I'm firmly convinced feeding raw is better for my dogs. However, at the this time our budget really doesn't allow it. So I'm trying to buy the best kibble I can afford. My problem is I'm not certain how to compare two different kibbles.

Can I get some advice based on the info given between them? Is higher crude protein better? I know the primary ingredients are listed first, but I'm not sure what exactly to look for. Seems like the primary thing to look for is no corn; but more than that I don't know.

So one is "chicken, rice & vegetable" that's "made with fresh chicken". Says 26% minimum crude protein, 16% crude fat, 4% crude fiber, 10% moisture, 1% calcium, 0.8% phosphorus, 200mg/kg zinc, 0.4 mg/kg selenium, 150 IU/kg vitamin E, 2.5% omega-6, 0.4% omega 3, 300mg/kg glucosamine, 100mg/kg chondroitin sulfate. 3754 kcal/kg (393 kcal/cup) "calculated metabolizable energy". The ingredient list is: chicken, chicken meal, whole grain brown rice, cracked pearled barley, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and vit E), egg product, beet pulp, potatoes, fish meal, flaxseed, natural flavor, ewers dried yeast, millet, and lot of other "-ates" and "-ides". For 30 - 40 pound dogs, they recommend 1 3/4 - 2 1/4 cup per day.

This one give my Aussie bad gas pretty much all the time. Her poops can be any where from nice and firm to runny and yucky. I don't know what causes her to have firm poop or diarrhea.

The new one I'm looking at is "sweet potatoe and chicken" with "limited ingredient diets". 21% crude protein, 10% crude fat, 3% crude fiber, 10% moisture, 1% calcium, 0.9% phosphorus, 3% omega 6, 0.5% omega 3. There's no data on the kcal/kg, but their recommended servings for 30 - 40 pound dogs is 2 1/3 - 3 cups. The ingredient list is: Sweet Potatoes, Chicken Meal, Potato Protein, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), Chicken, Potato Fiber, Natural Flavor, Flaxseed, Dicalcium Phosphate, Sodium Chloride, Salmon Oil with lots of other "-ates" and "-ites".

Based on what little I know, it seems the first is better even though it give her gas. The second one seems like it requires more food for the same nutritional levels and has less protein. However, it also has no grain.

What should I be looking for? What makes a good kibble better than others?

Go to http://www.dogfoodproject.com/ for a quick crash course on what the dog food ingredients mean.

Some of the better ones in my opinion: Wellness CORE, Blue Buffalo (Wilderness), Natural Balance (the LID, Grain-Free line, Halo, Merrick B.G. (Before Grain formulas), Solid Gold Barking at the Moon. There's also a section on Leerburg about some of the good all natural kibbles.

http://leerburg.com/all-natural%20kibble.htm

I work at a Petco store. I've had a lot of training (brainwashing) about kibble. These are the foods I'd recommend if you want to stick to kibble I will be switching to raw after I finish my bags of kibble however... Because these guys have converted me : )

Things like beet pulp, millet, barley, & rice are all fillers. Granted, brown rice & barley are not the worse ones in kibble. But dogs don't need grains. Some more....Timberwolf Organics, Tast of the Wild, Innova Evo. Most of the higher quality kibbles are not avaiable from the Petco, Petsmart big box type stores. You ususally have to go to a smaller pet shop to get them. I have fed raw for over 6 years & have found that if you shop sales, and or buy from wholesale/restaraunt supply companies, you can feed raw for only a few dollars more than high grade kibble. Of course you need to have a good amount of freezer space to purchase in 40 lb box quantities & 10 lb ground meat logs. But in the long run, even if you have to purchase a small freezer, it will be worth it, in my opinion. You might find someone to split orders if you can't store it all yourself in order to take advantage of bulk purchasing.

ETA ,....craigslist always has freezers for sale if you don't want to purchase new.

I would check out http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com
they have the kibbles listed in 6 star, 5 star quality and so on.
They review most of the kibbles on there and it does explain the differences.
Sometimes you see the natural meats listed as deboned chicken as an example, which is before dehydration process, and that just means that there will be less meat by volume once the water is removed, then you will also see meat meal and that has a higher concentration of meat by volume. But as long as there are no grains (JMO) and meats are listed in the top first ingredients it is much better quality.


Not sure what fits your budget, but the canned meats without grain are also good to give as they have a high quality meat listed as their first ingredients.
Evo is an excellent food, as is Orijen for kibbles as well as canned. Also, Instinct, by Nature's Variety is also a good one.
These are two top quality ones that I have read many here on the forum feed.

You can look here, too:

http://leerburg.com/all-natural%20kibble.htm


The ingredients you posted look familiar .... Natural Balance?

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

The ingredients you posted look familiar .... Natural Balance?

The first one is Kirkland Signature (Costco brand) Super Preium Adult Doc Chicken, Rice & Vegetable Formula. The second is Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance LID Sweet Potato & Chicken Formula.

dogfoodanalysis.com rates the Natural Balance (the second one listed) as a 4 star and the Kirkland as a 3 star (the first one listed). However, just looking at the label I don't see it. The only thing I can figure is they are rating potatoes as a better carb than the rice and barley.

Looking at dogfoodproject.com, neither of the dog food has any of the ingredients that are listed as to avoid. It also seems to me based off the information on that site on how to read ingredients lists, that the Kirkland brand has more protein than the Natural Balance.

Of course, it's entirely possible that the potato is easier to digest and would give the dog less gas. I just don't know. I guess I'll try the Natural Balance and see how she does on it.

I think it more has to do with inappropriate ingredients. Natural balance tends to not have quite the amount of fillers that kirkland does. The main one that dog food analysis hones in on is beet pulp which is a cheap sugar filler.

At least in my area the shifting around of prices lately has caused certain foods like Natural balance to go up in price to the point that it's more expensive than better foods like Wellness, Taste of the Wild, and Nature's Variety.

Melissa is right.

Do not buy any kibble with beet pulp in it. If it has beet pulp it is NOT a quality kibble. If you see beet pulp (or corn) walk away.

Other ingredients to avoid:
Brewer's rice
corn anything
meat (or meat meal) not the first ingredient
3 grain or vegetable/potato ingredients in the first 5 ingredients
byproducts
unnamed meat sources (such as "meat" or "fowl")

Things to look for (bonus points)
More than one protein source (i.e. chicken and fish, turkey, beef, lamb, salmon)
I try to steer away from foods with "natural flavours" but they are almost impossible to get away from anymore.

Personally I used to feed grain free food, but I no longer do. As long as the grain is high quality and not predominant, you are fine.

Some people feed beet pulp to horses that are 'hard keepers' to put on weight. It is a sugar filler in dog foods as Melissa stated. Sugar is a known cancer promoter in dogs. I would not feed it to my horse, I surely would not feed this to my dogs.