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The Honest Kitchen and Instinct have both earned loyal followings among dog parents who want more than standard kibble. If you’ve started looking for something fresher for your pup, you’ve probably run into both of these brands. 

The Honest Kitchen’s Wholemade line and Instinct’s FreshDried Meal Blends sit in the same corner of the pet food world: minimally processed, whole-food-focused, and built for owners who want to upgrade their dog’s bowl. Both pour out of a box or bag, both come back to life with a splash of warm water, and both promise a meal that looks a lot more like food than brown pellets.

In this comparison, we’ll evaluate both foods using the same criteria: ingredient quality, sourcing and transparency, processing, protein, suitability for different dogs, nutritional balance, and overall value. Let’s dig in.

The Honest Kitchen vs. Instinct: The Ultimate Pet Food Face-Off

The biggest gap between these two foods shows up before you ever open the package: it’s the standard the ingredients are held to, and the way they’re processed. The Honest Kitchen builds its food to human grade specifications and makes it in a human food facility. 

Instinct builds a high-protein raw food to premium pet-food (feed-grade) standards and preserves it by freeze-drying. Neither approach is “wrong,” but they appeal to different priorities. Here’s how each one stacks up, with the strengths and weaknesses laid out side by side.

The Honest Kitchen Wholemade Ingredients: Pros

Genuinely human grade ingredients. This is The Honest Kitchen’s headline feature, and it’s not marketing fluff. “Human grade” is an FDA-regulated term. To use it, every single ingredient must be edible for people, and the finished food has to be made in a facility licensed to produce human food. The Honest Kitchen was one of the first pet food companies to pursue and earn that designation. 

Why it matters: Feed-grade pet food can legally include ingredients that would never be allowed in human food. Human grade standards also eliminate the risk of contamination from lower-quality protein sources, giving you greater confidence in what’s going into your dog’s bowl. Because every ingredient meets human food standards, your dog benefits from higher-quality nutrition in every meal.

Made in a human food manufacturing facility. Because the food is human grade, it’s produced under the same manufacturing rules that govern food made for people, with the oversight and good-manufacturing-practice standards that come with that. 

Why it matters: Human-grade manufacturing standards help actively protect against contamination throughout the production process. Because the food is made in a human food facility under the same regulations and Good Manufacturing Practices required for human food, every step is designed to reduce contamination risks and maintain a higher level of food safety—not just ingredient quality. 

Whole-food ingredients you can actually recognize. Open a box of Wholemade, and the panel reads like a grocery list: free-range chicken or ranch-raised beef, organic oats, carrots, parsley, pumpkin, blueberries. There’s nothing cryptic in there. 

Why it matters: A clean ingredient list isn’t just easier to read; it reflects higher-quality nutrition. Whole, recognizable ingredients can be gentler on digestion while providing the natural nutrients dogs need to thrive, so you’re getting genuine nutritional benefits, not just appealing marketing. 

Transparent sourcing. The Honest Kitchen publishes details about where its ingredients come from and reports that roughly 84% of them are sourced in North America. Suppliers sign a human food-grade guarantee and undergo audits. 

Why it matters: Full sourcing transparency gives you confidence that you know exactly what’s going into your dog’s bowl, with no mystery ingredients, hidden additives, or unnecessary preservatives. That can be especially important for dogs with food sensitivities, recurring skin problems, or digestive issues, where knowing the source and quality of every ingredient can make it easier to identify and avoid potential triggers. 

Gentle dehydration of whole foods. The proteins are cooked to a safe internal temperature, and the whole-food ingredients are then dehydrated to remove moisture, leaving a shelf-stable food that rehydrates into a warm, fresh meal in about three minutes. 

Why it matters: Gentle dehydration does more than create a convenient shelf-stable food. Unlike the high-heat extrusion process used to make conventional kibble, it helps preserve more heat-sensitive nutrients that can be damaged during processing, while keeping the ingredients in a recognizable whole-food form. The result is a nutritionally rich meal that’s easy to store, then rehydrates into a warm, fresh meal in just minutes. 

