Dog food rankings: how to read them and why the winners differ

Of the seven Ukrainian pages that search shows for the query “dog food ranking”, none explains how the brands were selected and ordered (our own check, 01.10.2026). Five of them sit in the advertising sections of media outlets, one turned out to be an online store's blog, and another is a price aggregator's list of best-selling products. Germany's Stiftung Warentest does it differently in its test of 24.07.2025: it buys 24 foods anonymously, tests them in a lab and publishes the weights of its criteria (nutritional quality 60%, feeding instructions 15%, harmful substances 10%, packaging 5%, labeling 10%). Without published weights, first place tells you almost nothing about the food: seven sets of weights on the same list of 30 foods produce four different first places (our own calculation, 01.10.2026).

Key points

• None of the seven Ukrainian pages we checked describes how the brands were chosen and ordered.
• Five pages out of seven sit in the advertising sections of media outlets, and six out of seven link to a store or a brand.
• Stiftung Warentest buys foods anonymously and publishes weights of 60/15/10/5/10%; according to its 2025 conclusion, only about one product in three can be recommended.
• Dog Food Advisor awards stars based on the label alone, with no lab tests, and earns a commission from stores for referrals.
• Among 30 foods, the top 5 by cheapest calorie and the top 5 by protein have not a single food in common.

Who writes dog food rankings?

Mostly those who sell food or run advertising. Among the seven pages we checked, the site owner sold dog food in two cases, and five articles appeared in the advertising sections of media outlets: “Advertorial”, “Press releases”, “Promo”, “Partner publications”, “Company news”. None of them described how the brands were selected.

According to an online survey of 2,181 dog and cat owners (Schleicher et al., Canadian Veterinary Journal, 2019), people most often ask a veterinarian about food (43.6%), while the internet is the main source for 24.6%.

Our own check of seven pages in Ukrainian search results, 01.10.2026. We do not name the media outlets or stores: we checked the label and the site owner.

How can you tell a ranking is paid?

The simplest check is to look for the word “advertising” next to the headline or in the section name. Article 9, part 2 of Ukraine's Law “On Advertising” (as amended on 31.07.2026) requires advertising in the media to be “clearly separated from other information using the word ‘advertising’”. Part 3 extends this requirement to a paid “informational, authored or editorial piece” about a specific product, and part 5 consists of a single sentence: “Hidden advertising is prohibited.”

Hidden advertising is information about a person, idea or product, distributed for a fee, that serves advertising purposes and may mislead the consumer about the real purpose of the material (article 1, clause 14).

That gives the reader three markers: the word “advertising” next to the headline, the section name and the site owner. If the site itself sells dog food, its list of brands works as a shop window, and even the “classes” in it may differ from the price aggregator's listings (what the classes mean is explained in our article on premium, super-premium and holistic).

What did the ranking measure: the label or what's inside the bag?

A methodology describes what was measured, for how many foods and with what weight each criterion entered the score.

In its test of 24.07.2025, Stiftung Warentest bought 24 complete dry foods in January 2025: “Alle Futter prüften wir anonymisiert”, meaning “We tested all foods anonymously” (our translation). The lab compared nutrients against the needs of a model 15 kg dog under NRC and FEDIAF standards, looked for heavy metals, acrylamide and mycotoxins, and checked protein digestibility. According to the test's conclusion, only about one product in three can be recommended, and the publication sells readers access to the results table for €4.90.

The American Dog Food Advisor states its rules plainly: stars are based on “what's on the label”, the site does no lab testing and takes no money or samples from manufacturers, but it earns a commission from stores for customer referrals.

Both publications described their rules. We found no such description in Ukrainian search results.

Why do different rankings have different winners?

Because the winner is decided by the weights the author chose. We took 30 foods for adult dogs, excluding our own (data from manufacturers' websites and store listings as of 01.10.2026), and ranked them with seven sets of weights on three criteria: price per 1,000 kcal, protein on a dry matter basis, and label transparency (animal ingredient listed first, stated meat percentage, energy content, moisture; from 0 of 4 to 4 of 4).

Our own calculation, 01.10.2026. We do not name brands: we are a dog food manufacturer ourselves, and our ranking of competitors would not be independent. Two more sets of weights put a fourth food in first place, one whose analysis matches its packaging. 6 foods out of 30 score 4 of 4 for transparency.

Does first place mean the food is the best?

Many people read a list exactly that way: the food in first place is the best. The calculation on the same 30 foods does not support this.

The top 5 by cheapest calorie (from UAH 24.08 to UAH 29.17 per 1,000 kcal) and the top 5 by protein on a dry matter basis (from 31.1 to 43.2%) have not a single food in common. The cheapest one has ground corn as its first ingredient, while the highest in protein costs seven times more per calorie: UAH 167.5 versus UAH 24.08. The Spearman coefficient between rank by price and rank by protein is −0.48: the cheaper the calorie, the less protein, as a rule.

This reading breaks down on the word “best”, because without a stated criterion there is no first place. Take a 14 kg beagle with normal activity: using the weight-based feeding amount method, he needs 70 × 14^0.75 × 1.6 = 811 kcal per day. With the first-place food by price that is UAH 19.5 a day, with the first-place food by protein UAH 136, and over a year the difference is about UAH 42 thousand.

Three questions to ask of any dog food ranking

Three questions cover almost any “top” list.

1. Who makes money on this page? Check the site owner and the section name: six pages out of seven had links to a store or a brand.
2. What was measured? The label, as with Dog Food Advisor, the contents of the bag in a lab, as with Stiftung Warentest, or nothing at all if there is no methodology.
3. How were the criteria weighted? Until the weights are stated, a “top for value for money” remains the author's own decision.

DELICATE is a manufacturer of dry food for adult dogs from Dnipro: according to the label, 32% crude protein, and a 10 kg bag costs UAH 1,188 with delivery. We do not compile dog food rankings, because a manufacturer cannot rate its own food independently. You can check the figures in two articles: how much good dog food should cost and a comparison of Ukrainian dog foods by their labels.
See the food — UAH 1,188

What to do for your own dog?

• If you have opened a “top 10”, first find the section name and the site owner.
• If the page has no methodology, read the list as a shop window and take only the names from it to compare on your own.
• If you are comparing two foods, reduce each to two numbers: price per 1,000 kcal and protein on a dry matter basis.
• If you need the portion and the daily cost, enter the weight into the food calculator: a 14 kg beagle needs 811 kcal per day, which costs from UAH 19.5 to UAH 136.
• If the page carries the word “advertising”, that does not make the food worse, but the list is not an independent assessment.

Questions and answers