Why does this site exist?

Because commercial pet food is, historically and on average, so incredibly awful. Really, that is the reality of the commercial pet food industry. We are bombarded with advertising that conjures up images of plump juicy chickens and garden fresh vegetables, told that the various foods around are scientifically formulated to provide our pets with every nutritional advantage and meet every need. At the same time, many of us feel we need a science degree just to interpret the labels. But the reality is quite different. “Scientifically formulated” is a term with no meaning. Do you scientifically formulate your dinner? Do you think you need to? Sounds quite ridiculous, doesn’t it. No, you (hopefully) consume a range of fresh foods. That’s what your pets should be consuming too. 

Sadly, that’s not what goes into most pet foods. Many pet foods are made up mostly of grain fragments (the left overs from the human food industry), with a small amount of meat thrown in and the whole thing coated with recycled used (and frequently carcinogenic) fats to make it palatable to our pets. In most cases, these are things we’d refuse to feed our pets if we saw them in their raw state. So why would we feed them when they are transformed into dry extruded pellets? Why are we feeding carnivores on grains anyway? We wouldn’t try to feed fish to a cow, so why try to feed grains to our carnivorous cats and dogs? The answer is simple – it is far cheaper than feeding meat, and in any case, we can’t make kibble without them (it won’t stick together). But it has nothing whatsoever to do with good or species-appropriate nutrition for our pets. Neither cats nor dogs have any evolved need of carbohydrates in their diet at all, and these are readily converted to fat.

It is not the point of this site to explain what is wrong with many commercial pet foods, or to expose the many scandals and unpleasant practices that have gone on in this industry. If you’re interested, it is easy to find that information for yourself. You’re on the internet now: just do a search for information on things like “4-D meats”, “phenobarbitol in pet food”, “foods pets die for” and “what’s really in pet food”. You will probably find the results an unpleasant surprise.

Rather, the intent of this site is to give an assessment of the various commercial foods available, based on the ingredient information given by the manufacturer. No food can magically be better than the ingredients used to make it, and the information on this site constitutes our opinion of those ingredients and the overall species-appropriate quality of the food.

The ratings given and comments made about the foods assessed on this site and ingredients listed are the opinion of the Editors, who are a small team of volunteers each with a long standing interest in dog nutrition. If you disagree with their opinion, you are free to ignore it (do not email us because you are upset that the product you choose has been criticised or badly rated – we do not control what the manufacturer puts in the food). Click here to see how we assess the foods.

Every effort has been made to ensure that the ingredients listed for each food is correct at the time of publication. Manufacturers do sometimes make changes to their formulas however, and you should check that the information given on this site matches that currently given by the food manufacturer before relying on the assessments made on this site. If you notice any discrepancies, we would be pleased to be advised of it. You can do this by emailing us via the link on the contact page.

Your food not listed? If we have overlooked a product that you’d like our opinion on, you can request a review be added. Again, you can do this by emailing us via the link on the contact page. Please be sure to include an online resource where product information – most especially the ingredient list – can be accessed (we cannot review a product without knowing what is in the food).

DogFoodAnalysis is a part of BoxerWorld.com, one of the largest and longest running dog forum communities on the internet. With many thousands of questions and health related queries in the feeding and nutrition forums on BoxerWorld over the last decade, many of which relate to how to decipher pet food ingredients and advertising - to sort the good from the bad - we realised the need for a dedicated site to help our members choose good quality foods for their pets. Want to join us? Click the forums link on top. We welcome owners of all breeds (there are many members on the site who don't own boxers).