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Feeding your dog with the right food brands should be your pet-care priority.
You should aim at keeping your dog satisfied and healthy while ensuring that its body doesn’t react to the meals you fed it.
Most experts recommend that you should feed your dog twice a day (once in the morning and once in the evening).
Can’t wait to see the worst dog food brands?
In this article you will see:
- The top 11 worst dog food brands to feed your dog.
- Worst dog food list 2018 that you should avoid immediately.
- The best brands to feed your dog.
So in order to avoid bad dog food and feed your pet with the right food you should first know which are the worst dog food brands and why. Wanna see the list of the top 11 worst dog food brands to feed your dog?
Ensure your dog a happier & healthier life by avoiding the following brands…
Top 11 Worst Dog Food Brands
Having a regular feeding schedule can help you watch the health of your dog. Regardless of how you stick to the schedule, you may expose your dog to certain health risks.
When you use certain dog food products you need to take precautions.
Most dog food brands have their products stocked on shelves of pet food shops with the goal of having a competitive edge over each other. Since you need to know the type of brands to avoid.
Here are 11 worst dog food brands in descending order:
1. DAD’S Econ-O-Mets
The product contains soy hulls, salt, and animal fat. It is preserved with mixed tocopherols, wheat middlings, and beef meal.
It also contains:
- soybean meal
- and ground yellow corn.
The vitamin supplements present in this product include vitamin D3, A, B12, and E . The dog food contains folic acid, potassium iodide, pyridoxine, and hydrochloride. Besides, it has manganese proteinate, sodium selenite, and niacin.
High traces of many chemicals make Dad’s Econ-O-Mets unfit for dog consumption.
The chemicals include:
- copper proteinate,
- D-calcium pantothenate,
- and L-Tryptophan.
While others are zinc oxide, ferrous sulfate, choline chloride, and calcium carbonate.
The product has 50 IU/KG vitamin E, 0.8 percent phosphorus, 1.0 percent calcium, and 12 percent moisture. It also comprises of 4 percent crude fiber, 7 percent crude fat and 16 percent crude protein.
Ok, now let’s see the second worst dog food brand in the list.
2. Gravy Train
One of the reasons why Gravy Train is an unfit food for your dog is that it has BHA preservative. The World Health Organization classifies BHA among the cancer-causing compounds.
Ingredients included are:
- caramel color,
- wheat flour,
- animal digest salt,
- and animal fat.
It is also mixed with tocopherols preservative and wheat middlings. Minerals included are sodium selenite, ferrous sulfate, calcium iodate, and manganous oxide.
The vitamins in the product include vitamin B12, E and A supplement, biotin, folic acid, and niacin. Others include vitamin D3 supplement, D-calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine and riboflavin supplement.
Other ingredients include…
…bone meal, soybean meal, meat, corn, rosemary extract, Blue 2, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Red 40 and beef flavor.
Gravy Train has a least of 110mg/kg zinc, o.4 percent chloride, 0.25 sodium, 0.6 potassium and 0.5 percent phosphorus. It also contains a least of 0.6 percent calcium, 10 percent moisture, 4 percent crude fiber, 8 percent crude fat and 17 percent crude protein.
In just a few seconds you will see the last in the top 3 worst dog food brands list. Wanna see it?
3. Doggy Bag
Doggy Bag is unfit for dog consumption due to its high BHA preservative content.
The product has a largest of 12 percent fiber and 12 percent moisture. It also contains a least of 6 percent crude fat and 18 percent crude protein.
Main ingredients in it include:
- animal digest salt,
- animal fat
- and soybean meal.
Other ingredients include bone meal, meat meal, ground yellow corn, and wheat middlings. Vitamins found in Doggy Bag include folic acid, vitamin D supplement, riboflavin supplement, vitamin K, vitamin B6, and vitamin B1.
Other vitamins are vitamin A acetate, biotin, niacin and vitamin B12 supplement.
