Canine Caviar (Canned)

by Mike Sagman
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Rating: ★★★★☆

Canine Caviar canned dog food earns the Advisor’s highest rating of 4 stars.

The Canine Caviar product line lists four canned dog foods, all intended for intermittent or supplemental feeding only.

  • Canine Caviar Gourmet Beaver (5 stars)
  • Canine Caviar Gourmet Turkey (3 stars)
  • Canine Caviar Gourmet Green Venison Tripe (see text)
  • Canine Caviar Gourmet Duck and Sweet Potato (3 stars)

Canine Caviar Gourmet Turkey was selected to represent the others in the line for this review.

Canine Caviar Gourmet Turkey

Canned Dog Food

Estimated Dry Matter Nutrient Content

Protein = 38% | Fat = 43% | Carbs = 11%

Ingredients: Ground turkey, water sufficient for processing, carrageenan gum, cassia gum

Fiber (estimated dry matter content) = 12.8%

Red items when present indicate controversial ingredients

Estimated Nutrient Content
MethodProteinFatCarbs
Guaranteed Analysis9%10%NA
Dry Matter Basis38%43%11%
Calorie Weighted Basis25%68%7%

The first ingredient in this dog food is turkey. Turkey is considered “the clean combination of flesh and skin… derived from the parts or whole carcasses of turkey”.1

Turkey is naturally rich in the ten essential amino acids required by a dog to sustain life.

The second ingredient is water, which adds nothing but moisture to this food. Water is a routine finding in most canned dog foods.

The third ingredient is carrageenan, a gelatin-like thickening agent extracted from seaweed. Although carrageenan has been used as a food additive for hundreds of years, there does appear to be some recent controversy regarding its long term biological safety.

The fourth item is cassia gum. Cassia gum is a plant extract used here as a gelling agent providing no nutritional value to this food.

We find no added vitamins or minerals on the ingredients list.

Canine Caviar Canned Dog Food
The Bottom Line

Listing only four ingredients, this Canine Caviar canned dog food reveals a very simple design.

But being 100% meat, this product is not intended to be fed as a complete and balanced canine diet.

Canned Canine Caviar is a supplement — and a supplement only.

Because they usually lack some essential nutrients, supplements must never be fed continuously as the sole item in a dog’s diet.

We prefer to offer a product like this as a special treat. Or as an appetizing topper to be mixed with a dry kibble.

The nutrient percentages should reflect this dog food’s high meat content.

The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 38%, a fat level of 43% and an estimated carbohydrate content of 11%.

With a dry matter protein content of 98% and fat at 25%, the Guaranteed Analysis claimed by the company for its Green Venison Tripe recipe is statistically impossible.

After all, how could these nutrient percentages total to more than 100%?

Excluding Venison Tripe, the brand features an average protein content of 42% and a mean fat level of 37%.

Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 13% for the overall product line.

Above-average protein. Above-average fat. And below-average carbohydrates when compared to a typical canned dog food.

Free of any plant-based protein boosters, this looks like the profile of a supplemental food containing an abundance of meat.

However, it’s important to note the Turkey and Duck recipes contain on average more fat than they do protein. This can suggest the use of a fatty source of meat.

Bottom line?

Canine Caviar is a meat-based canned dog food using a generous amount of various named species as its main sources of animal protein, thus earning the brand 4 stars.

Highly recommended (for supplemental feeding only).

However, pet owners looking for more reasonable fat content in their dog’s diet may wish to avoid the Turkey or Duck products.

Those looking for a complete and balanced kibble may wish to visit our review of Canine Caviar dry dog food.

Special Alert

Rice ingredients can sometimes contain arsenic. Until the US FDA establishes safe upper levels for arsenic content, pet owners may wish to limit the total amount of rice fed in a dog's daily diet.

A Final Word

The descriptions and analyses expressed in this and every article on this website represent the views and opinions of the author.

Although it's our goal to ensure all the information on this website is correct, we cannot guarantee its completeness or its accuracy; nor can we commit to ensuring all the material is kept up-to-date on a daily basis.

Each review is offered in good faith and has been designed to help you make a more informed decision when buying dog food.

However, our rating system is not intended to suggest feeding a particular product will result in specific health benefits for your pet.

For a better understanding of how we analyze each product, please read our article, "The Problem with Dog Food Reviews".

Remember, no dog food can possibly be appropriate for every life stage, lifestyle or health condition. So, choose wisely. And when in doubt, consult a qualified veterinary professional for help.

In closing, we do not accept money, gifts or samples from pet food companies in exchange for special consideration in the preparation of our reviews or ratings.

To learn how we support the cost of operating this website, please visit our public Disclosure and Disclaimer page.

Have an opinion about this dog food? Or maybe the review itself? Please know we welcome your comments.

Notes and Updates

04/24/2010 Original review
11/24/2010 Review updated
01/16/2012 Review updated to include a new analysis
01/16/2012 Last Update

  1. Adapted by the Dog Food Advisor and based upon the official definition for chicken published by the Association of American Feed Control Officials, Official Publication, 2008 Edition ↩
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  • http://www.dfwpugs.com/ sandy

    If you are feeding that alot then give a vitamin/mineral supplement. Just going by the turkey example above it looks like only meat which is not a complete and balanced diet. FYI Merrick 96% canned foods are complete and balanced. Might give those a try.

