But let’s go back to the reasons to feed canned food—reasons that may justify the cost for owners of certain dogs: 

• With at least 75% moisture, and as much as 85% or more, canned dog food is one of the best possible ways to make sure that a dog with kidney and other urinary tract issues consumes enough moisture. Dogs who are prone to dehydration or who are given diuretic medications benefit from a high-moisture diet.
• Canned foods are generally very low in carbohydrates, or contain zero carbohydrates. (Remember, dogs have zero nutritional requirement for carbs. They can obtain all of their nutritional needs from protein and fat sources.) This is most helpful when feeding dogs who have cancer. (Tumors use carbohydrates as an energy source, so you want your cancer-patient dog to consume as few carbs as possible.)
• The vast majority of canned foods are made with fresh (or fresh-frozen) meats instead of meat meal, which has been highly processed before its potential inclusion into a secondary food-production process. Overall, the ingredients in canned foods are subjected to much less processing than those in dry foods.
• Canned foods are more digestible than kibble, meaning, your dog will absorb more nutrients in the food. This helps dogs who have sensitive stomachs or other digestive issues.
• With their high meat content, canned foods are extremely palatable to most dogs, without the addition of sweeteners or other palatants. This, and the physical properties of loaf-style canned food (spoonable, spreadable, freezable), make it highly convenient for use in behavior-change or -maintenance applications (filling Kong or Toppl toys, lick mats, and other time-consuming food puzzles). Other people “top” their dog’s kibble with a bit of canned food, whether to help entice picky eaters or to just give their dogs something more delicious than kibble.

Best Canned Dog Food by Category

With all of these compelling reasons to feed canned, why don’t you? If the burden of having to choose an appropriate product from the overwhelming number of canned dog foods that are on the market is holding you back, maybe we can help!

Using the criteria we’ve always used to select and highlight foods (which you can view below) we’ve chosen at least three products to recommend in eight different categories, which, in turn, were chosen to highlight attributes that different dog owners might have foremost in mind for meeting their dogs’ needs. The categories are:

Some dogs need only an adult-maintenance diet, which generally contain lower amounts of fat and protein (and a few other nutrients) than puppies do, whereas growing puppies, pregnant or nursing moms, and highly active dogs need an “all life stages” food. (Remember, the nutrient requirements for growth [i.e., “puppy food”] and foods for “all life stages” are the same.)

Beyond those two basic categories, your dog might have specific needs for a limited-ingredient or grain-free diet, or one with lower amounts of fat or higher amounts of protein. Some human needs and priorities have been considered, too: Some owners feel strongly about feeding a diet that does not contain animals, and still others might have budgetary limitations; we have selections to meet those criteria, too!

In order to choose our favorites in each of these categories, and in addition to our usual selection criteria having to do with the candidates’ ingredients, we considered our own experiences with the companies. Have they invited us or allowed us to personally tour their production facilities or speak to their formulators?

We also took into account the companies’ demonstrated willingness to disclose to us their manufacturing location or locations and the qualifications of the person or people who formulated the companies’ products, and to provide us with technical information about their products, such as complete nutrient analyses and the results from any digestibility studies they’ve conducted.

Of course, it’s great if you don’t even have to ask for this information. Companies that publish complete nutrient analyses for their products on their websites will always get more consideration from us. Why every dog food maker doesn’t do this is beyond our comprehension.

Here are our top picks in canned dog food: 

Best Adult Maintenance Canned Dog Food

Rawz 96% Chicken & Chicken Liver Dog Food

Things we like:

• Clean, simple recipe; essentially just chicken and chicken liver (plus a vitamin/mineral mix)—and no carbs
• Expanded nutrient analysis available on company website
• Fenugreek seeds used as thickener instead of gums

First 10 ingredients: Chicken, chicken liver, chicken broth, fenugreek seed, potassium chloride, calcium carbonate, tricalcium phosphate, choline chloride, salt, taurine

• Protein: Min 11%
• Fat: 9%
• Calories: 446 Kcal/12.5-oz can
• Cost: $0.39/oz

Runners up:

• Nulo Gently Cooked Meals Turkey & Green Beans Recipe
• Open Farm Chicken & Salmon Recipe 

Best “All Life Stages” / Growth Canned Dog Food

The Honest Kitchen’s Butcher Block Turkey & Autumn Veggies Pâté

Things we like:

• Only human-grade ingredients are used and product is made in a human-food manufacturing facility
• Single-species source of animal protein
• Loaf style food easiest to use in time-consuming, enrichment toys such as lick mats, Toppls, and Kongs

First 10 ingredients: Turkey, turkey bone broth, turkey liver, spinach, apples, carrots, brown rice, pumpkin, agar agar, minerals

• Protein: Min 10.5%
• Fat: 5.5%
• Calories: 366 Kcal/10.5-oz box
• Cost: $0.40/oz

Runners up:

• Bixbi Rawbble Turkey Recipe for Puppies
• Lucy Kettle Creations Chicken & Salmon in Gravy

Best “Limited Ingredient” Canned Dog Food

Dave’s 95% Premium Meats Chicken & Beef

Things we like:

• Very limited-ingredient: Two animal species and zero carb sources
• “All life stages” food
• Moderately priced

First 10 ingredients: Chicken, beef, beef broth, chicken liver, agar agar, dicalcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, salt, flaxseed, potassium chloride

• Protein: Min 9%
• Fat: 7.5%
• Calories: 354 Kcal/13.5-oz can
• Cost: $0.28/oz

Runners up:

• FirstMate Limited Ingredient Cage-Free Chicken Formula
• Essence LIR Ocean Recipe
• American Journey Limited Ingredient Diet Duck Recipe
• Instinct Limited Ingredient Diet Real Rabbit Recipe

Best Budget Canned Dog Food

Purina Beyond Beef, Potato, & Green Bean Ground Entrée

Things we like:

• Very simple formula
• Inexpensive without using meatby-products or food fractions
• Pâté style

First 10 ingredients: Beef, beef broth, chicken, liver, potatoes, green beans, guar gum, salt, minerals

• Protein: Min 8%
• Fat: 6%
• Calories: 450 Kcal/13-oz can
• Cost: $0.14/oz

Runners up:

• Inception Chicken & Pork Recipe ($0.20/oz)
• Chicken Soup for the Soul Classic Chicken, Brown Rice & Vegetables Recipe ($0.19/oz)
• Fromm Adult Turkey & Rice Pâté ($0.19/oz)

Best High Protein Canned Dog Food

The Honest Kitchen’s Beef, Lamb, & Spring Veggies

Things we like:

• The food boasts high protein without a crazy-high fat content
• Food is made with all human-grade ingredients in a human-food facility
• Complete nutrient analysis available on company website

First 10 ingredients: Beef, beef bone broth, beef liver, lamb, carrots, broccoli, peas, agar-agar, quinoa, sunflower oil

• Protein: Min 12.5%
• Fat: 5%
• Calories: 298 Kcal/10.5-oz box
• Cost: $0.40/oz

Runners up:

• From Chicken & Rice Pâté (10% protein)
• Natural Balance Platefulls Tender Carrot, Potato & Beef Recipe (10.5% protein)

Best Lower-Fat Canned Dog Food

Stella & Chewy’s Stella’s Stew Cage-Free Medley

Things we like:

• Made with human-grade ingredients in a human-food facility
• Fat is low but protein is still high
• Simple, meat-rich formula, no legumes

First 10 ingredients: Cage-free chicken, chicken bone broth, cage-free turkey, tapioca starch, cage-free duck, tricalcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, potato starch, salt, potassium chloride

• Protein: Min 10%
• Fat: 2%
• Calories: 243 Kcal/11-oz carton
• Cost: $0.36/oz

Runners up:

• Blackwood Chicken & Chicken Liver With Pumpkin & New Zealand Mussels (Min 1.5% fat)
• Hound & Gatos Pork & Liver Recipe (Min 3.5% fat)

Best Grain-Free Canned Dog Food

Caru Classics Turkey With Lamb Stew

Things we like:

• No reliance on (and typical over-representation of) legumes to replace grain
• Amount of taurine on the guaranteed analysis
• Food is made with 100% human grade ingredients
• Moderate protein and fat levels

First 10 ingredients: Turkey, turkey bone broth, pumpkin, apples, carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, lamb, tapioca starch, lentils

• Protein: Min 5%
• Fat: 2%
• Calories: 258 Kcal/12-oz carton
• Cost: $0.42/oz

Runners up:

• Wellness Complete Duck & Sweet Potato
• Instinct Original Real Chicken Recipe
• Nulo’s Small Breed Pâté for Puppy

Best Canned Dog Food Containing Alternative Proteins

Health Extension Vegetarian Entrée

Note: The advantage of canned dog food is its ability to provide a food with a high meat inclusion in a long-lasting, shelf-stable container. But for those who want to feed a canned diet, and don’t want to or can’t give their dog meat, here you go! 

