Why spend hours and hours and upset your poor dog’s precious stomach trying to find the best dog food brand on the market. The two best dog food brands are explored right here, saving you time, effort and money, and there are some great tips and facts about dogs and dog food, and how the best dog food brand can keep your precious pet health and happy, adding years to his or her life.
The basis for choosing the best dog food brand available on the market used a number of important factors, first breaking the budget and premium brands apart by cost, then utilizing factors like nutrition, protein content and popularity, the two best dog food brands for each category (budget and premium) were identified.
Contents- Best overall – Blue Life Protection Formula Adult Dry Dog Food
- Best budget: Purina ONE SmartBlend Lamb & Rice Formula Dry Dog Food
- Special Notes on the Best Dog Food Brand
- Explanations For Our Categories
- Cost
- Just for dogs
- Healthy factor
- Why you should buy it
- Why you shouldn’t buy it
Best overall – Blue Life Protection Formula Adult Dry Dog Food
• Premium Cost: This high end, high quality dog food for adult dogs lists at $57.99 for a 30 pound bag. That rings in at just over $1.93 a pound, but isn’t man’s best friend worth great food that he or she enjoys that is also good for him as well? Of course your pet is worth the best dog food brand on the market! Looking around one can find this great prime dog food a bit cheaper, amazon Prime members can purchase it for $47.99 (the 30 pound bag) bringing the price down to a more modest $1.60 a pound. Whatever the price, your dog is worth it!
• Just For Dogs: Life Protection Formula Adult Dry Dog Food is one of Blue’s best sellers for good reason, dogs love the yummy flavors. Be it Chicken, fish or lamb (all with brown rice, this dog food is great tasting and great for your beloved pet. But if you ask any dog they will tell you that BLUE Life Protection Formula Adult Dry Dog Food is the best dog food brand on the market because of the great flavors.
• Healthy Factor: Not only is this gourmet flavored dog food high in protein and low in fat, it uses all real meats, whether it is chicken fish or lamb flavor. There are NO byproducts anywhere. Brown rice is used because it is easily digestible, which is the same reason no corn is used. It is as healthy of a dog food as you will find on the market.
• Why You Should Buy It: It is one of the best dog food brands on the market period, sparing no expense to make certain it is as healthy and great tasting as it can be, and BLUE is a premier, high end dog food brand.
Best budget: Purina ONE SmartBlend Lamb & Rice Formula Dry Dog Food
• Budget Cost: This dog food is great for your dog and great for your wallet. It lists at $37.99 for a 31.1 pound bag, enough kibbles to last any dog for a few meals. At this price its costs about $1.22 per pound, a fair price for most any budget. While this is a list price a quick check around the Internet or a trip to the store will show you that you can find this dog food for considerably less. Amazon Prime members get the 31.1 pound bag at $26.99 for example, or less than $1 a pound.
• Just For Dogs: While this might be the best of the budget brands, that doesn’t mean your pup won’t eat like a king as well! The number one ingredient in Purina One SmartBlend Lamb & Rice Formula is indeed lamb, and real rice is used as well, offering a great gourmet lamb flavor good for any finicky palate!
• Healthy Factor: Purina One SmartBlend Lamb & Rice Formula is full of high quality protein, Omega 6 for that brilliant coat, Glucosamine for healthy joints (great for dogs as they get older), and is easily digestible.
• Why You Should Buy It: Purina is one of the oldest and most respected brands on the market, with an impeccable reputation, and this is one of their top sellers (Link). It is popular and hard to find negative reviews of this helpful budgetary dog food.
• Why You Shouldn’t Buy It: Not every dog can eat just any dog food; some require soft food or food with special nutrients or brown rice. This may not be a fit for special needs dogs.
Special Notes on the Best Dog Food Brand
• Best Dog Food Brand (Premium): BLUE Life Protection Formula Adult Dry Dog Food is not just the best dog food brand on the market in regards to the premium or budget categories, it is quite likely the best dog food brand available anywhere today. While it is easy enough to break down the protein content at 27% plus and the fat content at less than 16%, the real importance of this food is the obvious love put into making it. The recipe calls for real deboned chicken or fish, separated fat stock and whole grain oats and brown rice. The meal you serve your dog when you serve BLUE Life Protection Formula Adult Dry Dog Food (Link) is literally as well prepared as any meal in a restaurant made for humans. It is the love and care (and the ingredients) that make BLUE Life Protection Formula Adult Dry Dog Food so special and hands down the best dog food brand on the market.
