Today we are comparing Canine Caviar’s Open Meadow Lamb & Pearl Millet formula to Open Farm Lamb & Ancient Grains formula. It’s important to consider different factors when evaluating products. We’ll compare the ingredients, calories, and pricing of each of these formulas and see how they differ. Both formulas incorporate lamb as its first ingredient making this comparison even.
Open Farm Ingredients Comparison
Canine Caviar = 31 ingredients. Open Farm = 35 ingredients.
Ingredients are important for any dog food. They let you know what proteins, carbohydrates, and other essential nutrients your dog receives. Open Farm and Canine Caviar’s approach formulation and nutritional balance in similar ways. That explains the similarities in some ingredients you see in the picture above. Both companies are focused on providing quality dog nutrition.
Canine Caviar loves being a limited ingredient diet that is allergy friendly. Our Open Meadow diet utilizes 31 ingredients which is lower than the industry standard which typically ranges in the 40’s and 50’s. Our first ingredient is dehydrated lamb. Canine Caviar is serious when they mean they’re a limited ingredient diet.
Open Farm Lamb & Ancient Grains formula is similar in some ways. This formula also uses lamb as their first ingredient. Where Open Farm differs is the other array of proteins and carbs they use.
Ingredient Profile Comparison
Now let’s take a look into the ingredient profile. The ingredient profile refers to the make-up of the formula, how many proteins, carbs, and other nutrients account for the formula. Using this gives us a better sense of what we’re feeding our dogs instead of looking at a long list of ingredients. We also get a better feel for each respective brands’ nutritional philosophy.
Canine Caviar is a limited ingredient diet that believes in singular proteins and carbohydrates. We use only one protein and one carbohydrate in each formula: in this case Lamb and Pearl Millet. The first three ingredients (dehydrated lamb, pearl millet, lamb fat) make up 85% of the total formula. That means you’re getting the most out of your dollar. Canine Caviar likes to keep formulas simple. It helps make the absorption of amino acids and other nutrients easy. Because there is only one protein, there is less variety of amino acids. Although amino acid variety is good for dogs, processing multiple amino acids at once can be taxing on a dog’s digestive system. That is why Canine Caviar suggests protein rotation. Switching protein flavors ensures that dogs receive their necessary nutrients while ensuring diversity. We also use 11 botanicals that create the alkaline effect that maximizes your dog’s health. Botanicals also provide added support to the coat, skin, and eyes. 15 vitamins and minerals help complete the formula by providing other essential nutrients to your dog’s system.
Open Farm has a different approach to formulation. Their diet includes 3 different protein sources: Lamb, Ocean Whitefish Meal, and Herring Meal. Open Farm also uses 4 carbohydrate sources: Oats, Millet, Brown Rice, and Quinoa. The bigger variety in carbs means you require more digestive power and can make nutrient absorption difficult. They use 7 beneficial botanicals compared Canine Caviar’s 11. Open Farm also lists 19 vitamins and minerals compared to Canine Caviar’s 15. These two formulas are close in numbers but differ when it comes to protein and carbs.
Open Farm Calories Per Cup Comparison
Now we will compare the calories for each formula. It is important to note that the more calories a kibble has, the less you need feed your dog. Sometimes, we are used to feeding our dogs in terms of cups, but we should be thinking in terms of calories. What determines differences in calories? Processing eliminates a kibble’s natural calories and lowers the digestibility so the number of calories in a cup can say a lot. You should also see it as a sign that the kibble was better able to maintain its original nutritional value.
Canine Caviar Open Meadow has 541 Kcal/8oz. Canine Caviar focuses on keeping calories high and nutritional value secure. We use a flash cooking process instead of other conventional practices. This process cooks the kibble’s exterior for a couple seconds. This method of cooking saves the nutritional goodness inside. We use ingredients from ethical and sustainable sources to ensure high calories. We never use any additives, artificial colors, artificial flavors, or GMOs.
Open Farm Lamb & Ancient Grains has 425 Kcal/8oz. That means that Open Farm has 116 less calories per cup than Canine Caviar. There are usually 2 reasons for the difference in calories. It can be associated to the quality of ingredients or with processing procedures taken.
Pricing Comparison
It’s important to everybody to consider price when choosing kibble. Canine Caviar and Open Farm are very similar in size availability and price points. For this comparison, the prices are based on 2020 online prices from each brand respective official or partner websites. Open Farm provides 3 different sizes (4, 11 & 22 lbs). Canine Caviar is the same with the only difference being our smallest bag being 4.4 lb. Pricing is very competitive down the line but Canine Caviar has the added benefit of Alkalinity and higher calories. It would seem like Canine Caviar overall seems like the better deal. We should also look at pricing in a different way to better understand.
Open Farm Daily Cost To Feed Comparison
Let’s look at the daily cost to feed. This comparison shows how much it costs daily for you to feed a dog based on our example formula. We use the formula on the bottom left of the analysis to come up with these numbers. The daily cost to feed is the best way to see how a dog food stretches your dollar.
Canine Caviar’s Open Meadow costs $1.23 a day while Open Farm cost $1.65 a day. That’s a difference of $.42 and this can be greatly associated with the difference in calories. Higher calories per cup can really help lower your costs while improving the health of your dog.
Final Thoughts
This ends this Open Farm comparison. You can check the Canine Caviar Blog for more great articles. See us Compare 5 Buffalo Kibble Formulas as well as our Comparison to Farmina