Those of us who have a dog as a life partner know that it is not a pet, but part of the family and that is why we care about feeding it with high quality feed. But high-end dog food brands are not always quality, because they use very misleading advertising campaigns.
So from Dogsis.com We have analyzed the best brands of high-end dog food, in search of the products with the best quality in their ingredients and complete composition. And these are the results obtained.
Index of contents
- 1 What must a feed contain to be high-end?
- 2 What ingredients should quality dog food not have?
- 3 Why do some feed brands claim to be high-end when they are not?
- 4 The best high-end dog food brands
- 4.1 NFNatcane
- 4.2 Orijen
- 4.3 Naku
What must a feed contain to be high-end?
It is not enough to put on the label that it is a premium, super-premium or high-end food, since that it’s just advertising which is often placed only to increase sales.
A high-end dog food brand should develop formulas that contain high-quality ingredients and in optimal amounts to meet a dog’s nutritional needs.
Thanks to the numerous studies carried out on healthy dogs, it can be affirmed that the best dog food It is the one that contains a large amount of quality meat products, followed by a small amount of carbohydrates and some fruit and vegetables.
What ingredients should quality dog food not have?
Feed brands play around with definitions on their product labels to try to confuse consumers, especially when they know they don’t use high-quality ingredients.
For example, a high-quality dog food containing “meat by-products” is not and will never be a high-end feed. Because meat by-products are used only in low-quality feed.
The same happens with animal meal or lack of specification, such as “chicken”, without specifying whether it is meat, bones, waste … High-end brands always specify ingredients, because they have nothing to hide.
This is a small list of products that make a feed not acquire the high-end category, if you read them on the label of a dog feed, it is because that product is not high-end:
- Meat by-products / meat derivatives
- Animal meal
- Wheat / Corn
Why do some feed brands claim to be high-end when they are not?
It all consists of marketing strategies to improve your sales and consequently increase profits. But it is at the same time, a form of deception towards consumers with less experience when it comes to choosing a good feed for high-end dogs.
Imagine that you are the manufacturer of a range of low or medium quality feed, and you want to compete with other high quality brands. What do you do? The logical thing would be to improve the quality of your product … but unfortunately, it is not.
What is usually done is invest more money in companies dedicated to Marketing, which indicate that offering that same product with the category of “High Range” and with a nice photo of a dog … will increase sales considerably. Do not be fooled and always check the quality of the feed you want to buy, do not be guided by advertising.
The best high-end dog food brands
After analyzing dozens and dozens of brands, investigating the ingredients they use and the amounts of them, we have realized that the vast majority of dog food that claims to be high-end is actually not.
Only a few brands have really dedicated time and resources to making high-quality products, worthy of being considered high-end dog food.
NFNatcane
Possibly be the best brand of high-end dog food that we have analyzed and tested with our dogs. It is an emerging Spanish company that is investing a lot in quality and little in marketing.
It is not sold “piecewise” like other brands do in any medium and its quality is unquestionable, using a high percentage of dehydrated meats in their formulas, which then hydrolyze so that they are even more digestible for dogs.
Especially the Gourmet range, is becoming very well-known thanks to its good results and the “word of mouth” of those who have already tried it. If we base ourselves on quality, there are no direct competitors and it also has excellent prices.
Orijen
Possibly this is the best-known brand of all, although not for its quality but for the immense advertising campaigns it carries out. However, within the dog food of foreign origin, Orijen can be considered as a high-end product.
The problem that this brand offers us is that on the labels of the ingredients it is customary to put the percentages in “fresh meat”, so we cannot calculate the quantity exactly, since the fresh meat when losing water remains in very little bit.
However, it is also a product to keep in mind, although its prices are somewhat higher because it is imported from Canada, something that has no relation to quality, since other Spanish companies offer similar or superior quality at more competitive prices.
Naku
It is not a classic feed like the one we all know (dry kibble), but it is food fit for human consumption It has been dehydrated so that it is well preserved and can be distributed without problem.
This brand stands out for its high quality, since its ingredients are of high quality and suitable for human consumption. We only have to put the amount recommended by the manufacturer according to the weight of our dog, add warm water and wait ten minutes for it to hydrate.
Thus we will have fresh and hydrated food for our puppy, with all the benefits that this entails. Especially recommended for dogs with sensitivity or eating problems and for puppies that easily get bored with feed.
Our personal advice is to search among these brands for the ranges that you think can best fit your dog, buy one of each (not at the same time, when one is finished… buy another), and let your dog tell you which you like best. Believe us, you will notice.