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NomNomNow Fresh Dog Food

If you’re looking for a super premium dog food to buy for a dog

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you may want to consider a fresh food option like NomNomNow.

Our Super Premium Option: This service delivers freshly prepared meals to your door on a weekly basis. All meals are prepared using whole, restaurant-quality ingredients to ensure the highest quality nutrition for your dog with no freezing or preservatives. When you sign up for the service, you fill out a profile for your dog which enables the company to create a custom recipe based on your dog’s calorie needs then the food is sent to you fresh for storage in your own fridge or freezer. Because the food is prepared fresh with gentle cooking methods, most of the nutritional integrity is retained for a wholesome meal.

Orijen Biologically Appropriate Original

The Orijen brand of dog food products biologically appropriate diets

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For dogs and it is easily one of the top rated dog food brands on the market.

Our Overall Best Kibble Pick: Every recipe is made with fresh, regionally sourced ingredients and designed to mirror your dog’s natural evolutionary diet. Their original recipe is formulated for all life stages and made with 85% poultry, fish, and egg ingredients with 15% fruits, vegetables, and botanicals – no grains, potatoes, tapioca, or plant protein concentrates. It offers a full 38% protein from numerous premium animal sources with 18% crude fat. It also contains beneficial supplements such as freeze-dried organ meats, chelated minerals, and probiotics.

American Journey Dog Food

Produced and sold by Chewy, the American Journey brand of dog food is an affordable option

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That still offers good quality which makes it one of the best foods if you’re on a budget.

Our Most Affordable: American Journey offers a wide variety of products, including grain-free options made with digestible carbohydrates like sweet potatoes. Their chicken and brown rice recipe is one of their most popular, made with high-quality and nutritious ingredients like deboned chicken, chicken meal, brown rice, chicken fat, and fresh fruits and vegetables. It also contains chelated minerals for maximum nutrient absorption.

Taste of the Wild Dog Food

If you’re looking a premium food dogs like Taste of the Wild is a very popular brand.

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Taste of the Wild uses real roasted meats in protein-rich formulas that are free from grains, fillers, and artificial additives.

Most Popular Pick: Their most popular recipe is the Taste of the Wild High Prairie Puppy formula which features real buffalo as the first ingredient with other proteins like bison, roasted venison, and beef to support strong muscles. This recipe also contains plenty of healthy fats as well as beneficial supplements like antioxidants from real fruits and vegetables, chelated minerals, and dried fermentation products which act as probiotics for healthy digestion.

Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Boost Kibble

When it comes to foods dogs like, dry food is usually the way to go.

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And Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Boost is an excellent option.

Our Best Dry Pick: This dog food consists of high-quality kibble mixed with bits of freeze-dried meat to provide a boost of nutrition and natural flavor. Each recipe features a different protein, but they are all rich in protein and healthy fats. This line of products is free from grains, potatoes, and low-quality fillers as well as by-products and artificial colors. Plus, it is made in the USA and contains all the supplements your dog needs for healthy digestion and balanced nutrition.

Solid Gold Mighty Mini Toy & Small Breed

There aren’t many recipes out there specifically formulated for toy breeds

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But this Solid Gold Mighty Mini Toy & Small Breed Dry Food recipe is one of the best commercial foods you can buy for dogs of this size.

Best Toy-Breed Food – This recipe features real chicken as the main ingredient with grain-free carbohydrates like chickpeas and pumpkin. It contains no gluten or grains, and it comes in smaller kibbles perfectly sized for tiny mouths. This is a holistic recipe designed to nourish your dog’s body from the inside out, and it contains a long list of 20 superfoods to accomplish that goal.

Castor & Pollux Organix Grain-Free Dog Food

Some of the best food to buy for a dog is made with organic

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ingredients like this Castor & Pollux Organix Grain-Free Food.

Best Organic Dog Food – This company offers a wide variety of original and grain-free recipes, all made with the highest-quality ingredients and prepared in organically certified USA kitchens. This particular recipe features organic, free-range chicken as a high-quality source of protein with organic sweet potatoes for carbohydrate support. It is loaded with fresh fruits and vegetables to provide natural sources for key nutrients as well as beneficial supplements like chelated minerals for balance.

Zignature Zssential Formula Grain-Free

Sometimes the best dog food to buy for a dog is a wet food. If your dog prefers canned food

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Zignature Zssential Formula is a great option.

Best Wet Food – Made with a blend of premium animal proteins like turkey, duck, and lamb, this recipe is incredibly rich in protein while being low in saturated fat. It features grain-free carbohydrates like chickpeas and peas with turkey broth for both natural flavor and moisture. This recipe is also supplemented with essential nutrients including chelated minerals and contains fresh fruits and vegetables to provide natural sources for essential nutrients as well.

There is no cut and dry answer to this question because dietary requirements vary from one dog to another. Though these differences are important to consider, it is also important to remember the importance of feeding your dog the right amount. If you feed him too little, you put him at risk for developing malnutrition or nutritional deficiencies. If you feed him too much, you increase his risk for obesity which also increases his risk for problems like heart disease, joint problems, and other diseases.

The best way to determine how much you should feed your dog is to consider his breed size, his age, and his body weight. As you may already know, toy and small breeds require a higher concentration of calories in their diet than larger breeds due to their fast metabolism. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you need to control the caloric intake of large and giant breeds to prevent them from growing too fast and to reduce their risk for obesity and musculoskeletal problems.

To make sure you feed your dog the right amount, start with a recipe formulated for dogs of his breed size. From there, refer to the feeding recommendations on the package according to your dog’s age and body weight. It is important to look at both the recommendations for the amount of food (generally measured in cups) as well as the calories. Different kibbles have different calorie contents, so make sure you follow the recommendations on the package for the exact food you are feeding your dog.

