You may be tempted to buy Chunkers dog food from the shelves of Woolworths, Coles, or IGA, because the packaging makes out it’s better – and healthier – than it is.

But how healthy is Chunkers for your dog?

Do you want to know the truth?

Yes, I bet you do – so read on, and you’ll learn what Chunker’s is really made from.

What the marketing says

The front of a bag of Chunkers is a bit deceiving.

“Complete & balanced nutrition”… “Made with quality American meat”… and two happy and healthy looking dogs.

It looks good, right…?

It’s not hard to meet the minimum nutrient requirements to label a dog food “complete and balanced”, and Chunkers only meets the bare minimum for adult dogs – not puppies, senior dogs, or pregnant bitches.

Why don’t they tell you that on the front of the bag?

“Not complete and balanced for puppies, senior dogs, and pregnant dogs” – only adult dogs.

As for “quality meat”, that’s largely open to interpretation. Using the word quality on a pet food product has no legal or regulated definition. Your mullet’s quality, mate! (But is it really?)

Let’s cover the ingredients, as they do the real talking – and they’re usually more honest than the product marketing.

What the ingredients really say

Imagine wiping the marketing BS off the front of the bag, and replacing it with “Coloured wheat flour and potato starch sweetened with sugar, with preservatives 223 and 202, for your carnivorous pet“.

Would you buy that for your dog?

I know I wouldn’t, but you could really market it this way based on the ingredients!

Ok, so there’s not much sugar in Chunkers – not that’s it’s good for your dog in any amount – but you can bet wheat flour and potato starch as the 2nd and 3rd ingredients are significant, and likely outweigh the meat.

Even with meat listed first, keep in mind meat ingredients are mostly moisture. On the other hand, wheat flour and potato starch are dry powders with very little moisture.

The result: Remove the moisture from the meat – i.e. via cooking – and meat wouldn’t be nearly as much as you may think.

Important note: Chunkers use small print on the back of the bag which states the recipes are “formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles for adult maintenance”

What that means is it’s not complete and balanced for puppies, senior dogs, or pregnant bitches.

The nutrient profiles for adult maintenance are the easiest (or shall I say cheapest) for a pet food manufacturer to adhere to, and only some of the ingredients are needed to meet those minimum standards – that’s why the rest of the dog food is filled with wheat flour and potato starch as really cheap ingredients with barely any nutrition whatsoever.

Are you starting to understand why Chunkers is cheaper than other fresh or cooked foods in the supermarkets?

You probably know food colours aren’t great (they don’t even say what type of colouring is used), and it’s not as if your dog cares about the colour of their dinner.

The preservatives are more of a concern.

Preservatives 223 and 202 are sodium metabisulfite and potassium sorbate (if you care to know). 223 is worrying as it can destroy thiamine (Vitamin B1). Thiamine is essential for converting carbohydrates into energy and for normal nerve and heart function. Without it, your dog won’t be able to metabolise glucose properly, and this can lead to neurological and cardiac problems.

Keep that in mind, especially considering the carbohydrates in Chunkers from wheat flour and potato starch.

It’s not sounding good, is it?

Not many dog foods in America use preservatives like 223 and 202, or colours, or sugar for that matter. So why does Chunkers?

Not to mention wheat has shown to be very problematic when fed to dogs, potentially leading to weight gain, lethargy, hot spots, itchy skin, yeasty ears, and overall poor health.

Even with the affordable price, does Chunkers sound like a good dog food?

Do you think your dog deserves such a food?

Even as a treat?

Where to buy?

Supermarkets and some online retailers (you’ll find better dog foods at most online retailers)

Ingredients

The ingredients of Chunkers dog food (with beef, peas, and carrots):

Meat (Chicken, Beef), Wheat Flour, Potato Starch, Amino Acid, Vegetables (Peas, Carrots), Salt, Sugar, Preservatives (223, 202), Vitamins & Minerals (including Thiamine), Colour, Food Acid, Garlic.

Typical Analysis

Please note as a cooked food sold as a wet food there is no mention of moisture content, ash content, or even fibre content (which I expect is low). This means the typical analysis tells us very little.

Typical analysis of Chunkers dog food (with beef, peas, and carrots):

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

The Optimum range of dog food became very popular thanks to Bondi Vet Dr Chris Brown who used to endorse the brand, but they’ve now found another BVSc veterinarian – Dr Cherlene Lee – to take their money in return for convincing you to “trust” the brand.

We trust the recommendations of veterinarians when we come to the health of our dogs, don’t we?

Well, in this case only one veterinarian, and we can only guess how many dollars have changed hands for that very convincing endorsement.

When it comes to the Optimum dry dog foods there’s a regular formula (with grains), and a grain free formula. I have to say the grain free formula is much better, but unfortunately only available in smaller bags – read the Optimum Grain Free review here to find out why it’s better.

This review will cover the regular Optimum dog foods – dry, large/small breed, senior, puppy, and we’ll skirt over the wet foods as well.

Related: Best Budget Dog Foods

Optimum dry dog foods

What the marketing says

“Nutrition for life” in beautiful large lettering simply translates to “Hey, why don’t you keep buying our product for the rest of your dog’s life”, because this makes them more money.

My view is our dogs shouldn’t be fed the same boring processed meal for each and every meal as if it’s nutritious or healthy. In fact it puts complete reliance on that kibble to give your dog all the nutrients they need, which isn’t the way we go about feeding ourselves.

