Pet Food and Canine Nutrition: Best Brands

I just read the Independent Pet Food Nutrition Research Study by John Martinez based on a modification to Goldstein’s Wellness & Longevity Program — Natural Care for Dogs & Cats.

245 pet foods were scored according to quality of protein, fats and carbohydrate (whole grain and grain-free), absence of additives & preservatives, with a premium based on uncooked foods and vitamins, presence of phytonutrients, antioxidants, probiotics, prebiotics and lecithin and absence of non-beneficial nutrients to help reduce gas and form stool. (Obviously, with a good diet, dogs have good-looking stools and don’t break wind.)

I was reassured that a number of the brands that I favour, ranked very highly and some brands that I don’t like, scored rock bottom. However, what I found interesting (surprising) — there were a number of foods that I had presumed to be good quality that actually scored quite poorly.

And the winners were …

Of the 245 foods, only ten brands comprised the top 90th Percentile (24 dog foods in total). The overall winner, with three recipes all scoring maximum points, was Ziwi Peak’s Air Dried (Lamb, Venison & Fish and Venison). Artisan’s Grandma Lucy’s two foods (Chicken and Lamb) came tied for 2nd along with three recipes of Nature’s Variety’s Freeze Dried Raw (Chicken, Lamb and Venison). Coco’s Canine Cuisine came 4th and six recipes from the honest kitchen (Embark, Force, Keen, Preference, Thrive and Verve) came 5th. 6th was Karma’s Organic, 7th — three foods from Before Grain (Buffalo, Chicken and Salmon), 8th — EVO’s Herring & Salmon and EVO’s Weight Management Formula, 9th — Orijen’s 6 Fish Dog and Orijen’s Regional Red and 10th was Solid Gold’s Hund-n-Flocken.

I was really pleased that the Ziwi Peak recipes topped the bunch, since I was so impressed with the formula after visiting their processing plant in New Zealand. It just makes so much sense — premium food, uncooked and air-dried with no preservatives. Premium food preserved in the same manner that indigenous people’s have done for thousands of years. You get many of the benefits of raw without the mess. Air-dried food is convenient and highly portable. Our dearly departed Claude had several G.I. issues and Ziwi Peak worked for him. It makes for an excellent training reward, too. High quality food may cost more up front, but saves lots of money, headaches, and heartaches due to health issues in the long run. I prefer to prevent, rather than treat, problems when it comes to health as well as behavior.