How To Grade Your Dog's Food
 

I got this on another group....pretty interesting to see.....
How to grade your dog's food:
Some brands are done at the very bottom]

Start with a grade of 100:

1) For every listing of "by-product"1) For every listing

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", "brewerâ?Ts 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 3points

9) If corn is listed in the top 5 ingredients, subtract 2 morepoints

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 isnâ?Tt
allergic to wheat), subtract 2 points

14) If it contains beef (unless you know that your dog isnâ?Tt
allergic to beef), subtract 1 point

15) If it contains salt, subtract 1 point



Extra Credit:

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. If you don't
see your dog's food here, ask and someone will score it for you.

Dog Food scores:

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 Benful / 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

Wow! Thanks for sharing that!! I'll be forwarding this one on.

Thanks for sharing! Now I know what to do the rest of the day... ;)

Hey that was great information you passed on here!:interesti The breeder we are getting our two new furbabies from has them on Science Diet Small Breed for Puppies. My other Yorkie loved the Royal Canin for Yorkies and I want to put them on that after awhile as it seems far more nutritious... Thank you for the posting!
:goodpost:

Science Diet is garbage. All the vet's probably recommend it because they get it for free or they're paid to do so.

This is great!
 

Our American Bulldog Auggie has been eating Beneful!!! BAD!!! And he has skin issues as well...I wonder why! I told hubby that we might need to try the Royal Canin Bulldog as it scored so high...thanks for this info. It is really good. I feed Oscar Royal Canin Yorkie...I wonder how it scored? The other two Royal Canin's on the list scored pretty high. I don't have my bag as I empty it into a ziplock when I buy it...anybody out there have a bag of the Royal Canin Adult Yorkie you can score and let me know?

Yeah, I had heard that awhile back and that is why I had my other Yorkie on the Royal Canin. He liked it so much! I wish I could just put the new pups on it and by-pass the Science Diet altogether, however it is not a good idea to change the diet right-away, especially as it could just further upset them coming into a new home and all. It will be a gradual thing, but they will be off of that stuff soon enough. Thanks!:thumbup:

I was surprised to see the Authority Harvest Baked on the list. I don't know why, but I was...I think since I want to give them a little variety and the vet is concerned about JoJo being constipated on the EVO, I may mix a few pieces in with their dry to see if they like it.

OK...I just graded the food my hubby has our American Bulldog on - it is Nutro Max Beef Meal & Rice Dinner - not a cheap food by any means and it scored a 77 - that is a D and that is just not good enough! He is mixing it with another food...I need to go and steal that label as well and see how it scored. I have a feeling we will be going for another food for him. He had been feeding him Beneful...no more.

Ooopsy
 

Okay, so I just calculated ProPlan Small Breed Formula, which our breeder gave us, and it got an F. :eek:
I got my baby yesterday, so when and how should I switch to a better food? Has anyone had any extraordinary experiences with a certain brand, in other words, what would be your recommendations?
Thank you.

Thanks for sharing this, now I'll have to do some research.

omg i thought science diet was good! i'll have to switch foods :2omg: yeah, what brand would you all recommend out of the ones that received "A's"

Hello & Welcome to Yorkie Talk!
 

When I got Oscar he was on Eukeneuba Puppy. I was not impressed with that and switched him to Royal Canin Puppy...he did really well and then somewhere between 6 & 9 months, I switched him to Royal Canin Adult for Yorkies! I have also heard that the Innova Puppy is really good...if I were you I would post a request on Yorkie Diet & Health Thread...you might get some more ideas there. Congrats on your new baby! We must see puppy pictures really soon!!!

