Pedigree Dog Food Reviews

Pedigree has 2 different dog food lines. There is 1 line of dry dog foods with 12 recipes, and 1 line of wet dog foods with 30 recipes. The dry foods are ultra processed and their scores according to our evaluation criteria are considered very high risk. The canned foods are a little less processed and are considered high risk. Processing of dry and canned foods involves several stages of heating that causes a loss of nutrients and results in lower scores.

The ingredient quality of these foods is a concern. All recipes in both lines have excessive added vitamins and minerals. This usually reflects poor quality or overly processed ingredients. Ideally, these nutrients should come from whole food sources but there are very few whole food ingredients like named animal proteins, vegetables or fruits in these recipes. 

Contributing to the high risk in the dry line is that all 12 recipes score 0/10 for ingredient safety. Concerns include ultra processing, rice which has potential arsenic contamination, GMO and high pesticide ingredients, natural flavor, artificial dyes and BHA, an artificial preservative. 

All the dry recipes have moderate to excessively high carbohydrates with several recipes having double the amount of carbohydrates than protein. The company website also states that they don’t use fillers, however the top ingredients of most recipes include 2 or 3 starches or grains within the top 5 ingredients.

The website also states it’s not the first ingredient that’s important but the “overall nutritional composition and digestibility of the diet.” However these diets lack whole food ingredients and appear to be balanced through the addition of an extensive list of vitamins and minerals and some amino acids. 

The website also describes dogs as “semi-carnivorous, meaning they can thrive on a diet of both meat- and plant-based ingredients.” These diets don’t include vegetables and fruit which are plant based ingredients that provide a substantial amount of phytonutrients. They do include grains and starches like rice and soybeans, cheaper ingredients that are high in carbohydrates with limited nutritional value. 

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.  

The canned foods fare slightly better for carbohydrate content with an average of 20% as calculated on a dry matter basis, but 22 of the 30 foods lose points for having higher carbohydrates than we expect to see in canned diets. 

There are a few things to be aware of in the labeling of these canned foods that include “flavor” or say “with” as in the case of Chopped Ground Dinner with Hearty Chicken. A food label using “with” in its product name can use a relatively minor ingredient as it only has to include a minimum of 3% of that ingredient. It may be higher on the ingredient list but once the moisture content is removed it only has to total 3% of the total product weight after water has been removed. 

According to AAFCO’s “flavor” rule, a recipe with Steak & Vegetable Flavor doesn’t have to include the actual foods as long as the ingredients state where the flavor comes from such as natural flavor. But natural flavor is often animal digest or MSG, both low quality ingredients. 

Other safety concerns within Pedigree wet and dry recipes include using ingredients known to be crops with high pesticide/herbicide residues. The dry foods contain corn, a known GMO crop, as the first ingredient in all 12 recipes. These are important safety concerns, especially when these ingredients are in the top 5 on the ingredient list, meaning they’re included in higher amounts. Pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers post a significant health risk to plants, animals and soils. There are limited safety studies on GMO and Roundup Ready crops which also lack 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.

Pedigree also uses unnecessary artificial dyes, synthetic preservatives and rice. Rice is often contaminated with arsenic, which is linked to chronic health issues. Additionally, the wet foods contain carrageenan which has been linked to intestinal inflammation and other negative health effects. 

The website describes the wet dog foods as being made with “no artificial flavor, no added sugar, and no high fructose corn syrup. However, several recipes list dextrose which is a corn or wheat-based sugar, and D-xylose which is the parent sugar alcohol to xylitol.

Pedigree doesn’t  provide the omega-6:omega-3 ratio, which is a concern because omega-6 fats are pro-inflammatory and AAFCO allows a very high ratio of 30:1. 

Packaging states ingredients are from around the world and these dog foods are made in the USA. 

The average score of Pedigree foods and each sub-brand is listed below. Click on any line to view the individual foods and scores.