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Castor & Pollux Dog Food Reviews

Castor & Pollux Natural PetWorks was founded in 1999 in Clackamas, Oregon, and by 2003 they had launched an organic line of pet foods. The company was acquired by Merrick Pet Care Inc in 2012, and then changed hands again in 2015 when Merrick was acquired by Nestle Purina. Merrick consolidated Castor & Pollux operations in Amarillo, Texas where it earned organic certification under the USDA National Organic Program (NOP), for all of its Texas based manufacturing facilities. Merrick Pet Care is a certified manufacturer for both dry and canned food for pets. In 2017, its sub brand, Organix was established as the only USDA organically certified pet food in the US by meeting third-party organic certification that includes its ingredients, production process, and organic ingredient storage and handling. Many of the ingredients and processes are applied to other Castor & Pollux products without the organic certification.

IS Castor & Pollux A GOOD DOG FOOD?

Castor & Pollux offers Organix, one of the first organic lines of dog foods in the USA. It also offers Pristine, a second line that uses many of the same organic ingredients but it’s not certified organic. Organix offers 2 lines of dry food and 2 lines of canned. Pristine offers 2 lines of dry and one line of canned foods.

All dog foods in the Organix line are made with organic ingredients. Organic ingredients are non-GMO and have much lower pesticide/herbicide risk than conventionally grown crops. The Organix line only uses chicken and turkey proteins so the company can be certain they are organically raised.

The Pristine line uses many of the same ingredients as the Organix line but its foods are not certified organic. This line uses wild-caught salmon, tuna and whitefish certified sustainable seafood by the Marine Stewardship Council. The company states it also uses grass-fed beef and lamb that is grass fed and grass finished, although they don’t offer certification. 

Even though the Organix lines are certified organic, the recipes lose ingredient quality points for being high in carbohydrates. So, Pristine Canned dog food is the highest scoring food of the Castor & Pollux lines and it’s considered a low risk dog food.  The line loses ingredient quality points for added vitamins and minerals, highly processed seed oils and plant protein. It loses safety points for being a highly processed canned food. 

The dry recipes have high carbohydrate content, added vitamins and minerals, seed oil and natural flavor. They also lose safety points for being ultra processed which causes a loss of nutrients from the various stages of heating.

Organix Wet is the highest scoring food in that line and is considered moderate risk. Like all Castor & Pollux foods, they include added vitamins and minerals to balance the foods to AAFCO standards. These recipes have 26% average carbohydrates as calculated which is high for canned food. Organix dry foods are also high in carbohydrates as well as being ultra processed which causes a loss of nutrients from the various stages of heating.

Castor & Pollux does not provide the omega-6:omega-3 ratio. It is certainly not the only company that doesn’t provide this but it’s a concern since AAFCO allows a very inflammatory ratio of 30:1.

The average score of each Castor & Pollux line is listed below. Click on any line to view the individual foods and scores.

Organix Grain Free Dry

5
4 color scale
Average Score
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ORGANIX® Grain-Free Organic Small Breed Recipe Dry Dog Food
5
4 color scale
Average Score
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Castor & Pollux Organix Dry Grain-Free dog food Is considered a moderate risk dog food. There are 3 recipes that average 26% protein and 39% carbohydrate. The ingredient quality score is low due to high carbohydrates, excessive added vitamins and minerals and the use of seed oil. There are safety concerns as it’s an ultra processed food. This line also uses natural flavor.

Castor & Pollux Organix Dry Grain-Free Dry Food Benefits

Castor & Pollux Organix Dry Grain-Free Dry Food Concerns

Organix with Grain Dry

4.3
4 color scale
Average Score
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Castor-Pollux-ORGANIX®-Organic-Chicken-Oatmeal-Recipe-Dog-Food-
4.3
4 color scale
Average Score
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Castor & Pollux Organix Dry with Grain dog food Is considered a high risk dog food. There are 3 recipes that average 26% protein and 36% carbohydrate as calculated. The ingredient quality score is low due to high carbohydrates, excessive added vitamins and minerals and the use of seed oil and plant protein. There are safety concerns as it’s an ultra processed food. This line also contains rice and uses natural flavor.

