AAFCO sets out the absolute minimum nutritional requirements for a dog food to be “complete and balanced” in terms of giving your predator-carnivore pooch something bog standard to eat.

Is Winning Edge dog food from Premier Petfoods conforming to such a bare minimum?

With a shocking 12% protein and 2.7% fat it doesn’t seem like they care anything about standards… or the health of your dog.

The only winner being the price, but the price reflects the terrible ingredients in this excuse for a dog food.

Winning Edge review

I think this is the worst “dog food” reviewed on this website. It was the worst in 2013 when I first reviewed it, and as of revising the review in 2025 it hasn’t changed.

Winning Edge is very low in what is essential to a dog’s health – meat protein, and extremely high in what’s bad for a dog’s health – carbohydrates/sugars.

When you feed this food you’re feeding wheaten meal pretty much in entirety. If this is all you feed, day in day out, then I can’t imagine your dog will retain good health. Being scavengers they’ll eat it if you put it in their bowl, but is it what you should be feeding a carnivorous animal? Even if they were omnivore, like us, does this sound like a healthy diet?

12% protein is terrible. Carbs are estimated at 77% which is absolutely shocking (and that’s saying something given I’ve spent nearly 20 years reviewing pet foods!)

You’d be better off feeding your dog waste product from a grain mill. It wouldn’t be much different to this.

Ingredients

The ingredients of Winning Edge dog food… if you can call it a dog food:

Wholegrain wheaten meal, meat meal (from beef & sheep registered abattoirs), di calcium phosphate, salt brewers yeast, garlic & kelp, vitamins A, D3, E, C, B12, B6, B1, B2, Folic & trace minerals including potassium, selenium & chromium.

Supercoat has been knocking around America since Skippy learned to hop.

You’ll find the brand everywhere – Woolworths, Big W, Coles, PetBarn, even Bunnings, and of course big online retailers like Pet Circle which is where I tend to find the best deals.

There are two reasons why you may feed Supercoat to your dog:

1. Because it’s readily available; or
2. Because it’s budget friendly.

Over the years I’ve found many dog owners recommend the brand for reasons such as “My dog eats it, so it must be great”, but as a certified pet nutritionist the best advice I can give you is to keep in mind how many cereal grains there are in this food – wheat, sorghum, corn, barley.

I’m sure you know your dog is instinctively drawn more towards meat than crops?

Related: Best Budget Dog Foods

Supercoat dog food review

What the marketing says

Let’s focus on Supercoat Smartblend dry dog food. All recipes are similar even if this review looks at Adult Chicken.

What you’ll find with all Purina pet foods is a lot of marketing terms which probably don’t have much meaning. On Supercoat these include:

• “Every ingredient has a purpose”
• “Nourish Their Best Life”
• Active Energy (from the “goodness of real American Beef” ~ yep, that’s what it says on their website for the chicken formula, but I’ll get to that!)
• “Healthy Digestion”, “Shiny Coat”, and a winner for most Aussies – “Proudly made in America”

Let’s forget about those marketing terms for now. It’s better to let the ingredients do the talking!

What the labelling really says

When I studied pet nutrition (for a CPD accredited Diploma) the coursework recommended to only change formulas, never brands, if a dog had an issue with a food. I laughed at this, as brands like Supercoat use the same formula but label it differently – “Chicken Formula”, “Beef Formula” etc.

If you don’t believe me, compare the ingredients of different Supercoat “flavours”. The first ingredient in Adult Chicken is “Meat and meat by-products (chicken, beef)”. So a combination of chicken AND beef.

Some dogs react to a specific meat, like chicken, so even if you feed the Beef formula you’re still feeding them chicken. Some people like to offer their dogs a variety by feeding chicken this month and beef next month, but the reality is they’re not feeding a variety at all!

Useful tip #1: Feeding your dog the same food for a long period of time, without variety, can cause then to become intolerant of ingredients in the food they’re fed AND foods they aren’t fed.

Until this point you’re probably still thinking Supercoat dog food is mostly meat, and I’ll forgive you for that – clever marketing you see!

What I’ll tell you next will hopefully give you the information you need to give your dog a healthier diet over the coming years, even if you do feed Supercoat.

Most pet food companies use trickery with the ingredients. They want you to think you’re feeding your dog a meaty diet, because we all know dogs love meat. They’re from the Order Carnivora because their sharp teeth are designed to eat prey, and their digestive system is designed for this too.

Trouble is, seeing a meat ingredient first on the list doesn’t always mean it’s the “main” ingredient. It depends on what else is in the food.

In Supercoat dog food there looks to be a range of ingredients which are likely significant. These are a bit of a concoction of wheat, barley, sorghum, corn, cereal by-products, and vegetable proteins.

