Grade Your Dog Food
It's hard to know what the best food for your pup is. There are a lot of factors involved -- ingredients, your dog's age, your dog's general health and weight, and what you can afford!
Below is a method to grade your dog food that was posted on one of the online dog communities. It seems like a lot of effort, but it yields some interesting results.
How to grade your dog's food:
Start with a grade of 100:
94-100+ = A
86-93 = B
78-85 = C
70-77 = D
69 = F
TO GRADE YOUR DOG'S FOOD:
Start with 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 "turkey" 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
Here are some foods that have already been scored.
Authority Harvest Baked / Score 116 A+
Bil-Jac Select / Score 68
Canidae-119 points A+
Chicken Soup Senior / Score 115 A+
Chicken soup-113 points 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+
Eagle Pack Holistic Chicken-114 points A+
Eagle Pack Holistic: 119
Eagle Pack Large and Giant Breed Puppy: 94
Eagle Pack Natural: 94
Eukanuba Large Breed Adult: 83
Eukanuba Natural Lamb and Rice-87 points B
Flint River Ranch: 92 (non-specific fat source)
Foundations / Score 106 A+
Hund-n-Flocken Adult Dog (lamb) by Solid Gold / Score 93 A
Iams Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Premium / Score 73
Iams Lamb Meal and Rice-74 points
Iams Large Breed: 83
Innova Dog / Score 114 A+
Innova Evo / Score 114 A+
Kirkland Signature Chicken, Rice, and Vegetables / Score 110 A+
Natural Balance Duck and Potato-114 points A+
Nutrisource Lamb and Rice / Score 87 B
Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy / Score 87 B
Nutro Natural choice Lamb and Rice-85 points
Nutro Chicken, Rice, & Oatmeal: 85 (non-specific fat source)
Ol Roy-9 points
Pedigree Adult Complete-14 points
Pedigree Complete Nutrition: 42 points
Pet Gold Adult with Lamb & Rice / Score 23
Pro Plan All Breed: 68 points
Pro Plan Natural Turkey & Barley / Score 103 A+
Purina Beniful / Score 17
Purina Dog / Score 62
Purina Come-n-Get It / Score 16
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
Science Diet chicken adult maintainance-45 points
Science Diet Large Breed: 68 points
Science Diet for Large Breed Puppies / Score 69
Solid Gold Bison-123 points A+
Timberwolf Organics Lamb and Venison-136 points A+
Wellness Super 5 Mix Chicken: 117 points A+
Wolfking Adult Dog (bison) by Solid Gold / Score 97 A