Evanger’s 100% Meat Classics (Canned)

by Mike Sagman
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Rating: ★★★★★

See FDA Warning Letter

Evanger’s 100% Meat Classics Dog Food gets the Advisor’s highest rating of five stars.

The Evanger’s 100% Meat Classic product line lists six canned dog foods… each made for intermittent or supplemental feeding only.

  • Evanger’s 100% Beef Classic
  • Evanger’s Beef with Liver Classic
  • Evanger’s Beef and Bacon Classic
  • Evanger’s Cooked Chicken Classic
  • Evanger’s Beef with Chicken Classic
  • Evanger’s Beef with Chicken and Liver

Evanger’s Beef with Liver Classic dog food was chosen to represent the others in the line for this review.

Evanger's Beef with Liver Classic

Canned Dog Food

Estimated Dry Matter Nutrient Content

Protein = 55% | Fat = 23% | Carbs = 15%

Ingredients: Beef, liver, water sufficient for processing

Fiber (estimated dry matter content) = 6.8%

Red items when present indicate controversial ingredients

The first ingredient in this dog food 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.1

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

The second ingredient is 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 third ingredient is water… which (of course) adds nothing but moisture to this food. Water is a fairly common finding in most canned dog foods.

That’s it. Just three ingredients. Yet like most supplemental dog foods, there are no added vitamins or minerals.

Evanger’s 100% Meat Classics Dog Food
The Bottom Line

With just three ingredients, this Evanger’s 100% Meat Classic dog food is an unusually simple canned dog food. And they appear to be of good quality, too.

Like similar designs, this Evanger’s 100% Meat Classic dog food is unique in its especially simple design.

Evanger’s 100% Meat Classics is a supplemental dog food.

Because they probably lack some essential nutrients, supplemental dog foods should not be fed continuously as the sole item in a dog’s diet.

We prefer to use a product like this as a special treat. Or as an appetizing topper… to be served over a dry kibble.

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 55%, a fat level of 23% and estimated carbohydrates of about 15%.

As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 53% and a mean fat level of 23%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 16% for the overall product line.

High protein. Average fat. And low carbohydrates… when compared to a typical canned dog food.

With no sign of any plant-based protein boosters, this looks like the profile of a wet food containing plenty of meat.

Bottom line?

Evanger’s 100% Meat Classics is an all meat canned dog food using an assortment of named species as its main sources of animal protein… thus earning the brand five stars.

Enthusiastically recommended… for supplemental feeding only.

Those looking for a wet product with more novel (an potentially hypoallergenic) meat ingredients may wish to visit our review of Evanger’s Game Meat 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

03/11/2010 Original review
10/11/2010 Review up

  1. Association of American Feed Control Officials ↩
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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  • Gordon

    Gee I’ve heard that a lot about Evangers lately. That’s got to be damaging for them, at least in the short term.

  • westcott

    The FDA letter is pretty damning. It sounds like this company can not be trusted to produce a product with the ingredients they list. I will move on to the Dogswell for its price and 5 stars.

  • DMD, JD

    Just want to warn you – Evangers is changing its formula on the pure canned foods – adding guar gum (2010/2011). That is a plant and a fibrous plant at that. My shih tzu cannot handle bulk – neither excessive amounts of fiber or roughage – certainly not at every meal. He has colitis. The Evangers was the purest supplemental food out there. That is all he could handle with rice and a daily vitamin supplement. Not sure what I am going to feed him now. Most likely, Evangers problems with the FDA may have prompted this formula change. I spoke with someone at the company and they don’t want to deal with the regulations and costs anymore with keeping the old, purer formulas. I have no problem giving Evangers the heave ho, but I am so far unable to find anything else out there with just the meat – cooked chicken – and well water sufficient for processing. Everything is loaded with vegetables and guar gum or kelp/seaweed. I wish my dog could handle such ingredients – it would make my life easier – but he simply cannot. He has to get his vitamins synthetically. P.S. he can’t handle raw food – even cooked! – and I tried just regular chicken cooked, but he gets lots of gas and it is so dry and bland the stools get too hard and are like rocks going through his little system. The poor little fella.

  • Sam

    I am using Evanger’s all meat canned dog food for my diabetic Cairn Terrier. After years of feeding her kibble with wheat, corn, rice, barley etc. my poor pup developed diabetes. I should have known better but I had been led to believe that some of the top name brands were healthy for my dog. Nope. Even some of the so called ‘better” brands have a lot of grain in them, thus a ton of carbohydrates which can lead to diabetes. I have gone to the no grain Evanger’s and we are getting pretty good results. Along with daily insulin the no grain canned food has helped lower my dog’s blood glucose levels. I am really glad I have found Evanger’s, and so is my dog.

  • Mr G

    Have been using Evanger for years.I use it as a alternative
    to Ground Beef 85% lean,Cooked and frozen until needed
    I change to Evanger and back again to keep up the excitement of feeding time alive..it is enough to open
    the can releasing the old school aroma,And off they go
    hustling me for the food..Diamond Natural Puppy food
    is my long time Kibble,My American Bullies require a
    food that will give Big Bone,Mass,Energy,Coats that
    shine,and the air of well being for the Show ring etc.

  • Stephen