True Colours is an Australian brand of dog food made by the same company who make Man’s Best.
We’ll take a look at the ingredients of Australian Chicken + Brown Rice for the sake of this True Colours dog food review.
Let’s dig in…
True Colours dog food review
What the marketing says
The bag features a beautiful Border Collie. I pick up on this stuff straight away as they’re a breed close to my heart. In fact I’m so into Border Collies I also picked up on his cute white lower right leg compared to his black left leg – I’m sad aren’t I?
In my mind I expect the diet of a Border Collie as a super active breed to be rich in proteins from meats, with decent meat fat for energy. That’s unfortunately not the case with True Colours dog food as you’ll read later, but don’t be put off just yet.
We find lots of marketing with True Colours. The bag says “Feel good dog food” as if it douses your pooch in aromatherapy oil and gives him a back and neck massage.
Apparently True Colours dog food uses “only the best ingredients”, “carefully crafted with pet nutritionists and vets”, and are allegedly “the perfect blend” of meats, fruits, vegetables, vitamins, and minerals, which really depends on where you consider a dog on the omnivore to carnivore scale, and also what you consider the “perfect blend”.
They state “No artificial colours or preservatives Hormone or GMO free”, and I assume the lack of punctuation in that statement is an error and they don’t mean no hormone or GMO free preservatives.
Let’s move on as I feel I’m ripping into the brand a little unfairly, so let’s take a look at the ingredients and see the real True Colours – it’s honestly not that bad!
What the ingredients really say
I’ll pluck out six ingredients which I believe are significant. Most people only read the first ingredient, which in this case is chicken meal, and assume that’s the main ingredient. That’s rarely the case.
If we put the fat content aside (in this case a decent inclusion of chicken fat) we have chicken meal, ground rice, oats, lamb meal, fish meal, and field peas.
The protein of 21% isn’t great – it’s bog standard to be honest. Fat of 14% isn’t much to rave about either, but it’s okay. From a formula starting with chicken meal and rice we’d expect more protein, so that suggests there isn’t as much of these ingredients as we’d expect.
Oats as the 3rd ingredient are likely in the same amount as the first two, and I expect much less of the lamb and fish meal. That would mean the formula has an emphasis towards rice and oats over chicken meal, which somewhat explains the lower protein and what I estimate around 47% carbohydrates.
I’m surprised though, as given the formula I would expect more protein.
It’s good to see a variety of ingredients, and rice and oats are better grains than the wheat and undisclosed cereal grains you find in other Australian dog food brands.
It’s also nice to see a range of chicken, lamb, and fish. A mixture is good.
Peas are fine in moderation, and again compared to other Australian brands packed full of peas to ramp up protein it feels right with True Colours.
I realise aspects of this review have come across a little negative, but as a whole I find True Colours dog food reasonable. Yes, there are more premium brands, but they cost more. There are definitely much worse choices than this.
If True Colours dog food suits your budget then give it a go. It strikes me as a good base diet, and you can address the lowish protein and fat by adding in some fresh meats, organs, and raw meaty bones – all dogs benefit from at least 20% raw, and don’t take my word for it as this was recently established by a Finnish study.
True Colours – not bad!
I’d prefer to see less ambiguity with “natural antioxidants” in the ingredients list though.
I hope this True Colours dog food review has helped you decide, and if it has then all I ask is you tell your friends about this wonderfully written dog food review website! 🐾
What about True Colours Puppy?
There’s one puppy recipe on offer – True Colours Australian Chicken + Brown Rice.
I have to say with 30% protein and 17% fat I find this a decent option given the mix of ingredients. As said with the adult formula, there’s nothing stopping you feeding this as a base diet and mixing in some fresh and raw.
If True Colours Puppy suits your budget then this could be a good option for your puppy. It’s basically an improved version of the adult formulas!
Where to buy True Colours
Ingredients
Ingredients of True Colours dog food (Chicken + Brown Rice):
Chicken Meal, Ground Rice, Oats, Lamb Meal, Fish Meal, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), Citric Acid, Rosemary Extract), Field Peas, Beet Pulp, Kelp, Canola Oil, Salt, Essential Vitamins & Minerals, Natural Antioxidants, Emu Oil, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Glucosamine, Chondroitin, Tomato Powder, Carrots, Dried Blueberries, Dandelion, Peppermint, Rosemary, Cranberries.