• We prefer non-legume carb sources; our top pick contains only one legume.
• Of the canned vegetarian foods we found, this has the most protein at 7%

First 10 ingredients: Sweet potatoes, butternut squash, water sufficient for processing, brown rice, carrots, olive oil, peas, blueberries, cranberries, kale

• Protein: Min 7%
• Fat: 2%
• Calories: 276 Kcal/can
• Cost: $0.30/oz

Runners up:

• Halo Holistic Adult Dog Garden of Vegan Recipe
• Natural Balance Vegetarian Recipe

Use Our Canned Dog Food Search Tools

With your dog’s specific needs in mind, we recommend searching among the pet food companies on our list of “Approved Canned Foods” (available to WDJ subscribers only). We’d also like to recommend using the tool to search our list of more than 800 individual foods and add as many filters as you want to find the most appropriate candidates for your dog. Looking for a higher-protein, lower-fat food without chicken or peas? Add the filters and search!

And don’t forget: One-size-fits-all recommendations don’t work when it comes to diet. Feed each of your dogs what works best for him. It’s great when you have more than one dog and they can thrive on the same variety of food, but don’t take this for granted.

(Note: Affiliate links are offered for your convenience. Whole Dog Journal is reader-supported. If you purchase food through links on our site we may earn a commission. Whole Dog Journal does not accept money for its food and product reviews.)

The post The Best Canned Dog Foods appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

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While protein is vital to a dog’s health for energy and to support the dog’s vital organs, skin, hair, tendons, ligaments, muscles, and more, many dogs are prescribed low-protein diets. In dogs with kidney issues, a reduced protein intake can alleviate some of the workload on the kidneys. Other medical conditions, such as chronic gastrointestinal upset or liver disease, also may benefit from restricted protein intake. However, there is dog food that is low in protein, and there is dog food with really low protein.

What Is a Low Protein Dog Food?

The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) guidelines set a minimum protein percentage of 18% for adult maintenance and 22.5% for dogs of all life stages (ALS, which includes growth and reproduction), on what’s called a dry matter (DM) basis (more about that in a minute).

Diets with a protein concentration below the legally required minimum levels for most dogs must be prescribed by a veterinarian. The dog food with the lowest protein level you can purchase without a prescription is 18% protein on a dry matter (DM) basis. (This is how much protein is in the food with the product’s moisture removed.) But the prescription low-protein dog foods contain far less than that; some contain as little as 13% or 14% protein.

Before you buy, you need to know whether your vet wants your dog to be fed a prescription low-protein dog food, or just a lower-protein dog food?  Because, besides the legal minimum for most dogs, there are no definitions or standards for what are considered low-protein diets, diets with moderate protein levels, and high-protein diets. And many foods that contain high-quality ingredients may contain twice as much protein as the legal minimum, or even more!  Most  veterinary nutritionists consider the following ranges for protein on a DM basis:

Low protein: 20% or less
Moderate/Normal: ~25%
High Protein: 30% or higher

So: Does your dog need a diet that has prescription-low levels of protein, or just an amount of protein that’s on the lower end? It likely depends on the severity of the health problem that your veterinarian is trying to address.

What to Look for in a Low-Protein Dog Food

When looking at low-protein diets, prioritize high-quality, highly digestible protein sources. These include animal-based proteins, such as meat and eggs, which tend to have optimal amino acid profiles and are highly digestible by dogs. With these sources, dogs will get the most benefit out of the smaller amount of protein they consume. You should see these ingredients listed among the first five ingredients.

Don’t Go Too Low

Be careful choosing your dog’s protein level. Protein is vital to your dog’s health and going too low can cause physical problems like muscle loss and weakness. In a healthy dog, excess protein is simply excreted in the urine.

Low-protein diets should not be fed to growing puppies, highly active dogs, or pregnant or lactating dogs. Protein is important for dogs who are growing, have higher protein requirements for muscle maintenance and repair, or have higher nutritional needs. In the absence of specific health issues, healthy adult dogs generally do well with a balanced diet containing moderate protein levels.

If your dog is suffering from health issues, be sure to work with your veterinarian to find a diet that has the appropriate levels of protein given their current health status.

The post Low Protein Dog Food appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

Minimums, maximums, and actual amounts

Every pet food label is required to display a “guaranteed analysis” that includes the minimum percentages of crude protein and crude fat and the maximum percentages of crude fiber and moisture that are present in that food “as fed” – as they are in the food’s present form.

Protein and fat are the most important (and costly) nutrients in a dog’s food, so these are reported as guaranteed minimums; this ensures that dogs receive the minimum amounts necessary for health.

Moisture (water) and fiber, being empty of nutrients, are listed by their maximum amounts; this ensures that consumers know the maximum amount of the food’s contents that is without nutrients.

All these amounts are subject to surveillance, testing, and enforcement by feed control officials in every state where the product is sold.

It’s important to understand that the minimum and maximum amounts listed in the guaranteed analyses are just that: minimums and maximums. The actual amount of those nutrients may be significantly different. For example, the minimum fat guarantee on a label may be 8%, but the product might contain 15% fat or more. Similarly, a product with a maximum guarantee of 5% fiber may actually contain only 1%.

Some product manufacturers report more accurate numbers for their products’ nutrients in what’s usually called a “typical nutrient analysis.” These analyses may reflect nutrient levels that have been calculated by a computer analysis of the product’s ingredients and formula, or levels that have been determined by laboratory tests of the product. The most transparent, consumer-friendly pet food makers publish typical nutrient analyses for all of their products on their websites. Other companies make these available by request – and some companies don’t make them available at all!

If it’s critical to your dog’s health that you feed a very specific amount of protein (for a dog with diminished kidney function, for example), fat (say, for a dog who is prone to pancreatitis), or fiber (for a dog prone to constipation or diarrhea), we’d recommend considering only those foods with a readily available typical nutrient analysis.

Further, for the most precise comparison to other products and products of different types (canned, dry, etc.), it’s ideal if these analyses list their nutrient contents in two ways: “as-fed” (meaning, the food as it is presented in its package) and as “dry matter” (the nutrient levels in the food if all of the water were removed).

Why the “dry matter” values matter

Have you ever wondered about the disparity between the amounts of protein or fat listed on the canned (or fresh frozen) food you give your dog, and those on the bag of dry or freeze-dried food he eats? A good-quality dry food may have a minimum of 28% protein listed, while a comparable canned food may be labeled as having just 7% protein. How can a dog live on the (seemingly) paltry amounts of nutrients in canned and fresh foods?

Answer: A dog can subsist on those amounts because they are anything but paltry! In fact, high quality canned and fresh/frozen foods usually contain more fat and protein than high-quality dry foods – if you go by the dry matter values.

In order to directly compare the protein or fat content of one type of food (i.e., canned, dry, raw frozen, or freeze-dried) to another type, you need to consider them on a level playing field. Each of these types of food contains highly disparate amounts of moisture, which affects the “as fed” percentages. The nutrient levels in high-moisture foods are, in effect, diluted.

To compare the nutrient levels in products with disparate amounts of moisture, you have to remove all the moisture from each product. This is easy to do mathematically.

The first step in comparing any two products of different types is to convert the as-fed amounts on the label to dry matter (DM) values. Do this by subtracting the amount of moisture on the label from 100. The result is the food’s dry matter or DM factor.

100 − moisture % = dry matter or DM factor

Then you can divide any listed nutrient percentage by the DM factor to determine its dry matter percentage. For example:

Protein % ÷ DM factor = DM protein

Multiply by 100 to show it as a percentage

Let’s look at a canned food. The math looks a little different, because the moisture content is so high in canned foods, which makes the dry matter factor number small. The high amount of moisture also makes the as-fed nutrient amounts small (they are literally diluted!). But you use the same formula – and you may be surprised by the result. Check it out:

Did that surprise you? Notice that both the dry food in Example Label #1 and the canned food in Example Label #2 contain the same amount of dry matter protein (31%), even though the “as fed” numbers on their labels look very different. If you were trying to find a dry and a canned food that contained a moderate and consistent amount of protein for your dog, you’d do well to run these calculations, to make sure that both types of food offer an appropriate (and similar, if not matching) amount of protein.

