Beyond Beef The Appeal of Lamb in Acana s Dog Food Line
BALANCED RECIPESFOR ABALANCED BUDGET
When it comes to ACANA pet food, every ingredient that goes into our thoughtfully crafted recipes is important, and were dedicated to making quality dog and cat foods with the world's best ingredients. Our foods are crafted with quality fresh or raw animal ingredients balanced with whole fruit and vegetables. Our fresh ingredients use refrigeration as the sole method of preservation, and our raw ingredients are frozen at their peak freshness. ACANA premium dog foods and treats are protein-rich, nutritious and delicious, and use ingredients from a curated group of farmers, ranchers and fishers weve known and trusted for decades. Our recipes are ideal for dogs of all ages including puppies, adult dogs and senior dogs and are available in no grains ingredients added recipes, Wholesome Grains recipes, and Singles recipes for dogs with sensitivities. ACANA premium cat food recipes offer a variety of recipes and flavors rich with animal protein and nutrients, so your cat is getting everything they need to look and feel their best. With diets for kittens, adult cats and senior cats, theres the right food for every cat. The name "Acana" was inspired by the farmlands of Alberta, Canada. Through the years, it has become synonymous with quality. Today we craft our food in our world-class kitchens in Edmonton, Alberta and Auburn, Kentucky.
Red Meat RecipeDry Dog Food
Ingredients
Beef, pork, beef meal, whole red lentils, whole pinto beans, whole green peas, pork meal, beef fat, whole green lentils, wholechickpeas, whole yellow peas, lamb, fish oil, lentil fiber, natural pork flavor, pea starch, beef tripe, beef liver, beef kidney, pork liver,pork kidney, salt, vitamin E supplement, dried kelp, whole pumpkin, zinc proteinate, collard greens, whole apples, whole pears,mixed tocopherols (preservative), taurine, calcium pantothenate, freeze-dried beef, freeze-dried pork, freeze-dried lamb, riboflavin,folic acid, vitamin A acetate, vitamin D3 supplement, dried chicory root, turmeric, sarsaparilla root, althea root, rose hips, juniperberries, citric acid (preservative), rosemary extract, dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried Bifidobacteriumanimalis fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus casei fermentation product.
METABOLIZABLE ENERGY: 3405 kcal/kg (388 kcal per 8 oz cup), with 30% from protein, 28% from carbohydrates, and 42% from fat.
ACANARED MEAT RECIPE DOG FOOD is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Proles for All Life Stages, including growth of large size dogs (70 lb or more as an adult).
Acana Dog Food Review 2023: A True Standout?
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Acana dog food makes biologically appropriate dog food from regional ingredients at their facilities in Kentucky and Alberta. Their food is made with seasonally fresh ingredients (or ingredients that were flash-frozen at peak freshness) and is never outsourced. The website clearly is making claims that their food is fresher and higher-quality than all the rest.
Acana dog food is one of the most-awarded pet food companies out there, recognized for Eco-Excellence, Global Food Safety Initiative, and as an Industry Leader by Pet Business, to name just two awards.
But how does Acana dog food measure up? Whenever Im checking out dog food, I try to answer the questions laid out by the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) in their handout on selecting dog food. Well get to those eight questions later on as we review Acana dog food.
Also Read: 10 Best Affordable Dog Food Brands of 2023
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Acana Dog Food Review: Overview
Acana is a high-end, award-winning dog kibble with good reason. Theyre owned by Champion Pet Foods, which also makes the uber-high-quality kibble Orijen. If youre looking for a good kibble for your dogs, you could do a lot worse than Acana!
Acana does seem to take food innovation seriously. Theyve got a whole facility set up for designing and testing their new foods in Canada. But theyre not publishing any research, so I cant say exactly what that means beyond whats on their website. The library on their website has several well-written whitepapers that are very well-cited with scientific literature, so thats really good to see!
Acana clearly takes feeding your pets seriously.
Acana sells its food through trusted pet specialty partners and veterinarian practices, to guarantee that you get the best customer service possible. That said, their list of trusted pet specialty stores includes PetCo and PetLand, which arent exactly small, boutique stores! You cant buy Acana on Chewy.com, but Amazon does sell Acana.
I love that Acanas food strives to be ecologically sustainable. For example, their Wild Atlantic diet is made to support sustainable fisheries.
