Fancy Feast from Purina (Nestle) is very popular in America, but is it popular because it’s healthy for your cat, or because it’s readily available and cheap.

This would be my view, but also because the packaging and meaningless marketing words, fancy graphics, and gorgeous looking cats make Fancy Feast look so amazingly appealing!

The TV ads really suck you in as well.

But… they’re just ads… and say zilch about what Fancy Feast is made from, which for the dry biscuits is a great deal of grain for your cat carnivore who shouldn’t be fed such rubbish.

Let’s take a look at both the dry food and range of wet foods (of which the pate looks to be the best option by far).

Fancy Feast dry food review

We’ll take a look at Fancy Feast Tuna, Prawn, Mackeral & Crab Flavour which according to the Fancy Feast website is “a highly palatable gourmet dry cat food made for adult cats that has been cooked and basted to a delicately crunchy finish”.

If it’s that good for your cat, why don’t they advertise the main ingredient on the packaging, which is Grains and Grain Products (Wheat, Corn and Rice)?

This uncovers the truth about Fancy Feast dry food immediately, because this definitely isn’t “carnivore”, and fed to your cat over the long term would very likely be bad news on two counts – (1) moisture-less dry food is far from optimal for your cat, and (2) especially when it’s made of inappropriate ingredients for your carnivore.

The second (and only other main ingredient) is Meat and meat products (Chicken and Beef).

Take a look at the ingredients of other recipes as well – you’ll see the main ingredients are exactly the same, so it doesn’t matter which recipe you pick.

Although the meat ingredient doesn’t scream quality – it’s likely the cheapest mish mash of chicken and beef leftovers possible – this is at least more appropriate for your cat. But sadly, we know the grains are the most significant ingredient.

I don’t know about you, but this makes me think of stray cats scavenging whatever they can out of desperation in a dark New York alleyway (I think I’ve been watching too many kids cartoon movies recently).

Cats will eat whatever they can if they have to.

When we consider Fancy Feast is well and truly a budget cat food, we can’t expect any of the ingredients to be quality, can we?

Despite Tuna, Prawn, Mackeral, and Crab appealing to our vision of “gourmet” in the recipe name, these inclusions are way down in the ingredients – and are absolutely miniscule.

How funny is that?

(or not funny)

As a dry cat food it has to be said Fancy Feast is one of the worst, and if this is all you can afford you should do your cat a favour and offer them healthy carnivore-appropriate table scraps, meat, offal, eggs, or raw meaty bones in the hope of boosting nutrition.

Thankfully the Fancy Feast wet foods are a little more appropriate, although knowing which ones – mostly the pate – you’ll have to consider the ingredients of each.

Fancy Feast wet food review

The Fancy Feast wet foods vary greatly in terms of ingredients.

Some are made of cereals, like the kibble, or contain sugars, artificial flavourings, and other ingredients which highlight the range as a budget cat food.

The pate range looks to be the best – even half decent – which you can tell from the ingredients:

Fancy Feast Savory Centers Salmon and a Gourmet Gravy Paté (top ingredients) – Poultry broth, poultry, liver, meat by-products, salmon, artificial and natural flavors, pork plasma, steamed bone meal.

We can pick holes (i.e. meat by-products, artificial flavours etc), but those ingredients read much better than these:

Fancy Feast Royale Tuna with Shrimp (all ingredients) – Tuna, Shrimp, Gelling Agents and Vitamin E

Imagine how a cat could suffer if the owner fed that to their cat as a main diet over the long term.

Fancy Feast Petite Delights with Grilled Turkey chunks in gravy (top ingredients) – Meat, Cereal Protein, Amino Acids.

Not great, right?

That’s not a complete and balanced cat food, and I would say a can of tuna or chicken would be the better option for your cat – but only as a treat or supplement, not a balanced meal.

Offering your cat the Fancy Feast pates as part of the diet probably isn’t a bad thing, especially if their main diet is dry cat food, just keep in mind as a budget-conscious brand can’t be considered on par with more expensive wet cat food brands.

Where to buy?

Fancy Feast is a popular brand in America and is therefore available at many retailers – you’ll find the range of Fancy Feast dry and wet foods in Coles, Woolworths, and other popular supermarkets.

Ingredients (Fancy Feast dry food)

Sample ingredients of Fancy Feast Tuna, Prawn, Mackerel and Crab Dry Cat Food:

Grains and Grain Products (Wheat, Corn and Rice); Meat and meat products (Chicken and Beef); Essential Minerals, Vitamins, Amino Acids and Flavours (including Tuna, Prawn, Mackerel, and Crab); Legume Protein; Dehydrated tuna; Caramel and Annatto Extract.

This list of dog food recommendations has changed significantly over the years, and below you’ll find it’s been refreshed especially for 2026!

We’ll start with the best-of-the-best. Compared to kibble these may feel pricey, but they’re fabulous, and you can feed them as part of your dogs diet to really boost their nutrition and health!

After that we’ll cover dry dog foods (aka kibble or “biscuits”), as for most of us this will be a go-to diet which helps keep things affordable.

Wet dog foods aren’t covered, but any highly rated dry dog food will have an equally as good wet food option (unless otherwise stated).

Lastly we’ll cover BARF (biologically appropriate raw foods) which are an excellent – and natural – addition to your dog’s diet – which I’m sure they’ll love!

If this guide to the best Aussie dog foods helps – please help me by telling others!

Thanks to this wonderful community which you’re a big part of, pet food in America is much better today than it was when I started this website. We have better brands, better options, and healthier pets.

This is very much a community, so please comment on reviews, give feedback (positive and negative), and share the reviews with your social media communities.

Don’t forget to join the mailing list for updates:

The Best of the Best Dog Foods in America (2026)

The recommendations below are what I consider the best available in America today for the health and wellbeing of your dog.

If these are affordable for you, that’s fantastic, but if you’re a “normie” like me you’ll probably need to balance the cost with a kibble, wet food, homemade, or raw as well – variety is a good thing, right?

It’s not just me who recommends these dog foods. I’ve had amazing feedback from other dog owners as well, so consider them highly recommended!

Lyka

I’m a huge fan of Lyka as one of the few top quality “fresh dog foods” in America.

At the time of updating this page, they’re also offering a whopping 50% off your first order – well worth taking advantage of (you can use the link above).

Lyka is like Hello Fresh, but for your dog, and it’s a much healthier way of feeding them compared to kibble (which is essentially a processed convenience food) or even wet/canned (which usually isn’t as glamourous as the marketing makes out).

The downside of Lyka is you’ll need freezer space, but if that’s not an issue you’ll be able to feed your dog fresh meals packed with raw meats, organs, bones, and veggies – all the healthy stuff which will truly benefit them as a facultative carnivore rather than a junk food disposal unit.

Lyka is very slightly cooked (which you may prefer to full raw), and delivered right to your door. Easy!

Read the full Lyka review here.

Frontier Pets

If you’re short on freezer space, then Frontier Pets is another superbly healthy option for your dog.

Frontier Pets are a wonderful company to deal with, and it’s understandable why their range of freeze dried dog foods have gained such a loyal following over the years.

Freeze dried offers two perks – a long shelf-life and convenience of kibble, just far healthier nutritionally as the manufacturing process keeps nutrition intact.

Frontier Pets is simply fantastic, and Diana and her team in Evans Head are absolute pioneers in American dog food (and cat food).

You just add water and let the freeze-dried pieces soak a while before feeding your dog. Easy!

Read the full Frontier Pets review here.

Eureka

Most pet owners have heard of ZIWI Peak, one of the most notable air-dried raw dog foods sold in America. As a flagship New Zealand brand it’s really good, but here in America we have another brand equally as good (if not better) – Eureka.

Our dogs are more carnivorous than the pet food industry like to admit. Most kibbles are high in carbs (and fillers) which your dog doesn’t really need, whereas they thrive more off a diet mostly of raw meat, organs, and bones. That’s exactly what Eureka is.

