Grain-free dog food?

So I read some more about different dog foods and came across Orijen dog food. Since I would prefer to feed my dog a grain free dog food, I decided to properly check out this alternative. In the table below I compare Hill's Science Plan VetEssentials Puppy Large Breed, Eukanuba Lamb & Rice Puppy All Breed (both containing grains but not wheat), to Orijen Puppy Large, a dog food that doesn't contain any grains. The reason why I chose to compare Orijen to Hill's and Eukanuba is that I already compared those two and in that comparison Hill's came out the winner. [link]

	Hill's	Orijen	Eukanuba
Protein	27.8 %	38 %	28%
Fat	15.6 %	16 %	16%
Carbohydrate(NFE)	37.6 %	25 %	n/a
Fibre(crude)	5.2 %	3 %	2%
Moisture	7.5 %	10%	n/a
Calcium	1 %	1.5-1.7 %	1.2%
Phosphorus	0.8 %	1.2-1.4 %	0.9%
Sodium	0.5 %	0.4%	n/a
Potassium	0.8 %	0.77 %	n/a
Omega ratio	4.2:1	2.6:1	5:1
Omega-3 fatty acids	0.71 %	1 %	0.4%
Omega-6 fatty acids	2.99 %	2.6 %	2.0%
DHA	0.17 %	0.60 %	0.10%
Vitamin A	20000 IU/kg	16000 IU/kg	15000 IU7kg
Vitamin D	1175 IU/kg	1000 IU/kg	750 IU/kg
Vitamin E	668 mg/kg	400 IU/kg	200 mg/kg
Vitamin C	90 mg/kg	55 mg/kg	n/a
Beta-carotene	1.5 mg/kg	0.44 mg/kg	1 mg/kg

Orijen has a best omega-6 to omega-3 ratio, 2.6:1 instead of 4.2:1/5:1. There is more protein in the Orijen dog food, than in the one from Hill's and Eukanuba. Theories that too much protein in the growing dog's diet would be detrimental has not been clinically proven. What has been shown though is that it is bad for growing dogs of large breeds to have too much calcium and phosphorus in their diet. This can cause too rapid growth of their skeleton and in the end lead to joint problems and other skeletal disorders. According to one article I've found the optimal level of calcium in a growing large breed dog's diet is 0.75-0.95% by weight, and the levels of phosphorus is 0.62-0.72%. In another one I found the values to be 0.80% calcium and 0.67% phosphorus. According to both of these all three puppy foods I've looked at have too much of these minerals, but Hill's is the better alternative.

Orijen also has less vitamins than Hill's puppy food, but more than the Eukanuba puppy food does. It has been theorized that too little of vitamin A, D and E could cause skeletal problems too, while too much of vitamin C can give the same result. So while the vitamin C levels might be better in the Orijen, the higher levels of the other vitamins in the Hill's food still makes it the better choice.

Nutrition is a complex science, and it is not to be taken lightly. The puppy in the video below suffers from hypertrophic osteodystrophy, a skeletal disorder that can be caused by less than optimal quality of the food fed to the dog. If there is one thing you should spend money on for your dog's health, it is a good dog food.

Just to be clear, the puppy foods mentioned in this post has nothing to do with the puppy in the video. The video is merely meant as an illustration of how important good nutrition is.