The biggest downside of Acanas food, as far as I can tell, is that their grain-free diets rely on legumes to fill the void left by grains. Some recent research has linked boutique pet foods that rely on peas and lentils and other legumes with dilated cardiomyopathy (a heart issue) in dogs. The FDA even put out an alert about grain-free diets like these. This link is purely correlational right now and might not be the actual root of the problem but its still something to keep in mind.
Acana dog food generally comes as highly-rated and is well-regarded, with good reason. They take great care in producing their foods with high-quality ingredients.
What Does Biologically Appropriate Even Mean? Hint: Not Much.
Acana dog food really pushes the biologically appropriate line for their dog food, with high-quality ingredients and lots of real meat in their foods. While I cant argue with the quality of their ingredients or the expertise of their team, its worth pointing out that theres not really any actual published research behind biologically appropriate dog food. When the phrase is mentioned in scientific research, its usually in quotes and its usually referring to raw dog food.
Acana seems to think that biologically appropriate is a good label to slap onto their food it sounds good. But its effectively meaningless, just a trademark registered by Champion Petfoods. That doesnt mean Acanas dog food isnt high quality it is!
But I take issue with the marketing, especially claims that dogs are descended from wolves (many current researchers actually think dogs and wolves are taxonomic cousins, not descended from each other) and that dogs have the exact same digestive system as wolves despite eating human table scraps and not hunting for prey for thousands of years and the same biological needs as wild wolves, which have vastly different lifestyles from your Goldendoodle.
Acana defines biologically appropriate as:
- Rich in meat and protein Acana dog food is made up of up to 75% meat.
- High fresh meat inclusion up to half of each Acana dog food is made from fresh or raw meat.
- An abundant variety of meat Acana dog food includes ranch-raised meat, wild-caught fish, free-run poultry, and eggs.
- Whole prey meat ratios meaning appropriate ratios of muscle meat, organs, cartilage, and other bits of meat.
- Fresh fruits and vegetables.
The point is, theres no consensus on what biologically appropriate even means. While Acana seems to have a good description on their site, this isnt a regulated label and isnt based on published research as far as I can tell. That said, their food is formulated by some real experts!
How Does Acana Stand Up to WSAVA Guidelines?
I am not a nutritionist, and my dog will eat just about anything I had to stop him from eating a tree branch yesterday. So my review of dog food would be quite inadequate if I based it off of my own intuition and how much my dog liked a food.
Instead, Ill fall back on the World Small Animal Veterinary Association guidelines for selecting dog food.
- Do you employ a full-time qualified nutritionist?
- From the Acana website: Yes, our highly educated and talented team of 20 Research & Innovation scientists lead the development and research of our ACANA and ORIJEN pet foods. These individuals cover a wide variety of education and experience including, but not limited, to: 1 Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, 1 Ph.D. in Animal Nutrition, 2 PhDs in Food Science, 3 Masters of Science in Animal Nutrition (2 in companion animal nutrition), 2 Masters of Science in Food Science, 1 Masters of Science in Meat Hygiene and Food Microbiology, and 17 Bachelors of Science areas such as Animal Science, Biochemistry, and Veterinary Medicine.
- Who formulates your foods and what are his/her credentials?
- See above. They work with a group of animal nutritionists and consults with Veterinarians who specialize in nutrition, toxicology, and holistic medicine.
- Are your diets tested using AAFCO feeding trials or by formulation to meet AAFCO nutrient profiles?
- Acana participates in AAFCO feeding trials.
- Where are your foods produced and manufactured?
- All of Acanas foods are manufactured at the Champion Pet Food plants nothing is outsourced.
- What specific quality control measures do you use to assure the consistency and quality of your ingredients and the end product?
- Acanas meat comes from a federally inspected facility and only uses meat from animals that are high-quality enough for human inspection. They also adhere to the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) for preventing, identifying, and responding to hazards in their plant. Their Quality Assurance department, technicians, and independent labs all come together to ensure that testing and pathogen evaluation is done properly.
- Will you provide a complete nutrient analysis for the dog or cat food in question?
- Acana provides a guaranteed analysis on their site, which offers maximum and minimum values. I could not find a typical analysis, which shows exact values for a sample of food.
- What is the caloric value per gram, can, or cup of your foods?
- Acana makes it easy to find the caloric value per cup and pound of their food under the Feeding tab of specific diets.
- What kind of product research has been conducted? Are the results published in peer-reviewed journals?
- I searched Google Scholar for Acana and was unable to find any research specifically into Acana food just a few studies that used Acana food as part of their research, and even those were barely footnotes! I called Acana and left a voicemail to ask more, but havent heard back.