The food comes enriched with cobalt carbonate, sodium selenite, iodate, and calcium pantothenate. Others include manganous oxide-zinc oxide, choline chloride, ferrous sulfate, and zinc sulfate.
If you want to secure your pet from bad dog food you need to know all brands that are dangerous and bad for your pet health.
So do you want to see them all?
4. Hi-Point
Though Hi-Point prides itself as a weight management formula, it doesn’t meet the nutritional requirements of dogs.
The product has high fiber, lower calories, and traces of chicken and pork. Its main ingredients include Corn Distiller’s dried grains (including solubles), animal digest, salt, whole ground corn, and bone meal.
It also comprises of…
corn gluten feed,
wheat middlings
and poultry fat
…(preserved with citric acid, BHT and BHA). The BHA preservative makes Hi-Point unsuitable meal for dogs.
Hi-Point has the greatest moisture and crude fiber content of 12 percent and 7 percent. It also has a least crude fat and crude protein content of 7 percent and 18 percent. Vitamin supplements in the dog food include vitamin D3, riboflavin, vitamin B12, vitamin A, niacin and vitamin E supplements.
Hi-Point has traces of pyridoxine hydrochloride.
Besides, it contains menadione sodium bisulfate complex, sodium selenite, and thiamin mononitrate.
It also comes with folic acid, ethylenediamine dihydriodide, manganous oxide, copper sulfate, and calcium pantothenate. Others include propionic acid, calcium carbonate, zinc oxide, and ferrous sulfate.
So the Hi-Point is a bad dog food brand because of:
- Wheat gluten.
- Corn.
- Chicken by-product.
- Corn gluten meal.
- BHA preservative.
The added flavors and preservatives have a negative health impact on canines. Its crude fiber content is lower than the required percentage.
In just a few seconds you will see the last brand in the top 5 worst dog food brands list.
5. Ol’ Roy Complete Nutrition
Ol’ Roy Complete Nutrition is among the processed dog foods with traces of BHA preservative.
The preservative facilitates the growth of cancer cells.
The estimated carbohydrate content in this product stands at 45 percent. Ol’ Roy also boasts of the greatest moisture and crude fiber concentration of 12 percent and 4.5 percent. Its crude protein and crude fat concentration is 21 percent and 10 percent.
The main ingredients in Ol’ Roy Complete Nutrition are:
- brewers rice,
- natural flavor,
- corn gluten meal.
It also contains salt and poultry by-product meal. The food has colors such as Blue 2, Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6 and titanium dioxide.
It also contains potassium chloride, animal fat…
(its preserved with citric acid and BHA, soybean meal, bone meal, meat meal, and ground yellow corn. Other ingredients used to make Ol’ Roy include cobalt carbonate, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid, sodium selenite, and calcium iodate.
The dog food has traces of riboflavin supplement.
Moreover, it contains bisulfite complex, menadione sodium bisulfite, thiamine mononitrate, and pyridoxine hydrochloride. It comes enriched with calcium pantothenate, choline chloride, vitamin B12, biotin, and A supplement.
So what makes Ol’ Roy Complete Nutrition bad dog food brand?
The…
- Artificial colors,
- Preservatives
- and flavors
…in Ol’ Roy makes it less ideal for dog feeding. The product also ranks among the worst dog food brands due to its high salt content and grain content. The animal digest also makes it unsuitable for consumption.
There is always more. Let’s see the sixth worst canine food brand.
6. Kal Kan
Kal Kan is a dry food with 100 IU/g vitamin E, 175 mg/kg zinc, 0.8 percent phosphorus and 1.0 percent calcium.
Its largest moisture concentration stands at 12 percent. But, the greatest crude fiber concentration stands at 4 percent. It also boasts of least crude protein and fat concentration of 20 percent and 8 percent.
Though Kal Kan is high in protein unlike most processed dog foods, it contains BHA preservative. The BHA makes it unfit for pet consumption.
