Dog Food Brands Comparison

The input discusses various dog food brands, their ingredients, and the importance of taurine.

### Dog Food Brands Comparison: Ingredients, Nutrition, and Price Analysis
* 🦴 Detailed comparison of various dog food brands based on their **ingredients, nutritional content, and price**.
* 🏷 Using a standardized grading system that considers factors like **protein, fat, fiber, first five ingredients, presence of common allergens (soy, wheat, corn), and price per pound**.
* 🛒 Brands from different price ranges and retailers are evaluated, ranging from **budget options** to **premium brands**.
* 🐕 Analysis includes popular brands such as **Merrick, Blue Buffalo, Simply Nourish, Iams, Instinct, Earth Farms, Victor, Taste of the Wild, Diamond Naturals, and Pedigree**.
* 💰 The price of dog food is an essential factor, as it directly impacts the **overall cost of feeding a pet**.
* 🥩 Ingredients like **real meat (e.g., chicken, beef, pork)** are generally preferred over meat meals and by-products.
* Nutritional components such as **protein, fat, and fiber** play a crucial role in determining the **quality of dog food**.

at it again. This time around, we're going to go ahead and find the best brand at each one of these stores, and we're going to go ahead and measure them up. First things first, let me show you the scale that I'll be using today. At the very top, you got protein, fat, carbs, and fiber. We're looking at a percentage that assimilates these numbers you have up there, and we will grade them between one and five. If you go to the left, you're going to see we have the first five ingredients will be rated one to five. If it has soy, wheat, or corn, and the amount of it will be graded one to five as well as price per pound, and it will give us an overall score, which we'll go ahead and divide by four. Today, we're going to go ahead and check out Canada. Looking at a bag here, 74.99 for a 44-pound bag. Let's flip over the bag. Let's see what's there real quick. Let's take a look at the percentages. We got 26% protein, 13%

half fat four percent crude fiber 10 moisture everything else is carbs. We have uh chicken meals first ingredient then barley peas chicken fat brown rice flaxseed white rice Salmon Oil natural flavor. I'm trying to see here uh they got any legumes and you can see the lentils right there. Also if you notice you see where it says salt anything below salt is less than one percent till salt based on AFCO can only be one percent of the ingredients and everything else behind it is less than one percent. All right so taking a look at the ingredient list uh I do see they do have taurine there uh I do know because it says it on the package there is no corn wheat or soy which that's a definite advantage. All right fam the next brain I'm going to be taking a look at here is Merrick. I'm looking at this bag here for 53.99 let's go ahead and take a look at the ingredients. All right so we're looking at 34 crude protein 17 fat three and a

half percent crude fiber, 11 moisture. Pretty much everything else is carbohydrates. I do see taurine right there. That's really important. I love it how they put the ingredients all the way in the bottom. Got deep bone chickens and chicken meal, turkey meal, sweet potatoes, potatoes, peas. There's your legume or filler. Chicken fat, white fish meal, dried egg product, which can be anything from the shell to the yolk, natural flavor, flaxseed, chicory. Okay, first five ingredients not necessarily the worst, not necessarily the best. All right, so the next brand we're gonna be looking at is going to be Blue Buffalo. We got the brown rice and chicken formula right here in front of us at 64.99. Let's flip the bag over, let's take a look. All right, well taking a look at the ingredients, we've got 24 protein, 14 crude fat, five percent crude fiber. We got 10 moisture, pretty much everything else is carbohydrates. Um, we got d-bone chicken, that's our first ingredient, then chicken meal

then we go downhill. Brown rice, barley, oatmeal, pea starch, flax seed. Just need to verify we got taurine in there. Oh, I don't necessarily see taurine. I gotta, I gotta check and see if it has it anywhere. The reason the taurine is so important is because they have shown a relation between legumes such as peas and pea protein like they're using there. It is related to dilated cardiomyopathy, which is the enlargement of the heart, and it's it pretty much um Beach ineffectively. But I can't find terrain anywhere right now. Very surprised to not see touring anywhere since the majority of the dog food manufacturers do have it included in their bag. Very surprising. Next brand we're going to be taking a look at is going to be Simply Nourish. Uh, this one I'll talk about here. We're looking at what, 22-pound bag, 69.99, 70. Let's flip this bag over. Let's see how well it scores. All right, so this

