Pedigree Little Champions (Canned)

by Mike Sagman
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Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Pedigree Little Champions Dog Food earns the Advisor’s second-lowest rating of two stars.

Currently, the Pedigree Little Champions product line lists fourteen wet dog foods… all packaged in what Pedigree calls a Flavor-Lock Pouch. We found no AAFCO nutritional adequacy recommendations for these dog foods on the Pedigree website.

  • Pedigree Little Champions Grilled Flavors with Beef
  • Pedigree Little Champions Puppy Food with Chicken
  • Pedigree Little Champions Butcher’s Stew with Beef
  • Pedigree Little Champions Chunks in Gravy with Beef
  • Pedigree Little Champions Grilled Flavors with Chicken
  • Pedigree Little Champions Chunks in Gravy with Chicken
  • Pedigree Little Champions Meaty Ground Dinner with Turkey
  • Pedigree Little Champions Meaty Ground Dinner with Chicken
  • And others

Pedigree Little Champions Grilled Flavors with Beef Dog Food was selected to represent the others in the line for this review.

Pedigree Little Champions Grilled Flavors with Beef

Canned Dog Food

Estimated Dry Matter Nutrient Content

Protein = 44% | Fat = 17% | Carbs = 31%

Ingredients: Sufficient water for processing, chicken (source of linoleic acid), meat by-products, beef, wheat gluten, wheat flour, liver, natural flavors, starch, dried tomato pomace, caramel coloring, salt, sodium tripolyphosphate, minerals (potassium chloride, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide), natural grilled flavor, sodium alginate, guar gum, vitamins (vitamin E, A & D3 supplements, d-calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate [vitamin B1], biotin), iron oxide.

Fiber (estimated dry matter content) = 8.3%

Red items when present indicate controversial ingredients

The first ingredient in this dog food is water… which (of course) adds nothing but moisture to this food. Water is a routine 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

Like most meats, chicken is naturally rich in the ten essential amino acids required by a dog to sustain life.

The third ingredient is meat by-products… slaughterhouse waste. This is what’s left of slaughtered animals after all the prime cuts have been removed.

In a nutshell, meat by-products are the unsavory leftovers of processing considered by many “unfit for human consumption”.

With the exception of hair, horns, teeth and hooves, this stuff can include heads, ovaries or developing fetuses.1

What’s worse, this particular item is anonymous. It doesn’t even specify the source animal. So, this meat can come from almost anywhere… even diseased or dying livestock.

Although meat by-products can be high in protein, we do not consider a generic ingredient like this a quality 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.1

Like chicken, beef is another good source of protein.

The fifth ingredient is 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 inexpensive plant-based ingredient can significantly boost the total protein content reported in this dog food.

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

Although there’s no way to know for sure, the wheat listed in many pet foods is usually similar to the kind used to make feed for livestock.

Feed grains can be contaminated with insects, mites and molds.

Many blame wheat for chronic canine allergies. But those allergies are probably more a result of what’s in the wheat… rather than the wheat itself.

For this reason, we rarely trust wheat to be a quality component in any dog food.

The seventh ingredient is liver. Normally, a named liver ingredient can be a nutritious component. However, in this case, the source species of the liver is unknown… generic. It could come from almost anywhere.

For this reason, this item cannot be considered a quality ingredient.

After the natural flavors, we find an item vaguely described as simply “starch”. We believe this ingredient is probably used here as a thickener. Yet without knowing more it is impossible to judge its quality.

Tomato pomace is a controversial ingredient… a by-product left after processing tomatoes into juice, soup and ketchup.

Many praise tomato pomace for its high fiber and nutrient content… while others scorn it as a cheap pet food filler laden with pesticides found on the skin of the tomato before processing.

Just the same, there’s probably not enough tomato pomace here to make much of a difference.

We’re always disappointed to see the use of 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?

Also, the minerals listed 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.

Pedigree Little Champions Dog Food
The Bottom Line

Based upon the quality of its ingredients, Pedigree Little Champions looks like a below-average wet dog food.

But ingredient quality alone does not tell the whole story. For it is still necessary to estimate the amount of meat present before determining a final rating.

The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 44%, a fat level of 17% and an estimated carbohydrate content of 31%.

For the brand, protein averaged about 42%, fat was 20%… which suggests an overall carbohydrate content of 30% for the full product line.

Near average protein. Near average fat. And neat average carbohydrates… when compared to a typical canned dog food.

Yet when you consider the plant-based protein-boosting effect of the wheat gluten, this is the profile of a wet food containing only a moderate amount of meat.

