Game On Dog Food Review

Apparently Dogpro PLUS Game On is a high performance, complete and balanced nutritional source with the perfect ratio of quality proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals to keep the active working dog in peak physical condition.

I wonder where the science is to back up this wonderful-sounding claim?

As a certified pet nutritionist I found the first ingredient in this food for meat-loving dogs to be far less than ideal – cereals and cereal by-products.

Let’s take a look at this working dog spin-off of the Dogpro food.

What the marketing says

Australian Made and Owned really appeals to us as Australian consumers, and we find that stamped on the bag.

30% protein sounds really good for a dry dog food formula, and 17% fat is respectable. For a working dog these are essentials, which means the packaging of Game On dog food is telling us all the right stuff.

The formula is “egg enriched”, and there’s a little picture of a succulent piece of kangaroo and part of an egg. These are ingredients I consider really good in the diet of our dogs.

But how true are these claims?

Let’s take a look at the ingredients and find out the truth about Dogpro PLUS Game On!

What the ingredients really say

Game On dog food comes and a seemingly good price – about half the price of some other working dog foods with the 20kg bag.

But do you get what you pay for?

Cereals and cereal by-products as the first and main ingredient suggests you really are getting what you pay for, as ingredients such as this are a fraction of the price of real meat ingredients.

Ironically the front of the bag doesn’t raise any awareness of this, instead stating made with real kangaroo meat for ACTIVE HUNTING DOGS.

Do you feel a little deceived by this?

I do. Especially from a true blue Australian company.

Let’s put the cereals and by-products aside – the stuff your dog probably shouldn’t be fed – and find out about the succulent real kangaroo meat and eggs.

Well, the kangaroo is part of the second listed ingredient, a combination of meat and meat by-products from chickens, mutton, and/or kangaroo.

I’ll draw your attention to the and/or which suggests there may not be kangaroo meat in the food, as it could be mutton. That said, given it’s on stated on the bag you can expect at least some kangaroo in the food. We don’t know how much though, and much less than the cereals/cereal by-products.

As for the egg, we find that listed 9th.

If you want an idea of how much whole egg there is in Game On dog food, then salt is listed 5th, and salt in the food will be around 1%.

So not much egg, and not much kangaroo?

Makes you wonder how Dogpro can legally make the claims on the front of the bag, but they can, because Australian regulations for labelling of pet food are pretty much worthless (although you have to pay for the privilege of reading them).

At least the 30% protein and 17% fat sounded good?

Well, not quite, as Game On dog food only offers a typical analysis. This means those figures can be inflated, and may not be accurate.

Interestingly I found a guaranteed analysis listed for Game On on a retailer website, and this suggested 25% protein and 15% fat.

What that means to you, is your working dog will likely be consuming more carbohydrates/sugars rather than highly digestible real kangaroo meat and eggs like we were told by the marketing.

There’s little else to say about Game On dog food. Granted it’s cheap, but you should ask if it’s healthy, or optimal, for your meat-craving meat-dependent working dog.

I’d say not.

Related: Working Dog Foods.

Ingredients

The ingredients of Dogpro PLUS Game On dog food:

Wholegrain cereals and cereal by-products, Meat and meat by-products (including chicken, kangaroo &/or mutton), Fats & Oils (beef &/or chicken), Chicken gravy, Iodised Salt, Essential Minerals (including calcium, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium, iron, copper, manganese, selenium), Fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), Choline chloride, Whole Egg, Yucca schidigera, Natural Antioxidants, Essential vitamins (including A, D3, E, C, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, B12).

Typical Analysis

Dogpro PLUS Game On dog food uses a typical analysis which doesn’t have the same guarantees as a guaranteed analysis you find on most reputable dog foods.