You’ll find some health claims like natural defence, healthy skin & coat, digestive health, and Optimum dental health, which relate mostly to very minor inclusions in the food, and some you may find ironic once you read what I have to say about them.

What the ingredients really say

Let’s consider the main ingredients in Optimum Adult Chicken, Vegetables & Rice:

Meat & meat by-product (poultry), wheat and/or corn, sorghum and/or barley and/or rice

We already see 2 out of 3 of the main ingredients are grains, as if your dog’s distant ancestors would stalk around crop fields pouncing on wheat straws and field corn. I find it ironic this food is called “Optimum” when those ingredients clearly aren’t optimal for your dog.

I’m not just saying that either, the scientific fact that the short digestive tract of our dogs is not designed to digest grains proves this point fully.

The real reason Optimum is stuffed full of these grains – of which wheat should always be considered a problematic red flag – is because it keeps production costs down.

Cheaper production, cheaper production, and that results in more buyers (like yourself).

It’s not for the health of your dog.

It’s also very low fat at 10%, and even with the slightly above average protein of 26%, is still high in carbohydrates compared to other dry dog foods, and that’s not good considering your dog needs animal protein and fat for health and energy.

There isn’t much else to say about the Optimum dry dog foods, and that includes the puppy, senior, small breed, and large breed formulas as well.

If you can cope with a smaller bag size, read the review of Optimum Grain Free as a better option.

Optimum wet foods & chilled rolls

Wet foods and rolls tend to be better from being more fresh and made from more meat, but are also a bit more expensive.

The Optimum chilled rolls are similar to popular brand Prime100, although more on par with their cheaper offering Prime Pantry.

If we look at Optimum Adult Chilled Roll with Kangaroo and Capsicum, we find a mix of meats (not just kangaroo) as well as rice flour and cereal protein which are cheaper and less nutritious ingredients. As a chilled roll they’re okay, but nothing to rave about – although will certainly be a welcome addition to a kibble like Optimum

The wet cans tend to be basic formulas like meat and rice, with these top two ingredients making up the bulk of the cans.

Where to buy?

Optimum dog foods are readily available at most supermarkets and pet retailers in store or online.

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Ingredients

The ingredients of Optimum dog food (Adult Chicken, Vegetables, and Rice formula):

Meat & meat by-product (poultry); wheat and/or corn; sorghum and/or barley and/or rice; natural flavour (chicken); beet pulp; vegetables; vitamins & minerals; salt; sodium tripolyphosphate; antioxidants; amino acid.

Nutrient Analysis

The typical analysis of Optimum dog food (Adult Chicken):

If you’re looking for a decent dog food which is both easy to get hold of and affordable, then Applaws might tick your boxes.

It’s not the most premium dog food, but for the money I find it’s really decent.

You’ll find Applaws at Coles and Woolworths, making it one of the best brands on the shelves, and it’s usually available for a great price from Pet Circle.

Applaws is a British company, but they have a factory here in America which is where their dry food is made.

Consumer feedback has been really good, especially from people who’s dog has intolerances to other foods (and grains), and from researching on social media reviews seem positive.

For the sake of the Applaws dog food review we’ll take a look at the Chicken & Turkey dry recipe, but you can mix in the Applaws wet foods as well (or other foods for that matter).

Applaws dog food review

What the marketing says

Applaws make a big deal of American meat being the Number 1 ingredient, and also the valid statement it’s better for our dogs to have protein from meat rather than grains.

I consider dog’s more carnivore than omnivore, and I totally agree protein from grains isn’t the best idea.

You’ll see on the bag the Applaws dog foods have “50% meat”. Pretty good considering the affordable price. It’s a good thing the rest of the formula isn’t bulked up with a cheap filler, but we’ll get into that later.

Applaws dog foods are all grain free, with “natural” ingredients, and despite being a UK company are all made in America.

What the ingredients really say

We can break up the main ingredients into two halves:

The first “half” is poultry meal from chicken and turkey. The second “half” is a combo of faba beans, chickpeas and potato.

The first half is better for your dog – they’re meat-eaters after all.

The second half isn’t bad either, being a mix of legumes and potato.

It’s better than other brands in the price range which make out they have a lot of meat but the reality is cereals are the real bulk of the food. I don’t see cereals, especially ambiguous cereals and by-products, as beneficial to our dogs.

Meal vs “Real” meat

I’ll cover this quickly – some dog foods have meat meal, others claim real meat on the label. There’s upsides and downsides to both.

Meat meal is a dry pre-cooked form of meat. It’s basically meat protein without the moisture.

Real meat is more in it’s original form, inclusive of water. Water gets cooked off in the kibble making process, which usually means the end result is much less meat and much more other stuff than you’re led to believe.

With Applaws using meat meal (in this case chicken and turkey), it assures us the bulk of the protein in the food comes from meat rather than less-digestible sources.

Many argue one is better than the other, but it really depends on the quality of the meat in the first place.

I can’t find anything bad to say about Applaws. At 24% protein and 14% fat it’s slightly above average. There’s no glaringly bad ingredients.

There are definitely better dog foods, which you can argue are healthier, but you’ll need to pay a little more money too.

Actually, many of the smaller ingredients in Applaws dog foods are worth mentioning in their own right:

We have a combination of oils which will boost nutrition, wellbeing, and help give your dog a glossy coat – sunflower oil, flaxseed oil, and a smaller amount of fish oil.

