If you missed Dr. Karen Becker’s Pet Food Review during the beginning of this year, you are in luck. I found so much information I thought people may not know …but would want to know. I will touch on some of the pet food industry label terms, facts about kibble, and some of the worst dog foods most commonly fed that are getting bad reviews. The foods are from both Corporate dog food companies and Online pet food companies or private label pet food companies.

TL;DR see video below

How are the worst dog foods of 2025 being rated?

Dr. Becker’s 2025 pet food reviews used a 5-star system based on the following criteria:

1. Company: How the panel of 5 experts feel about the company as a whole.
2. Value: What you get as the pet parent.
3. Nutrition: Does the food meet AAFCO requirements? Does the website have a CNA?
4. Ingredients: Sourcing, ingredient quality, and number of synthetics.
5. Feeding guidelines: Some companies have been faltering here.

Why are these criteria important in evaluating dog food?

If the nutrients and feeding guidelines are off, your pet could suffer from 1) nutrient deficiencies or 2) nutrient excesses and 3) their weight could be affected. In both of these cases, it can contribute to health issues making them the worst dog foods for your dog. Finally, it may also be an issue for growing puppies since their requirements are different from adult dogs.

Quick facts about dog kibble or cat kibble

Kibble feeders at one point were at 95%. The most recent survey showed it is down to 61% for dogs and 65% for cats.

It’s great that more people are switching, but since there are still so many kibble feeders, I thought I would start with worst dog foods type first.

• Kibble is made from powder. It is a longer process, but that is the short version.
• Cooking: Kibble is cooked 4 times.
• Ingredient splitting is when you see peas, pea flour, and pea protein listed separately on the list of ingredients. However, when combined, the sum of the peas pushes them up the ingredient list, possibly making it the 1st or 2nd predominant ingredient in the food.
• Pet food: In other animals, it is referred to as feed, like chicken feed, cattle feed, and so on. Yet in pets like dogs or cats, feed-grade ingredients can be used, therefore, it should be called feed for certain foods.
• Recalls: The most recalled pet food is kibble. Almost 69 MILLION lbs. of kibble have been recalled during the past five years. In comparison, canned food was approximately Seven hundred thousand lbs, and Raw pet food was under Forty six thousand lbs.
• Storage: How pet food is stored in transport, in the store (for example, near windows with the sun beating on it or away from the sun), or in your home (in the bag and/or container). Storing in a cool place is important, per Steve Brown. WHY? He sent some of his food to TX, where it was stored in a hot warehouse. He said the Alfatoxins were through the roof after 3 months.

10 of the worst dry dog food 2026

Here are the Top 10 worst dog kibbles of 2025 with vet reviews.

If your dog’s food is on this list, here are some better options, human-grade dog kibble.

1.  Kirkland dog food review: 0.8 stars out of 5 stars

The experts pointed out IF there was an issue with the food, you have NO way to contact them. Also, the guidelines are set for a highly active dog, like a working dog. Meaning the average house dog will GAIN weight.

2. Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Rx joint: 1.5 of 5 stars

If you buy this food thinking you will NOT have to buy a glucosamine supplement, you would be sadly mistaken. The experts said, the glucosamine in this food is not enough!

3.Purina Dog Chow: 1.3 of 5 stars

Allegedly, Purina said the >1000 pets who were getting sick or dying in early 2024 was a hoax, rumor or something to that extent.

I find that despicable! The experts remarked they did not like the deceptive marketing of the grilled chicken image since there is no grilled chicken in the bag.

4. Blue Buffalo Life Protection review: 0.8 of 5 stars

Blue Buffalo ties Kirkland dog food for the worst dog foods in the kibble category.

5. Royal Canin Veterinary Advanced mobility support: 1.7 of 5 stars

The expert said a 50 lb dog would not get enough joint support from this food.

6. Royal Canin: 2 of 5 stars

The majority of the conversation was about what was allegedly found by the FDA during inspection.

7. Pedigree: 1.1 of 5 stars

8. Acana Wholesome Grains reviews:  2.7 of 5 stars

During the Acana dog food review, their Chicken recipe received 5 stars for feeding instructions from Steve Brown, which is a big deal.

The cons of Asana dog food is the review panel said they used a term called free run, which is misleading because people may think it is the same as Free range.

9. Fromm Chicken A LA Veg Recipe review: 1.5 of 5 stars

This review was from Dr. Karen Becker’s Pet Food Reviews 2023. I wanted to include it since it is a popular brand.

Some major sticking points for this version of Fromm Dog food are a) low protein, b) 29 synthetics which is a lot of synthetics, and c) they thought the broth as the second ingredient is weird.

The Chicken a la Veg received 1 star from all the experts, but 1 person gave them a little grace, thus a slightly higher score.

10. Hills Rx diet j/d mobility:  0.9 of 5 stars

Steve said he would rate it -0.5 if he could. Steve has invented some foods, so that says a lot to me. For me, I would consider HIll’s pet nutrition my number one worst dog foods or at least a top contender for the worst food for dogs.

Dr. Judy, who was not part of the panel review, says prescription diets do NOT contain medication or any ingredient that would require a prescription.

 Worst canned dog foods 2025

1. Purina Pro Plan dog food – canned: 0.9 of 5 stars

Purina pro plan canned dog food is the worst dog food in the canned category.

2. Hills diet canned food: 1 of 5 stars

The most shocking thing to me is the cost of this food. It would cost $13.29 per day for a 30 lb dog. You could feed better quality foods from my other blogs for less money!

Phrases on Pet food labels may not mean what you think!

Before we move on to the next categories, I thought it was important to cover this topic.

