What dog food is best? Dog food reviews won’t necessarily help you make the right choice…so here’s the complete dog nutrition guide to help you raise a happy, healthy pup!

9 min readSep 24, 2020

It can be really hard choosing the right dog food for your pup. There are quite literally thousands of options available and it’s hard to know where to begin.

We hope that our dog nutrition guide can help you choose the right kinds of dog foods based on your doggo’s needs. We help you correctly read dog food nutrition labels to make good judgement calls about different brands.

Our goal in this guide is to be agnostic to all dog brands, but merely provide different perspectives on dog nutrition that will ultimately help you make the right decision for your dog.

How to figure out dog nutrition needs and dog nutrition requirements specifically for your doggo.

Choose a formula that considers your dog’s age. For example, puppies require formulas that are high in protein and DHA, a nutrient found in their mommy’s milk. Older dogs could require formulas created for senior citizens, and you may even want to consider cooking their meals as they age and are unable to eat or digest certain foods.

Choose a formula that considers your dog’s size. For example, large dog breeds require lots of glucosamine in their diets to support joints, and can also swallow larger sizes of kibble. Small dog breeds will prefer smaller kibble bites that they can digest more easily.

Choose a formula that considers your dog’s activity level. For example, active dogs will require lots of nutrients in their food, so formulations tailored to the athletes will work best. Indoor dogs will require weight management formulations instead. Think through how much you feed your doggo each day depending on the amount of exercise or activity they had that day. It’s okay to reduce daily intake a little or increase it a little depending on the dog’s daily activity level.

Choose a formula that considers your dog’s special needs. For example, it’s common for certain breeds to have a sensitive stomach and so special formulations will be required in this case. It’s also poble that you have a dog with food allergies, and he or she might be unable to eat certain ingredients. It is crucial to consult your veterinarian about your dog’s special nutritional needs and work together to come up with a plan. Sometimes finding the right dog food is simply a trial and error process and your vet can walk you through how to evaluate different types of dog foods and switch between different types of dog foods.

How to read a dog food nutrition label to make the right choices.

Find dog food that’s high in protein or meat by analyzing the dog food title. Titles that include the protein, such as “Chicken for Dogs” or “Salmon Dog Food” will have at least a 95% protein content in the food itself. This is because they are directly naming the ingredient in the title. Also, the main ingredient or food product should consist of at least 70% of the food, when factoring in the added water needed to create the formula.

Titles like “Chicken Dinner for Dogs” or “Lamb Entree” or “Salmon Platter” sound more appealing and healthy, but are actually quite deceptive titles. The use of the term ‘dinner’, ‘platter’ or ‘entree’ indicates that dog food contains between 25% and 95% of that ingredient, not counting the added water needed to create the formula. Factoring in water, the ingredient in the title should consist of at least 10% of the dog food.

Titles like “Doggo Dinner with Beef” and “Dog Platter with Chicken” indicate that at least 3% of the total formula contains the ingredient in the title. So watch out for titles that use “with”, since 3% is not very much!

Choose foods with animal byproducts or meat meal! It’s good for your doggo. While byproducts do not sound very yummy or very healthy to humans, they are great for your doggo. This means that the dog food could contain animal liver (high in vitamin A), intestines, blood, brains, and bone. Your doggo is getting more minerals and nutrients this way.

Analyze the ingredient list in the nutrition label. Remember that ingredients in your dog food label are listed in order of weight within the formula. The Guaranteed Analysis within the label will let you know the quantities of certain nutrients within each dog food serving (i.e., the amount of protein, fat, fiber, and water in the food).

“Organic dog food” vs. “Natural dog food”: Here ‘organic’ means that the dog food does not contain artificial preservatives, color or flavoring. The food also doesn’t contain antibiotics or growth hormones for the meat, and there are also little or no fillers in organic dog food. ‘Natural’ dog food means that there are no artificial colors, preservatives or flavors in the food. Sometimes dogs with sensitive stomachs tend to prefer organic dog foods.

“Grain-free dog food”: It turns out that ‘grain-free’ sounds better to humans because we seem to evaluate our dog’s food from an all-too human standpoint. In fact, studies at Tuft University have shown an increased prevalence in heart disease for dogs that have ‘grain free’ diets. This could be more prevalent for certain breeds over others.

“Human-grade dog food”: While this is a good thing, it can be misleading. It simply means that all ingredients used in the formulation are edible for humans and have been processed and manufactured in a way that’s acceptable for human consumption, in accordance with federal regulations.

Dog food with “new proteins”: This usually means that the meat is coming from an exotic animal instead of your usual group of farm animals. While it might be interesting to feed your dog kangaroo or bison meat, the nutritional value of these types of meats are less known than the typical chicken, salmon, beef, tuna, or lamb dog food.