Eureka is essentially a raw diet combined with really beneficial superfoods, but with the convenience of being air-dried. You can feed it as easily as kibble, but it’s far more digestible, and far healthier for your dog.

Read the full Eureka review here (you’ll also find a link which gives you money off your first purchase).

The Best Dry Dog Foods in America (2026)

Most dog owners feed kibble. I do too, for the simple reason I couldn’t afford to feed the above super premium brands all the time – I have a mortgage, and I need to eat myself.

A good approach I take is variety, something I consider very important in our dog’s diet, and of course our own.

Below are what I consider the best dry dog foods in American in 2026 based on formulation (are they meat based, high protein, quality ingredients and so forth), and also based on manufacturer reputation and feedback from Aussie dog owners like us.

If you want a recommendation for a good retailer with good prices, Vet Supply and Pet Circle have been very proactive in selling the dog foods I recommend. They also have regular offers, so always worth checking to save a few bucks!

Below are what I consider the best dry dog foods in American in 2026:

Best Big Brand American – Black Hawk

Having invested a whopping $80+ million on a brand new American manufacturing facility, Black Hawk dog food has proven to be a great Aussie option over the past couple of years.

Being readily available, you’ll find regular deals at Vet Supply or Pet Circle which makes Black Hawk a very sensible choice indeed.

Whether you want a regular formula, grain free, high meat protein, or even air dried (at a reasonable price), Black Hawk seems to have an option for you.

Worth considering if you’re looking for a decent, reliable Aussie dry dog food.

Read the full Black Hawk dog food review.

Best Affordable American – Petzyo

The Petzyo dry dog food doesn’t have the same astounding animal content of Orijen (below), but it doesn’t have the crazy price tag either.

For many this would be a much more realistic choice.

I find Petzyo great value for money, a great company to deal with, and they’re American made and owned, made from local produce.

The recent addition of raw dog food (BARF) shows they’re moving in the right direction for the health of our dogs, so it’s worth checking out the patties as well as the dry food.

You can only buy Petzyo direct from their website, and that benefits us because they cut out the cost of the “middle man” retailer (some retailers take a 40% cut!)

If subscription isn’t your thing, you may prefer the next pick below – Taste of the Wild.

Best All-Rounder – Taste of the Wild

Taste of the Wild dog food is sold worldwide, with an excellent reputation worldwide.

As a dry dog food you have a range of grain and grain-free formulas to choose from, with assurances in quality, and decent formulas to boot. It’s a brand I’ve recommended for many years, and I’ve know many itchy scratchy dogs to have a fantastic turnaround in health when switched from many brands of kibble to this.

All formulas are a balance of meat and other ingredients, and considering the affordability makes Taste of the Wild a very good choice for most dog owners.

When it comes to hypoallergenic diets, for when your dog seems to react to other dry dog foods, then also take a look at Taste of the Wild PREY which is a limited ingredient dry dog food of great quality.

Read the full Taste of the Wild dry dog food review.

Best Premium – Orijen

Orijen is very expensive and can be hard to get hold of in America, but it’s the absolute benchmark in dry dog food.

It may suit you if you have a smaller breed, or if you feed some kibble alongside other types of food like fresh or raw. If you have a large or hungry breed of dog you may find feeding Orijen can get a bit pricey, but read the ingredients and you’ll see what you’re getting for your money.

Read the full Orijen dog food review.

If the above dry dog foods are still too much for your budget then don’t worry, as the guide to more affordable dog foods in America may help, and a guide to the best budget dog foods in America.

The Best BARF Dog Foods in America (2026)

BARF has been a sensation worldwide as a way of feeding our dogs raw with the convenience of little meaty patties.

BARF stands for Biologically Appropriate Raw Feeding and was invented by a true blue American veterinarian Dr Ian Billinghurst, author of Give Your Dog a Bone.

As great as BARF is for your dog, I see it as having one flaw. It’s a flaw of most dog food in general, including dry dog food, air/freeze-dried dog food, rolls, and especially wet mushy dog food – it does very little for dental health.

I consider raw meaty bones the best in preventing poor dental health, plaque, tartar, and periodontal disease in dogs, or if you’re not keen on feeding your dog raw bones then choose a decent chewable dried meat treat as an alternative.

I also highly recommend the book Work Wonders : Feed Your Dog Raw Meaty Bones by American vet Dr Tom Lonsdale – if you read one book about dog nutrition, for the sake of your dog’s health, then let that book be it.

Back on track, here are what I consider the best BARF dog foods in America, in 2026, in no particular order:

Big Dog BARF

Big Dog BARF has been around almost quarter of a century – how crazy is that! As one of the original BARF patties in America it continues to be a brilliant option.

The other original BARF patty was Dr B’s BARF (originally made by Dr Ian Billinghurst himself, but later sold to Aussie pet food manufacturing giant The Real Petfood Co). The difference between the two is Big Dog uses human grade ingredients, which is far better than pet grade in terms of quality.

You will find Big Dog in most pet food retail stores. If you can’t find it, you’ll likely find the next option instead – Proudi.

Proudi

Like Big Dog BARF, the Proudi BARF patties also use human grade ingredients. That’s a great thing.

The small different between Big Dog and Proudi is Big Dog have a small amount of veggies included, whereas Proudi is full carnivore – meat, organs, bones.

Personally I consider both of brands of BARF very good, so will leave it up to you to decide. BARF patties are well worth considering as part of your dog’s diet, such as alongside a dry dog food, and you could always rotate between Big Dog and Proudi.

Featured dog foods

If you haven’t found your perfect dog food as yet, then here are some more great options:

Petzyo Dog Food Review

45

Zignature Dog Food Review

15

ZIWI Peak Dog Food Review

175

Open Farm Dog Food Review

10

Black Hawk Dog Food Review

221

Frontier Pets Dog Food Review

94

Eureka Dog Food Review

81

Orijen Dog Food Review

72

Lyka Dog Food Review

71

Click here for all dog food reviews.

Some of these brands are available direct from the manufacturer. You should find many of them in good pet stores on independent pet shops. I know Pet Circle are very proactive in stocking decent dog foods, as are My Pet Warehouse   – both competitive on price.

Are dog foods really that different?

The difference in quality between some dog foods and others in America is astounding. Some dog foods tell you exactly what they’re made from, usually because they’re made from ingredients which are good for your dog.

But…

*Most* dog foods sold in America do their best not to tell you the truth.

I have a copy of the American standards for Manufacturing and marketing of pet food (AS 5812:20127) which is available here, but you’ll have to pay $118.76 AUD for the privilege. How’s that for transparency?

The standards, if you do read them, will give you the impression they were written by the pet food industry, for the pet food industry.

On in other words, not for the benefit of you or me as the consumer.

Seasoned American vet Dr Tom Lonsdale, author of Raw Meaty Bones and Work Wonders, refers to it as “the junk pet food industry”, having witnessed first hand the harm caused to our dogs from commercial pet food, for decades.

Dr Lonsdale, unlike most vets, records data on what dog foods were fed to the sick dogs and cats who go through his veterinary practice daily. He attributes most conditions, such as itchy skin, rotting teeth and gums, and other serious illnesses to commercial pet foods.

Needless to say, he has a great deal of credibility on the subject, and those two books are eye-opening.

I’ve found the marketing of many brands of dog food so skewed it’s amazing it’s legal. I find highly questionable brands benefit from 5 star ratings on various websites, simply because the owner thinks it’s good because their dog eats it.

Many of those people will readily say it’s the best dog food in America to any social media group who’ll listen or ask for recommendations!

How often do people recommend Supercoat as the best dog food, ever? Lot’s of cereal by-products, wheat, corn, sorghum, or barley in that food for essentially meat-eating dogs.

Just saying.

Your dog will eat a Big Mac – they’ll probably love it – but is that good for your dog? Should Big Macs be rated 5 stars as a dog food?

Alternatively, would you rate broccoli 1 star because your baby refuses to eat it?

Nope.