Glucosamine and chondroitin are added which are beneficial for joint health, either aiding or acting as a preventative for arthritis and related conditions.

Mauri MOS is an unusual inclusion, added for immune support.

There’s natural pre-biotic in there as well, alongside a range of superfoods like alfalfa, spinach, blackberries, kelp, and cranberries. These will be in small amounts, but better there than not!

All in all I find Applaws dog food really good, and definitely one of the better options for the money!

Where to buy

Ingredients

Ingredients of Applaws dry dog food Chicken & Turkey formula:

Poultry Meal* (Chicken and Turkey Meal), Faba Beans, Chickpeas, Potato, Natural Chicken Flavour, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, Rosemary and Citric Acid), Sunflower Oil (source of Omega 6), Salt, Beet Pulp (natural Prebiotic), Flaxseed Oil (source of Omega 3), Vitamins (A, D3, E, C, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, B12, Choline), Minerals (Calcium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron, Zinc, Manganese, Copper, Iodine, Selenium), Fish Oil (source of Omega 3), Chicory (natural Prebiotic), Mauri MOS, Yucca, Natural Antioxidants (with Tocopherols and Rosemary), Glucosamine, Chondroitin, Alfalfa, Sweet Potato, Apples, Dried Tomato, Spinach, Pumpkin, Blackberries, Dried Kelp, Cranberries. *A natural source of glucosamine and chondroitin

Guaranteed Analysis

The guaranteed analysis of Applaws dry dog food Chicken & Turkey formula:

Let’s take a look!

4Legs dog food review

What the marketing says

I always laugh at typos on what should be a professional website. This review sprung up on the first page of the 4Legs site:

So there you have it, 4Legs is the only wet god food!

4Legs is apparently all natural, with no nasties, and locally sourced ingredients. According to the 4Legs website, 85% of ingredients are American, with 100% meat ingredients from American human-grade sources (which means originally human grade) from Inghams or Baiada.

Browsing their website for the 4Legs meatball range I noticed these only meet the AAFCO nutrient profile for Adult Dog Maintenance, which means they don’t meet the basic requirements for a puppy, pregnant, or senior dog. Keep that in mind.

Pet grade (vs Human Grade) meat

Meat in American pet food is either pet grade or human grade. There’s a big difference in standards between the two, and also a big difference in price.

Any pet food using human grade meats will tell you so. After all, they’ll be paying much more to produce it. Many top dog foods use human grade these days.

Any pet food using pet grade meats won’t mention it at all, which is the case with 4Legs. This is one of the reasons 4Legs dog food is more affordable than other raw/cooked dog foods, or why most people view those other foods as expensive.

Human grade comes with assurances with safety as well as quality.

Using pet grade meats keeps costs down, and low cost appeals to most consumers.

There’s another reason 4Legs is cheaper than other brands, and this is to do with the amount of meat used compared to cheaper non-meat ingredients. I’ll cover that below.

4Legs dog food rolls

Rolls always seem a better alternative to dry foods, and they always feel more meaty. I see different categories of dog roll, and I’ll give some examples so you can compare.

The ingredients of 4Legs Natural + Wellness Boost Chicken with Salmon, Vegies, Fruit and Brown Rice are as follows:

Meat (Chicken, Salmon), Flour, Vegetables and Fruit (Carrot, Coconut, Apple, Broccoli, Parsley), Brown Rice, Vitamins & Minerals, Natural Gelling Agents, Sunflower Oil, Pro’Age

I found it weird they’ve misspelled veggies as “vegies” on both the website and product, but wonder if that’s intentional to circumvent any legal labelling requirements. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume it’s just poor spelling. What do you think?

I see dogs as carnivores, or at least primarily meat-eaters. This is why I categorise the quality of a dog food roll based on the amount of meat to non-meat ingredients (as well as pet grade vs human grade meats).

A good roll will have mostly meat. A cheaper roll will make you think it has more meat than in does.

Which do you think 4Legs is based on the ingredients above?

We see Meat (Chicken, Salmon) as the first ingredient, so it’s easy to assume there’s a lot of meat and fish in the roll.

However, the next three ingredients can be included in the same amount. These are flour, vegetables and fruit, and brown rice.

As they’ve listed flour second, you can assume there’s a little more meat and flour than vegetables and brown rice, but that still emphasises you’re likely feeding your dog a lot of flour with these rolls.

Do you consider flour appropriate for your meat-eating dog? Do you consider flour a premium and nutritious ingredient?

We’re starting to see why 4Legs dog food is more “affordable” than other rolls.

To offer a comparison, the Balanced Life rolls have one meat + one non-meat as main ingredients, Prime100 rolls have one meat + two non-meat main ingredients. Prime Pantry rolls are a spinoff of Prime100 and have one meat to up to five non-meat main ingredients, but meet AAFCO requirements for all life stage of dog.

As for the 4Legs rolls, we’ve actually covered most of the ingredients. The more minor inclusions are vitamins and minerals as a premix to meet minimum requirements. Gelling agents is an ambiguous ingredient (what actually is it?), used to make the product look thicker and more appealing. Gelling agents can also be problematic, and aren’t considered nutritious.

There’s a small amount of sunflower oil which may have some minor benefit to your dog’s health, as well as something called Pro’Age with a trademark – I don’t know what that might be, do you? I couldn’t find that information.

4Legs Meatballs

The ingredients in 4Legs meatballs will mostly be the same as the rolls, likely from the same source, supplier, and of the same quality.

