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This food has a good amount of protein but is high in carbs, which is lowering the fat content somewhat and making it less nutritionally balanced compared to other dog foods we evaluated. Carbohydrates are cheap so they keep the foodâs cost low. They are nutritionally useful to dogs in the right amounts, however, very high amounts of carbs can reduce the much-needed meat-based protein and fat content.
To evaluate dog foods, we first calculate out the moisture. This is called the âdry matter basisâ and shows you only the solid ingredients in the food. These estimated âdry matterâ numbers are different from the food label, but a better way to understand the real nutritional value of the food. We also calculate the carbs. Find out more
Min. Protein 29.55%
Min. Fat 14.77%
Min. Carbs 47.73%
Max. Fiber 5.11%
Max. Ash 7.95%
Max. Moisture 0%
Min. Protein: 26.0%
Min Fat: 13.0%
Min Carbs: N/A
Max Fiber: 4.5%
Max Ash: N/A
Max. Moisture: 12.0%
This product has an average amount of calories. Itâs important to understand how many calories you are feeding to prevent under or overfeeding. Average calorie foods like this are typically best for fairly active dogs who need a moderate amount of daily calories. Based on your dogs current weight and activity level you may want to feed more or less than the recommended amount. Its helpful to know that weight loss foods often have fewer than 340 calories per cup, weight maintenance foods typically range from 340-380 calories, and high-activity dog foods are usually over 400 calories.
This is a grain-free dog food. The FDA is investigating a potential connection between grain-free diets and canine heart disease. There is not enough evidence yet to affect our ratings but weve created an article for you explaining the topic.
Beef, Chicken By-Product Meal, Ground Yellow Corn, Ground Wheat, Brewers Rice, Meat & Bone Meal, Animal Fat (Preserved with BHA & Citric Acid), Corn Gluten Meal, Soybean Meal, Natural Flavor, Dried Beet Pulp, Glycerin, Salt, Phosphoric Acid, Sugar, Water, Potassium Sorbate, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Fish Oil (stabilized with Mixed Tocopherols), Filet Mignon Smokey Natural Flavor, Dried Peas, Vitamin E supplement, Zinc Sulfate, Monocalcium Phosphate, Colors (Red 40, Blue 2, Yellow 5 & 6), Niacin, Dried Carrots, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Copper sulfate, Riboflavin Supplement, Sodium Selenite, Pyridoxine hydrochloride, Potassium Iodide, Vitamin A supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin D3 supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement.
The average dog food we reviewed has 39 total ingredients and 1 controversial ingredient. This product has 11 total controversial ingredients and 3 of them are found in the first five ingredients. This is concerning because the first 5 ingredients make up most of the product.
Top 5 IngredientsDog food ingredients are listed in descending order of weight. So when looking at dog food, take a close look at the first 5 ingredients. They make up about 80% of the total weight.
âControversial Ingredients
Country of Origin
Cesar Filet Mignon Flavor is made in the United States, a country known for high dog food quality standards. So this is a plus.
Meat & Fat Quality
The meat quality of this product is mixed. Two of the ingredients, Beef and Chicken By-Product Meal, identify the species they come from which is very important. However, Meat & Bone Meal, as well as Animal Fat, do not make it clear where these ingredients originate. Missing information on meat sources is often a sign of lower quality dog food. The same concern exists for added fats in this product. Fish Oil is used, which is generally very nutritious. However, this specific ingredient doesnt identify the species it comes from, making it questionable and intransparent.
Artificial Preservatives
Cesar Filet Mignon Flavor contains BHA (Butylated hydroxyanisole), a very controversial artificial preservative we never want to see on dog food labels. To be clear: âNot all artificial preservatives are bad. Thatâs because they serve an important purpose, which is to prevent food from spoiling and making your dog sick. However, 11 artificial preservatives are controversial because of their potential link to cancer and other serious health conditions in dogs. BHA is one of them.
Artificial Colors
This food uses several artificial colors: Red 40, Blue 2, Yellow 5 and Yellow 6. Dogs happily eat foods of any color, so these are just added to make the food look better to us humans and are completely unnecessary. Theyâre also potentially unhealthy, so all four of them should not be in this food.
Artificial Flavors
Cesar Filet Mignon Flavor does not include any artificial flavors. The food label shows Filet Mignon Smokey Natural Flavor, but as the name implies thatâs not an artificial ingredient.