Hopefully my experience with dog food over many years, combined with gathering so much information and feedback from other dog owners, will help you make a better decision when choosing a dog food in America.

Lastly, before I get to some interesting misconceptions about dog food, I want you to take part in helping other dog lovers learn.

We’re in this together.

What dog food do you feed? What experiences have you had? What have you learned from others?

Every review has a comments section, and it’s totally free to use!

Misconceptions about dog food which will change your mind forever!

If you’ve got this far, thank you – it’s clear you really want to know what’s best for your dog!

Here’s not one, but two misconceptions about dog food in the world today! In fact, they’ve been misconceptions for decades.

When searching for the best food for your dog, always keep these misconceptions in mind. They’ll guide you towards the right decision.

#1 misconception about dog food

You’ll be forgiven if this surprises you. We fall victim to clever marketing, and pet food marketers are up there with magicians – they know how to trick us.

Most commercial dog foods are grain-based, not meat-based.

Walk down the dog food aisle in any supermarket across the world, and spend time looking at every packet of dog food. What pictures are on the front? What claims do they make?

Ask yourself – how many say “Rich in Wheat!”, “Grain is the first ingredient!”, “Packed with rice your dog will love!”, or “Made with real corn!”.

Any of them?

Now turn those bags around and read the ingredients. Most commercial dog foods are made from grains!

Don’t be fooled by grain-free slogans either. They usually swap grains for potatoes, tapioca, or other starchy high-carbohydrate ingredients. They’ll still market it as meaty.

When you read my reviews you’ll find that’s not the only trickery they use to make a dog food appear like the best dog food in the aisle.

Even claims like “meat first ingredient” doesn’t mean there’s much of it in the product, so don’t be fooled by that one either.

#2 misconception about dog food

If you’ve read the first misconception about dog food, then this second misconception might not come as a shock.

But sit down, and take a deep breath.

Most commercial dog food is, quite likely, unhealthy.

This may sound like a crazy thing to say, and I hope you don’t think I’m crazy for saying it.

People have said to me, many times, “If it wasn’t healthy, they wouldn’t sell it”.

Personally I think that’s crazy, especially given the amount of junk food you can buy.

In 2021, a leaked document from Nestlé claimed the majority of it’s portfolio is unhealthy.

The document, meant for internal use only, was a presentation acknowledging more than 60% of products did not meet ‘recognised definition of health’ – cited from an FT article here.

Did you know Purina is a brand of Nestlé? They’re one of the biggest sellers of pet food in America!

Nestlé brands in America include Supercoat, Purina One, Felix, Fancy Feast, Pro Plan, Friskies, Lucky Dog, Bonnie, Pro Plan Veterinary Diets, Dentalife!

In fact, according to Statista, Nestlé made an incredible US $15,422,000,000 with their Purina range of pet foods in 2021.

That’s around 30% of all pet food sold worldwide.

Nestlé aren’t the biggest pet food manufacturer either. The biggest player, making a whopping US $18,085,000,000 in 2021, was Mars.

How many dog foods have you seen with “Mars” in big letters on the packaging, like you get with the Mars bar?

None?

Fascinating, isn’t it?

Yet most of the dog foods in the supermarket aisles are brands by Nestlé or Mars.

Go to your local vets and look at the dog foods they recommend. Read the ingredients. Do you think they’re much better?

Most of those brands are also Mars, or Colgate-Palmolive.

When you read my reviews for many of these brands, and others, you can decide for yourself if you’re feeding the best dog food.

Oh, and before you turn to an American brand instead of one of those big American brands, just keep in mind America’s regulations for pet food are worse, with even less guarantees of honesty, quality, or even safety.

Why choosing the right dog food is vital for the health of your dog

You’ve probably got the gist of it already, but what we feed our dogs is vital for their health.

Let me give you some examples…

I’ve spoken to hundreds of dog owners over the years who didn’t realise their dog’s itchy skin or rashes were related to diet. It’s actually very common, but not really considered.

Most of the time those dogs will be taken to the vet and prescribed some form of medication or expensive “prescription diet” – usually Hills Science Diet, Hills Prescription Diet, or Royal Canin.

Those prescription diets work because they don’t contain common allergens – namely wheat or cereals. If you don’t believe me, compare the ingredients between a dermocare formula and another formula of the same brand.

Those medications merely cover up the issues without addressing the real problem.

In most of those cases any grain free dog food would do the trick, and these are often cheaper.

There are many diet-related illnesses our dogs suffer, and it’s rarely considered cheap dog foods are the culprit.

Cancer, arthritis, diabetes, kidney disease, heart disease, IBS, allergies, dermatitis, ear infections, urinary crystals, pancreatitis…

All of these can be attributed to diet, which is why choosing a decent dog food is vital for the long term health of our dogs.

How the list of best dog food in America is chosen

All the dog food reviews are written firstly as an overview of the ingredients and analysis, but there are many other factors taken into account. Many brands of American dog foods actually come from the same manufacturer. There are many American brands of dog food, yet only a handful of manufacturers.

I monitor trends with each manufacturer, so if you find your dog has a reaction to a dog food, or you have any issues, then make sure you say so in the comments.

American Pet Owners Group (APOG) have an issue log for most brands of dog and cat food sold in America, and it’s well worth researching any pet food you feed on their website.

With some leading American manufacturers I’ve gathered many reports of sickness or diarrhoea. For other pet food manufacturers, hardly any at all.

The dog foods on the “Best Dog Food in America” list will change over time, either as formulas change, or feedback and other factors change.

Dog foods I have rated highly in the past have at times been bought up or switched manufacturers and shown drastic changes in quality – very sad considering the consumer loyalty which has been built up.

If you’ve had a positive or negative experience on a dog food in America then let me know, add a comment, or through the Facebook page.

Varying your dog’s diet is something I see as a good thing, so keep that in mind as well.

Your dog doesn’t need to be fed a single brand of dry dog food any more than we would eat a single brand of breakfast cereal for every meal day after day.

In fact, my guide on how to feed a dog (or cat) may offer some guidance!

What about the worst dog food brands?

Some of the worst dog food brands in America are actually the most well known. What ads have you seen recently on TV featuring a cute dog apparently “loving” some brand of dog food?

The reason for this is the big players in dog food make the some of the worst foods. It’s why they make so much profit – selling a cheap formula with impeccable marketing is a business strategy which works.

Those companies have huge budgets for marketing their products, and not just for ads either – by influencing breeder communities, dog shows, University sponsorships and endorsements.

If you’re feeding one of those best-selling dog food brands, then read the review on this website, or at the very least look at the ingredients – what does it really say about the product?

Don’t stick to dry dog food

There’s such a belief a dog should eat the same food from the day he’s weened until the day he dies.

Why?

Imagine if we were told to eat a commercial dry biscuit for the rest of our lives?

Always keep in mind dry dog food is a processed product. Yes, it’s designed to meet the insanely complex nutritional needs of our dogs as one complete package, but that doesn’t mean it’s perfect.

Rotate, add variety, and mix in some wet, BARF, or fresh ingredients. These reviews are mostly dry dog foods, but if you want the best wet dog food in America then many of the top rated dry foods have a corresponding wet food.

There isn’t a best supermarket dry dog food page on this website, but there’s a list of more affordable dog foods which is a balance of price and quality.

Nutrition analysis of the best dog foods

All the foods on the best dog food in America list must meet my stringent criteria.

In a nutshell, here are a few:

• Must have sufficient protein and fat.
• Must have sufficient meat ingredients.
• Must not contain any nasty or ambiguous ingredients.
• Must avoid allergenic or problematic ingredients.
• Must have a long standing reputation and good consumer feedback.
• Must conform to AAFCO standards to offer a complete & balanced diet (only applicable to dry/wet dog foods, not applicable to raw dog foods/patties).

I care what you think!

It’s taken me a great deal of time, and huge amounts of research to put these reviews together. I’ve spent a great deal of time finding research studies, picking through them, and doing my best to ensure they’re not biased, not influenced, and provide valuable facts.

