Dogfood Analysis

Call me Socket

This site analyses dry and tinned dogfood and provides reviews on them. It categorizes the food into star rated sections between 1 and 6, with a 1* food being the least nutritious, and a 6* food being the most.

A quick overview on the more common food names most of us would recognise:

Purina- 1*
Hills- 1*
Pedigree Chum- 1*
Red Mills- 1*
Royal Canin- some variants are 3*, others are 1*
Burns- High Energy Lamb is 4*, others are 3*
James Wellbeloved- 3*
Orijen- 6*

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/index.php/cat/1



.

peasant

Can't help but notice that all the six star foods have protein contents of over 40%.

That may well be nutritious ...but wouldn't your dogs be bouncing off the walls?

steamjetjoe

My lad gets a 15kg bag of madra & it does him no harm.:)

Blueprint

My lad is fed Orijen, which has high protein. He's a high energy dog, being a collie x terrier, but saves his energy for his walks and is very calm in the house. The only time he was bouncing off the walls was when I first got him aged six months, at which time he was on Pedigree Puppy.

peasant

I'm still not convinced about the validity of the analysis at the bottom of this rating system.

Basically their pilosophy seems to be: the more meat, the better / the more grain, the worse ...all based on the theory that grain has nothiing to do with a dogs diet.

That may be correct when you look at a dog as a romanticised wolf (who would never come into touch with grain) ...however, for the last 15-30.000 years the domesticated dog has been feeding off human food scraps (which certainly contained grain !) and whatever it could catch itself.

The theory that a domestic dog is best fed whole buffalos/deer/sheep is cr*p, imo.

It's the same as as saying that humans shouldn't eat dairy products because Cro Magnon man had no cows to milk.

Lemlin

I don't overly rate this site. I spoke to a dog nutritionist about it and she even stated that there is nothing on the site saying that anyone involved has any qualification in dog nutrition.

From what I've been told, Orijen has far too much protein and can damage an underlying kidney problem a dog may have.

That's why I stick to James Wellbeloved to be honest.

Call me Socket

The protein contained is crude protein, which is different to the protein that we'd be on the lookout for in the nutritional information on the side of the bags. I don't understand the protein/crude element, but was informed by trusted experienced sources that the crude protein is not the protein percentage to be concerned about.

I see what you're saying about the grain Peasant... you're right, of course it has played a part in the diet of wolves and wild dogs from long ago- when they fed on buffalo and deer etc, they consumed the stomach as well which contained grain in an already digested form, so it was part of their diet albeit indirectly.

teckster

A most interesting subject

What's really in Petfood

Food to die for

What to feed & why

Petfood Ingredient Wizard

Allgäuerin

i'm feeding our two dogs Happy Dog. They are breed westies and the older one is getting the food now for over 10 years. Westies most of the time are "over breeded" and have a lots of diseases like skin problems etc. We are really happy with the food and dont have any problems with it at all. You can get the food in diffrent kinds, depending on your dog. Thats what the manufacturer is saying about his food:
Happy Dog dog food satisfies through high digestibility and a high cooking degree (90%). Happy dog fosters high metabolism and good health through a special composition of active ingredients. All raw ingredients for Happy Dog dog food come from German production when possible. No chemical additives, no meat and bone meal, no soy. Happy Dog - naturally healthier!
And i totaly agree with this!

cloudy day

Hi guys. I've also heard it said that to high a protein is bad for dogs. Especially puppies, forces them to grow too fast. However I do think dogs need raw meat, have ya watched the way they crave it. I had a boxer once who loved strawberries, and dogs that eat blackberries. I've seen a sibe munching down cooked mix veg like it was candy to a kid.

I've brought in two bags of the Massbrook that I feed for an ingredients comparison, will ye do the same and post.

Complete is Beef Crunch is
Protein 18 % 23 %
Oil 8 % 12 %
Fibre 3 % 3 %
Ash 6 % 7.5 %
Vit A 8,000 15,000
Vit D3 800 2,000
Vit E 110 160
Copper 15mg 15mg

Ingredients

Wheat, Meat meal, Maize - Wheat, Meat meal(min 16% beef) Maize
Dehulled soya bean meal, - Chicken fat, dehulled soya, Wheatfeed
Wheatfeed, Barley,Chicken - Beet pulp, Yeast, mixed Tocopherols,
fat, Beet pulp, Green leaf - Vit C, Rosemary extract.
vegetables ,Dicalcium phosphates -
Mixed Tocopherols, Vit C, -
Rosemary Extract. -

Both contain Omega 6 & 3 fatty acids to help support skin and coat condition.
(phew, that took ages. tip, do not try to post in this format, do seperate lists.)

