Pedigree Plus Healthy (Canned)

by Mike Sagman
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Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Pedigree Plus Healthy Dog Food earns the Advisor’s below-average rating of 2 stars.

The Pedigree Plus Healthy product line lists 6 canned dog foods… each claimed to address a specific health issue.

We found no AAFCO nutritional adequacy recommendations for these dog foods anywhere on the Pedigree website.

  • Pedigree Plus Healthy Heart
  • Pedigree Plus Healthy Joints
  • Pedigree Plus Healthy Weight
  • Pedigree Plus Healthy Digestion
  • Pedigree Plus Healthy Immunity
  • Pedigree Plus Healthy Skin and Coat

Pedigree Plus Healthy Joints Dog Food was selected to represent the other products in the line for this review.

Pedigree Plus Healthy Joints Premium

Canned Dog Food

Estimated Dry Matter Nutrient Content

Protein = 36% | Fat = 32% | Carbs = 24%

Ingredients: Sufficient water for processing, chicken by-products, chicken (natural source of glucosamine), beef, meat by-products, liver, brewers rice, flax seed, minerals (potassium chloride, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide), vegetable oil, sodium tripolyphosphate, carrrageenan, dried yam, caramel color, guar gum, natural smoke flavor, xanthan gum, vitamins (vitamin E, A & D3 supplements, d-calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate [vitamin B1], biotin), onion powder, bay leaves, garlic powder, fish oil, sodium nitrite (for color retention)

Fiber (estimated dry matter content) = 6.8%

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 item is chicken by-products… slaughterhouse waste. This is what’s left of a slaughtered chicken after all the prime cuts have been removed.

In a nutshell, chicken by-products are the unsavory and inedible leftovers deemed “unfit for human consumption”.

With the sole exception of feathers, this stuff can include almost anything… heads, feet, beaks, undeveloped eggs… you name it.

Although this item contains all the amino acids a dog needs, we do not consider animal by-products a high quality addition.

The third 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 most meats, beef is naturally rich in all ten essential amino acids required by a dog to sustain life.

The next item is meat by-products… more slaughterhouse waste. Like chicken by-products, these are also the inedible leftovers of slaughter considered “unfit for human consumption”.

Since the source animal is not named, 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 fifth ingredient is liver. Normally, a named liver ingredient can be a nutritious component. However, in this case, the source of the liver is unknown… generic. It could come from almost anywhere.

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

The sixth ingredient is brewers rice. Brewers rice represents the small grain fragments left over after milling whole rice.

This is a cheap cereal grain by-product and not a quality ingredient.

The seventh ingredient mentions flaxseed… one of the best plant sources of healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Flax seeds are rich in soluble fiber.

However, we find it unusual to see flaxseed here in its whole seed form. Whole flax seeds are almost impossible to digest (at least for us humans) unless they are first ground to a usable powder before they are consumed.

From here, the list goes on to include a number of other items.

But to be realistic, ingredients located this far down the list (other than nutritional supplements) are not likely to have much of an effect on the overall quality of this product.

Garlic can be a controversial item. Although the majority of experts favor the ingredient for its numerous health benefits, garlic (in rare cases) has been linked to Heinz body anemia in dogs.2

However, the limited professional literature we surveyed provided no definitive warnings regarding the use of garlic… especially in small amounts (as it is here).

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.

We also note the presence of sodium nitrite… a controversial color preservative. Sodium nitrite has been linked to the production of cancer-causing substances (known as nitrosamines) when meats are exposed to high cooking temperatures.

Pedigree Plus Healthy Canned Dog Food
The Bottom Line

Judging by its ingredients alone, Pedigree Plus Healthy (fill-in-the-blank) Dog Food looks to be a below-average wet product.

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 36%, a fat level of 32% and an estimated carbohydrate content of 24%.

As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 39% and a mean fat level of 21%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 32% for the overall product line.

Average protein. Average fat. And slightly above-average carbs when compared to a typical wet dog food.

Free of any plant-based protein boosters, this looks like the profile of a canned product containing an average amount of meat.

Most of the time, we try to avoid commenting on the validity of any special health claims made by any dog food companies.

Yet when Pedigree describes chicken on its label as “a natural source of glucosamine” (a nutrient used to treat joint problems), we feel compelled to make an exception.

