Dog Food Grading System (reposted)

Dog food grading system (reposted)


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", "brewers 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 more points
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 is not
allergic to wheat), subtract 2 points
14) If it contains beef (unless you know that your dog is not
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

Score:
94-100+ = A, 86-93 = B, 78-85 = C, 70-77 = D, 69 and below = 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
Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra Premium / Score 122 A+
Dick 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 Beneful / 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

This grading list disregards the fact that not every dog does well on the same type of food and a "one size fits all" approach.
See List Of Flaws

Not saying the list is w/o fault - there's no perfect food - it's just a basic guide for those interested as it had been mentioned recently so I decided to re-post (rather than dig thru all the posts).

Here's another comparison chart, actually reviews. We've seen this one before too but it comes in handy sometimes.

http://www.dogfoodana...

Someone to VeRUS Adult Maintenance Diet. I'm too lazy to do math right now. http://www.veruspetfo...

Well, when I was looking for a method of determining which foods were good or not... I found this chart to be enormousy helpful. It's not a scoring system, it's lists the top 5 ingredients, calories, protein, fat and fiber of a number of foods. It lets you see the big picture.

It says "Jenifer's chart" on the top- I don't know who Jenifer is... but she did a really good job.
http://www.dogfoodinf...

Then, you can look at this super simple good, bad and ugly chart HK provides-to see if you want to feed your furry friends the ingredients.
http://www.thehonestk...

This grading list disregards the fact that not every dog does well on the same type of food and a "one size fits all" approach.
See List Of Flaws

Thanks once again Linda! Very educating as always.

I wish I had not even read this thread .
Thinking I had learned a lot a few months ago by studying that first grading system, I went out and put my dogs on one that scored high. I'm just in the past week switched them to one that scored even better at 116. Then I read the reviews on that site Rosa posted and according to that one, Authority Harvest Baked only rates 3 stars of 6. Now I'm totally confused and bummed out. What am I supposed to trust?????

Besides THAT, the petsmart here doesn't even carry a single one of those foods that ranks above 3 stars. I'd never even heard of most of the foodsl listed there!

I'm so mad

What no list or grading system does these days is tell you what companies subcontract manufacture to outfits like Menu Foods. If they do, can I believe their label? That's the big question for me.

I'm really bummed about the safety of pet foods and I don't feel much better about the human food supply.

Judy