High vs. low protein kibble: Which is right for my dog's needs?

Not necessarily. While protein needs to be included in your pet's diet, excessive protein consumption is unnecessary and can actually be harmful, especially if your pet suffers from kidney or liver health issues. At the same time, the quality of the protein is also important, and too much low quality protein may eventually lead to digestive upsets. The reality is that pet food should be balanced, above all, and this balance will depend on your pet's breed, age, and activity level, among other factors. For example, puppies and kittens generally need more protein than their adult counterparts in order to be able to grow and develop properly. Instead of looking for foods that contain high levels of protein, I suggest that you find a quality food that has been specifically formulated for pets like yours, preferably by a pet food company that invests in scientific research and consults with veterinary nutritionists. Finally, since all pets are different, consulting with your veterinarian to make sure you're feeding your pet the right food is always a good idea.

Kibbles usually contain around 10-15% moisture only, which makes them much more concentrated in proteins, but if you would reduce the moisture content in the raw diet i'm not sure you would get less proteins. do not forget that a dog eats much less kibbles (in quantity) than raw food and will drink more water when eating kibbles, to compensate for the lack of moisture.

Higher protein is much better for highly athletic dogs. If your dog is more of a couch potato I would not recommend it. I DO, however, always prefer deboned meat to "meal". "Meal" regardless of the source is usually the off-cuttings of the butchering process.

Too much protein isn't good for dogs, and it's recommend they have 18% of their diet be protein. Now some dogs, such as working dogs, require higher amounts of protein due to their increased caloric demands. In addition, too much protein in dogs can lead to weight gain. Now too much protein per say doesn't cause health issues, but if a dog has a pre-existing health condition like kidney or liver disease, too much protein is not good for them because it increases the workload of those organs. Low carb diets are bad, yes. Totally unnecessarily. Brands of grain free diets try to sell you their diets by claiming outrageous things like it's the diet of their ancestors, the wolves. Todays dogs are so far removed from the wolf, it's not even funny. When was the last time you saw a pack of pugs take down a deer in the wild???

Hello, neither of them are wrong or better than one another. The difference being is that the food with the higher protein is likely leaner (more energy is derived from protein) and has less carbohydrates or fat associated with it. Now, unless your dog is working dog, she may not need that much extra protein. Vice versa, the lower protein food may have a higher carbohydrate or fat percentage. Both foods however, if formulated for "maintenance" should meet the AAFCO requirements for energy of an adult dog. Meaning, you're going to be feeding the same amount of energy to Chloe, except one is going to be coming mainly from protein and the other one from fat and/or carbs. AAFCO recommends a minimum protein content of 18% in canine dog food formulations for maintenance. Therefore both of the foods you were feeding meet this minimum requirement. One of the contraindications for a high protein food is if your dog has kidney disease. With kidney disease, excess protein may worsen this disease and therefore, kidney diets actually contain less protein. Hope this helps.

You are correct that a senior dog doesn't need to put onto a low protein diet and it can cause more harm than good. Senior dogs need lower calories to prevent obesity because they have a slower metabolic rate.

Natural Balance is not a high protein food. I currently have my 14 year old on Natural Balance (who is very inactive), and he does well on that protein amount. The problem with feeding 1/2 rice is that you will throw off all the other nutritional factors in the diet (not just the protein), so it won't be a balanced diet anymore. I hope that was helpful! Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.