Playing Favorites: Whole Dog Journal’s Favorite Dog Food Companies
We’re often asked, “Come on; what’s your favorite food?”
Foods have to be selected for each dog individually. We just can’t answer that question.
However, we do have some favorite dog food companies, which we’ll discuss here. The complete list of Whole Dog Journal-approved canned food is below. Download a PDF version here.
Interestingly, Wellpet is on our list of favorites, which is weird, because a casual observer could say that the company has some of the same negatives that led to our distrust of Blue Buffalo. First, they use a number of contract manufacturers to make their canned dog foods, making it more difficult to provide reliable oversight of the manufacturing and perhaps contributing to some of the recalls they’ve had (like Blue Buffalo, the most recent was due to high thyroid levels in a beef-based food). And, like Blue Buffalo, their product line is way too big in our opinion; do all of those foods really offer anything unique? Can they really provide good oversight of so many SKU’s?
But here’s the difference between the two companies. When asked, Wellpet sent us complete nutrient analyses on all of its products, overnight. When asked, Wellpet has arranged for us to tour its own production facilities (in Mishawaka, Indiana) – and even strong-armed one of its contract manufacturing canneries into giving us a tour (our first time in a dog food cannery, in fact). And when something has gone wrong with one of its canine products, Wellpet has proactively contacted us, both to give us a heads-up and to explain what has been put in place to make sure whatever went wrong won’t go wrong again. The company is extraordinarily transparent about its manufacturing locations, quality control and food safety protocols (and audits), and ingredient sourcing.
And, try this: Call the company any time during business hours. Your call will be answered by a live human being who can answer almost any question about the Wellpet foods; if she can’t, she will research the issue and quickly get back to you. Amazing.
Unless you actually call these companies and ask them questions about their foods – a practice I can’t recommend strongly enough – it may not be apparent that some of them are full-time, professional pet food manufacturing companies, and some are a guy with a business card, an answering service, and a contract with an independent co-packer. Now, this isn’t a knock on every part-time pet food company owner out there. Some of those guys (this is the non-sexist form of the word; gals are inclusive) have innovated some very cool, healthy dog foods, personally locate sustainably and humanely raised animal ingredients, and oversee each run of their products at the contract manufacturing facility. But…some don’t do any of those things.
Lotus is another company we love. They make only a few foods, but with ingredients they source close to the cannery they built and operate themselves. They invited us to come and watch them make canned food and allowed us to take as many photos as we liked, of anything we saw. We love transparency!
We’re building a new appreciation for Halo, a company that for years has been anything but transparent regarding its manufacturing location. It is one of the few companies who told us to take a hike when we said we couldn’t put its products (which we like!) on our “approved foods” lists unless it disclosed its manufacturing locations. But the company has a new CEO, who recently asked for a meeting with us to introduce a company relaunch. All of Halo’s products have been reformulated, and all of its animal ingredients are now sourced by the company from audited suppliers of humanely raised, free-range animals and sustainably caught fish. And we’ve been invited to tour its production facilities. Now we’re talking.
2017 WDJ-APPROVED CANNED DOG FOODS
Dog foods in this list are not ranked, but appear in alphabetical order according to the product or brand name. They are all high-quality foods! Get a full explanation of the Canned Dog Foods of 2017 list here.