Castor & Pollux Organix Dry with Grain dog Benefits

Castor & Pollux Organix Dry with Grain dog Concerns

Organix Tiny Feasts

7
4 color scale
Average Score
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Castor-Pollux-ORGANIX®-Tiny-Feasts-Organic-Chicken-Quinoa-Carrot-Stew-Wet-Dog-Food
7
4 color scale
Average Score
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Castor & Pollux Organix Wet Tiny Feasts dog food Is considered a moderate risk dog food. There are 6 recipes that average 43% protein and 21% carbohydrate as calculated on a dry matter basis. The ingredient quality score is low due to high carbohydrates, excessive added vitamins and minerals and the use of plant protein. There are ingredient safety concerns as it’s a highly processed canned food.

Castor & Pollux Organix Wet Tiny Feast Benefits

Castor & Pollux Organix Wet Tiny Feast Concerns

Organix Canned

7.3
4 color scale
Average Score
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Castor-Pollux-ORGANIX®-Grain-Free-Organic-Chicken-Vegetable-Recipe-Canned-Dog-Food
7.3
4 color scale
Average Score
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Castor & Pollux Organix Wet Canned dog food Is considered a moderate risk dog food. There are 6 recipes that average 36% protein and 267% carbohydrate as calculated on a dry matter basis. The ingredient quality score loses points for having high carbohydrates, excessive added vitamins and minerals and using plant protein. There are ingredient safety concerns as it’s a highly processed canned food, and one of the recipes contains rice.

Castor & Pollux Organix Canned Benefits

Castor & Pollux Organix Canned Concerns

Pristine Dry Grain Free

5.7
4 color scale
Average Score
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Castor-Pollux-PRISTINE®-Grain-Free-Free-Range-Chicken-Turkey-Lentil-Recipe-Dry-Dog-Food
5.7
4 color scale
Average Score
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Castor & Pollux Pristine Dry Grain-Free dog food is considered a moderate risk dog food. There are 5 recipes that average 31% protein and 33% carbohydrate as calculated. The ingredient quality score is low due to high carbohydrates, excessive added vitamins and minerals and the use of seed oil and plant protein. There are safety concerns as it’s an ultra processed food. This line also contains natural flavor.

Castor & Pollux Pristine Dry Grain-Free Benefits

Castor & Pollux Pristine Dry Grain-Free Concerns

Pristine Dry with Grain

5
4 color scale
Average Score
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Castor-Pollux-PRISTINE®-Grass-Fed-Beef-Oatmeal-Recipe-Dry-Dog-Food
5
4 color scale
Average Score
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Castor & Pollux Pristine Dry With Grain dog food Is considered a moderate risk dog food. There are 2 recipes that average 29% protein and 34% carbohydrates as calculated. The ingredient quality score is low due to high carbohydrates, excessive added vitamins and minerals and the use of seed oil and plant protein. There are safety concerns as it’s an ultra processed food. This line also contains rice and uses natural flavor.

Castor & Pollux Pristine Dry with Grain Benefits

Castor & Pollux Pristine Dry with Grain Concerns

Pristine Canned

7.6
4 color scale
Average Score
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Castor-Pollux-Pristine-Grain-Free-Grass-Fed-Lamb-Carrot-Apple-Stew-Dog-Food
7.6
4 color scale
Average Score
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Castor & Pollux Pristine Canned dog food Is considered a moderate risk dog food. There are 4 recipes that average 48% protein and 13% carbohydrate as calculated on a dry matter basis. The ingredient quality score is lowered by one recipe with high carbohydrates (27%). The recipes also have excessive added vitamins and minerals and include plant protein. There are safety concerns as it’s a highly processed canned food, and some recipes contain plant protein or seed oil.

Castor & Pollux Pristine Canned Benefits

Castor & Pollux Pristine Canned Concerns

Castor & Pollux Dog Food Recalls

Castor & Pollux has had one recall:

05/23/2018 – Castor & Pollux Good Buddy Prime Patties and Sausage Cuts for potential elevated beef thyroid hormone

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