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Energy can come from three sources: carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.
However, the thing to remember with carbohydrates is that there are two different types: simple and complex.
- Simple carbohydrates require little digestion, and energy can be absorbed quickly into the bloodstream.
- Complex carbohydrates are much more difficult for dogs to process because they consist of saturated sugars that dogs are more difficult to digest.
Over time, they build up as fat deposits, leading to heart disease, diabetes, kidney problems, and other health problems for your dog. Therefore, feeding your dog a low carb dog food would help lose weight, build muscle mass and improve health.
Carbohydrates can therefore provide your dog with usable energy, dietary fiber, and important nutrients, but they don’t need too much of it.
If you want a high protein low carb dog food, you need to know what commercial foods are available.
With that in mind, here are some of our top picks for the best low carbohydrate dog foods. Feel free to scroll around, and be sure to check out the buyer’s guide!
Table Of Contents
- How to Choose a Right High Protein Low Carb Dog Food
- 10 Best Low Carb Dog Foods of 2023
- 1. Blue Buffalo Wilderness Healthy Weight Chicken Recipe
- 2. Visionary Pet Foods Raw Frozen Keto Beef Recipe Patties Adult Dog Food
- 3. Nulo Grain-Free Adult Trim, Low Carb Dog Food
- 4. Primal Freeze-dried Nuggets, Lamb Formula
- 5. Ziwi Peak Lamb Grain-Free Air-Dried Dog Food
- 6. Victor Select Nutra Pro Active Dog & Puppy Formula
- 7. Instinct Frozen Raw Medallions Grain-free Grass-fed Lamb Recipe Dog Food
- 8. Earthborn Holistic Great Plains Feast Formula
- 9. Earthborn Holistic Great Plains Feast Formula
- 10. Nature’s Logic All-natural Grain-free Chicken Feast Patties Raw Frozen Dog Food
- Benefits of Low Carbohydrate Dog Food
- Grain-free Vs. Low-carb
- How to Calculate Carbs in Dog Food?
- FAQs About Low Carb Food for Dogs
- Conclusion
How to Choose a Right High Protein Low Carb Dog Food
The best way to choose a real low-carb dog food is by calculating the carbohydrate content in the food. You can only separate facts and marketing tactics and choose a food that best works for you and your pup’s body.
Carbohydrates wreak havoc in a carnivore’s body and cause chronic inflammation and metabolic stress, two things directly linked to cancer, diabetes, and obesity.
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It is up to pet parents to remain vigilant against marketing tactics such as “grain-free” when dogs process all carbohydrates as sugar/glucose.
Calculating the percentage of carbohydrates in your dog’s food is a good first step to see how biologically suitable the food you are buying is.
10 Best Low Carb Dog Foods of 2023
If you were to peruse the selection of recipes from most of the top pet food manufacturers, you would probably come across at least one low carb recipe to find the best low carb food for dogs that fits your dog’s natural evolutionary diet, and we recommend the following brands:
1. Blue Buffalo Wilderness Healthy Weight Chicken Recipe
Inspired by the diet of wolves, true omnivores with legendary stamina, BLUE Wilderness is a grain-free, high-protein food that contains more of the delicious chicken your dog loves.
BLUE Wilderness Dog Food is made with more of the meat that dogs are loved and formulated to meet the unique nutritional needs of large dogs and help them reach and maintain their ideal weight.
Exclusive LifeSource Bits are a precise blend of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals selected by holistic veterinarians and nutritionists to support his overall body systems.
This grain-free recipe contains a precise balance of carbohydrates and calories to meet your dog’s energy needs. BLUE Wilderness dog food is a product of the Blue Buffalo company.
Blue Buffalo makes high-quality pet food with real meat, fruits, and vegetables based in the United States.
