This is the sixth in our multi-part series on the best food for your Yorkie. We hope to give you enough information to make an informed choice for yourself, and we hope that the information we provide will lead you to look carefully at the choice you make when it comes to your Yorkie’s food.
This time we are looking at 6 quality foods for your Yorkie. We received a number of sample products from a great company, Earthborn. We decided to review each of these foods in their own review. We will be reviewing each food in terms of kibble size, ingredients and nutrition, cost, recall information, ownership, and, of course, a taste test. In this review we are looking at (in alphabetical order):
- Earthborn Holistic – Coastal Catch
- Earthborn Holistic – Great Plains Feast
- Earthborn Holistic – Meadow Feast
- Earthborn Holistic – Ocean Fusion
- Earthborn Holistic – Primitive Natural
- Earthborn Holistic – Small Breed
Kibble Size
Each of these foods has a decent size for a Yorkie. The Great Plains has the biggest pieces and the Small Breed has the smallest. I have taken photos of the pieces next to or on a quarter for your reference.
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Ingredients & Nutrition
The best way to compare the ingredients and nutrition is with the chart provided below.
Here are a few highlights for you that we found the most interesting.
All of these foods include a meat meal.
The Coastal Catch, Great Plains Feast, Meadow Feast, and Primitive Natural are all grain-free.
The Primitive Natural has the highest protein at 38% and the Ocean Fusion has the lowest at 22%. The Ocean Fusion also has the lowest fat content at 12% and the Coastal Catch and Great Plains Feast have the highest at 18%.
| Coastal Catch |
Great Plains Feast |
Meadow Feast |
Ocean Fusion | Primitive Natural |
Small Breed | |
| First Ingredient | Herring Meal |
Bison Meal | Lamb Meal | Whitefish Meal | Turkey Meal |
Chicken Meal |
| Second Ingredient | Potatoes |
Peas | Peas | Sweet Potatoes | Chicken Meal |
Whitefish Meal |
| Crude Protein (Min) | 32% | 34% | 26% | 22% | 38% | 28% |
| Crude Fat (Min) | 18% | 18% | 15% | 12% | 20% | 17% |
| Calories kcal/kg | 3725 | 3675 | 3520 | 3530 | 3800 | 3724 |
| Serving size per day for smallest weight category |
1/4 – 1/2 cup |
1/4 – 1/2 cup | 1/3 – 1 cup | 1/4 – 1/2 cup |
1/4 – 1/2 cup |
1/4 – 1/2 cup |
Cost
Cost is always a consideration, especially if you have more than one Yorkie. For these foods, the prices have a small range – the cheapest being the Ocean Fusion and Small Breed at $1.92 per pound and the most expensive being the Meadow Feast at $2.85 per pound. We used prices at amazon.com for prices. We divided the price into the pounds to get a cost per pound. Here are the per pound prices from lowest to highest for our current 6 foods.
- Ocean Fusion
– $1.92/lb
- Small Breed – $1.92/lb
- Primitive Natural
– $2.07/lb
- Great Plains Feast – $2.21/lb
- Coastal Catch
– $2.85/lb
- Meadow Feast – $2.85/lb
Taste Test
Catherine’s rankings:
1. Primitive Natural
2. Ocean Fusion
3. Great Plains Feast
4. Meadow Feast
5. Coastal Catch
6. Small Breed
Catherine really loved the Primitive Natural. She ate it first in each trial. She also liked the Ocean Fusion and always ate all of that after the Primitive Natural. She picked at the other foods, eating the Great Plains and the Meadow Feast and not really seeming interested in the Coastal Catch or Small Breed.
Ownership
- Earthborn is owned by Midwestern Pet Foods, who also make SPORTMiX® and PRO PAC®. They are located in Evansville, Indiana with 3 of their own manufacturing facilities, one in Evansville, Indiana, one in Monmouth, Illinois, and one in Chickasha, Oklahoma.
Recalls
The recall information I have reviewed goes back to 2009.
- Earthborn – no recalls, ever.
Our Choice
Based on everything, this time our favorite is the Primitive Natural. It has great ingredients, a great price, and Catherine loved it. We like that it’s grain-free and packed with animal protein. We also love the company. Earthborn makes some great foods and seems really committed to quality and the environment.