The Honest Kitchen Wholemade Ingredients: Cons

It’s a premium-priced food. There’s no way around it: human grade ingredients made in human food facilities cost more, and that shows up at checkout. However, it’s important to compare the amount of food you actually get, not just the box’s weight. A 10-pound box yields up to 40 pounds of fresh food once rehydrated and typically costs $85 to $130. While the upfront price is higher than many traditional kibbles, the rehydrated yield changes the cost-per-meal considerably.
It takes a little preparation. This isn’t a scoop-and-serve food. You add warm water, wait about three minutes, and stir. That’s hardly arduous, but if you’re feeding multiple dogs, traveling, or you simply want to fill a bowl and walk away, those few minutes (and the need for warm water) are a small daily tax that a bag of kibble doesn’t charge.

Instinct FreshDried Meal Blends Ingredients: Pros

High animal-protein and fat density. Instinct leads its recipes with meat and organ meats: chicken with chicken liver and heart, or beef with beef liver, kidney, and spleen, and the guaranteed analysis reflects it. Their meals are around 35% protein and 33% fat on a dry-matter basis. 

Why it matters: For active dogs, working dogs, or owners who specifically want a meat-forward, protein-dense diet, this is a real strength, and it’s backed by the ingredient list rather than plant-protein boosters.

Freeze-dried raw processing. Instinct preserves its food by freeze-drying it raw. 

Why it matters: Freeze-drying is widely regarded as one of the gentlest ways to preserve food, locking in nutrients without heat, and it’s the technology that lets Instinct deliver raw nutrition in a shelf-stable bag.

Meat-first, organ-inclusive, raw-style recipes. The inclusion of organ meats like liver, heart, kidney, and spleen mirrors a whole-prey, ancestral feeding profile that many raw-feeding owners specifically look for. 

Why it matters: Organ meats are nutrient-dense and reflect a thoughtful, raw-oriented formulation rather than muscle meat alone.

A real safety step built into a raw food. Instinct treats Meal Blends with cold pressure (high-pressure processing) and third-party tests it, under what the brand calls SafeRaw technology. 

Why it matters: Raw food carries inherent pathogen risk, and cold-pressure treatment plus outside testing is a legitimate, meaningful effort to manage that risk.

Fast, convenient, and highly palatable. Meal Blends rehydrate in about 60 seconds, store in the pantry, and dogs tend to love the taste. 

Why it matters: The fastest, tastiest fresh food is the one your dog will actually eat and you’ll actually keep using, and Instinct scores well on both counts.

Instinct FreshDried Meal Blends Ingredients: Cons

It’s not human grade. Meal Blends is made to premium pet-food (feed-grade) standards, not human grade ones. Instinct does make a separate human grade line (Freshly Crafted Meals), but the FreshDried Meal Blends are not part of it. 

Why it matters: feed-grade allows ingredients and sourcing latitude that human grade does not.

Pet-food, not human food, manufacturing standards. Following from the grade difference, Meal Blends is produced under pet-food manufacturing rules rather than the human food-facility oversight that governs The Honest Kitchen. 
Less granular public sourcing detail. Instinct describes its proteins as responsibly sourced and raised without antibiotics or added hormones, which is a solid claim, but the brand publishes less farm-level, country-of-origin sourcing detail than The Honest Kitchen does. 
Raw means real handling considerations. Even after freeze-drying and cold-pressurization, this is still a raw food. Sensible handling: washing your hands, the scoop, and the bowl matters, particularly in homes with young children, elderly family members, or anyone immunocompromised. 

Why it matters: It’s an additional safety step of the daily routine that a cooked food doesn’t ask of you.

Premium pricing of its own. A 23-ounce bag runs around $60. As we’ll see in the value section, the way you measure cost (per bag, per cup, per gram of protein) changes the answer, but nobody should mistake Meal Blends for a budget option; it’s a premium food competing at premium prices.

Ingredient Quality and Sourcing

Step back from the individual recipes, and the quality-and-sourcing picture comes down to standards and transparency.

The Honest Kitchen’s case rests on three things you can verify. First, the human grade designation is a regulated standard, meaning every ingredient is human-edible and the food is made in a human food facility. Second, the whole-food ingredient list, where named proteins and recognizable produce do the work rather than meals, by-products, or fillers. Third, sourcing transparency: the company publishes where ingredients come from, reports a high share of North America sourcing, and holds suppliers to signed human food-grade guarantees with audits. Taken together, that’s an unusually strong, checkable quality story.