Guaranteed analysis
Guaranteed analysis of True Colours dog food:
| Protein | (min) 21% |
| Fat | (min) 14% |
| Crude Fibre | (max) 5% |
| Carbohydrates * | Estimated 47% |
I’m transitioning my Rottie from meals for mutts to true colour. As MFM is very hard to get a hold off always out of stock. Review have been very helpful. But could someone pls tell me how to open the resealable zip bag…lol not sure if I got a faulty bag but for the life of me I can’t work out how to open it without breaking the resealable zip…
I find resealable bags never work anyway!
I found the following useful about storage solutions, so that may help!? https://www.dogzone.com.au/dog-food-storage-ideas/
I can’t believe that no-one has picked up the fact that they are selling the same flavoured food (mix of lamb,chicken & fish) but in 3 different bags…they’re conning consumers into thinking they are getting 3 different flavours, but they are getting the same product in a different coloured bag.
Chicken: Chicken Meal, Ground Rice, Oats, Lamb Meal, Fish Meal
Lamb: Lamb Meal, Ground Rice, Oats, Chicken Meal, Fish Meal
Fish: Fish Meal, Chicken Meal, Ground Rice, Oats, Lamb Meal
If indeed the ratio of chicken/fish/lamb is different between flavours then the ‘Guaranteed Analysis’ would be slightly different between flavours….BUT all 3 flavours have the EXACT same specs:
Protein 21%
Fat 14%
Fibre 5%
The other issue is that they claim they use ‘Brown Rice’ on the packaging but their ingredients list just lists ‘Ground Rice’….which is another way of saying ‘White Rice’.
Please correct me if I’m wrong on this, but this appears to be pure public deception!
Hi Mark, yes it’s a great observation, especially when you consider those non-meat ingredients (rice, oats, etc) will make up a significant amount of the food. Many cheap brands of pet food don’t even have different meats, just the same concoction used in all formulas – i.e. same kibble, just different bags.
Ironically when I studied pet nutrition the course actually recommended never to switch brands if your dog is sick, only switch formulas! Unbelievably poor advice.
As for the point about brown rice, that means the “ground rice” ingredient would likely be a combination of brown and white. It doesn’t mean brown rice is significant, so it’s fair to assume it’s mostly white rice.
I love this review site, so helpful, I went through all of the dry dog foods. I have chose ‘True Colours’ being just above mid range quality after reading this review & given I have 3 dogs I needed to pick a not too expensive one, but I am adding fresh as I have working dog breeds in 2 kelpies & 1 cattle mix. I love the smell of True Colours after moving from Supercoat True Blend which smells yuk & they were always itching & its poor rating. All the dogs love it & I’m looking out for the puppy one on special where I will buy a number of bags for the higher protein & fat content & add fresh as you say to compliment it……Thank you for the research you do….. I have appreciated your efforts.
Thank you for the feedback, and I’m glad the reviews have helped!
This food is using the original Blackhawk recipe or in other words the 80’s breeders recipe. Originally Blackhawk used this recipe, than they changed and changed again.
I’m using the puppy formula, the dogs like it enough, but it’s certainly not a favourite. However when I got the samples it was a favourite, eaten every night for 2 weeks.
It essentially seems to smell like any other dog food, it melts quickly in water that was a highlight, meaning it’s very easy to digest.
The one difference to the original formula is they added extra lamb meal. However this did nothing to add more protein or fat to the food. The difference between the protein and fat of this and Blackhawk is 0-1%.
It breaks apart easily in the mouth as well so could suit older dogs with less teeth.
The message I received when I emailed them asking why they copied Blackhawks ingredients.
This is a proven breeder formula that’s been around since the early 80’s, we added more meat which you will find as the 4th ingredient being lamb meal.
A solid food honestly. I like it. Just wish the dogs liked it more.
Great info Edanna – thank you. I actually didn’t realise the similarity with the original Black Hawk formulas!