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Do you love your dog?  Silly question, right?  Of course you love your dog!!  Then why would you feed your dog anything less than a high quality dog food?  Your dog depends on YOU to give them the nutrition they deserve to live a happy and healthy life.  Nutrition is vital to your pet’s health and happiness, but it also can save you money in the long run.  Feeding a quality food can prevent costly health problems.  More and more dogs are being prescribed expensive drugs to regulate their health and quality of life.  In many cases, unnecessary drugs could be avoided if proper nutrition was included in their daily lives.  But how do you determine a good quality dog food from low quality substandard kibble?  READ THE INGREDIENTS!!  Don’t be swayed by name brand, T.V. commercials, or any other marketing ploy.  Turn the bag over and simply read the ingredients.  At a quick glance you will be able to determine quality from crap.  If the first ingredient is corn, read no further.  Corn = Crap.  Today, there are so many options available for your pooch.  There is no reason to settle for inadequate dog food.

Obviously, reading all of those ingredients on the backside of a dog food bag can become tiresome and confusing.  This is why I have gathered a couple of resources to help you.  The first is a handy grading system by Sarah Irick, dog enthusiast.  This grading system is obviously not an exact science, but a good frame of reference for you to begin.  To grade your dog’s food, go to Grade My Dog’s Food and use the scoring system to calculate a point total.

Below is a sample list of dog foods with the score already calculated

Grade A
Timberwolf Organics Lamb and Venison / Score 136  A+
Solid Gold Bison / Score 123 A+
Dick Van Patten’s Natural Balance Ultra Premium / Score 122 A+
Eagle Pack Holistic / Score 119 A+
Wellness Just for Puppy / Score 117 A+
Authority Harvest Baked / Score 116 A+
Chicken Soup Senior / Score 115 A+
Eagle Pack Holistic Chicken / Score 114 A+
Innova Dog / Score 114 A+
Innova Evo / Score 114 A+
Natural Balance Duck and Potato / Score 114 A+
Canidae / Score 112 A+
Kirkland Signature Chicken, Rice, and Vegetables / Score 110 A+
Wellness Super5 Mix Chicken / Score 110 A+
Kirkland Signature Puppy Chicken, Rice and Vegetable / Score 108 A+
Dick Van Patten’s Duck and Potato / Score 106 A+
Royal Canin Natural Blend Adult / Score 106 A+
Foundations / Score 106 A+
ProPlan Natural Turkey & Barley / Score 103 A+
Royal Canin Bulldog / Score 100 A+
Diamond Large Breed 60+ Formula / Score 99 A
Royal Canin Dachshund 28 Formula / Score 97 A
Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice / Score 97 A
Wolfking Adult Dog (bison) by Solid Gold / Score 97 A
Nature’s Select Chicken & Rice Puppy Growth Premium / Score 96 A
Eagle Pack Large and Giant Breed Puppy / Score 94 A
Eagle Pack Natural / Score 94 A
Hund-n-Flocken Adult Dog (lamb) by Solid Gold / Score 93 A
Grade B
Diamond Lamb Meal & Rice / Score 92 B
Flint River Ranch / Score 92 B (non-specific fat source)
Eukanuba Natural Lamb and Rice / Score 87 B
Nutrisource Lamb and Rice / Score 87 B
Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy / Score 87 B
Grades C and D
Nutro Chicken, Rice, & Oatmeal / Score 85 C  (non-specific fat source)
Nutro Natural choice Lamb and Rice / Score  85 C
Eukanuba Large Breed Adult / Score 83 C
Iams Large Breed / Score 83 C
Iams Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Premium / Score 73 D
Grade F
Science Diet for Large Breed Puppies / Score 69 F
Bil-Jac Select / Score 68 F
Pro Plan All Breed / Score  68 F
Diamond Maintenance / Score 64 F
Science Diet Advanced Protein Senior 7+ / Score 63 F
Purina Dog / Score 62 F
Science Diet chicken adult maintenance / Score 45 F
Pedigree Complete Nutrition / Score 42 F
Pet Gold Adult with Lamb & Rice / Score 23 F
Purina Benful / Score 17 F
Purina Come-n-Get It / Score 16 F
Pedigree Adult Complete / Score 14  F
Ol Roy / Score 9 F

Another helpful tool is the website www.dogfoodanalysis.com.  Search your dog’s food, read the reviews, and see how it ranks.  This will give you good insight about what you are feeding your best friend!