Rating: 
Evanger’s Grain-Free Game Meats dog food earns the Advisor’s highest rating of 5 stars.
The Evanger’s Grain-Free Game Meats product line lists 9 canned dog foods, each intended for intermittent or supplemental feeding.
- Evanger’s Grain-Free Beef
- Evanger’s Grain-Free Duck
- Evanger’s Grain-Free Pork
- Evanger’s Grain-Free Rabbit
- Evanger’s Grain-Free Buffalo
- Evanger’s Grain-Free Chicken
- Evanger’s Grain-Free Venison
- Evanger’s Grain-Free Pheasant
- Evanger’s Grain-Free Wild Salmon
Evanger’s Grain-Free Duck Canned Dog Food was selected to represent the others in the line for this review.
Evanger's Grain-Free Duck
Canned Dog Food
Estimated Dry Matter Nutrient Content
Ingredients: Duck, water sufficient for processing, liver, guar gum
Fiber (estimated dry matter content) = 6.8%
Red items when present indicate controversial ingredients
The first ingredient in this dog food is duck. Duck is considered “the clean combination of flesh and skin, derived from the parts or whole carcasses of duck”.1
Duck 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 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 guar gum, a gelling or thickening agent found in many wet pet foods. Refined from dehusked guar beans, guar gum can add a notable amount of dietary fiber to any product.
Evanger’s Grain-Free Game Meats Dog Food
The Bottom Line
By design, Evanger’s Grain-Free Game Meats dog food is unique in its simplicity.
But being 100% meat, the product was never intended to be fed as a complete and balanced canine diet.
Evanger’s Game Meats is a supplement… and a supplement only.
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.
In any case, its ingredients clearly suggest this dog food to be of very good quality.
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 46%, a fat level of 23% and estimated carbohydrates of about 24%.
As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 47% and a mean fat level of 24%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 21% for the overall product line.
High protein. Average fat. And low carbohydrates when compared to a typical canned dog food.
This is surely the profile of a wet food containing an abundance of meat.
However, we’re puzzled by the projected 21% carb content. It just seems too high. With 100% meat, we would have anticipated much higher protein and fat numbers and a lower carb estimate.
Bottom line?
Evanger’s Grain-Free Game Meats is an all meat canned dog food using a novel selection of named species as its main sources of animal protein, thus earning the brand 5 stars.
Enthusiastically recommended — for supplemental feeding only.
Those looking for a nice kibble to go with this canned product may wish to visit our review of Evanger’s dry 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
03/10/2010 Original review
10/10/2010 Review updated
11/23/2011 Review updated, added Grain-Free Pork
- Adapted by the Dog Food Advisor from the official definition for chicken published by the Association of American Feed Control Officials, 2008 Edition ↩
The Dog Food Advisor publishes independent reviews to help pet owners make better choices when shopping for dog food.