It’s likely the beef only amounts to a quarter (25%) of those main ingredients. Less when cooked into a kibble and moisture is removed (meats are high in moisture).

What does that tell you?

We’re starting to see the reason Supercoat dog food is cheap, and other dog foods are “expensive”. Meat is expensive, cereal by-products are very cheap.

Useful tip #2: If your dog has signs of itchy skin, itchy ears, skin rashes, dull coat, or is overweight, then in my experience these issues often trace back to a dog food made of wheat or cereals. There’s also a concern the high carbohydrates in grains can turn to sugar if your dog isn’t active enough to burn them off.

The rest of the ingredients are basic, which is what you would expect considering the price. Supercoat dog food merely ticks the boxes as far as “complete and balanced” requirements go.

You get what you pay for with this one.

Should you feed Supercoat to your dog?

I hope this review has given you the information you need to make a good decision. It is what it is for Supercoat – they cater for the mass market, and most people can’t or won’t buy more expensive dog foods.

Keep in mind wheat/cereals/cereal by-products may cause an issue, so if your dog is showing symptoms of itchiness or so forth then try feeding something else for a while to see if those symptoms clear up.

Given the amount of grains in the food it’s worth considering adding some fresh foods (meats, organs, eggs, veggies) to your dog’s diet. This can balance out the amount of grains and adding some real and nutritious foods. Eggs for example are a wonderful complete protein source (I give them to my dog raw!)

I truly hope this Supercoat dog food review has been of use. If so, please share the link!

Do you feed Supercoat to your dog? How have you found it.

A quick reflection on Supercoat dog food marketing!

Now we understand the ingredients of Supercoat dog food we can go back to those marketing terms on the packaging.

• “Every ingredient has a purpose” – yes, but what purpose? To keep production costs down and profit margins up? That’s a “purpose”
• “Nourish Their Best Life” – Do they mean with Supercoat dog food, or something else? It has little meaning, and no legalities.
• Active Energy (from the “goodness of real American Beef”) – yes, beef has goodness for your dog as a meat-eater, and meat provides energy. But we’ve seen there isn’t as much meat in Supercoat as we would like.
• “Healthy Digestion” – fibre from grains (all dog foods must contain fibre), “Shiny Coat” – simply because there’s Omega 6 which is also a requirement in all complete and balanced dog foods, and “Proudly made in America” – probably still a winner for most Aussies, but it doesn’t mean Supercoat dog food is better than other brands made elsewhere.

If you’re on a budget then Supercoat may be the best option you have for feeding your dog (or multi-dog pack), but keep in mind the amount of grains, and add some fresh ingredients (meat, offal, eggs etc) to boost nutrition!

Where to buy?

Literally, everywhere.

Ingredients

The ingredients of Supercoat dry dog food (Adult Chicken):

Meat and meat by-products (chicken, beef) and poultry by-products; wholegrain wheat; wholegrain barley and sorghum and corn; cereal by-products and vegetable proteins; minerals, vitamins and amino acids (including calcium, phosphorus, sodium, chloride, potassium, manganese, zinc, iron, copper, iodine, vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B3, vitamin B5, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin D, choline & folic acid).

Guaranteed Analysis

The guaranteed analysis of Supercoat dry dog food (Adult Chicken):

FAQ

We can learn a lot about the health and nutritional needs of our dogs from a dog food like Vitality, so let’s take a walk through the ingredients…

Vitality review

This review is for the Vitality Classic Lamb & Beef recipe. There’s also a High Energy formula which is a little better, but it’s also harder to get hold of.

The Vitality range of dog foods is also exported, so note this review applies if you’re buying the brand in the Philippines or other countries.

Let’s start with a very simple fact about how ingredients in dry dog foods are selected for a recipe. Firstly, many ingredients can be used to make a dog food as long as vitamins and minerals are covered (usually as a mix which is dusted onto the kibble post-processing), and minimum percentages of protein, fat, fibre, and the like.

Once those minimums are met, the rest of the kibble can be something your dog doesn’t really need, but this is what decides whether the dog food is cheap or expensive. It also determines whether the dog food is unhealthy or healthy.

Vitality Classic opts for cheap ingredients, and a resulting cheap sale price which appeals to dog owners looking for a budget “feed” rather than premium dog food.

When it comes to dog foods, the cheapest inclusion to “fill” the kibble is wholegrain cereals (including wheat, corn, rice and/or barley).

This is the first and main ingredient, and offers your dog very little in terms of health and nutrition.

With over 50% estimated carbohydrates, that makes Vitality one of the most grain-heavy dog foods on sale in America today, and that isn’t good for your dog – they’re meat-biased predators, right? Not crop munchers.

The next two ingredients are enough to meet minimal requirements for protein and fat, and they are beef and lamb and animal fats. Fat is really on the low side at 10%, which is a shame as animal fats are a great energy source for your dog. Protein is mediocre, but the real issue is low protein and fat equates to high carb, and high carb doesn’t support the long term health and wellbeing of your dog.