The complete is € 16 for 15 kg The Beefy Crunch is € 20 for 15kg

All dogs much prefer the beefy crunch.

There is a sporting one and I'll be trying that next week, see what the dogs think of that it.

cloudy day

Took a few attempts to get this right and i know i repaeated it by mistake

MoonDancer256

cloudy day wrote: »

Ingredients
Wheat, Meat meal, Maize Wheat, Meat meal, Maize, Chicken fat,
Dehulled soya bean meal, Wheatfeed, Dehulled soya, Wheatfeed, Beet pulp,
Barley, Chicken fat, Beet pulp, Green Yeast with ec permitted antioxidants,
leaf vegetables, dicalcium phosphate, Mixed tocopherols, vit C, Rosemary extract.
mixed tocopherols, Vit C, rosemary extract.

YUMM! Wheat + "meat meal" + fat For carnivores...

Personally I'm a big fan of Orijen, both for dogs and cats (and my ferrets too!). It's got good quality, whole meats in it, none of that "by product" rubbish, and no filler products in it (grains) that do nothing useful for your animal (and, in fact, help your cats get fat - not sure if thats the same for dogs, but I assume so).

My ferrets used to be on James Wellbeloved and my cats got Royal Canin, until I started looking at the ingredients more. The largest ingredient in James Wellbeloved is rice... how is that useful? Royal Canin has "Poultry meal, maize, vegetable protein isolate, maize gluten meal" as its top ingredients. They don't even name the meat?! Orijen's first three ingredients are chicken, chicken meal, turkey meal. The fish version is fresh salmon (3 species) and salmon meal for top two ingredients with the rest being similarly high quality.

My animals all seem to love the taste of Orijen more as well.

Solid Gold is pretty good too, though I haven't tried my animals on that since Orijen was such a huge success.

Its worth noting that when I switched to Orijen all my animals had glossier coats, and less stinky poop

For my cats at the moment they're on a Royal Canin prescription food (one of them has urinary issues) and it's expensive, and crap

nautical star

hey moonstar,

do a bit of research on the royal cannin prescrioption diet ive found alot of eveidence to say a high quality food if of more benefit to animals with urinary problems than the prescription diets, nice to see more people using the Orijen and not feeding their dogs crap

upthedub

I have my boxer pup on "bakers" at the minute..should i try the royal canine boxer food???

MoonDancer256

upthedub wrote: »

I have my boxer pup on "bakers" at the minute..should i try the royal canine boxer food???

That's definitely better, yes. My boxer puppy loves the Royal Canin Boxer puppy food when she's allowed it. She usually gets Orijen though

nautical star

hey, get him off the bakers,

go to dogfoodanalysis.com and have a llok at bakers!
while your at it have a look at royal canin too, its not as good as youd think, Orijen is about the best dog food ive ever found and trust me ive been thru them all,

Blueprint

The company that makes Orijen now does a range of dog food called Acana that's got the same great ingredients but is meant to have a little less protein, which might be good for the young large breed dogs.

What I like about Orijen and Acana is that, not only are the ingredients human grade, their chickens etc. are also free range.

My dog does fantastic on the Orijen, but he did only start eating it at around 11 months and was fully grown as he's only smallish.

MoonDancer256

Well Orijen specifically does a large breed puppy food, which is what my Boxer gets (when zooplus have it in stock.. )

Blueprint

Yes, you have to order the Orijen well in advance on Zooplus, as the supply seems to be erratic and they've been known to be out for up to six weeks before. I always order very early now after having run out a few times with the cats.

One thing I have noticed with feeding them all a completely grain free diet is that they never have gunk in their eyes, which the dog used to and also the mother cat.

Cipher

Normally dont post here but as your talking about Orijen i taught i'd post an email that i received from Orijen when i was asking them about their food.

Hello ####,



Thank you for your email and please accept my apologies for the late reply.



Congratulations on the new puppy that you will be getting. I would recommend that you feed the ORIJEN Large breed formula as it has been specially formulated for large breeds. It is made with low ash meat ingredients that reduce dietary ash and subsequently prevent elevated calcium and phosphorus that are a common concern for larger breeds.