What about carbohydrates?

Carbohydrates are not usually listed on a guaranteed analysis, but, if you’ve gotten this far, they are easy to compute. But in order to do so, we have to add one more “nutrient” to the calculation.

The “ash” content of dog food is rarely discussed, even though some pet food manufacturers list the maximum amount of ash in their products on the guaranteed analysis. This is not required, but it’s helpful for dog owners who know what ash is.

Ash is essentially what would be left over if you were to put the food in an oven and burn away everything that could burn; what’s left are all the minerals in the food. Calcium and phosphorus constitute the vast majority of these minerals (interestingly, you could use the ash total as a rough estimate of how much calcium and phosphorus are in the diet), but even the iron, copper, zinc, magnesium, selenium, and the rest of the trace minerals in the food contribute to the total amount of ash.

Though all dog foods need to contain some ash – as they all need to contain the minerals required by dogs – low-quality foods often contain fairly high levels of ash, as much as 10% or more. High levels of ash can impede a dog’s ability to absorb other nutrients – which is why you will almost never see the amount of ash reported by the makers of cheap, low-quality foods, but you may see low amounts of ash voluntarily included in the guaranteed analysis by makers of high-quality foods.

Back to carbohydrates: In order to calculate what percentage of a food is carbohydrates, add the as-fed (label) percentages for protein, fat, fiber, moisture, and ash, subtract their total from 100, and divide the result by the DM factor.

If you can’t find the ash content for a particular food, you can use an estimate of between 5% and 9% as the ash percentage of a canned or dry food. You can use an estimate of between 1% and 4% for the ash percentage of most fresh or frozen raw foods.

Let’s look at another example:

Don’t be intimidated!

These calculations are not difficult, just a bit tedious. If you follow along through a few more, you’ll begin to see how easy it is – and how much more you can learn about your dog’s food by doing some math.

This is a very low-carb food, typical of many raw-food diets. (Remember, dogs don’t have a nutritional requirement for carbohydrates; they can live on fat and protein alone. Dietary fiber offers some functional benefits – read “Dietary Fiber for Dogs” – but many dogs thrive on low- or no-carb diets.)

Ok, just one more. For fun, let’s look at a food that’s on the other end of the carb-content scale. This one is a brand every dog owner knows:

The more you know . . .

When I first came across descriptions of how to calculate dry matter percentages, my brain would freeze. But with practice, it has become easy and even fun – especially when I can exclaim over the carb counts for most grocery-store kibbles. Carbohydrate-wise, we might as well just feed our dogs cinnamon buns! I hope you find this important subject as interesting as I do.

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The post Dry Dog Food Labels: How to Compare Fat, Protein, and Carbs appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

To build the list, we start by looking for companies who make products that meet our selection criteria:

Good canned dog foods should have an animal protein source or sources in at least one of the top two spots on the list of ingredients. Water or broth may also be first or second on the list, as water is often added as necessary for processing. But the animal proteins should appear immediately after that. The amino acid profiles offered by animal proteins suit dogs better than the amino acid profiles from peas, potatoes, corn, soy, etc.

Canned food is a particularly good way to buy and store meat for your dog. It’s shelf-stable and can last for years; you don’t have to use it quickly (except after opening the can) or keep it cold (except after opening).

We look for whole, named sources of animal protein. “Whole” means meat, rather than meat-by-products, and “named” means you want to see “beef,” “chicken,” “lamb,” etc., rather than “meat.”

If plant proteins are present in the food, we’d like to see them play a minor role, appearing lower on the ingredient list – lower than the fifth or sixth position.

When vegetables, fruits, grains, and/or other carbohydrate sources are used, we’d like to see them present whole as opposed to a “fraction” or by-product. For example, we’d rather see “whole brown rice” than “rice flour.” By-products and fractions are often ingredients that are waste from human food manufacturing; they’ve already been processed, shipped, and stored before they will be mixed and processed again, losing vitamins along the way.

But honestly, we’d rather see simple, meat-heavy formulas without too many carb sources in canned foods. Carbs can be delivered to dog much less expensively through dry foods and/or fresh foods.

There are some attributes we don’t want to see in canned dog foods, too. We won’t accept any products with unnamed meats or fat sources (i.e., “meat,” “meat by-products,” “poultry,” “poultry by-products,” or “animal fat”).

We also don’t want to see any artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. None of these are needed (or common, thankfully) in canned food.

If this all sounds very basic so far – it is! But if you look at the ingredients of all the canned dog foods in your local pet supply store – or, in particular, the products sold in grocery stores or big-box stores – very few of the biggest name canned foods you will find will meet these very minimal characteristics of good-quality dog foods.

SUBSCRIBER ONLY: Whole Dog Journal’s 2022 Approved Canned Dog Foods

RANGE OF CANNED DOG FOOD PRODUCTS

If you do look at the database – or go to the company websites and look at ingredient lists – you’ll notice that the foods on our list vary quite a bit in ingredient quality. But remember that even the lowest-quality food on our list is better than most products that are not on our list.

Keep in mind that quality is linked to price, and that price will, to a certain extent, indicate better-quality ingredients. It definitely helps identify more ethical ingredients, such as certified organic ingredients, wild-caught fish, grass-fed meats, and cage-free poultry.

In some cases, high prices correlate to products that are made in human-food manufacturing facilities, which means that all of the ingredients in them are “food grade” (legally human-edible), not “feed grade” (only for use in animal feed). All of the products being made in human-food manufacturing facilities are packaged in the lined cardboard cartons called Tetra-Paks – but be aware that not all foods packed in Tetra-Paks were made in a human-food manufacturing facility. Sadly, imitators abound wherever an advantage can be found.

You may be surprised to see some large companies that have historically made “mainstream” products (of generally lower quality) on our list. Some of the largest pet food makers have caught on that there is a market for high-end products, even in mass-market retail outlets.

You might also notice the return of a few companies that were previously on our “Approved Canned Foods” lists but that we had removed due to their inclusion animal plasma, an ingredient that we had a bad feeling about, especially after the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) crises in past years (which were caused by the use of brain and spinal cord tissues in animal feed).

This high-protein ingredient, harvested at beef and pork slaughter plants, has given us pause for ages – and recently, it’s begun to appear in more and more products. Porcine plasma has long been used by Nature’s Logic, which is the only company on our list that uses feeding trials to prove the nutritional adequacy of its foods (which costs a lot of money). While we liked everything else about Nature’s Logic’s products, its inclusion of plasma kept us away for years.

Our conversion to approval of this ingredient was slow, recent, and based on a very thorough presentation by a plasma-industry representative on the product’s safety and benefits. Most notably, the addition of animal plasma products in dog foods has been shown improve immune-system function.

SUBSCRIBER ONLY: Whole Dog Journal’s 2022 Approved Canned Dog Foods

YOUR MISSION: TO SELECT A CANNED DOG FOOD THAT SUITS YOUR DOG

We did our job; we’ve given you a list of foods that are far better than most. Now your task is to find foods that are appropriate for and “perform well” in your dog. Let’s define those:

“Appropriate for your dog” means that you need to read the ingredients label to make sure you are not buying a food that contains any ingredients he’s allergic to or intolerant of. In order to do that, you have to keep track of what you have been feeding him and how he’s responded to it.

It also means that you need to have an idea of how much protein and fat – or at least calories – your dog needs. Canned foods, being full of meat (we hope), tend to be very high in protein and fat. Many canned foods contain way too much fat, especially for overweight dogs or dogs who are prone to pancreatitis. You need to check the “guaranteed analysis” to make sure that you don’t choose a food that, for example, contains twice as much fat as your dog has been eating.

And finally, “appropriate” means you have chosen a food that is formulated for dogs of your dog’s life stage. You have to find the teeny, tiny print on the label that indicates whether it’s been formulated to be “complete and balanced” for “dogs of all life stages” or just “adult maintenance,” a standard that allows for less protein, fat, calcium, phosphorus, and a few vitamins. Puppies need to eat foods that are formulated for “growth” or for dogs “of all life stages,” a term that encompasses the puppy/growth requirements.

