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Simply Right Savory Cuts In Gravy Dog Food Review (Canned)

Mike Sagman

By Mike Sagman

Updated: March 21, 2024

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Product May Have Been Discontinued
Unable to Locate Complete Label Info
On Company Website1

Simply Right Savory Cuts in Gravy Dog Food receives the Advisor’s second-lowest tier rating of 2.5 stars.

The Simply Right Savory Cuts in Gravy product line includes two canned recipes.

Each recipe below includes its related AAFCO nutrient profile when available on the product’s official webpage: Growth, Maintenance, All Life Stages, Supplemental or Unspecified.

Use the links below to check prices and package sizes at an online retailer.

Simply Right Savory Cuts in Gravy with Beef was selected to represent both products in the line for this review.

Simply Right Savory Cuts in Gravy with Beef

Estimated Dry Matter Nutrient Content

44.4%

Protein

27.8%

Fat

19.8%

CarbsCarbohydrates

Beef broth, chicken, wheat gluten, wheat flour, beef, guar gum, salt, added color, natural flavor, sodium tripolyphosphate, potassium chloride, choline chloride, monocalcium phosphate, zinc sulfate, iron sulfate, vitamin E supplement, thiamine mononitrate, niacin supplement, copper sulfate, d-calcium pantothenate, biotin, selenium, vitamin A supplement, manganese sulfate, riboflavin supplement, vitamin B12 supplement, calcium iodate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid


Fiber (estimated dry matter content) = 1.5%

Red denotes any controversial items

Estimated Nutrient Content
Method Protein Fat Carbs
Guaranteed Analysis 8% 5% NA
Dry Matter Basis 44% 28% 20%
Calorie Weighted Basis 34% 51% 15%

The first ingredient in this dog food is beef broth. Broths are nutritionally empty. But because they add moisture to a dog food they are a common finding in many canned products.

The second ingredient is chicken. Chicken is considered “the clean combination of flesh and skin… derived from the parts or whole carcasses of chicken”.2

Chicken is naturally rich in the ten essential amino acids required by a dog to sustain life.

The third ingredient is wheat gluten. Gluten is the rubbery residue remaining once wheat has had most of its starchy carbohydrate washed out of it.

Although wheat gluten contains 80% protein, this ingredient would be expected to have a lower biological value than meat.

And less costly plant-based products like this can notably boost the total protein reported on the label — a factor that must be considered when judging the actual meat content of this dog food.

The fourth ingredient is wheat flour, a highly-refined product of wheat milling. Like corn, wheat is an inexpensive and controversial cereal grain of only modest nutritional value to a dog.

For this reason, we do not consider wheat a preferred component in any dog food.

The fifth 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.3

Beef is naturally rich in all ten essential amino acids required by a dog to sustain life.

The sixth 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.

The seventh ingredient is salt (also known as sodium chloride). Salt is a common additive in many dog foods. That’s because sodium is a necessary mineral for all animals — including humans.

However, since the actual amount of salt added to this recipe isn’t disclosed on the list of ingredients, it’s impossible to judge the nutritional value of this item.

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 two notable exceptions

First, we’re always disappointed to find artificial coloring in any pet food. That’s because coloring is used to make the product more appealing to humans — not your dog. After all, do you really think your dog cares what color his food is?

And lastly, 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.

Simply Right Cuts in Gravy Canned Dog Food Review

Judging by its ingredients alone, Simply Right Cuts in Gravy dog food looks like an above-average canned 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 44%, a fat level of 28% and estimated carbohydrates of about 20%.

As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 44% and a mean fat level of 28%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 20% for the overall product line.

And a fat-to-protein ratio of about 63%.

Above-average protein. Near-average fat. And below-average carbs when compared to a typical canned dog food.

When you consider the protein-boosting effect of the wheat gluten, this looks like the profile of a canned product containing at least a moderate amount of meat.

Bottom line?

Simply Right Savory Cuts in Gravy is a meat-based canned dog food using a moderate amount of chicken as its main source of animal protein, thus earning the brand 2.5 stars.

Not recommended.

Please note certain recipes are sometimes given a higher or lower rating based upon our estimate of their total meat content and (when appropriate) their fat-to-protein ratios.

Simply Right Dog Food Recall History

The following list (if present) includes all dog food recalls since 2009 directly related to this product line. If there are no recalls listed in this section, we have not yet reported any events.

You can view a complete list of all dog food recalls sorted by date. Or view the same list sorted alphabetically by brand.

To learn why our ratings have nothing to do with a product’s recall history, please visit our Dog Food Recalls FAQ page.

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Dog Food Coupons And Discounts

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Notes and Updates

Sources

1: “Last Update” field at the end of this review reflects the last time we attempted to visit this product’s website. The current review itself was last updated 1/29/2015

2, 3: Association of American Feed Control Officials

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