http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com

If you can afford it – it is better to get something like Nutro, but I would rather have someone feed Pedigree rather than the 3.99 for 20 lb dog food at Aldi’s or Kibble and Bits (dyes in it and not real good food).

Ingredients:
ground whole corn, meat and bone meal, corn gluten meal, chicken by-product meal, animal fat (preserved with bha/bht), wheat flour, chicken, rice, dried whole peas, dried beet pulp, wheat mill run, natural flavor, salt, potassium chloride, carrot powder, caramel color, vegetable oil (source of linoleic acid), vitamins (choline chloride, dl-alpha tocopherol acetate [source of vitamin e], l-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate [source of vitamin c*], vitamin a supplement, thiamine mononitrate [vitamin b1], biotin, d-calcium pantothenate, riboflavin supplement [vitamin b2], vitamin d3 supplement, vitamin b12 supplement), minerals (zinc sulfate, zinc proteinate, copper sulfate, copper proteinate, manganese proteinate, potassium iodide), added fd&c and lake colors (yellow 6, blue 2, red 40, yellow 5)

Cons:
Inadequate meat content, low quality grains, low quality meat products, byproducts, fat of unidentifiable origin, controversial filler, chemical preservative

Additional:
The primary ingredient in this food is corn. Corn is a difficult to digest grain of limited value in dog food, and which is also commonly associated with food allergies… dog food products should be based on meat rather than grain. Corn gluten meal is also low quality… In plain English, the remains of corn after most of the nutritious bits have been removed.

Meat and bone meal is an extremely low quality ingredient… including bone, exclusive of blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents, except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices. We would have greater confidence in this ingredient as fertilizer than as a dog food ingredient.

The next ingredient is byproducts… are of such low quality as to be rejected for use in the human food chain, or else are those parts that have so little value that they cannot be used elsewhere in either the human or pet food industries. The AAFCO definition of chicken by-product meal is “consisting of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidable in good processing practice.”

Animal fat is an ingredient of unidentified origin for which it is impossible to determine species, source or quality. Unidentified ingredients are usually very low quality. AAFCO define this asobtained from the tissues of mammals and/or poultry in the commercial processes of rendering or extracting. It consists predominantly of glyceride esters of fatty acids and contains no additions of free fatty acids. If an antioxidant is used, the common name or names must be indicated, followed by the words “used as a preservative”.

This product uses chemical preservatives. BHA and BHT are allowed in dog food products but are banned or heavily regulated in human food production due to the belief that they are carcinogenic.

The next ingredient is wheat flour. In dog food products, this is commonly a byproduct (think floorsweepings) of human food production and is a grain fragment we consider primarily filler. Wheat is believed by many to be the leading cause of food allergy problems in dog foods. Wheat mill run is a further grain byproduct.

Beet pulp is a controversial filler. It is a by-product, being dried residue from sugar beets which has been cleaned and extracted in the process of manufacturing sugar. It is a controversial ingredient in dog food, claimed by some manufacturers to be a good source of fibre, and derided by others as an ingredient added to slow down the transition of rancid animal fats and causing stress to kidney and liver in the process. We note that beet pulp is an ingredient that commonly causes problems for dogs, including allergies and ear infections, and prefer not to see it used in dog food. There are less controversial products around if additional fibre is required.

There is no excuse for adding artificial colorings to dog food products

Found at:
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=1886&cat=all

To search for foods you are thinking of, go to the top of the linked page and click on “Reviews” and then type the food name in the left blank search space.

This site isn’t totally accurate – some foods are off on the star scaling, but all info about the food and ingredients is to my knowledge correct.

BUT

When you buy food like that or Alpo.Iams Science diet…Etc…
they have what we call Meat BI-Products…Which is…Say its chicken ..the bi products are..The beak the claws the eyes the CRAP…the stuff that isnt typically healthy to eat….Foods like NUTRO that has NO MEAT BI PRODUCTS…IS just Strictally Meat ANd Veggies…Pure meat not scraps

Its like comparing VIENNA SAUSAGE to Real SAUSAGE