AFFCO approved?

So I live in a small town and all I have is a petco. Well my problem is all the dog food that I thought were amazing like blue buffalo or purina pro plan... Are not approved by the AFFCO for nutrients. I'm having a hard time finding and dog food that is approved. So if there not approved does this mean it's bad or not enough nutrients for my pups? And why are so many not approved?

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Permalink Reply by Megan C on April 11, 2012 at 11:32pm

Blue Buffalo meets the nutrient profiles set forth by AAFCO. They actually exceed them. I tend to use the Whole Dog Journal's approved food list over AAFCO. I think a lot of better brands do not proudly display the AAFCO as it tend to not be highly regarded by the natural crowd.

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Permalink Reply by Jane on April 12, 2012 at 9:20am

I'm pretty sure all of those are approved by AAFCO. Even like...Beneful is approved.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on April 12, 2012 at 10:41am

Many of the newer more natural foods are not yet AAFCO approved but they do meet or exceed AAFCO standards 9 times out of 10. The only time I personally would really focus on getting an AAFCO approved food would be if I were planning to feed a pre-packaged homemade or raw diet. Almost all the kibble diets are formulated to meet the standards. If you are looking for a food that has the food trials and research to back up the formula then go with Purina, Science Diet, or Eukanuba/Iams. Those 3 companies are the only ones (at least based on my info from a year ago) that have a veterinary nutritionalist and years of research to back up their formulas. I don't feed any of those brands simply because Franklin does better on Taste of the Wild but just an interesting note, I just toured the Air Force's veterinary hospital and k-9 training center and ALL of the United States military dogs are currently kept on a diet of Science Diet Active because it has been the ONLY diet over the past several years to meet all their nutrition requirements. Their dogs last IN SERVICE for 10 years or more. To get a German Shepherd to be a working dog for 10 years (let alone a PET for 10 years) is pretty impressive to me, so don't get too obsessed with the current food fads becuase most will now tell you Science Diet is crap, research proves otherwise.