“Lite, low calorie, or low fat” dog food: Any brand that makes these claims has to show a reduction in calories in comparison to other foods, as outlined by AAFCO (Association of Animal Feed Control Guidelines).

Before you check dog food ratings, here are dog food vets recommend.

Most vets recommend formulations from three major dog food brands: Purina, Hills, and Royal Canin. This is because these three brands are well established and have undergone lots of animal testing that prove with statistical significance that there is good nutritional value in each brand’s dog food formulations. This is why most vets feel comfortable with recommending these three major brands.

That is not to say that there are no other great dog food brands out there! You will have to do your own research to find niche brands recommended by vet specialists and nutritionists. If you choose a dog food brand that is not one of the major brands, make sure that the brand you choose actually employs a veterinarian specialist or dog nutritionist on a full-time basis, as opposed to a part-time consulting gig.

Dog food for puppies: your growing pup needs extra nutrients and fat in their food.

Young puppies grow up fast and therefore require a lot more care and attention, as well as feeding!

Puppies can wean away from their mommy’s milk between the ages of 3–4 weeks. It can take 3–4 weeks to make this a gradual process. It is best to wet the solid dog food initially so that puppies can gradually get used to eating dry, solid foods. Puppies love to play with their food, so you might have to use a finger to manually feed your puppy so that he or she knows what to do!

Puppies between 2–3 months old need as many as 4 meals a day.

Puppies between 3–6 months old need as many as 3 meals a day.

Puppies between 6–12 months old need 2 meals a day.

When choosing a puppy dog food brand or recipe, it is crucial that you choose a formula that “meets the nutritional requirements for puppies established by AAFCO” Also look for brands that claim “complete and balanced nutrition based on AAFCO feeding trials.” As a remainder, AAFCO stands for the Association of Animal Feed Control Guidelines.

It’s really, really important to make sure that your puppy’s meals are balanced! Here’s what leads to a nicely, balanced puppy diet:

Healthy fats in puppy food keep your puppy’s coat shiny and helps them develop their brain functions and their eyesight.

Carbs give your puppy energy :)

Foods labeled as “complete” and balanced will have a good dose of vitamins and minerals that your doggo needs.

Did someone say dog food diet? Help your doggo lose weight.

The best way to help your doggo lose those extra pounds is to gradually limit their caloric intake.

Limit the number of times you give your doggo extra food or kibble.

Limit the number of times you give your dog treats during the day.

Limit the amount of scraps you feed your dog from the dinner table.

Look for formulas specifically created to help your doggo lose weight, like Hills’ prescription diet metabolic weight management.

If the weight management problem still persists, take your doggo to the veterinarian so that you can check up on his or her hormones. It is possible that a sudden weight gain could be a hormonal imbalance. It should typically take 3–6 months for your dog to lose the extra weight if you stick to a rigorous diet.

Dog food to gain weight: need your doggo to put on some extra pounds?

You’ll know if your dog needs to gain some weight if:

(1) their bones show too much, such as their ribs, spine or pelvic bones.

(2) if they lack a lot of energy.

(3) if their coat loses its regular shine.

These are all signs that your dog needs more food or added nutritional value to their existing diets. Check in with your vet to confirm with them that your dog should be gaining more weight before changing up their diet. It is possible that your dog has an underlying medical condition that is causing this issue and so you will want to eliminate the possibility of a medical condition before changing your dog’s diet.

When choosing a new diet for your doggo to help them gain weight:

(1) choose formulas with higher quantities of protein and fat.

(2) feed your doggo multiple times a day or leave the dry food out all day.

(3) add a little bit of wet food or a dog food topper to get your dog to eat up the rest of their dry food.

If your dog is a picky eater, you might want to consider some dog food recipes to make at home in order to gain more control over your dog’s eating habits. Some good, old home cooking is also perfect for dogs with sensitive stomachs or food allergies.

Dog food recipes to try out at home.

Remember, a balanced diet is crucial to ensuring your doggo is getting all the nutrients that they need to stay healthy. Use this ingredient picker created by a certified nutritionist when trying to balance out your dog’s diet and creating homemade dog food recipes.

There are a lot of things that can go wrong with your pup if they maintain an unbalanced diet! A diet that lacks nutrients or has too many nutrients can lead to malnutrition, obesity, or even death in extreme cases.

Always remember to make sure that each ingredient you put into your homemade dog food recipe is nontoxic to dogs. Remember to avoid using toxic foods like chocolate, avocado, grapes, raisins, onions, garlic and macadamia nuts.

Want to learn more about dog training, dog behavior and dog nutrition?

Check out Pawsitive app to actually put theory into practice and start applying all this knowledge. The Pawsitive app helps dog parents raise happy, healthy dogs by providing community and professional support. We connect you to other dog parents and professionals. We are building a supportive dog parent community and we are better than dog social media! Stay accountable for completing wellness milestones with your dog and other dog parents, dog moms, and dog dads.