It’s safe to say that all dog owners care about their dog’s health. But, not everyone knows exactly what decisions to make to ensure that their dog lives the healthiest life possible. One great step that you can take is buying the best grain free dog food that you can buy. As you will see on this site, grain free dog food is the healthiest option for your dog.
If you want to find out what the best grain free dog food is, read our reviews. If you’re in a hurry and just want to know, our choice for the best food is the Blue Buffalo Freedom Grain Free Dog Food.
A Spotlight On Some of The Best Grain Free Dog Food In The Market
Dog Food Reviews
Blue Buffalo Freedom Grain Free Natural Senior Dry Dog Food
The first product that we want to look at on the best grain free dog food list is the Blue Buffalo Freedom Grain Dry Dog Food. This dog food is great for dogs with sensitive stomachs and/or allergies, but it’s also great for regular dogs as well because it’s so healthy for them.
For starters, this dog food doesn’t contain any poultry, grain, or soy products in it, which is a big positive. But, the strength of Blue Buffalo dog food doesn’t just lie in what it doesn’t contain, but what’s also actually in the dog food.
The Blue Buffalo dog food recipe includes a whole bevy of useful vitamins, minerals, nutrients, and antioxidants that will keep your dog healthy. To give you an example of some of the healthy nutrients that your dog gets from Blue Buffalo, let’s give you a few examples.
Blue Buffalo is loaded with taurine, an amino acid that improves your dog’s cardiovascular health. It also DHA, a fatty acid that helps keep your pet’s brain healthy and functioning, it can also help prevent cognitive and retinal decline when your dog starts to age.
Finally, it also has glucosamine, which helps your dog to build and maintain strong cartilage and joints. So, as you can see, if you give your dog Blue Buffalo, they’ll be getting a ton of very important nutrients.
Moving away from the food itself, the packaging is also very well-designed. The side of the packaging includes a feeding chart, showing you how much food should be given to a dog of what weight. The side of the package also contains helpful preparation instructions (the food can be given to a dog dry or mixed with warm water).
If you want to give this food a try, Blue Buffalo helpfully allows you to buy a small, 4lb. package to test out. It’s inexpensive and it’s a great way to know if the food is right for your dog or not.
Pros:
A very nutritious blend of minerals, nutrients, vitamins, and antioxidants.
Helps promote brain, heart, and joint health.
Helpful packaging makes preparing food and determining how much to give easy.
Can buy small portion to test first.
Cons:
A bit pricey compared to some in-store options.
Contains tapioca, which can make some dogs gassy (but it won’t have any other negative effects).
NUTRO MAX Grain Free Natural Adult Dry Dog Food
Nutro probably isn’t a household name when it comes to dog food, but with the Nutro Max Grain Free Natural Adult Dry Dog Food they’ve produced a product that is certainly worthy of being put on the best grain free dog food list.
While it isn’t our first choice, we also recognize that this is such a great product and that anyone in the market for grain free dog food would do well to give it a try.
So, what makes this particular dog food so great? Well, there’s a lot of different positive qualities to talk about. So, let’s start by talking about the ingredients. Nutro Max dog food includes lamb. This is good because lamb tastes great and the vast majority of dogs love it.
So, if you have a particularly picky dog, you might want to give Nutro Max a try because we haven’t met a single dog yet who can turn down tasty pieces of lamb.
Outside of that, it also has a whole host of healthy ingredients, including peas, chickpeas, beet pulp, chicken fat, and much more. All these ingredients are good for your dog and contain vital nutrients.
More specifically, this food is also loaded with helpful vitamin supplements for vitamins B12, B1, B2, D3, A, E and a variety of other vitamins. All these vitamins help to keep your dog healthy and they even help your dog maintain a luscious, beautiful coat. Overall, this is just a really healthy and nutritious grain free dog food.
It’s also all-natural as well. Not only does Nutro not include any grain in their dog food, there is no chicken by-product, corn, or soy products used in the making of the food. Likewise, Nutro Max does not contain any artificial ingredients, flavors, or colors. If you want your dog to have an all-natural diet, this is the dog food for you
Pros:
Great blend of ingredients.
