Nature’s Domain Signature Dry DOG FOOD Review

With a score of 3.7/10, Kirkland Nature’s Domain Signature Dry is considered a high risk dog food. There are 6 recipes that average 24% protein and 40% carbohydrate as calculated.

These are grain-free recipes yet that doesn’t mean they are low in carbohydrates. In fact the opposite is true and you’ll find starches like peas, lentils, garbanzo beans, fava beans, sweet potatoes, potatoes, canola meal within the top 5 ingredients of each recipe. Dogs have no nutritional requirement for carbohydrate but starch is required for extrusion in dry foods like these. Excessive carbohydrates are an indicator of low quality foods as they are used to keep costs down. Large amounts of starch can increase insulin levels, cause obesity and negatively impact gut balance.

This line loses significant ingredient quality points for excessive added vitamins and minerals. One recipe has added amino acids. This usually reflects poor quality or overly processed ingredients. Ideally, these nutrients should come from whole food sources. Vitamin and mineral excesses, especially vitamin D and copper, can also result from vitamin premixes. 

It’s also worth noting that the line contains sodium selenite as a source of selenium. Dogs need selenium, and it’s usually added in very small amounts. However some research suggests that sodium selenite may be associated with potential toxicity, so selenium yeast is the preferred form of this mineral.  

Four recipes contain canola oil. As well as being a GMO crop, it’s a highly processed, inflammatory seed oil that’s high in omega-6 fatty acids, which can cause systemic and gut inflammation.  

The line also loses quality points for using plant proteins, with 3 in one recipe. Plant proteins are a low cost substitute for quality animal protein. Animal sources of protein are preferred because they contain a wider array of amino acids and are more digestible. 

Several recipes include ocean fish meal which is an unspecified animal ingredient. You want to see beef, salmon or chicken, not animal, fish or poultry. Unnamed protein sources are of much lower quality which are typically from rendered waste. 

It doesn’t improve the score, but it’s good to see that 5 of these recipes include a guaranteed amount of probiotics.

The ingredient safety scores for this line are low, with many concerns. Like all kibbles, Nature’s Domain Signature Dry is ultra-processed. The individual ingredients in dry dog foods are heated several times during processing, which can cause a significant loss of enzymes, vitamins, amino acids and phytonutrients. Processed foods are also linked to higher mortality rates in many species. 

It’s interesting to note that the Organic Chicken and Pea recipe is the only one to use organic ingredients. These ingredients have a low pesticide residue and aren’t genetically modified. However, this recipe tips the scale at 44% carbohydrate and only 22% protein, percentages we’d like to see reversed.

The other recipes use ingredients with known high pesticide or herbicide residues, like lentils, chickpeas, peas, often in the top 5 ingredients. Pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers pose a significant health risk to plants, animals and soils. Foods with the largest reported amount of residue are penalized, including crops that are known to be spray-dried with glyphosate. Potatoes are a known GMO used in these recipes. There are limited safety studies on genetically modified and Roundup Ready crops although they are lacking in nutrients compared to non-GMO foods. GMO crops also strip nutrients from soils, require increased pesticide risk and may be involved in bee die-off.

Finally, points are lost as natural flavor is used in each recipe to make processed food more palatable. Natural flavor is often either MSG or animal digest, both low quality ingredients with limited safety studies.

It doesn’t cost points, but several recipes use ingredient splitting. This is when ingredients are split into sub-categories (like brown rice and white rice) to move certain ingredients higher or lower on the ingredient list. This is often used to disguise the amount of lower quality ingredients in the food, such as corn, rice, potatoes or peas, and moves desirable ingredients, like proteins, higher.

All of these recipes contain glam ingredients. These are expensive or desirable ingredients like blueberries, kale and apples that are often added to appeal to consumers but may be in minute amounts when they’re below the salt in the ingredient list. Salt is an ingredient added in small amounts so anything listed after salt has little or no nutritional value.  

These recipes include fish meal but they don’t specify whether the fish sources are farmed or wild caught. Farmed fish is less nutritious than wild caught fish and doesn’t contain the same healthy fatty acid balance. 

Kirkland doesn’t provide the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio. They’re not the only brand not providing this, but it’s a concern because diets rich in omega-6 fats can cause chronic inflammation and disease, and AAFCO allows a highly inflammatory level of 30:1. ch in omega-6 fats can cause chronic inflammation and disease.