Its main ingredients include:
- bone meal,
- meat meal,
- wheat middlings,
- natural flavor,
- and ground yellow corn.
Other ingredients include salt, gluten meal, ground wheat, soybean meal, animal fat, and chicken by-product meal. It comes with vitamin supplements for vitamin K, vitamin D3, vitamin B12, vitamin A, riboflavin and vitamin E.
Kal Kan has traces of minerals such as choline chloride, potassium chloride, di-methionine.
Other minerals include copper sulfate, manganous oxide, zinc oxide, cobalt carbonate, and folic. The animal fat in the product has Omega-6 fatty acids, citric acid, and BHA as its preservatives.
The artificial flavors and preservatives in Kal make it unfit for dog consumption.
The grain ingredients including corn gluten meal and wheat middling also disqualify it as dog food. Other unfit ingredients used include animal digest, bone meal, and chicken by-product.
7. Purina Alpo Come n’ Get It Mixed Grill
With ground yellow corn, soybean meal and corn germ meal as its main ingredients, Purina Alpo doesn’t qualify to be an ideal dog meal.
As a pet owner, you should feed your dog grain-free processed foods to keep it healthy and strong.
Besides its high grain content, Purina Alpo has…
- chicken and egg flavor,
- bone meal,
- pork meal,
- salt
- and corn gluten
…meal as ingredients. It also comprises of beef tallow with mixed tocopherols as the preservative, pork digest, and poultry digest.
Food colors added to Purina Alpo include Yellow 5, Yellow 6 and Blue 2.
It also contains vitamin D3 and B2 supplement, riboflavin supplement, and a vitamin K supplement. It comprises of minerals such as sodium selenite, biotin, folic acid, calcium iodate, calcium pantothenate, and choline chloride.
The percentage concentrations are 80 mg/kg for iron, o.8 percent for phosphorus, 1.0 percent for calcium, 1.0 percent for linoleic acid,…
…12 percent for moisture, 6 percent for crude fiber, 8.5 percent for crude fat and 18 percent for crude protein.
Ingredients that make it unfit include:
- Preservatives.
- Colors.
- Animal digest.
- Bone meal.
Others include meat meal, corn gluten meal, and soy flour and meat by-products. The high salt content in the product also makes it bad food for dogs feeding.
8. Twin Pet
The fancy packaging doesn’t count in the factors that make processed dog foods fit for dog consumption. Twin Pet makes it to this list because of its high grain content and BHA preservative content.
Its ingredients include:
- corn gluten meal,
- animal digest,
- salt,
- meat meal,
- bone meal,
- and defatted rice bran.
Other ingredients are corn, animal fat (preserved with citric acid and BHA) and wheat middlings.
Twin Pet comes enriched with sodium, folic acid, vitamin D supplement, and calcium iodate. Its also contains pyridoxine hydrochloride. Besides, it is enriched with thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin supplement, vitamin A, B12 supplement.
It has traces of manganese sulfate, niacin, copper sulfate, vitamin E supplement, ferrous sulfate, and zinc sulfate and choline chloride.
Are you surprised by the list of the worst dogs foods brands? Well, there is more. Now let’s see…
…Purina Moist & Meaty Burger bad ingredients.
9. Purina Moist & Meaty Burger
Purina Moist & Meaty Burger is processed dog food made of high fructose corn syrup, soy flour, and beef by-product.
Other ingredients include cheese powder, sorbic acid, animal fat, and salt and wheat flour.
The preservatives added in this product include:
- calcium propionate,
- ethoxyquin,
- and mixed tocopherols.
The added colors include Red 40, Yellow 6 and Yellow 5. With a minimum of 18 percent crude protein and 7 percent crude fat, Purina Moist & Meaty Burger still ranks low in terms of nutritional value.
Its maximum moisture content is at 33 percent while its crude fiber content is at 3 percent.