“Performs well” in your dog means that the product doesn’t upset your dog’s stomach, causing vomiting, diarrhea, or constipation. You want to improve or maintain your dog’s smooth digestion, build a nice stool (not too hard and not too soft), and reduce or eliminate excessive gas. The food should maintain or improve his health, skin, coat, appetite, and energy; neither make your dog fat nor thin; and, if he’s a puppy, provide for an appropriate rate of growth (not too fast, not too slow). As a bonus, your dog should like the taste and be glad to get it!

How the heck are you supposed to find the foods that perform like this in your dog? Well, like everything: It takes a little bit of economics (you can only buy what’s in your budget) and a little bit of science (keep track of what you are feeding and observe and record the results).

SUBSCRIBER ONLY: Whole Dog Journal’s 2022 Approved Canned Dog Foods

The post How to Choose the Best Canned Dog Food for your Dog appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

Sorry, but nobody but you can answer that question, because only you can determine how your dog responds to different foods. And that is more important than my opinion or your veterinarian’s opinion or anything else. Your vet, trainer, breeder, or I could give you the names of our very favorite dog-food makers, but there is no guarantee that the products would “perform well” for your dog. 

What does it mean to perform well when it comes to dog food? It means it helps promote a healthy stool (not diarrhea or constipation), it maintains or improves your dog’s skin and coat, and it neither makes your dog fat nor thin. As a bonus, your dog should like the taste and be glad to get it!

SUBSCRIBERS ONLY: Click here to see Whole Dog Journal’s list of approved canned dog foods

LEARN THE CHARACTERISTICS OF BETTER CANNED DOG FOOD

What I can do, however, is help you identify things on the label so that you know what to look for and what to look out for, so you can choose the better options from among the products at your disposal, in a price range you can afford, and that work well for your dog. 

Note: Calorie for calorie, canned food is very expensive – perhaps the most expensive type of food to feed! While the cheapest foods are most certainly not the best ones for your dog, the price will, to a certain extent, indicate better-quality ingredients and, sometimes, more ethical ones (such as certified wild-caught fish, grass-fed meats, and cage-free poultry). 

That said, remember that the most expensive ones are not necessarily “best” for your dog, either! I’ll say it again: You have to feed what works for your individual dog, by trying foods and watching to see his response to them. 

1 – Start by looking for a food that is formulated for your Dog’s life stage.

Some foods do not provide all of the nutrients dogs need; they are not “complete and balanced.” If this is so, the label will indicate that they are “for intermittent or supplemental use only.” These products are fine for short-term use or as a “topper” on your dog’s complete and balanced diet, but they will not provide everything your dog needs over time.

Growing puppies need higher amounts of some nutrients than adult dogs. Complete diets must state whether they have been formulated to meet the nutritional standards for “growth” (puppies) or “adult maintenance.” If the label says the food is for “all life stages,” it has met the “growth” standards. Throwing a wrench in the works, some foods are now using the phrase “growth and maintenance.” This is just another way of saying “all life stages.”

If you are feeding a puppy, you must check to see if the nutritional adequacy statement indicates the food is meant for dogs who are expected to mature to more than 70 pounds or less. (For more information about these statements and feeding puppies, see “Puppy Needs New Food,” WDJ September 2020.)

If you are feeding an adult dog – especially an overweight one – look for a food that is formulated for “adult maintenance.” These foods are almost always lower in fat and protein than food that is formulated for puppies. An exception to this recommendation: dogs who train for or compete in active sports, or who are too thin. In that case, a puppy food (or one for “all life stages”) would be more appropriate. 

SUBSCRIBERS ONLY: Click here to see Whole Dog Journal’s list of approved canned dog foods

2 – Next, check the amount of protein and fat. Consider only those products that are appropriate for your dog.

You should have an idea of how much protein and fat you are already feeding your dog. Check the “guaranteed analysis” on the label of the canned food you have at home and compare it to any food you are considering.

If your dog is  overweight, look for a food with less fat in it than the one you are feeding (gram for gram, fat contains more calories than protein or carbs). If he’s too thin, look for a food with more fat than what you’ve been feeding. If he’s just right, try to find a food with the same amount of fat. 

Be aware that these values range widely in pet food; one can of food might contain three times as much protein or fat as another. 

If you’re not sure about the fat content, at least check the caloric content on both foods (the one you currently feed and the one under consideration).

3 – Finally, look at the ingredients.

The ingredients are listed in order of their inclusion in the formula by weight. If there are equal amounts of any ingredients, the manufacturer can list those in any order. 

Look for foods that have the animal protein source or sources high atop the list (water or broth may also be first or second, as water is often added as necessary for processing). 

Also, look for ingredients that are easy to identify as “food.” (Vitamin and mineral sources are the exception; even the most innocuous vitamins and minerals sound like toxic chemicals; look up any ingredients you’re not sure about!) 

Look for whole, named sources of animal protein (i.e., “lamb” rather than “meat”). The amino acid profile of animal protein suits dogs better than proteins from peas, potatoes, corn, soy, etc. If plant proteins are present, we’d like to see them play a minor role, appearing lower on the ingredient list – lower than the fifth or sixth position. When vegetables, fruits, grains, and/or other carbohydrate sources are used, we’d like to see them present whole as opposed to a “fraction” – wheat, for example, as opposed to wheat flour or wheat bran. 

Look out for unnamed meats (i.e., “meat,” “poultry”), generic fat sources (e.g., “animal fat”), and artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives (such as BHA, BHT, and/or ethoxyquin). None of these are needed or common in canned food.

Historically, we have rejected foods that are made with animal plasma or blood meal, in favor of more conventional animal protein sources – and we haven’t quite changed our minds about these ingredients yet. There is a case to be made for the nutrient value of blood  and blood-sourced products, and an environmental advantage in not wasting those nutrients. We recently met with a representative of a company that collects and processes porcine (pig) and bovine (cow) blood into feed-grade and biomedical products, who answered many of our questions about the safety of these products. We want to learn more, but for now, we’re still rejecting these foods.

If your dog has symptoms of allergy or intolerance – such as chronically inflamed ears or paws, or year-round itching – start trying to identify what ingredient or ingredients may be disagreeing with him. An elimination diet may be in order. Of course, once you have identified which ingredients are problematic for your dog, avoid foods that contain those ingredients in any amount or form. (For example, if he’s allergic to chicken, avoid chicken, chicken meal, chicken by-products, chicken fat, and chicken liver.)

SUBSCRIBERS ONLY: Click here to see Whole Dog Journal’s list of approved canned dog foods

Let’s look at a few canned food ingredient lists. You’ll see that it’s not that hard to identify quality.

Here is Pedigree’s Chopped Ground Dinner with Beef:

The list starts with chicken – but it’s steeply downhill from there. There is no animal species named in “meat by-products” and “animal liver.” Instead of wheat and rice, it contains wheat flour and brewers rice. Yuck.

Here is a doozy: It’s Cesar Wholesome Bowls Chicken Recipe:

The pet-food companies got the memo about the merits of “real chicken” being first on the ingredients list. But you have to look past that!

Take a look at this one; it’s a little tricky: 

This is Instinct Original Grain-Free Real Beef Recipe. At first glance, it looks like it doesn’t have that many great ingredients; it goes from beef, beef liver, and beef broth to tricalcium phosphate  a source of calcium. But this is exactly what to expect in a “98% meat” type of formula (this one is actually 95% beef and liver, according to the label).

However, you also shouldn’t be fooled into thinking that all of the amazing foods after the calcium supplement and the other vitamins and minerals are present in anything like a significant amount. At the end of the ingredients list, there are artichokes, cranberries, pumpkin, tomato, blueberries, and more! If the formula is 95% beef, liver, and water, everything else on that list, added together, is 5% of the total. In other words, those foods are there as a sort of window dressing. They sound great! But there couldn’t be enough of them to make one bit of difference in the formula’s taste, texture, or nutrient content.

SUBSCRIBERS ONLY: Click here to see Whole Dog Journal’s list of approved canned dog foods

The post How to Choose Canned Dog Food: What You Should Know appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

-Dogs love it! The high palatability of canned food is due to a number of factors, including a high inclusion of meat, high fat content (usually), high moisture content, and freshness (especially relative to dry food, which oxidizes over time). This makes it a great tool for stimulating the appetite of dogs who don’t want to eat, whether due to illness, the side effect of certain medications, anxiety, or any other reason. It can be a valuable tool to maintain the blood sugar level of sick puppies or senior dogs and to make bad-tasting medicines more palatable.

