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Pet Food

Calculate Your Food’s Grade

A natural, healthy diet for your pet is paramount to his or her long term health. It pays to be an educated consumer and review the ingredients of the food you feed your pooch. It is also very good to rotate among well-rated pet foods for variety.

An additional good resource is this link below where it allows you to compare ingredients from various foods side by side: http://www.naturapet.com/tools/comparison.asp.

Start with a grade of 100:

  • For every listing of “by-product”, subtract 10 points
  • For every non-specific animal source (“meat” or “poultry” meal or fat) reference, subtract 10 points
  • If the food contains BHA, BHT, or ethoxyquin, subtract 10 points
  • For every grain “mill run” or non-specific grain source, subtract 5 points
  • If the same grain ingredient is used 2 or more times in the first five ingredients (i.e. “ground brown rice”, “brewers rice”, “rice flour” are all the same grain), subtract 5 points
  • If the protein sources are not named meat or meat meals (ie: chicken, turkey, etc) and there are fewer than 2 meats in the top 3 ingredients, subtract 3 points
  • If it contains any artificial colorants, subtract 3 points
  • If it contains ground corn or whole grain corn, subtract 3 points
  • If corn is listed in the top 5 ingredients, subtract 2 more points
  • If the food contains any animal fat other than fish oil, subtract 2 points
  • If lamb is the only animal protein source (unless your pet is allergic to other protein sources), subtract 2 points
  • If it contains soy or soybeans, subtract 2 points
  • If it contains wheat (unless you know that your pet is not allergic to wheat), subtract 2 points
  • If it contains beef (unless you know that your pet is not allergic to beef), subtract 1 point
  • If it contains salt, subtract 1 point

Extra Credit:

  • If any of the meat sources are organic, add 5 points
  • If the food is endorsed by any major breed group or nutritionist, add 5 points
  • If the food is baked not extruded, add 5 points
  • If the food contains probiotics, add 3 points
  • If the food contains fruit, add 3 points
  • If the food contains vegetables (NOT corn or other grains), add 3 points
  • If the animal sources are hormone-free and antibiotic-free, add 2 points
  • If the food contains barley, add 2 points
  • If the food contains flax seed oil (not just the seeds), add 2 points
  • If the food contains oats or oatmeal, add 1 point
  • If the food contains sunflower oil, add 1 point
  • For every different specific animal protein source (other than the first one; count “chicken” and “chicken meal” as only one protein source, but “chicken” and “turkey”, etc as 2 different sources), add 1 point
  • If it contains glucosamine and chondroitin, add 1 point
  • If the vegetables have been tested for pesticides and are pesticide-free, add 1 point

Score

94-100+ = A  |  86-93 = B  |  78-85 = C  |  70-77 = D  |  69 = F

Here are some foods that have already been scored.

Authority Harvest Baked / Score 116 A+

Bil-Jac Select / Score 68 F

Canidae / Score 112 A+

Chicken Soup Senior / Score 115 A+

Diamond Maintenance / Score 64 F

Diamond Lamb Meal & Rice / Score 92 B

Diamond Large Breed 60+ Formula / Score 99 A

Dick Van Patten’s Natural Balance Ultra Premium / Score 122 A+

Dick Van Patten’s Duck and Potato / Score 106 A+

Hund-n-Flocken Adult Pet (lamb) by Solid Gold / Score 93 B

Iams Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Premium / Score 73 D

Innova Pet / Score 114 A+

Innova Evo / Score 114 A+

Kirkland Signature Chicken, Rice, and Vegetables / Score 110 A+

Merrick Grammy Pot Pie/ Score 118 A+

 

Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy / Score 87 B

Pet Gold Adult with Lamb & Rice / Score 23 F

ProPlan Natural Turkey & Barley / Score 103 A+

Purina Beneful / Score 17 F

Purina Pet / Score 62 F

Purina Come-n-Get It / Score 16 F

Royal Canin BullPet / Score 100 A+

Royal Canin Natural Blend Adult / Score 106 A+

Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice / Score 97 A

Science Diet Advanced Protein Senior 7+ / Score 63 F

Science Diet for Large Breed Puppies / Score 69 F

Wellness Super5 Mix Chicken / Score 110 A+

Wolf King Adult Pet (bison) by Solid Gold / Score 97 A

 

***Source unknown – widely circulated on the internet

More News from the Trail!

  • Empty the Shelters National Adoption Event

    We’re excited to announce that we’re participating in  Bissell Pet Foundation’s Spring National Empty the Shelter reduced-fee adoption event  now through May 15. Come meet cats and dogs with reduced and waived adoption fees both Saturday and Sundays during the event between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Our nation’s animal shelters are facing a capacity crisis and need your help now to get pets from shelter kennels into the couches of loving homes.

  • Helping Happy Hounds – Fee Waived Hound Adoptions

    As you may or may not know, Virginia animal shelters are filled with Hounds. These amazing dogs are most often discarded by callous hunters, found starving wandering the countryside. Many never make it as hunters and are then tied up to chains or left along the side of the road like old furniture. A good number of them do not make it out of shelters alive.But these dogs – like all dogs – are amazing and worthy of families. We just cannot get them families fast enough to stop them from dying in our shelters when there is no more space.And so we are trying something new here. ALL HOUND DOGS ADOPTED FROM HOMEWARD TRAILS WILL BE FREE. Yes, we are WAIVING ADOPTION FEES for Hounds for the foreseeable future.We hope that will entice well-matched applicants to consider a Hound now. Use the money you save on training, treats, toys.We think all dogs are worthy. But the reality is that some take extra incentives. Some have more barriers to getting adopted. And the result is well, more end up dying. And no – this does NOT mean we are just giving dogs away. All applicants will still go through our application/screening process to ensure good homes. This is just us trying to save more dogs by eliminating one more barrier to adoption. And hey, Hound lovers can use all the extra money they can get to buy treats, right?Help us help these Hounds. Our program Helping Happy Hounds is live NOW. Let’s save some lives!

  • Our Current Supply Needs – Can You Help?

    Each year Homeward Trail spends thousands and thousands of dollars on supplies to care for our animals and support the general operations of our organization. We always strive to keep our costs as low as possible so that we can spend every extra dollar saving more lives.  One simple way you can help is by donating these supplies – everything from postage stamps, to cleaning supplies, to ink cartridges and paper, to dog and cat food and litter. Our wish lists are updated regularly so you can always find our most current needs. Please consider donating supplies to help us cover the cost of these items. The more we are able to get donated, the more animals we can help. Thank you! Adoption Center Wishlist Meow Palace Wishlist Dog Enrichment Wishlist Trails Home Farm Wishlist Farmhouse Wishlist Trails UP Wishlist  Puerto Rico Wishlist

More News from the Trail!

  • Empty the Shelters National Adoption Event

    We’re excited to announce that we’re participating in  Bissell Pet Foundation’s Spring National Empty the Shelter reduced-fee adoption event  now through May 15. Come meet cats and dogs with reduced and waived adoption fees both Saturday and Sundays during the event between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Our nation’s animal shelters are facing a capacity crisis and need your help now to get pets from shelter kennels into the couches of loving homes.