Low Carb Dog Food: Top 10 Picks with High Protein Formulas

Superior Quality Ingredients 

There are 3 flavours in this range, but each one contains a variety of premium protein sources. The beauty of this range is that it’s easy to avoid a particular protein if your dog has a bad reaction to it. Choose from Fish, Chicken, or Red Meat so your pup can have exactly what works for them. 

The carb list is impressive, including things like lentils, beans, and chickpeas. The only problem that MAY pop up is for dogs who can’t eat legumes. These pooches will need to pick another food on this list! 

Suitable For Adults, Puppies, & Seniors 

The supplements included in these pellets make it great for dogs of all ages. It’s extremely nutrient-dense, so your dog will be getting all the good stuff to help them grow (for puppies), give them energy for their day (for adults),and keep them in their active lifestyle (for seniors). 

You’ll see glucosamine and chondroitin on the list, which are great for small and large breeds alike. In conjunction with the calcium/phosphorus ratio, this will help puppies to grow up touch and strong. It will also help maintain strong joints as your pooch gets older. 

DHA and EPA are amazing supplements to help puppies’ brains and eyes develop properly. It’s good to feed your senior too, to keep their brain ticking and their eyes sharp. 

Contains Everything Your Dog Needs 

Whichever recipe you choose, your dog will get 31% protein and 17% fat, which is fantastic for a moderate to highly active pup. 

Every recipe contains DHA, EPA, and glucosamine, making this the perfect choice for puppies, adults, and seniors alike. 

The Omega fatty acid levels differ slightly by flavour, but they’re high enough to make a difference to your dog’s skin and coat, particularly if they’re affected by their allergies. 

Carbohydrate Content 

This dog food does contain grains, but they’re the good kind – ground white rice and pearled barley. Considering the carb count, they don’t raise it too much so there should be nothing for you to worry about. 

Other than that, it’s loaded with amazing quality veggies and fruits. Kale, chia seeds, kelp, and blueberries are some of the superfoods in this kibble and give it a really big dose of antioxidants. 

Great Added Supplements 

For a more affordable food, this kibble is missing nothing. 

You’ll find glucosamine and chondroitin for fortifying joints, L-carnitine which helps with energy regulation, great levels of Omega fatty acids, and added vitamins and minerals on the label. 

The only downside we can find is that it’s only available in one flavour. If your dog reacts badly to chicken, they may have to choose something else for their daily meal. 

Flavours Contain Different Nutritional Values 

If your dog thrives on raw, this range will give them a lovely range of tastes and flavours. It’s also super easy to avoid problem ingredients. 

Choose from beef, chicken, venison, duck, rabbit, lamb, red meat, turkey, pork, and combination flavours like salmon & beef, venison & lamb, and two recipes specifically for puppies. 

Be aware that the nutritional values are different on each, so although they’re all high in protein and fat and low in carbs, you should check each one before buying for your pup. 

Handling Raw Food 

If you’re transitioning your pup over to raw, you’ll most likely start seeing some benefits very quickly. However, there can be a darker side to raw feeding that pet parents should be aware of in order to keep their beloved fluffs safe. 

Raw food becomes contaminated much easier than kibble. This is due to the fresh nature of the food, so it’s essential that you store it correctly, prepare it carefully and make sure it doesn’t come into contact with other foods. 

If your dog’s food smells stranger than usual, looks darker, lighter, or different to how it normally looks, rather be safe and don’t feed it to your pooch. 

Choose The Right Nutrients For Your Puppy 

There are a few different recipes in this puppy range, and each has slightly different nutritional values. Lamb & Sweet Potato and Chicken & Sweet Potato contain 30% protein and 12% fat each, with the necessary additions of DHA, EPA, and glucosamine. 

The Chicken & Brown Rice formula contains less protein, at 25%, but a higher fat count (15%), which might be more suitable for your puppy. There is also a large breed puppy option, Salmon & Sweet Potato, which is the most well-rounded of the lot with 32% protein and 4% fat.

Various Nutritional Values 

Choose from one of these recipes based on your dog’s tastes and what nutritional values work for them. 

