The Best Dog Food… or the Ideal Dog Food?

by Mike Sagman
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Finding the best dog food might not be so easy. After all, have you ever noticed how many different dog food designs there are out there these days?Choosing the Best Dog Food for Your Pet

High protein. Low carbohydrate. Holistic. All-natural. Organic. Grain-free. Raw diet.

The list goes on… and on.

You know, after years of searching for “the best” dog food, I’ve finally come to the conclusion…

The ‘Perfect’ Dog Food
Doesn’t Exist

Yeah. Yeah. I know. So-and-so says there’s nothing better for your dog than the Blah-Blah diet.

And your next door neighbor’s veterinarian recommends you only feed that special dog food… that he just so happens to sell.

Yet once you eliminate all the emotion, the marketing hype and the greed, it all comes down to science.

And just one critical question…

What Would a Dog Eat
If She Could Choose for Herself?

Now, since dogs don’t come with an owner’s manual, all we can do is try to find a nutritious feeding plan that works.

And follow it.

But that’s the problem. There are dozens of feeding strategies… and thousands of commercial dog foods out there.

So, which one should you buy?  Which plan should you follow?

It’s all very confusing.

That’s why it’s a good idea to have in your mind a picture of what the ideal dog food might look like. A model blueprint.

A benchmark recipe against which all other dog foods may be compared.

So, let’s take a look at what the diet of the world’s first dogs must have looked like.

From Wolf to Woof
in Just a Few Thousand Years

Today, it’s commonly believed that the dog first evolved directly from the wolf about 15,000 years ago somewhere in Central Asia1.

Now, of course, it should come as no surprise… wolves were (and still are) meat-eating animals.  Their teeth, their digestive systems and their behavior clearly confirm this fact.

But dogs have evolved over thousands of years in the constant shadow of Man… surviving on the food scraps and leftovers of human existence.

So, like Man, dogs are capable of consuming a diverse diet.

Are Dogs Carnivores… or Not?

To answer that question, it’s important to know that in one way or another all animals are either…

  • Carnivores (animal eaters)
  • Herbivores (plant eaters)
  • Omnivores (consumers of both animals and plants)

Dogs are (by their genetic pedigree) carnivores… not herbivores. Their teeth, their digestive systems and their behavior clearly confirm this fact.

Now, to be fair (and more accurate), dogs must also be given credit for their notable omnivorous ability, too.

After all, even though they do have the ability to eat a remarkably diverse diet, it’s wrong to ignore the fact that their bodies are clearly optimized for eating meat.

Simply put…

Dogs can eat a variety of foods but they naturally prefer meat

Even the canine digestive system still retains much of its original meat-optimized design of a dog’s earlier ancestors.

A Dog’s Ancestral Diet vs. Today’s Kibble

So, what should the nutrient content of a dog’s diet look like?

Well, let’s compare a dog’s natural ancestral diet2 with the nutrient content of a typical dry dog food3…

ancestral-diet-comparedAfter looking at this table something should become immediately obvious… the contrast.

It looks like the pet food industry may have taken advantage of the dog’s remarkable willingness to eat just about anything.

Notice the higher carbohydrate content of the kibble compared to the dog’s natural ancestral diet.

And how about the dramatically lower protein and fat?

OK, maybe the ancestral diet represents an extreme.

But considering the dog’s natural history, it just seems the pet food industry may have gone too far in the opposite direction.

These two feeding plans are nowhere near alike.

Doesn’t it make sense for a dog’s diet to be more balanced? More like the canine ancestral diet? A meal plan with…

  • More protein
  • More fat
  • Fewer carbohydrates

A design most dog food companies choose to ignore.

If you agree this idea makes more sense, then you’ll probably want to pay close attention to the following seven suggestions.

What Would the Ideal Dog Food Look Like?

Well, compared to the typical cost-first grocery store product, the ideal dog food would probably be…

  1. Higher in meat-based protein
  2. Higher in natural fats and oils
  3. Lower in carbohydrates
  4. Formulated from a named (non-generic) animal source
  5. Free of animal or vegetable by-products
  6. Free of artificial flavoring, coloring or preservatives
  7. Complete in all essential vitamins and minerals

So, relax… and take comfort in the fact that most canine feeding plans can actually work.  Raw diets.  Grain-free diets.  Even vegetarian diets can work.