The ingredients of 4Legs Natural + Wellness Boost Chicken with Vegies, Fruit and Rice Meatballs are as follows:

Meat (Chicken), Flour, Coating (Bran, Coconut, Carrot, Parsley, Garlic), Apple, Rice, Natural Gelling Agents, Vitamins & Minerals, Sunflower Oil, Pro’Age

You can expect the coating to be mostly bran as the cheapest of that set of ingredients. Coconut, carrot, parsley, and garlic are nice to see, but may not be much of an inclusion.

This leaves the two main ingredients as meat and flour. If these are in the same amount you could consider the ingredients “Flour, Meat,…” but this doesn’t look as appealing to you as a consumer.

You can assume the apple and rice are also more than a few percent, and possibly the gelling agents to make the food look more appealing without adding nutrition.

Should you feed 4Legs to your dog?

If you’ve read this far you’ll likely have the impression 4Legs isn’t the best of dog foods?

I don’t think I’ve actually said it’s bad, I’ve just covered all the points they haven’t told you. This should give you a clearer picture about the grade of meat, and amount of meat used in these products?

It should also give you an idea why some dog foods are “cheap” and others which seem similar are more “expensive”.

Nevertheless, the benefits of 4Legs dog foods is they’re likely better than some of the dry kibbles you’ll find next to them on the supermarket shelves. Did you know many kibbles (or biscuits if you will) are more grain-based than meat based, and not usually healthy grains either?

You may find adding some 4Legs to your dog’s diet absolutely fine, and perhaps beneficial, but personally I wouldn’t rely on these products as my dog’s main daily diet.

Where to buy?

4Legs dog foods are mostly found in Coles, Woolworths, and IGA.

Nood cat food is an American brand manufactured in Thailand, and sits as one of the pricier (and better) brands in Coles.

For the sake of this Nood cat food review we’ll take a look at the Cage-Free Chicken with Probiotics Recipe, which we can consider on par with the alternative Salmon recipe.

Nood also offer a range of wet pouches and a Nood dog food range.

Nood Cat Food Review

On the packaging of Nood cat food we find a whole heap of marketing combined with a picture of succulent chicken and super healthy-looking vegetables. There’s even a slice of orange which adds some nice colour, but I can’t remember the last time I saw a cat eating orange. They state “only ingredients that matter”, but two of the main ingredients are rice and tapioca which don’t strike me as ingredients that matter to an obligate carnivore.

They tell us Chicken is the first ingredient, which it is, but that doesn’t necessarily make it the most significant ingredient. It’s possible the first 6 or 7 ingredients are relatively equal, and if we put on our Sherlock Holmes hat and take a puff of a pipe we can do some clever detective work…

One of the statements on the Nood website claims “14% superfoods and rice”. Given all the superfoods are listed a few notches down from salt at 1% we can assume most of this 14% is actually rice, not superfoods. That would suggest the first 6 ingredients are all 14%, which would give us rice, tapioca, and sweet potato as half of the main ingredients, and none of which are species appropriate for a cat.

This tallies further with chicken fat as the 5th ingredient matching the fat percentage which also happens to be 14%.

So what we seem to have is a food which is half meat, half other stuff. We’re not accounting for chicken being listed first based on wet-weight either, and this will whittle down significantly during cooking.

Nevertheless, Nood cat food is better than other cat foods we find in supermarkets, especially those made of cereal and cereal by-products which will likely, over time, lead to the terrible health and expensive vet bills for your furry friend.

So what are our options? Nood cat food might be the best many of us can afford, and if that’s the case we have a simple answer to keeping feeding within budget – perhaps feed Nood cat food alongside some nice tasty meat (or stuff like chicken drumsticks/wings/necks/offal).

One final point – we mentioned the slice of orange on the bag. Where’s the orange in the ingredients!?

We hope our Nood cat food review has been of use. If it has, let us know in the comments!

Where to Buy Nood Cat Food

Nood cat food, including Nood Cage-Free Chicken Recipe, is available in Coles supermarkets.

Nood Cat Food Ingredients (Cage-Free Chicken Recipe)

Ingredients of Nood Cage-Free Chicken dry cat food as of June 2021:

Chicken, Poultry meal, Tapioca, Rice, Chicken fat, Digested animal protein (Poultry Liver and Fish), Pea protein, Sweet potato, Salmon oil, Brewer dried yeast, Vitamins (Vitamin A, Vitamin D3, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, Nicotinic acid, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B6, Pantothenic acid, Vitamin B2, Vitamin K3, Folic acid, Biotin, Vitamin B12), Minerals (Iron, Zinc, Copper, Manganese, Iodine, Selenium), Salt, Dicalcium phosphate, Choline Chloride, Taurine, Mixed Berries (Blueberry, Cranberry, Raspberry, Strawberry, Mulberry), Green pea, Potassium chloride, Methionine, Pumpkin, Carrot, Probiotic (Bacillus subtilis), Spinach, Natural mixed tocopherols

Nood Cat Food Guaranteed Analysis (Cage-Free Chicken Recipe)

Guaranteed analysis of Nood Cage-Free Chicken dry cat food as of June 2021:

I believe Woofin Good is made in Italy, and if that’s the case I can’t comment on Italian standards of pet food manufacture, and I can’t comment on whether the manufacture is reputable. Coles are the only retailer for the brand, so likely the importer as well. That makes this a home brand.