DOWNLOAD A PDF VERSION OF THE CANNED FOOD LIST HERE
A |
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| Product | Varieties | Range of Protein Content (minimum) | Range of Fat Content (minimum) |
| ADDICTION Kent, WA (425) 251-0330 |
9 grain-free varieties | 8-9% | 2-6% |
| AVODERM Breeder’s Choice (Central Gard & Pet) Walnut Creek, CA (866) 500-6286 |
10 varieties, 4 grain-free | 7-8% | 4-7% |
| AZMIRA Tuscon, AZ (800) 497-5665 |
3 varieties | 10% | 5% |
B |
|||
| Product | Varieties | Range of Protein Content (minimum) | Range of Fat Content (minimum) |
| BLACKWOOD Blackwood Pet Food Lisbon, OH (888) 843-1738 |
4 grain-free varieties | 9.5% | 8.5-9% |
| BRAVO Bravo Pet Foods Manchester, CT (866) 922-9222 |
6 grain-free varieties | 9.5-11.5% | 4.5-9% |
| BY NATURE Kent Pet Group Muscatine, IA (877) 367-9225 |
14 grain-free varieties | 8-10% | 4.5-8% |
C |
|||
| Product | Varieties | Range of Protein Content (minimum) | Range of Fat Content (minimum) |
| CANIDAE Canidae Corp. San Luis Obispo, CT (800) 398-1600 |
2 lines containing 11 varieties, 5 grain-free | 6-10% | 4.5-8% |
| CASTOR & POLLUX ORGANIX ULTRAMIX Merrick Pet Foods Hereford, TX (800) 875-7518 |
2 lines containing 27 varieties, 19 grain-free | 7-9% | 3-6.5% |
| CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL Cos Cob, CT (800) 658-0624 |
7 varieties, 4 grain-free | – | 7.5-9% |
| CLOUDSTAR St. Louis, MO (800) 361-9079 |
5 grain-free varieties | 7% | 3-4% |
D |
|||
| Product | Varieties | Range of Protein Content (minimum) | Range of Fat Content (minimum) |
| DOGSWELL Los Angeles, CA (888) 559-8833 |
4 lines containing 16 grain-free varieties | 8-10% | 4-10% |
E |
|||
| Product | Varieties | Range of Protein Content (minimum) | Range of Fat Content (minimum) |
| EAGLE PACK Wellpet Tewksbury, MA (800) 225-0904 |
4 varieties | 9% | 6% |
| EVO Natura Pet (Mars Petcare) Santa Clara, CA (800) 532-7261 |
2 grain-free varieties | 8.5-9% | 4.8-6% |
F |
|||
| Product | Varieties | Range of Protein Content (minimum) | Range of Fat Content (minimum) |
| FIRSTMATE North Vancouver, Canada (800) 658-1166 |
2 lines containing 7 grain-free varieties | 10-12% | 5% |
| FROMM Fromm Family Pet Food Mequon, WI (800) 325-6331 |
3 lines containing 15 grain-free varieties | 7-10% | 2-6.5% |
G |
|||
| Product | Varieties | Range of Protein Content (minimum) | Range of Fat Content (minimum) |
| GO! Petcurean Abbotsford, Canada (866) 864-6112 |
6 varieties, 3 grain-free | 8-10% | 4-6% |
H |
|||
| Product | Varieties | Range of Protein Content (minimum) | Range of Fat Content (minimum) |
| HALO Halo, Purely for Pets Tampa, FL (800) 426-4256 |
14 varieties, 6 grain-free | 5.7-11% | 3.5-10% |
| HEALTH EXTENSION Melville, NY (800) 992-9738 |
10 varieties, 4 grain-free | 7-8% | 2-6% |
| HOLISTIC SELECT Wellpet Tewksbury, MA (800) 225-0904 |
6 grain-free varieties | 11-12% | 6-8% |
| HOUND & GATOS New York, NY (212) 618-1917 |
12 grain-free varieties | 10-11% | 6.5-10% |
I |
|||
| Product | Varieties | Range of Protein Content (minimum) | Range of Fat Content (minimum) |
| INSTINCT Nature’s Variety St. Louis, MO (888) 519-7387 |
21 grain-free varieties | 8-11% | 3-8% |
K |
|||
| Product | Varieties | Range of Protein Content (minimum) | Range of Fat Content (minimum) |
| KOHA Delray Beach, FL (800) 478-7713 |
4 grain-free varieties | 9.7-10.5% | 7.5-8% |
L |
|||
| Product | Varieties | Range of Protein Content (minimum) | Range of Fat Content (minimum) |