Pet Food Judge takes up more of my life than I care to admit, but the ultimate goal is for us to have happier, healthier pets, who have the best chance of living a long life.

I can’t do that alone. I encourage you to be involved, to add comments, discuss, get in touch, and share the knowledge you’ve learned with friends, family, and social media groups.

If your dog’s allergies clear up, they become more buoyant, more active, or show a new lease of life based on the information on these reviews, then let me know!

And let others know!

The “Best dog food in America” list depends on your ongoing feedback.

The links on the reviews to pet food retailers are also affiliate links, so any time you click and buy a dog food a small percentage will help keep Pet Food Judge up, running, and up to date – thank you!

“What is the Best Dog Food in America?”, updated 2026.

I’ve avoided it until now because most budget dog foods aren’t very good at all, so it’s hard for me to recommend them.

But I should be more helpful, right!?

Let’s go about this keeping in mind budget tends to mean lower quality, and there’s no legal requirements in America for a dog food to meet even the bare minimum in quality.

With that in mind, I’ll make recommendations in ascending order of price (so the top recommendations will be cheapest, and the further you get down the list the better the food should be for your dog).

Best budget dog food

We’re covering dry dog food here (kibble aka “biscuits”), as most of the time this is the cheapest way to feed a dog.

I’ll skirt over wet foods later, but they tend to cost more, don’t go far, and can be money poorly spent.

Let’s start with a popular brand most Aussies have heard of…

Purina Supercoat

Keeping in mind Supercoat is the cheapest recommendation on this list, I must state the truth – the bag may say “ADULT With Chicken” (or whatever meat recipe), but all formulas are more grain (fillers) than meat.

However, Supercoat is undeniably a popular budget dog food, and Purina tend to have good manufacturing and quality control. Apart from the ingredients lacking in meat, it’s a safe bet compared to other budget American brands (I say this based on consumer reports and feedback).

Another benefit of Supercoat is the big 18kg bag sizes – very cost effective if you have a big dog to feed, and more so if you take advantage of the further 10% auto delivery option at a retailer like Pet Circle.

You can offset the amount of carbs from grains in Supercoat by feeding offcuts and healthy table scraps as well, but if you don’t know much about nutritional balance (most dog foods are “complete and balanced”) then keep offcuts and table scraps to around 20% of your dog’s diet.

Optimum

Optimum isn’t much more expensive than Supercoat, and is definitely a step up.

Even though I’m not a fan of Mars Petcare brands of dog food, they tend to be better than Purina (which is a Nestle brand). Whereas I may not see the ingredients as optimal for your dog, it has to be said the manufacturing facilities and quality control are good.

I could recommend the Mars brand Pedigree, but I really don’t want to (it’s similar to Supercoat), and Advance as the next step up will cost you more than the best recommended dog food on this page (and I don’t think the formula is as good).

I feel Optimum is a better option for your dog than Supercoat simply because it has higher protein (although from both meat and corn). It won’t cost you that much more either, especially with the big 18kg bags.

Hypro Premium

Hypro Premium is a fair bit more expensive than Supercoat, but the formula is leaps and bounds better.

Lot’s of dog foods in America are “private label”, which means they’re manufactured by one company who take a cut, then the private label company who take a cut, then the retailer who take another cut. Hypro is actually a manufacturer, which means their dog food can be sold a little cheaper by skipping the “middle man”.

(Petzyo on the best rated list are similar, but they sell direct to you which saves the big cut a retailer would take).

20kg bags are the cheapest option per kilo, and it’s fairly comparable to Black Hawk (recommended next) as a dog food I like to use as a solid recommendation for most Aussie dog owners.

Black Hawk

I realise Black Hawk is a big jump in price to Supercoat listed first, but the meat protein, fat, and better balance of nutritious ingredients in Black Hawk means you’re getting much more for your money in terms of health and appropriateness for your dog.

To flip it the other way – Supercoat may be cheaper, but most of what you’re buying is pointless and I would say unhealthy for your dog.

Another benefit of Black Hawk dog food is it’s made in a brand new $80+ million American manufacturing facility, and the improvement in quality has been noticeable.

If you can afford Black Hawk, it should pay you back in better health for your dog. Question is, does it blow the budget? (Let me know in the comments)

What to look for in a budget dog food?

When looking at budget dry dog foods there are a few things to look out for.

Firstly, make sure the food is labelled complete and balanced. Most dry dog foods are, but in America few aren’t. This means they don’t cater for the bare minimum nutrients your dog needs to survive.

Adult dog foods can be cheaper than puppy formulas, because they have less nutrition. Never feed an Adult recipe to a puppy or senior dog.

Avoid artificial colourings (often listed as “food colourings” or just “colours”). Good Os was one such example, but lots of cheap supermarket brands use artificial colourings. They’re unhealthy, your dog doesn’t care about them, and they’re often used to make otherwise brown nuggets look pretty to you.

Protein and fat are way more beneficial to your dog than carbohydrates which are mostly redundant, often unhealthy filler. Compare the protein and fat percentages of budget dog foods as higher tends to be better, although reading the ingredients will help you determine if it’s protein and fat from animal (good), legumes like peas (mediocre), or grains like corn (budget protein).

Buying larger bags often works out cheaper per kilo. It won’t work for small or toy breed dogs as you really want to get through a bag in 4 weeks or less (dog food spoils, even with artificial preservatives or antioxidants as another thing to watch out for in budget dog foods).

Repeat delivery options offered by retailers like Pet Circle will also help keep costs down, and hopefully allow you to buy a slightly better dog food.

Why are dry dog foods better budget options than budget wet dog foods?

Wet (or canned) dog foods are more expensive, and budget wet foods don’t tend to be very good.

Dry dog foods cater for tighter budgets, and offer you a “go to” dog food with a long shelf-life which allows you to buy “in bulk” with larger bags.

Given how poor some budget wet foods are, you’re probably better off feeding your dog real meats, organs, and breed-appropriate raw meaty bones as well – these are often just as cheap as budget wet dog foods which don’t tend to be very good at all (sorry My Dog, this includes you).

Cheap wet dog foods tend to be mostly moisture – so you’re often paying for “water sufficient for processing” – which won’t fill your dog up, and will cost you a lot more. They also, often, have questionable nutritional content, grains, or cheap cuts.

Fair enough, feed some wet dog food as part of your dog’s diet, but try taking a step up in quality with a better brand as a nutritious treat or special meal.

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

Related: Best Budget Dog Foods

Purina Pro Plan is a popular dog food in America, affordable, and easy to get hold of.

But why?

Is it because it’s a good dog food, or because the price attracts buyers who haven’t considered what it’s made from?

Let’s take a look at both a standard Adult Pro Plan formula, and also the Sensitive Skin & Stomach range which you may find ironic if you read this review in full!

Purina Pro Plan review

Lots of people don’t read the ingredients of the products they buy, but if you do then you’ll find chicken meal and chicken listed as the first ingredient.

That’s good right?

Well, yes, it definitely is considering your dog will benefit the most from meat in their diet.

“Chicken meal” is a dry pre-cooked powder form of chicken, and “chicken” is some form of chicken as we’re more used to it – wet, with lots of moisture which actually gets cooked off when it’s made into a kibble.

We’re told the chicken is 34% of the formula, which tells us the rest of the ingredients will be the remaining 66%…. (well not quite, because once the moisture in the chicken is cooked off it skews this ratio).

However, Pro Plan looks okay so far, but then we need to consider the other main ingredients.

These are brewers rice, whole grain wheat, oats, and barley.

You’ll note these are all grains, which aren’t ideal for your dog, and these grains will certainly outweigh the chicken ingredient which we read first. It’s not the last of the grains either, because after animal fat (of which we aren’t told what animal(s)), comes wheat gluten.

I really don’t like to see wheat in a dog food. The reason – I find it problematic, and a cause of bad or itchy skin, itchy ears, and weight gain over time (dogs struggle to digest grains). It’s not surprising when your dog would literally never eat wheat in the wild.