Our favorite use of canned food is for use in classic Kong toys and Toppl Treat toys (made by West Paw Design). We like to fill the toys with canned food and freeze them; we give them to our dogs when we want to distract them or keep them busy for a while, or just as a special treat. It can take a half-hour or more for them to lick and chew all the frozen food out of the toys.

See the full 2019 Approved Wet Dog Food List here

-The high moisture content of canned food is closer to a dog’s “natural” diet than dry food. Canned foods generally contain from about 76% to about 82% moisture. Uncooked meat contains anywhere from about 66% (raw chicken) to 73% (raw beef roast) moisture. In comparison, dry foods contain only about 10% moisture – and as they soak up digestive juices in the dog’s stomach, the individual kibbles expand to twice or more their size in the dog’s stomach.

We’re not aware of any studies proving that the relative dryness of kibble causes health problems for dogs, but there are definitely cases where a high-moisture food is beneficial (for dogs with any sort of urinary tract disease or who are prone to urinary tract infections, as the best examples).

-Canned foods generally contain fewer synthetic chemicals than dry foods. Because they are cooked in their anaerobic containers, canned foods don’t require any preservatives. They don’t usually contain any artificial colors. While some concern has been raised over certain ingredients used to thicken canned foods – ingredients like agar agar, guar gum, xanthan gum, and carrageenan – only the latter has much compelling evidence to suggest it could cause deleterious health effects (and manufacturers have, accordingly, moved away from using carrageenan).

In general, dry dog foods are far more likely to include synthetic additives than canned.

-Canned foods last longer on the shelf than dry foods. One of the things we always recommend that owners do when buying dry food is to check the date-code on the label, to make sure that the bag is relatively fresh. The fats in dry food oxidize (become rancid) over time, and the vitamins degrade.

Again, as long as the can is sealed, the fats can’t oxidize. Low-acid canned foods (most meat-based products fall into this category) stay “fresh” for up to five years. No pet food company will put a “best by” date that distant from its date of manufacture – they want the product to be sold and consumed well before that – but they could, and neither we nor our dogs would likely be able to tell the difference.

-Canned dog foods are less-processed than dry dog foods. Most (though not all) dry dog foods contain rendered meat meals. Rendering is a highly complex process, in which the animal products are essentially boiled, the fat separated and skimmed off to varying extents, and the remainder is dried to about 10% moisture and ground up. Meat meals can contain varying amounts of bone, and this will affect their quality and “ash” content (non-nutritional mineral residue, mostly from bone).

Meat meals are not usually found in canned foods; instead, mostly fresh/frozen meats are used. The meats are uncooked when they go into the can; while the ingredients that go into the food might be mildly heated during the mixing process, they are “cooked” in the canning process. (It’s called “canning” whether the cook – the bacterial kill or sterilization step – happens in a steel can, a plastic tub, or plastic pouch.)

So, while canned food might seem “processed” to us, relative to dry dog food, the ingredients are much more lightly handled and processed.

-Most canned foods contain more meat. If your goal is to feed your dog a cooked commercial diet that contains mostly meat, but is also complete and balanced, canned food is your best bet. But you have to read the ingredients list and other facts on the product label; some canned foods include grains and other carbohydrate sources. In our opinion, dry foods are a better and more economical source of carbohydrates. We would probably feed a canned food that contained grain, potatoes, or legumes if the canned food was the dog’s only source of food, perhaps due to severe dietary restrictions due to multiple food allergies. Otherwise, we’d look for a product that contained mostly meat, and feed it as part of the dog’s diet, with a dry food providing the balance.

What’s the Catch?

Canned foods have a couple of strikes against them, too:

-High cost. I don’t care how much you love your dog, or how much money you make; the cost of canned foods tends to be prohibitive. This is, in part, due to the generally higher quality of the meats used in the foods, and partly due to the cost of shipping the heavy product. Unless you are feeding very tiny dogs, it’s hard to imagine being able to feed good-quality canned food as an exclusive diet.

-High fat levels. Canned foods tend to contain higher fat levels than dry foods – so much so, that many products may be downright dangerous to feed to dogs who have a tendency to develop pancreatitis.

This is another time when you really need to read the label: Look for the guaranteed analysis. Note the amount of fat and moisture. Now, convert the “as fed” fat content of the food (the amount that’s on the guaranteed analysis) to the amount of fat on a “dry matter” (DM) basis (see our sidebar for instructions on how to do this). This is important, because if you don’t understand how a canned food that contains 9% of fat as fed actually contains 40% fat on a dry matter basis, you could harm your fat-sensitive dog with just one meal.

Before you switch your dog from a dry food to a canned one, or begin to add a significant amount of canned food to his diet, you should also check the amount of fat in the dry food you are feeding your dog. Convert that amount to a DM percentage, too, so you are comparing apples to apples, so to speak.

See the full 2019 Approved Wet Dog Food List here

Selecting Appropriate Foods for your Dog

Onboard and ready to go shopping for food? Let’s talk about how we’d go about the task.

Before you hop in the car or fire up your computer browser (if you’re planning to shop online), you should have a few parameters in mind, having to do with your dog’s individual needs.

-Appropriate calorically. Are you looking for a product that will be your dog’s main diet? If so, it’s critical that the food you choose is calorically appropriate for your dog’s age and activity level. If you choose an excessively high-fat (high-calorie) food, you risk making your dog gain too much weight – a very unhealthy proposition. (Fat dogs tend to have more health problems as they age, including mobility issues – and they don’t live as long as leaner dogs. If you really love your dog, don’t let him get fat!) Yes, it’s possible to just cut back the amount you feed him, but with a very high-fat food, in order to feed him an appropriate number of calories, you may have to reduce his portion size so much that he’s not actually getting enough of the vitamins and minerals he needs. Plus, he’s probably hungry all the time! If you plan to feed him the canned food as a sole diet, it would be wise to choose a food that has more moderate fat levels.

Because canned foods are so expensive, many of us use them, instead, to simply augment a diet that includes dry dog food and/or home-prepared fresh food.

Unless you have experience and guidance with home-prepared diets, we’d recommend that unbalanced additions of fresh foods make up no more than about 25% of what you feed daily. Few people who augment their dogs’ diets with fresh food are aware of a dog’s mineral needs, and end up feeding a diet that is far too low in calcium. While we have nothing against owners feeding “human foods” to their dogs, we encourage them to keep the additions as a quarter or less of the dog’s daily diet – unless they know that the foods they are adding are providing appropriate amounts of calcium.

In contrast, all “complete and balanced” canned foods can be added in whatever percentage one likes to a diet that otherwise consists of “complete and balanced” dry food, as long as the foods are calorically appropriate for the dog’s body condition and activity level.

-Your dog’s tolerance. When shopping for a dog who has food allergies or is intolerant of certain food ingredients, you have to read the ingredient portion of the label to make sure the food doesn’t contain the ingredients that disagree with your dog. If your dog is allergic to or intolerant of chicken, for example, it’s not enough to look for a food with “beef” in the name; the food may well contain chicken, too. It’s common for pet food manufacturers to use several animal protein sources in a product whose name may include only one of those animals.

Also, not to belabor this point too much, but if you have a dog with a serious food allergy or who is seriously intolerant of certain ingredients, you should probably check the ingredients list every single time you buy a food that seems to work for her. Manufacturers do tinker with their formulas, and many a dog owner has been in despair at some point about their dog’s new outbreak, only to discover the maker has changed the formula of the food that had been proven to be safe for the dog in the past. Been there, done that!

-Your dog’s “life stage.” One last thing to check on the label that relates specifically to your dog: the nutritional adequacy statement, a.k.a. the “AAFCO statement.” AAFCO stands for the Association of American Feed Control Officials. This is the organization that developed the standards the industry uses to determine what constitutes “complete and balanced” nutrition for dogs (and cats). Every pet food label has a statement on it somewhere that references AAFCO, and whether the food is meant for “intermittent and supplemental feeding only” – meaning it’s not complete and balanced – or whether it provides complete and balanced nutrition for “adult maintenance” only, or whether it can be fed to dogs in “all life stages.”

