The 15 Best Dog Food with Grain (Review)

While there is a lot of controversy and conflicting information about grain-free nutrition for hounds, it can be a pain-in-the-neck task to determine if this is a good option for our beloved pets. Now, this is a burning issue, mainly because of our concern in it, as it relates to our own nutritional choices.

But is it the right option for a pooch’s diet?

Well…not for all hounds. In some cases, choosing a grain-rich food for a dog may be the best diet decision pet parents can make. Simply put, if your dog is not allergic to grains, they will not cause harm. Be sure to monitor the quality of the grain that you feed your canine buddy.

Our TOP-3 Rated Picks Overall

So, if you decide to give your dog a complete, healthy diet with wholesome grains, we have a list that you and your pets will fall for:

*Ratings are formed by the author of the article based on own research and combined with customer reviews.

The 5 Best Dog Food With Grain (Full Reviews)

1. The Honest Kitchen Dehydrated Limited Ingredient Dog Food

This kibble from the Honest Kitchen comes with free-range chicken, organic quinoa, and other healthy food. There are only six ingredients in this recipe, making it ideal for dogs with food sensitivities and allergies. As it contains limited ingredients, you know what ingredients your fluffy companion is getting with every bag. 

This product features more protein and fat than other products of this manufacturer, making it an excellent choice for puppies and active aging pooches.

Key Features:

• Consists of six ingredients.
• A low-carb recipe.
• Gluten-free.
• No by-products and preservatives.

2. Hill’s Science Diet Perfect Weight 

Putting an adult dog on a calorie-restricted diet can be a daunting task for a pet parent and his or her fluffy friend. That’s why this product from Hill’s offers delicious, revolutionary weight-loss nutrition that your adult pooch can enjoy.

With protein to maintain lean muscle mass, this healthy-weight kibble crafted with quality ingredients is ideal for your full grown-up pup’s bowl. This weight-control recipe is backed by decades of advanced research to be a delicious food your canine buddy can truly enjoy. 

3. Iams Proactive Health 

The Iams brand has always provided delicious food for your hounds. The blend of ingredients, including grains, is beneficial for active dogs.

Enriched with antioxidants, it boosts your pup’s natural immune defenses by filling his bowl with rich taste and nutrients. Sourced from top quality chicken and eggs, chunks help maintain a workable body mass and ensure heart health. This combination of ingredients also contains vitamins and minerals to generate ideal health.

4. Pedigree Chopped Dinner Chicken and Rice 

Your canine companion deserves delicious and wholesome food, and this product from Pedigree is a great choice. A meaty recipe features the ideal balance of oils and minerals to keep skin and coat shiny and healthy. 

The complete and balanced recipe is also easy to digest, which means that your pooch can easily absorb all of these key nutrients — so you can be sure that he gets the most out of every mealtime. Help your fluffy buddy grow happy and healthy with this product.

Key Features:

• Features the ideal balance of oils and minerals.
• Provides complete and balanced nutrition.
• Keeps your dog’s skin and coat shiny and healthy.

5. Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein 

This item requires vet authorization.

This kibble is a vet-recommended dry food for grown pooches and puppies with increased sensitivity to common proteins. It helps reduce skin and gastrointestinal reactions that may be a result of food sensitivities.

This exclusive formula helps fur babies with itching, hair loss, and digestive upset by using hydrolyzed protein to avoid the immune response that causes these health problems. It is crafted with key nutrients that nourish the skin and fur for a beautiful shine and strengthen the skin barrier and an exclusive combination of probiotics for proper digestion. If you suspect a food allergy, try this expertly designed product for sensitive dogs.

Key Features:

• Expertly designed for dogs with food sensitivities.
• Boasts a blend of fibers and prebiotics.
• Nourishes the skin and fur for a beautiful shine.

TOP-5 Dry Dog Food with Grain we Reviewed

1. The Honest Kitchen Dehydrated Organic Whole Grain Dog Food 

Your pooch pal deserves delicious food made with high-quality ingredients. This product is crafted with free-range chicken, garden products, and organic whole-grain barley. It contains more protein and fat than recipes of other dog food manufacturers, making it an ideal choice for puppies and active grown pooches. 

This product is a great, inexpensive product made with high-quality ingredients that dogs love so much. Also, the formula includes no by-products, artificial additives, or GMO ingredients, because your fur baby deserves nothing but the best!

Key Features:

• Crafted with free-range chicken, garden products, and organic whole-grain barley.
• Features more protein and fat than recipes of other dog food manufacturers.
• Good balance.
• Includes no by-products, artificial additives or GMO ingredients.

2. Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diets 

This product from Natural Balance is specially formulated to reduce the number of ingredients your pooch pal is exposed to. This recipe provides a special combination of limited protein sources such as bison, duck, or salmon.

It uses only a few sources of protein and carbohydrates, making it a good option for dogs with food sensitivities or allergies. Plus, omega-3 fatty acids nourish the skin and keep your pooch’s coat shiny.