Yet when taken to an extreme… feeding 100% meat, too much barley or just one (and only one) dog food… you run the risk of depriving your dog of some unknown but essential nutrient.

Just the fact so many dog foods even exist is more a testimonial to how incredibly tolerant these amazing creatures really are…and not the technical design of the products themselves.

So, take the time. Make the effort. And give your dog something closer to what she might actually choose for herself… if she were only given the chance.

  1. Lindblad-Toh K, Wade CM, Mikkelsen TS, et al, “Genome sequence, comparative analysis and haplotype structure of the domestic dog”, December 2005, Nature 438 (7069): 803–19 ↩
  2. Brown S., Taylor B., “See Spot Live Longer”, 2007 Creekobear Press, Eugene, OR USA, pp 51-61 ↩
  3. National Research Council, National Academy of Science, “Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats”, 2006 Edition, National Academies Press, Washington, DC, p 317 ↩
Dog Food Advisor IconThe Dog Food Advisor publishes independent reviews to help pet owners make better choices when shopping for dog food.


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  • ChandraLee1281

    I’m getting a new dog (Shiba Inu) and am trying to pick the best food for him. At this point, I’m completely overwhelmed. My main dilemma right now is to go grain free or not. If there are no signs of allergies, does it really make a difference in the dog’s health? And is there such a thing as too much protein? I’ve looked at food and reviews and info and opinions for the last 12 hours-please help! 

  • Joe

    Hi I don’t know much about (TOTW) dog food can anyone give me a little history about your friend and taste of the wild dog food. I’m looking to switch from Life abundance dog & flint river ranch dog food,but I would like to know how your pet or pets like or dislike about TOTW.

  • TOMO

    Any idea what brands/foods would be a good substitute for my high content Wolf Hybrid. I really dont want to go to a raw diet for all the obvious reasons. I have fed Blue Buffalo Wilderness for about two years but my wolf is very gassy and he seems to get diarrhea a little too often. I looked into EVO and hear that the food went down hill after P&G took over. Is this true or not, I am not sure since I see mixed reviews. I was told to feed Wysong foods to my wolf by the breeder and they say that they have had great success with it. Any comments or suggestions would be great!

    Thanks in advance!

  • http://DogFoodAdvisor.com Mike Sagman

    Hi Don Kress… Larger predatory marine fish (like tuna) can contain traces of mercury. And fed to a pet regularly, day after day, year-after-year, can be like any other toxin. The long-term build-up of mercury (and other industrial metals) in a dog’s tissues can eventually lead to toxic levels.

    But fortunately, most (but not all) of the named fish species products used in making dog food are relatively low in mercury. According to the American Heart Association, salmon has about 0.01 parts per million whereas tuna contains 0.12 ppm (12 times as much as salmon).

    Of course, when a fish component is not specified (like the generic phrase, “fish meal”), it’s impossible to know the actual mercury content of the ingredient.

    That’s just one of the many justifications for “rotation-style” feeding plans. Changing foods periodically can be a healthy idea. And not just for fish-containing recipes. Changing any formula once in a while can help prevent the build-up of any (unknown) toxin that could be present in a particular product.

    So, my recommendation would be to avoid feeding a fish based diet 100% of the time. Hope this makes sense.

  • Don Kress

    I have Portuguese Water Dogs who traditionally where given a fish (whole) & ate some sea green that came up with the nets. They lived to be 17 or 18 then. Different breeds have different needs so one food doesn’t fit all. I am looking for the best fish based food for them but worry about mercury& other contaminates. Any suggestions??

  • ShamelessRawFoodie

    Feeding Dogs: Eat Simply, Live Well – on feeding a great, nature-inspired diet
    By Dr. Christine King

    Can you imagine if going to the grocery store to shop for yourself and your family was just a matter of going to the humanfood aisle and selecting from the range of different flavors of dry or canned food?