- Boneless Chicken
- Chicken Meal
- Pea Protein
- Peas
- Tapioca Starch
2. Visionary Pet Foods Raw Frozen Keto Beef Recipe Patties Adult Dog Food
No dog food can beat Visionary Pet Food’s Raw Keto Beef Patties in terms of low carb content. According to the brand, their patties contain just 4 grams of carbohydrates in a single 8-ounce patty. If you calculate, that’s just over 1% of the total nutritional value. This figure makes these patties a true keto diet solution.
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Because the formula is virtually free of carbohydrates, it also contains no starchy vegetables, added sugars, fructose, or other unwanted carbohydrates. All proteins come from beef and the heart, while fats and other micronutrients come from vegetable seeds and healthy oils. Since the patties are frozen and raw, they must be handled and frozen carefully to maintain their freshness.
- Beef & Beef Heart
- Vegetables
- Seeds & Coconut Oil
- Beef Liver
- Vitamins & Minerals
3. Nulo Grain-Free Adult Trim, Low Carb Dog Food
While not one of the largest brands on the market, Nulo sets itself apart from other pet food manufacturers with its dedication to providing fresh, high-protein, and low-carb recipes for dogs.
This brand currently offers two products. product lines. – Medal run and freestyle. Both product lines are grain-free and made with quality ingredients such as real meat and fresh fruits and vegetables.
Nulo ensures that each recipe contains at least 80% protein from real meat such as chicken. Turkey, salmon, and lamb.
They also state that each recipe is low in carbohydrates and contains only low-glycemic ingredients, such as lentils, chickpeas, and sweet potatoes.
They promise. . . no corn, wheat, or soy ingredients, and each product is supplemented with probiotics to ensure digestive health.
This Nulo recipe provides complete and balanced nutrition for adult dog maintenance. In other words, this formula is AAFCO approved.
This recipe is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles for the maintenance of adult dogs.
This product contains no artificial colors, artificial preservatives, or anonymous meat ingredients.
- Boneless turkey
- Turkey meal
- Salmon meal
- Chickpeas
- Chicken fat
4. Primal Freeze-dried Nuggets, Lamb Formula
Primal distinguishes itself from other dog food brands by its focus on pure raw food for dogs. The lamb source used is antibiotic-free and is fed without growth hormones, making it excellent low-carbohydrate dog food. These formulas contain Squash rich in vitamins A and C and pumpkin and sunflower seeds rich in vitamin E, zinc, and manganese. You can also find plenty of cranberries and blueberries to cleanse the urinary tract and promote better health.
All ingredients are organic and also undergo USDA quality checks. When you get a promise of no gluten, steroids, wheat, soy, you can be sure of a consistent healthy activity level from your dog.
Primal’s lamb recipe can be fed to breeds at any stage of life. What matters is the reliable source of protein in this low-carb dog food.
- Venison
- Venison hearts
- Venison livers
- Organic pumpkin seeds
- Organic cranberries
5. Ziwi Peak Lamb Grain-Free Air-Dried Dog Food
View On AmazonFinding the perfect balance between dry and raw foods is a difficult task. However, Ziwi Peak Lamb Dog Food has succeeded with its unique air-drying process and deficient carbohydrate levels. Their advanced preservation method involved air-drying each batch to kill bacteria while preserving the goodness of raw foods.
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Because this process also eliminates the need for starchy binders, the carbohydrate content of the formula is only 4%. That’s an insane figure for dry food.
What makes the dog food even more appealing is the use of grass-fed free-range lamb protein. The recipe also includes a unique ingredient, New Zealand Green Mussels, which enrich the food with glucosamine and chondroitin, two essential nutrients for good joint health.
- Lamb
- Lamb’s heart
- Lamb’s liver
- New Zealand Green Mussel
- Inulin from Chicory
6. Victor Select Nutra Pro Active Dog & Puppy Formula
Victor Nutra Pro is high-quality dry dog food. Its nutritional profile is significantly above average, and it provides a significantly excellent amount of protein and fat and a significantly low proportion of carbohydrates.
This formula is the highest protein, lowest carbohydrate multigrain formula for dogs at all stages of life from the Victor Company.