Contains tasty lamb that no dog can resist.
No artificial ingredients.
Not very expensive.
Helps with gas.
Con:
Individual bags are a bit on the small side.
Merrick Whole Earth Farms
If you know anything about dog food than you know that certain kinds of dog food tend to be marketed towards smaller dog breeds. So far on this best grain free dog food list, we’ve looked at dog foods that are meant for all sizes.
Because of this, we also decided to include one grain free dog food that is meant primarily for smaller breeds. But, don’t think this is a subpar brand just because of that. The Merrick Whole Earth Farms Grain Free Dog Food is a great product.
First off, this dog food is absolutely loaded with a huge amount of protein. It boasts an impressive 26% crude protein content. This is great because protein is what helps dogs, especially smaller ones, keep their muscles strong and it gives them a lot of energy for exercise and/or play.
One of the great things about this Merrick dog food is how it can help with both excessive pooing and flatulence. Both of those are sure signs of digestive issues. They don’t necessarily have to be serious issues, but they are issues nonetheless.
Merrick helps combat this by including a wide variety of nutrients that help calm the digestive system. As a result, people with smaller dog breeds should notice them start to poo more regularly and they will be less flatulent.
Another reason this is great for smaller dogs is that the individual kibbles are quite small. Dogs with smaller mouths can easily swallow the kibble and you don’t have to worry that they may choke like they would with bigger kibble. This also makes Merrick dog food a great choice for older dogs, who may weak teeth or trouble chewing.
Pros:
Loaded with helpful protein.
Small kibble size for easy eating.
Easy to digest.
Can help with digestive issues.
Designed specifically for smaller dogs.
Con:
Individual bags could afford to be bigger.
Merrick Grain Free Dry Dog Food
This is the second Merrick dog food that we are looking at on the best grain free dog food list, but unlike the previous Merrick dog food, this one is meant for all breeds of dog, as opposed to just smaller breeds.
The top ingredient in this dog food is deboned beef chunks. This is great both because it ensures that the dog food has a lot of protein in it and it also ensures that the dog food has a great taste. Dogs go wild over the taste of beef, and so even picky dogs should love this dog food.
In addition to the beef, it also contains a healthy amount of different kinds of oils, including both salmon oil and flaxseed oil, which are extremely nutritious. It also contains a large of both Omega 6 and Omega 3, which is crucial for the development of a healthy coat and healthy skin.
Finally, we should also mention that the dog food contains both glucosamine and chondroitin. These two nutrients are extremely important for developing healthy joints and muscles. So, if your dog is prone to things like hip dysplasia, this is a great option.
Pros:
Large amount of tasty beef.
Good mixture of nutrients.
Good for dogs who are prone to weak hips and joints.
Promotes the development of a healthy coat.
Con:
Larger bags are very expensive.
Diamond Naturals Grain Free Natural Dry Dog Food
Last, but certainly not least on our best grain free dog food list is Diamond Naturals Natural Dry Dog Food.
By far the most impressive thing about Diamond Naturals and why they’re being included on the best grain free dog food list is the sheer amount of nutrition that they’ve been able to fit into this dog food.
Not only is there a lot of protein thanks to the high amount of high-quality beef in the food, but your dog also gets a lot of other nutrients as well. The dog food is loaded with probiotics to help keep their stomach healthy, omega fatty acids to help keep their skin and coat healthy, and fiber to promote a healthy digestive system.
One of the more unique aspects of Diamond Naturals dog food is how it includes an impressive array of both fruits and vegetables, which as you can probably guess makes the food even more nutritious.
Helpfully, Diamond Naturals come in three distinct sizes. So, if you want to just try out the food, you can buy an inexpensive 5lb bag. If you decide that you love the food, then you can buy a larger 28lb bag.
Pros:
Comes in a variety of sizes.
Great blend of different foods and nutrients.
Helps keep both their coat and their digestive system healthy.
Loaded with protein.
Con:
Individual kibbles are on the larger side, may not be good for smaller dogs.
Grain Free Dog Food Buying Guide
Picking out the right dog food is probably one of the more frustrating parts of getting a dog, right up there with house training and taking them to the vet constantly.