    (Come to think of it, I have stood behind people in the checkout line whose carts were piled high with boxes and bags and cans of processed foods for themselves, with nothing fresh or unprocessed in their carts at all…)

    Even if such foods were “nutritionally complete and balanced” (as is the absurd claim on most dry and canned pet foods), do you really think that you could stay healthy for life on such a diet, processed to have a shelf-life of months or years, never eating any fresh foods whatsoever? Certainly, one can survive on such a diet, but thrive? No.

    Then, what on earth makes us think that dogs and cats can?!

    . . . Scads of books and articles have already been written about feeding dogs. Some are even quite good. And yet myths and misconceptions about how to feed dogs abound. Perhaps the most pernicious is that it is beyond the average person to do it well.

    Let me disabuse you of that notion right now. Feeding dogs well is not rocket science. If it were, then dogs probably would have died out long before. You don’t need a degree in dietetics and nutrition to feed yourself and your family well. The same is true about feeding your dog. You simply need to understand a few principles, and go from there. . . #

    http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/feeding-dogs-eat-simply-live-well-on-feeding-a-great-nature-inspired-diet

  • http://DogFoodAdvisor.com Mike Sagman

    Hi Brent… Please go to my Library and check out my article, “Suggested Raw Dog Foods” for starters. Unfortunately, due to the biological uniqueness of each pet, I cannot provide customized product recommendations for each reader. For more help, you may wish to check back for a possible response from one of our other readers. Wish I could be more help.

  • Brent Cummings

    Hi Mike,

    I have a very picky Shiba Inu. He is allergic to grain so we switched him from IAMS to Taste of the Wild and after a few weeks he refused to each it. We started adding canned wet food which he will eat for a few days and then stops. We have tried all canned from Iams, Wellness, Blue Buffalo, Taste of the Wild, and Evo. He will eat it because it is new, but then stops and wont go back to a past flavor. We are getting to the point where it seems a RAW diet is our only hope, but we were wondering if you had any suggestions as our local pet stores/vet has not been able to help. I appreciate any advice.

  • Pingback: Evo Dry Dog Food | Paw Paw's Self Serve Dog Wash & Boutique - Salt Lake City, UT | Evo Dry Dog Food

  • http://DogFoodAdvisor.com Mike Sagman

    Hi Michael… As with humans, dogs digest various foods at different rates. And these rates are notably dependent upon such things as the protein, fat and carbohydrate proportions of the meal, whether the food is cooked, raw, dry or wet as well as many other factors.

    With that understanding, there’s no scientific evidence to support the fears and rumors that different rates of digestibility have any negative impact on a dog’s health (any more than mixing raw vegetables, breads and cooked meats at the same meal have on the health of humans).

  • Michael

    thanks for such a comprehensive, attractive and user friendly site… it must have taken lots of thought and skill to put together.

    Does anyone care to comment on whether combining raw with dry is detrimental to dog health?

    In the real world, even those that can spare a little more time and money for Fido, can not focus enough on an all raw diet and could supplement some of the “best” (raw) with the kibble diet from time to time, yet feels hesitant that even intermittent (say once a week) feeding of good raw meat/organs/bones might cause digestive disturbances.

  • Jorge

    I feed my dog Taste of the Wild (5 stars) kibble mixed with some Tripett (5 stars) wet, canned food. I rotate the varieties of both. I find this combo keeps my dog well fed and healthy; doesn’t break the bank; is convenient, and leaves me time for other things. This combo is also pretty close to the ‘ancestral diet’ model. Perhaps this will work for other readers of this great website as well.

  • ShamelessRawFoodie

    Andy – REAL FOOD!
    If your dog could choose, what would it be? As Mike writes “So, take the time. Make the effort. And give your dog something closer to what she might actually choose for herself… if she were only given the chance.”
    Feed raw dog food, either homemade or readymade. Some of Mike’s reviewed raw foods are at this link:
    http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/best-dog-foods/raw-dog-food/

  • Mike P

    Andy , a few hours research makes a career ? I would think your dog would appreciate the effort .. dunno

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