Acana Wholesome Grains Red Meat & Grains Recipe Dry Dog Food
The first five ingredients are Beef, pork, beef meal, oat groats, whole sorghum. 3 of them are a named animal protein. We put the starch at 36.4%, below the 38.51% average across the foods we hold.
Reasonable protein and a fairly typical starch load. Comfortably mid-range for a dry food.
How we got to 69
Five things, one hundred points, and the reason for every one. We would rather show our working than ask you to trust a number.
26-32% dm reads typical mainstream.
Estimated, 6% ash assumed.
Count of named animal proteins.
Matched against the flag list.
Manufacturer, not recipe.
The numbers, without the water
Percentages on a bag include the water in the food, so a wet food always looks lower than a dry one. Taking the water out puts any two foods on the same footing. This one is 88% dry matter.
That is 2.1 points below average, so proportionally less of the bag is starch.
Everything on the label
Printed exactly as the manufacturer lists it, heaviest ingredient first. A dog food needs very little salt, so the 26 ingredients listed after salt are present in even smaller amounts. That is the salt divider, and it is why we only weigh the top of the list.
Beef, pork, beef meal, oat groats, whole sorghum, whole millet, pork meal, whole oats, beef fat, lamb, fish oil, ground miscanthus grass, natural pork flavor, beef liver, pork liver, pork kidney, beef tripe, beef kidney, potassium chloride, whole butternut squash, whole pumpkin, salt*The Salt Divider. Ingredients are listed heaviest first, and a dog food needs very little salt, so everything after this point is present in an even smaller amount., taurine, choline chloride, vitamin E supplement, dried kelp, zinc proteinate, mixed tocopherols (preservative), vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin A acetate, niacin, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, vitamin B12 supplement, dried chicory root, turmeric, sarsaparilla root, althea root, rose hips, juniper berries, citric acid (preservative), rosemary extract, dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried Bifidobacterium animalis fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus casei fermentation product
What those first ingredients actually are
The top of the list is most of the food by weight, so it is worth knowing what each one is. Green marks a named animal protein.
Beef
The clean flesh of cattle, used fresh. Like all fresh meats it is mostly water before cooking.
Pork
The clean flesh of the pig, used fresh.
Beef Meal
Beef that has been cooked, dried and ground into a concentrated meal with most of the water removed.
Oat Groats
The whole oat kernel with only the inedible outer hull removed, leaving the bran and germ intact.
Whole Sorghum
Sorghum grain kept whole, with the bran and germ intact rather than milled away.
How much of this to feed
A starting point, worked out from the resting energy formula vets use and this food's own calorie density. Every dog is different, so watch their weight and adjust. Your vet's advice beats a calculator.
How it compares
Same figures, same method, put next to another recipe from Acana and the archive average.
| Metric | This recipe | Acana Puppy Recipe Dry Dog… | Archive average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Score | 69 | 81 | -- |
| Protein, water out | 30.7% | 35.2% | -- |
| Starch, water out | 36.4% | 30.7% | 38.51% |
| Named in first five | 3 of 5 | 3 of 5 | -- |
Recall history
Recalls are matched to the manufacturer, not this exact recipe. A recall on a different product still tells you something about the plant it came from.
We have not matched any FDA recall to Acana. We check the feed daily and this page updates when that changes.
Other flavors
More from Acana, scored the same way.