Organic pet food

Finding the 10 best dog food options wasn't an easy task. Very few consistently pass our with flying colors.

As covered in our article, dog foods must have the following at a minimum in order to receive a 5 out of 5 and make the 10 best dog food list:

• Main ingredient must be listed first on the ingredient list
• Complete, balanced and 100% nutritious ingredients
• Zero potentially harmful ingredients
• Natural or organic ingredients
• Contain no artificial colors, chemical preservatives or by-products
• Ingredients must not have been exposed to antibiotics, herbicides or pesticides
• Contain no "filler" foods (unhealthy food like sugar or corn syrup that takes the place of healthy food)
• Contain no Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO's)
• Be a canned or raw food (NOT dry)...

10 Best Dog Food Options: Wet Vs. Dry Dog Food

DRY dog food came into existence due to World War II. Before the war, pet food was only in cans. With the war came rationing. Metal was in short supply, and the government mandated that pet food was NON essential.

Pet Food companies did not want to go out of business, so they figured out how to 'bake'/'process' the canned food and put it into bags. This was only going to be temporary until the war was over.

When the war ended, the pet food companies discovered that people thought dry dog food was GREAT! It was easy and convenient... they could leave it out in a bowl all day and it did not smell! WOW, great 'FAST' food for dogs!

As would be expected, pet food companies did NOT re-call dry food as there was now a legitimate demand for both canned and dry food.

Put more simply, DRY dog food was NOT created or developed because it was healthier for dogs and cats.

In fact, the opposite is true...

Dogs' (and humans') bodies are made up of about 70% moisture, and they (and we) NEED that moisture in our diet for the proper functioning of the heart, kidneys, bladder, joints, hair/skin, etc.

Dry dog food has been overly processed and extruded by machine under pressure during manufacture. Adding water to it will not 'reconstitute' the meat back to its natural moist form. And drinking water alone does not provide the necessary levels of moisture to maintain a balanced system.

Dry dog food is also too calorie-dense, so dogs on a dry dog food are commonly overweight.

But what about your dog's teeth? Doesn't dry food help keep their teeth clean?

Canned and dry dog food will BOTH promote dental tartar. Dry dog food does NOT keep the teeth clean UNLESS it says it is a TARTAR control diet. Regardless of diet, dogs will need to have .

In summary...

Feeding only a DRY Dog food is NOT healthy. It would be best to AVOID dry dog food altogether, and use canned or completely RAW diet (more on this below).

YOUR Dog Care Stories

Help visitors like you by sharing your advice related to this page...

Below are the top foods from brands that consistently make the grade. Click the links below to jump down the page to the category that matches your dog.

IMPORTANT: It is our veterinarians' opinion that an organic, completely raw diet is best for dogs... it most closely resembles the diet that dogs ate in the wild before being domesticated and has been found to bolster the immune system and keep dogs much healthier than highly processed or cooked dog food (the only raw meats to AVOID would be fish and pork).

However, a completely raw diet can get very expensive, especially for larger dogs. If you cannot afford a completely raw diet, the suggestions below provide great second choices either as a supplement to a partially raw diet or as a standalone dog food diet.

If you're not sure which category your dog needs, see the pages referenced below or .

What kind of dog food do you feed your dog?

Tell us about your favorite dog food, such as:

- What's it called?
- Who makes it?
- If you make it, what's the recipe?
- Is there anything special about it that you really like?
- Why did you start feeding it to your dog?