This particular food grading system is really popular on some of the other
forums I visit. Wondering what y'all thought of it. Maybe it's safe to
post now that the great kibble/raw wars seem to be over (yeah, I've jinxed
it).

Food Grading System - How to Grade Your Dog's Food

You will need your kibble's list of ingredients, as found on the bag (or
oftentimes their website). Please note, however, this is for ingredients
ONLY.... so before feeding a pup be sure to look at the protein and fat and
calcium and calories in the Guaranteed Analysis.

Start with a grade of 100:

For every listing of "by-product", subtract 15 points

For every non-specific animal source ("meat" or "poultry", meat, meal or
fat) reference, subtract 10 points

If there are no specific meats or meat meals, subtract 25 points

For every grain "mill run" or non-specific grain source, or grain
"middlings", subtract 10 points

If the food contains BHA, BHT, or ethoxyquin, subtract 15 points

If the same grain ingredient is used 2 or more times in the first five
ingredients (i.e. "ground brown rice", "brewer's rice", "rice flour" are all
the same grain), subtract 5 points for each occurrence

If the protein sources are not (specific) meat meal and there are less than
2 meats in the top 3 ingredients, subtract 3 points

If it contains any artificial colorants, subtract 5 points

If it contains ground corn or whole grain corn, subtract 3 points (subtract
5 if corn is listed in the top 5 ingredients)

If the food contains any animal fat other than fish oil, subtract 3 points

If lamb is the only animal protein source (unless your dog is allergic to
other protein sources), subtract 2 points

If it contains soy or soybeans, subtract 5 points

If it contains wheat (unless you know that your dog isn't allergic to
wheat), subtract 2 points

If it contains beef (unless you know that your dog isn't allergic to beef),
subtract 1 point

If it contains salt, subtract 3 points

If it contains corn syrup, molasses, or other added sweetener, subtract 10
points

Extra Credit:

For every different specific animal protein source (other than the first
one; count "chicken" and "chicken meal" as only one protein source, but
"chicken" and "turkey" as 2 different sources - do not count egg, cheese, or
other similar ingredients), add 1 point

If the food contains 3 or less different mentions of grains (or other
high-carb plant-based foods like potatoes), add 5 points

If any of the meat sources are organic, add 5 points (if the number 1
ingredient is organic meat, add 10 points)

If the animal sources are hormone-free and antibiotic-free, add 3 points

If the food is baked not extruded, add 5 points

If the food contains probiotics, add 3 points

If the food contains fruit or vegetables (NOT corn or other grains), add 3
points

If the vegetables have been tested for pesticides and are pesticide-free,
add 1 point

If the food contains barley or oats or oatmeal, add 1 point

If it contains sunflower, hemp, flaxseed, or other polyunsaturated vegetable
oils, add 3 points (add 5 if it is the #1 fat)

If the vitamin and mineral sources are chelated, add 5 points

94-100+ = A

86-93 = B

78-85 = C

70-77 = D

70 = F

I wasn't sure if I should post the results of this sort of analysis for
various foods. Might be considered inflammatory by some.

Suja

In article ,
Suja wrote:
I wasn't sure if I should post the results of this sort of analysis for
various foods. Might be considered inflammatory by some.

I'm curious.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

"Melinda Shore" wrote in message:

I'm curious.

Only because you asked.

Food Grade Results

A's Score
A+ Chicken Soup for the pet lovers soul 113
A+ Eagle Pack Holistic chicken 114
A+ Eagle Pack Holistic LG and Giant Breed Adlt 113
A+ Eagle Pack Natural 104
A+ Timberwolf Organics Lamb and Venison 136
A+ Solid Gold Bison 123
A+ Solid Gold Wolf King 109
A+ Solid Gold Hund N flocken 105
A+ Solid Gold Mmillennia 111
A+Innova 117
A+ Natural Balance Duck and Potato 114
A+Canidae 119
A+ Foundations Chicken and Vegetable 109
A+ Flint River Ranch Fish and Chips 109
A+ Wysong Synorgon 110
A+ Flint River Ranch Lamb, Millet and Rice 117
A+ Back to Basics 107

B's
B Eukanuba Natural Lamb and Rice 87

C's
C Nutro Lamb and Rice 85

D's
D Iams Lamb and Rice 74

F's
F Pedigree Adult Complete 14
F Ol'Roy 9
F Science Diet Chicken Adult Maintainance 45
F Purina Beniful original 23
F Pro Plan Giant Breed Adult 41
F Pro Plan Performance 53
F Pro Plan Chicken and Rice
F Purina Dog chow
F Purina Large Breed 40
F Diamond Lamb and Rice 61
F Diamond Performance (formerly professional)
F Diamond Large Breed 55

In article ,
Suja wrote:
Only because you asked.