High protein diets such as ORIJEN are ideal for dogs and all ages and sizes. In fact, all published research we've managed to find shows that higher protein diets support the health of dogs of all sizes; including large and giant breeds (we cannot find a single published study to the contrary!). Typically, the issue of higher protein is a concern mainly owners of large or giant breed dogs who are concerned about higher amounts of dietary protein.



But what most people don’t understand is the relationship between protein and carbohydrate and between protein and calcium and phosphorus in dog food.



Consider that as protein increases carbohydrate decreases, and the reverse is also true; as protein decreases, carbohydrate increases. In other words, higher protein diets have less carbohydrate – this is an important fact as it is carbohydrate, not protein that is the leading dietary cause of health problems (obesity, insulin resistance, type II diabetes). And while carbohydrate in clearly linked to health concerns, it is difficult to give too much protein in a dog's diet and in this regard quality of protein is the most important consideration (not quantity).



Most high protein diets also have excess calcium and phosphorus. These diets approach the upper AAFCO limit and are at 2.5% calcium and 1.8% phosphorus. ORIJEN is formulated with low-ash ingredients and a very high inclusion of fresh meats, which moderates the ORIJEN calcium and phosphate levels to levels that support the balanced development of the large breed skeleton.





#####, if you get a chance I would love to see a photo of your new puppy and please contact us with any question or concern that you have.



Kindest regards,





Diana Mick

Customer Service

Champion Petfoods Ltd

p 780.939.6888

f 780.939.6858

I used to order all my food from zooplus.co.uk but recently they always seem to be out of stock of the puppy large. I now get it from www.brendaspets.ie
They dont have a stock system on the web so you might be better off emailing them to see if they have the food in stock but it usually ships next day.

nautical star

I used to use zooplus but got sick of always waiting for the stock to come in, and id prefer to give my money to an Irish shop, the guy i use now never runs out of stock and will match the zooplus price if you ask him!!!
the number is 0402-41325,

The Sweeper

Orijen was recalled throughout Australia because it was contaminated (through irradiation I believe) and was paralysing cats.

I trust pet food companies as far as I can throw them.

Blueprint

I read about that, it wasn't actually Orijen's fault as such - they do not irradiate the food, but Australian law demands that food cooked under a certain temperature is irradiated before it is allowed to be sold, so it was irradiated on import. Unfortunately they used a really high dose (way higher than is allowed for human consumption), this killed off vital vitamins causing the cats who ate it solely to get sicke due to deficiency. Their dog food was treated the same, but dogs don't have such complicated nutritional needs so didn't have any side effects.

I believe that some owners felt that Orijen didn't react fast enough.

Orijen don't sell cat in Australia anymore as a result.

Sigma Force

Has anyone tried Jack and Jills dog and cat food, not sure if it's available in Ireland probably can be shipped from the UK.

http://www.joesnaturalpetstore.co.uk/Joe_&_Jack's_Natural_Dog_Food/c17/index.html

Blueprint

They actually have this in Tesco's since the shake up - I haven't tried it, but the ingredients look really good and I've got it chalked up as an emergency food in case we run out.

Morganna

cloudy day wrote: »

Took a few attempts to get this right and i know i repaeated it by mistake

I feed massbrook and raw meat find it very good.

The Sweeper

Blueprint wrote: »

Orijen don't sell cat in Australia anymore as a result.

They do - I saw it in the pet shop last week. Unless that's the end of the supply? Definitely still on sale though.

Thanks for clarification on the irradiation thing - I thought it was something the petfood companies did themselves to meet Oz standards, not something that a third party did on import. (Or was it Orijen who did it on import?)

Anyway - 'ware the petfood companies is all I can say.

There are a lot of companies out there at the moment capitalising on marketing as opposed to pet nutrition - using terms like "green", "natural", "nature", "balance/balanced" "field", "grasslands" and so on to imply that their food is somehow pure and marvellous, whereas by any standard, if you look into it, most kibble is highly, highly processed food. Think 'mac n cheese' with a vitamin tablet.

On that basis, I would never feed my animals a single brand for every meal. Variety is the spice of life - most of the breeders I know mix everything (many of the shows here include food prizes, so they mix the 10kg prize bag of, say, royal canin with another good brand and a supermarket brand, all together in a big tub), and feed a variety of wet and dry brands as well as their own food - cooked or raw meat, usually (for both dogs and cats - though with cats the emphasis is more on raw meat).

