How to Evaluate and Select Dog Food

There is a lot of confusion in regard to dog food quality. How does one evaluate a bag? How does one select the food that is best for one’s “best friend?” Having been in the pet food business for over 15 years, I feel comfortable stating that the one more knows, the less one knows. So if you are confused and uncomfortable each time you purchase a bag of food, please rest assured that you are in very good company.

The first, and perhaps most important, thing to remember is I lie. I lie. The nutritionists lie. The pet food manufacturers lie. The retailers lie. The bags lie. Everyone lies. The only ones who do not lie are the dogs.

Therefore, the key to evaluating a pet food is to feed your dog and see how your dog performs. Watch for a small, tight stool. Your dog should not be hungry when fed the recommended amount (remember, the higher quality the food, the less food required). Your dog should not need too much water (poorer quality foods absorb much of the moisture from the dog resulting in very loose stool and a very thirsty dog). Your dog should have a level of energy appropriate for its lifestyle. (A working dog or a show dog will require more protein and fat than a house pet.)

In my opinion, the three most important factors that will determine pet food quality are: a) the quality of the ingredients; b) processing temperature; and c) formula. Note that formula is the least important of these factors. Why? The best formula made with low quality ingredients at a high temperature will result in a poor quality food.

Ingredients: There is much discussion regarding what ingredients to look for on the bag and what ingredients to avoid. The general consensus is that the first ingredient should be a meat protein. As a result, pet food companies have begun formulating to ensure that the first ingredient is a meat protein. There are two ways to ensure this: a) use fresh meats; and b) use multiple grains. Ingredients are listed in order of weight as a percentage of the entire formula. Fresh meats are 80% water making them extremely heavy. In order to process fresh meat, the water must be removed (basically converted into a meal) and then extruded. The other method is to use four or more grains to ensure that there is a meat meal as the first ingredient. These additional grains are not selected for any specific nutritional profile; they are selected because you want to see meat as the first ingredient.

However, nothing on the label will indicate the quality of the ingredients used. There is a wide variance in the quality of chicken meals and grains available to pet food producers. The only way to determine if the producer is using a high-quality ingredient is to feed your dog.

Processing Temperature: Many foods are produced at higher temperatures to increase production efficiency. Higher processing temperatures harm the proteins by causing them to become “bound.” The proteins are still in the food but they are “unavailable” to the dog; the dog cannot digest the protein as it was damaged by high temperature. There is no way to tell from the bag what the processing temperature was. Again, feed your dog.

Formula: As we touched on above, many foods are now formulated with one eye on nutrition and one eye on what you, the consumer, want and believe. You want the first ingredient to be a meat protein, so they use four or five grains. You want fruits and vegetables, they include them. Yes, berries are great antioxidants. But, look at where these berries appear on the ingredient list. How many berries do you think are really in that bag and do you really think that so few can make a difference? Perhaps a functional treat or supplement would be better. Glucosamine and Chondroitin are quite expensive. But, you want to see them in the formula. Did you know that glucosamine and chondroitin are effective treating joint problems in only 50% of dogs? Why pay so much to have these ingredients in the food if there is only a 50:50 chance of efficacy while the dosage is probably too low to make a difference? Again, perhaps a functional treat or supplement is the better way to go.

Therefore, your first step in selecting a food for your dog should be to find a simple formula made with quality ingredients and processed at a low temperature. The difficulty is that you cannot determine the quality of the ingredients nor whether the food was processed optimally. Fortunately, your dog can.