# WDJ's 2011 List of Approved dry dog foods



## Guest

The Whole Dog Journal (WDJ) has just come out with it's annual list of approved dry dog foods.

(please don't use this as an opportunity to say how much you don't like the WDJ, this is just another reference for new dog owners attempting to find a good food for their dogs.)

Listed alphabetically, here are the WDJ's 2011 approved dry foods: 

ADDICTION addictionfoods.com

ANNAMAET Annamaet Petfoods - a Holistic & Natural Way to Feed Your Pet

ARTEMIS Artemis - Holistic Approach to Pet Food

BACK TO BASICS Back To Basics ... The hunt ends March 2011.

BENCH & FIELD Bench and Field Pet Foods

BLUE BUFFALO Blue Buffalo — Discover the Best Dog Food and Cat Foods with our Pet Food Comparison Tools

BLUE SEAL BY NATURE By Nature Pet Foods – Natural and Organic Nutritionally Complete Pet Food

BREEDER'S CHOICE PINNACLE Pinnacle® - Holistic Limited Ingredient Dog and Cat Foods

BURNS PET HEALTH Burns Pet Health - natural Food for Dogs and Cats

CANIDAE Dog Food: All Natural, High Quality, Holistic Pet Food. Dog Foods, Cat Foods, Dog Biscuits

CANINE CAVIAR Canine Caviar Home

CASTOR & POLLUX (ORGANIX & ULTRAMIX) Natural Pet Food-Organic Dog Food-Organic Cat Food | Castor & Pollux Pet Works

CHAMPION PET FOODS (ORIJEN & ACANA) Champion Petfoods | Home

DELLA NATURA (WENAEWE) Dellanatura oficial dealer Wenaewe Organic Pet Food USA & CANADA

DIAMOND (TASTE OF THE WILD; PREMIUM EDGE; CHICKEN SOUP) diamond dog food pet product at diamondpetproducts.com

NATURAL BALANCE www.naturalbalancepet.com

DOGSWELL Home

DR. G'S FRESH PET FOOD Dr. G's World's Freshest Holistic Natural Dog Food, Preservative Free Dry Dog Food, Dry Cat Food and Premium Dog Food Secrets - Home Page

DR. TIM'S PET FOOD Dr. Tim's | Premium All Natural Pet Food

DRS. FOSTER & SMITH Pet Supplies | Dog & Cat Supplies, Pet Meds | DrsFosterSmith.com Pet Products

EARTHBORN HOLISTIC Home : Earthborn Holistic Pet Food

EVANGER'S Evanger's Dog and Cat Food Company

FIRSTMATE PET FOODS FirstMate - pet foods

FROMM FAMILY FOODS Fromm Family Foods - Gourmet Pet Food, Naturally Holistic

HORIZON PET NUTRITION Horizon Pet Nutrition

LAUGHING DOG Laughing Dog All Natural Pet Products

LINCOLN BIOTECH (ZINPRO) www.lincolnbiotech.com

LOTUS NATURAL FOODS LOTUS Natural Food For Pets

MERRICK Merrick Pet Foods : merrickpetcare.com

MULLIGAN STEW Mulligan Stew™ Pet Food : All Natural Pet Nutrition

NATURA PET PRODUCTS The Healthiest Pet Foods in the World – Natural & Organic Pet Food – Natura Pet Products

NATURE'S VARIETY Nature's Variety

OMNIPRO PET FOODS www.omnipropet.com

PERFECT HEALTH DIET PRODUCTS PHDPRODUCTS.COM

PET CHEF EXPRESS Pet Chef Express

PETCUREAN Petcurean Pet Nutrition

PET VALU (PERFORMATRIN ULTRA) Performatrin Ultra

PRECISE PET PRODUCTS Precise Pet Products |

SMARTPAK CANINE (LIVESMART FORMULA) Healthy Solutions for Happy Dogs

SOLID GOLD Solid Gold Health Products for Pets - Home

TUFFY'S (NATURAL PLANET ORGANICS; NUTRISOURCE; PUREVITA) Nutri Source Dog Foods

VERUS PET FOODS VeRUS All natural holistic human grade pet food, dog & cat food

WELLPET (WELLNESS; HOLISTIC SELECT; SIMPLE SOLUTIONS; CORE) WellPet - The Healthiest Natural Products for Pets


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## kevin bradley

I love the list that WDJ puts out. I think its a fantastic starting point for choosing a good food. 

Thanks for posting.


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## lauren43

Orijen isn't on there


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## Jack Monzon

LabbieMama said:


> CHAMPION PET FOODS (ORIJEN & ACANA) Champion Petfoods | Home


It's lumped in with Champion.


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## SamWu1

Not a Verus fan but it's better than most.


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## meggels

SamWu1 said:


> Not a Verus fan but it's better than most.


Why not? I haven't fed it, wasn't even aware of it until I moved to PA, but it seems like a decent food for a decent price. Was considering it for my hound mix.


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## wags

I always look forward to that magazine or should I say that letter a sort of type of magazine can't quiet call it a magazine there!!!!!


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## ajcstr

I actually liked the 2nd part of the article where they explained why several brands did NOT make the list.

Wish they would also highlight which ones they dropped and why.

Is my memory bad or wasn't Nutro on the approved list in 2010 or 2009? I notice Natura is still on there (no, I'm not confusing the two).


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## ziggy29

ajcstr said:


> I notice Natura is still on there (no, I'm not confusing the two).


As it should be unless any hard evidence (not anecdotal "I fed Evo and my dog got sick" evidence) of an unacceptable quality decline occurs in Natura foods. Which, to my knowledge, hasn't occurred.