In this case, we were surprised to see Pedigree claim this recipe “promotes healthy joints” just because it contains chicken.

It seems the company might be stretching the truth. We’re not saying chicken doesn’t have some glucosamine in it. Or that glucosamine isn’t good for a dog’s joints.

We’re simply questioning how the simple presence of an ordinary ingredient (like chicken) would allow a company to promote its product as “special” for joint health.

Sorry, Pedigree. Unless we’re missing something here, this looks like a marketing gimmick.

Bottom line?

Pedigree Plus Healthy Dog Food is a meat-based canned recipe using a moderate amount of chicken and meat by-products as its main sources of animal protein… thus earning the brand 2 stars.

Not recommended.

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 specific health benefits 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

11/11/2009 Original review
06/03/2010 Review updated
05/08/2011 Review updated

  1. Association of American Feed Control Officials ↩
  2. Yamato et al, Heinz Body hemolytic anemia with eccentrocytosis from ingestion of Chinese chive (Allium tuberosum) and garlic (Allium sativum) in a dog, Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association 41:68-73 (2005) ↩
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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  • Michelle

    Amy, I highly doubt that you are a physician. You didn’t even capitalize the first letter of your name, and website is one word, not two.Your post reads like an immature teenager wrote it. This website is extremely reliable, but I do not believe that you are intelligent enough to understand how to use it. You seem like a child who holds their breath, and throws tantrums. Yes you are a troll, you would fit in quite well at Hubpages………

  • http://DogFoodAdvisor.com Mike Sagman

    Hello Amy… I was disappointed to read the angry nature of your remarks. What could have caused such contempt?

    Please go back and re-read this review which clearly states, “We found no AAFCO nutritional adequacy recommendations for these dog foods anywhere on the Pedigree website.”

    Not the can.

    As with nearly every dog food sold in North America, this dog food meets AAFCO guidelines. That is not the point. For AAFCO nutritional adequacy statements also include the life stages for which a particular food is nutritionally intended.

    Since Pedigree fails to disclose this information on its website, it would be necessary for readers (and reviewers) to go out and visit a retailer for each of the more than 2,500 products covered on these pages… just to learn whether a food is designed to be fed to puppies… or to adults.

    This is surely a critical piece of information we feel compelled to share with our readers.

    As a physician who claims to be “more careful with medical advice”, your ignorance of the purpose of these reviews is apparent.

    Contrary to your accusation, our reports do not offer any medical advice. They’re merely intended to help consumers read and interpret pet food labels. Free advice you could obviously use.

  • Melissa

    So, your a physician Amy? Would you reccomend that your patients eat such chemical laden foods for their health, every meal, every day for years? I highly doubt this, but perhaps in this age of HMO medicine…

    This website is accurate-it rates and tells what the contents of a food are. Simply because it meets the AAFCO guidelines, does not mean that it is “quality” nor healthy

  • amy

    You are misinformed. This web site is not reliable. Purina plus healthy heart is formulated to meet the AAFCO standards. Read the can! I am a physician. I am more careful with medical advice. I am sure you have your own financial agenda with this web site.

  • Jonathan

    Barbara, do you really think there isn’t a solution to your dog’s tummy issues that don’t include slaughterhouse waste and agriculture by-products? Have you tried Natural Balance Limited Ingredients Diet? Or any 4-5 star canned foods like Wellness or Blue? How could your dog possibly benefit from eating food made from trash with hard-to-use minerals that is preserved with chemicals?

  • Barbara

    I have 3 “kids in fur coats” who have delicate digestive systems and since starting them on the Digestive type, none of them has thrown up their food so…. Even with Science Sensitive Stomach they were tossing! I’ll continue to use this.

  • Claire Sellers

    Pedigree Plus isn’t healthy. haha! ISN’T healthy. And why would someone feed this to their dogs??? Sure they are donating meals but not NUTRITIOUS AND CARB FREE meals.

  • fernando

    that food must suck then not goint to give some to my dog nomore

  • Common Sense

    Wow, you changed your dog’s diet and he had loose stools for two days. Must be the lowered quality pedigree!

  • Chrystal

    I had a coupon (silly me) and bought two cans of the Pedigree Plus Digestive. My dog had -too- loose stools for 2 days strait. I didn’t even know about the article info. Never again!