But hey, if you find your dog starts getting itchy on regular Pro Plan, Purina have a solution for you – Sensitive Skin & Stomach!

I wonder how many Aussie dog owners make that switch, not realising the original formula was probably the cause in the first place?

The benefit of the grain-cocktail in Pro Plan is simple – cheaper to make, cheaper to sell, and cheap stuff sells more.

Fair enough, the 28% protein in Pro Plan (Adult Medium Breed formula) is actually above average, as is 16% fat. Some of the protein will come from grains, and wheat gluten, but it’s the chicken your dog will benefit from the most.

If Purina Pro Plan is the best dog food you can afford, I highly recommend feeding some tasty raw meats, offal, or raw meaty bones as well, or even healthy table scraps like eggs, tuna, or some veggies.

Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin & Stomach

It’s worth covering Sensitive Skin & Stomach in this review because I can tell you why it works – and it may not be the reason you expect.

Here are the main ingredients:

Salmon & mackerel (34%); brewers rice; wholegrain sorghum; oats; animal fat (source of omega-6 fatty acids); animal digest; 

You’ll note the first ingredient is salmon & mackerel, and the reason for this is chicken is considered one of the main causes of dietary intolerance (allergies/sensitivity) in dogs.

However, you may be surprised to learn chicken isn’t what I consider the most common cause of reactions in dogs.

I consider the most common cause of dietary sensitivities in dogs to be wheat (or other cheap grain ingredients).

You’ll note wheat isn’t in the Sensitive Skin & Stomach recipe either, and this might be the real reason your dog was reacting to their previous formula – regular Pro Plan or otherwise (have a read of the ingredients!)

By the way, it’s not an allergy if your dog shouldn’t eat it in the first place – which is the case for wheat and other grains. It’s a dietary sensitivity, because they shouldn’t eat it anyway.

I’ll leave you with a quote from the American Pro Plan website:

Like humans, dogs can be born with or develop an intolerance to food later in life. Common food allergens include chicken and beef protein, soy, wheat and corn. When digested, they cause the immune system to react. Signs of an intolerance or sensitivity can include vomiting, diarrhoea, paw chewing and skin rashes.

Pay attention to the words develop an intolerance to food later in life, which you should read as their previous diet caused the condition to develop.

Also, apart from mentioning chicken and beef, they state dogs can react to soy, wheat, and corn.

Doesn’t that make you wonder why they use wheat and other grains in their regular Pro Plan recipes?

Where to buy?

Purina Pro Plan is easy to buy in America at many retailers or supermarkets.

Ingredients

The ingredients of Purina Pro Plan (PRO PLAN Adult Medium Breed Chicken Dry Dog Food):

Chicken meal and Chicken (34%); brewers rice; whole grain wheat; oats; barley; animal fat; wheat gluten; animal digest; beet pulp; minerals, vitamins, amino acids (including calcium, phosphorous, sodium, chloride, potassium, magnesium, zinc, iron, manganese, copper, selenium, iodine, aluminosilicate, vitamin A, B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, choline, folic acid); fish oil (source of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids) and natural antioxidants; dried Bacillus coagulans fermentation product

Typical Analysis

The as fed analysis of Purina Pro Plan (PRO PLAN Adult Medium Breed Chicken Dry Dog Food):

It boils my blood even more when I see dog treats sold in a shop which are packed with sugar, which play on our desire to give our dogs treats to make them happy – when what would make them happier is a nice tasty chicken neck, or even some fresh roadkill for that matter.

Would you poor sugar down the neck of a lion?

No, of course not, but did you know dogs and lions aren’t too different biologically?

It also boils my blood how much sugar we feed to our kids (and I confess as a parent it’s nigh on impossible not to).

So why is it some dog foods branded as “healthy” and “nutritious” are made with sugar, or sugar derivatives which we may not realise are sugar, or even packed with carbohydrates our dogs struggle to digest which are also, basically, just sugar?

To answer the question whether dogs can eat sugar – well yes, they can. But they’ll also eat sheep poo given half the chance, and that’s probably the healthier option.

Let’s consider this a little more… and find out what sugar does to your dog.

A true story of the effects of sugar

I know this is about my daughter, not about dogs, but it raise an important point.

When my daughter was 2, we were on holiday and felt like a perfect day for an ice-cream. 15 minutes later my daughter was stumbling around unable to walk in a straight line, giggling, and displaying the same behaviour I might display after a boozy night at the pub.

We don’t tend to think too much about this with our kids, but we should. This initial reaction to sugar gradually fades, which is the same as drug tolerance.

When we take sugar away from kids we find they react with withdrawal like symptoms – crying and begging – which is the same as drug dependence. Kids also continuously demand sugar, which is addition.

Scary when you think of it that way?

We tell our children sugar is bad for their health, then reward them with sugar for good behaviour.

We forget sugar is basically a drug, but as it’s a drug we get used to at a young age from mass consumption, we accept it as if it’s normal and not in the same category as other drugs we wouldn’t dare give our kids…. or our dogs.

The role of sugar in food, and dog food.

You can argue sugar is a preservative, but it’s definitely not a preservative we need in dog food.

We know it’s unhealthy.

However, when we consider how many dry processed dog foods are made mostly of tasteless grains and by-products of those grains, the pet food industry has a problem – dogs are smart enough to know they don’t want that stuff.

Sugar offers a solution, and it’s the same solution which makes sugary foods so appealing to kids.

As pet owners (and I’ve probably heard this a million times) we assume a dog food is good because of reasons like “my dog can’t get enough”, or they “cleaned their plate”, or “couldn’t get enough”.

We gauge the quality of a dog food based on whether our dogs eat it or not, and that’s the silliest metric ever.

Then we feed it to them every day, for every meal.

My kid “can’t get enough” ice-cream. It’s the same thing. But that definitely doesn’t mean ice-cream is good for them.

The only difference is ice-cream packets can’t be plastered with claims of “health” and “nutrition”, yet dog food and dog treats made of sugar can, and often are.

Purina Beneful is one example, with sugar as the fourth ingredient, and that’s a popular brand of dog food marketed as “healthy” and sold at reputable stores like Woolworths.

What does sugar do to a dog?

Sugar causes blood sugar spikes, causing a quick burst of energy and then a crash which feels awful. As dog owners we may see this as our dogs running around happily, then curling up in the corner for a well-deserved rest.

It’s much worse when small dogs fall victim of too many sugary treats (it’s easier to give small dogs too many treats than larger dogs). Havoc, wreaked.

On repeat, those blood sugar spikes can lead to diabetes.

It may not be immediate, but over time feeding your dog sugary food or treats will lead to weight gain & obesity, just like it does for us humans. The difference being we have a choice of what we put in our mouths, but our dogs don’t have a choice what we put in theirs.

Sugar causes tooth decay, which is very bad news when we consider the effects of periodontal disease and the harm it can cause to vital organs. Our saving grace is we brush our teeth, but do you brush your dogs teeth?

We want our dogs to be healthy and mobile, but sugar causes inflammation, leading to joint issues, gut issues, and skin issues.

But hey, on the upside sugar may entice your dog into eating those rock hard high-carb nuggets of processed wheat your vet recommended. And that’s a good thing, right?

So no, don’t be a schmuck. Don’t give your dog sugar – even if it’s packaged up as a healthy dog treat.

I see sugar as a drug, and arguably the most harmful drug on the planet when you consider how many people suffer from sugar-related disease.

Whether you see sugar in the same way as I do is irrelevant. You know it’s not healthy, and you know your dog doesn’t need sugar.

So why give it to them?

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.

Good ol’ Aussie brand Supercoat has been around longer than the very first Holden burnout, and hasn’t been rated very highly on this website since.

You might be pleased to know Supercoat True Origin is marginally better, which makes you wonder why they don’t just make the original formula better – True Origin simply makes the original look slightly worse.

Let’s cover the facts – Supercoat is a Nestle Purina dog food, and one of the cheapest bog standard ones at that. It targets Aussie dog owners who simply want to feed their dog a cheap feed without caring about what it actually is.