Key Features:

• High-quality nutrition.
• Comes with limited protein and carbohydrates sources.
• Omega-3 fatty acids help to grow healthy skin and shiny fur.
• No artificial additives.

3. Taste of the Wild with Ancient Grains

Give your fur baby a balanced and complete product with ingredients right from nature with Taste of the Wild! It contains smoked salmon from a trusted source as the main ingredient that not only offers your pooch pal a source of high-quality protein but also omega-fatty acids to nourish the skin and coat for a wonderful shine. 

This formula is made with a blend of whole grains, such as millet, quinoa, chia, and sorghum seeds, to promote bladder health. Plus, it does not contain corn, wheat, artificial additives, and preservatives.

Features:

• The main ingredient is smoked salmon.
• Comes with uncommon protein and grain sources which are unlikely to cause allergies.
• Contains omega fatty acids to nourish the skin and coat for a wonderful shine.
• No corn, wheat, artificial additives, and preservatives.
• Balanced and complete nutrition
• Made with a blend of whole grains, such as millet, quinoa, chia and sorghum seeds.

4. Wellness Complete Health Natural Dry Dog Food

This recipe from Wellness combines high-quality proteins to provide complete and balanced nutrition full of useful elements your pooch pal needs throughout his life, regardless of breed size, stage of life, or special nutritional needs. Each formula is made with antioxidants to promote better immunity and key nutrients to ensure overall health well-being.

It fulfills total nutrient-rich requirements for your fluffy buddy. The other ingredients — apples and blueberries, also rich in nutrients and full of flavor, generate ideal health. This premium dry dog ​​food is crafted with GMO-free ingredients and does not contain by-products, corn, wheat, soy, and artificial additives.

Key Features:

• Provides optimal nutrition and good taste.
• Crafted with antioxidants to boost a pooch’s immunity.
• No soy, corn, wheat, and artificial additives.

5. Victor Classic Hi-Pro Plus 

Crafted with healthy gluten-free grains, this product contains 88% meat protein with the main sources, including beef, chicken, fish, and pork. This recipe addresses all the nutritional needs of almost any dog, making it a perfect option for active and athletic pooches. The kibble is suitable for all breeds and can fuel overall well-being.

If you want your hound to be happy and healthy, this product is a great choice.

Key Features:

• Fulfills all the nutritional needs of almost any dog.
• Mixed protein sources provide a variety of nutrients.
• The main sources of protein are beef, chicken, fish, and pork.

TOP-5 Wet Dog Food with Grain we Reviewed

1. Halo Chicken Stew Cans 

Even picky eaters fall for this product from Halo. This dog food includes meat protein and contains no by-products or artificial additives. A farm-raised chicken, chicken liver, and turkey, as well as a robust variety of garden veggies, are the primary ingredients. Halo is against the use of meat ‘meal’ or parts we wouldn’t consider meat, so their wet food is made with human-grade chicken. 

Your pooch pal will like a well-digestible, fleshy taste that is designed to help maintain lean muscles and a strong immune system. Vitamins, minerals, and key elements are added to help keep your canine companion safe from various diseases.

Key Features:

• The main ingredients include a farm-raised chicken, chicken liver and turkey, as well as a robust variety of garden veggies.
• Contains no by-products or artificial additives.
• Features vitamins, minerals, and key elements.

2. Hill’s Science Diet Adult Savory Stew 

This product from Hill’s is a delicious way to provide well-balanced and complete nutrition that helps keep your pup healthy — inside and out. Crafted with real meat, brown rice, and a blend of various vegetables, this product rounds up nutritional needs. 

Filled with a lot of protein, it helps maintain his lean muscles, and the taste will make your fluffy friend lick the bowl clean. This highly-digestible recipe will keep your dog happy and healthy.

Key Features:

• Crafted with real meat, brown rice and a blend of vegetables.
• Omega-6 fatty acids and vitamin E for healthy skin and coat.
• Maintains heart and kidney health with a meticulous amount of sodium and phosphorus.
• Filled with a lot of protein.

3. Wellness Simple Limited Ingredient Diet

If you have a dog with food sensitivities, then this product is a great choice. This limited-ingredient formula makes it simple with a single source of protein and carbohydrates, with no artificial additives, colors, or preservatives. This list of key ingredients provides complete and balanced nutrition for your pooch pal.

The Wellness formulated this wet dog food with all-natural ingredients, vitamins, and minerals. This food offers complete nourishment, which rounds up nutritional needs. Pet parents are happy to feed their hounds regularly with this wet food.

Key Features:

• Single source of protein and carbohydrates.
• Served with rice barley and oatmeal grains.
• All-natural ingredients, vitamins, and minerals.
• No artificial additives, colors or preservatives.

4. Blue Buffalo Homestyle Recipe

This delicious wet dog food is crafted using high-quality natural ingredients. The primary ingredient is chicken, which provides protein and amino acids for your canine buddy. 

