Nature’s Table Dog Food Review

Nature’s Table is an offering from Mars Petcare, and by the looks of it is their response to Nestle’s Purina Beyond.

Let’s see if it’s any good in our Natures Table dog food review…

Nature’s Table dog food review

You’ll notice the elegant packaging tells you the food is premium and natural, and the prairie-esque scene looks beautiful, but this is just marketing and needs to be overlooked. “Premium” is on most foods as a meaningless marketing word. Is all dog food premium these days?

The first ingredient in the Chicken with Farm Vegetables formula is chicken. This is what we’d expect given the packaging states “Chicken is the 1st ingredient”, but again this is deceptive marketing. It may be the first ingredient but it doesn’t make it the most significant ingredient. Chicken is 70~80% water, so once cooked at high temps into a kibble will whittle down to insignificantness. In truth it’s the ingredients we find in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th which make up the bulk of the food, and these are all grains.

When it comes to grains it’s wheat which is the most problematic, especially with allergies and itchy skin. Corn is regarded as one of the cheapest inclusions to bulk up protein in a food in the absence of more easily digestible meat proteins. Another cheap grain inclusion is the starchy sorghum. We find all these making up the bulk of the food, which makes it a cheaply made grain-based food. Corn gluten, or CGM, is another way to bulk up protein in a food, and we find that too.

Natural flavour is an ambiguous term often used to conceal a real ingredient which could put you off buying a food. It’s likely animal digest which we find in many foods, a broth from cooking up animals in a vat, and not as natural as the labelling would suggest.

The farm vegetables are a mixture of powders, of which we find carrot, pumpkin, tomato, and pea powders. These trace ingredients are all listed after salt.

Overall the food is grain heavy, and they’re not decent grains either. Carbs are estimated at a high 44% which isn’t great, and the bulk of the 25% protein will come from the corn and not meat. Purina Beyond is the better of the two if you’re looking for a major corporate brand of dog food, or better yet you can check out the best dry dog food shortlist.

Where to buy Nature’s Table

Nature’s Table dog food is available to buy at Woolworths.

Good points…

Beautiful packaging…

Bad points…

Grain heavy, grain proteins and not meat proteins.

_{* Carbohydrates aren’t listed on pet food labels. This value is calculated based on levels of protein, fat, moisture, and ash. Estimated values for moisture and ash have been used where these values haven’t been given (moisture of 10%, and ash of 8%).}

Ingredients

Chicken, Corn, Wheat, Sorghum, Chicken Fat, Corn Gluten, Natural Flavour, Beet Pulp, Salt, Minerals, Natural Antioxidants, Citric Acid, Vitamins, Carrot Powder, Pumpkin Powder, Tomato Powder, Green Pea Powder, Yucca Extract.