Has Acana Dog Food Had Recalls?
No, Acana has never had a recall. Thats pretty impressive! However, Acana and Orijen were both sued as part of a case against their partner company, Champion Petfoods.
That lawsuit accuses the company(ies) of negligent, reckless practices, false advertising, and failing to disclose the presence of heavy metals and toxins in its pet foods such as BPA, cadmium, lead, and mercury. This lawsuit was recently trimmed by the judge basically, the judge said the plaintiffs didnt show enough evidence that the metals and toxins were actually harmful.
What Formulas Does Acana Dog Food Offer?
Acana has a variety of different lines of food. Acana Regionals are delicious blends of meats or fish from a given area like grasslands or Appalachian ranch. Acana For Dogs are also made from local, fresh ingredients, but arent themed based on geography the same way. Acana Singles are made with a single protein source for picky dogs or dogs with allergies.
Since there are so many different Acana formulas, lets take a look at one formula from each line of food:
This diet is mostly based on turkey and chicken, but also has Atlantic flounder, pumpkin, carrots, apples, turmeric, rose hips, and more. Its a pretty high-quality ingredients list!
This food offers 408 kcal per 8 oz cup of food. The guaranteed analysis (the maximum and minimums of food, not the actual values expected) is below.
Crude protein (min.) 31 %
Crude fat (min.) 19 %
Crude fiber (max.) 5 %
Moisture (max.) 12 %
DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) (min.) 0.4 %
EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) (min.) 0.2 %
Calcium (min.) 1.2 %
Phosphorus (min.) 1 %
Omega-6 fatty acids* (min.) 2.3 %
Omega-3 fatty acids* (min.) 1.3 %
Glucosamine* (min.) 800 mg/kg
Total Microorganisms* (min.)
(Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium animalis, Lactobacillus casei) 100MM CFU/lb
This diet is largely made from duck, but also includes pears, lentils, peas, pollock oil, kelp, chicory root, and turmeric. Aside from the potential issues with lentils, this is a great ingredient list.
This food has 409 kcal per 8 oz. cup of dry food. The guaranteed analysis is below. This is not the expected or exact value for the food just maximums and minimums.
Crude protein (min.) 31 %
Crude fat (min.) 17 %
Crude fiber (max.) 6 %
Moisture (max.) 12 %
DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) (min.) 0.2 %
EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) (min.) 0.2 %
Calcium (min.) 1.4 %
Phosphorus (min.) 1.0 %
Omega-6 fatty acids* (min.) 2.0 %
Omega-3 fatty acids* (min.) 0.8 %
Dietary Starch (max.) 22.5 %
Sugars (max.) 2 %
Glucosamine (min.) 800 mg/kg
Total Microorganisms* (min.)
(Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium animalis, Lactobacillus casei) 100MM CFU/lb
Other Acana Singles include:
This food provides 388 kcal per 8 oz cup of food. The guaranteed analysis of the food is below.
DESIGNED FOR CARNIVORES
Your dog is a carnivore and shares his anatomy with the gray wolf which means his body, teeth, jaws, and short digestive tract are adapted for a diet rich in meat, protein, and fat.
Based on this biological fact, and to produce a nutritional analysis that mirrors the diet Mother Nature would provide for your dog, ACANA Appalachian Ranch is rich in nourishing meat protein and oils, while excluding grains and gluten, and long lists of synthetic ingredients found in some dog foods.
GUARANTEED ANALYSIS
Crude protein (min.) 33 %
Crude fat (min.) 17 %
Crude fiber (max.) 6 %
Moisture (max.) 12 %
DHA (min.) 0.1 %
EPA (min.) 0.1 %
Calcium (min.) 1.8 %
Phosphorus (min.) 1.2 %
Omega-6 fatty acids* (min.) 1.8 %
Omega-3 fatty acids* (min.) 0.6 %
Glucosamine* (min.) 600 mg/kg
Total Microorganisms* (min.)
(Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium animalis, Lactobacillus casei) 100MM CFU/lb
Other Acana Regionals foods include:
Where to Get Acana Food
Acana Dog Food is high quality, but its not always easy to find and its not cheap! Here are a few possible substitutions for Fromm dog food. You can purchase Acana at many local vets, small businesses, or at Amazon.com.
You can check out some of the Acana Heritage diets at the links below:
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Forrest is a lover of dogs, the wild outdoors, deep mysterious conversations and coffee. He is the owner of several websites, including Canine Weekly. He resides in Austin, Texas.