Cesar has a below-average number of dog food recalls.
We love dog food brands that are committed to transparent business practices. If you make quality dog food you should be willing to openly talk about how itâs sourced and produced. Thatâs why we reached out to pet food companies, asking questions about all their brands and products. Each company had three weeks to reply to our messages.
How Easy Was it to Reach the Company?
Cesar is part of the Mars family of brands and was pretty responsive. It only required one email, and they responded in 4 days. Not lightning fast, but compared to the average it was not a bad response time. They provided relatively complete answers, although they were very much crafted from a marketing perspective and in some ways did not answer the questions directly.
Does Cesar have a veterinary nutritionist on staff? If so, who are they? âââ
We have two nutritionists on staff for better checks and balances. One is full time and has done 7 years post-graduate work in nutrition, his work has been published in peer-reviewed Veterinary and Nutrition journals for over 30 years. His work is also cited in the NRC Nutrient Requirements for Dogs and Cats. The other is a Board Certified Veterinary Nutritionist (DVM, Ph.D., DACVN, DACVSMR) who has an office in our headquarters but is considered part-time so he can continue his work in academia.
The detail here is great, but they were unable to share the specific names of these individuals.
Who formulates your recipes, and what are their credentials?âââ
Developing pet foods involves teams of Associates with expertise in many different fields including nutrition, food science, animal science and veterinary sciences. Mars Petcare has been developing pet foods for over 80 years and the nutritional knowledge and expertise of our associates goes into every diet we produce.
This response felt more like a marketing response, and dodges the actual question. They were unable to provide any names of the individuals involved in the formulation of the product.
Do you test your products using the AAFCO feeding trials? Why, or why not? âââ
This depends on the diet. Both ways of ensuring nutritional adequacy are acceptable methods and the method employed on a particular diet is listed on the diet itself within the nutritional adequacy statement. For those products that are formulated to meet nutrient profiles, we utilize our extensive database of the nutrient content of our ingredients and well as analytical values of key nutrients in order to ensure the delivery of the nutrient profiles of our diets.
Every dog food label will list of the AAFCO Statement, which tells you if a feeding trial has been done. There is much debate on the effectiveness of these trials, but we feel it is insightful to hear how a manufacturer views them as part of their product development.
What country are your products manufactured?âââ
Cesar: Our main meal & treats are currently manufactured in the USA. Our SIMPLY CRAFTED⢠is made in Thailand.
Can your manufacturing facilities be visited?âââ
No, they cannot be visited by the public.
We found that most large multinational companies like Mars have manufacturing facilities that are not open to the public.
What quality measures do you use to assure consistency and quality?âââ
Quality is the cornerstone of every aspect of our business and the number one responsibility of all our employees, suppliers and distributors. At Mars Petcare, we have a vision for making A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS®. The health and wellbeing of pets is our absolute priority. Our products are manufactured in strict compliance with the stringent guidelines set down by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), as well as each states feed regulations and in many cases our own guidelines far exceed them. Under the Mars Supplier Quality Assurance Program, all of the raw materials that we and our suppliers use must meet our strict global internal quality and safety requirements, in addition to local laws and regulation. Our robust global standards, which apply at every stage of the supply chain, allow us to ensure that all of our products are safe, nutritious and enjoyable, meaning owners can feel confident that their pets will thrive on our products.
Does Cesar own its manufacturing facility? If it is another company, what company is it?âââ
In the U.S. we employ 25,000 Associates across 6 segments: Mars Food, Mars Drinks, Mars Petcare, Mars Chocolate, Mars Symbioscience and Wrigley. We employ more than 75,000 Associates worldwide. We have 37 manufacturing plants in the U.S. and 43 U.S. states have Mars operations. For more than 100 years, Mars has been committed to making our products in the markets where we sell them. By growing our footprint in the U.S., we are better able to introduce new products to meet consumer demand for greater choice and variety.
In short, they own the facilities.
Do any parts of your product come from China?âââ
We source our ingredients for our North American plants as close to our facilities as possible. We do not purchase meat-based ingredients from China. Our vitamins and minerals often come from China, as that is often one of the only locations to source these ingredients globally, similar to human foods. Mars has an extensive Supplier Quality Assurance program, which includes audits and visits from our own associates to these suppliers.
