Grade your kibble

    • Gold Top Dog

    Grade your kibble

    Okay, got this from my Dane board today. Kind of a fun thing to do. I did the Eagle Holistic Chicken Meal and Rice Formual that I feed and came up with 96-A, BUT not sure about the fact that they tell you to minus for every grain and then later have you plus for oatmeal, and barley.  I took them out as grains and then added them in later,,,that doesn't make sense.
     
    How to grade your dog's food:
    Start with a grade of 100:

    1) For every listing of "by-product", subtract 10 points

    2) For every non-specific animal source ("meat" or "poultry", meat, meal or
    fat) reference, subtract 10 points

    3) If the food contains BHA, BHT, or ethoxyquin, subtract 10 points

    4) For every grain "mill run" or non-specific grain source,subtract 5 points

    5) If the same grain ingredient is used 2 or more times in the first five
    ingredients (i.e. "ground brown rice", "brewerâ?Ts rice", "rice flour" are
    all the same grain), subtract 5 points

    6) If the protein sources are not meat meal and there are less than 2 meats
    in the top 3 ingredients, subtract 3 points

    7) If it contains any artificial colorants, subtract 3 points

    8 ) If it contains ground corn or whole grain corn, subtract 3points

    9) If corn is listed in the top 5 ingredients, subtract 2 morepoints

    10) If the food contains any animal fat other than fish oil,subtract 2
    points

    11) If lamb is the only animal protein source (unless your dog is allergic
    to other protein sources), subtract 2 points

    12) If it contains soy or soybeans, subtract 2 points

    13) If it contains wheat (unless you know that your dog isnâ?Tt allergic to
    wheat), subtract 2 points

    14) If it contains beef (unless you know that your dog isnâ?Tt allergic to
    beef), subtract 1 point

    15) If it contains salt, subtract 1 point

    Extra Credit:

    1) If any of the meat sources are organic, add 5 points

    2) If the food is endorsed by any major breed group or
    nutritionist, add 5 points

    3) If the food is baked not extruded, add 5 points

    4) If the food contains probiotics, add 3 points

    5) If the food contains fruit, add 3 points

    6) If the food contains vegetables (NOT corn or other grains), add 3 points

    7) If the animal sources are hormone-free and antibiotic-free, add 2 points

    8 ) If the food contains barley, add 2 points

    9) If the food contains flax seed oil (not just the seeds), add 2 points

    10) If the food contains oats or oatmeal, add 1 point

    11) If the food contains sunflower oil, add 1 point

    12) For every different specific animal protein source (other than
    the first one; count "chicken" and "chicken meal" as only one protein
    source, but "chicken" and "" as 2 different sources), add 1 point

    13) If it contains glucosamine and chondroitin, add 1 point

    14) If the vegetables have been tested for pesticides and are
    pesticide-free, add 1 point

    94-100+ = A
    86-93 = B
    78-85 = C
    70-77 = D

    69 = F

    Here are some foods that have already been scored.
    Dog Food scores:

    Authority Harvest Baked / Score 116 A+

    Bil-Jac Select / Score 68 F

    Canidae / Score 112 A+

    Chicken Soup Senior / Score 115 A+

    Diamond Maintenance / Score 64 F

    Diamond Lamb Meal & Rice / Score 92 B

    Diamond Large Breed 60+ Formula / Score 99 A

    *** Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra Premium / Score 122 A+

    *** Van Patten's Duck and Potato / Score 106 A+

    Foundations / Score 106 A+

    Hund-n-Flocken Adult Dog (lamb) by Solid Gold / Score 93 B

    Iams Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Premium / Score 73 D

    Innova Dog / Score 114 A+

    Innova Evo / Score 114 A+

    Kirkland Signature Chicken, Rice, and Vegetables / Score 110 A+

    Nutrisource Lamb and Rice / Score 87 B

    Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy / Score 87 B

    Pet Gold Adult with Lamb & Rice / Score 23 F

    ProPlan Natural Turkey & Barley / Score 103 A+

    Purina Benful / Score 17 F

    Purina Dog / Score 62 F

    Purina Come-n-Get It / Score 16 F

    Royal Canin Bulldog / Score 100 A+

    Royal Canin Natural Blend Adult / Score 106 A+

    Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice / Score 97 A

    Science Diet Advanced Protein Senior 7+ / Score 63 F
    Science Diet for Large Breed Puppies / Score 69 F

    Wellness Super5 Mix Chicken / Score 110 A+

    Wolfking Adult Dog (bison) by Solid Gold / Score 97 A




    • Gold Top Dog
    Brilliant!
    • Silver
    That's fun Dyan and pretty accurate but I have a few quibbles:  why subtract if lamb is the only protein source and not if chicken is the only protein source??

