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You’ve likely heard plenty about grain-free diets and natural dog foods, but you might be wondering: What is human-grade dog food?
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I don't recommend Acana because it's grain free, and vets are seeing an increase in dogs with dilated cardiomyopathy who are on grain free diets. Here's the thing about the claims of only certain foods being "human grade": They are all human grade! The products come from animals slaughtered in plants that use the meat for human consumption. It comes from the same animal that provides chicken breasts to humans. The brands of food I recommend are the only ones that have veterinary nutritionists on staff, which ensures the food is balanced. They also meet AAFCO standards and run feeding trials. Those brands are Royal Canin, Hill's Science Diet, Purina ProPlan, and Iams. I feed my dogs Iams, and they love it. I hope this helps!
Updated on September 24th, 2025
It's just designed to appear to humans. Brands of food that I recommend include Royal Canin, Hill's Science Diet, Purina Pro Plan, and Iams (Eukanuba). I recommend these brands because they run their own food trials, meet AAFCO feeding standards, and have veterinary nutritionists on staff. They are the only four brands that have these things. I feed my dog Iams and she loves it.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Real Nature seems to be a very high quality food, it is not one i am familiar with but the ingredient list is quite impressive. if he is doing well on this brand i would probably stick with it. other excelent options include Orijen, Acana and taste of the wild.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Canidae is an OK brand, but seems to be more about marketing unnecessary ingredients rather than tailoring food to the dogs specific life stage. It is nutritionally adequate though, which is the most important thing. I would have to evaluate the specific product in question to have more of an opinion about it. The truth about most of these foods is that their claims usually amount to nothing more than that of a fad diet (i.e. paleo or atkins) and are not supported by sufficient evidence (even though they will make it sound like it is). As scientifically trained practitioners, us vets prefer to offer evidenced based treatment and the same goes for feeding suggestions. The most important thing on that bag is a tiny bit of writing under the guaranteed analysis called the AAFCO statement. This statement tells you what actual research went into making the product. Below is a link to an article that will help explain this more and give some other info about feeding your dog: https://www.petcoach.co/article/what-to-look-for-when-choosing-your-pet-s-food/ I hope that helps and all is well with Thor.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
You have a lot of flexibility since she's a young/middle age adult, and I'm assuming she's healthy. Basically any food made by a reputable company is going to be fine for her. There has been more and more evidence coming out recently that grain-free diets aren't healthy for dogs (linked to a particular type of heart failure called Dilated Cardiomyopathy) and raw food also presents risk of salmonella and e.coli to both the dog and family around the dog, so I'd generally recommend staying away from both of those options. The brands I like are Hills, Purina, and Royal Canin because they have veterinary nutritionists on staff, have good quality control, and generally make solid products. I hope that helps a bit!
Updated on September 24th, 2025