This formula comes with brown rice and barley, which are easy to digest. It also features fruits and veggies to sustain your senior dog’s well-being. This product also does not contain a by-product meal, corn, wheat, soy, or any artificial additives. Thus, even pooches with sensitive stomachs or food allergies may eat it safely.

Key Features:

• Starts with chunks of chicken as the first ingredient to help maintain healthy muscles.
• Served with rice barley and oatmeal grains.
• Contains glucosamine and chondroitin to maintain joint health.

5. Purina ProPlan Focus Sensitive Stomach

This product from Purina features a good combination of affordable price and high quality. This formula is not just great because it is the perfect nutrition for hounds with sensitive stomachs; it is an excellent option because salmon, as the first ingredient, contains DHA — an omega fatty acid that boosts cognitive development.

Also, there are many minerals and vitamins from which your fur baby will benefit health-wise. While many manufacturers use by-products or artificial additives, this one avoids this practice. 

Key Features:

• Omega fatty acids help grow healthy skin and shiny fur.
• Pet parents may use this formula in addition to Purina Pro Plan kibble or as a complete and balanced diet.
• Not limited ingredient contains other fish as well.

Buyer’s Guide – What You Should Know

READ MORE: Can Adult Dog Eat Puppy Food?

So you’ve decided to feed your dog a grain-inclusive diet. But with hundreds of brands to choose from, each claiming to be better than the next, how do we choose which one is right for our dogs? Here we look at how to choose a grain-inclusive diet.

What to look for in a Grain-inclusive Food

This is the tick-list of things to think about when choosing a grain-inclusive diet for your pooch:

• Always choose a diet that uses the word “complete”. This means that it includes all the nutrition your dog needs, in the recommended proportions. For more reassurance, look for the AAFCO adequacy statement on the label, which confirms the diet has been shown to be nutritionally balanced either through chemical analysis or feeding trials.
• Consider selecting an internationally respected brand. These companies tend to use evidence-based formulations, which means the nutritional balance in the diet is scientifically controlled and proven to promote good health in your pet.
• For dogs who have food allergies of any kind, a guaranteed recipe is important, meaning the same ingredients are used in each bag. Some dogs even benefit from a limited-ingredient diet (LID) which has a single protein and single carbohydrate source. Look for specific terms in the ingredient list, such as “salmon” rather than “fish”.
• For dogs who don’t suffer from allergies, a variety of proteins and grains can be good for providing a wide range of nutrients. But as long as the diet is marked as a complete diet, is not necessary to include multiple grains.
• When checking the ingredient list, whole grains contain more fiber than processed grains. Don’t be put off by the words ground or meal, they still contain the fiber and nutrients your pet needs.
• When looking at the protein source in the ingredient list, don’t shy away from the terms “meal” or “by-products”. This often refers to ground bone or organic material which is an important source of essential amino acids for your dog, particularly taurine which supports heart health.
• Grain-inclusive dog food comes in a variety of formats, including wet, dry, and even dehydrated. From a health perspective, all of these can fulfill your dog’s nutritional needs, so you can choose whichever is most convenient for you.
• Think about price: the cost of feeding our canine friends, especially the larger ones, adds up over time! It’s better for your dog not to switch and change diets too often. Find one that fits your budget for the long-term.

READ MORE: Wet vs Dry Dog Food Comparison Infographic

What to avoid when choosing a Whole Grain Foods

There are some red flags to be aware of whenever you are choosing food for your dog, and these also apply to grain-inclusive diets:

• “Complementary”, “supplemental” and “topping” are words often used in marketing material for foods that do not contain fully balanced nutrition.
• Avoid food where the first item on the ingredient list is a grain or grain product. Unless otherwise instructed by your vet, protein should remain the greatest proportion of your dog’s diet.
• Some brands, particularly those marketed at multi-dog households, claim that their products are suitable for all life stages. As young puppies and females who are pregnant or nursing pups have a much higher energy and fat requirement than adults, be wary of these claims unless they are supported by an AAFCO statement for “All Life Stages”. Make sure the food you are offering your dog is suitable for their life-stage.
• Some brands use generic terms like “meat”, “fish” or “grain” in their ingredient list, leaving them free to select whichever ingredients are cheapest or most readily available when they manufacture each batch. These should be avoided if your dog has allergies, as you don’t know what the exact ingredients are.

READ MORE: My Dog Eats Everything

FAQ

Article Source:

1. Kaplan, Joanna. Taurine Deficiency and Dilated Cardiomyopathy in Golden Retrievers Fed Commercial Diets. 13 Dec. 2018, journals.plos.org/plosone/article.
2. “Q&A on DCM – Pet Food Institute.” Pet Food Institute, 6 Nov. 2020, petfoodinstitute.org/pet-food-matters/dcm/dcm-q-and-a/.