• USDA inspected: In my opinion, this is not a complete statement because the USDA certifies both passed and condemned (failed) meat.
• Omega 6: Grain-fed animals are HIGH in Omega 6. Chicken is the highest in Omega 6, which is Inflammatory!
• Vitamins: can be either human grade or feed grade.
• Animal protein: For example, the legal definition of chicken can be frames or bones only, not actual meat.
• Organic: When it comes to Organic meat, it can also be passed or failed meat.

Worst freeze-dried dog foods 2026

Here are the Top 5 worst freeze dried dog foods from Dr. Karens 2025 dog food reviews.

If you need better options, these are some the best freeze dried raw dog foods of 2025.

1.  Acana freeze-dried chicken review:  1.7 of 5 stars

Most of the discussion between the experts was about lawsuits for things like using certain terms. They did want to know what they meant by the term Free run since that is not a defined term.

What is a defined term is Free range, which means they have access to the outdoors 51% of their life.

2. Nature’s Variety Instinct freeze dried (beef recipe) 2.6 of 5 stars

The experts warned that this food has a HIGH COPPER LEVEL. 

3. Shepherd Boy Farms Alligator review: 2.9 of 5 stars

The two main issues the experts had were the feeding guidelines and one person was unsure about their pathogen mitigation.

Dr. Karen did like that this company was exploring Novel proteins. You can buy Shepherd Boy Farm from online retailers like Chewy.

4. Open farm Surf & Turf review 2.8 of 5 stars

The Open farm feeding guidelines are an issue with a score of  1.5 of stars.

5. Instinct raw Real beef bites: 2.7 of 5 stars 

During the review, the panelists made comments like they did not like the word “real” in the name of the food. Nor did they like the word raw, since raw is raw and freeze dried is freeze dried.

You can buy the raw version from Chewy and the freeze dried version from Amazon.

2026 Worst fresh dog food (aka gently cooked)

The top 2 worst dog foods in the fresh or gently cooked category from Dr. Beckers dog food reviews are:

1. The Farmer’s Dog Pork Review: 2.6 of 5 Stars

During The Farmer’s Dog food review, the feeding guidelines received a 0.5 rating. Dr. Royal (Oprah’s vet) does not recommend the Farmers dog dog food because pets tend to be overweight on this food. Finally, they noted there are a lot of synthetics in this food.

How much is the farmer dog? According to the panel, the farmers dog cost is $4.89 a day for 30 lb. dog. Do your own math! I have run a few of the numbers and came out with a different results.

2. Nulo Beef & Sweet Potato Gently Cooked: 2.1 of 5 stars

Bone broth being the 2nd ingredient doesn’t make sense. Insanely high fats,  low protein and it is not human grade. The most concerning thing about this food is the feeding instructions, which received only 0.5 stars. The most shocking part was how much Nulo dog food costs. The Cost to feed a 30 lb dog Nulo dog food is $20.97 p/day 

That is Crazy! It is 2x’s more expensive than this food which is Organic and Humanely raised, and on many of the other dog foods on my dog food blogs like my Top Human Grade dog foods of 2025.

Worst dog meal mixer or topper of 2026

1.  Stella & Chewy meal mixers: (chicken recipe) 2.3 stars

Out of the 5 criteria to rank this food, the Stella & Chewy’s -Company and feeding guidelines scored the lowest. The experts did not like the marketing claim of 3 times the flavor because who can determine that?! They also don’t like the term raw used with cooked food, since raw is raw. One expert noted, they used to be more transparent in the past.

While Stella & Chewy’s meal mixer did not score well, that does not mean all their other food options including dinner morsels, kibble, freeze dried pet food, wet food in pouches and fresh cooked dog food will score poorly.

One example is their beefy-licious dog food (which scored 3.7 of 5 ⭐️). If that interests you, here is a Stella & Chewy’s Coupon code HTWT10 for 10% discount. If you prefer to order from Chewy, that is an option too.

Worst raw dog foods 2026

The worst dog foods in the raw dog food category from Dr. Becker’s dog food reviews are:

1. Maev dog food review: 1.6 of 5 stars

The bag says to serve frozen. All the experts agreed that you should NOT feed frozen food every day. Further down the instructions, it does say if your dog doesn’t like frozen food to let it thaw to room temperature.

I do like that their quiz account for weight and activity level. Maev discount code: 15% off on their website

2. Carnos: 2.8 of 5 stars

Their feeding guidelines received a 1-star rating.

Other Dog Food brands you may want avoid

1. Freshpet: They have been in the news for Mold issues and lots of complaints from people online. So I find it odd that the CLP dog food study came back with this brand as “clean” when looking for things like heavy metals, pesticides and more.

I heard Rodney Habib say that someone contacted him eluding to Freshpet paid for the Clean Label Project study, which is why their company came back as a top contender. I knew something was fishy about this.

2. Dr. Harvey’s: Did you know Dr. Harvey is NOT a Vet? He is a human Chiropractor and a human Nutritionist.

This is not to say this food is good or bad. It is only to point out that seeing Dr. in the name of a pet food does not mean the person is a Veterinarian.

3) Nature’s Variety Instinct freeze-dried Beef:  This is a HIGH in Copper freeze-dried dog food, which can cause health issues.

What Pet food blog would you like to see next? 

Leave a comment below to tell me which topic you would like to see next.

Until then, if you would like to see better versions of these foods, I have written a Human Grade Dry Dog food article.

Disclaimer: The information shared in my content is intended for general educational purposes only. The information contained herein does not constitute veterinary advice, diagnosis, or treatment of any kind. No veterinarian-client-patient relationship VCPR) is created or implied by reading, accessing, or using this guide. The author of this guide is not a licensed veterinarian and is not acting in a veterinary capacity. Always consult your veterinarian before making any changes to your dog’s care, diet, or treatment plan.