Farmina Grain-Free Pumpkin Canned DOG FOOD Review

With a score of 8.1/10 Farmina Pet Foods Grain-Free Pumpkin is considered a low risk dog food. There are 19 recipes that average 51% protein and 8% carbohydrates as calculated on a dry matter basis,  which are exceptional levels for canned dog food. 

Processing is another safety concern that lowers the score. Canned dog foods are highly processed and undergo several stages of heating that can cause significant losses in some active enzymes, vitamins, amino acids and phytonutrients. In this case there are only a few added vitamins, but there are excessive added minerals and amino acids,  reflecting that there are limited whole food ingredients and vegetable matter to fulfill the nutrient needs of these dog foods. However, it’s good to see that selenium is in the form of selenium yeast, which is the preferred form vs sodium selenite which can be toxic.

There are no GMO ingredients in these foods, however, there are apples in some recipes and these are known to have high pesticide/herbicide residues due to spraying. 

It’s also worth noting that Farmina doesn’t state the omega-6:omega-3 ratio in their foods. While this is true of most foods, it’s unfortunate since AAFCO allows a very inflammatory limit of 30:1. 

The foods also contain herring or herring oil, but they don’t say whether the food is wild caught or farmed.