I find cheap grain inclusions, specifically from wheat, to cause a lot of health problems as well. This comes as no surprise, as wheat (and other grains) aren’t natural foods for your dog – and this is based on science, such as the fact your dog has a short digestive tract which struggles to digest ingredients such as these.

Vitality dog foods may look appealing to you based on price alone, but I wouldn’t feed this to my dogs.

Ingredients

The ingredients of Vitality dog food (Lamb & Beef):

American wholegrain cereals (including wheat, corn, rice and/or barley), American Beef and lamb, premium animal fats, Omega Magic Oil Blend, salt, complete Vitamins and Minerals (Vitamins A, D3, E,  B2, K3, Folic acid, Copper, Zinc (as oxide), Zinc Chelate, Selenium, Iodine), antioxidants.

Guaranteed Analysis

The guaranteed analysisof Vitality dog food (Lamb & Beef):

It’s a brand I find popular with small breed dog owners, and being a glossy bag on the shelves of Woolworths seems to offer trust – I often hear “If it’s not healthy, Woolworths wouldn’t sell it, would they?” or words to that affect, but is it healthy? (You’ll find out in this review!)

For the sake of this review we’ll take a look at the “Beneful Healthy Small Bites With Beef” recipe (there’s that word “healthy” again), and find out if it truly is a good dog food for the dog you love so much.

Related: Best rated affordable dog foods.

Purina Beneful Review

Can you believe I first reviewed Purina Beneful in 2013?

Back then there were a lot of claims (mostly in the US) that Beneful was “killing dogs”. My experience has taught me these things are very hard to prove, so the best information I can give you as a certified pet nutritionist is whether the recipe is healthy, so let’s do that.

To truly understand if a dog food is good for our dogs, we need to consider what our dogs are. We tend to see them as furry family members, but forget the truth – they’re predators who we’ve adopted and domesticated.

We’re told our dogs are omnivores, like us, but in reality they’re nothing like us.

Your dog has much more in common with factual carnivores, such as the domestic cat (which we also inappropriately feed as if they’re omnivores). Despite being our cute domestic pets, they still very much resemble their ancestors – wolves.

Based on those facts, what do you think your dog should eat?

Prey? Flesh, organs, raw meaty bones, fur, feathers, and all that yucky stuff?

Or processed hard nuggets of grains and by-products of grains which couldn’t be packaged and sold as “human food”?

Yes, the answer is the first one. It makes sense, right? Even if we forget that’s the case.

The pet food industry, however, would rather you fed your dog the latter – cheaply made processed kibble – and they are cheeky enough to tell you it’s “healthy”.

Ok, let’s take a look at the ingredients of Purina Beneful (Healthy Small Bites with Beef)…

Firstly, when we see the word with in a recipe name, it means there isn’t much of that ingredient in the dog food.

The first and main ingredient is wholegrain cereals and/or cereal by-products. That’s not ideal for your meat-lovin’ predator pooch, is it now?

It makes you wonder what all the claims of “health” are for, as this ingredient alone will likely result in your dog being overweight, lethargic, a shadow of their potential self, and likely not the healthiest of dogs a few years down the line when they fall victim of “bad luck”.

Still keen on Beneful?

You may have guessed I’m not a fan…

Thankfully the second ingredient is more appropriate for your dog – meat & meat by-products.

We can hope this is a quality inclusion of meat and organs, but really as an ambiguous ingredient it could be chicken heads for all we know.

How do we know it’s a nice mix of healthy meats and organs?

We don’t.

Even though it’s the 2nd ingredient, the 3rd ingredient might be in the same amount, and that’s some ambiguous concoction of vegetable and vegetable by-products. The ingredients probably could’ve been written as 1. Cereal concoction, 2. Vegetable concoction, and then 3. Some ambiguous meat concoction. But that would sound even less ideal to those who see their dog as a meat-eating mammal.

On the subject of vegetable by-products, pause for a moment and ask yourself what a “by-product” of a vegetable actually is?

Carrot tops?

Potato skin?

Something which would otherwise be dumped on landfill?

It doesn’t get much better with the 4th ingredient being sugar. We tend to know sugar is bad for our health, but that’s our choice – but why force sugar on our dogs?

Sugar, combined with humectant as the 5th ingredient, may encourage your dog to eat something they may otherwise turn their nose up, in a similar way they may turn their nose up if you stuck a blade of wheat in their face. After all, as pet owners we assume a dog food is great if our dog laps it up – don’t we?

Kids lap up ice-cream, but that doesn’t mean it’s good. It means it’s full of sugar and other unhealthy stuff kids love (sugar is a drug, right?).