next one we're looking at 35 protein 14 Creed fat 5 crude fiber 10 moisture everything else pretty much carbs oh we're looking at d-bone lamb lamb meal pork meal deboned pork that's pretty good up to there then we go to pea protein so we take a step back chickpeas yellow peas green lentils sulfur so we have the legumes in there so I'm wondering where's the touring this seems to be like the second one that isn't showing uh taurine as one of its ingredients which is surprising to me because it's usually part of the marketing of most dog food manufacturers nowadays one thing I do see is it doesn't contain soy and it says it eliminated all grains so that's that's definitely a positive all right so next up we got yikonuba we're going to be looking at their large breed adult it goes for 77.99 80 bucks let's take a look at the back of the bag

Let's take a quick look at the percentages. They got 22 and a half percent crude protein, 12 percent crude fat, 3.7 percent crude fiber, and 10 percent moisture. Everything else carbohydrates. Ingredient-wise, we got lamb, Brewers rice, chicken by-product meal, wheat, corn, lamb meal, ground grain, sour grum. A lot of fillers. Very surprised by this brand. Uh, afraid to go down this route. Next brand we're going to take a look at here in PetSmart. It's going to be Instinct. I'm seeing a bag here of 84.99. I don't know why, but I get the feeling people get taken for a ride through the marketing. The name Instinct and everything. They're kind of selling you more of an idea on anything else. Let's see if this bag's worth 84 bucks. All right, so let's see percentage-wise. We've got 30 three and a half crude protein, 18 and a half crude fat, 5 percent crude fiber, 9 percent moisture. Everything else carbs. We got chicken, chicken meal doing good so far. Then peas, egg product, tapioca.

chicken fat mixed with tocopherols and citric acid, ground flaxseed, dried tomato pumice, freeze-dried Chicken Manhattan fish meal. All in all, not the worst, definitely not the best. I don't see Turing anywhere. Based on my research, Turin can be made by dogs. So, just because it's not being included in the bag does not necessarily mean that the ingredients in order for the dog to make it are not in it. Lastly, let's take a look at what this bag scores. Yeah, it's basically 84.99 for 20 pounds worth of dog food. Let's take a look Earth Farms. We'll see the percentages. We got crude protein 26 percent, crude fat 14, crude fiber 4 and a half, moisture 11. Everything else carbs. We got a chicken meal first product, then potatoes, canola meal, peas, chicken fat, sweet potato, chicken, turkey, natural flavor, flaxseed, apples. You know, all in all, based on the amount that you are getting, which is 25 pounds and 55 dollars, I feel that the

price side of it is really going to help this brand compared to say Instinct over there. I feel that the ingredients are comparable except the price is a lot better over here. Next up here in Tractor Supply we're going to be checking out Victor High Pro Plus at 55.99. They do have high energy here at 51.99 and others 52.99 very comparable in price. I do want to go ahead and check this bag out and see how it grades out so let's let's do this. We're looking at 30 crude protein, 20 crude fat, 3.8 fiber, and nine percent moisture. Everything else carbs we got beef meal grain sour gram our radio filler chicken fat preserved with Toca referrals pork meal chicken meal Manhattan fish meal. There you have it. This is what's coming with it. I got no terrine I don't see Turi right off the bag. Next up on this list is Taste of the Wildfire you Taste of the Wild lovers get written.

to all the time what about Taste of the Wild. Well, let's check out this Ancient Prairie Taste of the Wild formula. $56.99 for 28 pounds. Let's check it out. All right, so this is what we're seeing. 32 percent crude protein, 18 crude fat, 3 percent crude fiber, 3 percent moisture. Everything else, carbs. Trying to see, yeah, this one's got taurine in it, actually. So, on the ingredient list, first up is water buffalo. So, you're trying to impress. You followed by pork, chicken meal. Not too shabby so far. Then you got green sour gum, which is a filler. You got Millet, chicken fat, dried yeast, roasted bison, roasted venison. Wow, it's actually not too shabby. Let's see how this one actually grades out. All right, so next up, we got Diamond Naturals. We're going to check out Diamond Naturals Large Breed Puppy. And we'll check the pro 89 next. So, let's check out what this bag actually scores.

