Rating: 
Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul (dry) receives the Advisor’s second-highest rating of four stars.
Currently, the Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul product line includes five kibbles… one for puppies, one for seniors, two for adults and one for adult weight loss.1
- Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lover’s Soul
- Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul Senior
- Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul Adult
- Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul Large Breed Adult
- Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul Adult Light (3 stars)
Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul Adult Formula was selected to represent the others in the line for this review.
Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul Adult Formula
Dry Dog Food
Estimated Dry Matter Nutrient Content
Ingredients: Chicken, turkey, chicken meal, ocean fish meal, cracked pearled barley, whole grain brown rice, oatmeal, millet, white rice, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), potatoes, egg product, tomato pomace, duck, salmon, flaxseed, natural chicken flavor, potassium chloride, salt, choline chloride, dried chicory root, kelp, carrots, peas, apples, tomatoes, blueberries, spinach, dried skim milk, cranberry powder, rosemary extract, parsley flake, yucca schidigera extract, l-carnitine, dried fermentation products of Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus plantarum, dried Trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid
Fiber (estimated dry matter content) = 3.3%
Red items when present indicate controversial ingredients
The first two ingredients in this dog food are chicken and turkey. Raw poultry contains about 80% water. After cooking, most of that moisture is lost… reducing the meat content to just 20% of its original weight.
So, to reflect their true lighter mass, these two items should more accurately occupy much lower positions on the list.
Which brings us to chicken meal… the third and (most likely) the dominant meat ingredient in this dog food.
Chicken meal is considered a meat concentrate and contains nearly 300% more protein than fresh chicken.
The fourth ingredient lists ocean fish meal. Because (like chicken meal) it is another meat concentrate, fish meal contains almost four times as much protein as raw fish.
Unfortunately, this particular item is anonymous. The term “ocean fish” does little to properly describe this ingredient. What species? What parts?
Fish meal is commonly made from the by-products of commercial fish operations.
What’s more, the controversial chemical ethoxyquin is frequently used as a preservative in fish meals.
But because it’s usually added to the raw fish before processing, the chemical does not have to be reported to consumers.
Without knowing more, and based upon this fish meal’s location on the list of ingredients, it’s reasonable to expect to find a trace of ethoxyquin in this product.
The next three items include a series of quality cereal grains…
- Barley
- Brown rice
- Oatmeal
The eighth ingredient mentions white rice. This is a less nutritious form of brown rice in which the grain’s healthier outer layer has been removed.
The next item includes chicken fat. Chicken fat is obtained from rendering chicken… a process similar to making soup in which the fat itself is skimmed from the surface of the liquid.
Chicken fat is high in linoleic acid… an omega-6 fatty acid essential for life. Though it doesn’t sound very appetizing, chicken fat is a quality ingredient.
The list goes on to include a number of other ingredients.
But to be realistic, items located this far down the list (other than vitamin and nutritional supplements) are not likely to have much of an effect on the overall quality of this product.
The manufacturer appears to have added back some of the “good” bacteria lost during the cooking process. These special probiotics are used to enhance a dog’s digestive and immune functions.
This dog food also contains chelated minerals… minerals that have been chemically attached to amino acids. This makes them easier to absorb. Chelated minerals are generally found in better dog foods.
The Bottom Line
Based upon the ingredients alone, this Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul product appears to be an excellent kibble.
But the question remains, just how much meat-based protein does this dog food actually contain?
The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 27%, a fat level of 16% and an estimated carbohydrate content of 50%.
Good protein. Moderate fat. And average carbohydrates… when compared to a typical dry dog food.
In addition to this “example” product, protein numbers for the full product line range from a low of 22% for the “light” recipe to a high of 31% for the Puppy Formula.
Decent profile, yes. But nothing extraordinary.
Yet when you consider the quality of its ingredients and eliminate the weight loss dog food from the product line, there’s a noticeable upward bias to the brand’s overall rating.
Bottom line?
Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul is primarily a grain-based kibble using quality meats and meat meals as its main source of animal protein… thus earning the brand a solid four-star rating.
