Rate my dog food ingredients.....

Here are the ingredients from my primary dog food (I mix in Raw). Tell me what you think. I am not mentioning the brand to get more objective opinions. Rate the food on a scale 1 to 10 (10 is best).

INGREDIENT LISTING

Chicken, Brown Rice, Lamb Meal, Oatmeal, Barley, Duck Meal, Potatoes, Carrots, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), Tomato Pomace, Natural Flavor, Canola Oil, Brewers Yeast, Fish Meal, Salmon Oil, Lecithin, Whole Ground Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Inulin, Taurine, Spinach, Parsley Flakes, Cranberry, Lysine, L-Carnitine, Yucca, Kelp, Vitamin E Supplement, Iron Proteinate, Zinc Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Potassium Iodide, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B-1), Manganese Proteinate, Manganous Oxide, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A Supplement, Biotin, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Manganese Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B-6), Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Riboflavin (Vitamin B-2), Vitamin D Supplement, Folic Acid (Vitamin B).

Okay...is it bad that I know the food just from reading the ingredients and without double checking? I guess I spend way too much time reading the same labels over and over again.

Since I know the food and am biased, I give it a 9....

^^^ Yeah... I know the food as well... I look at dogfood way too much.

I give it an 8

Going by just the ingredients, I give it a four. Would have been five if it didn't have "fish meal."

Now if you add in the protein content, it would be lower

I'd say eight since we don't know anything

*chuckles*

I give it an 8. I think I look at dog foods too much.

So which one is it? Also why isn't a ten? Is any non-raw dog food a 10? What is the perfect ingredient list for a dry dog food?

Mordy... really that low? Why so low?

There is no perfect ingredient list. All dogs are different. I gave it an eight partly because the fish meal stood out but also because I would take other factors into consideration before giving it a 10. Like how the food was processed, the company itself and how my dogs did on it.

I am interested to know which ingredients are so bad that you would rate it a 4/5?

I'm curious about that too.

Using the information on what we know on ingredients, what dog food is the closest to "perfect" ?

My dogs are doing fine (Sal does have some dry skin) but I am always trying to feed them the best though...

^^^I would consider Orijen or Timberwolf Organics to be close to the perfect kibble. However, it really is all about what works best for your dogs. What works for one dog may not work for another.

I've had my dogs on Innova and they did horrible on it. I had them on Wellness and I wasn't impressed either. When I switched to Timberwolf Organics, I noticed a dramatic change in their coats and they looked more healthy overall. I have 2 of my dogs on Orijen, and 1 on Timberwolf Organics (mainly because she doesn't do too well with chicken), and I'm finally happy with what I feed them.

Well, I obviously dont look at dog food bags as much as other people here, saying I dont know the brand, but I'd give it a 6. For the fact it has chicken as #1, which after cooking, makes it lower on the list (and in return, making rice as #1). Unless if its a misprint, and really chicken meal, then I'd go with an 8.

I would like to see better animals + more.

No fish meal.

I don't like to see novel ingredients such as duck in kibble, unless it's just a duck formula.

Gave it a five, like I said. Not the worst and not the best. Fish meal was my biggest complaint, brought my opinion to a four.

Blue Buffalo?

What dry dog food would be have the best ingredients? (In your opinion)

I think with dog food, there is no way for a food to have a "perfect" ingredient list. Each person has their own personal criteria that must be met in order for them to purchase a food. For me, a food must be high quality, but I wont feed certain ingredients like barley etc. so that narrows the search down quite a bit. If I hear of someone feeding a food with barley, I think nothing of it and the food still is quality in my mind, just not one I would choose for my dogs...

Personally, I like to see foods contain pre biotics and pro biotics along with added taurine and L-carnitine. I also like to see protein of at least 26% and fat at at least 15%. I also like to see a small ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 in a food.

I agree with showpug on this one, there's no perfect kibble out there with perfect ingredients and I have yet to meet anyone who agrees with another on dog food 100% (ie: there's food that some think is high quality, whereas I don't and vice versa). I obviously don't think this food is great, and even looking at the ingredients I don't think it's great... but others do and that's fine.

I will say that my two favorite brands are TWO and Orijen.

I would prefer that the first ingredient was chicken Meal rather than chicken. Just my two cents, such as I am.

Why would chicken meal be better than chicken?