Bottom line?

Pedigree Little Champions is primarily a meat-based wet dog food using a moderate amount of meat by-products and chicken as its main sources of animal protein… thus earning the brand two stars.

Not recommended.

Those looking for a comparable kibble from the same company may want to check out our review of Pedigree 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 brand… or maybe the review itself? Please know… we welcome your comments.

Notes and Updates

11/09/2009 Original review
06/05/2010 Review updated

  1. Association of American Feed Control Officials ↩
  2. Association of American Feed Control Officials ↩
  3. 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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  • Shawna

    Well said Jonathan!!!!

  • Jonathan

    Jay, that is without a doubt the most ignorant thing I’ve had the displeasure of reading in quite some time. It’s not “what” the by-products are, it’s how they are handled. It’s how they are denatured with creosote or citronella and industrial dye. It’s the fact that they can be rotten crap from road kill or tumour-ridden diseased cattle. Oh and nice way to use God as an excuse for subjugating your own beloved pet. I thought most Christians were under the impression that dogs are a gift and should be cared for. What else is funny is that you say “except the bones”… there usually are ground up bones in most meat meals. Now, there is nothing wrong with giving a dog a fresh bone. But there is everything wrong with giving your dog a food that potentially contains the femur of an old lab that had to be put down for hip dysplasia. Not a pleasant thought, is it? I don’t think God would approve.

  • Jay

    IT’S A DOG!!! The food we don’t want should not be an issue for dog consumption. Granted as long as it’s not poison then it should be fit for a DOG! People really need to get this in thier heads. I have a beautiful Boxer and I feed him this with his dry food & he likes it just fine. God gave us dominion over these creatures so if I decide to give my dog my left over that I don’t want except bones then it is fine.

  • http://www.drianbillinghurst.com Gordon

    Pedigree Little Champions should be renamed “Pedigree Little Champions of Long Term Cancer Culprits”.

  • http://DogFoodAdvisor.com Mike Sagman

    Ryo… When you see the generic words “meat” or “animal” used to describe meals and fats, I can assure you the ingredient can contain diseased or dying livestock, dead zoo animals, road kill and euthanized pets from public animal shelters.

    For example, some states and municipalities prohibit (by law) discarding these items in a public landfill and instead mandate their disposal at commercial rendering facilities.

    Low grade ingredients like anonymous meat meals containing these horrific source animals can come from almost any country… even from the United States.

  • “Ryo”

    I randomly stumbles upon this, but it actually is possible for dogs and animals commonly referred to as ‘zoo animals’ to end up in meat by-products as they are raised for slaughter in some parts of the world, and trust me, you never know with pet food companies. So yes, there is a possibility that these animals can be found in meat by-products…. it’s just a slim chance.
    Even if the food is made in the US, Canada, northern Europe, etc. the by-products can come from anywhere. The term ‘made in -country here-’ means nothing… but the phrase ‘-country here- sourced ingredients’ does. Just wanted to clear some things up! :)

  • http://DogFoodAdvisor.com Mike Sagman

    Hi Aimee… I’m already aware of this error. And since August 2010, newer reviews no longer contain this wording.

    Thanks to your tip, I’ve now corrected this review of Pedigree Plus to reflect the newer phrasing I now use to describe this lower quality ingredient.

    You can see the corrected sentence by re-reading this article or any other one posted or updated since last August (the edit dates appear at the bottom of each review).

    I’ll continue to update the few affected articles still remaining on my website as they’re brought to my attention. Thanks again for the tip.

  • aimee

    Mike,

    Just reading though some reviews and I noted something puzzling to me.

    AAFCO defines meat by products as ” Meat By-Products – the non rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals…….” I’m sure you’ve seen this definition before.
    What is striking me as odd at this late hour is that the definition specifies the animal has to be slaughtered. By definition then, how can meat by products include road kill, dead zoo animals and euthanized dogs and cats as those animal are already dead??

    It seems to me this statement can not be correct.
    “What’s more, since the source animal is not named, the meat can come from anywhere. Road kill, dead zoo animals, diseased or dying livestock… even euthanized cats and dogs.

    If it has to be from slaughtered animals I’d think the more likely sources would be cattle, pigs, sheep, goats as those are the animals that commonly go to slaughter.

    I know this doesn’t change that you consider by products “slaughterhouse waste” But if from a slaughter house….. it has to be alive first to be slaughtered.

    Now rendered meal and bone meal is a different story and theoretically could contain those unsavory sources no matter how unlikely that is.