What the marketing says

According to the Coles website the “ingredients are carefully selected to give your dog the esstentials they need”. Apart from not being able to spell the word “essentials”, it’s not even a good marketing phrase. Our dogs deserve more than the essentials, don’t they? They deserve the best!!

A couple of statements which somewhat ring true are as follows:

• Salmon oil with omega 3 and 6 fatty acids promote healthy skin and shiny coat
• Made with added glucosamine and chondroitin to help maintain joint health

Let’s delve into the ingredients of Woofin Good dry dog food to find out what the marketing doesn’t say…

What the labelling really says

We find the first ingredient to be poultry meal, but there’s no way of knowing what ratio this ingredient is compared to the next four. There’s a couple of possibilities here – either the top five are in relatively equal proportions, or the top two make up the bulk of the food. The second ingredient is rice (likely white rice), and will likely be in a similar proportion to the poultry. It’s possible the oats as the third ingredient are also a similar portion, making the bulk of the food one part meat to two parts grain.

Rice and oats are fine for a dog in moderation, but it needs to be considered we shouldn’t feed our dogs excessive grains, and it’s likely these make up the bulk of this food. To combat this it’s worth varying the diet or supplementing it with other foodstuffs. Carbs turn to sugars, especially in less energetic dogs, and we all know sugars are bad for health.

Vegetables are a combination of peas, tomatoes, and carrots, or some variation of those ingredients. Carrot tops? Who knows? That said, there’s nothing wrong with these ingredients and they have nutritional value.

In the previous section we noted salmon oil was mentioned in the marketing as a good source of omega 3 and 6 for skin and coat, but in the ingredients we find the much more controversial canola oil listed as the primary oil. Salmon oil is actually way down the list, guaranteed to be sub 1% of the product, possibly even less. Makes you wonder why they market it so prominently.

It’s nice to see glucosamine and chondriotin added, which should go some way into maintaining joint health. That’s a good thing given poor quality dog foods are likely the root cause of joint problems in dogs.

Vitamins and minerals aren’t listed specifically, so very likely a pack/powder form sourced from whichever country offers the cheapest price. Natural prebiotic sounds good, but there’s likely a reason it’s listed using an ambiguous term. They don’t tell you what it is, and if it was decent they would tell you.

Have you fed Woofin’ Good dog food? If so let us know what you think in the comments!

Where to buy?

Coles.

Woofin Good dog food review summary

Overall the ingredients aren’t too bad, but there are telltale signs Woofin Good favours budget ingredients over expensive premium ingredients. This is also reflected in the price, and supermarkets such as Coles know their consumers will always opt for cheap over quality. That said, Woofin Good seems to be one of the better offerings on the Coles shelves.

We hope our Woofin Good dog food review has been enlightening. If it has, please take the time to comment with any feedback. Have you fed Woofin Good? How have you found it? Let us know!

Ingredients

The ingredients of Woofin Good dry dog food as of February 2021 are as follows:

Poultry Meal, Rice, Oats, Beef Meal, Vegetables (Peas, Tomatoes, Carrots), Beet Pulp, Kelp Meal, Canola Oil, Fruit (Blueberries, cranberries), Salt, Vitamins and Minerals, Natural Antioxidant, Salmon Oil, Yucca Schidigera, Glucosamine, Chondroitin, Natural Prebiotic, Peppermint, Rosemary.

Guaranteed analysis

The guaranteed analysis of Woofin Good dry dog food as of February 2021 is as follows:

Pedigree has been a household name for decades. As a kid, if I was asked to name a dog food I probably would’ve said “Pedigree Chum”. After all, 8 out of 10 dogs prefer it, don’t they?

But is Pedigree a good dog food?

Let’s find out in our Pedigree dog food review…

A quick history of Pedigree dog food

Mars bought up their first pet food company way back in 1935 when they acquired Chappie Dog Food, formulated from meat scraps people didn’t want to eat. Given nobody back then knew anything about canine nutrition it became surprisingly popular.

Only a year later a rival pet food company arose known as Kal Kan, selling horse meat from retired racehorses, for dogs.

Mars later acquired Kal Kan, which in the 80s started being branded “Pedigree”.

After all, Pedigree has a better ring to it.

Pedigree dog food review

What the marketing says

Actually, lets start with what the marketing doesn’t say. Pedigree dog food is just another Mars brand. It’s one of their cheapest dog foods as well.

Do you think you would buy this for your dog if it had “Mars” in big letters on the front of the bag?

Probably not.

On the Pedigree webpage for Pedigree Adult with Real Beef they state “No Artificial Flavours”, but they neglect to mention the artificial colours. They claim it’s made with “Quality Meat Protein” and “American Made With Quality Ingredients”, but they don’t state how much of the food is “Quality” (more on this later).

We find a list of statements which make Pedigree dog food sound wonderfully healthy, such as how the crunchy pieces provide gentle abrasion to promote dental health. Absolute tosh – do we eat food to clean our teeth? No, not really.

In fact, they’ve bundled up some spin about hard kibble, grains, and nutrients required as an absolute minimum for canine health by AAFCO to be “Vital Protection“. Clever marketing boffins, aren’t they!

Let’s take a look at the ingredients of Pedigree Adult with Real Beef dog food and find out the truth for ourselves…

What the ingredients really say

The first (and main) ingredient in this Mars dog food is wholegrain cereals.