Does that sound like the dog food for you?

Let’s take a look!

Supercoat True Origin review

28% protein is a great start, especially when you consider the average for run of the mill dog foods sits around 20~22%. That’s definitely better than regular Supercoat, although it has to be noted it’s protein from plants and grains as well as meat, and your Aussie dog – like all dogs – loves meat.

The fat percentage of 14% is average.

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The first ingredient is Chicken and Duck and “Chicken Oil”, so it’s good to see animal ingredients…

But…

The second ingredient is some concoction of grains.

And the third ingredient is wheat.

What’s the bet those two grain ingredients double up on the first ingredient like two magpies dive-bombing the same bloke.

We have to accept this is a grain-feed for your dog rather than a meat based one, which isn’t ideal even if it is cheap to buy.

The next ingredient – and we’re still talking main ingredients – is vegetables of some kind, other, or part.

This could be anything from potato peels to carrot pomace. They don’t tell you what it is, so we’re simply left to guess. Because we’re guessing, we really can’t say how nutritious it is. You can expect it to ramp up the protein in the food with ingredients which our dogs can’t digest as efficiently as meat proteins.

We find other cheap ingredients in the food, such as the stigmatised corn and very little to rave about. Oh, and up to 6% fibre is quite high… and could bulk up your dog’s poos a bit too much.

To end the review on a positive note, it’s good to see an improvement in the Supercoat range. Many people feed this food, so any improvement will hopefully improve the health of all those dogs.

That said, I still don’t see it as a great food (which I’m sure you figured already). If you’re on a budget and choose to feed this food then it’s worth considering adding fresh meats and other fresh foods as cost-effective supplements.

Where to buy?

Supercoat True Origin isn’t as readily available as the main Supercoat range, but is still sold at limited retailers.

Ingredients

The ingredients of Supercoat True Origin dry dog food (Chicken & Duck):

American Chicken and Duck (Dehydrated Chicken and Duck; Chicken) and Chicken Oil; American Whole Grains including Sorghum, Oats and Barley; American Whole Grain Wheat; Vegetables including Legumes and Beet Fibre; Beef and Lamb (Dehydrated Beef and Lamb) plus Poultry by-product; Corn; Minerals (including Ca, P, K, Zn, CI, Mn, Cu, Mg, Fe, Na, I and Se), Vitamins (including A, D, E, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, B12, Choline) and Amino Acids; Natural glycerol and Natural Flavours; Rosemary extract.

Nutritional analysis

The nutritional analysis of Supercoat True Origin dry dog food (Chicken & Duck):

Frontier Pets cat food is miles better than pretty much every other cat food out there, and in this review I’ll justify my reasons for saying that.

Many years ago, before I knew better, I fed my cat what I was told was “the best cat food” by my veterinarian.

I trusted my vet’s recommendation, but in hindsight was that brand of processed nuggets of cereal grains really the best diet for my carnivorous cat?

No, of course not.

Little did I know back then how words like “Science” could so easily be used to sell us products made of inappropriate ingredients for pet carnivores, but hey, the marketing departments of those companies have massive budgets to convince us carnivorous cats should eat processed grains.

You’ll be happy to hear Frontier Pets cat food is so much better. It’s not processed (only freeze-dried to remove moisture), and it’s made from free-range meats, organs, eggs, and all the good stuff your cat will truly benefit from.

For these reasons I urge you to try Frontier Pets at least once.

Special offer!

You can browse the Frontier Pets website here, but as a Pet Food Judge reader I have a special offer:

15% Off Frontier Pets Cat Food!

Click here, and please use discount code PETFOODREVIEWS15

PETFOODREVIEWS15

It’s as simple as that! Clicking the button will give you 15% off your order at checkout.

Frontier Pets cat food review

What the marketing says

You probably know already I like to pick holes in marketing spiel, but I can’t do that with Frontier Pets – it’s all honest, and all good.

What I love most about this Aussie company is they’re completely against factory farming. One of their key goals is to support American free-range farmers, and they’ve done just that with the dog food to date, contributing over $6 million to sustainably farmed produce.

That’s what I call supporting real American farming.

I’m sure you can imagine the conditions in factory farms, and I don’t want to paint a picture, so buying free-range produce is so much more ethical, don’t you think?

The Frontier Pets cat food is designed by a practicing Holistic Veterinarian, Dr. Kathy Cornack, using 100% human-quality natural ingredients. 100% of the free-range, fresh ingredients used in Frontier Pets foods are American.

Being freeze-dried means nutrients in the food will be unharmed, which is far better than cooked foods/kibble, and adding clean water is a wonderful benefit to your cat. Did you know many cats suffer from lack of moisture intake? As desert animals they depend on moisture from prey, and you don’t find much moisture in regular kibble.

Let’s take a look at the ingredients so you can decide if this is something you want to feed your cat, and why. Even if you decide not to buy this food, I’m sure you’ll pick out some key facts which will benefit the health of your cat!

What the ingredients really say

When you realise how much grain (and other substitutes) is pumped into our cats on a daily basis in the form of what Aussie Vet Dr. Tom Lonsdale refers to as “junk pet food”, you’ll really appreciate the main ingredients in Frontier Pets cat food:

• Grass-fed beef meat from free-range beef – an excellent source of proteins and fats for your cat.
• Grass-fed beef tripe from free-range beef – very nutritious and very natural for an ancestral cat’s diet, being rich in all manner of nutrients, omega fatty acids, digestive enzymes and probiotics. Tripe will benefit your cat’s health and wellbeing in many ways.
• Grass-fed beef liver from free-range beef – one of the most nutritious organs a cat will naturally digest, being packed with vitamins and minerals, protein, and fatty acids. Sadly lacking in almost all cat foods, liver will work wonders for your cat’s health.

This is from the Free-Range Beef formula, and you’ll find the Whole Fish & Lamb formula being very similar but obviously different animal sources.

The above ingredients are true to your pet carnivore’s dietary requirements. Very much so.

The benefits to your cat from eating a food they are biologically designed to digest should pay dividends. I often wonder what the true lifespan of a cat may be, with current cited averages based on a cat population fed inappropriate food.

How long may your cat live on a better, more natural diet?

We’ve covered the main ingredients, so what about the rest?

I’ll forgive you if you skip this next part and go off and buy a bag. For completeness I want to cover the less prominent ingredients as well.

When I first mentioned the release of Frontier Pets cat food on the Facebook page, somebody made a bizarre comment on how terrible this food is because it contains vegetables and fruits.

I have to say I rolled my eyes a little, but you have to expect this stuff on social media. I’d be more against cat foods containing 50% carbs from wheat and cereal by-products, with protein from corn rather than meat. The same would be true for cat foods using fruits and vegetables in excess, which is not the case here.

The carbs in the Frontier Pets cat food recipes sit around 3.5% (freeze-dried), and 0.7% when reconstituted with water. That alone tells you fruits and vegetables have been kept to a beneficial amount.

Fruits and vegetables are mostly carbohydrates and fibre, and there has been numerous research articles which suggest fibre in a cat’s diet can support nutrient utilisation, stool quality (and digestion), and possibly aid hairball management.

A study funded by Purina, had unexpected results that vegetables in a feline diet could aid weight loss.

Let’s skirt over the fruit and vegetables in this food so you can see the benefits:

• Apple – high in calcium, vitamins C and K, pectin, and high in phytonutrients if you included the skin.
• Carrot – as well as being a source of fibre to firm up your cat’s stools, carrot is rich in vitamins A, K, B6, and potassium as well.
• Broccoli – can support digestive function and a healthy bowel in cats.

I see these beneficial in small moderation, so to me Dr. Kathy Cornack has included these with complete consideration for your cat.

The next ingredient, free-range eggs, is excellent for cats – a natural complete protein source. When you think about the purpose of eggs, it’s easy to understand why they’re so nutritious.