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## Finster

*Best dried dog food for Australia and New Zealand?*

I think I have just found the best dried dog food I've ever had the pleasure to read the ingredients panel for!! It's called *ZiwiPeak* and is made from *grass-fed*, *hormone-free*, *raw* New Zealand *meat, liver and organs* that has been *air dried*! Yes, _not cooked_!!! It even has* Green Lipped Mussel *in it. It's *grain-free*, of course.

For these fine reasons it's staggeringly expensive :shocked:. OK if you have a tiny dog or a large bank account :redface:. I bought it to use as treats. 

I am blown away by how good this stuff is. It even smells great to _my _nose - very fresh and flavoursome. The formula I bought is 'Daily Dog Cuisine' Venison. Game meat, hooray! Please buy this product folks, to help bring the price down!

BTW, no, I am not working for / dating / related to / friends with / invested in or have any other association with the manufacturer by any twist that I am aware of! This is a consumer review - or, technically, an 'owner of the consumer' review.

The web site is: Ziwipeak - Natural New Zealand Pet Nutrition They do cat food too...


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## PUNKem733

Finster said:


> I think I have just found the best dried dog food I've ever had the pleasure to read the ingredients panel for!! It's called *ZiwiPeak* and is made from *grass-fed*, *hormone-free*, *raw* New Zealand *meat, liver and organs* that has been *air dried*! Yes, _not cooked_!!! It even has* Green Lipped Mussel *in it. It's *grain-free*, of course.
> 
> For these fine reasons it's staggeringly expensive :shocked:. OK if you have a tiny dog or a large bank account :redface:. I bought it to use as treats.
> 
> I am blown away by how good this stuff is. It even smells great to _my _nose - very fresh and flavoursome. The formula I bought is 'Daily Dog Cuisine' Venison. Game meat, hooray! Please buy this product folks, to help bring the price down!
> 
> BTW, no, I am not working for / dating / related to / friends with / invested in or have any other association with the manufacturer by any twist that I am aware of! This is a consumer review - or, technically, an 'owner of the consumer' review.
> 
> The web site is: Ziwipeak - Natural New Zealand Pet Nutrition They do cat food too...


Ahhhh, no. I could buy all the meat ingredients in the food, raw from a store, and it would be cheaper. There is expensive, and then there is ZiwiPeak. As awesome as it is, I can't figure out why it seems to cost more than gold pound for pound. I don't think 10-30-50 more people buying it is gonna drive the cost down.


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## tem_sat

For the hell of it, the raw version of Daily-Dog Cuisine 5kg/11lb Ziwi Peak Venison:

(65%) 7.15 lbs of venison -- (Cost $0.00 per lb) $0.00 Free from many a deer processor
(19.5%) 2.14 lbs of liver, tripe, heart, and kidney -- (Cost $1.50 per lb) $3.21 and that is on the very very very high side 
(4%) 1 can of sardines to substitute for green lipped mussels -- (Cost $0.59 per 5 oz) $0.59 

Rest of stuff that I left out because it's probably not even needed: Chicory Inulin, Fish Oil, Lecithin, Kelp, Vitamins and Minerals, Parsley, Naturally preserved with mixed tocopherols, additives: Vit. D3 592 IU/kg, Vit. E 7.4mg/kg, Copper (copper proteinate) 9.8mg/kg.

Grand Total: $3.80 for 11 lbs of raw knock-off version of Ziwi Peak (with the right connections at the meat processor).

Sounds like a fair deal to me.


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## Finster

Very interesting analysis of the alternatives, thanks, but note the thread topic: *List of Approved dry dog foods.* That's the point. 

I feed primarily raw. Maddeningly, game meat is not available to me here in any form other than Kangaroo. No deer processors around here! Not even rabbits. And organ meats for $3/kg? - you are very lucky! Meat products seem to be amazingly cheap in the US - the benefit of a huge population.

And Sardines, as fabulous as they are, still can't compete with the wonders of the Green Lipped Mussel for joint health.

So, back the original point ... if someone needs to use a dry food for convenience, ZiwiPeak have done a grand job of formulating and manufacturing theirs.


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## ziggy29

Finster said:


> Very interesting analysis of the alternatives, thanks, but note the thread topic: *List of Approved dry dog foods.* That's the point.


Agreed. And as much as I know those who exclusively feed raw like to "evangelize" about its benefits, I'd like to think that unless someone asks here, in the "dry and canned" forum there would be less emphasis on winning converts to raw and more emphasis on discussing (and asking/answering questions about) dry and canned dog food.


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## tem_sat

ziggy29 said:


> Agreed. And as much as I know those who exclusively feed raw like to "evangelize" about its benefits, I'd like to think that unless someone asks here, in the "dry and canned" forum there would be less emphasis on winning converts to raw and more emphasis on discussing (and asking/answering questions about) dry and canned dog food.


With all due respect, in no way was I posting in an attempt to "evangelize benefits", but instead, I was trying to give others options wherein they may choose to supplement their existing kibble with the same ingredients found in Ziwi Peak at a fraction of the cost. Sorry for any misunderstanding!

-- Tara (who feeds Acana + alot of supplementation + raw on the side)


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## ziggy29

tem_sat said:


> With all due respect, in no way was I posting in an attempt to "evangelize benefits", but instead, I was trying to give others options wherein they may choose to supplement their existing kibble with the same ingredients found in Ziwi Peak at a fraction of the cost. Sorry for any misunderstanding!


No problem here - certainly not singling anyone out here! I'm just noting a fairly common type of "thread hijacking" in this area of the forums that's been going on as long as I've been here.


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