    Also, the baked v. extruded bonus is outmoded - new extrusion techniques use low temps and are actually better than baking.

    Endorsed by any nutritionist gets 5 pts?  That means SD gets a 5 pt bonus 'cause of Remillard!! 
     
    Finally, Sensible Choice is higher than Sold Gold??  Which one would you rather buy!?

    Still though it is rather cool!
    • Gold Top Dog
    I guess I question #4.  For instance, Eagle chicken and rice...I took off points for the oatmeal, rice, barley, quinoa and oatmeal but then added  points for Oatmeal and barley for #s 10 & 8 in the credit. Why take them off if adding them on?
     
    why subtract if lamb is the only protein source and not if chicken is the only protein source??

     
    I remember reading that lamb diets are not that great and couldn't remember where but did find this on Linda Arndts website:
     
     I have said for years, based on my own feed trials, that dogs lose muscle mass on lamb/rice diets, and of course the heart is the biggest muscle in the body.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Lamb meat alone is low in taurine. While taurine is necessary for cats it is only necessary for some dogs, due to genetic defects. That is taurine is needed only in low levels for dogs and some breeds, such as dobermans have a genetic defect that doesn't allow their bodies to synthesize taurine, like other breeds do. Nutro has been adding taurine to their lamb and rice formula since the 80's just to make sure that any dog would receive the necessary taurine. Their levels exceed the minimum 770 ppm. Excess taurine is passed out in the urine.
    • Gold Top Dog
    I really like this idea too! It's fun and it puts all the kibbles on a scale versus saying they are simply "good or bad." [:D] However, I do think that the baked extra points aren't fair because it is shown that baked food is cooked at a higher (more undesirable) temp. than extrusion (hence why Wellness had begun to extrude theirs).  But all in all, great idea! 
    • Gold Top Dog
    ORIGINAL: papillon806

    I really like this idea too! It's fun and it puts all the kibbles on a scale versus saying they are simply "good or bad." [:D]

     
    I agree!! 
    • Gold Top Dog
    I didn't realize Royal Canin is that good of food.  Hmmm....Maybe I will check it out.  Does anyone else here feed it?
    • Gold Top Dog
    I didn't realize Royal Canin is that good of food

     
    I don't know how good it is but just read this link about it.
    [linkhttp://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=19605]http://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=19605[/link]
    • Silver
    One thing that this scale doesn't measure is the quality of the individual ingredient, which is one reason how Sensible Choice or Royal Canin could get more points than Solid Gold.
    • Gold Top Dog
    ORIGINAL: lexibelle

    I didn't realize Royal Canin is that good of food.  Hmmm....Maybe I will check it out.  Does anyone else here feed it?


    Read post #6 [linkhttp://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=15404&mpage=1&key=㰱]http://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=15404&mpage=1&key=㰱[/link] 
    • Gold Top Dog
    Well, I've done the comparison with what I'm currently feeding,  Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice, against Solid Gold and Natural Balance.  From the recommended feeding charts I would be spending much more with those two than with what I currently feed.  I'm trying to find something that is in the same price range (I pay $32 for a 37lb bag), because that's something I know I can afford. 

    The issues that Royal Canin had were with the canned food, and I would be feeding kibble.  Also, the lady commented about how well they handled the situation.  I think that says a lot about the company, and a company that has had something horrible like this happenn might just be more informed and better prepared afterward than a company that hasn't had that misfortune yet.  Just a thought.  I think it's actually kind of a morbid thought process on my part, but I tend to think that my chances of that happening with them are slim since it's already happened.  But another company that hasn't run into tainted products may just be the next on the list for a disaster. 
    • Silver
    Isn't Kirkland the Costco brand?  It would be great if there were a high quality kibble available at Costco, I'm surprised it was rated that high; I never looked twice at the food while I am there, I just assumed it was crappy.....
    • Gold Top Dog
    Sorry for taking over the thread here.  [>:]

    I just called the only feed store in the city that carries Innova Evo and the largest bag they carry is 28 lbs for $41, and a 30 lb bag of Nature's Variety Chicken is $37 or Venison is $45. 

    I've read that you can't feed Innova to large breed puppies, and I'd like to get one food for both Winston and Romy. 
    • Gold Top Dog
    I fed the Kirkland's brand (Costco) to both my dogs for a few years.  Diamond is the manufacturer.  Sassy started to have allergy problems last spring, so I took her off of it and switched to Natural Balance Duck & Potato, but I still think that the Kirkland's is a great food and continue to feed it to my other dog.  They also have a lamb & rice formula.