• Best Dog Food Brand (Budget): Just because you only have so much money or have to live on a budget doesn’t mean that you don’t love your dog with all your heart. You want the best for your dog, but you have to budget your funds. That is where Purina ONE SmartBlend Lamb & Rice Formula Dry Dog Food comes in; it (Link) is one of the most popular dog foods available today. It boasts a high protein content of 25% plus and a fat content less than 20% (15% if you choose the healthy low fat version) In fact, Purina ONE SmartBlend Lamb & Rice Formula Dry Dog Food is ranked by the Association of American Feed Pro Officials (AAFCO), federal and state animal food regulators, as a completely balanced meal for dogs of all ages. The ultimate seal of approval, though, will come from your happy, well fed dog.
Explanations For Our Categories
Much time and effort was put into identifying the best dog food that can be found on the market today, and this is no easy task.
From gourmet to designer to independent dog foods made in local small businesses, vets, pet shops and even homes, there are literally tens of thousands of dog foods available to choose from. That is a lot of information to sort through.
Even after all that, it still comes down to whether or not YOUR dog will like the food or whether or not it is good for YOUR individual dog. Your dog is important to you though, so hopefully this comparison helps narrow down choices to a few of the best dog food brands that can be found so that your research is easier.
Ultimately the most important criteria were popularity, flavor quality, health factors and company reputation. Once these important criteria were identified breaking down individual brands was much easier.
• Cost – We would all like to give our dogs the very best care that we can and this includes food, but no one is made of money.
We don’t all live in mansions and have personal chefs that have the time and budget to consider the dietary intake of our beloved pooch when making the daily menu.
We do what we can with what we have, and in today’s world that can be pretty good no matter the size of one’s bank account. There are plenty of good, healthy options out there for dogs today that fit all ranges of budget.
But as with any product, there is simply not just one best dog food brand, there is a best dog food brand for every individual dog based on their unique needs, but this research is looking for the best dog food brand for many dogs based on a few variables.
Cost is an important variable that must be factored in. This study separated high end brands (premium) from less expensive alternatives (budget) based on the cost factor of $1.50 per pound. Premium brands cost more than $1.50 per pound in this research and budget brands cost less than that price point. Therefore, the best dog food brand (objectively for many dogs) was established for the premium and budget categories.
• Just For Dogs – There is more to life than simply living a long time, although we all want our dogs to live forever. Quality of life is also important, and this means how much joy and comfort we can enjoy in a health fashion.
In the case of finding the best dog food brand, just for dogs takes the dog’s point of view into consideration. What are the FLAVORS? Do dogs like the flavors? Are the flavors real or artificial? Dogs don’t care about health, and while they may go into a garbage can from time to time, it is for real food (thrown away but real), not imitation.
Simply put, flavor matters, and you can’t rank a best dog food brand on a number of factors if dogs won’t eat it. The best dog food brand has to taste good to dogs to top the list!
- Healthy Factor – It is our jobs to make sure that our dogs eat health foods that are good for them, that help them live long, pain free lives. We want them to have a healthy coat, but one that’s not to greasy. We want them to get enough to eat, but not so much that they get overweight, putting undue stress on their joins. Speaking of joints, we want them to have healthy joints, bones, teeth and gums. This means that the best dog food brand on the market must address all of these health issues that dogs face. The best dog food brand has to have enough protein for strong bones, must be low in fat and have natural fats, and must have digestive aids and other vitamins and minerals. This study only sought foods high in protein (20%+), low in fat (less than 20%), and that used no byproducts, real ingredients, and had health additives (as noted such as glucosamine and Omega 6).
- Why You Should Buy It – Ultimately this is a subjective choice, but as an objective metric searching for the best dog food brand, the research utilized identified a number of factors like company reputation, customer reviews, awards and government certifications. There were no differences in criteria used for either the premium or budget categories of best dog food brand.
- Why You Shouldn’t Buy It – Again this is generally a subjective viewpoint, but even the best dog food brand isn’t perfect. While researching why you should buy the best dog food brand, any negative comments found in the research were noted here.