Advance Dermocare Dog Food Review

Review Details
Rating [nyrating]
Website Advance
Available from
OBSOLETE

Advance Dermocare Dog Food Review30/04/2018 Advance Dermocare is currently under investigation for causing the condition Megaesophagus in dogs, with University of Melbourne reporting 74 cases.

06/06/2018 – ABC have reported Melbourne University U-Vet are now investigating 100 Megaespohagus cases related to Advance Dermocare.

More information here.

Advance Dermocare

Advance Dermocare

Advance is made by Mars Petcare who have a solid hold on breeder communities and shows. As one of the original brands marketed as being Australian they have a very loyal following.

Given Mars are ranked by Forbes as the 6th largest privately held company in the United States, you would expect a product such as this to have a high standard of production. They certainly have the money for it.

Advance Dermocare is targeted at dogs with itchy skin or allergies, but in reality it’s nigh on a vegan food. Most would assume a dog food would be meat-based, or at least contain a significant amount of meat, but given most people wholeheartedly trust these brands the truth is rarely realised. Advance know this, and that’s why they sell you “super premium” rice and corn at an incredible mark-up.

I wish this review to be relatively unbiased, so let’s start with positives:

Firstly, if you read this Facebook post, you’ll see many dogs with allergies have been miraculously cured by Dermocare as an anti-allergenic food. The reason for this isn’t actually miraculous, it’s because rice isn’t a common allergen, and neither is corn if processed correctly. Most food allergies are caused by the likes of wheat, soy, and other nasty substandard ingredients, and some dogs are allergic to meat proteins such as chicken. Given Dermocare doesn’t have any of these ingredients it means a dog won’t suffer allergies from the food. That’s the reason Dermocare “works”.

Secondly, I can’t ignore many people have religiously fed this food for decades to dogs who’ve led healthy lives.

Advance Dermocare Dog Food Review

Ok, now for the maths… (lets prove how much rice and corn this food really is):

Dog food ingredients are listed in descending order of weight prior to cooking. The first ingredient is rice, the second corn gluten, and the third corn. The fourth ingredient is chicken fat, and given the fat content of the food is 15% we can assume the chicken fat accounts for most of this. That means the rice and corn will amount to a very minimum 45%, but the estimated 42.5% carbs would suggest the grains are very significant.

Put it this way, the tuna as the 5th ingredient is definitely less than 15% of the food, but realistically I would guestimate a single digit percentage. They may advertise the food as “Tuna”, but note they don’t tell you how much tuna.

I’ve rated the food 2 stars, which is all I can do until science proves rice and corn is better for a dog than meat.

Good points…

It would seem a dog can lead a relatively healthy existence on rice, corn, and chicken fat.

Bad points…

Almost insignificant meat content.

Guaranteed Analysis

[gauge title=”Protein” width=”210px” label=”%” value=”26″ min=”0″ max=”100″ color=”#F3832D”] [gauge title=”Fat” width=”210px” label=”%” value=”15″ min=”0″ max=”100″ color=”#F3832D”] [gauge title=”Est. Carbs” width=”210px” label=”%” value=”42.5″ min=”0″ max=”100″ color=”#F3832D”]

* 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%). For this product an estimated fibre content of 5% has been used.

Ingredients

Rice, Maize Gluten, Maize, Chicken Fat, Tuna, Pilchards, Natural Flavour (Chicken), Beet Pulp, Iodised Salt, Sunflower Oil, Potassium Chloride, Inulin, Choline Chloride, Histadine, Inositol, Dicalcium Phosphate, Plant Extracts (Tomato Powder, Marigold Meal), Taurine, Vitamin E, Vitamin B3, Zinc Sulphate, Vitamin C, Citric Acid, Calcium Carbonate, Beta-Carotene, Antioxidants, Iron Sulphate, Vitamin B5, Copper Sulphate, Vitamin A, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B12, Potassium Iodide, Vitamin B1, Selenium, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B9.

Calling Aussie pet lovers – join the mailing list!

18 Comments
  1. They are really trying to sell these new formulas every online retailer I’m signed up to is yelling it out on the roof tops rofl, now they’ve even got a 25% off the food. Of course retailers don’t really care about what happened they just want to sell the product, it’s just it’s funny.

    • Not really funny, really quite sad such sub- standard products dupe people into thinking it’s good for dogs, & the price they charge is way overpriced for cereal based kibble.

