# Ian Dunbar Pet Food and Canine Nutrition: Best Brands



## Flaming (Feb 2, 2013)

I found this interesting 
http://www.dogstardaily.com/blogs/dr-ian-dunbar/pet-food-and-canine-nutrition-best-brands


> I just read the Independent Pet Food Nutrition Research Study by John Martinez based on a modification to Goldstein’s Wellness & Longevity Program — Natural Care for Dogs & Cats.
> 
> 245 pet foods were scored according to quality of protein, fats and carbohydrate (whole grain and grain-free), absence of additives & preservatives, with a premium based on uncooked foods and vitamins, presence of phytonutrients, antioxidants, probiotics, prebiotics and lecithin and absence of non-beneficial nutrients to help reduce gas and form stool. (Obviously, with a good diet, dogs have good-looking stools and don’t break wind.)
> 
> ...


I feed Acana and Origen mixed and am happy that Orijen made the cut


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Almost all the foods are freeze-dried or air-dried meat. . .too bad they're so expensive! Not really an option as a sole diet for large dogs. I'm gussing they didn't evaluate frozen meat products.

I'm kind of surprised that Hund-n-Flocken made the cut. It seems grainy and the absence of animal fats kind of annoys me.

I wonder why the regular EVO didn't make the list.


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## Zilla (May 11, 2013)

Willowy said:


> Almost all the foods are freeze-dried or air-dried meat. . .too bad they're so expensive! Not really an option as a sole diet for large dogs. I'm gussing they didn't evaluate frozen meat products.
> 
> I'm kind of surprised that Hund-n-Flocken made the cut. It seems grainy and the absence of animal fats kind of annoys me.
> 
> I wonder why the regular EVO didn't make the list.


Have you looked into Honest Kitchen?? The 10lb boxes make 40 pounds of food and some arnt to terribly expensive. Very comparable to a bag of high quality kibble. I looked up the Grandma Lucys too and it's not so bad in the price department either.... 

Look: http://www.chewy.com/dog/food-treats-332/grandma-lucys,freeze-dried-food

Ditto to your last couple statements too.... I don't know if I agree with this top list.... 


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## DaisyDC (Feb 24, 2013)

Has this study been published anywhere peer reviewed? The only place I can find the whole thing online is on ZiwiPeak's website, and for a research study, it seems rather lacking. It appears to be mostly a numeric scoring of the ingredients, rather than any study of how the food actually performed in vivo. And it was done by a candidate for vet school admission, not a veterinarian or nutritionist, so I'm not sure how their scoring is any more valid than DogFoodAdvisor or the like? 

It's useful as a starting point, but when I started searching for it, I was hoping to see something a bit more thorough and in depth than a mere scoring of ingredients.


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## Flaming (Feb 2, 2013)

DaisyDC said:


> Has this study been published anywhere peer reviewed? The only place I can find the whole thing online is on ZiwiPeak's website, and for a research study, it seems rather lacking. It appears to be mostly a numeric scoring of the ingredients, rather than any study of how the food actually performed in vivo. And it was done by a candidate for vet school admission, not a veterinarian or nutritionist, so I'm not sure how their scoring is any more valid than DogFoodAdvisor or the like?
> 
> It's useful as a starting point, but when I started searching for it, I was hoping to see something a bit more thorough and in depth than a mere scoring of ingredients.


not sure where else it was published, I just saw it and thought "neat".


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Zilla said:


> Have you looked into Honest Kitchen?? The 10lb boxes make 40 pounds of food and some arnt to terribly expensive. Very comparable to a bag of high quality kibble. I looked up the Grandma Lucys too and it's not so bad in the price department either....
> 
> Look: http://www.chewy.com/dog/food-treats-332/grandma-lucys,freeze-dried-food
> 
> Ditto to your last couple statements too.... I don't know if I agree with this top list....


 Hehe, Grandma Lucy's is the ONLY food I've ever tried that my dogs wouldn't eat. Very weird. . .*I* kind of wanted to try it . It looks like instant mashed potatoes with dried herbs and garlic, with a few chunks of freeze-dried chicken in it. But the old chowhounds didn't think it was so great. . .

But basically, if I were willing to pay that much for dog food, I'd just go raw/homecooked. I mainly feed kibble/processed food because it's cheaper, so if it's not cheaper, there goes that reason, LOL.


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## Zilla (May 11, 2013)

Willowy said:


> Hehe, Grandma Lucy's is the ONLY food I've ever tried that my dogs wouldn't eat. Very weird. . .*I* kind of wanted to try it . It looks like instant mashed potatoes with dried herbs and garlic, with a few chunks of freeze-dried chicken in it. But the old chowhounds didn't think it was so great. . .
> 
> But basically, if I were willing to pay that much for dog food, I'd just go raw/homecooked. I mainly feed kibble/processed food because it's cheaper, so if it's not cheaper, there goes that reason, LOL.


My dog loved Honest Kitchen..... Maybe try a sample?


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## Zilla (May 11, 2013)

Honest Kitchen Verve comes out to $1.50 a pound.... Keen is even cheaper than that... I'm not sure what you feed but Taste of the Wild is cheap and it comes out to $1.67 a pound.... Still more expensive than Honest Kitchen


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

THK is $1.67 a pound after hydration. My dog would eat at least 113 grams of dry THK a day and 150 grams of TOTW. THK costs $70 for 10 pounds dry pounds that would last my dog about 40 days while TOTW costs $28 for 15 dry pounds that would last my dog about 40 days. THK is completely worth it considering the quality of the foods used to make it but it is much more expensive than most kibbles. 

