Rating: 
Quality Care Plus Dog Food receives the Advisor’s mid-tier rating of 3 stars.
The Quality Care Plus Dog Food product line includes four kibbles. Although each formulation appears to be designed for a specific life stage, we found no AAFCO nutritional adequacy statements for these dog foods on the Quality Care Plus website.
- Quality Care Plus Adult 26-15
- Quality Care Plus Puppy 28-18
- Quality Care Plus Performance 30-22
- Quality Care Plus Reduced 20-10 (2 stars)
Quality Care Plus Adult 26-15 Dog Food was selected to represent the others in the line for this review.
Quality Care Plus Adult 26-15
Dry Dog Food
Estimated Dry Matter Nutrient Content
Ingredients: Chicken, chicken meal (natural source of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate), brown rice, oat groats, corn gluten meal, ground yellow corn, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), dried beet pulp, natural flavors, dehydrated alfalfa meal, dried egg product, dried kelp, flaxseed meal, calcium carbonate, lecithin, dicalcium phosphate, monosodium phosphate, potassium chloride, minerals (zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate monohydrate, zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, copper sulfate, zinc oxide, manganese sulfate, copper proteinate, manganese proteinate, calcium iodate, sodium selenite), choline chloride, vitamins (biotin, calcium pantothenate, folic acid, vitamin A, B12, D3 and E supplements, menadione sodium bisulfite complex, niacin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, thiamine mononitrate), l-carnitine, dl-methionine, dried Aspergillus niger fermentation extract, dried Bacillus subtilis fermentation extract, dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried Trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast culture
Fiber (estimated dry matter content) = 4.5%
Red items when present indicate controversial ingredients
| Estimated Nutrient Content | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Method | Protein | Fat | Carbs |
| Guaranteed Analysis | 26% | 15% | NA |
| Dry Matter Basis | 30% | 17% | 46% |
| Calorie Weighted Basis | 25% | 36% | 39% |
The first ingredient in this dog food lists chicken. Although it is a quality item, raw chicken contains about 80% water. After cooking, most of that moisture is lost… reducing the meat content to just a fraction of its original weight.
After processing, this item would probably account for a smaller part of the total content of the finished product.
Which brings us to chicken meal… the second and (more likely) the dominant meat ingredient in this recipe.
Chicken meal is considered a meat concentrate and contains nearly 300% more protein than fresh chicken.
The third ingredient is brown rice… a complex carbohydrate that (once cooked) is fairly easy to digest.
The fourth ingredient includes oat groats… a whole grain, minimally processed form of oats. So long as they are adequately cooked, groats are unusually high in nutritional value.
The fifth ingredient lists corn gluten meal. Gluten is the rubbery residue remaining once corn has had most of its starchy carbohydrate washed out of it.
Compared to meat, glutens are inferior grain-based proteins lower in many of the essential amino acids dogs need for life.
This inexpensive plant-based ingredient can significantly boost the total protein content reported in this dog food.
The sixth ingredient is corn. Now, contrary to what you may have heard, corn isn’t necessarily a bad ingredient.
On the other hand, although there’s no way to know from the list entry itself, the corn used in making many pet foods can be similar to the kind used to make feed for livestock.
And that can sometimes be problematic.
What’s more, corn is commonly linked to canine food allergies1.
For these reasons, we rarely consider corn a preferred component in any dog food.
The seventh ingredient is 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. Although it doesn’t sound very appetizing, chicken fat is actually a quality ingredient.
The eighth ingredient lists beet pulp. Beet pulp is a controversial ingredient… a high fiber by-product of sugar beet processing.
Some denounce beet pulp as an inexpensive filler while others cite its outstanding intestinal health and blood sugar benefits.
We only call your attention here to the controversy and believe the inclusion of beet pulp in reasonable amounts in most dog foods is entirely acceptable.
After the natural flavor, we find alfalfa meal. Although alfalfa meal is high in plant protein (about 18%) and fiber (25%), this hay-family item is more commonly associated with horse feeds.
The next ingredient is dried egg product… a dehydrated form of shell-free eggs. Quality can vary significantly. Lower grade egg product can even come from commercial hatcheries… from eggs that have failed to hatch.
In any case, eggs are easy to digest and have an exceptionally high biological value.
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 affect the overall rating of this product.
With three notable exceptions…
First, this Quality Care Plus food product contains menadione… a controversial form of vitamin K linked to liver toxicity, allergies and the abnormal break-down of red blood cells.
Next, the manufacturer appears to have applied friendly bacteria to the surface of the kibble after cooking. These special probiotics are used to enhance a dog’s digestive and immune functions.
And lastly, this food also contains chelated minerals… minerals that have been chemically attached to protein. This makes them easier to absorb. Chelated minerals are usually found in better dog foods.
Quality Care Plus Dog Food
The Bottom Line
Judging by its ingredients alone, Quality Care Plus Dog Food looks to be an average 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 30%, a fat level of 17% and estimated carbohydrates of about 46%.
Due to its apparently limited meat content, we have elected to downgrade the Reduced 20-10 product to our next lower category.
Excluding Reduced 20-10, the brand features an average protein content of 32% and a mean fat level of 21%.
Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 39% for the overall product line.
Above-average protein. Above-average fat. And below-average carbs when compared to a typical dry dog food.
However, when you consider the plant-based protein-boosting effect of the corn gluten meal, this looks like the profile of a kibble containing a moderate amount of meat.
Based on the numbers alone, this is actually a very good dog food.
But it’s unfortunate the company chose to include menadione in its recipes. Without this controversial supplement and minus the corn gluten meal, we would have been compelled to award this brand our next higher rating.
Bottom line?
Quality Care Plus Dog Food is a corn-based dry kibble using a moderate amount of chicken meal as its main source of animal protein… thus earning the brand three stars.
Recommended.
Menadione phobics should ignore our rating and look elsewhere for another product.
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
02/25/2011 Original review
02/25/2011 Last Update
- White, S., “Update on food allergy in the dog and cat”, World Small Animal Veterinary Association, Vancouver, 2001 ↩
The Dog Food Advisor publishes independent reviews to help pet owners make better choices when shopping for dog food.