Hmm, where do I start?

You’ll find Be Frank dog food has different ranges – “CORE”, “Limited Protein Diet”, and “Native Harvest”.

I’ve had numerous emails about Be Frank now being “peas first”, which is sad to see when our dogs are carnivorous, but it’s worth noting this is generally the case for the cheaper “CORE” range.

The “Limited Protein Diet” formulas have more meat, which is what you want for your dog, and “Native Harvest” is what I consider most appropriate for your dog, being much higher in meat protein and fat to the “CORE” range.

These formulas are much better.

Let’s take a look…

What the marketing says

We’ll skirt over the CORE range and focus more on the better formulas in the range – Limited Protein Diet and Native Harvest. These cost more, but they’re the formulas you’ll want to look at.

If the CORE range is your preference based on budget, then consider supplementing the food with some tasty raw meats/offal/raw meaty bones as well which you can often find reduced in Woolies, Coles, Spud Shed and the like – or your local butcher who may sell affordable pet mince.

All formulas in the range are “Aus Made & Owned”, which I’m sure appeals to most Aussies, but it’s the amount of animal ingredients you should really care about. For understandable reasons, these aren’t kindly publicised on the CORE range, but you’ll find percentages ranging from 39% to 68% on the Limited Ingredient range, and 70% to 84% on the Native Harvest range – let this be your guide!

For this review, we’ll focus on the Limited Protein Diet Turkey & Duck Grain Free Adult Chicken Adult Dog formula. The reason I’ve picked this for the review, is because it has the highest animal ingredient content (68%) of the Limited Ingredient range, which is available in 2.5kg and 15kg bags.

Although the Native Harvest range look better, at the time of writing this review they’re only available in 2kg bags.

What the ingredients really say

The first ingredient in the Limited Protein Diet Turkey & Duck Grain Free Adult Chicken adult dog food formula is what we would hope to see – turkey (in this case turkey meal, which is a protein-dense dried powder form of turkey).

When it comes to meats in meal form, we should note they’re cooked twice, but the upside is the quoted 39% in the ingredients is more representative of how much turkey there is in the formula (i.e. many manufactures list “chicken” first, without accounting for it whittling down to very little once cooked into a kibble and all the moisture has evaporated).

The duck content within this “turkey and duck” formula is much less, stated at 5% (meal form), which is below peas, chickpeas, faba beans, some other stuff, and even beet pulp. So, the duck content is fairly insignificant, right?

You’ll note the above ingredients aren’t overly “carnivore”, but that’s the nature of dry dog food – all manufacturers need to find a happy medium between ingredient costs and what they can sell it for, and facts are facts, Orijen as one of the only mostly meat kibbles sold in America has very few people willing (or able) to pay for it.

I would argue it’s better to feed your dog a kibble made of meat and legumes, rather than a kibble entirely made of wheat or other cereal grains (which if you read my other reviews, you’ll see is far more common than it should be).

The Limited Protein Diet Turkey & Duck boosts 30% protein, which despite being from meat and legumes, is much higher than the norm, and should be considered respectable.

15% fat is okay. Personally I’d favour more fat, because more protein and fat equals less unnecessary carbohydrates, but it’s not a major point of concern, and some dogs can’t cope with higher fat kibbles.

When we consider the Limited Ingredient Turkey & Duck formula is higher in protein than most, fairly low in carbohydrates (listed 38% max), and all ingredients have nutritional value, it has to be given a good rating.

Ingredients

The ingredients of Be Frank Limited Protein Diet Turkey & Duck Grain Free Adult Chicken Adult Dog:

Turkey meal (equiv. to 39%), Peas, Chickpeas, Faba beans, Chicken oil (with mixed tocopherols & rosemary extract), Chicken meal, Chicken gravy, Beet pulp, Duck meal (equiv. to 5%), Sea salt, Prebiotics (chicory) with Probiotics (Bacillus Subtilis, Bacillus Licheniformis), Vitamins & minerals (including calcium, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, iron, copper, manganese, zinc, iodine, selenium, Vitamins A, C, D3, E, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, B12, choline), Fish oil, Flaxseed oil, Sunflower oil, Chicory extract, DL-Methionine, Taurine, Turmeric, Kelp powder, Yucca schidigera, Sweet potato, Carrot, Spinach, Pumpkin, Kale, Broccoli, Tomato, Apple, Rosehip powder, Alfalfa, Chia seed, Cranberry, Blueberry, Rosemary, Parsley, Green tea.

Guaranteed Analysis

The guaranteed analysis of Be Frank Limited Protein Diet Turkey & Duck Grain Free Adult Chicken Adult Dog:

A quick note on Be Frank CORE range

You’ll note the Limited Protein Diet Turkey & Duck ingredients above have 39% turkey as the first ingredient, whereas the Adult Chicken CORE formula has just 1% less at 38% (see ingredients below).

However, despite peas being first on the ingredients (which doesn’t read well, does it?), you’ll also note a significant difference in the protein amount (22% vs 30% in the Limited Ingredient range), and a slight different in the fat content – this makes quite a difference with the amount of carbohydrates (50% in CORE Adult Chicken vs 38% total max in the Limited Ingredient Turkey & Duck). That matters more when you consider you’ll feed the food daily, and usually for more than one meal a day.

The benefits of the CORE range over many you’ll find in the supermarkets, is you’ll be feeding your dog a combination of meat and legumes, which I see as a better option to kibble’s made mostly of grains and marketed as meaty despite having barely any animal ingredients whatsoever.

If you can afford the Limited Ingredients Range, do that. It’s the better option for your dog.

If you have a small dog, or money to burn, definitely have a look at the Native Harvest range.

Ingredients of Be Frank CORE

The ingredients of Be Frank Adult Chicken CORE dry dog food:

Peas, Chicken meal (equiv. to 38%), Brown rice, Chickpeas, Faba beans, Chicken oil (with mixed tocopherols & rosemary extract), Chicken gravy, Beet pulp, Sea salt, Prebiotics (chicory) with Probiotics (Bacillus Subtilis, Bacillus Licheniformis), Vitamins & minerals (including calcium, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, iron, copper, manganese, zinc, iodine, selenium, Vitamins A, C, D3, E, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, B12, choline), Fish oil, Flaxseed oil, Sunflower oil, Chicory extract, DL-Methionine, Taurine, Turmeric, Kelp powder, Yucca schidigera, Sweet potato, Carrot, Spinach, Pumpkin, Kale, Broccoli, Tomato, Apple, Rosehip powder, Alfalfa, Chia seed, Cranberry, Blueberry, Rosemary, Parsley, Green tea.

Guaranteed Analysis of Be Frank CORE

The guaranteed analysis of Be Frank Adult Chicken CORE dry dog food: