Rating: 
Fromm Dog Food Gold Nutritionals dry formula earns the Advisor’s second-highest rating of four stars.
Currently, the Fromm Dog Food Gold Nutritionals brand includes five kibbles… two for puppies, two for adults and one for senior or less active pets.1
- Fromm Adult Gold Nutritionals
- Fromm Large Breed Adult Gold Nutritionals
- Fromm Puppy Gold Nutritionals
- Fromm Large Breed Puppy Gold Nutritionals
- Fromm Reduced Activity Senior Gold Nutritionals
Fromm Dog Food Adult Gold Nutritionals was selected to represent the others in the line for this review.
Fromm Gold Nutritionals Adult
Dry Dog Food
Estimated Dry Matter Nutrient Content
Ingredients: Duck, chicken meal, chicken, brown rice, pearled barley, oatmeal, menhaden fish meal, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), lamb, potato, tomato pomace, whole egg, salmon oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols), cheese, flaxseed, brewers dried yeast, alfalfa meal, carrots, lettuce, celery, lecithin, chicken cartilage, monocalcium phosphate, salt, potassium chloride, dl-methionine, chicory root extract, Yucca schidigera extract, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium longum, Lactobacillus plantarum, Enterococcus faecium, vitamin A, D3, E, B12 supplements, choline chloride, niacin, pantothenic acid, ascorbic acid, riboflavin, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, biotin, zinc sulfate, iron carbonate, manganous oxide, copper oxide, cobalt carbonate, calcium iodate, sorbic acid, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, manganese proteinate, sodium selenite
Fiber (estimated dry matter content) = 3.9%
Red items when present indicate controversial ingredients
The first ingredient in this dog food lists duck. Raw duck contains about 80% water. After cooking, most of that moisture is lost… reducing the meat content to just 20% of its original weight.
To reflect its lighter weight, this duck item should more accurately occupy a much lower position on the list.
Which brings us to chicken meal… the next and (more likely) the real first ingredient in this dog food.
Chicken meal is considered a meat concentrate and contains nearly 300% more protein than fresh chicken.
The third ingredient includes chicken. Like duck, this is another raw poultry item that should also be positioned lower on the list.
The fourth item is brown rice. Brown rice is a quality ingredient… a complex carbohydrate that (once cooked) is fairly easy to digest.
The fifth ingredient lists barley. Barley is a starchy carbohydrate supplying fiber and other healthy nutrients. Unlike grains with a higher glycemic index (like rice), barley can help support stable blood sugar levels in dogs.
The sixth item includes oatmeal… a whole-grain product naturally rich in fiber and B-vitamins. Unlike so many other cereal grains, oatmeal is entirely gluten-free.
The seventh ingredient lists menhaden fish meal. Menhaden are small ocean fish related to herring. They are rich in protein and omega-3 fatty acids.
Like other meat meal products, fish meals are also considered high protein meat concentrates.
Unfortunately, the controversial chemical, ethoxyquin, is frequently used as a preservative in many fish meals. But because it’s added to the raw fish before processing, ethoxyquin’s presence does not have to be reported to consumers.
However, on its website, the manufacturer promises “Fromm Family Foods recipes do not contain ethoxyquin”.2
So, please disregard our software’s incorrect Red Flag treatment of this otherwise safe ingredient.
The eighth 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 additives) 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.
Fromm Gold Nutritionals “Dry”… the Bottom Line
There are a number of unusual features regarding this product that must be considered.
Fromm’s dry foods are all manufactured using “fresh hand-trimmed meat and fish”… and “ordered as needed depending on what recipe is being made that particular day”.3
What’s more, the company assures consumers it utilizes only “top quality human-grade USDA-inspected ingredients”.4
But what about Gold Nutritionals’ protein, fat and carbohydrate numbers? How do they stack up?
The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 27%, a fat level of 18% and an estimated carbohydrate content of 48%.
Moderate protein. Moderate fat. And average carbohydrates (when compared to a typical dry dog food).
The Fromm Gold Nutritionals product line is surprisingly similar to the company’s Four Star Nutritionals… with one notable difference.
All Four Star Nutritionals are rated “for all life stages”. So, each can be fed to puppies or adults… even seniors. This allows caregivers to switch between individual products as needed… for variety.
On the other hand, Gold Nutritionals are designed for specific sizes and life stages. So, they’re not interchangeable.
Bottom line?