“All life stages” includes puppies, pregnant or lactating mothers, adults, and seniors. If the AAFCO statement says the food is complete and balanced for “growth and reproduction,” it has met the same standard as “all life stages.”

If you are feeding a puppy, you do not want a food with a nutritional adequacy statement that says the food is for “adult maintenance” – and a surprising number of canned foods are labeled exactly that, so check the statement. (You might need a magnifying glass; we routinely use the zoom feature on our mobile phone camera for this task!) Foods that are formulated for puppies – this includes foods formulated for dogs of all life stages – contain higher levels of protein, fat, calcium, and phosphorus than foods formulated for adult maintenance only.

-Large-breed puppies. One last thing, important for owners of large breed puppies to note: The AAFCO statement might say the food is formulated for growth or dogs of all life stages “including growth of large-size dogs (70 pounds or more as an adult)” or “except for growth of large-size dogs (70 pounds or more as an adult).” You need to select a food that has the statement that’s appropriate for your puppy.

The ideal level of calcium for large- and giant-breed puppies is lower than the ideal level of calcium for smaller puppies. Too much calcium can cause the bones of large-breed puppies (defined by AAFCO as those who are likely to mature at more than 70 pounds) to grow too quickly. Improper calcium levels during the growth phase of their lives can predispose large-breed pups to arthritis, hip and elbow dysplasia, and other kinds of joint and bone problems as adults. So, again, if you have a large-breed puppy, it’s critically important that you find the AAFCO statement and make sure the food you are considering is appropriately formulated for your dog.

WDJ’s Canned Food Selection Criteria

So far, we’ve mentioned only the things you need to check to make sure a prospective food is right for your budget and your individual dog. Let’s turn our attention to the things you need to scrutinize to make sure the food contains better-quality ingredients and doesn’t contain worrisome or low-quality ingredients: WDJ’s basic dog-food selection criteria.

See the full 2019 Approved Wet Dog Food List here

The ingredients in your dog’s food, just like the ingredients in your own food, must be listed on the label in descending order by weight; in other words, by weight, there is more of the first ingredient on the label than anything else in the food. It may surprise you to see broth or “water sufficient for processing” first or second on the ingredients label of canned foods. In order to mix the food and pour it into cans, the manufacturers really do have to start with big vats of water; they aren’t trying to rip you off!

The following are the things we consider as requirements for foods we feed our dogs – hallmarks of quality:

• A whole, named animal protein in one of the first two positions on the ingredients list. “Whole” means no by-products. “Named” means a specific animal species – chicken, beef, pork, lamb – as opposed to “meat” or “poultry.”
• Look for products with the highest possible inclusion of top-quality animal proteins (as far as one can tell by their presence close to the beginning of the ingredients list). We prefer animal-sourced proteins to plant proteins, especially in a canned food.
• If a separate fat source is present, it must be named (“chicken fat” rather than “animal fat”). We prefer animal sources of fats to plant-sourced fats.
• If vegetables, grains, or other carb sources are used, we prefer to see them whole, rather than by-products (for example, potatoes rather than potato starch).

Disqualifiers

We avoid canned dog foods that contain the following:

• Unnamed animal protein or fat sources, such as “meat,” “poultry,” or “animal fat.”
• Meat by-products or poultry by-products.
• Animal plasma (blood) as a protein source.
• Wheat gluten, which may be used as a cheap source of plant protein, a thickener, and/or a binder, holding together artificially formed “chunks” of ground meat.
• Sugar, molasses, dextrose, or other sweeteners.
• Artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives.

Your Challenge

Be aware that there is no food on the face of the planet that is “best” for all dogs. All dogs have different needs. All owners have different needs! We all own different numbers of variously sized dogs, and we have different family priorities, responsibilities, and budgets. The most important attribute of a food should be its ability to nourish your dog without causing illness or discomfort, at a price you can afford.

We’ve known purebred, champion show dogs who have been fed what we would consider low-quality foods for their entire lives with nary a sign of a problem. We’ve also known former street dogs who required the cleanest, highest-quality diet imaginable in order to keep from breaking out in hives or with diarrhea. Most dogs are somewhere in between; you have to try different foods to see what agrees with your dog and budget.

We will emphasize budget again, because, as we have said before, canned foods are expensive! It’s one thing to buy $4 cans of food when you are feeding one five-pound dog (who might eat one can for days), and another thing entirely if you, like us, are feeding two active 70-pound athletes (who would require at least two cans a day each, if that’s all they were fed).

But, unless you have a dog with super special needs, you don’t need to buy the most expensive food. Just look for products that agree with your dog (appropriate calorie level, no ingredients that bother him, correct “life stage” formulation/nutrient levels) and that suit your budget.

You may end up with a product that hits all those notes, but contains chicken by-products instead of a whole named meat – that’s fine.

But what if the product you would like to feed your dog contains no whole meats, only chicken by-products, “meat by-products,” and pea protein? Oy, that’s going a bit too far. A better-quality dry food would probably be a more economical and nutritious choice than a low-quality wet food for most dogs.

Here is a list of companies that make canned foods that meet our selection criteria. Keep in mind that any manufacturer may make a product or two that does not meet our selection criteria. If you compare the ingredients with our list of criteria, you will easily identify the few products that contain some wheat gluten or pork plasma. But if they meet the criteria above, they fit your budget, and suit your dog, they have our blessing.

SIDEBAR: Canned Food Is Not Bad for Dogs’ Teeth

SIDEBAR: How to Compare Nutrient Levels in Canned Dog Foods with Dry Foods

The post Whole Dog Journal’s 2019 Approved Wet Dog Foods appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

So, when a canned food label says that a food contains (for example) 9% fat, in order to really understand how much fat you are thinking about feeding to your dog, you have to remove the moisture from the equation; you want to know how much fat (in this example) is in the food part of the food – the “dry matter.” Any serious discussion of nutrition, or comparison of dry and wet diets, requires the conversion of the nutrient values from “as fed” to “dry matter.”

To calculate the nutrient levels in a food as dry matter (DM) percentages, first determine the amount of dry matter in the product. You do this by subtracting the percentage of moisture from 100. Then, divide the “as fed” percentage of the nutrient you are curious about by the amount of dry matter; that will give you the dry matter percentage.

For example, if a canned food has 78% moisture and 9% fat as fed (as seen on the guaranteed analysis):

• 100 – 78 = 22% dry matter (DM)
• 9 ÷ 22 = .40 = 40% fat DM (on a dry matter basis)

To compare that product to a dry food, do the same calculation for the dry food you may have been feeding. We’ll use the numbers from a bag of food our dogs are currently eating; the guaranteed analysis says it contains 10% moisture and 13% fat.

• 100 – 10 = 90% DM
• 13 ÷ 90 = 14% fat DM

So the canned food contains a little more than three times the amount of fat than the dry food does, on a dry matter basis. Yowsa! We’d be careful if we were considering adding some of this food to our dog’s diet – we’d add only small amounts – and we certainly wouldn’t switch quickly from the dry food to this canned food. Doing so would just be asking for digestive upset, and could provoke a pancreatitis attack in susceptible dogs.

Related Stories

Whole Dog Journal’s 2019 Approved Wet Dog Food List
Canned Food Is Not Bad for Dogs’ Teeth

The post How to Compare Nutrient Levels in Canned Dog Foods with Dry Foods appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

First, you need to be aware that a great number of dogs don’t even (or just barely) chew their kibble. And even for the dogs who do chew their chow, there just isn’t any significant tooth-scraping that happens from eating regular kibble. (Some companies make “prescription” diets that are clinically proven to help keep dogs’ teeth clean. We wouldn’t recommend feeding any of them to a dog long-term, however. The foods are very high in fiber and fat and very low in protein, among other issues.) Expecting kibble to clean a dog’s teeth is like expecting granola to clean yours; it doesn’t work!

Tartar on a dog’s teeth forms from an accumulation of plaque; plaque forms from an accumulation of bacteria on and between the tooth surfaces, above and especially below the gums. The bacteria actually benefit from carbohydrates – typically present in higher amounts in kibble than canned food.

Sustained chewing on toys, raw meaty bones, or any safe, chewable substance can help reduce the amount of plaque on a dog’s teeth, but only brushing removes plaque reliably. Sorry!