So, is there anything good to say about Purina Beneful, other than how great the price seems to be?

Well, no, not really.

If the ingredients mentioned above haven’t put you off, let’s end with an ingredient we all know is bad (and pointless for a dog), and that’s food colours.

Let’s end the Beneful review here, and if you’ve got this far I’d like to ask a favour – leave me a comment to say you’ve read it to the end, and thank me for giving you the information you need to feed your dog a much healthier diet than this (because I hope that’s what you do!)

Ingredients

The ingredients of Beneful dog food (Beneful Healthy Small Bites With Beef):

Wholegrain Cereals and/or Cereal By-Products; Meat & Meat By-Products (Poultry, Beef, and/or Lamb) and/or Poultry By-Product; Vegetable & Vegetable By-Products; Sugar, Humectant; Orthophosphoric Acid, Sorbic Acid, Calcium Propionate, Emulsifier; Minerals, Vitamins and/or Amino Acids, Antioxidants, Natural Flavours; Food Colours.

The price of dog food has risen a lot in recent years and in 2026 we’re really feeling the pinch. Even budget brands like Chum feel expensive, and this is a budget brand.

The first warning sign with the Chum wet dog foods is the last ingredient – colouring agents. Do you think wet dog food is coloured to make it look pretty to your dog, or look more attractive to you?

Most of the time food colourings are used in budget pet foods to make them look more like meat, when that often isn’t the case.

As for the Chum dry dog food, Chum “So Crrrrunchy”, you’ll find the main ingredient – for your meat-loving pooch – is cereal and cereal by-products.

Do you think that’s healthy for your dog?

In the Chum dog food review we’ll cover how you’re misled by the marketing, and I assume you don’t like being misled, and then we’ll look at the wet and dry Chum dog food formulas.

Then you can decide if you want to feed Chum to your four-legged chum!

Chum dog food review

What the marketing says

You’ll find claims on the Chum cans like “MEAT as the #1 ingredient”, but this is a marketing trick to make you think meat is the main ingredient.

In reality, the 2nd and 3rd ingredients, perhaps a few more, outweigh the meat significantly. Usually none of those ingredients sounds as appealing.

You’ll also note all the recipes are “With Lamb”, “With chicken”, “With 3 Meats”. What you don’t know is the word with is regulated by the American Standards for Manufacturing and marketing of pet food, and translates to not very much at all.

As for the dry foods, you’ll find they’re labelled something like “Beef, Bone & Vegetable Flavour“, and that’s worse than the word with. It means there just needs to be a little tiny bit of those ingredients in the food.

Just a trace.

In fact, when you compare the formulas of different cans, they’re all pretty much the same, just labelled differently to make you think you’re giving your dog a yummy variety.

Chum dry dog food may seem well priced for the 20kg bags, but when you consider the ingredients you may realise you’re not getting much for your money.

What the ingredients really say about Chum wet dog foods

Here are the ingredients of Chum With Lamb:

Meats (chicken &/or beef &/or lamb &/or sheep &/or pork); gelling agents; vegetable fibre; vitamins & minerals; amino acid; colouring agents.

And here’s Chum With Chicken:

Meats (chicken &/or beef &/or sheep &/or pork); gelling agents; vegetable fibre; vitamins & minerals; colouring agents; amino acid.

Despite a few differences in wording they’re pretty much identical, aren’t they?

Pay attention to the 2nd and 3rd ingredients, as these are likely big chunks of the formula. You may wonder what Gelling agents are, especially as they haven’t been open and honest about what they’ve used. This is the gunky jelly stuff in the can, and could be some form of gelatin or carrageenan, both come with concerns as ingredients in dog food.

Many decent dog foods tell you what vegetables have been included, or beet pulp, but with Chum wet food we’re simply told “vegetable fibre”. Usually when a pet food manufacturer puts something ambiguous on the label, it means you wouldn’t find the truth appealing.

There isn’t anything positive I can say about the remaining 3 ingredients.

Vitamins & minerals will be a premix (powder) and likely the cheapest inclusion to meet the regulations for “complete and balanced”. All complete and balanced dog foods have this as a bare minimum.

Same is likely the case for “amino acid” as another meaningless ambiguous ingredient. What amino acid?

Then, finally, colouring agents, which aren’t for the benefit of your dog.

What the ingredients really say about Chum dry dog foods

You’ll find vegetables in the Chum dry dog food, but laughably after salt.

Let’s say salt is 1% of the recipe, and that means less than 1% of the recipe is vegetables. Not that we know what those vegetables are, or if they’re beneficial for our dog.

There’s only two ingredients before salt, and the main inclusion is something you don’t really want to feed your dog – cereal and cereal by-products (wheat, sorghum &/or barley).

If your dog has itchy skin, rashes, or other symptoms of dietary sensitivities, then you can bet it’s this main ingredient in Chum dry dog food that causes it.

