Want to make the 10 Best Dog Food Options on the Market list? First, you must at least meet the following criteria:
- Main ingredient must be listed first on the ingredient list
- Complete, balanced and 100% nutritious ingredients
- Zero potentially harmful ingredients
- Natural or organic ingredients
- Contain no artificial colors, chemical preservatives or by-products
- Ingredients must not have been exposed to antibiotics, herbicides or pesticides
- Contain no “filler” foods (unhealthy food like sugar or corn syrup that takes the place of healthy food)
- Contain no Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO’s)
- Be a canned or raw food (NOT dry)…
10 Best Dog Food Options: Wet Vs. Dry Dog Food
DRY dog food came into existence due to World War II. Before the war, pet food was only in cans. With the war came rationing. Metal was in short supply, and the government mandated that pet food was NON essential.
Pet Food companies did not want to go out of business, so they figured out how to ‘bake’/’process’ the canned food and put it into bags. This was only going to be temporary until the war was over.
When the war ended, the pet food companies discovered that people thought dry dog food was GREAT! It was easy and convenient… they could leave it out in a bowl all day and it did not smell! WOW, great ‘FAST’ food for dogs!
As would be expected, pet food companies did NOT re-call dry food as there was now a legitimate demand for both canned and dry food.
Put more simply, DRY dog food was NOT created or developed because it was healthier for dogs and cats.
In fact, the opposite is true…
Dogs’ (and humans’) bodies are made up of about 70% moisture, and they (and we) NEED that moisture in our diet for the proper functioning of the heart, kidneys, bladder, joints, hair/skin, etc.
Dry dog food has been overly processed and extruded by machine under pressure during manufacture. Adding water to it will not ‘reconstitute’ the meat back to its natural moist form. And drinking water alone does not provide the necessary levels of moisture to maintain a balanced system.
Dry dog food is also too calorie-dense, so dogs on a dry dog food are commonly overweight.
But what about your dog’s teeth? Doesn’t dry food help keep their teeth clean?
Canned and dry dog food will BOTH promote dental tartar. Dry dog food does NOT keep the teeth clean UNLESS it says it is a TARTAR control diet. Regardless of diet, dogs will need to have tartar control treats for their teeth (and continue to brush the teeth, too!).
In summary…
Feeding only a DRY Dog food is NOT healthy. It would be best to AVOID dry dog food altogether, and use canned or completely RAW diet (more on this below).
10 Best Dog Food Options by Category
Below are the top foods from brands that consistently make the grade. Click the links below to jump down the page to the category that matches your dog.
IMPORTANT: It is our veterinarians’ opinion that an organic, completely raw diet is best for dogs… it most closely resembles the diet that dogs ate in the wild before being domesticated and has been found to bolster the immune system and keep dogs much healthier than highly processed or cooked dog food (the only raw meats to AVOID would be fish and pork).
However, a completely raw diet can get very expensive, especially for larger dogs. If you cannot afford a completely raw diet, the suggestions below provide great second choices either as a supplement to a partially raw diet or as a standalone dog food diet.
If you’re not sure which category your dog needs, see the pages referenced below.
- Dogs in Good Health – See our Natural Organic Dog Food page to learn more about the difference between natural organic and regular dog food.
- Vegetarian Dogs – See our Vegetarian Diet for Dogs page to find out if this kind of diet is right for your dog.
- Dogs with Dog Food Allergies – Our Dog with Dog Food Allergy page will teach you how to diagnose and treat a dog with food allergies
- Overweight Dogs – Our Dog Weight Loss page dives into dog obesity, the importance of a proper weight and how to help them lose the extra pounds.
- Dogs Needing a High Fiber Diet – Check out our High Fiber Dog Food page to determine whether this kind of diet is right for your dog.
- Top 2 Organic Puppy Food Choices (on a different page)
- Raw Natural Dog Food (on a different page)
| For Dogs in Good Health | |
|---|---|
 Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Frozen Lamb Chub |  Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Medallions |
 Newman’s Own Organics |  Halo Spot’s Stew Canned Dog Beef |
| For Vegetarian Dogs | |
 PetGuard Organic Vegetarian | |
| For Dogs with Dog Food Allergies | |
 Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diets | |
| For Overweight Dogs | |
 |  |
| For Dogs Needing High Fiber Diets | |
|
Party Animal Organic Gourmet Canned Dog Food Chicken |
What kind of dog food do you feed your dog?
While our 10 Best Dog Food Options page reviews our favorites, we know that there are MANY other great options out there, including store-bought and homemade.
Tell us about your favorite dog food, such as:
– What’s it called?
– Who makes it?
– If you make it, what’s the recipe?
– Is there anything special about it that you really like?
– Why did you start feeding it to your dog?
– What score does it receive from the Healthy Label Test?
Favorite Dog Food of Other Visitors
Click below to see other contributions…
Wysong 
I’ve tried several of the types you have listed, and they were great, but Wysong beats them all by miles. Especially their new Epigen line – the food has …
Barking At The Moon Solid Gold and Steve’s Real Food
I like not having grains in my dogs’ food. I think Solid Gold is a reputable company.
Acana ranchland
1. my 3 dogs love it! 2. the ingredients are incredible 3. free range meat 4. no chemicals, preservatives artificial colours 5. antibiotic and hormone …
Best Dry Dog Food & Best Canned Dog Food – Visitor Rated Best Holistic Dog Food
My dogs love Instinct canned food. Even the cats will eat it, but that’s another story!
The Honest Kitchen and Orijen
When I don’t have time to make my dog’s food from scratch, I like The Honest Kitchen brand which is organic, human grade dehydrated food to which I add …
Healthy Radience by Beneful
My dog loves the food I buy for him, he gobbles it up, never hesitates to finish it right away. I must portion it out or he would founder if I give him …
Solid Gold Hunden Flocken Not rated yet
I have had great success feeding Solid Gold Hunchen/Hunden Flocken (puppy/adult)to Great Danes. As they are prone to allergies they need fairly pure food
You can also review related questions from other visitors here: Ask a Vet Online Library – Dog Food Diet – Dog Food, Dog Treats & Homemade Dog Food Recipes Section
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