That's pretty interesting - thanks. I'm particularly
curious about the lack of scores in the 90s. It could
suggest that when a food manufacturer that does one thing
these guys don't like they tend to do a few things that
these guys don't like. Or, it could suggest that there
might be a weird bias in how they score. I don't think a
difference of a couple of points is meaningful, but a
difference of more than 15? Odd.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

"Suja" said in rec.pets.dogs.health:

If [...]
there are less than 2 meats in the top 3 ingredients,
subtract 3 points

I got to that point before I decided that the survey had some
idiosyncrasies which I didn't want to justify. Less than?

But thanks for making me check out Natura's web site (the
food of choice here), it's been a while. I saw that CalNat's
bag has changed - that made me look further and it seems that
rosemary has been added. That may be a bad ingredient for
Rocky in that many report it as a seizure trigger. I'm going
to give them a phone call.

The person who answered was very good; as to how the news
pertains to me and mine, it's not good, but I'll wait for my
promised call back.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

"Melinda Shore" wrote in message:

That's pretty interesting - thanks. I'm particularly
curious about the lack of scores in the 90s.

Well, that list is only partial, and I suspect, came from a thread where
different people each evaluated what they were feeding and posted the
numbers, or had a bunch of people go 'Can you calculate the score of *this*
food?'. I don't think it was a serious attempt to be inclusive of
everything.out there, although some of the most commonly fed foods/brands is
represented.

What I found interesting is the score for Ol' Roy. Wonder if a sack of
sawdust would rate any lower.

Suja

"Suja" wrote in message
...

This particular food grading system is really popular on some of the other
forums I visit. Wondering what y'all thought of it.

.......oh I don't know, seems unnecessarily complicated when common sense
will do. No kibble, due to manufacturing constraints in making this
physical product, is going to contain as much protein as a food not in
kibble form; nor is it going to contain fewer carbs.

.......I don't think you can make any commercial food that is one size fits
all. My dogs eat a lot of beef. I think many dogs have poor working guts
with out of balance flora which leads to sensitivities. Seems to me it makes
more sense to aim for general good overall health than spend time grading a
food as if it's the only thing they're going to eat. To do that I think it
makes sense to add fresh foods to the kibble.

.......And I'd like to know why egg isn't counted as a protein as it's the
most biologically available food a dog could eat.

buglady
take out the dog before replying

buglady schrieb:

snip

Seems to me it makes more sense to aim for general good overall health than spend time grading a
food as if it's the only thing they're going to eat. To do that I think it
makes sense to add fresh foods to the kibble.

I couldn't agree more. There is no one commercial food that can meet all
of any given dog's needs, no matter how conscientiously put together it
is. Sticking to one food only gives you a dog that goes into digestive
crisis when (inevitably) the recipe changes or the food is discontinued.

Sally

After the peeing fiasco with natural balance lite, we've moved Tok to Evo
Reduced Fat and Pirate to Evo Small bites.
Both have scores of over 100 (although I didn't know all the answers to the
questions about extrusion, for example)

Tok is doing VERY well. Appears to have lost weight and is able to eat MORE
quantity. This makes me happy and him happy. He seems very springy and
silly again.

Pirate, I'm not so sure. He's maybe not a low carb dog.

"buglady" wrote in message
...

......I don't think you can make any commercial food that is one size fits
all.

I don't think you can make any home diet that is one size fits all. When
you think about it- its this way in humans too - some people have issues
with too many carbs, others need to eat lots of carbs. Some people are
allergic to certain things or lactose intolerant. I think its probably the
same way in dogs.