We learned from speaking to many companies that sourcing quality ingredients at scale is a significant challenge. This reality means that companies like Mars who are supplying massive distribution channels will often use a variety of sourcing options, including China.
Which Cesar Dry Recipes Get Our Best Ratings?
Cesar Dog Food receives the Advisor’s lowest rating of 1 star.
The Cesar product line includes the 3 dry dog foods listed below.
Each recipe includes its AAFCO nutrient profile when available… Growth (puppy), Maintenance (adult), All Life Stages, Supplemental or Unspecified.
| Product | Rating | AAFCO |
|---|---|---|
| Cesar Filet Mignon Flavor | 1 | U |
| Cesar Rotisserie Chicken Flavor | 1 | U |
| Cesar Porterhouse Flavor | 1 | U |
Cesar Filet Mignon Flavor was selected to represent the other products in the line for detailed recipe and nutrient analysis.
Label and nutrient data below are calculated using dry matter basis.
Estimated Dry Matter Nutrient ContentProtein =
Ingredients: Beef, ground wheat, meat and bone meal, whole grain corn, brewers rice, chicken by-product meal, soybean meal, animal fat (preserved with bha and citric acid), corn gluten meal, natural flavor, dried plain beet pulp, water, chicken meal, glycerin, salt, sugar, potassium sorbate (preservative), phosphoric acid, potassium chloride, natural filet mignon flavor, choline chloride, dried peas, calcium carbonate, dl-methionine, vitamin E supplement, zinc sulfate, dried carrots, yellow 6, l-tryptophan, red 40, yellow 5, blue 2, niacin supplement, d-calcium pantothenate, copper sulfate, sodium selenite, potassium iodide, vitamin A supplement, blue 2, riboflavin supplement (vitamin B2), vitamin B12 supplement, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), vitamin D3 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), folic acid
Fiber (estimated dry matter content) = 5.1%
| Estimated Nutrient Content | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Method | Protein | Fat | Carbs |
| Guaranteed Analysis | 26% | 13% | NA |
| Dry Matter Basis | 30% | 14% | 48% |
| Calorie Weighted Basis | 26% | 31% | 43% |
The first ingredient in this dog food is beef. Although it’s a quality item, raw beef contains up to 73% water. After cooking, most of that moisture is lost, reducing the meat content to just a fraction of its original weight.
After processing, this item would probably account for a smaller part of the total content of the finished product.
The second ingredient is wheat. Like corn, wheat is an inexpensive and controversial cereal grain. And aside from its energy content, this grain is of only modest nutritional value to a dog.
For this reason, we do not consider wheat a preferred component in any dog food.
The third ingredient is meat and bone meal, a dry “rendered product from mammal tissues, including bone, exclusive of any added blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents”.
Meat and bone meal can have a lower digestibility than most other meat meals.
Scientists believe this decreased absorption may be due to the ingredient’s higher ash and lower essential amino acid content.
What’s worse, this particular item is anonymous. So, the meat itself can come from any combination of cattle, pigs, sheep or goats — which can make identifying specific food allergens impossible.
Even though meat and bone meals are still considered protein-rich meat concentrates, we do not consider a generic ingredient like this to be a quality item.
The fourth ingredient is corn. Corn is another cereal grain and subject to the same issues as wheat (previously discussed).
The fifth ingredient is brewers rice. Brewers rice is a cereal grain by-product consisting of the small fragments left over after milling whole rice. Aside from the caloric energy it contains, this item is of only modest nutritional value to a dog.
The sixth ingredient includes chicken by-product meal, a dry rendered product of slaughterhouse waste. It’s made from what’s left of a slaughtered chicken after all the choice cuts have been removed.
On the brighter side, by-product meals are meat concentrates and contain nearly 300% more protein than fresh chicken.
The quality of this ingredient can vary, depending on the caliber of the raw materials obtained by the manufacturer.
The seventh ingredient is soybean meal, a by-product of soybean oil production more commonly found in farm animal feeds.
Although soybean meal contains 48% protein, this ingredient would be expected to have a lower biological value than meat.
And less costly plant-based products like this can notably boost the total protein reported on the label — a factor that must be considered when judging the actual meat content of this dog food.