Instinct brings real quality of its own. The recipes are built on named animal proteins and organ meats. The brand states its meats are responsibly sourced and raised without antibiotics or added hormones, and the inclusion of organs reflects thoughtful, nutrient-dense formulation. The honest gap is in standard and disclosure: Instinct operates to feed-grade rather than human grade standards, and it shares less specific sourcing detail than The Honest Kitchen.

On ingredient quality and sourcing, the advantage goes to The Honest Kitchen, not because Instinct’s ingredients are poor, but because THK is held to a higher, regulated standard and tells you more about where its food comes from. 

Processing Methods

The Honest Kitchen Wholemade is a cooked, dehydrated whole-food diet. The proteins are cooked to a safe internal temperature, and the whole-food ingredients are dehydrated to remove moisture, producing a shelf-stable food that rehydrates into a warm meal in a few minutes. The appeal here is the whole-food form: you’re feeding recognizable, human grade ingredients in a format that frees up your freezer and skips raw handling.

Instinct FreshDried Meal Blends is a freeze-dried raw diet. The raw food is frozen, and the moisture is drawn off at low temperature through sublimation, so the food is preserved without ever being cooked. Freeze-drying is generally considered one of the gentlest preservation methods available, precisely because it avoids heat.

Here’s where we’ll be straight with you, because some comparisons aren’t: dehydration is not “less processed” than freeze-drying, and it doesn’t preserve more nutrients. If anything, freeze-drying raw food is the more nutrient-protective method on paper, since it skips the cooking step entirely. 

So the right way to think about processing isn’t “which is more processed.” If you want recognizable, human grade, cooked whole foods and you prefer not to feed raw, The Honest Kitchen’s approach is built for you. If you specifically want raw nutrition, preserved gently and made convenient, Instinct’s freeze-dried raw approach is built for you.

We’re calling processing a genuine toss-up that comes down to whether you want cooked or raw. Neither food earns a clear win here.

Protein Content and Sources

Let’s talk numbers, then let’s talk about what the numbers actually mean.

On a dry-matter basis, Instinct FreshDried Meal Blends comes in around 35% protein and 33% fat. The Honest Kitchen Wholemade runs lower; its whole-grain chicken recipe sits near 28% protein and 16% fat, with the dehydrated line averaging in the low thirties for protein. Both draw their protein from named animal sources and organ meats rather than plant-protein boosters, so the quality of the protein is good on both sides. 

Now the important part: more is not automatically better. A protein-and-fat-dense food is exactly right for some pets, such as active dogs, working dogs, and hard keepers who need more calories. 

For others, it’s more than they need. Very high protein and fat doesn’t suit every dog; weight-prone dogs and dogs with certain medical conditions often do better on a more moderate profile, and the right level always depends on the individual dog (talk to your vet if you’re unsure). It’s also worth remembering that The Honest Kitchen’s protein, while lower in percentage, is human grade.

So we’ll give this category to Instinct on the merits that it delivers more protein and fat, and it does so from quality animal sources. But don’t read that as “Instinct is more nutritious.” It’s more concentrated, which is a genuine advantage for the right dog. However, it may be more than other, less-active dogs need.

Catering to Dietary Needs

A food is only as good as your ability to actually work it into your dog’s life, and this is where the two brands diverge in flexibility.

The Honest Kitchen offers both grain-inclusive and grain-free recipes in their Wholemade line, and that range is a real practical advantage. The grain-inclusive options use whole grains like organic oats rather than wheat, which suits owners who prefer grains in the bowl or whose dogs do better with them. Wholemade also slots easily into a daily routine in more than one way: serve it as a complete meal, use it as a topper over your dog’s current food, or spread it on a lick mat or in an enrichment toy. There’s even a dedicated puppy recipe in the dehydrated lineup. For the average household, that flexibility (full meal, partial meal, or topper, grain-in or grain-free) makes it an easy food to live with.

Instinct FreshDried Meal Blends are grain-free only and formulated as complete meals that also work well as toppers. It rehydrates faster than The Honest Kitchen (about 60 seconds versus a few minutes), but the trade-off is less menu flexibility: if you specifically want a grain-inclusive option, Meal Blends doesn’t offer one.

For ease of fitting into the average dog owner’s daily feeding routine, with grain-inclusive and grain-free choices and multiple ways to serve it, the edge here goes to The Honest Kitchen.

