Cesar Bistro (Canned)

Rating:

Cesar Bistro dog food earns the Advisor’s mid-tier rating of three stars.

The Cesar Bistro product line includes five canned dog foods.

Although each formulation appears to be designed for adult dogs, we found no AAFCO nutritional adequacy statements for these dog foods on the Cesar website.

• Cesar Bistro Steak Florentine Flavor
• Cesar Bistro Grilled Chicken Primavera
• Cesar Bistro Tuscan Style Stew with Beef
• Cesar Bistro Steak Tips Sonoma Style Flavor
• Cesar Bistro Oven Roasted Beef Burgundy Flavor

Cesar Bistro Steak Tips Sonoma Style Flavor dog food was chosen to represent the others in the line for this review.

The first ingredient in this product is water… which adds nothing but moisture to this food. Water is a regular finding in most canned dog foods.

The second ingredient is chicken. Chicken is considered “the clean combination of flesh and skin… derived from the parts or whole carcasses of chicken”.¹

The third ingredient lists liver. Normally, liver can be considered a quality component. However, in this case, the source of the liver is not identified. For this reason, it’s impossible to judge the quality of this item.

The fourth ingredient is beef. Beef is defined as “the clean flesh derived from slaughtered cattle” and includes skeletal muscle or the muscle tissues of the tongue, diaphragm, heart or esophagus.²

Beef and chicken are naturally high in the ten essential amino acids required by a dog for life.

The fifth item is brown rice. Brown rice is a quality ingredient… a complex carbohydrate that (once cooked) is fairly easy to digest.

The sixth item lists wheat gluten… the rubbery residue remaining once wheat has had most of its starchy carbohydrate (the good stuff) washed out of it.

Compared to meat, glutens are inferior grain-based proteins low in many of the essential amino acids dogs need to sustain life.

This less nutritious plant-based ingredient can significantly boost the total protein content reported in this dog food.

The seventh ingredient includes starch. The source of this starch is unknown but it is most likely derived from corn or wheat. Starch is most likely used here as a thickening agent.

The eighth item lists tomatoes. Tomatoes are loaded with healthy nutrients and contain nearly 72% carbohydrates and 16% protein.

The ninth ingredient lists wheat. Now, contrary to what you may have heard, wheat isn’t necessarily a bad ingredient.

On the other hand, although there’s no way to know for sure here, the wheat used in making many pet foods can be similar to the kind used to make feed for livestock.

And that can sometimes be problematic.

What’s more, wheat is commonly linked to canine food allergies³.

For these reasons, we rarely consider wheat a preferred component in any dog food.

From here, the list goes on to include a number of other items.

But to be realistic, ingredients located this far down the list (other than nutritional supplements) are not likely to have much of an effect on the overall rating of this product.

With two notable exceptions…

First, we’re always disappointed to find artificial coloring in any dog food.

Coloring is used to make the product more appealing to you… not your dog. After all, do you really think your dog cares what color his food is?

And lastly, the minerals here do not appear to be chelated. And that can make them more difficult to absorb. Non-chelated minerals are usually associated with lower quality dog foods.

Cesar Bistro Dog Food
The Bottom Line

Judging by its ingredients alone, Cesar Bistro appears to be one of the company’s better product lines.

But ingredient quality by itself cannot tell the whole story. We still need to estimate the product’s meat content before determining a final rating.

The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 44%, a fat level of 22% and estimated carbohydrates of about 25%.

What’s more, we note all five Cesar Bistro products demonstrate the same nutrient percentages.

Above-average protein. Average fat. And below-average carbs… as compared to a typical canned dog food.

Even considering the protein-boosting effect of the wheat gluten, this still looks like the profile of a canned dog food containing a notable amount of meat.

Just the same, it’s still difficult to ignore the presence of so many Red Flag items.

Bottom line?

Cesar Bistro brand is primarily a meat-based canned dog food using a significant amount of chicken, liver and beef as its main sources of animal protein… thus earning the brand three stars.

Recommended.

Those looking for a comparable wet food from the same company may wish to visit our review of Cesar Gourmet Filets dog food.

A Final Word

This review is 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 a specific health benefit for your pet.

For a better understanding of how we analyzed this product, please be sure to 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 veterinarian for help.

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

Notes and Updates

01/15/2010 Original review
08/19/2010 Review updated

Tagged as: adult, canned, maintenance