A dog’s diet can affect the rate of accumulation of dental plaque – but it doesn’t have anything to do with the physical action of crunching the food; it has more to do with the nutritional and chemical composition of the food. Low-carbohydrate diets are associated with lower gingival and periodontal inflammation (which should be a boost for canned diets, which are almost always low in carbs). A dog’s diet can affect the pH of his saliva (at least temporarily) and the pH of a dog’s saliva can affect the rate of plaque formation – but no one has yet formulated a diet that keeps the dog’s saliva at a level that has proven to reduce plaque and tartar formation. (Oral rinses that accomplish this, in contrast, have proven to be effective at helping combat these causes of dental disease.)

Bottom line: Regular dry foods don’t keep dogs’ teeth any cleaner (free of plaque and tartar) than canned foods.

Related Stories

Whole Dog Journal’s 2019 Approved Wet Dog Food List
How to Compare Nutrient Levels in Canned Dog Foods with Dry Foods

The post Canned Food Is Not Bad for Dogs’ Teeth appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

Get the new list of best canned dog foods here!

Need access? Become a subscriber or activate your web access.

That being said, the pet food industry could always be more transparent to the public about their manufacturing policies. More importantly, commerical dog food could always be healthier for dogs to eat. We took an inside look into a small-batch canned dog food manufacturing facility, but that experience was perhaps an example of how things ought to be done, not as they always really are.

So what is the best wet food for dogs? There is no answer to that. Whole Dog Journal could give you a list of what we think are the top 10 best canned dog foods, but that seems so limiting. Instead, each year we give you an exhaustive list of healthy, good canned dog foods, and enough knowledge to make a quality choice for your dog based on your individual needs.

The 5 Traits of a Top-Quality Canned Dog Food

1. A specified meat source listed as the first ingredient. This means the product contains more of that ingredient than any other listed.
2. Specified sources of any animal protein or fat. These will be highly processed substances, but good luck avoiding them entirely. Look for named species when it comes to muscle tissue and organs. Body parts are good as long as they are identified.
3. Whole grains and vegetables.
4. Very limited inclusion of grain, meat, or vegetable byproducts, if any at all.
5. The “complete and balanced” label, awarded by AAFCO.

The following information and all of Whole Dog Journal‘s dog food evaluations are meant to prepare you with the tools to make educated choices when selecting a new food for your dog. We use a rigid selection criteria to examine hundreds of foods every year. Use our lists of quality dog foods for reference in choosing a food that’s acceptable for your dog. Our 2020 review is available now! (Scroll down to see lists from previous years.)

The NEW Best Canned Dog Foods of 2020 Review

Need access? Become a subscriber.

So, you’re at the supermarket or pet store. Rover is all out of kibble, and you know from reading WDJ that it’s good to switch up his dog food from time to time in order to provide a more balanced array of nutrients. You usually feed standard kibble, but this time you feel like trying a wet food. Perhaps Rover is elderly or underweight and you’d like to spark his appetite a bit. Perhaps you think he would benefit from having less processed meat and more moisture in his diet than dry dog food provides (he would!).

As you gaze down the colorful aisle, with maybe 30 different kinds of wet dog food cans, you might feel overwhelmed. You might jump to a conclusion that all canned dog food must be more or less of equal quality, and grab the one that’s cheapest or has the nicest label. If only those assumptions were true! Despite the dubious manufacturing practices of many wet dog foods, there are plenty of benefits of canned food as well. Once you find a canned dog food of top quality, your dog can look forward to minimally processed proteins, MORE protein per meal, and no preservatives.

Since 1998, the Whole Dog Journal has worked to help owners take back control when it comes to choosing a pet food that’s right for their dogs. You can find commercial dog foods that are great quality! All you need to do is know what to look for.

Whole Dog Journal contacts the companies on each year’s list to ask questions explicitly about nutritional facts, ingredient sourcing and manufacturing policies. And every year, we are astounded by the opacity with which companies shroud their information. For instance, a few companies stated they only release full nutrient analyses to veterinarians, for whatever reason. This is suspicious. Many companies will not disclose full nutritional details of their pet food to anyone. Thus the need arose for WDJ to dig a bit further into what’s really going onto the pet food aisle, and into our puppies’ bellies.

And so, beginning in 2016, Whole Dog Journal‘s dog food evaluations now demand that pet food manufacturers prove their foods meet the AAFCO “complete and balanced” standard. Not only must a dog food wear the “complete and balanced” label, but it must also provide WDJ with documented evidence of its meeting AAFCO guidelines. For more on the definition of “complete and balanced”, as well as AAFCO’s guidelines, follow this link or scroll down to “Must Have Ingredients of Canned Dog Food” below.

Year by Year: Subscribers to Whole Dog Journal can access all of our annual canned dog food reviews online. We’d like to note that the brands included in our reviews are by no means the only acceptable wet dog food brands out there. A food that works perfectly for your dog may not be covered in our lists, and there may even be foods we approve that you could never feed your dog. For this reason, we encourage our readers to share their most successful commercial dog foods in the comment section below! Here are links to our four past years of approved canned dog food:

• 2019 WDJ Approved Canned Dog Food List
• 2018 WDJ Approved Canned Dog Food List
• 2017 WDJ Approved Canned Dog Food List
• 2016 WDJ Approved Canned Dog Food List
• 2015 WDJ Approved Canned Dog Food List

Whole Dog Journal rates wet dog food and publishes its findings annually in the “Approved” dog food lists according to the following criteria (click here for a separation criteria page):

→ Must-Have Ingredients in Canned Dog Food

Be sure your dog’s canned food contains the following elements to ensure you’re buying a quality product. No can of commercial dog food is going to be perfect for every dog, but to ensure your dog receives a proper balance of nutrients, the one you feed should meet the WDJ criteria. Your goal in selecting a food is to find the one with the most whole food ingredients, and the least artificial additives.

PROTEIN:  The protein source should be #1 on the ingredient list, and it should always name a specific animal, such as chicken, lamb, beef, etc.

GRAINS: Repeat after us: whole, and unprocessed. Although grains and starches are not necessary in canned dog food, you will almost always encounter them in some form. Go for brown rice or wild rice. Avoid wheat gluten, which is used as a binder and often one of the first ingredients in wet dog food, as well as corn starch. Avoid white rice if you can.

VEGGIES: Potato and sweet potato are common thickeners in canned dog food. These are acceptable so long as they are listed as the sixth or seventh ingredient, versus the third or fourth. The same rule goes for other vegetable products, such as tomato paste and potato starch. If you happen to find a dog food with whole non-starch veggies like carrots, alfalfa, or apples, bravo! This is an excellent indication of a good pet food.

COMPLETE AND BALANCED: A “complete and balanced” dog food has either passed an AAFCO feeding trial, met its Nutrient Profiles criteria, or belongs to a line of products that has previously gained its AAFCO approval. As stated above, it is not enough to just sport the “complete and balanced” label to earn WDJ approval. Dog food companies must prove to WDJ that their products have been conclusively tested. For a full profile of the “complete and balanced” label, see “Complete and Balanced Dog Food“.

→ Avoid Canned Dog Food with These Ingredients  

BYPRODUCTS: As pet owners, we have a frustratingly little amount of control over the byproducts that are in our dogs’ food. They come in every kind of food group – meat, grains, vegetables, and on top of that there are all those preservatives and god-knows-what unpronouncable chemicals, which we cover below. Lower-quality foods will flat out list “meat by-product” as one of the main ingredients of their foods, but these highly processed, low nutrient foodstuffs appear under many names. Beware of things like “modified beef”.

NON-SPECIFIC OR UNNAMED ANIMAL SOURCES: If a food lists unspecified organs as a primary meat source, we would not feed it. Common examples are “liver,” “heart” and “tripe”, with no indication of what animal those parts came from. The same goes for unidentified “poultry”.

FOOD BINDERS: We mentioned these above. In foods that contain highly processed meat sources, binders are needed to hold the meat-stuff together so that it more closely resembles natural “chunks”. Wheat gluten and various gums that you find in human foods (like guar and carrageenan) should be at the bottom of the ingredient list, if there at all.

SUGAR/SWEETENERS: There should be no artificial sweeteners in dog food, but lower quality foods will add them for the simple reason that it makes the food taste better. Sugar and molasses are common. Never buy a food with corn syrup in it.

ARTIFICIAL COLORING/EXCESS PRESERVATIVES: For the full scoop on preservatives, see “Problems With Artificial Preservatives in Dog Food“. Luckily, preservatives are not common in wet dog foods because the canning process prevents rancidity.

