No dog should have to eat any of the worst dog foods, no matter how little, right? But how do we separate the “best” from the “worst”? I took the time to find out.
Organic vs. Inorganic Pet Food For A Mastiff
The most effective way to discern the best from the worst is through the ingredients. Usually. No doubt, certified organic foods are nearly always better than the inorganic ones.
I found that inorganic pet foods often contain synthetic ingredients that are not healthy for your pet. Is that a bad thing?
Vitamins In Dog Food Is Good For Your Mastiff?
However, as much as a “synthetic vitamin premix” helps manufacturers rebalance the nutrients, it is a “ticking time bomb”. Any excessive amount of synthetic vitamins could kill your pet.
That was what happened with the incident of Hill’s canned food leading to the death and sickness of more dogs than we want to count.
Hence, what is most important before choosing for your dog is to check the ingredients. If you identify synthetic vitamins or a super long ingredients list of words you can’t pronounce, drop the food and run as fast as your dog.
Now that is a lot we can flush down the toilet. If you don’t mind saving the best for the last, let’s start with those foods your dog shouldn’t be sniffing at all.
What Are the Worst Dog Foods?
The following dog foods fall into the list of worst dog foods for your Tibetan Mastiff:
1. Purina Dog Chow
Those jaw-breaking names are synthetic vitamins and minerals. They are added to the food to make up for the minerals lost in processing the food. I found this rule of thumb: The more the synthetics, the less you should buy of it.
Synthetics… is… not… for…eating.
But that is not all. Corn, wheat, and soy are amongst the top five ingredients used.
Now, here’s what you may want to know: These ingredients contain carbohydrates and dogs don’t need a lot of them.
Dogs are biologically carnivores and raw organic foods are the best for them. Moreover, Dr. Karen Becker explains that low-carb high protein diets help to reduce chronic inflammation in dogs.
2. Pedigree: Whole Grain Corn In Dog Foods
Most products of the Pedigree brand have one thing in common: Whole grain corn usually comes first on the ingredient listing.
The ‘by-products’ suggest it’s probably the lungs, brains, or any other undesirable part of an animal. You can’t be sure. So why take any chances?
That is good for your dog? You know the answer.
Some fact-finding on corn in dog food whole-grain corn reveals that whole grain corn is not just non-nutritious for dogs; it’s poorly digestible and a common allergen. It’s a triple threat of sorts.
The risk of a dog getting obese is also high. Remember: Corn is a carbohydrate that contains a lot of sugar.
Many bad dog foods have corn, wheat, or oatmeal as their first few ingredients and it often poses a risk of obesity and diabetes due to high sugar levels.
Nevertheless, let’s get to one of the most important questions.
Of course, the jaw-breaking synthetics account for over 50% of the lengthy ingredient list.
Moreover, the food is laden with artificial additives that have no place in dog food because they tend to be toxic.
3. Purina’s Beneful: Pet Foods With Fillers And By-Products
Purina often says they use real meats for Beneful products, and that’s true. However, they say nothing about the present fillers and by-products that may outweigh the real meats.
Besides, the artificial flavors and preservatives hardly make it any better. When we saw the synthetic vitamins, we understood why they have bad reviews almost everywhere.
4. Kal Kan Complete Adult Dog Food
Kal Kan complete Adult Dog food has corn as the first on the ingredients list and we’re pretty sure you’re now an authority on why corn isn’t best listed first.
Next, there’s a bone meal component. This is real bone, cartilage, blood, horn, hoof mashed together. That sounds like protein, right? However, it’s less digestible than real meat, and no one knows where all that… stuff comes from.
Besides, the long list of ingredients contains mostly synthetic vitamins and minerals.
As if that’s not enough, the soybean meal component is a by-product of soybean oil production and is of low biological value. That’s a kind way to say it isn’t nutritious.
5. Twin Pet: Dog Food For A Mastiff?
The first Twin Pet food ingredients you will notice on the list are ground yellow corn, wheat middling, meat, and bone meal.
Corn as the first ingredient suggests a high carbohydrate content in the food. If you have read our article on the hidden sugar in dog’s food, you will understand that high carbohydrates mean high sugar content.
In addition to that, the wheat middling used is the by-products of wheat processing, an ingredient of poor nutritional value. Moreover, the meats used are unidentified and that’s a red flag.
You have probably heard a million times not to buy dog food containing synthetic ingredients! Guess what? The twin pet dog has a surplus of synthetics.
6. Cesar's Filets: Meat By-Products
The first dog food ingredient on Cesar’s filets is meat by-products. That places it on our “worst dog foods list”.
Although some people may explain that by-products are not necessarily bad for dogs, it is better to avoid them when unspecified. Because you can never be sure what they really are.
7. Gravy Train Beefy Classic Dry Dog Food
Next on this list is the Gravy Travy Train Beefy Classic Dry Dog Food. The ingredient listing features corn, soybean meal, meat & bone meal, wheat middling. After those, I found an endless list of synthetic ingredients.
They used a moderate amount of meat or poultry by-products as the protein source. We don’t know where this comes from. Unidentifiable ingredients are always a red flag when it comes to choosing the best dog food.