all right, so we're looking at a total 27% crude protein, 15% crude fat, three and a half percent crude fiber, and ten percent moisture. Everything else carbs, and we do have taurine on there. We're looking at ingredients, we got lamb, lamb meal, whole grain brown rice, which is a filler, cracked Pearl Barley's a filler, grain sour gum, there's a filler, dried yeast, egg product, chicken fat started out good there with the ingredients in lamb and lamb meal, and then it just went downhill from there. Um, let's see what it grates again, Diamond Naturals large breed puppy formula lamb and rice formula that is goes for $53.99 here in Tractor Supply, and next up we got the diamond Pro 89. This one goes for $55.99, and again it's also 40 pounds, so let's take a look. All right, fam, so that's what we're looking at, crude protein 30%, crude fat 20%, crude fiber 2.2%, and moisture 10%.

percent and do I see taurine in there yep we do everything else carbs. All right, so taking a look at the ingredients, we got beef, pork, beef meal. Good so far. Then grain, sour gum, whole brown rice, chicken fat preserved with mixed chocolate pearls, millet, fish meal, yeah, dried beet pulp, yeah, it went downhill there pretty quick. But all right, guys, we're gonna check out Sports Mix. Uh, we got Sports Mix premium high energy 34.99. Let's check out what the bag says. All right, guys, so we're looking at 24 crew protein, 20 crude fat, four and a half crude fiber, 10 moisture, everything else carbs, basically. Let's take a look at the ingredients. Ingredient list is uh, meat meal, we go ground yellow corn, chicken fat percent, chocolate ferals, chicken by-product meal, ground Brewer's rice, dried beet pulp, Manhattan fish meal, flaxseed, salt, and then everything else one percent. Let's see how this bag overall scores. All right, the next one up that I'm actually very attracted to because I'm

singing 26 protein and 24 fat is actually this grain-free canine X adult dog so let's take a look at this bag. Let's see how it scores. So we have 26 crude protein, 24 crude fat, 5 percent crude fiber, 10 moisture. We do have the touring in there. Everything else is pretty much carbs. Now let's take a look at the ingredients. We have beef meal, chicken fat preserved with Toca ferals, pea starch, peas, pea protein, protein dried yeast, beet pulp. I mean it went downhill very very fast. Let's see how this bag scores. Again, this is grain-free adult dog food going for 46.99. All right, just like we're going to review some high-end Foods, we're going to review the lower-end food so you could compare and see how close these higher-end foods are to the actual lower-end Foods. We have a pedigree 40 44 pound value size going for 37.99. Let's turn over the bag. Let's see how this bag scores. So we're looking at 27 crude

protein 12%, crude fat 4%, crude fiber 12%, moisture. Everything else carbs don't see touring in there. We have the ingredients right here. We have great ground whole grain corn, usually not good as your first ingredient. Then we got meat and bone meal, source of calcium. Chicken by-product meal, source of glucosamine and chondroitin. Corn gluten meal, animal fat Source omega-6. Hey fam I'm doing this on purpose. Ground whole grain wheat. This is so you could see what lower end dog food but the first five ingredients are so that amount of protein up there. This is the quality of the protein that you're getting. That's why that number up there is actually very misleading in this particular case. Wow. Next up we got Purina Pro Plan. Seems like a lot of people liking it because they just they don't have much of it. Let's check the price out over here. We're looking at $83.99 for Purina Pro Plan adult complete Essentials. There's a 47-pound bag. Let's take a look.

