The Diamond Naturals dog food comes with a lot of positives. Yes, there’s a few negatives, but in this review I’ll tell you exactly how to turn those around into positives – on a budget!
Diamond Naturals will suit you if you’re looking for a high-quality dog food which is also affordable. A hard ask post-cost-of-living-crisis and crazy price hikes.
At the time of writing, Diamond Naturals is under $10/kilo which is very good considering the quality and reputation of the brand. If you take advantage of the Petbarn “Member Sale” it works out even cheaper!
In this review we’ll focus mostly on the All Life Stages Chicken & Rice formula, but you’ll also find formulas specifically for puppies (including large breed).
Why you would feed Diamond Naturals
Diamond Naturals is made by a very reputable family-owned US company, Diamond Pet Foods.
You may’ve heard of their premium Taste of the Wild brand which targets pet owners looking for grain-free and novel proteins for pets with food sensitivities or allergies. It’s a brand which has consistently rated highly on Pet Food Reviews as a dry dog food.
The Diamond Naturals range will suit you if you’re looking for a more affordable dog food. The reason it’s more affordable is mostly down to using grains (rice) rather than fancier (and more expensive) ingredients.
Thankfully the grains used are decent, such as brown rice and barley rather than cheap rubbish like wheat and corn gluten meal.
Diamond Pet Foods has been around since 1970 (so 54 years at the time of writing), and I rarely receive any negative feedback for either Diamond Naturals or Taste of the Wild. That says a lot, and it’s a good reason to feed a brand such as this.
Let’s take a look at the ingredients and see what they tell us about the food…
What the ingredients say…
The first ingredient is chicken, which is good – your dog loves meat, right?
Despite how much the pet food industry tells you your dog is an omnivore, you know they’re more carnivore, and they get most of their nutrients from animal ingredients.
Diamond Naturals have been kind enough to tell us how much of the All Life Stage formula is chicken, which is 16%. You may have expected more, but this is the reality of most dog foods – just with Diamond Naturals they’re transparent, and that’s a good thing.
The second ingredient is also chicken, but this time in the form of dried protein-dense chicken meal. We can work out this is also 16%, as the third ingredient whole grain brown rice is also 16%.
Based on this we have 32% chicken which sounds much better, and I’ll add to that a further 16% which is chicken fat (6th ingredient) – therefore around 48% animal ingredients.
From this, because they seem to love the number 16, we also know barley and sorghum will also be 16%. That’s the top 6 ingredients, meaning everything after chicken fat amounts to the last 4% of the formula.
If you don’t like maths, then I’ll summarise by saying it’s really nice to know how much of each ingredient there is, as it means we can truly gauge how beneficial it is for our dogs. The food is pretty much half animal ingredients and half non-animal ingredients, and your dog will benefit mostly from the former.
Brown rice and barley are fairly decent grains in a dog food. Sorghum not quite as much, but nothing to be concerned about.
Top tip: I mentioned earlier how to flip the negatives into positives, so if you would rather your meat-loving dog had more meat in their diet, simply feed Diamond Naturals dog food as a “base diet” and combine it with fresh raw meats, organs, and species appropriate raw meaty bones (or dried meat-based chews).
This is a great way to keep the cost of kibble down, and you may be surprised how cost-efficient it is to feed your dog fresh “raw” as well.
A quick summary of Diamond Naturals
The All Life Stage Chicken & Rice formula has a respectable 26% protein which is above average for a dry dog food. 16% fat is also decent.
It’s great that the protein comes from meat ingredients rather than substitutes like corn found in many dry dog foods (many of which are surprisingly held in high regard by veterinarians and breeder communities).
We know approximately half of the formula is grains, and we can effectively reduce that by feeding Diamond Naturals as our go to dog food and adding variety with fresh human-grade meats, organs, and appropriate raw meaty bones.
When you consider the price of Diamond Naturals in comparison to similar dry dog foods sold in Australia, then take into account the reputation of Diamond Pet Foods which is shown worldwide, this has to be a decent choice, don’t you think?
Where to buy?
Diamond Naturals is sold at Petbarn and VeryPet. Both offer delivery anywhere in Australia.
Ingredients
Ingredients of Diamond Naturals dog food (All Life Stages Chicken & Rice):
Chicken (16%), chicken meal, whole grain brown rice (16%), barley, sorghum, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), dried yeasts, dried beet pulp, natural flavour, linseed, salmon oil (source of DHA), sodium chloride, potassium chloride, dried chicory roots, kale, chia seeds, pumpkin, blueberries, oranges, quinoa, dried kelp, coconut, spinach, carrots, papaya, Yucca schidigera juice.
Guaranteed Analysis
Guaranteed analysis of Diamond Naturals dog food (All Life Stages Chicken & Rice):
| Protein | (min) 26% |
| Fat | (min) 16% |
| Crude Fibre | (max) 2.5% |
| Carbohydrates * | (max) 42% (estimated) |
What is the rating?
Thanks Amanda, I’ve now added the rating. I’ve gone for an 8 based on practicality, given the ingredients are pretty good for the price.
Thankyou, how does this compare with say blackhawk? It’s roughly graded the same and similar in price.. so it would have to come down to, which ingredients are better?..
Never mind, I seen you’ve updated BH recently ☺️
I was wondering the same thing