Rate Your Kibble

[llanfey]

Saw this on another list and thought it was interesting.
HR

Permission to crosspost granted.

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 3 points

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

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 "" 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

94-100+ = A

86-93 = B

78-85 = C

70-77 = D

69 = F

Here are some foods that have already been scored.

Authority Harvest Baked / Score 116 A+

Bil-Jac Select / Score 68 F

Canidae / Score 112 A+

Chicken Soup Senior / Score 115 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+

Foundations / Score 106 A+

Hund-n-Flocken Adult Dog (lamb) by Solid Gold / Score 93 D

Iams Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Premium / Score 73 D

Innova Dog / Score 114 A+ Innova Evo / Score 114 A+

Kirkland Signature Chicken, Rice, and Vegetables / Score 110 A+

Nutrisource Lamb and Rice / Score 87 B

Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy / Score 87 B

Pet Gold Adult with Lamb & Rice / Score 23 F

ProPlan Natural Turkey & Barley / Score 103 A+

Purina Beneful / Score 17 F

Purina Dog / Score 62 F

Purina Come-n-Get It / Score 16 F

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 F

Science Diet for Large Breed Puppies / Score 69 F

Wellness Super5 Mix Chicken / Score 110 A+

Wolfking Adult Dog (bison) by Solid Gold / Score 97 A

[Mvons]

I was bummed they didn't rate Drs. Foster & Smith's. With the price of gas over $3 the shipping for Fosters&Smith is cheaper than me driving to Petco for food.

Merrie

[glencorgi]

That's okay Merrie, you can answer the questions and do it yourself! That's the neat thing about this check list.

Debbie

[Fluffypants]

Nature's Variety Prairie Formula - Venison Meal & Millet = 117

WOO HOO!!!!!

[yonae12]

Looks like the top scorer was Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra Premium . Has anyone here tried this one?

[LaRositaMonita]

I personally have never fed Natural Balance to a dog, but the breeder of my future pup feeds it, loves it, and is recommending that it's what I feed when I get the little guy home. Apparently there are also two bonuses to this food: (1) Many pet stores - or maybe it's the manufacturer - will give you a coupon for a free bag for every 10 you buy. Also, they have some sort of program with donating to charity/breed rescues for buying a certain number of bags, too. I'll have to check up with her again on what the deal is.

[disraeli]

I have the kids on Nutro Natural Choice Lamb & Rice right now, but I was seriously considering switching them to Canidae. There is a place nearby where I can buy Canidae (40 lbs, about 40 bucks). They go through 20 lbs of Nutro in about 4-6 weeks.

I just wonder if it's really worth it. I hear great things about Canidae.

[corgimom]

I feed Cody Dick Van Pattens Natural Balance - they have 3 varieties that I rotate between. He was having loose stools before switching to these, and after I switched the problem went away. He seems to love it also, as he never leaves a morsel left behind. I have been looking into another brand "Fromm" which is what his breeder had him on; the company is here in Wisconsin and I finally found the food in a local pet store here where I live. It sounds very good and according to my calculations rates very well.

[Chip's Mom]

That isn't a bad price if you break it down weekly. My crew goes through 44 lbs in 4 weeks plus Dale's puppy food but I may have more to feed.

[MagnoliaFly]

I saw that same grading system posted on a few forums and thought "wow, neat". Then I read this article on how it might not add up correctly for great foods:

Grading Kibble - Easily?

I've received a few emails with similar content recently and would like to address this topic:

Dear Dog Food Project, I have recently found a "grading system" for dog kibble that is very handy. Could you include a link to it on your site please? I think it would help a lot of people to make even more sense of the hundreds of products out there.

I've looked at the list and would like to post a few comments about it. While the original author (whom I do not know) has good intentions and it does look like a good tool at first glance, after closer examination it's not very useful at all.

The biggest flaw is the "extra credit" section, since points of both sections are counted equally. You could basically have a so-so food that has minuscule amounts of a few "gimmick" ingredients thrown in to make the product list look more impressive on paper, but its quality is still not all that great and the food will end up with a fairly high ranking that it doesn't truly deserve. On the flip side, many products with simpler formulations will rank lower just because they only contain a small number of ingredients, even if they are of the highest quality. The grading list disregards the fact that not every dog does well on the same type of food and a "one size fits all" approach.

Let's go over the flawed points of the list....(continued in article)

So while that rating system might seem great, it does have some very skewed grading points that might make good foods seem otherwise. After reading that I realized its not a simple as "3 points for this and -1 for that". We need to educate ourselves on the ingredients and amounts in the foods, not rely on someone elses grading system.

[Dillydoodle]

I agree to a point, i think the first part ( the taking away points for poor ingredients is the part i pay closest attention to... yes i agree, glucosamine added to pet foods is more of a gimick only becuase they dont include enough to really do good... I use a suppliment in addition to whatever may be included in the pet food i buy.. I think if you use the rating system as a basic guide and not as the be all end all it can be helpful.. I agree that education about what ingredients are is the most important tool..
Emilie

[Pawsies]

94 James Wellbeloved (Duck and Rice Adult)