Dog Food Comparison Chart

Proponents of feeding raw dog food discuss the benefits of this type of dog food endlessly. At the same time, however, advocates of commercial dog food do the same. So who do you believe? Since both sides can give convincing arguments, some dog owners let themselves be swayed by what system is more convenient for them, others choose to do further research and ask their veterinarians. Maybe the dog food comparison chart found on this page can help!

Here at Raw Dog Food System.com, we try to objective and fair when we compare dog foods. So here is our dog food comparison chart. We line up three basic types of dog foods, their benefits for your dog, their benefits for you, and their downsides. When you compare dog foods this way, you get an objective view of the entire picture, something you should see when making the decision of what to feed your dog!

Dog Food Comparison Chart

 

Commercial Dog Food

Homemade Cooked Food

Raw Dog Food

Benefits for Dogs

- aims to provide a dog with all around nutrition based on what has been studied to be a dog's nutritional needs

- aims to give dogs a good jaw and muscle work out by making some foods crunchy

- easier to chew

- healthy for dogs because the ingredients are usually carefully chosen

- aims to provide dogs with well balanced nutrition by mimicking the diet it would get in the wild

- aims to give a dog good jaw exercise

- aims to prevent dogs from becoming ill and allow them to live longer lives

- has been known to clean a dog's teeth naturally

- is digested better because it takes longer to chew and swallow meaning stomach acids flow well before swallowing and therefore breaks the food down better

- dogs tend not to overeat so weight management is achieved

Benefits for Owners

- easy to prepare and quite affordable

- easy to find and there is a lot of variety as well

- can be made out of what owners eat (minus seasonings)

- no need to buy any extra food or worry about storage space

- if their dogs are very healthy, less trips to the veterinarians

- owners get to keep their pet for longer

- some companies are now coming out with easy options like frozen raw dog food or raw dehydrated dog food

Downsides

- contain additives and preservatives

- have grains and cereal as a main ingredient, which dogs can be allergic to

- connected to some dog diseases

- connected to early death in dogs

- some nutrition is lost in the cooking process

- dogs do not get to develop their jaw and muscle bones due to the softness of the food

- can be difficult to prepare

- can be difficult to keep clean, and therefore it is open to disease

- can be more expensive

- can be difficult to find variety (which is required)

It is important to note that not all commercial dog foods are bad for your dogs. A study done by Andrew Lewis went through the ingredients of commercial dog foods made by various companies. He found that nine out of the many companies out there (and some of the biggest names were not included in these nine) can actually provide your dog good nutrition because they specialize in hypoallergenic dog foods, though raw feeding and homemade food is usually still better.

The best judge for what you should do for your dog should be your dog and the status of their health. If your dog is visibly healthy, energetic, has a shiny coat, no teeth problems, minimal to no odor, and produces stool that is firm and brown and a bit chalky, then your dog is healthy. So when you compare dog foods by testing out various foods in the dog food comparison chart, be sure to use your dog's health as your guide for comparison. Some dogs respond to certain diets better than others. Learn how to listen to your dog, and you will know what to do.