Fromm Gold Nutritionals is primarily a grain-based kibble using a quality meat meal as its main source of animal protein… earning the brand a respectable 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.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I recently tried to switch my dog from Wellness Core to Fromms Gold and did not have good results. My reason for the switch was to save a little money and still give her a high quality food.
The first day with 2/3 wellness and 1/3 Fromms, she didn’t even each any of it, then the two days she ate it and threw up as soon as she finished.
I’m not sure what it is in the Fromms – perhaps it is the higher grains (rice/barley and oatmeal) that isn’t in the Wellness? Do you think that could have been the reason?
And thank you for this site, it is really a great source of information!!
HI Maria… it’s impossible to know what part of any food can be disagreeable to any particular dog. I would suggest that you either “dovetail” more slowly (using a smaller portion of the new one) into the new food… or if you feel there’s a real problem, of course… just discontinue it and look for something else.
WE had the same problem with Bailey until we stumbled upon a mix of a canned (topper) over a dry kibble… one is a four-star food and the other, a five.
Enjoyed your site. Very informative. Have a 8 yr old Australian Shep/collie mix and small maltipoo plus 2 cats. The collie mix and cats were all on Nutro Natural Choice and all stopped eating it at the same time after 8 yrs. Been trying foods… tried Blue Buffalo on my collie who didn’t take it unless mixed with Merrick canned. Then tried Natural Choice Bison she didn’t eat it unless mixed with Merrick dry.
She is on Milk thistle for liver problems and has developed pad splits which I read can happen from zinc deficcency. So thought adding Solid Gold Sea Meal would help.
After all the research I then decided maybe raw, went to a good wholistic dog food store and discovered the raw products as well as Great Life dog food. They gave me sample packs to try. Both my collie mix and maltipoo took to it right away. I decided to use it at night and raw during morning. What I was impressed by was the ingrediants, had milk thistle and zinc in it as well as raw..
Was wondering while this dog food was not on your site? Thought this food was worth you looking at.
Hi Helena… We would like to place Great Life on our site but the company uses a non-standard method to report its ingredient content. The company presents its content in two separate ingredient lists (one for the coating and one for the food itself).
This method does not lend itself to proper analysis. We have asked the company to present all its ingredients in the form of a single list but so far we have not been able to obtain this critical information.
By the way, for your finicky eaters try “topping” a kibble meal with a top quality canned meat-based dog food. My Bailey gobbles this mixture up. Remember, kibble is convenient… but about as far from “natural” as you can get. Hope this helps.
What about Nature’s Logic?
Have you looked at both ingrediant lists at Great Life? Mu vet was impressed by it, and my dogs seem to like it…
Hi Helena… Thanks to your suggestion I’ve added Nature’s Logic to my To Do list.
Unfortunately, Great Life is a different story. They use an unusual system of publishing their ingredients on two separate lists… one for the “coating” and the other for the kibble itself.
Our special software cannot seem to make heads or tails of this dual approach to ingredients. I’ve contacted the company personally to request information and they have promised to forward a usable “label”.
So far, I haven’t heard from them.
is it possible to place any kind of review on the great life products. of maybe 2 different reviews one for the raw and one for their kibble.
also i don’t see ziwipeak dog cuisine on your site?
would you be looking at this anytime soon?
thank you
Hi Elly… Currently ZiwiPeak is not available in the United States (although we are planning to add products manufactured in many English-speaking countries in the not-too-distant future). Great Life has an unusual (non-standard) way for reporting its ingredients. It uses two different ingredient lists… one for the kibble and another for the coating.
This fact makes it impossible for us to properly determine the relative amount of ingredients so we can report our findings accurately. We have contacted the company and they have promised to send us a “combined” list of ingredients arranged according to FDA standards. However, after over a month of waiting we have yet to receive any updates from Great Life.
mike thanks for your response. what about their canned version?. great life dog food canned
http://www.doctorsfinest.com/category_s/47.htm
Hi Elly… Actually, that is an excellent suggestion. I’ll take a closer look at Great Life’s canned products to see if their ingredients are listed in a more standardized format.
thanks mike.
also whenever you add the ziwipeak; and i hope that will be soon
please take a look at the dry and the canned version too.
thanks
http://www.ziwipeak.com/nzl/cuisinefamily.shtml
Hi Mike! I was wondering about the Ziwipeak. We actually sold this at our local pet specialty store. Is there another type of Ziwipeak? Thanks for your consideration.