If you prefer to calculate your dog’s daily feeding amount based on calories, you’ll have to start by calculating his calorie needs. Generally speaking, the average adult dog needs about 30 calories per kilogram of bodyweight plus 70 to account for his daily activity. Here’s what that looks like:

30 x (weight in kg*) + 70 = daily calorie needs

*or body weight in pounds divided by 2.2

Keep in mind that this formula is for the average adult dog with a moderate activity level. Small and toy breeds may need as many as 40 calories per pound of bodyweight, and large and giant breeds (particularly inactive breeds) may need only 20 to 25 calories per pound. You can always talk to your veterinarian to help you determine your dog’s individual caloric requirements.

If you look at the feeding recommendations on a dog food label, you’ll see a recommended amount measured in either cups, calories, or both. Remember, this is the recommended amount your dog should be eating for the entire day (unless otherwise stated). It is your job to determine how many meals a day your dog needs and then divide the total amount by that number.

Most dogs do well with two meals per day, so you will likely just need to divide your dog’s total daily recommendation in half. Toy and small breeds, however, may require an additional meal to provide a steady influx of energy for their fast metabolisms. The same may be true for active or working breeds. Medium, large, and giant breeds should be fed two meals per day, generally one in the morning and the second meal in the evening. You can, of course, adjust your dog’s feeding schedule to fit your own.

Again, there is no cut and dry answer to this question because every dog’s dietary requirements are slightly different. When it comes to choosing between wet dog food and dry kibble, there are numerous factors to consider. You must think about cost, convenience, quality, digestibility, and palatability. By comparing and contrasting these factors, you can make the right choice for your dog.

In terms of cost, dry food is generally the most cost-effective option based on serving size. Keep in mind, however, that the cost of dry food goes up with quality. If you’re feeding your dog a bottom-shelf product, it will be much cheaper than a top-shelf product. You should also consider the convenience factor. Dry food is more shelf-stable after the package has been opened and you have the option of filling your dog’s bowl with an entire day’s worth of food without worrying that it will go bad.

Quality is a major factor to consider with any dog food, wet or dry. The cost of either type of food will go up as you increase the quality. Digestibility is also a concern. If your dog has dental problems or certain health issues, wet food may be easier to eat and to digest because it is soft and because the moisture content is higher than for dry food. Dry food does, however, have the advantage of helping scrape plaque and tartar off your dog’s teeth and it is generally easy to digest as long as it is made from high-quality ingredients.

Palatability is an issue that can only be determined by your individual dog. Some wet foods are more similar to fresh food than kibble, but some dogs simply don’t like the texture. For other dogs, dry food is too difficult to chew or simply less palatable than wet food. You can always mix the two together or, if necessary, dampen dry food with water or chicken broth if necessary.

Dog food recipes are a dime a dozen, and it is your job as a dog owner to learn how to tell the good from the bad. While the best way to choose a high-quality food is to read the ingredients list, it is just as important to pay attention to the ingredients that are NOT there as the ingredients that ARE.

When it comes to the dog food ingredients you should avoid, there are some obvious things as well as some that are less so. Here’s a quick list of 10 dog food ingredients to avoid:

• Corn – Often used as a filler in low-quality foods, corn offers very limited nutritional value for dogs and also tends to be difficult to digest. It is also a common food allergen for dogs.
• Wheat – Though whole wheat is considered a healthy ingredient for humans, it offers low nutritional value for dogs and comes with a high risk for triggering food allergies and sensitivities. Wheat also contains gluten which can trigger a reaction in some dogs.
• By-Products – The word “by-product” should always raise a red flag because it usually indicates a lower quality ingredient. For example, chicken meal consists of fresh chicken that has been cooked and ground, making it a concentrated source of high-quality protein. Chicken by-product meal, however, could come from any number of chicken parts including feet, bones, necks, and undeveloped eggs. If you can’t tell where the ingredient comes from, it is best avoided.
• Chemicals – There are a wide variety of chemicals you might see listed for low-quality dog foods and they are generally easy to identify – they often have long, hyphenated names that leave you with no idea what they actually are. It is usually safe to assume, however, that they aren’t good.
• Preservatives – A preservative is used to increase the shelf-life of a dog food product, but there is a big difference between natural and artificial preservatives. Artificial preservatives like BHA and BHT are chemicals which can be very dangerous for dogs.
• Fillers – A filler is a low-quality ingredient that dog food companies use to add bulk to their products without significantly increasing their cost. Examples of fillers include things like soybean hulls, rice bran, oat hulls, and modified cornstarch.
• Food Dyes – Artificial coloring is never a beneficial ingredient in dog food because the only purpose it serves is to make the food look more appealing to humans. Food dyes like Red 40, Blue 2, and Yellow 5 should never appear in a high-quality dog food.
• Artificial Flavors – These ingredients are used to make the product more palatable for dogs which may seem like a benefit, but the inclusion of these ingredients generally points to a lower quality for the product as a whole.
• Sweeteners – There is no good reason for a food to include sweetener – the only benefit would be to make the product more palatable, but that is generally not as much of a concern with food for dogs as it is for human food.
• Rendered Fat – Healthy fat is an important part of a dog’s diet, but you want to avoid rendered fat. The best fat for dogs comes from identifiable animal or plant sources (such as chicken fat, salmon oil, or flaxseed). Rendered fats include things like animal digest, bone meal, and beef tallow. These fats are included to give the product flavor but don’t add nutritional value.

As a general rule, if you can’t tell what an ingredient is on a dog food label, you may want to avoid that product. Keep in mind that vitamin and mineral supplements may have chemical-sounding names, but anything with the word “by-product” attached is bad news, and anything with a long, unidentifiable name is probably a chemical.