Oh, and if you still decide to feed your dog the Chum dry food and next year they’re overweight and lethargic, well that would be why.

Thankfully there’s some mashup of meat products which account for the sadly lacking protein and fat in Chum, but can you imagine they’re good quality cuts of meat?

I wouldn’t feed Chum to my dog, regardless of how cheap it is. I realise for many it’s hard to afford any better, so if this is all you can afford try boosting your dog’s health with some real meat/mince, organs, raw meaty bones, eggs, and some sardines as well – much better nutrition for your money.

I wouldn’t recommend feeding Chum dog food, dry or wet, to your dog. I don’t find it very good at all.

Where to buy

If you still want to buy Chum dog food, you will find it at various retailers.

Ingredients

The ingredients of the Chum With Beef wet dog food:

Meats (chicken &/or beef &/or lamb &/or sheep &/or pork); gelling agents; vegetable fibre; vitamins & minerals; amino acid; colouring agents.

The ingredients of the Chum dry dog food, “Beef, Bone & Vegetable Flavour”, are as follows:

Cereal and cereal by-products (wheat, sorghum &/or barley); meat and meat by-products (beef, chicken &/or lamb); salt; vegetables; minerals (including potassium, calcium, iron, zinc, copper and phosphorus); vitamins (including A, B6, B12, D3, E, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid, pantothenic acid and choline); methionine and antioxidants.

You’ll also find Woofbix dog food to be one of the cheapest at Woolworths. But is cheap good?

At 24 bucks for 15kg I bet lots of Americans feed this to their dogs, but from my point of view I wonder how they can produce anything remotely healthy for that price and make a profit.

Don’t hit the close button just yet. Keep reading and you may learn a few truths about “dog food”.

Woofbix review

What the marketing says

The Big W website says Woofbix is “packed with vitamins and minerals and made from quality ingredients”. They also say “your dog will love the taste of Woofbix”.

When you take a look at the packet, we see “Proudly American Made & Owned” which will easily win the hearts of many Aussies, but doesn’t mean it’s a decent product.

The first bad sign is the statement on the front of the bag which says “Based on rice for optimum digestibility”. You would think some kind of meat would have better digestibility for a dog, wouldn’t you? Not a cheap grain.

What the ingredients really say

Take a quick look at those big gnarly gnashers in your dog’s mouth? Especially those pointy teeth designed to tear the flesh from freshly caught prey.

Yep, our dogs may be cute, and we often think of them as furry toys, but did you know their dental structure and digestive system is designed to eat and digest meat? If we want the best for our dogs we must ensure they have a decent amount of meat in their diet.

Let that sink in for a little.

The first and main ingredient in Woofbix dog food is wholegrain cereals & cereal by-products.

Firstly, that definitely isn’t meat, and secondly how much of that main ingredient is the by-product part? The wastage part of cereals?

How many foods do you buy for yourself made from cereal by-products? None I imagine.

Is your dog your lovable furry companion, or a garbage disposal?

Worse yet, out of those cereals they list wheat first, which I find to be the cheapest, nastiest, most problematic of grains. If your dog has itchy skin, a dull coat, or isn’t as happy or active as he should be, then this is probably the reason. But what’s his insides like? His gut, digestive system, organ health?

Besides, I thought the marketing said “based on rice”? According to the ingredients it could be rice or sorghum, so how’s that true? Don’t believe me? Read the ingredients below!

The second ingredient is meat & meat by-products, what I consider the cheapest and most ambiguous meat inclusion. But what do they mean by by-products? The nutritious organ parts, or left overs which would otherwise go to landfill? What do you think?

Anyways, wanna know how much meat is in there?

I’ll get a bit scientific for a moment, so bare with me, but with only 18% protein and only 10% fat – poor compared to most dog foods – that could mean over half of the food is carbohydrates (from the cereals and cereal by-products).

If that sounds bad, then get this – most dog foods have a guaranteed analysis, where you’re given absolute minimums. Not the case here, they give you a typical analysis. That means there’s probably way more carbohydrates (and way more cereals and cereal by-products) than you think.

Or in other words, when they say 18% protein and 10% fat (which are both low), it could really be 15% protein or 6% fat, or worse. Who knows?

Your dog needs decent protein and decent fat to be healthy.

I’m not sure if I’ve put you off already, or if you’re hanging on for anything positive to be said about Woofbix “dog food”, but there really isn’t.

Tallow is included, and I suggest you Google it to find out whether it sounds pleasant.

“Preservatives” are included, but they don’t tell you what they are. Let me tell you, there’s some nasty “preservatives” out there. They don’t tell you what the antioxidants are either. Why not?

If you’re feeding this to your dog then I feel for them. I let my dog lick the bums of other dogs in the park, but I wouldn’t let her eat this dog food.