The eighth ingredient is animal fat. Animal fat is a generic by-product of rendering, the same high-temperature process used to make meat meals.
Since there’s no mention of a specific animal, this item could come from just about anywhere: salvaged roadkill, spoiled supermarket meat… even dead, diseased or dying cattle.
For this reason, we do not consider generic animal fat a quality ingredient.
What’s worse, this fat is preserved with BHA, a suspected cancer-causing agent.
The ninth ingredient is corn gluten meal. Gluten is the rubbery residue remaining once corn has had most of its starchy carbohydrate washed out of it.
Although corn gluten meal contains 60% protein, this ingredient would be expected to have a lower biological value than meat.
After the natural flavor, we find beet pulp. Beet pulp is a controversial ingredient, a high fiber by-product of sugar beet processing.
Some denounce beet pulp as an inexpensive filler while others cite its outstanding intestinal health and blood sugar benefits.
We only call your attention here to the controversy and believe the inclusion of beet pulp in reasonable amounts in most dog foods is entirely acceptable.
From here, the list goes on to include a number of other items.
But to be realistic, ingredients located this far down the list (other than nutritional supplements) are not likely to affect the overall rating of this Cesar product.
With 6 notable exceptions…
First, we find sugar. Sugar is always an unwelcome addition to any dog food. Because of its high glycemic index, it can unfavorably impact the blood glucose level of any animal soon after it is eaten.
Next, this recipe includes dried peas. Dried peas are a good source of carbohydrates. Plus they’re naturally rich in dietary fiber.
However, dried peas contain about 27% protein, a factor that must be considered when judging the meat content of this dog food.
In addition, we’re always disappointed to find artificial coloring in any pet food. That’s because coloring is used to make the product more appealing to humans — not your dog. After all, do you really think your dog cares what color his food is?
Next, we find no mention of probiotics, friendly bacteria applied to the surface of the kibble after processing to help with digestion.
Additionally, the minerals listed here do not appear to be chelated. And that can make them more difficult to absorb. Chelated minerals are usually associated with higher quality dog foods.
And lastly, this recipe contains sodium selenite, a controversial form of the mineral selenium. Sodium selenite appears to be nutritionally inferior to the more natural source of selenium found in selenium yeast.
Based on its ingredients alone, Cesar Dog Food looks like a below-average dry product.
The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 30%, a fat level of 14% and estimated carbohydrates of about 48%.
As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 30% and a mean fat level of 14%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 48% for the overall product line.
And a fat-to-protein ratio of about 48%.
Above-average protein. Below-average fat. And near-average carbs when compared to a typical dry dog food.
When you consider the protein-boosting effect of the corn gluten and soybean meals and dried peas, this looks like the profile of a kibble containing a moderate amount of meat.
Who Makes Cesar and Where Is It Produced?
Cesar Dog food is a Mars, Inc corporation under their PetCare branch. They were developed for Mars, and have not been owned by any other company at this point. Mars has offices around the globe, but in the United States, they have headquarters in McLean, Virginia, with other offices across the country.
We have also discovered that Cesar dog food is manufactured in the USA. Information regarding the sourcing of their ingredients is not as easily found, however. Generally, brands that source within the United States are likely to put this information on their packaging as a selling point. If the information is not listed or not easily found, chances are the majority of the formula items are coming from points across the globe.
This dog food brand has many different flavors and recipes. They have concentrated on making their formulas the tastiest and most appetizing flavors that your pet can enjoy. The recipes come in your choice of wet food, dry food, or treats. First, let’s take a look at the different meats and protein flavors you can find throughout the different formulas.
These meals also contain savory vegetables, grains, fruit, and other ingredients that make up the different meals.
Pedigree vs Cesar Dog Food Review: Filet Mignon edition
Cesar Dog Food has been in pet aisles for many years, and they are well-known for their West Highland White Terrier mascot and small breed wet diets. This is a brand that relies heavily on the taste buds of your pet, and as history has shown, they have not failed on this front. When it comes to wet dog food, this brand is one of the leading competitors in the flavor race.
Of course, no brand is perfect. There are some drawbacks to these recipes that every dog owner should be aware of if they are considering this food. In the article below, we have broken down all the various elements of this dog food. We will share the details on everything from recalls, ingredients, ownership, and even their website. Keep reading to find out the facts behind the score!