-Get It / Score 16 F
Royal Canin Bulldog / Score 100 A+
\Royal Canin Natural Blend Adult / Score 106 A
Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice / Score 97 A
Science Diet Advanced Protein Senior 7+ / Score 63 F
Science Diet for Large Breed Puppies / Score 69 F
Wellness Super5 Mix Chicken / Score 110 A+
Wolfking Adult Dog (bison) by Solid Gold / Score 97 A

Answer 2

Stay away from foods such as Purina Dog Chow, IAMS/Eukanuba, Science Diet, Pedigree and othe supermarket brand foods. They conatin way to much cheap fillers & by products. Some even contain dyes & chemical preservatives.Dogs are meat eaters not grain eaters.They are dsigned to get nutrition form meats not grains. Corn, wheat, soy offer very little nutritional value, are high allergens, soy causes excess gas, corn & soy have been implicated in causing unexplained seizures in dogs. Beet pulp offers no nutritional value, it only serves as a filler and adds unnecassary sugar to the diet. It takes up to 3 times as much of these low quality, grain based foods for a dog to get proper nutritionla value as it does a good quality meat based food.
Some good foods to consider:
Inova, Solid Gold, Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover''s Soul,Canidae, Blue Buffalo, California Natural just to name a few.

Answer 3

It depends on what your dog will eat and how it works with your dog. Each dog is different.

You want a food that uses human grade ingredients. Purina, Science Diet and Iams do not.

You want the first 2 o3 ingredients to be meat, and not just generic "meat" but named such as: Lamb, Chicken meal, etc.

You want one of the main protein sources to be whole meat, not meat meal, and NEVER meat by-products (lips and *ssholes)

You want natural preservatives, not ethoxyquin.

You want your dog's poop to be firm, but not too hard. It shouldn't leave residue when scooped off a concret floor. That is one of the best indicators if your dog is utilizing the nutrition from his food. If his poop is relatively healthy, his food is working for him.

Avoid the commercial foods with sugar. Or things that are sugar: beet pulp, fructose, molasses, etc.

Answer 4

I'd say avoid:

Science Diet - I wonder if anyone who buys it has ever looked at the ingredients. It is very expensive for poor quality.

IAMS - mostly corn, which dogs can't digest, so you are paying for more poop

Pedigree - nasty junk that no poor dog should be fed, it contains mostly corn, cancer-inducing preservatives and low quality protein

Purina 'chows' - poor quality, but you'd expect it at that price

Beneful - mostly corn

Purina ONE - corn and by-products

Eukanuba - not terrible but more expensive than better foods

Pro Plan - overpriced for quality, sells due to advertising rather than its benefits as a product

Brands i'd recommend are:

Nutro Natural Choice/Ultra - good quality for price

Natural Balance - excellent quality

Royal Canin - my picky dog loves it

Innova - expensive but you will feed much less, especially of the Evo line

Canidae - very good value

Purina Pro Plan Selects (not regular Pro Plan)

Merrick - human grade ingredients


As a rule, you generally get what you pay for. Avoid anything with BHA/BHT in like the plague, it is known to cause cancer. Avoid anything containing any form of corn in the first five ingredients. And don't feed anything containing by-products.

Answer 5

My dog is 5 months old and is 55 lbs. so, our dogs are very different but I still want the best too. We feed him Canidae. I know it isn't much help but I noticed a couple other answers include this as a choice, I am backing that up! It gets 5 stars on the web site that was posted by Lisa P. Also, we started him on Nutro Natural Choice/Ultra that one was on the Cara B post. He really liked that too, I don't know why we switched, same quality better price?? Either one I would recommend! Hope this helps!

Answer 6

Try Royal Canin, they have a toy breed dog food that is excellent and a "Baby Dog" food with a tiny kibble!
It's a nutritious brand that has no toxic preservatives or fillers and by-products and they have many formulations specific to breed types and even to breed in some cases.
Also, you can occasionally give your dog a few teaspoons of pumpkin pie filling which is good for their digestion as is plain yogurt.
My partner is a nutritionist and familiar with dog foods and their ingredients. Also, we have a Vet who is well versed in nutrition and who knows about diet for dogs.

Answer 7

Go to www.dogfoodanalysis.com - it shows all of the ingredients and an analysis of pretty much every dry and canned dog food available. You will find that the more common brands that have been around for a while are the worst health-wise. After careful research I settled on Canidae for my dogs - go to www.canidae.com to read about their food. NOTE: I find that vets will recommend whatever brand of dog food it is that their clinic carries and sells.

Answer 8

Dick Van Pattens Natural Balance in the dark blue bag is the best for the money. I have found that Wysong has an incredible line of dog food - more expensive, but better. Check out their websight. TONS of info!!

Answer 9

Science Diet, Iams and Purina Pro Plan all contain corn. Which is very unhealthy for dogs. The best food is Natures Recipe. It contains no fillers, by products, wheat, beef or corn. They have Natures Recipe for small breeds so its easy for him to chew.

Your local Pet Smart or Pet Co will carry it. Natures Recipe also cuts down on shedding, bad breath and the amount of stool.

Answer 10

We buy Merrick's - it's extremely good for them...and it's definitely made a difference in our 4 dogs. They're coats are shinier, they shed a whole lot less, more energy and before we switched to Merrick's, 3 of my dogs were very finicky eaters...now, they're eating every time I feed them...no more throwing food out.

Glad to see you're interested in providing the very best for your Papillon....that's great!