Blueprint

Minesajackdaniels wrote: »

They do - I saw it in the pet shop last week. Unless that's the end of the supply? Definitely still on sale though.

Thanks for clarification on the irradiation thing - I thought it was something the petfood companies did themselves to meet Oz standards, not something that a third party did on import. (Or was it Orijen who did it on import?)

Anyway - 'ware the petfood companies is all I can say.

There are a lot of companies out there at the moment capitalising on marketing as opposed to pet nutrition - using terms like "green", "natural", "nature", "balance/balanced" "field", "grasslands" and so on to imply that their food is somehow pure and marvellous, whereas by any standard, if you look into it, most kibble is highly, highly processed food. Think 'mac n cheese' with a vitamin tablet.

On that basis, I would never feed my animals a single brand for every meal. Variety is the spice of life - most of the breeders I know mix everything (many of the shows here include food prizes, so they mix the 10kg prize bag of, say, royal canin with another good brand and a supermarket brand, all together in a big tub), and feed a variety of wet and dry brands as well as their own food - cooked or raw meat, usually (for both dogs and cats - though with cats the emphasis is more on raw meat).

Hmm, don't live in Australia, so my information about Orijen having been withdrawn must be out of date...

I think the irradiation was done by a third party, Orijen were blaming the Australian government for this issue, but then I guess they would... Apparently the food was irradiated at 20 times the level needed to kill Salmonella, which is what they put on human food.

I'd say not trusting any pet food manufacturer 100% is the right way to go, but on the other hand, feeding the best you can get is better than Whiskas and Pedigree!

My cats are on mostly wet these days, with the occasional chicken wing thrown in. I won't feed battery chickens, so they only get them when I find a special offer on free range.

Lemlin

Minesajackdaniels wrote: »

They do - I saw it in the pet shop last week. Unless that's the end of the supply? Definitely still on sale though.

Thanks for clarification on the irradiation thing - I thought it was something the petfood companies did themselves to meet Oz standards, not something that a third party did on import. (Or was it Orijen who did it on import?)

Anyway - 'ware the petfood companies is all I can say.

There are a lot of companies out there at the moment capitalising on marketing as opposed to pet nutrition - using terms like "green", "natural", "nature", "balance/balanced" "field", "grasslands" and so on to imply that their food is somehow pure and marvellous, whereas by any standard, if you look into it, most kibble is highly, highly processed food. Think 'mac n cheese' with a vitamin tablet.

On that basis, I would never feed my animals a single brand for every meal. Variety is the spice of life - most of the breeders I know mix everything (many of the shows here include food prizes, so they mix the 10kg prize bag of, say, royal canin with another good brand and a supermarket brand, all together in a big tub), and feed a variety of wet and dry brands as well as their own food - cooked or raw meat, usually (for both dogs and cats - though with cats the emphasis is more on raw meat).

Does mixing food work? My dog can be a bit hyper on the Orijen so was thinking about maybe mixing it with Massbrook which I have heard is a decent but affordable food. The Orijen is a bit on the steep side.

nautical star

hey lemlin, I would never mix dog foods like minesajackdaniels has reccomended and im sure alot of peolpe would agree with me there, On the face of it Orijen does look expensive but if you break it down into a price per day its cheaper than feeding pedigree chum as you dont feed nearly as much, was your dog always hyper or only since you started uaing Orijen?

Lemlin

nautical star wrote: »

hey lemlin, I would never mix dog foods like minesajackdaniels has reccomended and im sure alot of peolpe would agree with me there, On the face of it Orijen does look expensive but if you break it down into a price per day its cheaper than feeding pedigree chum as you dont feed nearly as much, was your dog always hyper or only since you started uaing Orijen?

The first evening I gave it to her she broke out of the shed that night (she has never broken out of the shed before) and when I went out to put her back in, she ran into the house this time and ran upstairs.

She has never gone upstairs before! Or broke out of the shed! And she normally waits to be beckoned in before running into the house!

She has calmed down on the food since but it really surprised me how hyper she was.

nautical star

wow... funny my dog seems more settled now than when on the Royal Cannin, I guess every dog reacts differently to food tho, how long has she been on it now?

Lemlin

nautical star wrote: »

wow... funny my dog seems more settled now than when on the Royal Cannin, I guess every dog reacts differently to food tho, how long has she been on it now?