The product has vitamins such as biotin, vitamin K, vitamin D3, vitamin B12, riboflavin, and vitamin E. The added minerals include sodium selenite, calcium iodate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, copper sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, and manganese sulfate.
Ok, in just a few seconds you will see the full list of the top 10 worst dog food brands in 2018.
Ready?
10. Pedigree Adult
With ingredients such as meat and bone meal, Pedigree Adult prides itself as a processed dog food containing high protein.
Regardless of its protein content, this processed product comes with animal fat preserved with citric acid and BHA.
The…
- brewer’s rice,
- salt,
- ground whole grain wheat,
- and dried plain beet pulp,
…do not hide the fact that it contains a cancer-causing compound.
Other ingredients include chicken by-product meal, natural flavor, soybean meal, corn gluten meal, and ground whole grain corn.
While the minerals include potassium chloride, calcium carbonate, choline chloride, and zinc sulfate. Pedigree Adult has vitamin supplements for vitamin B2, B12, B1, D3, and riboflavin.
The added colors include Yellow 5, Yellow 6 and Blue 2.
Pedigree Adult has the least protein and crude fat concentration of 21 percent and 10 percent respectively. Its maximum moisture and crude fiber content stand at 12 percent and 4 percent respectively.
Its minimum copper and phosphorus content stands at 10mg/kg and 0.8 percent respectively. So that was the list of the top 10 worst dog food brands.
In just a few seconds you will see the last one in the list of the worst dog food brands to feed your dog.
11. IAMS Proactive Health Adult Chunks
Well, the first ingredient of this dog food is chicken.
Although chicken is a quality item and raw chicken comprises about 80% water. Yet, when cooked, a good amount of water is lost which reduces the meat content to just a portion of its initial weight.
Hence, after preparation, the ingredients will account for a smaller fraction of the whole content of the finished food.
Some of the ingredients in this dog food include…
- corn,
- sorghum,
- and chicken
…by-product meal. Although the product contains amino acid best for dogs, it is expensive. Also, it has a low ingredient quality. Besides, it has beet pulp which is rich in controversial high fiber by-product, which is not good for your dog.
Ok, that was the full list of top 11 worst dog food brands in 2018. Now let’s see a quick overview.
Quick Overview: List of the Worst Dog Food Brands in 2018
It is not that easy task to gether all the worst dog food brands. However, the Healthy Pet Systems brings you the list of the top 11 brands that you should avoid.
So the worst dogs food brands are:
- DAD’S Econ-O-Mets
- Gravy Train
- Doggy Bag
- Hi-Point
- Ol’ Roy Complete Nutrition
- Kal Kan
- Purina Alpo Come n’ Get It Mixed Grill
- Twin Pet
- Purina Moist & Meaty Burger
- Pedigree Adult
- IAMS Proactive Health Adult Chunks
In the full review article, you could see that these foods contain danger ingredients which can be very harmful to your pet.
The ingredients which you should avoid are:
- BHA preservative,
- Artificial colors,
- Artificial flavors,
- Salt,
- Sugar,
- Allergic foods like corn,
- See the full list of the worst dog food ingredients.
Ok, now you know everything you need to know about worst dogs foods. Now I want to show you the opposite.
Do you want to see the best brands to feed your dog?
The Best Brands to Feed Your Dog
You may find it difficult to find the right well-balanced dogs food brand as a pet owner. In this section, you’ll discover five of the best brands to feed your dog that can make your dog healthy and strong.
The products have meat as the main ingredient and don’t contain animal by-products, wheat, soy or corn.
The following part shows you the best brands to feed your dog:
1. Taste of the Wild High Prairie Grain-Free Dry Dog Food
With roasted venison and bison, this Taste of the Wild High Prairie Grain-Free dry dog food can meet your dog’s nutritional needs.
The product contains…
- vegetables
- and fruits
…that mimic the taste of wild foods. Its grain-free formula provides your pet a great taste sensation, natural and antioxidants.
Besides highly digestible energy.