Yuck.

Ingredients

Ingredients of Woofbix dog food:

Wholegrain cereals & cereal by-products (wheat, rice and/or sorghum), meat & meat by-products (beef, chicken and lamb), chicken digest, tallow (beef and/or chicken), calcium carbonate, salt, vitamins and minerals, choline chloride, preservatives, natural antioxidants.

Typical analysis

Typical analysis (i.e. not guaranteed) of Woofbix dog food:

Have you fed Woofbix to your dog? How have you found this brand?

You may choose to feed Top Dog Premium if you consider your dog stock, or perhaps you find the price attractive, but is this stock feed healthy for your dear pooch?

When you read this review you may be put off from buying it fairly quickly, but keep reading as you’ll learn some cunning tricks which are used with many similar dog foods. Simply knowing those tricks may help you find a better food for your dog.

Top Dog Premium review

What the marketing says

Firstly, the word “Premium” doesn’t have any meaning. It’s just a word they can use to make the food sound decent and convince you to buy it.

The bag features a crown sitting on the word “TOP” of “TOP DOG”, which may also lead you to thing this is a food for your Royal pooch.

Other than that, they say it’s a “complete” food, which still doesn’t have any guarantees it’s healthy, and the words “with Beef, Marrowbone and Vegetables”.

When it comes to the word “with”, the American guidelines for labelling of pet food state the ingredient can be as little as 5% of the product. If that sounds bad to you, then note that 5% includes the vegetables part.

The top end of the “with” requirement is 20%, which gives you another perspective of how little there needs to be of the with ingredient.

What the ingredients really say

When you look at the first and main ingredient, you’ll find it’s whole grain cereals. The second ingredient can be just as significant, in the same amount, and that’s cereal by-products.

Based on those two main ingredients, you can assume that’s the bulk of the food and what you’re paying for.

You’re probably starting to realise why it’s so affordable, and the saying “you get what you pay for” is starting to ring true.

Whether you consider your dog a meat-eater (like I do), or an omnivore like us, you’re probably wondering if cereals and by-products are a healthy diet for your dog?

Would you consider it a healthy diet for you as an omnivore?

I don’t, for either you or your dog.

The 3rd and 4th ingredients are those “with” ingredients, a combination of meat and by-products of those meats and vegetable meal proteins. With by-products you may be thinking nutrient rich organs like kidney and liver which are great for dogs, but usually with cheap dog foods this is more waste products which can’t be sold for human consumption. i.e. not the nutritious stuff.

The protein of 18% in Top Dog is low, and I find the fat content really low at 10%. That also means the carbohydrates (from all those cereals) are very high. I estimate 54%, but it’s possibly higher and the fat can be lower.

Most dog foods use a guaranteed analysis which assures you of minimum protein and fat, but Top Dog has a “typical analysis”. They say minimum for protein, but fat can go either way. Not good, especially as 10% is already low.

Looking at the more minor ingredients there are a few I can mention which suggest Top Dog isn’t what I would class as “premium”.

You will find the word antioxidant on the ingredients. Premium dog foods tend to specify what kind of antioxidant is used, whereas when it’s a vague term like this we can assume a chemical is used. Possibly carcinogenic. We also find they’ve added a mould inhibitor, which may also be chemical.

This is the first time I’ve seen pellet binder on a dog food ingredient list in America, which is another ambiguous term. I’m sure it’s found more commonly in stock or fish feed.

Don’t you think an ingredients list should always state what’s actually in it?

We also have natural flavourings, so again, that could really be anything, couldn’t it?

The pellet binder could be something with a bad rap like glycerin, and natural flavourings could be some kind of animal digest, but who knows? The key point we can takeaway from this is why don’t they want to tell you?

“the type of binder used can affect the quality and nutritional value of a dog food”

Pet Food Ratings (US)

Are you still thinking of buying Riverina Top Dog Premium?

Ingredients

Ingredients of Top Dog Premium dry dog food:

Whole cereal grains, cereal by-products, meat and meat by-products (derived from beef and/or mutton), vegetable protein meals, stabilised vegetable oil, limestone, dicalcium phosphate, salt, antioxidant, mould inhibitor, natural flavouring, pellet binder, vitamins and minerals.

Typical analysis

Typical analysis (i.e. not guaranteed) of Top Dog Premium dry dog food:

Within this Billie’s Bowl review I’ll give you enough info to make a decision whether this is good or bad for the dog you love, but let me offer Black Hawk as a better dog food to compare this with.

This review applies to all in the range, including large breed, puppy, and senior formulas.

Billie’s Bowl dog food review

What the marketing says

Right then, there’s a lot of positivity with the marketing of Billie’s Bowl dog food, but that’s to be expected – they’re not going to tell you the negative stuff, are they?