This nutritious recipe is high in protein and low in carbohydrates to provide sustainable energy. To deliver. Supply to sporty dogs and furry friends with high physical demands. It is also ideal for growing puppies and pregnant or lactating bitches.
VICTOR Nutra Pro for Dogs is formulated to meet nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Nutritional Profiles for dog food for all life stages, including large dog growth (70 lb. or more as an adult).
- Chicken meal
- Blood meal
- Whole grain millet
- Chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols)
- Yeast culture
7. Instinct Frozen Raw Medallions Grain-free Grass-fed Lamb Recipe Dog Food
Like all great raw frozen dog foods, Instinct’s Raw Medallions also provide tons of extra nutrients, but with the added benefit of being low in carbs. Most of the recipe comes from lamb and organs, which provide plenty of muscle-building protein. Likewise, the formula uses multiple fruits and vegetables, most non-GMO and obtained from organic sources.
With macronutrients in these amounts, carbohydrates make up only a paltry 7% of the entire formula. And what’s even better is that most of these are plant-based and easy to digest.
Instinct uses a cold-press method to preserve the flavor and nutrients of raw foods in their medallions. We recommend treating this food like raw meat to prevent the spread of germs and contaminants.
- Lamb
- Lamb’s kidney
- Lamb’s spleen
- Apples
- Sweet potatoes
8. Earthborn Holistic Great Plains Feast Formula
With lean red meat bison meal as the first ingredient, your dog will receive a high protein content that helps develop and maintain energy and lean muscle mass. Amino acids are important building blocks for a healthy body. Egg protein is the biological standard against which all other proteins are compared.
Rich protein sources like these help build a strong foundation for your dog’s overall health. L-Carnitine helps convert fat into energy, promotes lean muscle mass and a healthy body condition.
A correct omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids ratio help support a lipid balance for healthy skin and coat.
Guaranteed levels of antioxidant nutrients such as vitamin E and vitamin C, mixed with nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables such as peas, apples, blueberries, carrots, spinach, and cranberries, help support the immune system and optimal health.
- Bison Meal
- Peas
- Pea Protein
- Tapioca
- Dried Egg
9. Earthborn Holistic Great Plains Feast Formula
The number of variations of beef ingredients will strengthen any dog’s body in the immediate and near future. Puppies will also grow faster without relying on varied diets with ingredients that may take trial and error to find the ideal recipe. While also making the bones stronger.
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The high energy will be complemented by an attractive appearance thanks to the emergence of shiny and striking skin and hair coats. This makes the TruDog Feed Me one a high-quality, low-carbohydrate dog food.
So what if the recipe does not contain fruit and vegetables? Feel free to use them according to your dog’s convenience and taste preferences.
- Beef
- Beef tripe
- Beef lung
- Ground beef
- Herring oil
10. Nature’s Logic All-natural Grain-free Chicken Feast Patties Raw Frozen Dog Food
Providing your dog with a delicious low-carb ancestral diet is easy with foods like Nature’s Logic Raw Chicken Feast Patties. Since the food does not require carbohydrates as a binding agent, the recipe may contain other, healthier ingredients.
Most of the patties’ nutritional value comes from chicken meat and organs, along with dried fruits and vegetables, eliminating the need for starchy ingredients and grains and keeping the carbohydrate content of the food at just under 6%. Since most nutrients come from whole ingredients, the food is completely free of synthesized and artificial micronutrients.
- Chicken
- Chicken Liver
- Chicken Heart
- Dried Apple
- Dried Blueberry
Benefits of Low Carbohydrate Dog Food
While all nutritious dog foods will contain some carbohydrates, a diet with fewer carbohydrates will benefit most dogs. In general, the benefits of low-carbohydrate dog food are:
- The content usually closely resembles a wolf’s diet, coyote, or dingo living in the wild.
- Contributes to leaner and fitter
- Eliminates allergies in dogs that are sensitive to grains and carbohydrates
- Eliminates ingredients not needed in a dog’s diet
- Help fight epic obesity problems in dogs
Grain-free Vs. Low-carb
At present, according to AAFCO standards, Petfood companies do not set the percentage of carbohydrates on the label of a dog. Activists work to change it, but this is the moment; this is the status quo.
