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Evanger’s Classic Dinners Dog Food receives the Advisor’s top rating of 5 stars.
The Evanger’s Classic Dinners product line includes 9 canned 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.
Use the links to compare prices and package sizes at an online retailer.
- Evanger’s Classic Beef [U]
- Evanger’s Classic Beef and Bacon [U]
- Evanger’s Classic Cooked Chicken [U]
- Evanger’s Classic Beef with Chicken [U]
- Evanger’s Classic Puppy Food (4 stars) [G]
- Evanger’s Classic Beef with Chicken and Liver [U]
- Evanger’s Classic Lamb and Rice Dinner (4.5 stars) [A]
- Evanger’s Classic Chicken and Rice Dinner (4.5 stars) [A]
- Evanger’s Classic Senior and Weight Management (3.5 stars) [M]
Evanger’s Classic Lamb and Rice Dinner was selected to represent the other products in the line for this review.
Evanger's Classic Lamb and Rice Dinner
Estimated Dry Matter Nutrient Content
Protein
Fat
CarbsCarbohydrates
Lamb, water sufficient for processing, rice, liver, guar gum, vitamins (vitamin E supplement, niacin supplement, l-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate [source of vitamin C], thiamine mononitrate [source of vitamin B1], calcium pantothenate, vitamin A supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride [source of vitamin B6], riboflavin supplement [source of vitamin B2], folic acid, vitamin B12 supplement, biotin, vitamin D3 supplement), minerals (zinc sulfate, iron sulfate, copper sulfate, manganese sulfate, selenium yeast, potassium iodide)
Fiber (estimated dry matter content) = 1.5%
Red denotes any controversial items
| Estimated Nutrient Content | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Method | Protein | Fat | Carbs |
| Guaranteed Analysis | 9% | 4% | NA |
| Dry Matter Basis | 41% | 18% | 33% |
| Calorie Weighted Basis | 35% | 38% | 28% |
Ingredient Analysis
The first ingredient in this dog food is lamb. Lamb is considered “the clean flesh derived from slaughtered” lamb and associated with skeletal muscle or the muscle tissues of the tongue, diaphragm, heart or esophagus.1
Lamb is naturally rich in all ten essential amino acids required by a dog to sustain life.
The second ingredient is water, which adds nothing but moisture to this food. Water is a routine finding in most canned dog foods.
The third ingredient is rice. Is this whole grain rice, brown rice or white rice? Since the word “rice” doesn’t tell us much, it’s impossible to judge the quality of this item.
The fourth ingredient is liver. Normally, liver can be considered a quality component. However, in this case, the source of the liver is not identified. For this reason, it’s impossible to judge the quality of this item.
The fifth ingredient is guar gum, a gelling or thickening agent found in many wet pet foods. Refined from dehusked guar beans, guar gum can add a notable amount of dietary fiber to any product.
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 2 notable exceptions…
First, the minerals listed here do not appear to be chelated. And that can make them more difficult to absorb. Chelated minerals are usually associated with higher quality dog foods.
And lastly, this dog food contains selenium yeast. Unlike the more common inorganic form of selenium (sodium selenite), this natural yeast supplement is considered a safer anti-cancer alternative.
Nutrient Analysis
Judging by its ingredients alone, Evanger’s Classic Dinners Dog Food appears to be an above-average canned product.
The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 41%, a fat level of 18% and estimated carbohydrates of about 33%.
As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 44% and a mean fat level of 25%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 23% for the overall product line.
And a fat-to-protein ratio of about 56%.
Above-average protein. Above-average fat. And below-average carbs when compared to a typical canned dog food.
Free of any plant-based protein boosters, this looks like the profile of a canned product containing a significant amount of meat.
Bottom line?
Evanger’s Classic Dinners is a meat-based canned dog food using a significant amount of named meats as its main sources of animal protein, thus earning the brand 5 stars.
Enthusiastically recommended.
However, some of these recipes appear to be 100% meat and (as such) may only be suitable for supplemental feeding.
Since we could not locate an AAFCO nutritional adequacy statement for each product posted on the company website, readers are cautioned to check the label to be sure a food is “complete and balanced” before feeding it daily on a long term basis.
Evanger’s Dog Food Recall History
The following list (if present) includes all dog food recalls since 2009 directly related to this Evanger’s product line. If there are no recalls listed in this section, we have not yet reported any events.
- Evanger’s and Against the Grain Dog Food Recall Expands (2/28/2017)
- FDA Cautions Pet Owners Not to Feed Certain Dog Food Products Due to Adulteration with Pentobarbital (2/17/2017)
- Evanger’s Dog Food Recall of February 2017 (2/3/2017)
Compare This Dog Food
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