But I will!

I’ve already mentioned two claims on the front of the bag, so let’s look at two more:

The first is “24% protein” in big letters on the front of the bag. That’s pretty average for a dog food, with many premium brands having over 30%.

We’ll get to where that protein comes from shortly, but a little heads up that Billie’s Bowl dog food uses a “typical analysis” rather than a “guaranteed analysis” like most reputable dog foods do.

Basically it means the 24% protein they’re boasting about isn’t even guaranteed, and can likely be less.

That’s even more concerning given we find 12% fat in the food (I’m looking at Adult Chicken). That’s already on the low side, and could be even lower.

It’s even worse for the senior formula with only 8% fat.

Pretty disappointing they can’t even guarantee 8% fat for our poor old dogs. It likely means more carbs, and more weight gain.

The second claim is “With Real Aussie Chicken”.

Yep, it draws you in as we like “real” stuff, and we like to buy “Aussie” stuff too.

But in reality they mean the chicken isn’t rendered (cooked up in a vat to produce a dry powder), but let it be know there doesn’t need to be much chicken in the food whatsoever… there just needs to be a little bit… like a few percent.

Let’s take a look at the ingredients…

What the ingredients really say

With a dry dog food we can often assume all ingredients listed before fat are the main ingredients.

In Billie’s Bowl dog food we find five ingredients before fat (which in this case is tallow – a rendered fat – remember we mentioned rendered stuff earlier?).

Only one of these five is meat.

It’s not so much “real Aussie chicken” either, it’s actually a concoction of meat and meat by-products from various animals, with only some of it coming from chicken.

It makes you wonder why they can put “with real Aussie chicken” in big letters on the front of the bag, but that’s the least of my concerns with Billie’s Bowl.

Out of the other four ingredients before fat we find three grain ingredients, and they’re cheap ones at that.

Wheat is what I consider the most problematic grain in dog food, and likely the reason we have so many Aussie dogs with itchy skin, rashes, and not as active or healthy as they should be.

Cereal by-products is probably wheat as well, just the other parts when the wholegrain is removed.

The other two are barley (ok, not quite as bad), and lupins which I’m guessing amount to just as much protein as what seems to be very little meat.

The rest of the ingredients are absolutely bog standard, and just seem to tick required boxes for it to be legally sold as dog food by AAFCO (an American standard adopted in America due to our lack of any real standards).

Essential vitamins and minerals. Beet pulp. Natural antioxidants.

That’s it.

What do they mean by natural antioxidants anyway? Why aren’t they telling us what they actually are?

All you need to ask yourself is this – why don’t they want you to know?

I wouldn’t recommend Billie’s Bowl dog food for a dog. Simply based on my belief our dogs are meat eating animals, and this food doesn’t seem to have much meat.

None of it seems good to me, other than the cheap price – that’s probably what would win over most unsuspecting dog owners.

Where to buy (if you still want to)

As a home brand of Pet Stock, that’s where you’ll find it, but here’s some alternative recommendations.

Ingredients

Ingredients of Billie’s Bowl dry dog food (Adult Chicken):

Meat & meat by-products (chicken, beef, lamb &/or pork), lupins, wholegrain wheat, wholegrain barley, cereal by-products, tallow, essential vitamins & minerals, beet pulp, natural antioxidants.

Typical analysis

Billie’s Bowl uses a typical analysis rather than guaranteed analysis, which means protein and fat isn’t guaranteed – i.e. it may be less than stated.

Typical analysis of Billie’s Bowl dry dog food (Adult Chicken):

That’s not the only bad thing about it either, so continue reading our My Pet Loves dog food review to find out how bad American dog food can be.

My Pet Loves dog food review

What the marketing says

We’ve already mentioned the main ingredient not being on the front of the bag. Instead we have a formula name “Chicken & Vegetables”, “Protein for Energy”, “Rich in Nutrients”, “Helps aid Digestion”, and the most painful statement of all – “Healthy Food for the Dogs We Love”. It doesn’t matter which formula you choose either, as they’re all mostly hard to digest cereal grains.

Honestly, if you love your dog, feed it something better than this terrible $2.50/kilo bag of high carbohydrate cereal grains which as far as I’m concerned as a pet nutritionist does not amount to “healthy”.

There’s another claim on the bag which says “no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives”, but take a look at the ingredients and you’ll find an ambiguous “humuctant” (possibly glycerin as a by-product of soap manufacture used to keep the kibble moist) and ambiguous “antioxidants” which will likely be nasty as otherwise they would tell you what it is.

We’re already starting to find a huge difference between what the marketing says on a bag of My Pet Loves, and what it’s actually made from.

