We receive hundreds of calls from conscientious pet owners who are striving to provide their four legged pals with the highest quality nutrition. There are so many conflicting reports leading to endless debates regarding what indeed constitutes the highest quality canine diet.

In the end, it is a matter of individual preference.

While ultimately we all reach our own individual conclusions, there are several common factors in determining how we choose the diet we feed our dogs.

• Accessibility of Ingredients or Prepared Foods
• Time Factors – Time researching, shopping, & preparing foods
• Convenience and ease of feeding
• Individual Pet Requirements – Health, age, & preference of individual dogs
• Education & exposure owner has to quality information regarding the best canine nutrition
• Cost – what is economically feasible

Many of these factors for consideration are unique to each dog and owner’s individual lifestyle. By continuing to educate ourselves on optimal canine nutrition, we may make better choices to ensure better health and greater longevity for our beloved pals.

To assist in this effort, I have detailed food options from the most nutritious to the least nutritious foods commonly fed today. As humans, while we are acutely aware of our nutritional requirements we do not always choose to provide our bodies the healthiest diets. This same principle applies to the choices we make for our furry friend’s diet as well. And as with human diet, educating ourselves on what is a healthy balanced canine diet is the key to improving our food choices and ultimately obtaining better nutrition.

Best Nutrition – Healthiest

1. Hunted, raw prey (Many sources rate this diet #1, but it is not realistic in modern society.)

2. Fresh raw meats, bones, organ meats with very small amounts of fresh vegetables. Include a well-rounded vitamin/mineral mix and omega 3 essential fatty acids (salmon oil). You can prepare your own raw diet using meat/bone pieces and parts. This option can be very time consuming to obtain and prepare these meals from scratch. One product which provides pre-measured ground products is Nature’s Variety Frozen Raw.

3. Fresh cooked meats, calcium, organ meat, with very small amounts of fresh vegetables. Include a vitamin/mineral mix, and omega 3 essential fatty acids (salmon oil). There are several books on the market that help you create your own home-cooked diet. Whole Dog Journal provides excellent recipes for complete balanced diets. To ensure your pet is receiving the array of nutrients he needs, it’s best to follow the recipes from a trusted source.

4. Dehydrated raw dog foods such as The Honest Kitchen. These foods may be very costly and more time-consuming to prepare. It takes about ten minutes to prepare a meal of The Honest Kitchen dehydrated raw dog food.

5. Ultra Premium grain-free dog food like Nature’s Variety Instinct, Orijen, Evanger’s, or EVO. These products are primarily made of human quality meat with little or no by-products or chemical preservatives. These foods are nutritionally dense and should be fed in smaller portion sizes. Nature’s Variety & Evo are available in dry kibble and canned formulations. Evanger’s is only available in cans & Orijen is only available in a dry kibble.

6. Super Premium dog foods are very much like the brands above, but they use grains. They still use good quality meats and don’t contain by-products. These are also available in dry kibble and canned formulations. Brand examples are: Eagle Pack Holistic Select, Nature’s Variety Homestyle & Prairie, Burns Pet Health, and Canidae.

7. Typical canned dog foods. These brands use substantially less meat. Water is often the number 1 ingredient (unlike in the Ultra Premium brands where meat is the number one ingredient), they use meat by-products (poor quality waste parts) and they usually contain significant amounts of grains and chemical preservatives. Often, if all the grains were added together, they would equal or exceed the meat. The meat quality is OK, but just barely. K9 Cuisine does not offer any food that meets these criteria. We do not sell foods that contain wheat, corn, soy, glutens, meat by products, or chemical preservatives.

10. Grocery store brands – canned or dry. These foods contain very little meat, are made with substantial amounts of meat by-products, and primarily consist of grain and grain by-products. The rendered meat used in these products often comes from condemned animals, ie – animals that were deemed unfit for human consumption. These products normally contain artificial colors, flavors and chemical preservatives.

While this group of foods is the most prevalent, and represent some of the biggest, most well known brands, K9 Cuisine does not sell them and they should, in our opinion, not be fed to any dog. They are by far the worst & least nutritious dog foods you can feed your dog.