Suitability for Dogs With Sensitivities

Dogs with sensitive stomachs or ingredient sensitivities need a food chosen with a little more care, and each brand brings a different strength to the table.

The Honest Kitchen’s advantages for sensitive dogs are ingredient recognizability and protein selection. The recipes are built from whole, human grade ingredients, which makes it easier to see exactly what your dog is eating and to spot a potential trigger. In addition to standards like chicken, turkey, and beef, The Honest Kitchen also offers more novel proteins such as salmon, white fish, and duck, which may be easier for dogs with certain food sensitivities to digest. 

The food is cooked, which some dogs with sensitive systems tolerate more comfortably than raw, and owner reviews frequently mention dogs with longstanding digestive trouble settling once they switched. Human-grade ingredients and a clean, readable panel are genuinely helpful when you’re trying to manage sensitivities.

Instinct’s contribution is a raw profile that some sensitive dogs do well on. There are dogs whose digestion is happiest on minimally processed raw food. For the right dog, that’s a real benefit. While Instinct’s protein lineup includes Beef, Chicken, Turkey, Lamb, and Alaskan Pollock, their FreshDried Meal Blends only come in Chicken or Beef, which may not be the best options for sensitive pups.

Weighing the two, the edge goes to The Honest Kitchen, thanks to the recognizability of its ingredients, protein selection, and the gentler fit of a cooked food for many sensitive stomachs. As always, dogs with serious or persistent digestive issues should be worked up by a veterinarian rather than diagnosed by a food label.

Nutritional Balance and Safety

Whatever else a food does, it has to be complete, balanced, and made safely. Here, both brands clear the bar, but one clears it higher.

Start with the common ground: both The Honest Kitchen Wholemade and Instinct FreshDried Meal Blends are formulated to meet AAFCO nutrient profiles, meaning each is a complete and balanced diet rather than a supplement or topper-only product (Meal Blends is formulated for adult maintenance; The Honest Kitchen’s dehydrated range includes recipes for different life stages, including a puppy formula). So, on basic nutritional adequacy, both are legitimate, complete foods.

Where they separate is in the manufacturing standard and handling. The Honest Kitchen’s food is made in a human food facility to human grade requirements, with batch testing and third-party verification before the product ships. That’s a higher baseline of manufacturing control than standard premium pet food, and it’s the kind of oversight that tends to correlate with fewer problems down the line. 

Instinct manages safety differently and, for a raw food, responsibly. Cold-pressure treatment plus third-party testing under its SafeRaw program is a real, meaningful effort to control the pathogen risk that comes with raw food. But it’s a control layered onto a raw, feed-grade product, whereas The Honest Kitchen starts from a cooked, human grade, human food-facility standard.

On nutritional balance, both are complete and balanced. On safety, the clearer advantage belongs to The Honest Kitchen, thanks to its human food manufacturing standards and human grade requirements.

Compare Pricing & Discounts

Neither of these foods is cheap, so the right question isn’t “which costs less,” it’s “what am I getting for the money?” Here’s the lay of the land. 

Note: Direct-from-brand prices below are current as of this writing; retailer prices at Chewy and Amazon shift week to week and often include subscribe-and-save discounts, so confirm the live number before you buy.

Product

Buy Direct

The Honest Kitchen Wholemade (10 lb box, makes ~40 lbs)

~$84.99 to ~$129.99
(40% Off with Code: IHEARTDOGS)
See Current Pricing & Deals
See Current Pricing & Deals

Instinct FreshDried Meal Blends (23 oz bag, ~11.5 cups)

Not Sold Through Company Website
See Current Pricing & Deals
See Current Pricing & Deals

A few things make the head-to-head trickier than the stickers suggest. The Honest Kitchen is sold dehydrated and expands dramatically with water. A 10-pound box rehydrates to roughly 40 pounds of food and works out to about 40 dry cups, enough to feed a 30-pound dog for around 40 days. So the up-front box price is spread across a lot more finished food than it first appears. 

Instinct’s 23-ounce bag yields about 11.5 cups. Both brands offer subscription savings and run periodic promotions (The Honest Kitchen frequently runs new-customer discount codes and seasonal sales), which can meaningfully lower the real cost if you buy regularly.