all right, so we have 26% crude protein, 16% crude fat, 3% crude fiber, 12% moisture. I don't see taurine directly on their ingredients. It starts out with beef, good. Then we go downhill: rice, whole grain wheat, corn glue, gluten meal, poultry byproduct meal. What is that supposed to mean? Is it the beak? Is it the nails? What is it? So the feather, soybean meal, whole grain corn, beef fat preserved with mixed tocopherols, and dried egg product. And there you have it at 83.99, you have Purina Pro Plan Complete Essentials. If you guys are wanting to pay 83 dollars for a bag of flour, just let me know. I'll be more than happy to send you an all-purpose flour baking bag for 82.99. How's that? All right, guys. For those of you believing so much in your vets, tell you what, we have large breed light adult ones of Hill's Science Diet veterinarian recommended 68.99. They have that right on there.

they love throwing that straight up on your face because that's how they mislead you. Let's take a look at this bag. Wait, I almost forgot. There's a 30-pound bag, 68.99. Let's see. All right, here's your percentages. We got 20% crude protein, 5.5% crude fat. We have 14% crude fiber. Wow, higher fiber. And we have 10.5% moisture. Don't see touring on there. Everything else is carbs. And then in the ingredients, she got chicken meal, cracked pearl barley, pea fiber, whole grain wheat, whole grain corn, corn gluten meal, whole grain sourdough, powdered cellulose, chicken liver flavor. Man, this bag goes downhill real quick. I cannot even believe one vet would put their names behind this particular product. There you have it, 68.99 for the large breed light adult. Once a five. Again, if you want a bag of all-purpose flour for 67.99, I'll be more than happy to send you two. Actually, you'll probably get more benefit than what you're getting out of this all.

right, so we finally made it to the Tractor Supply aisle. Basically, I don't know if you're aware, but they make the 4Health brand, and then the higher end of it is something called Strive, which we're going to check into here in a minute. But right now, let's concentrate on the salmon and potato formula 35-pound bag, which goes for $46.99. Let's turn it over, let's see how this bag scores. All right, so for starters, we got 25 crude protein, 14 fat, 3 fiber, and 10 moisture. I see taurine in there, everything else carbs ingredients. I see salmon, which is a good start, then we go into ocean fish meal. What the hell does that mean? We have potatoes, peas, cracked pearl barley, pea flour. That's not good, those are all fillers. We have egg product, canola oil, preserves or preserved with chocolate furrows, tomato pumice, natural flavors, blah blah blah. All right, so let's take a look and see where this particular bag actually scores. All right, guys, let's

check out these strides and let's see how they score. They're supposed to be their top-end food. As you can see, this bag goes for $56.99, Strive 83 formula. Let's check it out. Oops, almost forgot, this is a 45-pound bag and it goes for $56.99. All right, we got 26 crude protein, 18 crude fat, crude fiber 5 or 3 percent, moisture 10 percent, ash 7 percent, taurine on there, everything else is carbs. Let's take a look at the products. We got beef, good. Beef meal, all right. Pork, good. Brown rice, not so good. Pearl barley, grain sorghum, chicken fat preserved with mixed tocopherols, white rice, egg product, flaxseed, dried beet pulp. So it kind of goes downhill, but I would still say that the first five ingredients are not necessarily the worst. All right, next up we got Strive Performance 87 formula for dogs, 87 protein at $52.99. Let's see what's in the bag. All right, so right off the bat we have 30 protein, we have 20

crude fat three percent. Crude fiber 10. Moisture. We have taurine in there. Everything else is carbs. Let's look at the ingredients. Chicken. Chicken meal. Pork. First three are good. Then we go brown rice. White rice. Chicken fat. Preservative. Chocolate ferals. Dry beet pulp. Flaxseed. Natural flavor. Salmon Oil. It's pretty much the same thing. Just the first three ingredients are a little bit different than the last. Let's see how this bag drigs out. All right guys, last and certainly not least, we have the Endurance 90 formula 45-pound bag and 90 protein. And this goes for 57.99. Let's see what's in the bag. Okay, so this one we're looking at 33 protein, looking at 20 crude fat, two percent crude fiber, 10 moisture. It's got the taurine in there. Everything else carbs. We have chicken. Pork. Chicken meal. Then we go downhill. Whole grain brown rice. Ground white rice. Chicken fat with toca referrals. Dried beef pulp. This is pretty much the same thing. The only thing I change is the percentages.