Wish This Wasn't So
 

I can't help but post a reply here, we had put Baby Blessing on the Royal Canine 33 mini puppy dry food and she liked it, did great till I bought a new bag , first feeding from it which turned into a nightmare, our Vet seemed to think it was a bad batch of food. I let Royal Canin know and sent in the sample as suggested, was told I would hear from them in four weeks, that was near the end of April, all I have gotten was a check back for the refund of the food for $8.49 check was made out on the 5th of May and postmarked on the 15 th. of May, the check is still sitting here and I have as yet to get a phone call or a letter telling us of their findings. Of course, I don't believe we will ever hear back from them. I read on here about putting trust and faith in breeders but then what about our trust and faith in the food companys we buy their food from. Sorry but I had to put my opinion here on this one particular company, I am not happy in how they have handled this for us, thank God Baby Blessing got okay, but to this day it is a real struggle to get her to eat dry dog food, we are not doing good now in that area. I still have the rest of the food in the bag sealed and if I don't hear back from them I am going to try to see if we can have it tested and pay for it because I really would like to know what happened. It was a very scarey situation with her, one I wouldn't want to relive or see happen again.
As many know the first thing I did when that happened was to get on YT and ask the YT'ers to pray for her, then immediately left for the vet, I was so scared we was going to loose her. Once again YT'ers are the greatest I could feel those prayers going up for her and know that is what got her through it. I honestly wouldn't be posting this here if they had phoned us back, or sent us a letter telling us of their findings as the lady on the phone assured me would be by the end of the four weeks :(
the four weeks is long over do.
Patti and Baby Blessing

Wow! What a horrible scare! That has always been a concern at the back of my mind that I could buy tainted food that would make my furbaby sick. Thank goodness your baby is okay. I think any food has the potential to have a bad batch made, but you are right in being upset with Royal Canin for not taking your concerns seriously enough. I too will reconsider the use of their food in the future...:animal-pa

Yeah, I agree that they should have gotten back with you on that! I am so glad that she made a full recovery! I would love for Oscar to eat something besides Royal Canin because I know there are better foods out there for him. I have tried to get him to eat Innova and he won't touch it. I hate to make him go for days without eating but he just won't eat anything but RC. I even mixed the Innova with his RC and he picked the RC out and left the Innova. Aside from mixing wet with the dry to get him to eat it, I don't know what else to do to make him switch.

Sissy stopped eating her Royal Canin puppy when she got sick. I've tried several other dry brands and have been coming up empty. Natural Choice (which scores very high) makes their meat/veggie in a rolled tube. I got a sample from the representative last week and Sissy LOVES the lamb & brown rice formula. It is really easy - just slice off a piece and cut it up. Refrigerate what is leftover (or cut slices and freeze). I'm hopeful she will eventually begin eating the Natural Choice dry food (they also have many formulas).

Woohoo!!! Bruno's food got the highest rating of 122!! Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra Premium is awesome and easy to find (Petco) :)

Has anyone scored the Royal Canin Yorkie? I put Sadie's food in a different container, so I don't have a bag to do it myself.

Here is a link to the RC YT 28 food. Ingredients are at the bottom of the page...

I tried to grade it, but I don't think I'm doing it right. I got a pretty bad score... I'm hoping I'm wrong though. I hold the RC company in pretty high regard.

GREAT post and great information...thanks for sharing!

Glad to see this one is still going... I am hoping to find the best dog food out there so I can switch it for our two new furbabies as soon as can be..:D

I know, they all recommend it, hugh? My vet does too. :confused:

Hey Kelly...
 

I feed this same food to Oscar so I had an interest in the grade. From what I can figure, it scores a 97, which is pretty good! I know Oscar loves it!

Thanks for this! Okay, who wants to add up Merrick's wing-a-ling, smothered comfort, grammy's pot pie, and/or puppy plate (wet) for me? I stink at math! LOL :D

I wonder why one diamond is an A and one is an F! That's weird! :confused:

I feed my yorkies....

Eukanuba dry puppy, pro plan puppy pac dry, and diamond food dry for puppies for variety.
They also like people food..........its required:) :) occasional steak, chicken, pork?, fish.
Canned food should be limited........it causes tooth decay...........but feed it if they are sick and need " A boost" " Little Caesar's" "pedigree" "mighty dog"
Also make sure they get lots of Water Water Water.

I wasnt going to ask, but i stink at math as well. I was looking for Merrick's Pot Pie and Cowboy Cookout. If i post the ingredients can someone help out? I actually stink at math but with a calculator it's not hard ;) i tried to go through the first few and got lost in the sauce :rolleyes:

Hmm... Okay. Good to know. I must be doing something way wrong then. Maybe I'm counting things twice and subtracting too much or something... I'll try again when I'm thinking more clearly! :rolleyes: