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List of Premium Dog Foods

Updated on May 9, 2011
Whitney05 profile image

Whitney has over 10 years of experience in dog training, rescuing, and healthcare.

Choosing Dog Food

There are tons of options available when choosing a dog or puppy food for your pet. It can be hard choosing the right one, but if you know what to avoid and what to look for, you trip to the pet store, grocery store, or pet boutique, may be a little easier.

First off, don't always jump on the dog food that your vet recommends. In most cases, there are other foods that are so much better. For instance, there are much better options to Hill's Science Diet and Eukanuba. Although, your vet may strongly believe in a particular brand of dog food, it's best that you do your research first. You never know, what you're vet is recommending may be the best dog food for your dog, but at the same time, there may be better options.

Depending on what you're looking for, you will be able to find plenty of options for your dog. The best thing to consider when looking for a dog food, is a wheat free dog food. You want few to no fillers, and you want a high percent of meat and protein base ingredients in the dog food.

When choosing dog food, don't always go to the most expensive brand, as just because it's expensive, doesn't necessarily mean that it's the best dog food for your dog. The most important thing that you'll need to do is to read the ingredients and nutrition labels on the bag.

Otherwise, a few brands of dog food that you should avoid, include the following bad dog foods:

  • Alpo
  • Beneful
  • Eukanuba
  • Gravy Train
  • Iams
  • Kibbles N' Bits
  • Might Dog
  • Ol' Roy
  • Pedigree (One and Pro Plan formulas)
  • Purina

One dog food brand that you may not realize is not all that great to feed your dog, is actually Science Diet dog food. The reason behind this is because when private label companies get bought out, the formula gets changed.

Nestlé bought Purina; Heinz bought Nature's Recipe; Colgate-Palmolive bought Hill's Science Diet; Proctor & Gamble bought Iams and Eukanuba; Mars bought Pedigree. As you can see, the major players in dog food are companies that make human foods and products ranging from toothpaste, candy, and condiments. Personally, this isn't the dog food that I'd like to give my dog- from a company that makes my toothpaste or favorite chocolate bar.

Premium Canned Dog Food

  • By Nature Organics
  • Cupboard Creations
  • Evangers Classic
  • Evangers Super Premium
  • Fromm Four Star
  • Go Naturals
  • Instinct
  • Innova EVO
  • Merrick
  • Nature's Logic
  • Nature's Variety
  • Solid Gold
  • Timberwolf
  • Tripett
  • Vets Choice Health Extension Meaty Mix
  • Wellness 95%
  • Weruva
  • Wysong

Premium Dry Dog Food

  • Acana
  • Artemis Fresh Mix formulas
  • Artemis Maximal Dog
  • Before Grain
  • Blue Wilderness
  • Canidae
  • Evanger's Pheasant & Brown Rice
  • Fromm Four Star
  • Go Natural
  • Go Natural Grain Free Endurance
  • Innova
  • Innova EVO
  • Instinct
  • Merrick
  • Nature's Logic Natura
  • Nature's Variety formulas
  • O&M Prime Life Plus
  • Orijen
  • Pinnacle Peak Protein formula
  • Show Bound Naturals
  • Solid Gold
  • Timberwolf Organics
  • TOTW Canine Formula )
  • Wellness
  • Wellness Core

Ingredients to Avoid or Limit in Dog Food

When looking for a new dog food to feed your dog, it's best to make sure that you know how to read the dog food label, so that you can pick out the best food. If you are not sure how to read the label, there is a link below to help you figure out what means what on the label. Once you think you have the label figured out, you want to make sure that when choosing a dog food, you try to avoid the following ingredients. In some cases, limited amounts may be fine, but in others total avoidance may be necessary.

  • Wheat: Wheat is the number one allergy in dogs and because of its high carbohydrate content, is a contributing factor in canine obesity. Label may refer to wheat flour, wheat germ, wheat mill run, middlings or mid.
  • Corn: Corn is the number two allergy in dogs and another source of heavy carbohydrates because of its high sugar content. While corn can be source of certain nutrients, the corn used in commercial dog food contains the entire corn plant, including the root to the stems.
  • Soy: The number three allergy-provoking food for dogs, soybean meal or soy flour is a highly processed form of soybeans that are void of the essential fats, antioxidants and minerals naturally found in the soybean.
  • By-Product Meal: In reference to meat, poultry, or beef, by-products refers to any part of the animal other than the muscle tissue. By-product refers to the head, feet or feathers parts of the animal.
  • Digest: Referred to as “poultry digest” or “meat digest,” this term actually refers to roadkill animals and euthanized pets.

  • Ethoxyquin: This deadly preservative is banned for use in human foods but is commonly added in commercial dog foods. It is thought to cause certain cancers.
  • Egg Product: While whole eggs are extremely nutritious for dogs, “egg product” refers to egg shells, eggs that have gone rancid or those that have spoiled.
  • Brewer’s Rice: Refers to rice sections that have been discarded from the rice kernel. Brewer’s rice is broken shells of rice that lack nutrients and have been discarded. They are either going to get swept off from the floor and tossed into the garbage or added into the dog food mixer.
  • Preservatives: Additives like BHA are meant to prolong the shelf-life of the dog food or improve the food’s appearance, but they offer no nutritional value to your dog’s food and may actually harm your pet.
  • Cellulose: This pulp left over from fibrous plants is just another name for sawdust.

Other chemicals and additives to look out for include:

  • BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) - can potentially cause liver and kidney dysfunction
  • BHT (butylated hydroxytolulene) - can potentially cause liver and kidney dysfunction
  • Propylene glycol - causes the destruction of red blood cells
  • Coloring agents
  • Drying agents
  • Flavoring agents
  • Lubricants
  • Texturizers

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