For a quick list of what to look for and what to avoid, see “Hallmarks of Quality Dog Food“.

YOUR DOG’S UNIQUE DIET AND NUTRITION NEEDS

Keep in mind that even the most highly regarded dog food on earth could never be right for every dog. Your dog’s body is unique; it comes with quirks and sensitivities just like humans’ bodies do. Whole Dog Journal seeks to provide you with the strongest foundation possible for finding the best wet dog food, but you know your dog best. Some factors to consider are:

– A dog who might be prone to urinary tract infections would be better off with a food lower in pH (less acidic).

– If your dog is lean and active, you might look for a higher-fat, higher-protein brand.

– If your dog is older and less active, you might want food with a higher percentage of lean protein.

You must also be realistic about availability. Online shopping eliminates this problem for the most part. Just don’t rely on any old commercial pet store to carry artisan, independent pet food lines.

Equally important are the price points for higher quality dog food. Buy the best dog food you can find, but choose one within your comfortable means. Wet dog food is more expensive than dry food, and if you happen to be shopping for, say, two Mastiffs and a Pit Bull, top quality canned food could be downright unaffordable. Decide what is an appropriate amount to spend on pet food each month, and prioritize the aspects of your dogs’ food that is most important.

See these Whole Dog Journal articles for more in depth examples of some dogs’ dietary needs: “Special Diets for Dogs With Cancer“, “Managing Diabetes in Dogs“, “Healthy Low-Fat Diets For Dogs With Special Dietary Needs“.

To access Whole Dog Journal‘s canned dog food reviews online, click the links below or become a subscriber.

• 2020 WDJ-Approved Best Canned Dog Food Review
• 2019 WDJ-Approved Best Canned Dog Food Review
• 2018 WDJ-Approved Best Canned Dog Food Review
• 2017 WDJ-Approved Best Canned Dog Food Review
• 2016 WDJ-Approved Best Canned Dog Food Review
• 2015 WDJ-Approved Best Canned Dog Food Review
• 2014 WDJ-Approved Best Canned Dog Food Review
• 2013 WDJ-Approved Best Canned Dog Food Review
• 2012 WDJ-Approved Best Canned Dog Food Review

Happy dog food hunting!

The post Buying the Best Canned Dog Food: The NEW Approved Wet Dog Food List is Here! appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

Read about our criteria when selecting these canned dog foods here.

Trying to print this page? Here are some hints: When printing this page, if the chart is cut off on the right side, try printing in landscape mode. Computers, printers, operating systems and web browsers can have different settings and print pages differently. Printing from a PDF can be more reliable. You can access these charts in the December 2019 issue on pages 12 and 13.

The post FULL LIST: Approved Wet Dog Foods for 2019 appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

Canned Dog Food Labels: The Big Stuff

There are eight things required by law on a canned dog food label. The front label must contain the brand and product name, species for which the food is intended, and the quantity statement (how much is in the can). The next five requirements may appear on the back or back and side labels.

Many consumers don’t think very critically when it comes to the front label. If they see beautiful roasted chickens or grilled steaks, and fresh-scrubbed carrots or glistening apples, they may imagine that’s what’s in the food. But you really have to compare the art with the ingredients list (discussed in detail below).

What’s far more important than the pictures is the verbiage used on the front. If the name of an ingredient is used in the product name (such as “Chicken & Rice Formula”), that named ingredients must comprise at least 70% of the total product by weight and at least 95% of the product not counting added water in the food. When more than one ingredient is in the name, no ingredient can be less than 3% the total product by weight. Because chicken is listed first in the name, there must be more chicken than rice in the recipe.

When the words “dinner,” “platter,” and “entrée” are used, a different rule is at work. The named ingredient in the phrase (for example, the “beef” in “Beef Dinner”) must comprise a minimum of 25% of the total ingredients.

If the word “with” is used (e.g., “Billy’s Dog Food With Chicken and Eggs”) the food is required to contain at least 3% of each named ingredient.

And if the word “flavor” is used, the requirement is that the food simply contain something that could convey that flavor; there is no minimum amount required.

The NEW Best Canned Dog Foods of 2018 Review

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The Fine Print on Dog Food Labels

The fourth requirement is the nutritional adequacy statement. Get out the magnifying glass! The “AAFCO statement” is very small on most labels, but contains very important information about which nutritional requirements the product has met.

AAFCO stands for “Association of American Feed Control Officials.” It is not a regulatory body, but it developed the nutritional standards used by all states. Somewhere on the label, usually very tiny, each dog food will state whether it is “complete and balanced” (or for “supplemental or intermittent feeding”), and whether this has been confirmed by a “feeding trial” or if it was formulated to meet certain nutritional standards. There are pros and cons of each method of confirmation.

Who is it for? The AAFCO statement will also specify who the food is meant for. All foods that are sold as “complete and balanced” must meet either the nutritional requirements for “growth and reproduction” (i.e., puppies) or the slightly lower requirements for “adult maintenance.” If a food says it can be fed to dogs “of all life stages,” it has met the higher nutritional requirements for a puppy food. Nutritionally, there is no difference between a food that meets the requirements for “all life stages” and a so-called puppy food – “all life stages” includes “growth and reproduction.” The kibble size of a “puppy” food might be smaller, but this is not a requirement!

However, if a food says it is complete and balanced for “adult maintenance,” it will not meet the higher nutritional needs of puppies.

Organic Dog Food

Organic claims are strictly defined. If the USDA Organic seal is present on the label, the product must contain a minimum of 95% organic ingredients.

The USDA’s National Organic Program regulates all organic crops, livestock, and agricultural products certified to the USDA’s organic standards. Organic certifiers inspect and verify compliance, and the certifier of each product must appear on the label, too. The USDA also conducts audits, investigations, and enforcement activities to ensure all products labeled organic meet its regulations.

If a product label says, “Made with organic ingredients,” the food must contain at least 70% organic ingredients, must state the certifier, and may not use the USDA Organic seal. If it specifies an ingredient that is organic (“Made with organic chicken”), all of the chicken in the product must be organic.

More Required Information

Dog food labels must bear the name and address of the manufacturer or distributor (requirement #5). We prefer the label to also contain the company’s phone number, but this is not required.

The “feeding directions” also must appear on the label (requirement #6). The statement must include the recommended amount of food to feed relative to the dog’s weight. This is calculated by a standard formula that says dogs require so many calories per pounds of body weight, but given the range of canine activity and metabolic rates, it can’t really be considered much more than a starting place. It is always necessary for owners to adjust their dogs’ rations based on how the dogs look and feel.

Dog Food Info That Matters Most: Guaranteed Analysis and…

The last two label requirements are the most critical. The “guaranteed analysis” (GA, requirement #7) gives you the minimum amount of protein and fat that are present in the food; they may be more, but there has to be at least that much. The GA also provides the maximum amount of moisture (water) and fiber that are present in the food.

Why the minimums and maximums? They use minimums for protein and fat because those are the most important values in a dog’s food; it’s what you are paying for. And they use maximums for moisture and fiber because this is not what you want to pay for – even though, with canned food, you actually are paying for a lot of it: Most canned dog foods contain about 78% to 85% moisture.

The fiber content of canned foods varies even more widely. Keep in mind that dogs have no dietary requirement for carbohydrates; they can live just fine on fat and protein alone. Canned foods that contain no carbohydrate source whatsoever will be pretty low in fiber – like, 1% maximum. In our opinion, there are better and far less expensive ways to supply your dog with fiber than in his canned food! It makes far more sense to use a canned dog food as a good source of protein and fat, and supply him with as much fiber as he may need to maintain a healthy weight and produce healthy stools through another source, such as fresh cooked or canned pumpkin, home-cooked grains (such as oatmeal, quinoa, or rice), home-cooked vegetables, or a dry dog food.

A final note on the GA:Manufacturers may (but are not required to) include other nutrient values on the GA. By doing so, they are literally guaranteeing those amounts in the food, and this is subject to testing and enforcement by state feed control officials. It’s a good way for a pet food maker to put their money where their mouths are concerning claims of special benefit from the inclusion of certain nutrients, such as DHA or glycosaminoglycans (e.g., chondroitin).

The NEW Best Canned Dog Foods of 2018 Review

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The post The Best Wet Dog Food: How to Find It, Where to Look appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.