8. Purina's Alpo With Fillers And By-Products
Although mainly a wet food brand, Purina”s Alpo has two dry food options that contain a lot of fillers.
Alpo’s ingredient listing for their wet food contains meat by-products and artificial flavors.
9. Kibbles N' Bits: Dog Foord With Soy And Corn
Corn features as its first ingredient, and that’s certainly a red flag for us.
There’s also a good deal of wheat and soy ingredients which isn’t what we want to see on a dog food ingredient listing.
10. IAM's Dry Dog Chunks With Whole Grains And By-Products
What a tragic end to a promising beginning!
We’ve honestly had enough of the bad stuff. Now let’s have some of the good.
What Are the Top 5 Healthiest Dog Foods?
Unfortunately, there is less of the good than of the bad. Much less. To help you find the few hidden gems, we are listing some of them below.
1. VOM Organic Turkey: 100% Certified Organic Dog Food
If you are looking for 100% certified organic raw food for your dog, the VOM organic turkey is a good option.
It is 100% turkey and contains no synthetics. Besides, the meat used is from free-range animals bred by Debi-certified Norwegian producers. (Norwegian Debi organic certification has higher standards than USDA organic.)
The unique part is: The food is handmade. It means that the food is completely unprocessed.
The nutritional contents are protein, fat, carbohydrates, dry substance, ash, calcium, and phosphorus. Nothing more. Bravo!
Look at their ingredients if you want to double-check. World class!
2. Naturaw Chicken and Lamb: 100% Raw Meat
Next on our list of best dog food is Naturaw chicken and lamb. The best part about this dog food is that it is 100% raw meat — no artificial ingredients are added.
Is it organic? I wish, but it does not seem so. We need to further investigate whether it is organic, and to what degree.
Moreover, you can order the organic veg mix to add some variety to the diet.
The ingredients used are: free-range boneless chicken meat, lamb chunks, chicken carcass, lambs liver, and lambs kidney. All of them sourced from Britain.
3. Organic Paws Original Blend Beef
Organic Paws makes a variety of Australian certified organic pet food, and the Original Blend food is one of my favorites.
If you check the ingredients, you will understand what I mean. The Original Paws Blend Beef ingredients are beef meat, kidney, liver, heart, green tripe, ground oil, cod liver oil, and kelp.
These foods naturally provide protein, iron, phosphorus, copper, zinc, vitamin A, B, C, D, E and K, calcium, magnesium, iodine, riboflavin, and selenium.
It is healthy food for your Tibetan Mastiff. It is a non-synthetic nutritious low carb organic diet that is balanced and complete.
4. Carna4 Dog Food- Grain Free Duck
Wonderfully short ingredient list!
Moreover, the fact that there are no jaw-breaking names on the label panel is endearing. Pet Nutrition Blogger Rodney Habib agrees to this on his Pet Kibble Review.
Also, it is stated on their website that all ingredients are gotten from Canadian and American farms, and the list of ingredients makes this very believable.
Egg, duck, herring, and pork liver provide the protein.
However, getting organic certification is costly, and smaller brands may have the quality but not the budget for getting certified.
The fava beans, carrots, whole apples, and sprouted seed mix of barley seeds, lentils, and peas provide all necessary vitamins and minerals and omega fatty acids.
The sprouted seeds also mean low gluten hence proper for gluten-sensitive dogs.
5. Raw for Paw: 100% Certified Organic Wild Meat Dog Treats (Freeze-Dried)
Last but not least. Raw for Paw produces 100% certified organic dog treats from Sweden. (The Swedish organic certification standard is higher than for EU, and obviously higher than USDA.)
One ingredient only. Each product made with a different meat. The best part is: the food is freeze-dried, which helps to retain the nutrients for a long period.
The nutrients listed on their website shows that it contains protein (59 %), fat (39%), ash (3 %), and moisture (3 %).
Can you find anything better than this? I couldn’t. Aside from the Norwegian VOM at the top of this list.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What Are the Bad Dog Foods For Mastiffs?
From Purina’s dog chow on number one to IAMs dry dog chunks on number ten, every dog food listed on our top ten worst dog foods qualifies as bad dog foods.
What Dog Food Is Killing Dogs?
One dog food that has been killing dogs is MARS’ Advance Dermocare. It is a pet food solely responsible for the increased number of megaesophagus cases across Australia from 2017 to 2018 leading to many dog deaths nationwide.
Generally, dog food containing low-quality ingredients, artificial colors, synthetic additives, or preservatives always put your dog at risk of many health issues.
Find The Best Tibetan Mastiff Dog Diet!
As a dog owner that has just taken some time to go through this piece on dog foods, you know what next, right?
Buy dog foods with a certified organic label and a short ingredient list.
Rule of thumb: The lesser the ingredients, the better. The more natural and organic, the better. If you cannot pronounce the ingredient you can bet it is synthetic. You shouldn’t find them in healthy dog foods.
Also, food with excessive amounts of carbohydrates such as corn, wheat, and soy are not healthy for your pooch.
At the end of it all, carbs break into sugar. Excess sugar can aggravate cases of diabetes, yeast infection, obesity, and allergies in your canine pet.
To sum up, avoid dog foods with synthetic vitamins, excessive carbohydrates, artificial flavors, preservatives, and additives.
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