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", "brewerâ?Ts 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 morepoints
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 isnâ?Tt allergic to wheat), subtract 2 points
14) If it contains beef (unless you know that your dog isnâ?Tt 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. 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 D
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
I'm getting tired of my dog's food so I'm gonna gradually change my dog's food over from Purina to Chicken Soup for the Dog lover's soul. I'll probably get it this weekend when I have more $$.
I just bought some chicken soup for the puppy lover's soul, but i'm not sure if my chihuahuas like it. If not, I may stick with Royal Canin Chihuahua, which is not the best, but it is better than anything you get at Walmart.
Right now I am feeding my dogs (medium-sized adult dogs) Ol' Roy brand dogfood from Walmart. I know it is not that good for them. People from this site have told me that.
My problem is my mom. She says I shouldn't believe what "some" website says. I believe it anyway, though. The only stores I have buy me (in Rexburg, ID) are Walmart and Kmart. This town is 30 minutes away.
I have a bigger city (Idaho Falls, ID) near me, but that is an hour away. It has Walmart Supercenter, Petco, Petsmart, and some other grocery stores that sell pet food.
I am only 14 so I can't drive. I told my mom if we switched that I would pay the extra amount. Once again, she said it was a waste of money.
How can I convince her to switch to a better brand? Which brand should I switch to? Some people have said Maximum Nutrition, Nutro, and Chicken Soup for puppy lover's soul. I don't know which one to go with. I understand that some brands work for other dogs, but I just want an overall opinion.
Please help me. My dogs' nutrition and diet are very important to me.
Have you showed her any other internet sources? I can understand her not believing a the words that come from a forum as it's mostly opinion. But try googling dog nutrition and show her some professional sites from a dog nutritionist or veterinary stand point.
Also, maybe you could try explaining to her exactly WHY Ole Roy isn't a good food. This would mean learning about the physiology of a dog's digestive system. Learn exactly why dogs are not made to digest carbs such as corn which is probably the first 3 ingredients on the ingredient list of Ole Roy. In fact, to prove how much corn is indigestible, give your dogs a little canned corn if they'll eat it and then check out their poop a day or so later. You'll find the corn kernels in there in the same form and state they were in before they were ingested. Ground corn does the same thing only it's ground so it obviously doesn't come out in kernels.
Can you possibly contact vet or dog nutritionist who knows this stuff who can talk to your mom?
You could also explain to her that the cost difference is not as much as you might think. Ol Roy has so many fillers in it, that your dogs will get hungry more often, and will therefore eat more. With higher quality food, the dog swill most likely eat less, shed less, and not smell as much as they do now. Oh, and in many cases their poo will be a lot smaller, because all of the food will actually be digestible by the dogs.
I feed James Wellbeloved - it got an A (97). It may have even got higher than that but I wasn't sure about some of the answers so I gave it the minimum of what it could have got. It's perfect for my dogs, especially Ria as it's hypoallergenic and she had a sensitive stomach.
I feed my dog Iams large breed food with natural sources of glucosamine for healthy joints. My dog is prone to getting hip dysplasia because at maturity he will hit around 130lbs so I chose something that might help him. It has a lot of chicken and protein in it also. I didn't take the time to do this quiz thing but I am happy with the food I give my dog.
I just wanted to say that I rated Pedigree's small breed dry dog food, and it got a huge 36 F!! So as of tomorrow when I can get to the store, Bubby will no longer be eating that. The problem is I live in a small town and there's only so much available. Does anyone buy their dogfood online? From what site?
Originally posted by scottyeec42: I just wanted to say that I rated Pedigree's small breed dry dog food, and it got a huge 36 F!! So as of tomorrow when I can get to the store, Bubby will no longer be eating that. The problem is I live in a small town and there's only so much available. Does anyone buy their dogfood online? From what site?
You can buy lots of dog foods online, however, is there a local pet store in your area. You might want to explore their selection of dog food before you buy online.
Shipping can get expensive.
Sites like Petco and Petsmart offer deals on shipping, but most of the dog foods they offer are okay, but still not that much better then a low grade commercial like Pedigree.
Good for you for making the choice to feed your dog a well balenced diet!
I did check out our local pet store this morning-- I thought all they sold was fish stuff, but they do actually have dog food-- Nutro Natural and Natural Balance. I got him some Nutro, which gets a high B. I probably should have gotten the Natural Balance, but all they had was a 40 lb bag and I hated to buy that much in case he didn't like the taste. Bub is picky-- so picky in fact that right now he's in the kitchen sorting out his old food from the new (I mixed them to help him make the switch) and only eating the new stuff! Hopefully next time I go they'll have a smaller bag of the Natural Balance.
Well, according to my calculations, Royal Canin Chihuahua formula gets an 88, although I am not sure I understood number 12 under extra credit; what exactly DOES count as a specific protein source? It has chicken meal, chicken, chicken fat, dried egg powder, and salmon oil. Which of these should I count?
Here is the full list of ingredients if anyone wants to help me out.
I'll probably get it this weekend when I have more $$.