  • Kim

    It just means that it hasn’t attained an AAFCO seal for being a “complete” diet. In other words, it doesn’t contain the probiotics, vitamins and minerals of a food that does get that designation. It doesn’t mean that the food isn’t an excellent product or that your dog won’t benefit from it. It’s just saying your pet cold possibly be missing out on some key nutrients if that was ALL that you fed him/her day in and day out. As with all foods, it’s always best to rotate yor pets diet just as you would your own.

  • Jasmine

    Hi,

    I just bought Canine Caviar Gourmet Beaver and afterwards saw this review saying it’s “intermittent or supplemental feeding only.” I would like to know what should i add for my dog’s diet. She is 2 years old, no unusual health condition, weight 13 kilos. I’ll appreciate your help since I’m worried I made a mistake buying this food for her.

    Thanks

  • Sukh Rai

     i wantthe heavy weaight my dog

  • Miseryhaha

     Hi! I know this is an old post, but I am aware that cutting gluten in the human diet can reduce inflammation in the gut and increase absorption of nutrients (and, thus, calories). I wonder if the addition of a completely gluten free product helps dogs in the same way? According to human studies, the appetite is actually decreased when gluten is removed (for those sensitive persons) because the body is then absorbing much more of what it needs, and does not continually hunger for more. Just a thought…anyone else have this experience?

  • Deborah

    I recently started to feed my Dog Canine Cavier. The Kibble mix and also the canned combined with the Kibble. I have also given him the different varities and he loves it. Within weeks I saw a difffernce in his energy levels and his overall appearance. I love the raw meat diet for my dog, this kibble form does all the work for you and still produces great results. Less shedding and a much happier energetic Dog. I highly reccomend for anyone to give it a try. You will not be disappointed!

  • Elizabeth

    This is not only a dog food, it is suitable for cats as well. My cat is suffering from fatty liver disease, we have tried so many combinations of food to get him enough calories and to tempt him to eat with no luck, I was syringe feeding him nearly a whole “can” 3 times a day of a mix of Hills A/D, Wellness Chicken, chicken baby food, nutri-cal, and Cat Sure during all my baby’s naps and he was not getting any better I was exhausted. A few days ago we started using Canine Caviar’s Beaver formula and it is a miracle food! Within a day of starting it my cat had completely and very throughly groomed himself, the first time he’d even attempted to do so in over a month and I caught him briefly playing with a pair of socks he’d pulled out of the clean clothes basket (a life long favourite toy)! Two days later (today) he came running when I fed his brother their usual kibble, he didn’t eat any but he did sniff at it and look interested and even took one lap from the water bowl next to it! We’re not out of the woods yet, and maybe it was just a coincidence that our turn around day was the same day I switch foods but I think this food may have saved my cat’s life (and definitely my sanity, 2 small meals a day giving more calories than 3 huge meals is a HUGE load off me)! I will warn potential customers that this IS perhaps the grossest pet food I have ever had the misfortune to work with; it smells like wet dog and vomit and has disgusting little bits of bone and chunks of dark… some bit of beaver. I have to sieve it before I can syringe it. But it is sooooo worth it!

  • http://DogFoodAdvisor.com Mike Sagman

    Hi Karleen… Actually, the whole point of our website is that dog food is like everything else in the supermarket. Some foods are good, some are bad and some are truly exceptional.

    Our reviews are designed to help you make a more informed decision when buying dog food. However, our ratings are not intended to suggest that feeding a particular dog food will result in specific health benefits for your pet.

    So, we cannot promise you a five star product is better for your dog than a lower-rated one. But it does tell you it probably contains more meat and is made with better quality ingredients. Hope this helps.

  • karleen

    Hi Mike ,
    I’m Karleen from Indonesia , i’m feeding my dogs dogfood brand ANF .. i’ve read all the articles in your site ,

    I don’t understand , you mean all commercial dogfood is not good for dogs health ?
    And is it ok for me to feed the five star dog food ?
    five star dog food means it good for dog ?

    many thanks ,
    KArleen

  • http://DogFoodAdvisor.com Mike Sagman

    Hi Sue… most of the time, canned dog foods (cup-for-cup) contain significantly fewer calories than kibbles. Assuming you’re using the same size serving (by measured volume), you may have inadvertently reduced her number of calories per meal. Do you think that is what may have happened?

  • Sue Royston

    I have a 6 1/2 yr old German Shepherd Dog who’s been several pounds overweight for 2 years or so. I had no luck getting her weight down, then a couple of months ago I started giving her the Gourmet Beaver, about 1/4 cup on top of 1/2 cup dry, mostly to mix with her ground up medicine. She lost 5 lbs.! So it was startling to me to see the rating on your website describing it as a “weight on” product. It may be that my dog’s metabolism changed and the weight loss combined with the Gourmet Beaver was a fluke, but she is maintaining her lost weight.