About two to three weeks. I mixed it in with her James Wellbeloved at the start to ger her used to it.

olaola

If the food suits your dog, it suits your dog. We were recommeded a few brands and had to try a few until we found one that was pefect for the pooch. She get very runny stools otherwise. I wouldn't go changing anything that isn't broken on the back of the 'rating' from this website.

The Sweeper

nautical star wrote: »

hey lemlin, I would never mix dog foods like minesajackdaniels has reccomended and im sure alot of peolpe would agree with me there

May I ask why not? Are you worried about quality or something else?

As I said - it's breeders I know who do it, so people who generally have MORE animals and therefore higher food costs. Subsequently they feed a range of foods, padding out the top notch stuff with fillers (most of them won't "stoop" to a supermarket own brand, mind, it's more that they mix royal canin and hills SD with, say, purina or another one of the higher quality standard brands).

star-pants

I mix foods sometimes too, like you would when weaning a dog from one food to another, I don't see the harm.

nautical star

my main reason would be that if a dog has an adverse reaction you wont know what its reacting to. I have over the years found that you should find sumthing good and stick with it, for me it has to be Orijen, i admit i wouldnt take everything on the dog food analysis site at face value but most of what they say is sound advice, ive used so many foods over the years a friend of mine owns a pet shop and sells loads of different foods, starting at €17.99 for one that would be at least as good as beta, and he does another one that has practically the same ingridient list as royal canin for about €40 for 15kg, personally i wouldnt use them but i guess if your going to use sumthing with fillers you shouldnt overpay for it,
just my opinion tho, lol.....

gerbio

Hey guys, new to this. So glad you can all afford orijen, there are loads of other foods out there just as good if not better n a good bit cheaper. Too high a protein causes liver damage in dogs. Dogs who lived in the wild cant be compared to dogs of today. They have evolved through time. You may feed them well but whos to say their parents or grandparents never got the McDonalds of dog food....Pedigree or Bakers??? Dogs have become domesticated & their bodies have evolved through time. Dogs becoming more human like when it comes to allergies esp wheat n maize as we pump the dogs so full of it with the foods we give them. A good solid nutritious wheat or maize free food with not too high a protein works wonders.

Shanao

gerbio wrote: »

Hey guys, new to this. So glad you can all afford orijen, there are loads of other foods out there just as good if not better n a good bit cheaper. Too high a protein causes liver damage in dogs. Dogs who lived in the wild cant be compared to dogs of today. They have evolved through time. You may feed them well but whos to say their parents or grandparents never got the McDonalds of dog food....Pedigree or Bakers??? Dogs have become domesticated & their bodies have evolved through time. Dogs becoming more human like when it comes to allergies esp wheat n maize as we pump the dogs so full of it with the foods we give them. A good solid nutritious wheat or maize free food with not too high a protein works wonders.

Well actually a dog with liver disease is reccommended to go onto a diet of high, easily digestible proteins. Its a myth that all high protein causes liver damage in dogs; it will only do damage if from a hard to break down source, such as soy or corn based proteins; dogs cannot properly digest these and the whole system has to work extra hard to extract the correct amino acids from this source of protein.

EDIT- Also, why post this on a thread that's two years old if you've already posted about it in another recent thread?

Outkast_IRE

If humans havent even evolved yet to properly digest dairy , i would be sure that dogs havent evolved to properly digest grains either in the short space of time they have had to do so.
Dogs eating loads of grains would of only started happening when commercialsed dog foods started appearing on shelves .

gerbio

Shanao wrote: »

Well actually a dog with liver disease is reccommended to go onto a diet of high, easily digestible proteins. Its a myth that all high protein causes liver damage in dogs; it will only do damage if from a hard to break down source, such as soy or corn based proteins; dogs cannot properly digest these and the whole system has to work extra hard to extract the correct amino acids from this source of protein.

EDIT- Also, why post this on a thread that's two years old if you've already posted about it in another recent thread?

COS I POSTED HERE FIRST TO TRY IT OUT, LIKE I SAID NEW TO THIS

hadook

Gerbio, firstly welcome to A&PI

Please start a new thread if you want to discuss this topic for dragging up old ones is frowned upon. Also, posting all in caps is the internet version of shouting so try to avoid doing that unless you`re actually shouting (though this runs the risk of waking a mod).

Putting this one to bed.