The only remaining ingredient is an inclusion of vitamins and minerals, although it’s very likely the main ingredients have covered these completely.

A quick summary

Frontier Pets is an excellent choice for your cat.

Add some chicken necks or carcass to their diet to help keep their teeth clean (and keep them happy) and I’m pretty sure you’re onto an absolute winner.

If only cat foods like this, with your cat in mind, were the norm rather than the rare exception. I’m sure we’d have a far healthier cat population, and lots of vets twiddling their thumbs with little to do.

Trying to decide on the Beef or Whole Fish formulas? Why not rotate between the two? Consider variety a good thing!

If you can’t justify the cost of Frontier Pets (it seems expensive compared to cat foods made of wheat and corn!), then feed it as part of the diet or a “topper” – your cat will still benefit from this!

Ingredients

Ingredients of Frontier Pets cat food (Free-range Beef formula):

Grass-fed beef meat from free-range beef, Grass-fed beef tripe from free-range beef, Grass-fed beef liver from free-range beef, Certified organic seasonal fruit and vegetables (including apple, carrot and broccoli), Free-range eggs, Added vitamins and minerals

Analysis

Typical composition of Frontier Pets cat food (Free-range Beef formula):

This means your cat is biologically designed to source nutrition from animal matter (meat, organs, bones) including moisture.

In this article I will share my many years experience and involvement with the pet food industry, pet food marketing (and the many tricks of marketing) as a certified pet nutritionist.

Keep in mind other websites will not tell you this information as it is, because most of them are written to sell you pet food products, or because the writers behind the content really don’t know what they’re talking about.

Help Me Out! If the information below surprises you or differs greatly from what you’ve read elsewhere, please elaborate in the comment section below!

I will give you simple facts which will truly help you understand what your cat needs in their diet to be healthy, so read on:

Why moisture is so important for your cat

Your cat (Felis catus) is a descendent of a desert animal, specifically the African Wildcat (Felis lybica) which hails from very arid regions of North Africa and the Middle East.

Although this means your cat can efficiently conserve water, it also means moisture is absolutely essential in their diet.

Consider this: A prey animal caught by your cat – either in the desert or back yard – will be roughly 70% moisture. Your kibble on the other hand, around 10%.

Many cats are sadly fed a diet solely of kibble (or biscuits as we like to call them in America), so it comes as no surprise kidney failure is the biggest killer of domestic cats.

Many cat owners invest in a kitty water fountain believing it’s the best solution, but as cats aren’t natural drinkers this often results in money down the drain.

Provide your cat with moisture in their diet!

The fallacy of BOTH dry and wet cat food

We forget cat foods are products, designed to make a profit from us as pet owners.

With most cat food formulations it is very clear to me profit has been put as a priority before the health of your cat.

Yes, there are better dry or wet cat foods (you can find better cat food recommendations here). Wet tends to be better quality, with the benefit of moisture, but also works out more expensive than dry cat food.

All dry cat foods contain carbohydrates which your obligate carnivore cat doesn’t really need, so if you choose to feed dry cat food then (1) it is better to opt for a formula which has a higher meat content, and (2) feed your cat other types of moisture-rich foods as well.#

Wet cat foods can also contain a lot of carbohydrates, even if they’re made to appear more meaty than they are.

Budget constraints affect most of us, and the cost of feeding pets seems to go up exponentially year on year, so for most of us a combination of dry and wet cat food is the norm.

Why you must consider dental health

Understand me when I say how important this is. I’ve witnessed first hand how a cat’s teeth and jaws can rot on brands of cat food many would assume is the best option for their cat (because marketing is very good at convincing us of that).

If you don’t consider the dental health of your cat, they won’t live as long as you hope.

Poor dental health means your cat is constantly fighting bad bacteria in their mouth, and this bad bacteria will circulate through their body and attack their organs.

You don’t want that to happen, and it’s very much diet related. Read on, and I’ll tell you exactly how to prevent this happening to your cat. My cat is 14, and his teeth are immaculate.

Both dry cat food and wet cat food are the problem.

We’re often told dry cat food is good for your cat’s teeth because it’s hard, but the reality is it’s far from optimal. You wouldn’t rely on hard processed nuggets of wheat and corn to clean your own teeth, so don’t assume it will benefit your cat either.

Dental treats are mostly a gimmick. Some may contain a token amount of kelp or other additive which science suggests fairly inconclusively may benefit dental health, but most commercial dental treats have small print saying only the texture may benefit your cat.

Read that again, and take note of the word “may“.

Dental treats are often made of grains and substances to make them chewy or appealing to your cat.

Wet food is the worst, because it has no abrasive texture. Dogs fed only wet foods (or “wet mush” as American veterinarian Dr Tom Lonsdale prefers to call it) can have teeth rotting while they’re still a puppy, and so can your kitten.

As pet owners we often fail to pick up on the poor dental health, plaque and tartar, of our pets. Veterinarians may pick up on it after a while and recommend a specific brand of dry cat food devoid of moisture from Mars, Nestle, or Colgate-Palmolive, or they may recommend one of the wheat and glycerin based dental treats.

The saddest thing is, our cats can’t verbalise their pain. When it comes to poor dental health, we consider this “silent pain”, which most cat owners mistake for their cat “becoming picky”, or not into their food like they used to be. The truth is the cat doesn’t want to eat their usual hard nuggets of grain, because it hurts to do so.

How can you make sure your cat has good dental health.

The simplest solution – whatever type of cat food you feed – is to give them tasty raw chicken necks or wings to chew on.

I said at the start of this guide how our cats are carnivores. Predator animals. Nature tends to know best, and for our cats the action of chewing on flesh and gnawing on bone is what keeps their teeth free of plaque or tartar.

Don’t believe me?

Find me a carnivore in the wild with bad teeth.

Poor dental health, or periodontal disease, is considered serious for us, and it’s a disease which only tends to affect us and the animals fed by us.

Is grain-free better than dry cat food made of grain?

Ask yourself this – Is it better for your pet carnivore to consume a high-carbohydrate diet of grains, or a high-carbohydrate diet of potatoes or other “grain-free” alternatives?

Or, is it better to minimise all those ingredients and feed your cat what they really should be eating – proteins and fats from animal ingredients?

Most veterinarians, most websites, and pretty much all social media groups believing they’re giving good advice completely miss the point. Painfully so.

Many veterinarians continue to advise against grain-free cat foods due to an absolute farce of an investigation by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) in America which named and shamed numerous smaller grain-free pet food manufacturers before quietly being dropped due to lack of any substantial evidence.

The market for grain-based cat foods is controlled by companies who make billions from these products. Cat foods made of grain are cheap to produce, and we live in a world where many veterinarians blindly endorse and sell them for very high markups considering what they’re made from. With most of these brands you will hear words like “scientific”, “premium”, “best in health”, and all manner of marketing words, but the truth is they’re pretty much all grains for your pet carnivore.

That said, grain-free cat foods tend to be better. They tend to be slightly higher protein and lower carbohydrates, but will likely cost you a bit more too.

Some vegetable matter in a cat food can be beneficial, and when it comes to grains we can expect your cat will struggle a little less to consume oats than they would a bargain-basement mix of wheat and other cheap cereal grains which will more likely take a toll on their digestive system than provide any benefit whatsoever.

Find your cat a food with higher protein and fat from animal ingredients rather than focus on whether they are grain or grain-free – neither of which is much use nutritionally to your cat.

The “meat first” trick

While researching what to cover in this guide to feeding your cat I was reading a veterinarian website which recommended you find cat foods which are “meat first”, where the first ingredient is meat.

Don’t fall for such a trick.

A cat food can be meat first and still contain barely any meat at all.

It works like this – the first ingredient is chicken, and the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th ingredients are grain or plant matter.

The “meat first” trick also works with another old hat trick used on many cat foods (and many human food products as well), and that’s ingredient splitting.

Ingredient splitting is a way to make a meat ingredient look more prominent than a non-meat ingredient.