Given dogs are essentially carnivores, from the Order Carnivora, we’re already off to a bad start. You see, cereals aren’t really included for nutrition, they’re included because they’re one of the cheapest ways to produce a pet food without filling it full of urea.

You may wonder what they mean by real beef, and it’s a marketing term I find very funny given the opposite would be unreal beef. What they mean is they’re not using meat meal, which is a rendering process which turns meat and meat by-products into a powder. Real beef isn’t necessarily Quality beef.

The meat content in the food is unspecified. We don’t see “chicken” here, or “lamb”, we just see meat by-products. I thought they advertised Pedigree dog food as using quality ingredients? We don’t even know what meat they’re using other than it’s some combination of various poultry, possibly some parts of a cow, or possibly some parts of a sheep.

The truth is more likely this – they’ll use whatever animal, and whatever parts of those animals, they can source the cheapest.

We estimate over half of Pedigree dog kibble to be carbohydrates (i.e. from the significant amount of cereal grains). The 20% protein and 10% fat is really bad, and given they use a “typical” analysis rather than a “guaranteed” analysis there’s probably even less protein, less fat, and more carbohydrates.

Yep, this isn’t looking good for Pedigree, and it’s hard to understand why they market this dog food as “quality”.

It’s not.

We also find Pedigree dog food to contain colourings. We know how bad food colourings can be, and it’s not as if our dogs care about the colour of their food. This is to dupe us into thinking it’s a tastier dog food than it is.

Do you like being duped?

Undisclosed antioxidants as well. Probably not quality. Tut tut.

But wait! There’s one good thing we can say about Pedigree dog food – it’s cheap!

I definitely wouldn’t feed Pedigree dog food to my dog, and it makes me feel sad the beautiful Golden Retriever we had as a kid was fed this product.

She died of cancer, which in hindsight is not surprising.

Interesting Pedigree video

The following video discusses an issue where consumers found “wire-like material” in Pedigree dog food. Pedigree made an official announcement stating they were “natural fibres”.

Now ask yourself this – What on Earth are “natural fibres”!?

Don’t worry, I can shed some light on this as a number of pet foods have had similar issues. A natural fibre, in many cases, is animal hair. I believe Pedigree later admitted the natural fibres are “pig hair”, but from my sources in the pet food industry this is very likely hairs from the anus of a chicken (yep, chickens have hairs in their nether region).

On another funny side note, Royal Canin (also a Mars brand) tried to palm off a pet food made from “chicken feathers” which I’m sure was natural fibres en masse.

Where to buy Pedigree dog food

Is Pedigree suitable for a puppy?

Most Pedigree dog foods are formulated for adults only, which means they don’t contain enough nutrition to support the puppy phase. This is in contrast to many premium dog foods today which contain the absolute minimum nutrition to support all life stages of a dog.

There is one offering for puppies up to 24 months – Puppy Chicken With Rice – which like it’s adult counterpart is formulated mostly from cereals. As a dog is essentially carnivorous you must ask yourself if you really want to feed your beloved new puppy such a product.

Ingredients of Pedigree dry dog food

The ingredients of Pedigree Adult with Real Beef dry dog food are as follows:

Wholegrain cereals; meat by-products & meat (poultry, beef &/or sheep); natural flavours (chicken); beet pulp; iodised salt; sunflower oil; minerals; amino acid; vitamins; antioxidants; vegetable powders and colours.

Typical analysis of Pedigree dry dog food

It’s worth noting Pedigree don’t use a guaranteed analysis which offers assurance that you’re getting a minimum amount of protein, they use a typical analysis which will likely mean less protein, less fat, more carbohydrates/sugars.

If our Pedigree dog food review has been insightful, please take the time to share it with any social groups you may belong to.

Imagine you take your kids to a local restaurant. Above the door is a sign “Premium Natural Beef” with an image of a succulent steak, carrots, and peas. As you enter the restaurant you see further assurances, such as a sign saying “Premium Quality” and “From farm to plate”.

I’m sure, based on this, you’re expecting premium quality?

But what if it’s not?

What if it’s not actually beef, but some concoction with added flavourings and colourings to look like prime beef? Maybe a stack of cereal by-products, wheat, rice, sorghum, vegetable meal, or barley? Perhaps with some bits of beef, poultry, or fish thrown in?

With Farmers Market dog food, when you read the ingredients, this may not be far from the truth.

You can read the review to find out what you’ll really be feeding your dog with this food, or better yet – I’ll point you in the direction of better brands which sit in the “more affordable” category.

Related: Best Budget Dog Foods

Farmers Market dog food review

What the marketing says

On the packet you find the words “Premium Natural Food for Dogs”, “Premium Quality”, “From Farm to Bowl”, and a picture, like we said earlier, of a succulent steak, carrots, and peas.

I’m sure by now you’re questioning how accurate a representation this is of Farmers Market dog food?

It turns out the brand is made by the Real Petfood Company. If you’ve read anything negative about Woolworths Baxters or Ivory Coat then they’re two more of the many brands from this manufacturer, one of America’s largest producers of home brand and private label dog foods.

I struggle to recommend any brand from this company based on reams of negative feedback I’ve received from all manner of American pet owners like yourself, a lot of which suggest their products can cause sickness.

Nevertheless, Farmers Market dog food is very popular. Perhaps because of the marketing, perhaps because of the availability and price, or perhaps because the kangaroo formula is so Aussie you absolutely must buy it and feed it to your dog.