Chicken contains 37% protein and 20,5% fat. Beef is similar, with 36% protein and 21% fat. The duck flavour has 34,5% and 21% respectively, while venison tops the fat counts with 24% (and 35% protein). Salmon brings the highest protein count (37,5%) and a great fat level of 21,5%.

Added Moisture 

One of the best things about wet food is that it adds a really nice extra bit of moisture to your dog’s diet. Sometimes our pups forget to drink an adequate amount of water during the day or dehydrate due to the heat. 

Adding a wet food to their kibble helps bring back some moisture, which has so many health benefits. 

Be aware though, that overfeeding with canned food can lead to some nasty digestive problems, so be cautious! 

Ingredients & Flavours 

This range comes in 5 flavours – Salmon & Mackerel, Duck & Turkey, Lamb, Lamb,Turkey, & Chicken, and Chicken For Puppies. 

No matter which you choose, each has high-quality protein sources, and a nice amount of broth, which accounts for the amazing moisture content. 

Most contain only peas as their carb source, although some include sweet potato too. Because there’s such a high water content, a wet food naturally has a lower carbohydrate content than a dry food. 

Low Carb, Highly Nutritious 

The high protein and fat counts in this dog food don’t leave much space for carbs! There are just over 20 grams of carbohydrates in this kibble. Although there are no fruits or vegetables on the ingredient list, there are no grains or low-quality fillers either. 

The meaty ingredients consist of muscle and organ meat, which adds a good number of amino acids that you won’t find in just foods that only use muscle meat. These also contribute to the high fat count, which sits at 28%. 

The moisture content is lower than most foods, but in order to create a filling meal, it’s best to add some water to the meaty nuggets to rehydrate them. This helps add some extra water to your pup’s diet. 

Raw nutrition can be a super healthy, hypoallergenic way to improve your dog’s immune system and reduce the chances of allergies.

Very Low Carb, High Protein 

63% protein is a whopper of a number. Chicken meal is the first ingredient on the list, and meat meal is around 4 times higher in protein than real meat. This would explain the extremely high protein count! 

Next up is organic chicken, which is a high-quality ingredient. Meat protein isolate is next and this unfortunately gets a thumbs-down for being a rather vaguely described ingredient. We aren’t quite sure what it is, which can make it difficult for dogs who have particular allergies. 

If we do a bit of maths, we can come to the conclusion that the carbohydrate content in this food is less than 10%! This is amazing as a low-carb food is considered to be 30% at the lowest. 

No Added Supplements 

The biggest downside to this kibble is that there are no added supplements, although there are added vitamins and minerals. 

Considering this formula would work best for highly active dogs, it should have a dose of glucosamine and chondroitin, but you can buy a separate supplement to keep your energetic pup’s joints strong. 

Other useful things that aren’t mentioned on the dog food label are Omega fatty acids and L-carnitine. Although we know that there will naturally be some fatty acids in the food, as well as certain vitamins and minerals, it’s noticeable that they aren’t specifically mentioned on the label and makes it seem as though there really isn’t very much of them there.

Low Carb and Healthy 

The carb content of this dog food is around 41%, which is still on the lower side of the low-carb spectrum. 

The main carbohydrate source is peas, which is found third on the ingredient list. You’ll find carrots, sweet potato, blueberries, cranberries, and some unusual ingredients like parsley, kelp, and turmeric further down. 

There are no grains or artificial stuff, so whatever carbs are in here are the healthiest you can possibly find. 

Additions For Seniors 

It’s fantastic to see a senior dog food containing DHA and EPA. These are fatty acids that perform specific functions, and are usually seen only in puppy food. They both assist in reducing inflammation, promote a healthier skin and coat, and improve brain and eye function. 

There’s also a pretty decent dose of joint supplements, which are extremely helpful as dogs get older. Their joints have had quite a bit of wear and tear, so having some extra support is always a good thing. 

Lastly, L-carnitine is an amino acid that helps turn fat into usable energy. It’s wonderful to see in an older dog food as it helps them to regulate their energy levels and metabolism.