Which one is the better deal genuinely depends on what you’re optimizing for. If you want maximum protein for the price, Instinct competes hard. If you want the highest ingredient standard for the price, The Honest Kitchen delivers more of what makes premium food worth paying for.

Our Verdict

After running both foods through the same criteria, here’s where each one genuinely earns its wins.

What The Honest Kitchen Wins

The Honest Kitchen stands apart through its commitment to true human grade quality from start to finish. Every ingredient is human edible, and every recipe is produced in a human food facility that follows FDA human food regulations and high food safety standards, not just pet food manufacturing requirements. Its recipes are formulated by board-certified veterinary nutritionists and PhD nutritionists to be AAFCO complete and balanced for the appropriate life stage, combining whole-food ingredients with expert nutritional formulation. 

The Honest Kitchen is also highly transparent about its ingredients, manufacturing practices, and quality standards, making it easy for pet parents to understand exactly what they’re feeding their pets. Finally, it offers impressive versatility with dehydrated recipes, Whole Food Clusters, toppers, treats, and both grain-inclusive and grain-free recipes to fit a wide range of dogs, budgets, and feeding styles. 

What Instinct Wins

Instinct wins protein and fat density, delivering a meat-and-organ-forward, high-protein diet from quality animal sources. It wins on raw nutrition for owners who specifically want it, preserved gently through freeze-drying. It competes hard on convenience, rehydrating in about 60 seconds. And it scores high on palatability, with a strong reputation for winning over picky eaters. Processing between the two is a genuine toss-up (cooked versus raw), not a category either side wins.

Author’s note: In 15 years as a vet tech, and at home with my foster dog Debbie on Wholemade Dehydrated Dog Food, I’ve seen what a cleaner, gently processed diet can do for a dog’s coat, energy, and digestion. Once you’ve watched that shift happen at your own kitchen counter, it’s hard to unsee.

Enjoy 40% off your first order of $30 or more from The Honest Kitchen with code IHEARTDOGS

Final Recommendation

For most dogs and most households, The Honest Kitchen Wholemade Dehydrated Dog Food is the better choice. It combines a verified human grade standard, human food-facility manufacturing, transparent sourcing, broad dietary flexibility, and a strong safety record, all while delivering complete and balanced nutrition. 

That said, Instinct FreshDried Meal Blends is a strong, legitimate alternative, and the right pick for a specific owner. If you want raw nutrition, the highest protein and fat density, a meat-and-organ-rich recipe, and the fastest possible prep, Instinct is built for exactly that and does it well. 

The best food is always the one that fits your individual dog and your household, but if you’re weighing ingredient integrity, transparency, and safety standards above all, The Honest Kitchen comes out ahead.

RELATED: The Complete Dog Food Guide: Nutrition, Ingredients, Feeding & How to Choose

The Honest Kitchen vs. Instinct: Frequently Asked Questions

1. What’s the main difference between The Honest Kitchen Wholemade and Instinct FreshDried Meal Blends? The Honest Kitchen is a cooked, dehydrated, human grade whole-food diet, while Instinct FreshDried Meal Blends is a freeze-dried raw, feed-grade diet. In short: one is cooked and human grade, the other is raw and protein-dense. That single distinction drives most of the differences between them.

2. What does “human grade” actually mean, and is Instinct human grade? Human-grade is a regulated term that means every ingredient is edible for people and that the food is made in a facility licensed to produce human food. The Honest Kitchen Wholemade meets that standard. Instinct FreshDried Meal Blends does not. It’s made to premium pet-food (feed-grade) standards. (Instinct does make a separate human grade line, Freshly Crafted Meals, but that’s a different product.)

3. Are either of these foods raw? Yes. Instinct FreshDried Meal Blends is raw; it’s freeze-dried but never cooked. The Honest Kitchen is not raw; its proteins are cooked to a safe internal temperature before dehydration. If you’re specifically seeking raw or specifically avoiding it, this is the deciding factor.

4. How do dehydration and freeze-drying differ? Dehydration (The Honest Kitchen) removes moisture from cooked whole foods. Freeze-drying (Instinct) removes moisture from raw food at low temperature through sublimation, leaving it uncooked. Freeze-drying is generally considered one of the gentlest preservation methods, so neither approach is “more processed” than the other; they’re just different philosophies, cooked versus raw.