Max's raw costs $20-30 a month and was never dried. Have to add in a whole lot of time researching and shopping to the price of raw though or your dog may suffer.


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## Zilla (May 11, 2013)

Kathyy said:


> THK is $1.67 a pound after hydration. My dog would eat at least 113 grams of dry THK a day and 150 grams of TOTW. THK costs $70 for 10 pounds dry pounds that would last my dog about 40 days while TOTW costs $28 for 15 dry pounds that would last my dog about 40 days. THK is completely worth it considering the quality of the foods used to make it but it is much more expensive than most kibbles.
> 
> Max's raw costs $20-30 a month and was never dried. Have to add in a whole lot of time researching and shopping to the price of raw though or your dog may suffer.


Where are you getting these figures???? All the formulas are slightly different and all the prices are way different too... Keen and Verve are not 70 dollars for the big box..... 

http://www.chewy.com/dog/food-treats-332/the-honest-kitchen


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Basic math, comparing what MY dog needs calorie wise for different foods. Max usually would need 150 grams of kibble so that is how much TOTW he would get. A large box of THK has 40 cups and Max would eat about a dry cup a day. 10 pounds is 4.5 kilograms so the cup Max would need weighs 113 grams. There are about 40 113 servings in a box. A couple dollars here or there doesn't make much difference as to how expensive this stuff is. I also wouldn't feed it by itself as it is far too low in protein. Actually to its advantage as fresh meat is a lot cheaper. The stuff I am planning to get on Friday is an average of $1.50 a pound and if he got half pork/beef and half THK it would be $.50 for the fresh meat $.80 for THK instead of $1.55 for just THK.

10/2.2=4.5kg 4500gm/40=113gm
$62/40 gives price per day
[$.89+$2.19]/16x10/2 average of pork and beef, price per ounce, price for Max's usual 10 ounces, half of that and rounded off a bit in my head


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## Zilla (May 11, 2013)

Kathyy said:


> Basic math, comparing what MY dog needs calorie wise for different foods. Max usually would need 150 grams of kibble so that is how much TOTW he would get. A large box of THK has 40 cups and Max would eat about a dry cup a day. 10 pounds is 4.5 kilograms so the cup Max would need weighs 113 grams. There are about 40 113 servings in a box. A couple dollars here or there doesn't make much difference as to how expensive this stuff is. I also wouldn't feed it by itself as it is far too low in protein. Actually to its advantage as fresh meat is a lot cheaper. The stuff I am planning to get on Friday is an average of $1.50 a pound and if he got half pork/beef and half THK it would be $.50 for the fresh meat $.80 for THK instead of $1.55 for just THK.
> 
> 10/2.2=4.5kg 4500gm/40=113gm
> $62/40 gives price per day
> [$.89+$2.19]/16x10/2 average of pork and beef, price per ounce, price for Max's usual 10 ounces, half of that and rounded off a bit in my head


Uh it's not just a couple dollars difference.... It's a whole lotta dollars difference if you didn't see on the link I posted..... Keen is like 56 for a big box.... Another one called Zeal is 105 for a big box.... I'd say that's a little more than just a couple dollars difference.... Love is 31 percent protein also so I wouldn't necessarily call that really low for a dog.... The thing I like about Honest Kitchen is they encourage you to add meat to it if you want.... 


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## Miss Bugs (Jul 4, 2011)

Willowy said:


> Hehe, Grandma Lucy's is the ONLY food I've ever tried that my dogs wouldn't eat. Very weird. . .*I* kind of wanted to try it . It looks like instant mashed potatoes with dried herbs and garlic, with a few chunks of freeze-dried chicken in it. But the old chowhounds didn't think it was so great. . .
> 
> But basically, if I were willing to pay that much for dog food, I'd just go raw/homecooked. I mainly feed kibble/processed food because it's cheaper, so if it's not cheaper, there goes that reason, LOL.


same here! my chow hounds that would eat a pencil wouldn't touch grandma Lucy's! I tried mixing kibble into it to convince them...they literally picked the kibble out with their front teeth, shook the grandma Lucy's off and ate the kibbles. and by "them" I mean more then one...ALL my dogs hated the stuff(at the time it was 5 dogs). I already feed fresh raw, I had just been looking for "raw" that.I could store and feed more easily at work. THK is too expensive in my area (near $200 for a 10lbs box) so I had my fingers crossed for the grandma Lucy's


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

Miss Bugs said:


> same here! my chow hounds that would eat a pencil wouldn't touch grandma Lucy's! I tried mixing kibble into it to convince them...they literally picked the kibble out with their front teeth, shook the grandma Lucy's off and ate the kibbles. and by "them" I mean more then one...ALL my dogs hated the stuff(at the time it was 5 dogs). I already feed fresh raw, I had just been looking for "raw" that.I could store and feed more easily at work. THK is too expensive in my area (near $200 for a 10lbs box) so I had my fingers crossed for the grandma Lucy's


You can add my crew to the groups who would not touch Grandma Lucy's - OR THK.

No way, no how. Jack's finicky, so fine. The rest? Will eat ANYTHING. (And I'll be honest - if I wanted to work that hard to prepare food for them, and yes I know we're talking just rehydrating and serving- I'd have stuck with feeding raw. Kibble has a convenience factor for me that I won't be giving up anytime soon.)


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