Top & Worst Dog Foods: What's Best for Your Pet?

Karen Shaw Becker, one of the world's most beloved veterinarians, has gained popularity through her insightful video, "The 13 Best to Worst Dog Foods." This video meticulously ranks dog foods from the most nutritious to the least, offering valuable insights for pet owners.

1. Balanced Homemade Raw Meat (Best) Mimicking the diet of our pets' ancestors, this option is nutritionally complete and allows you to personally select highquality ingredients, ensuring you know exactly what your pet is consuming.

Benefits of homemade raw meat include the ability to handpick ingredients, guaranteeing the quality of the meat, and having full control over every component that enters your pet's body.

2. Balanced Homemade Cooked Meat Similar to raw meat, this option offers all the benefits of homemade raw, minus some nutrients that may be lost during the cooking process.

3. Commercial Raw Meat Professionally formulated, this option saves the hassle of homemade preparation, but it's crucial to find a reputable source.

4. FreezeDried Raw Meat This option retains the maximum amount of nutrients and is convenient to feed (simply add water).

5. Commercial Cooked or Refrigerated Foods Like commercial raw meat, the key is to find a reliable brand.

6. Human Grade Canned Food (or Wet Food) Humangrade food benefits from higherquality ingredients and a lower risk of contamination compared to feedgrade products. Brands that offer humangrade products typically state this on their packaging or website.

7. HighQuality Canned Food Despite being feedgrade, these foods have a higher moisture content than dry kibble, are nutritionally balanced, and often contain excellent protein, fat, fiber, and carbohydrate ratios.

8. Human Grade Dry Food

9. HighQuality Dry Food (NonHuman Grade) While dry kibble is biologically unsuitable for dogs and cats due to its low water content, highquality options can be a better choice than lowerquality ones.

Especially for dogs that don't drink much water, pet owners are advised to soak dry food in warm water before feeding to increase its moisture content and provide additional hydration.

10. Regular Brand Canned Food

11. Regular Brand Dry Food

12. SemiMoist Pouches To maintain the semimoist state, manufacturers may add propylene glycol, which is permitted in pet food but not necessarily beneficial to health.

The Worst Diet:

13. Unbalanced Homemade Diets (Whether Raw or Cooked) Simply throwing together a mix of chicken legs, vegetables, and fruits doesn't make a balanced homemade diet. Proper research into your pet's scientific dietary needs is essential to avoid serious health issues.

Homemade diets should either be done right or not at all.

Summary

Within your means, provide your pet with the best possible food. Try to mimic the diet of your pet's ancestors by feeding them food that can truly sustain them. Offer as much fresh, unprocessed food as possible.

Research suggests that providing some fresh food is better than none. If you don't have time for fresh meals, fresh treats can also supplement your pet's diet.

For dogs, incorporating 2 to 4 meals of fresh food into a weekly 14meal diet is better than none. If you can achieve a 1:1 ratio of processed pet food to fresh food, your dog will be one step closer to a healthier life!