Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat Formula... Until the Manufacturer discontinued it.
Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2023
As a vegetarian, I wanted the same lifestyle for my pet.
My Labrador Retriever was on Wild Earth’s original formula (“Complete Protein”) dog food for more than a year before the manufacturer chose to discontinue it. I used to brag to friends that Wild Earth was the best-smelling dog food ever.
That all changed when Wild Earth decided to change their formula.
Thus began my search for a replacement brand of dog food.
For my purposes, I researched, shortlisted, and ordered 4 competing vegan brands. In my opinion, I will be evaluating my dog’s future food from three angles: scent, ingredients, and price.
Why scent? You are what you eat, and you can tell a lot about food quality by its scent. (Next time you go to the supermarket, see if you can smell a difference between an organic peach fruit versus a conventional one.) Even if you don’t buy that argument, just imagine what your face would smell like once your pet licks you.
In terms of best-smelling, Walk About Pet would be my first choice. Followed by Natural Balance as second pick and V-Dog as third pick. The fourth brand, Halo Holistic, has a waft that smells similar to Wild Earth. Perhaps it’s because they both have chickpeas in their ingredients, whereas the other three brands do not. With that said, I personally found that Halo Holistic smells like a bottle of prenatal vitamins. Perhaps its nutrition or vitamin content is high. Nonetheless, I cannot stand its offensive smell, so I dropped that brand from my shortlist.
Looking at the ingredients, I dislike how Natural Balance lists Brown Rice as the first ingredient in its sequence, so I dropped that brand from my shortlist. (Why is sequence important? Because the first ingredient that’s listed represents the largest amount by weight.)
On the other hand, I like how Walk About Pets has lentils as the 5th ingredient in its sequence. As a vegetarian, I understand that getting sufficient protein is a challenge, which is why I would rather buy dog food that has high chickpeas and/or lentil content. The numbers seem to match as well, since Walk About Pet advertises high protein (26%) and low fat (8%) levels.
Lastly, in terms of commercials, while I found that Walk About Pet is less expensive than V Dog per pound, it’s less available commercially. For example, you cannot buy a bag directly from the manufacturer’s website. Also, as of time of writing, Amazon does not offer a Subscribe & Save option for Walk About Pet.
Therefore, I will be choosing Walk About Pet as first choice for my pet. Then supplement V Dog as a backup if necessary. By the way, the V Dog sample that I purchased (in my photos) is mini bite sized. The manufacturer also sells a bigger bag with larger kibble size that has the same nutritional value.