While our best grain free dog food list has certainly given you quite a few good options to choose from, it doesn’t really tell you how to go about picking out a good brand of food for your dog.
So, to help remedy this oversight, we thought it would be very helpful to include a buying guide.
In this buying guide, we’re going to start by explaining the merits of grain free dog food as opposed to regular dog food. We’re also going to explain what you should be on the lookout for when actually shopping for dog food.
Why Grain Free Is The Way To Go
This isn’t just a best dog food website, this is a best grain free dog food website. If you aren’t specifically looking for grain free dog food and you just stumbled onto this website, you may be curious as to why we are specifically focusing on grain free dog food, as opposed to all kinds of dog food.
Well, in this section of the best grain free dog food buying guide, we’re going to explain some of the benefits of grain free dog food over other, more common kinds of dog food. We’re going to exclude allergies as one of the reasons for buying grain free dog food, simply because it’s fairly obvious that if your dog is allergic to grains, then grain free is the only way to go.
Better Digestion
While not all dogs are incapable of digesting grains, many common dog breeds do struggle with it.
This becomes an even bigger issue when the dog has existing digestive problems or a weak stomach. When a dog struggles to digest certain kinds of food, the chances of the dog vomiting, having diarrhea, or other digestive issues goes up drastically.
Grain free dog food is a whole lot easier for all kinds of dogs to digest. The lack of heavy carbohydrates means that they can digest the food quicker and easier. It also means that there is a much lower chance of vomiting because of digestion related issues.
It Gives Your Dog More Energy
So, on the surface, this may not be an immediate benefit for you (after all, who wants to deal with a puppy that has even more energy), but as your dog gets older, the increased energy can be very helpful.
Grain-based dog foods tend to weigh heavily on your dog’s stomach and they also tend to not be super rich in protein. These two factors combined mean that your dog doesn’t get nearly as much energy and activity when their diet consists primarily of grain-based dog food.
On the other hand, grain free dog food gives your dog a lot more energy. This is because the best grain free dog food will use a lot of good grain replacement items, like peas, sweet potatoes, and other ingredients that also have a lot more protein in them. Grain free dog food also doesn’t weigh as badly on your dog’s stomach as grain-heavy dog foods do.
It’s More Nutritional
One of the biggest reasons why we would advocate for choosing grain free dog food over other kinds of dog food is because simply put, it tends to be more nutritious. For a lot of dog food manufacturers out there, grain acts essentially as a way to bulk up the calorie count of their dog food in a cheap manner.
On the other hand, because grain free dog foods can’t just load up their food with cheap, non-nutritious grain, they’re forced to fill it with more nutritious ingredients to make it more filling.
For example, look at the Blue Buffalo dog food that we named our personal pick for best grain free dog food, it contains many nutrients that you wouldn’t find in big quantities in a regular dog food, this includes nutrients like glucosamine and taurine.
Don’t Get Dissuaded
One of the biggest pieces of advice that we can give about shopping for grain free dog food is to not get dissuaded because your dog doesn’t happen to like the first food you pick out for them.
It’s totally normal for your dog to not like the first few foods that you try out. If your dog doesn’t like the first food you pick for it, don’t get dissuaded immediately.
Also, don’t immediately assume that it must be because the food is grain free. Keep trying grain free dog foods and eventually, you will find one that your dog loves. It may be a brand that was featured on our best grain free dog food list, or it may not be, but you will find it eventually.
Look For Very Nutritious Brands
Finally, we want to emphasize how important it is that you look for a brand of grain free dog food with a lot of nutrients in it.
As we mentioned earlier, one of the benefits of grain free dog food is that it tends to be more nutritious.
So, you want to take advantage of that fact by getting a brand that has a lot of helpful nutrients in that you would normally have to buy separate supplements for.
For example, people with golden retrievers or other breeds prone to hip dysplasia might want to look for a brand of food that has a high amount of glucosamine, as this promotes healthy joints. These are the sort of things you want to consider when shopping for grain free dog food.
Conclusion
A big source of information on dogs comes from both current and former dog owners, so if you have any wisdom and/or comments on our best grain free dog food list to share, then we encourage you to leave a comment telling us what you think.