5. Which is better for a dog with a sensitive stomach? The Honest Kitchen’s simple, recognizable, cooked, human grade recipes suit many sensitive dogs and make triggers easier to spot. They also have more protein variety in their dehydrated line. However, Instinct’s raw profile may work well for certain dogs. For persistent digestive issues, consult your veterinarian rather than relying on a label.

6. Are there grain-free options? Both offer grain-free. The Honest Kitchen additionally offers grain-inclusive recipes (using whole grains like organic oats), so it’s the more flexible choice if you want to choose between grain-in and grain-free. Instinct FreshDried Meal Blends are grain-free only.

7. Where is each food made, and by whom? The Honest Kitchen, founded in 2002 by Lucy Postins, makes its human grade food in human food facilities. Instinct is made by Nature’s Variety, with U.S. manufacturing (including Lincoln, Nebraska) and headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri.

8. What’s the recall history for each brand? The Honest Kitchen has had one recall, in 2013, tied to a supplier’s Salmonella-contaminated parsley, with none since. Instinct (Nature’s Variety) had recalls in 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2015, with none in roughly a decade. The Honest Kitchen has the cleaner overall record.

9. How much prep does each food require? Both are add-water foods. The Honest Kitchen needs warm water and about three minutes to rehydrate. Instinct rehydrates in about 60 seconds. Neither requires cooking, thawing, or refrigeration before serving.

10. Are both foods AAFCO complete and balanced? Yes. Both are formulated to meet AAFCO nutrient profiles, so each is a complete diet rather than a topper-only product. Instinct Meal Blends is formulated for adult maintenance. The Honest Kitchen’s dehydrated range includes recipes for different life stages, including a puppy formula.

11. Can I feed either food to a puppy? The Honest Kitchen offers a dedicated dehydrated puppy recipe formulated for growth. Instinct FreshDried Meal Blends is formulated for adult maintenance, so for a growing puppy, check the specific recipe’s AAFCO statement and your veterinarian’s guidance before choosing.

12. Which is the better value? It depends on how you measure. For protein per dollar, Instinct’s density competes hard. For ingredient quality per dollar, human grade sourcing, human-food-facility production, and transparency, The Honest Kitchen delivers more of what makes premium food worth the price. Remember that a 10-pound box of The Honest Kitchen rehydrates to about 40 pounds of food, which spreads the cost further than the sticker suggests.

13. How transparent is each brand about ingredient sourcing? The Honest Kitchen is the more transparent of the two, publishing sourcing details and reporting that about 84% of its ingredients are U.S.-sourced, with signed supplier guarantees and audits. Instinct describes its proteins as responsibly sourced and raised without antibiotics or added hormones, but shares less farm-level detail.

14. Are these foods nutritionally adequate as a complete diet? Yes, both are AAFCO complete and balanced and can serve as your dog’s full diet, not just a topper. Many owners use them either way: as a complete meal or mixed over another food to boost quality and palatability.

15. How should I store each food, and what’s the shelf life? Both are shelf-stable and pantry-friendly, no freezer or fridge needed before opening, which is a key convenience over frozen raw. Follow the best-by date and storage instructions on the package, and once a box or bag is opened, keep it sealed and use it within the timeframe the brand recommends.

16. So which food is better overall? For most dogs and households, The Honest Kitchen Wholemade wins on ingredient quality, transparency, dietary flexibility, and safety standards. Instinct FreshDried Meal Blends is the better pick if you specifically want raw nutrition, maximum protein and fat density, and the fastest prep. Match the food to your dog and your priorities, and you can’t go far wrong with either, but the overall edge goes to The Honest Kitchen.

Choosing the Best Food for Your Dog 

The Honest Kitchen Wholemade and Instinct FreshDried Meal Blends both provide thoughtfully crafted nutrition designed to support your dog’s long-term health and wellness. The best choice will depend on your dog’s specific dietary needs, preferences, and your priorities around ingredient quality, protein density, and feeding philosophy (cooked versus raw). By weighing the strengths of each brand, you can make an informed decision and choose a food that helps your dog stay healthy, active, and satisfied. 

iHeartDogs readers can take 40% off a first order of $30 or more from The Honest Kitchen with code IHEARTDOGS.

For a deeper look at how to evaluate any dog food brand, check out The Complete Dog Food Guide on iHeartDogs.

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