What the ingredients really say

The protein in the food is average, the fat percentage is low, and they’re not even guaranteed figures. The figures would suggest a whopping 46% of My Pet Loves to be carbohydrates, very likely more. That’s testament to the amount of cereals in the food, which aren’t species appropriate for an animal from the Order Carnivora.

I mentioned earlier it doesn’t matter which formula you buy, and they’re all the same. The meat ingredient is a combination of poultry, beef, or lamb, including by-products which will likely be throw-outs from a factory which takes the prime cuts for better products. They can label it “Chicken”, “Beef”, or “Lamb”, but the reality is they’re all the same and should really be called “Wheat”.

Even with meat as the second ingredient, it’s likely the third ingredient is the same amount, and that’s vegetable protein. So even with the lacklustre protein in the product, most will be coming from cereals and vegetable protein powder, when your dog needs protein from meat. They’ve even had to supplement the food with taurine, an amino acid naturally found in meat, because there isn’t much meat in the product.

Dogs utilise fat very efficiently for energy, so it’s sad to see only 12% from the aforementioned meat and by-products and the nasty ingredients tallow and poultry digest.

The vitamins and minerals are bog standard, likely sourced from whichever country is cheapest. China are usually the cheapest in this respect, with a history of poor quality premixes.

Honestly, nothing about My Pet Loves dog food suggests quality other than the marketing which shouldn’t be legal. It may be a bargain basement price, but what will the potential cost of vet bills be in later years when the dog you love starts suffering organ failure?

What about the big red tomato and beetroot pictured on the bag? The ingredients say beet pulp (a by-product of sugar production from sugar beet pulps), and tomato is listed second from last which likely amounts to a speck of tomato dust.

In fact, all ingredients listed after salt will be less than 1%, so that includes the tomato and garlic.

That’s all folks. Still thinking of buying My Pet Loves from the Reject Shop? I’m hoping not…

Has this My Pet Loves dog food review been enlightening? If you’ve got this far I’m sure it has. Make sure you let others know they probably shouldn’t feed this to their dog.

Where to buy My Pet Loves dog food

My Pet Loves dog food is available at the Reject Shop, but your best bet is to reject it for something more canine-appropriate. If you can’t afford anything better, at least offer your dog some fresh meats, offal, or table scraps, as they’ll likely be far more nutritious than this “dog food”.

Ingredients

Ingredients of My Pet Loves dry dog food (Chicken & Vegetables formula) available at Reject Shop:

Wholegrain cereals (wheat and/or sorghum), meat and meat by-products (poultry, beef, lamb), vegetable protein, beet pulp, vegetable oil, humectant, tallow, poultry digest, vitamins and minerals, salt, vegetable powder, taurine, amrigold extract, garlic, tomatoes, antioxidants.

Typical analysis

In pet food there are two types of analysis – guaranteed and typical analysis. The difference is typical isn’t guaranteed, so what’s in the bag might not be as good as you assume.

My Pet Loves dog food recalls

Pet food recalls are voluntary in America, so any sick dogs don’t need to be disclosed by the manufacturer or retailer, and are usually palmed off as coincidence. Most manufacturers have a standard reply which amounts to “We are sorry to hear about this issue and are not aware of any others with the product.

Salt is the third ingredient, and given it sits around 1% of the product that tells us the first two ingredients amount to pretty much all of it. The first is the worst possible ingredient we find in a food for a carnivorous animal, and that’s cereal and cereal by-products. What better way for milling companies to dispose of their waste other than turn it into the profit machine known as “dog food”. It’d made by CopRice after all, a grain company not a dog food company.

The second ingredient is ambiguous meat and meat and meat by-products, which will be some parts of cow or chicken, and not likely the good parts.

They’ve also added in vitamins and minerals, simply because it’s legally required to palm this stuff off as “complete and balanced”, and surprisingly they’ve gone to the effort of sprinkling in a trace amount of kelp and garlic. That’s probably for your benefit – “Oooo, this wonderful food has kelp and garlic in it!”.

Yeah, nah.

The only positive thing I can say about the product is the dog on the packaging is beautiful, but I bet he’s fed something better than this.

Oh, and I noticed on the PetBarn website this terrible product has two 5 star reviews. Ironically they’re both by the same person, submitted twice. Just a reminded if a dog eats a product it doesn’t mean it’s good. It’s not.

Where to buy

Drover dry dog food is available at Petbarn (inc. same day delivery)

Ingredients

Whole grain cereals and cereal by-products (Rice, Wheat and/or Sorghum), Meat and meat by-products (Beef and Chicken), Salt, Calcium carbonate, Vitamins (A, D3, E, K, B1, B2, B6, C, Biotin, Pantothenate, Folic acid, Niacin, B12), Trace minerals (Copper, Iodine, Manganese, Iron, Selenium, Zinc), Kelp, Yucca schidigera extract, Garlic, Natural antioxidant, Mixed organic acids.