actually went up a little bit. Ingredients are a little bit mixed in this one since you have chicken and pork. Let's see how this back grades. All right, fam, we just made it back to Petco and uh we did it on purpose for the famous origin brand which so many of you swear by and love. And so I want to see the grades that that we get on these uh bags. Uh we have here the regional red bag. Again, it goes for 22 and a half pounds at 112.99. Now I've had a lot of you write to me and tell me that you actually serve less food or it's recommended to serve less of this particular food to your adult dogs. So let's turn over the bag, let's see what it talks about. All right, so we have 38 crude protein, 18 crude fat, four percent crude fiber, 12 percent moisture, eighty percent dietary starch, which that's carbs, we know the difference between all those numbers and 100 is going to be carbs. Um, there's taurine, uh for sure on there.

we have beef, wild boar, lamb, beef liver, pork, beef meal, macro meal, herring meal, oat groats, millet, mutton, whole mackerel, beef fat. Hands down and I've said it before, this has got to be one of the best, if not the very best, kibble out there. Now, it's just a matter of comparing the price to the amount that you're getting. Now, it feels very important that we're able to see this because there are recommendations depending on your dog's weight. Here, I just want to be as fair as possible. All right, so we're looking at Royal Canine. Now, you look at this particular one, is the German Shepherd one for 113, I guess 105.99 Royal Canine. Let's go ahead and flip this back over and let's see what the numbers speak. All right, so we're looking at 22 crude protein, 72 percent crude fat, five and a half percent crude fiber, 10 moisture, everything else carbs. Let's go and take a look at the ingredients. All right, so

we got Brewer's rice, that's the first ingredient. Now we got a chicken by-product meal. We have brown rice, Oak roads, chicken fat, pork meal, natural flavors, powdered set of those, dried plain wheat gluten. Oh man, let's see what the score says. Wow, Royal Canine, you dirty dog.

Best Dog Food Review

QBN Kennel

Comparing Dog Food Brands Based on Nutritional Content

The speaker compares different dog food brands based on their nutritional content and price per pound.

They evaluate the percentage of protein, fat, carbs, and fiber, as well as the presence of soy, wheat, and corn in the ingredients.

The speaker also emphasizes the importance of taurine in the food and its potential relation to heart health in dogs.

The prices of the different dog food brands are also compared in the evaluation.

The first brand contains lamb, pork, and legumes but lacks taurine, while the second brand is filled with fillers and questionable ingredients.

The third brand, Instinct, has good protein sources but is expensive and also lacks taurine.

Earth Farms offers good ingredients at a better price point, and Victor High Pro Plus is comparable in price with decent ingredients but also lacks taurine.

Overall, the comparison shows that the presence of taurine and the quality of ingredients can vary significantly between different dog food brands.

The Taste of the Wild Ancient Prairie formula offers high protein and taurine, with quality ingredients like water buffalo and venison.

Diamond Naturals Large Breed Puppy formula has lower protein and taurine, with more fillers like rice and barley.

The Diamond Pro 89 formula provides good protein sources but quickly declines with fillers like rice and beet pulp.

Questionable Ingredients in Dog Food Brands

The first dog food has low-quality ingredients with misleading protein percentage, despite its low price.

Purina Pro Plan contains questionable ingredients, high in price, and not worth the cost.

Hill's Science Diet offers a high-fiber dog food with potentially misleading marketing and low-quality ingredients, despite being veterinarian recommended.

Review of 4Health and Strive Dog Food Formulas

4Health salmon and potato formula offers 25% crude protein, while the Strive 83 formula provides 26% crude protein and 18% crude fat with beef and pork as the main ingredients.

The Strive Performance 87 formula offers 30% protein and 20% crude fat, similar to the other formulas with minor ingredient variations.

The Endurance 90 formula has the highest protein content at 33% and is priced at $57.

99 for a 45-pound bag, with similar ingredients to the other formulas but with different percentages.

The Origin brand offers a high-quality kibble with a good balance of protein and moisture, while Royal Canine has a higher fat content and lower protein.

The Origin brand is more expensive but provides a larger quantity, while Royal Canine is cheaper but has lower quality ingredients.

Customers swear by the Origin brand, but the price and recommended serving size should be taken into consideration.