Unrated

PRODUCT HAS BEEN DISCONTINUED

By Nature Goldleaf Selects gets the Advisor’s second-highest rating of four stars.

The By Nature Goldleaf Selects product line includes four canned dog foods… each designed to meet AAFCO nutrient profiles for adult maintenance.

• By Nature Goldleaf Selects Beef and Salmon au Jus
• By Nature Goldleaf Selects Simmered Duck Vegetable Medley
• By Nature Goldleaf Selects Steamed Chicken Vegetable Dinner
• By Nature Goldleaf Selects Steamed Lamb Sweet Potato Stew

By Nature Goldleaf Selects Simmered Duck with Vegetable Medley was selected to represent the others in the line for this review.

Ingredient Analysis

The first ingredient in this dog food lists duck. Duck is considered “the clean combination of flesh and skin… derived from the parts or whole carcasses of duck”.¹

Duck is naturally rich in the ten essential amino acids required by a dog to sustain life.

The second ingredient is water… which (of course) adds nothing but moisture to this food. Water is a routine finding in most canned dog foods.

The third ingredient mentions peas. Peas are a quality source of carbohydrates. Plus (like all legumes) they’re rich in natural fiber.

What’s more, peas contain about 25% protein which must be considered when evaluating the total protein reported in this food.

The fourth ingredient includes carrots. Carrots are loaded with beta-carotene, minerals and dietary fiber.

The fifth ingredient is potato. Assuming they’re whole, potatoes are a good source of digestible carbohydrates and other healthy nutrients.

The sixth item is chicken liver. This is an organ meat sourced from a named animal. So long as it’s not over-weighted in a dog food, chicken liver is a beneficial component.

The seventh ingredient is xanthan gum… a food additive used here as a thickener to create gravy.

Unfortunately, the listed minerals do not appear to be chelated. And that can make them more difficult to absorb. Non-chelated minerals are usually associated with lower quality dog foods.

Nutrient Analysis

Judging by its ingredients alone, By Nature Goldleaf Selects looks to be an above-average canned dog food.

But ingredient quality by itself cannot tell the whole story. We still need to estimate the product’s meat content before determining a final rating.

The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 44%, a fat level of 6% and estimated carbohydrates of about 42%.

As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 44% and a mean fat level of 6%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 42% for the overall product line.

Above-average protein. Very low fat. And above-average carbs when compared to a typical canned dog food.

Due to the unusually low percentage of fat relative to the notably higher protein numbers, we are somewhat skeptical of the accuracy of the Guaranteed Analysis figures reported for these products.

Ignoring the protein contributed by the peas, this looks like the profile of a wet food containing an respectable amount of meat.

However, it’s unfortunate the company chose to include non-chelated minerals in its recipes. Without this lower quality ingredient, we’d have been compelled to award this line a higher rating.

Bottom line?

By Nature Goldleaf Selects a meat-based canned dog food using a generous amount of beef, lamb or poultry as its main source of animal protein… thus earning the brand four stars.

Highly recommended.

Those looking for a comparable kibble from the same company may wish to visit our review of By Nature dry dog food.

Notes and Updates

04/26/2010 Original review
11/26/2010 Review updated