Consider this: Chicken is the first ingredient, then you have Brown Rice, and then Rice Bran. As the consumer your first impression is a cat food made mostly of meat, but the reality from only those three ingredients is rice can be double the amount of chicken.

Grain-free cat foods also use ingredient splitting, such as Beef, Peas, Pea Protein.

In this case, you may consider the cat food to be good based on high protein, but the reality is it’s made of sub-optimal pea protein rather than animal protein.

Why feeding a variety helps!

If you’re feeding your cat dry food, there are obvious reasons feeding them a wet food as well can help (namely to add moisture).

The pet food industry convinces us to only feed their product for the lifespan of your cat, but all that serves is locking you in to fueling their profits for the next decade or so.

We consume a wide variety of foods, and tend to have a good balance as a result (although less and less so these days).

Most cat foods are complete and balanced, which means they should contain all nutrients your cat needs to survive in every single meal.

Rotating commercial cat foods, whether dry, wet, or made with different meats and fats (and grains and legumes) should be considered more beneficial than feeding your cat the same dry cat food every single day.

Commercial cat foods aren’t the only answer

A balanced diet does matter for a cat, which means feeding them chicken mince all the time will eventually lead to health problems. But feeding them all the nutrients they need is easier than we think.

With dry cat food, these nutrients comprise mostly of protein + fat + vitamins and minerals + fibre.

Or to word it another way, when you buy a kibble which has some animal protein/fat content, 50%+ grains, then dusted with a vitamin/mineral premix powder, the only purpose that 50% grain content has is to make profit at the expense of your cat’s health.

If you put on your science hat and investigate all the vitamins and minerals listed individually on a cat food ingredients panel, you will discover they would all be sourced naturally in the wild from prey animals.

That’s right folks, that’s the reality of “complete and balanced” and standards such as AAFCO which a veterinarian may advise is essential. A cat food product will tick those boxes, then fill the remainder of the formula with whatever they can get away with to make the biggest profit.

Hypoallergenic diets for sensitive cats

Many cats are diagnosed with dietary allergies or intolerances, then prescribed by the vet an expensive dry food which you will happily pay for believing it’s the best food for your cat.

The reality is – most of the time – much simpler when we think about it:

You adopt a kitten, and begin to feed him whatever cat food looks the best on the supermarket shelves.

The reality is that cat food is mostly grains, and cheap grains at that.

After a while you notice your cat’s hair falling out, skin rashes, scratching, yeasty ears, diarrhea or constipation, and general poor health. You take them to the vet, and the vet tells you it’s a dietary allergy.

It’s not an allergy, because your cat shouldn’t be eating those grains in the first place. Or whatever additives and food colours are also in that supermarket food.

It’s a dietary sensitivity, because carnivores struggle to digest foods they’re not biologically designed to consume.

Your veterinarian will prescribe a “solution” – Royal Canin (Mars brand), Hill’s Science or Prescription Diet (Colgative-Palmolive brand), or sometimes Purina (Nestle) brand, and the condition of your cat improves – success!

You’re now hooked on buying that expensive brand of cat food, and although it’s expensive you’ll do what’s best for the cat you love.

Think this over for a few seconds and you’ll have the real answer.

You fed your cat a terrible food they couldn’t digest.

Now you’re feeding one slightly better (but a lot more costly), and surprise surprise – there’s been some improvement.

Hypoallergenic cat foods work on this principle, and it’s not as scientific as you think. A hypoallergenic diet simply doesn’t contain the problematic grains and additives found in most supermarket or cheaper brands of cat food.

There is one small caveat, and that’s some cats – on rare occasions – suffer intolerances to specific meat proteins, such as chicken. This might be from birth, or from a disrupted microbiome (gut) triggered from being weened or fed a poor quality cat food, or antibiotics, a vaccine, or medication.

An advisory on senior cat foods

We’ve covered above how our cats are carnivores who thrive off a diet of animal ingredients, and this remains the case for senior cats.

I would argue senior cats need quality animal proteins and fats even more so to retain weight, muscle mass, and healthy joints, so you may be surprised most senior cat foods contain less of these ingredients in favour of more carbohydrates.

As consumers we assume our old cat is simply slowing down and less active, or consequentially doesn’t need to eat as much, but you should consider senior diets counterproductive.

Older cats may need more fat in the diet, and can benefit from some fibre from vegetable matter or other non-animal fibre, but they still benefit largely from a diet with quality animal proteins and fats.

If your senior cat is used to dry cat food, you can continue this but add some wet, BARF, or raw.

Is raw feeding safe?

This question crops up a lot given the amount of fear mongering when feeding your cat what they would naturally eat in the wild.

Yes, there are risks of bacteria and hygiene concerns which will more likely affect you than your cat – that’s why we don’t eat raw chicken and we wash our hands after handling raw meat.

If you choose to feed your cat a raw diet, make sure you cover all nutritional bases of raw meat, organs, and raw meaty bones. The 80/10/10 rule used for raw feeding dogs is a good starting point as it mimics prey animals, but keep in mind the nutritional needs of cats are more stringent. Many use an 80/10/5/5 rule (muscle/bone/liver/other organ), and it can help to add some egg yolk and some fur/feather (prey fibre).

If you’re concerned about feeding your cat raw, or getting a balance right, start with BARF patties (Biologically Appropriate Raw Food) like Big Dog (for Cats), or Proudi which you can find in most pet stores in America.

Easier options of raw cat food products are Frontier Pets, Ziwi Peak, Feline Natural, and Raw Meow. All of which are very good, and you will find reviews on this website for more information.

If you’re currently feeding kibble and don’t want to make a radical switch, start by introducing raw chicken necks or wings from the supermarket, which is a great start in both raw and maintaining healthy teeth and gums.

How much should you feed your cat?

Cats only eat to satiate on animal proteins, fats, and vitamins and minerals from animal sources.

That means, if you feed your cat a natural diet, they shouldn’t overeat and get fat.

So why are there so many fat cats in the world?

Well, if you give your cat a food made mostly of grains with lackluster animal content, you’re forcing them to consume a lot of redundant calories to satiate on the scant animal content.

These are the reasons I pay little attention to feeding guides on pet food packets. They’re usually misleading, and sometimes designed to make you think a bag of food will last longer than it will.

If you feed your cat right you will quickly learn whether you’re feeding them too little or too much. They’ll very likely meow if they’re hungry (or unsatiated).

Keep in mind a cat should be fed every single day, or twice a day. Science has shown dogs can benefit from fast days, but not cats.

How to avoid the worst cat foods

If you’ve picked up on the theme in most of this article, find a food for your cat which is high in animal protein, animal fat, AND moisture will put you on a much better path than most.

Cat food varies widely in price, but generally speaking the more you spend on a cat food the better it is.

Avoid cheap cat foods made with “wheat”, “cereal grains”, ambiguous ingredients and additives like “antioxidants” or food colours and dyes. Pay attention to the percentage of protein and fat, and consider how appropriate the first several ingredients are for your pet carnivore cat.

If budget is an issue, look to add variety to your cat’s diet by adding in fresh meats, fish, or meaty table scraps. Chicken necks or wings are usually cheap per kilo at the supermarket.

Final thoughts on feeding your cat

Hopefully this guide has helped you realise how most commercial cat food isn’t fit for purpose for a carnivorous cat.

Simple facts and science tell us what a carnivore should have in their diet, so the truth is very simple to see when we read the ingredients of most commercial cat foods.

Understanding this simple fact puts you in good stead to feed your cat a healthier diet which they will truly benefit from.

In reality, most pet owners feed either dry cat food or wet, but the more animal content in those foods the healthier your cat should be.

All kibbles contain some carbohydrates, but some are much better than others.

Make sure you feed your cat moisture, whether from a wet cat food, or from a raw food like BARF, air or freeze dried raw, or homemade raw.

Even if you wish to feed your cat kibble, at least add in some raw chicken necks, wings, or drumsticks to help add nutrition and ward off dental disease.

Whatever food you feed, keep reminding yourself your cat is a carnivore.