Kangaroo happens to be a great lean protein for dogs, but only if there’s a decent amount in the food. If that’s what you want, here’s a list of decent kangaroo dog foods.

Okay, so there’s “air-dried bits” – you can read the benefits of real air-dried food in the Eureka and ZIWI Peak reviews. The benefits in Farmers Market are questionable, which you’ll find out soon.

Related: Recommended affordable dog foods.

Let’s take a look at the ingredients…

What the ingredients really say

Further down the page you’ll find the original ingredients which weren’t great in terms of canine nutrition. Sadly, as of updating this review (March 2023), it seems the ingredients have gone down hill. These latest ingredients, taken from the Woolworths website, show how a pet food can worsen once consumer loyalty has been established.

The main ingredients you will find to be as follows:

Meat and Meat By-Products (Beef, Poultry and Fish) and/or Poultry By-Products, Wholegrain Wheat, Cereal By-Products and/or Vegetable Meal, Rice and/or Sorghum and/or Barley

This brings me back to my introduction paragraph. Is this what you were expecting? Some hash of meat by-products, grains, grain by-products, and vegetable meal (whatever that may be concocted from).

You may see meat as the first ingredient as a good sign, but what if the wheat is in the same amount, and the cereal by-products as well. And the rice or sorghum or barley or whatever hash that is which comes 4th?

Is there much meat at all?

What by-products? Leftovers from human meat production? Remnants?

There are so many dog foods which come across better than this, which I expect will be far healthier for your dog…

The last thing I’ll say about Farmers Market dog food, with all it’s glorified packaging and marketing, is they use a typical analysis rather than a guaranteed analysis. What that means to you, is they can’t even guarantee the amount of protein and fat in the food (the stuff your dog needs the most), which is usually a way of concealing there’s more carbs (or sugars) than you may think.

You have to question if you want to feed the above concoction of ingredients to your dog. I wouldn’t feed it to mine. No sir.

If you buy your dog food at Woolworths or Coles there are, thankfully, some better options. Click on those respective links for reviews of pet foods available at those big supermarkets.

Want to help fellow dog owners? Share this review!

Where to buy Farmers Market dog food

If you must…

Ingredients

Ingredients of Farmers Market dog food (With Chicken Plus Air Dried Inclusions):

Meat and Meat By-Products (Beef, Poultry and Fish) and/or Poultry By-Products, Wholegrain Wheat, Cereal By-Products and/or Vegetable Meal, Rice and/or Sorghum and/or Barley, Vegetables (including Peas and Sweet Potato), Animal Fat (Poultry and/or Beef), Palatant, Beet Pulp, Salt, Whole Linseed, Potassium Chloride, Sodium Tripolyphosphate, Vitamins and Minerals, Choline Chloride, Chicory Root Inulin, Oils (Vegetable and Fish), Natural Preservative, Natural Colour, Natural Antioxidants, Yucca Extract, Taurine.

Previous ingredients:

Beef Meal, Chicken Meal, Carrots, Peas, Wholegrain Wheat and Oats, Poultry Fat Stabilised with Mixed Tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), Vegetable Protein, Chicken Protein, Beef Liver, Beet Pulp, Chicken Gravy, Parsley, Whole Linseed (source of Omega 3 & 6), Kelp Meal, Garlic, Salt, Canola Oil Stabilised with Natural Mixed Tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Chicory Root Inulin (Prebiotic), Yucca Extract, Essential Vitamins and Minerals, Natural Antioxidants.

Typical analysis

Typical analysis of Farmers Market dog food (With Chicken Plus Air Dried Inclusions):

Pending

For this review I’ve decided to call this Nestle “chook feed for dogs” Unlucky Dog. It’s a far more applicable term given how terrible the ingredients are. In fact, if you take a look at those long pointy teeth in your dog’s mouth, consider what they’re for, then take a look at the ingredients of Lucky Dog, you’ll probably be a little shocked!

In our Lucky Dog dog food review you’ll find out exactly why you should give your pooch something else.

Lucky Dog Product Range

Lucky Dog comes in a variety of “flavours”, but when you compare the ingredients you find they’re pretty much all the same. So don’t be fooled into believing you’re offering your dog a variety. You’re not.

If we consider all formulas as the same product in different packaging, then a conclusive list of Lucky Dog formulas is as follows:

• Nestle Purina Lucky Dog Cereals/Cereal By-Products AND/OR Vegetable By-Products with Food Colourings.

Alas, onwards with our Lucky Dog review to substantiate these unlucky dog facts…

Lucky Dog Dog Food Review

What the marketing says

“Lucky Dog” is marketing, pure and simple. What isn’t covered by the marketing is the real truth about this budget dog food (and by budget I mean what it’s made from, not just the price you pay to feed this crap to the dog you love).

Lucky Dog uses the term “flavour” because the American Standard of Manufacturing and Marketing of Pet Food (AS 5812:2017) stipulates the named “flavour” has to feature somewhere on the ingredients, even as little as 1%. They could technically name all the Lucky Dog dog formulas as “Salt Flavour” given our lax standards, but it’s more appealing to you as a consumer if you believe they’re different meat or fish recipes when they’re not.

Speaking of salt, most dog foods have approximately 1%. Lucky Dog lists 2.5%, so 250% more than other dog foods. On a totally unrelated note I wonder how much salt would need to be added to cardboard to entice a dog to eat it?

