Lucky Dog Cuisine receives the Advisor’s second-highest tier rating of 4 stars.

The Lucky Dog Cuisine product line includes 7 cooked-then-frozen dog foods.

Each recipe below includes its related AAFCO nutrient profile when available on the product’s official webpage: Growth, Maintenance, All Life Stages, Supplemental or Unspecified.

• Lucky Dog Cuisine Here Fishy Fishy [A]
• Lucky Dog Cuisine Perfect Pooch Pasta [A]
• Lucky Dog Cuisine Tail Waggin’ Turkey N’ Rice [A]
• Lucky Dog Cuisine Turkey ‘N Taters Grain Free (4.5 stars) [A]
• Lucky Dog Cuisine Picky Palate Pork Grain Free (4.5 stars) [A]
• Lucky Dog Cuisine Bugsy’s Best Beef and Barley (3.5 stars) [A]
• Lucky Dog Cuisine Original Recipe Beef and Rice (3.5 stars) [A]

Recipe and Label Analysis

Lucky Dog Cuisine Bugsy’s Best Beef and Barley was selected to represent the other products in the line for this review.

Ingredient Analysis

The first ingredient in this dog food is beef. Although it’s a quality item, raw beef contains up to 73% water. After cooking, most of that moisture is lost, reducing the meat content to just a fraction of its original weight.

After processing, this item would probably account for a smaller part of the total content of the finished product.

The second ingredient is barley. Barley is a starchy carbohydrate supplying fiber and other healthy nutrients. However, aside from its energy content, this cereal grain is of only modest nutritional value to a dog.

The third ingredient is cottage cheese. Compared to other dairy products, cottage cheese is high in protein yet contains 70% less lactose than whole milk.

The fourth ingredient is beef heart. Although it doesn’t sound very appetizing to us humans, heart tissue is pure muscle — all meat. It’s naturally rich in quality protein, minerals and complex B vitamins, too.

The fifth ingredient is beef liver. This is an organ meat sourced from a named animal and thus considered a beneficial component.

The sixth ingredient includes carrots. Carrots are rich in beta-carotene, minerals and dietary fiber.

The seventh ingredient lists green beans, a healthy vegetable notable for its vitamin, mineral and natural fiber content.

The eighth ingredient includes peas. Peas are a quality source of carbohydrates. And like all legumes, they’re rich in natural fiber.

However, peas contain about 25% protein, a factor that must be considered when judging the meat content of this dog food.

The ninth ingredient is tomato, a nutrient rich vegetable consisting of about 72% carbohydrates.

From here, the list goes on to include a number of other items.

But to be realistic, ingredients located this far down the list (other than nutritional supplements) are not likely to affect the overall rating of this product.

With 3 notable exceptions…

First, flaxseed meal is one of the best plant-based sources of healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Flax meal is particularly rich in soluble fiber.

However, flaxseed contains about 19% protein, a factor that must be considered when judging the actual meat content of this dog food.

Next, olive oil contains oleic acid, a healthy monounsaturated fat. It’s also rich in natural antioxidants and carotenoids.

And lastly, this food contains chelated minerals, minerals that have been chemically attached to protein. This makes them easier to absorb. Chelated minerals are usually found in better dog foods.

Nutrient Analysis

Judging by its ingredients alone, Lucky Dog Cuisine Dog Food looks like an above-average wet product.

The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 30%, a fat level of 20% and estimated carbohydrates of about 42%.

As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 34% and a mean fat level of 19%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 40% for the overall product line.

And a fat-to-protein ratio of about 55%.

Below-average protein. Below-average fat. And above-average carbs when compared to a typical wet dog food.

When you consider the protein-boosting effect of the peas and flaxseed meal, this looks like the profile of a wet product containing a moderate amount of meat.

However, with 41% of the total calories in our example coming from fat versus just 24% from protein, some recipes may not be suitable for every animal.

Bottom line?

Lucky Dog Cuisine contains both grain and grain-free wet dog foods using a moderate amount of named meats as its main source of animal protein, thus earning the brand 4 stars.

Highly recommended.

Please note certain recipes are sometimes given a higher or lower rating based upon our estimate of their total meat content and (when appropriate) their fat-to-protein ratios.

Lucky Dog Cuisine Dog Food Recall History

The following list (if present) includes all dog food recalls since 2009 directly related to Lucky Dog Cuisine. If there are no recalls listed in this section, we have not yet reported any events.

You can view a complete list of all dog food recalls sorted by date. Or view the same list sorted alphabetically by brand.

Notes and Updates