Highly recommended.
Some Final Thoughts
Remember, no dog food can possibly be appropriate for every life stage, lifestyle or health condition. So, choose wisely. And when in doubt consult your veterinarian for help.
Have an opinion about this dog food brand… or maybe the review itself?
Please feel free to share your comments below.
- Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul, 3/6/2010 ↩
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I was wondering how the Chicken Soup Lite Dry food would be rated, since it contains Powered Cellulose?
Hi Bob… you’ll notice near the top of this review we list the “light” product you mention with just 3 stars. However, we were only partially influenced by the presence of the powdered cellulose. Powdered cellulose is a non-digestible plant fiber usually made from cotton or wood.
Cellulose fiber is probably used here to dilute the number of calories per serving and to give the feeling of fullness when it is eaten.
Except for the usual benefits of fiber, powdered cellulose provides no other nutrients to a dog.
The main reason we awarded the lower rating for the Light recipe was essentially due to its low protein content (just 22% on a dry matter basis).
I used to feed Chicken Soup dog and cat version to my pets. After a few months all of their coats became itchy, dull, dry with lots of dander. I switched to Purina One for a few months and everyones coat returned to normal within a few weeks and became very shiny. After I studied up on pet food ingrediants on the Natura website, I believe the problem was the non-specific ocean fish meal. Natura explained the omega fatty acids vary from batch to batch, depending of what type of fish was used. I found a local distributor and switched to Innova Dog and Premium Edge Finicky Cat. The dogs are tiring of the food and have loose stools if I feed them poultry on the side. I am also concerned now that P&G has bought Natura. Iams seems bent on killing dogs again. Check out http://www.consumeraffairs.com. People have said back in the day when it was privately owned, it was a decent food. The CEO of Natura has posted on its site and talks around the issue, using words like same “philosphy”, and same “approach”, but never actually says the ingrediants and the sources for them won’t change. I’m calling them later today. I am bothered that Premium Edge is made by Diamond since they had problems in the past. They recently had a recall for mineral deficiency but it did not affect my lot number. Scared me until I found out, since my 7 yr. old cat had a sudden stroke and had to be put to sleep the day before I learned of the recall. I’m looking for new foods that aren’t owned by a company with a bad history. I know Purina is not a quality food, but I have to say I can’t remember any recalls or incidents where their food has outright killed anyone’s pets. Just saying.
Hi everyone! i used to fed my dog ANF but now im feeding him chicken soup large breed puppy. i have been feeding chicken soup to my 5 months GSD for just a month and i got to say he had a stool problem for the first week! he’s got a watery stool at morning and mild at night! but after a week till now he’s stool sometimes firm and somtimes mild!
i was wondering is it my dog stressing about the transition of the food or the food itself tissues? (because he got a better stool after a week)
if it because of the food, should i change the food? and what do you recommend i change to?
Hi Johnny… It’s important to switch to a new food very GRADUALLY… “dovetailing” the new food slowly into the old food starting with just 10-20% and increasing very slowly to 100% over 7-10 days or so. Also, as we mention in every review, no dog food can possibly be appropriate for every life stage, lifestyle or health condition. So, it’s always possible that the food you select may not be right for your particular animal… even after a few weeks.
I’ve been feeding Chicken Soup to my corgis & retrievers for about 6 years now. I’m thrilled with their coats and overall body conditions! Recently while doing the tbale exam on my corgi bitch, a judge said, “What gorgeous coat! This must take a LOT of work!” I told him what I am sure he already knew: proper nutrition is the cornerstone for healthy coats.
Also, I don’t have to feed nearly as much of the CS4DLS. My youngest golden came to me eating a kibble touted as “the best for sporting dogs,” and perhaps at one time it was. Since being gobbled up by a soap company, though, that food is no longer what it once was. I had to feed an unreasonable amount, and what goes in must come out!
I’m sticking with Chicken Soup. It does wonders for my dogs, and that’s my bottom line!