When large PET food companies apply carb content on the back of their bag does not have to label, people can easily make grain-free for the carbon arm, which is not the case.
The amount of carbohydrates in the food of a dog = the amount of sugar in the diet of a dog, because dogs carbohydrates such as glucose processing.
The problem with grain-free kibble bikes is that grain-free lumps still dry chunks without the humidity of real, raw food. Grain-free food can also include sweet potatoes and tapioca, which are carbohydrates but are not grains. Grains-free foods can still be high-carb foods that are very unsuitable for carnivore dogs.
“ Grain-free” is a marketing ploy to trick consumers into thinking that food without grains is healthier than food with grains, which is not true. Grain-free lumps still contain many carbohydrates and a lack of moisture … and that is a major problem for dogs.
Do not be fooled hat: grain-free dog food is not necessarily low carb and the dry food label “ grain-free ” is often very high in carb content.
How to Calculate Carbs in Dog Food?
You may be surprised to learn how many carbohydrates in eating your dog.
Many companies (even some raw companies) have no real low-carb recipe because fillers such as vegetables are still processed as glucose in a dog’s body. You can easily calculate the actual number of carbohydrates in your dog’s food to ensure that they stay away from inflammatory carbohydrates.
Here’s How:
- Review “Guaranteed analysis” on the dog food label (PS: the aim is the minimum quantities of the specified nutrient in the bag)
- Find the fat, proteins, fibers.
- Add those values ​​together to get one total percentage.
- Subtract that number from 100 to get your carb total!
FAQs About Low Carb Food for Dogs
Are Low Carb Diets Good for Dogs?
You see, according to the National Research Council and compared to the other two important nutrients – protein and fat – no carbohydrates are considered essential for a healthy canine diet. Dogs don’t need corn. And they also need no wheat, barley, or potatoes.
Do dogs need carbohydrates?
No, dogs have no nutritional value for carbohydrates because their bodies can only derive most nutrients from proteins and fats. But because a carbohydrate diet is not practical, low-carb diets containing simple carbohydrates, the next best option.
Is grain-free dog food low carb?
No, grain-free dog food is not necessarily low-carb dog food. They can contain tapioca or other items that consist of carbohydrates. The concept of grain-free dog food has been brought to mislead the consumer. Low or no grains in dog food do not mean that carbohydrates are absent, which is true in high-quality dog ​​food.
Which Carbs Are Good For Dogs?
Common carbohydrate sources used in canine diets are grains, fruit, vegetables, and a few other interesting foods. Whole grains containing the entire grain suspension (the bran, germ, and endosperm) are good cabbage sources.
What percentage of dog food should consist of carbohydrates?
Good quality dog ​​food may not contain more than 20-30% carbohydrates. These should preferably be simple carbohydrates of layer-gi foods. Every dog ​​has different carbohydrate requirements, so we recommend discussing your dog’s food options in advance with your vet.
Do carbs make dogs fat?
No, not all carbohydrates in pet food dogs make fat. The smaller one with no complicated structure can easily be broken down and used for energy saving. They even promote good health care.
The real carbohydrates that make dog fat are complex carbohydrates. They fail to digest and be converted into fat. This fat collects in the body of the body and the body of the rock. Ultimately leading to lethargic days and unhealthy stools.
Conclusion
A low-carb diet can be tricky, but hopefully, after reading our reviews, you’ll be able to pick the best dog food for your pet. The bottom line is that high-protein dog food is better than high-carbohydrate dog food. Depending on your dog’s dietary preference, you can adjust his diet with the best low carb canned dog food or low carb dry dog food for his body type.
Animal proteins, healthy sources of fat, vitamins, minerals, additional fatty acids, flavors, and other nutritious additives will help improve your dog’s internal and external health.
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- dogloversdigest.com
- dogfood.guide
- wellpet.org