  2. I’ve been Googling & Wiki-ing all morning! Megaesophagus/LES
    problems can be autoimmune disease or food/chemically caused. I’d say there’s an incorrect ingredient ratio of corn & corn gluten (which is a red flag ingredient re severe/developing allergies in dogs) compared to the rest of the ingredients in the product. Add to that the fact that it contains chicken fat /oil (15%), tomato powder (tomato is not suitable for dogs) and inositol (this can be MSG), it seems that maybe all this could cause reaction in the gut … coughing/acid reflux/hernia/vomiting leading to a weakened or defective Lower Esophagus Sphincter (LES). The LES in a small muscle in the esophagus that opens (to the stomach) when eating/drinking & closes after the food/drink goes down the throat. A weakened or damaged LES will cause food/liquid to be backed up in the now widened throat with some regurgitating/vomiting. If the problem’s not identified in time the dog eventually starves and dies or the food/fluid enters the lungs … the poor dog either has to be euthanized or dies a horrid death. People can have this too. I read this morning that this company had the same problem in another country (Europe/Mediterranean I think) and tests revealed nothing but this should have been a red flag! When I find that article again later today I’ll update this post. At any rate this mix of pet food doesn’t sound at all like a “healthy vegan canine diet” … I remember my elderly doggie had stomach problems and changed his dry component of his diet to vegetable based (and non-grain) and he picked up in no time.

    • Reply
      Pet Food Reviews May 1, 2018 at 3:31 pm

      Good research Deb, and thanks for sharing. There’s also always a question of the source of any ingredients, and almost all manufacturers source vitamins, minerals, and other ingredients from other countries. Ingredients can be tainted in specific batches, as well as cross-contamination. It’s possible that the dogs who were tested consumed a chemical or toxin not normally in the food.

      Did Mars Petcare have similar issues with megaespohagus in Europe??

  3. This website should remove this review….as the product kills dogs.

    • Hi Al, I’ve added a warning at the top of the page pending further investigations by University of Melbourne. It’s better to leave the review here to alert people than remove it completely.

      It was rated poorly to begin with.

  4. I wonder which ingredient is responsible for the megasophagus issue currently playing out in the media. I think they might lose their followers. I’m also stunned that poor police dogs are on this food

    • Just like veterinary clinics the food sponsors the police dogs, it’s a bragging right for them. I know that the NSW police dogs were on Royal Canin, not that its much better but they order shipping containers full of the stuff so I’m assuming they have a pretty nice deal set in place by Mars mother company

    • If Mars could just loose all of its followers and it’s hold on Banfield and other establishments that would be an amazing day for me, their now looking at being the people to turn to for the well-being of your pets, that’s not something anyone ever wanted to hear, hopefully not everyone will just blindly follow their advice.

      • Who are you? I can’t look at any pet product without a comment from you.

        • Alan you are just too much sometimes, had me giggling reading it haha.

        • A 6 going onto 7 I guess pet food online researcher, who tends to speak her mind a little too much haha, at least on pet food reviews I can speak.

          Dog food advisor turds banned me from speaking and there was a reason for that, but everyone is always so bitchy on that website and they report any helpful comments not made by certain admins on the website.

          Write anything Holistic no one will listen, you’ll be bombarded and your comment hidden ASAP, it’s very toxic and I’ve been a part of it for the whole 6 years I researched so I saw it gone from friendly to toxic and it was sad to have to leave it behind. Susan continues to help there or tries to anyways.

          But yeah that’s me!

    • Hi Jenna, if Dermocare is the true cause then any of the ingredients could be responsible for toxins. I hope the efforts being put in by Mars Petcare and others into testing the product leads to a better understanding of what might cause ME.

      • It’s pretty well known what causes it as I did quick Googles this morning & condensed as much as I could into my post above. Considering this company had the same problem in another country – then they should have known better surely! And fancy labelling this cheap ingredient (in my opinion “muck”) as a premium and high priced dog food/diet. What I also find reprehensible is the fact that they’ve said they’ll “replace your pet” – OMG how sickening a description … it if was a person/child (and most people’s doggies are either their Furbabies or Prized Pets), then how disgusting is that! Not only should they pay Vet Bills but if they’re found to be negligent in any way, shape or form … then I hope everyone sues the pants off them!

        • RETRACTION: This is not the same company that had the problem in Europe. The country was Latvia around 2016 and the food at issue was DoGo manufactured by Tukuma Strauss who have denied any responsibility and threatening to sue. Initial findings were the food contained urea but an apparent mistake was made by the initial testing lab that samples were sent to … it’s still being investigated by researchers in Latvia, who in latest media reports have offered to help/assist Australia in testing/research etc.

        • Pet Food Reviews May 1, 2018 at 3:28 pm

          Deb, did Mars Petcare have the same issue in Europe? Do you have a link to further information? I wasn’t aware…

  5. Considering how many grains it has, the carbs ain’t half bad, don’t remember that other food but one had 61% I think now that’s bad.

Leave a Reply to Pet Food Reviews Cancel reply

Pet Food Reviews (Australia)
Logo
Shopping cart