| LOTUS Lotus Natural Food Torrance, CA (888) 995-6887 |
2 lines containing 5 grain-free varieties | 10-15% | 4-5% |
DOWNLOAD A PDF VERSION OF THE CANNED FOOD LIST HERE
M |
|||
| Product | Varieties | Range of Protein Content (minimum) | Range of Fat Content (minimum) |
| MERRICK Amarillo, TX (800) 664-7387 |
7 lines, containing 57 grain-free varieties | 7-10.3% | 3-7% |
N |
|||
| Product | Varieties | Range of Protein Content (minimum) | Range of Fat Content (minimum) |
| NATURAL BALANCE Natural Balance (J.M. Smucker’s) Burbank, CA (800) 829-4493 |
5 lines containing 32 varieties, 17 grain-free | 5-11% | 2-8% |
| NEWMAN’S OWN Westport, CT (203) 222-0136 |
2 lines containing 11 varieties, 7 organic and grain-free | 8-12% | 2.5-7.5% |
| NULO Austin, TX (512) 476-6856 |
10 varieties | 10% | 5-9% |
O |
|||
| Product | Varieties | Range of Protein Content (minimum) | Range of Fat Content (minimum) |
| OSOPURE Artemis Carson, CA (310) 513-4090 |
9 grain-free varieties | 8% | 4-6% |
P |
|||
| Product | Varieties | Range of Protein Content (minimum) | Range of Fat Content (minimum) |
| PARTY ANIMAL West Hollywood, CA (855) 727-8926 |
2 lines, containing 24 grain-free varieties, 10 organic | 9% | 7% |
| PET-TAO Fairview, TN (615) 934-3832 |
4 grain-free varieties | 8-10% | 6-8% |
| PINNACLE Central Garden & Pet Walnut Creek, CA (866) 500-6286 |
5 grain-free varieties | 7-8.5% | 5-6.5% |
| PETGUARD Green Cove Springs, FL (800) 874-3221 |
13 varieties, 1 grain-free | 8-10% | 4.5-7.5% |
| PRAIRIE Nature’s Variety St. Louis, MO (888) 519-7387 |
7 varieties | 7.5-8% | 4-5% |
| PRECISE Precise Pet Products St. Helena, CA (888) 477-3247 |
3 varieties | 7-8% | 5-6% |
R |
|||
| Product | Varieties | Range of Protein Content (minimum) | Range of Fat Content (minimum) |
| REDBARN Redbarn Pet Products Long Beach, CA (800) 775-3849 |
15 grain-free varieties | 8-11% | 3.5-9% |
S |
|||
| Product | Varieties | Range of Protein Content (minimum) | Range of Fat Content (minimum) |
| SOLID GOLD Greenville, NC (800) 364-4863 |
12 grain-free varieties | 7.5-9.5% | 3-9% |
T |
|||
| Product | Varieties | Range of Protein Content (minimum) | Range of Fat Content (minimum) |
| TASTE OF THE WILD Diamond Pet Products Meta, MO (800) 442-0402 |
5 grain-free varieties | 7-8.5% | 3-4.5% |
| THREE DOG BAKERY Kansas City, MO (800) 487-3287 |
2 varieties | 8% | 5% |
| TIKI DOG Tiki Pets Chesterfield, MO (866) 821-8562 |
2 lines containing 18 varieties, 8 grain-free | 6.5-15.2% | 2.9-6.5% |
U |
|||
| Product | Varieties | Range of Protein Content (minimum) | Range of Fat Content (minimum) |
| ULTRAHOLISTIC Nutro (a division of Mars) Franklin, TN (800) 833-5330 |
13 varieties | 7-10% | 2.5-6.5% |
V |
|||
| Product | Varieties | Range of Protein Content (minimum) | Range of Fat Content (minimum) |
| VERUS Abingdon, MD (888) 828-3787 |
11 varieties, 4 grain-free | 6.5-8% | 4.5-6.5% |
W |
|||
| Product | Varieties | Range of Protein Content (minimum) | Range of Fat Content (minimum) |
| WHOLE EARTH FARMS Merrick Pet Care Amarillo, TX (800) 323-3353 |
14 grain-free varieties | 8-10% | 3-6.5% |
| WELLNESS Wellpet Tewksbury, MA (800) 225-0904 |
6 lines, containing 48 varieties, 41 grain-free | 6-12% | 2-8% |
| WERUVA Natick, MA (800) 776-5262 |
20 grain-free varieties | 8.5-11.5% | 1.8-8.5% |
| WILD CALLING Greeley, CO (855) 628-7387 |
9 grain-free varieties | 8-10% | 5.5-8% |