On the Lucky Dog website the first statement is “made with real meat”, but note this simply means there’s some meat in there, not necessarily in a decent quantity (you’ll find out later if Lucky Dog is made from real meat). What’s “real meat” anyway? The opposite of “fake meat”?

Lucky Dog, apparently, is for “Real Aussie Dogs” too…. as opposed to what? “Fake Aussie Dogs”?

…

What the labelling really says

Lucky Dog dog food is as basic as they get. When you feed your cute little puppy dog Lucky Dog you’re actually feeding them a product made mostly for cereal/cereal by-products and/or vegetable by-products. If you’re unsure what by-products are, then they’re generally the left-over rubbish once any decent bits are sold off for human consumption. Imagine a pile of vegetable waste, or a pile of cereal waste – would you give it to your dog? Probably not.

When we see and/or in an ingredients list for dog food we often see the best ingredient listed first (in this case cereals, if that could be considered the best), but it’s often what comes next which is more significant. That’s the nature of the and/or trick – you can say “Prime Beef Steak and/or Rank Cheese”, and have a product made of rank cheese.

Even if you were to feed your unlucky dog cereal or vegetable waste products, would you add food colourings to make them look more appealing, or salt to somehow get your dog to eat it?

For all we know the bulk of Lucky Dog could be rotting carrot tops and floor sweepings from a flour mill. The only upside of making dog foods with stuff like this is it reduces what gets sent to the dump. Or in actual fact, it turns the cost of disposing of that stuff and turning it into a huge profit at the cost of your dog’s health.

There’s no enticing ingredients in Lucky Dog, no oils for heart health, joint health, or a glossy coat, no animal fats for energy, no fruits, no decent veggies, no decent grains or decent meats to provide the “100% Complete & Balanced Diet” they state so clearly on the front of the bag.

We find the and/or trend applies to the meat content as well. It might be beef, mutton, chicken, turkey, or any by-product of these animals once they’ve been thrown dead or dying into a vat and minced up. One thing we can guarantee is the meat content is substandard. Lucky Dog has dismally low protein, low fat (not in a good way), and a whopping 2.5% salt to take the flavour away from potentially rank meat.

Given the low protein and low fat we can estimate the carbohydrates as approx. 66%, making this one of the highest carb foods you can feed your unlucky dog. Without going into too much detail we could also guestimate a 666% increase in vet bills down the track when your dog finally starts to show symptoms from years of being fed such species-inappropriate rubbish. The sad fact is when a dog finally shows symptoms (such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, or arthritis) it’s far too easy for the owner to think it can’t be the food because they’ve fed it since their little dog was a puppy, when realistically the damage has been accumulating all that time – poor things.

Honestly, it’s as if Nestle Purina don’t have any understanding of what a dog is or what their dental structure and digestive system dictate. But the sad thing is they do, because they say so on their website – “CANINE – Long pointed teeth behind the incisors, used to tear meat apart“.

One final worrying warning sign can be found near the end of the ingredients list – they list “essential vitamins & minerals and/or amino acids”. Are they saying the essential vitamins and minerals are optional? Is it a lucky dip whether the food has essentials vitamins and minerals, or amino acids?

The only other ingredient worth mentioning in Unlucky Dog is food colourings. I’m sure your dog will be thrilled with that, given they couldn’t give a stuff what colour their food is.

If you feed your dog Lucky Dog, and your dog gets sick, then it’s quite possible these two things are closely related.

Please share our Lucky Dog dog food review with others, especially those feeding Lucky Dog to their poor unsuspecting dogs.

Where to buy?

Not that you would…

Lucky Dog Dog Food Review Summary

Unlucky Dog gets 1 out of 10, and I urge you to read up on Purina Beneful, another horrific offering from the Nestle chocolate bar company. Purina have been “wagging since 1963”, which is probably more the case when your dog is having a seizure.

Please don’t feed Lucky Dog to your dog.

Lucky Dog Ingredients

The ingredients of Lucky Dog dry dog food (as of July 2021) are as follows:

Cereals and cereal by-products and/or vegetable by-products; meat and meat by-products (derived from beef and/or mutton and/or poultry); essential vitamins & minerals (including salt, anti-oxidants and natural flavours) and/or amino acids; food colour.

Lucky Dog Guaranteed Analysis

The guaranteed analysis of Lucky Dog dry dog food (as of July 2021) is as follows:

Lucky Dog dog food recalls

Recalls are voluntary in America as no official body enforces them. Purina products, however, have had many recalls worldwide and are subject to a number of class action lawsuits in relation to sick or dead pets. Purina Beneful, a very similar brand to Lucky Dog, has one of the worst track records worldwide and still continues to be sold. Lucky Dog is a brand name only specific to America, so can’t be tarnished by any mandatory recalls in the USA, Canada, or Europe where regulations are more stringent.

The following was reported on 21/07/2021 on Facebook. If you have suffered similar issues on Lucky Dog please let us know.

A subsequent report states the following in regard to Lucky Dog batch 2022.11.23 (best before 23/11/2022):

“My partner and I bought a bag of this a few weeks ago with the expiry date of ‘2022.11.23’, a few days after opening our dog became extremely unwell with severe vomiting and diarrhoea and refusal to eat and drink, he was rushed to the vet, he spent 4 days in intensive care almost needing to be put down and costing us over $3000 in vet care and investigations, with no answers. Finally he became well enough to return home after nearly a week of being ill, he is now on antibiotics, a pain patch at home, multiple medications and a home cooked diet and is still not back to normal.”