Rayne Dog Food Reviews

Rayne Nutrition offers 3 lines of dog food with 12 Dry Diet recipes, 3 Wet Diet recipes and 4 Chunky Stew recipes. Our review covers these 3 categories but in fact, all the recipes are formulated with specific dietary needs in mind, and they offer all health-specific diets in a dry formula, with fewer options available in canned and stews. 

Rayne Nutrition states it has diets designed to address over 30 medical conditions that range from allergies to renal disease, skin and urinary issues, pancreatitis, gastrointestinal support, and weight and joint support. Its recipes are formulated by a panel of veterinary and nutritional experts who use single proteins such as kangaroo, alligator and rabbit, plant-based and dried black soldier fly larvae. 

The review that follows addresses the ingredient quality and safety of these 18 recipes. We’re not commenting on the efficacy of these recipes in managing the various medical conditions they’re intended for. 

While these foods have specific focus on health issues, the quality and safety of the ingredients is in question due to a number of concerns. 

Except for the line of Chunky Stews, the dry and canned recipes have high levels of carbohydrates. Dogs have no nutritional requirement for carbohydrates. Starch is also required for extrusion in dry foods. Foods that are high in carbohydrates can raise insulin and cause obesity. Some studies also show that dogs fed a high carbohydrate content have changes to their gut bacteria. 

The company website often repeats its commitment to whole food ingredients and yet, beyond high carbohydrate starches like potatoes, peas, sweet potatoes, and tapioca, there are very few fruits and vegetables to provide antioxidants and phytonutrients. Of the 8 recipes that contain fruits or vegetables, those are limited to 1 or 2 per recipe and have questionable sourcing. The plant-based recipe includes blueberry fiber and dried pumpkin. Other recipes include peppers and tomato pomace. Blueberry fiber and tomato pomace are considered waste from the human food industry, and don’t normally offer the range of nutrients available in whole fruits and vegetables.

The first 5 to 6 ingredients of each recipe in all lines are followed by ingredients like inflammatory seed oils and as many as 25 or more synthetic vitamins, minerals and amino acids to balance these recipes to AAFCO standards. When vitamins come from whole food sources, they include the full spectrum of cofactors, which makes them safe and bioavailable which is especially important to meet the needs of dogs with compromised health. While a couple of added vitamins are acceptable, five or more implies the food is of poor nutritional value.

The ingredient safety concerns include the ultra processing of dry foods, and high processing of the canned foods. These processes involve several stages of heating which diminishes the nutrient content of the recipes. 

Most of the recipes also contain ingredients known for high pesticide/herbicide residues, as well as GMO ingredients. High pesticide ingredients and GMO crops are also in the majority of the recipes. 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. 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, carry increased pesticide risk and may be involved in bee die-off. If ingredients like peas, grains, peppers and potatoes were organically sourced, it would eliminate the pesticide/herbicide and GMO risk in these recipes fed to dogs with existing health issues.

However, it’s commendable that Rayne Nutrition does extensive testing for mycotoxins and vitamin D levels, among other things. The company’s quality control team reviews all testing results as a final check. They also conduct third party ELISA testing for its dermatology products to protect sensitive patients from trace-level contaminants of beef, pork, chicken, fish, milk and soy.

Rayne doesn’t state the omega-6:omega-3 ratio in their foods. While this is true of most foods, AAFCO allows a very inflammatory limit of 30:1. Diets rich in omega-6 fats can cause chronic inflammation and disease.