K9 Natural CANNED DOG FOOD Review

With an average score of 7.2, K9 Natural’s Canned dog food line is considered a low to moderate risk dog food. The line averages about 43% protein and about 4% carbohydrate, as calculated on a dry matter basis, which is reasonably low. Unlike many other dried and canned foods, the carbohydrate content comes from low starch sources, including mainly pumpkin, broccoli and cauliflower.

The ingredient quality score is impacted by the sunflower oil. Seed oils like sunflower are highly processed and can be inflammatory. The food also loses an ingredient quality point for excessive added minerals, which can be an indication of lower quality ingredients. Ideally, any food should contain whole food nutrition and not rely on vitamin premixes. This is especially important as vitamin D and copper toxicity are common in pet foods and can cause kidney and organ damage in dogs.

On the ingredient quality side, some of the proteins contain more fat than protein, including the beef and lamb. Higher fat meats are cheaper and can be high in omega-6 fats. 

The ingredient safety score is quite decent for a canned food. Since all canned foods are highly processed, there will be some loss in the ingredient safety score. Canned foods are heated and processed. Other than that, the food ranks reasonably high for a canned food. There is the presence of sunflower oil and apples, which are known high pesticide foods, but these ingredients are further down the label. 

It’s worth noting that, like most foods, K9 Natural does not provide the omega-6:omega-3 ratio, which is a concern since AAFCO allows a very inflammatory ratio of 30:1.  

Overall, this is a nice canned food that scores higher than many of its competitors, thanks to the low carbohydrate content and fewer high pesticide ingredients. It would be nice to see fewer added vitamins and minerals, but this is a solid choice otherwise.