Besides roasted venison and bison, other ingredients are egg product canola oil. It also contains potatoes, peas, sweet potatoes, and chicken meal.
Others include tomatoes, raspberries, blueberries, and ocean fish meal and pea protein. The food boasts of minerals such as zinc proteinate, and potassium iodide.
This is the best brand to feed your dog. Now let’s see the second.
2. Castor & Pollux Organix Grain-Free Range Recipe with Raw Bites
The Castor & Pollux Organix Grain-Free food contains natural chicken as the primary ingredient with raw freeze-dried fish.
It boasts of its high Omega 3 and 6 content, which promotes a healthy coat and skin. The grain-free product also contains minimally processed…
- vegetables
- and fruits.
The vegetables are ideal sources of vitamins and antioxidants.
3. Wellness CORE Grain-Free
Wellness CORE Grain-Free is dry dog food. It contains protein-rich rabbit, wild boar, and duck. It also comes enriched with healthy vegetables.
The vegetables include broccoli, spinach, and kale. All these improve it’s taste and nutritional value. Besides, it ranks among the best dog food brands.
This is due to its:
- gluten-free,
- grain-free
- and potato-free
…wide range of processed foods. Other ingredients are chicken fat, pea protein, lentils, turkey meal, chickpeas, and tomato pomace. The meal boasts of vitamin B12, vitamin D3, riboflavin, vitamin C and vitamin A.
Besides, it has useful minerals added to it.
These include folic acid, calcium iodate, and copper sulfate and thiamine mononitrate. The grain-free product also contains spearmint, green tea, rosemary extracts.
It also contains dried lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product.
4. EVO Grain Free Red Meat Formula
The Red Meat Formula from EVO comprises five different red meat sources aimed at satisfying your dog’s cravings. The protein also comes from premium quality meats.
The meat has:
- Maximum nutrient absorption.
- High palatability.
- High digestibility.
78 percent of this protein comes from venison, beef, lamb, pork, and bison. EVO Grain Free Red Meat Formula has Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids known for promoting healthy skin and coat.
It also contains vegetables and fruits with minerals and vitamins needed to make a meal balanced.
EVO prides itself as an authentic ancestral diet.
5. Nature’s Variety Prairie Beef & Barley Recipe
As its name suggests, Nature’s Variety Prairie Beef primarily contains natural ingredients.
It doesn’t have any traces of soy, wheat or corn.
It boasts of:
- freeze-dried raw coating,
- Omega fatty acids
- and vitamin supplements.
These are aimed at improving the body and skin of your dog. Other ingredients include barley, brown rice, turkey meal, beef, chicken fat, peas, and oatmeal.
Nature’s Variety Prairie Beef & Barley recipe comes enriched with some natural extracts.
They include dried Bacillus subtilis fermentation extract, dried Trichoderma and longibrachiatum.
Others included fermentation extract and dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product. Other ingredients include olive oil, honey, parsley, cider salmon oil, spinach, lettuce, and broccoli.
The Best Dog Food Brands vs The Worst Dog Food Brands
There is a very big difference between the best dog food brands and the worst dog food brands. In the article above you could see which ingredients make food bad and good.
To the long short story, there are two things you should have in mind:
- Feed your pet with the food that contains natural ingredients.
- Avoid foods which contain the preservative, artificial colors and artificial flavors.
So if you are a pet owner or you want to get you started on becoming a pet owner, feeding your dog with the right food brands should be your pet-rearing priorities. It ensures your pet healthy, satisfaction and longer as well as a better life.
If you find the information useful please share the article and comment below.
Thank you Mirko Nuli.
I’m a dog food judge. I specialize in examining dog food nutrition so that I can recommend you food that will preserve your dog’s health and extend his life.
Good food will help you prevent dog health problems like obesity, diabetes, pancreatitis, gastroenteritis, nutritional imbalance, and many others.
Also, by preventing serious illnesses you won’t have to pay huge veterinarian bill later.
