Diamond Naturals

Diamond Naturals is the mid-range line from Diamond Pet Foods, a family-owned American manufacturer that has been making pet food since 1970. The recipes are built on named meat as the first ingredient, with whole grains rather than a grain-free base, a superfood blend, and a guaranteed level of live probiotics in every dry formula.

What Diamond guarantees

• 80,000,000 CFU of live probiotic cultures per pound in every dry dog and cat food here - five strains including Lactobacillus plantarum, Bacillus subtilis, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Enterococcus faecium and Bifidobacterium animalis.
• Named meat first - cage-free chicken or pasture-raised lamb, depending on the recipe.
• No artificial colours, flavours or preservatives added, with fat preserved using mixed tocopherols.
• Superfoods that appear on the ingredient list rather than only the marketing: kale, chia seed, pumpkin, blueberries, oranges, quinoa, dried kelp, coconut, spinach, carrots and papaya.

Choosing a dog food

• Puppy under about 30 kg grown: Small & Medium Breed Puppy, 32% protein and 22% fat. Its AAFCO statement excludes growth of large-size dogs, so it is the wrong food for a big breed.
• Puppy over about 30 kg grown: Large Breed Puppy Lamb & Rice, with calcium controlled at 1.2% for large-breed growth.
• One food for a mixed-age household: All Life Stages Chicken & Rice. Its AAFCO statement includes growth of large-size dogs, which many all-life-stages foods do not - it genuinely covers puppy to senior.
• Adult maintenance: Adult Lamb Meal & Rice is the leanest at 23% protein and 403 kcal a cup. Large Breed Adult Chicken & Rice adds guaranteed glucosamine and chondroitin. Small Breed Adult comes in chicken or lamb with a smaller kibble.

Choosing a cat food

• Kittens and nursing queens: Kitten Chicken & Rice, 34% protein and 22% fat with taurine at 0.15%.
• Active, young or outdoor cats: Active Cat, the highest protein in the range at 40%.
• Indoor adults: Indoor Cat, 32% protein with 8% fibre for hairballs and the lowest calorie density at 394 kcal a cup.
• Fussy eaters: Finicky Cat Formula, sold in a 1 kg bag so you can test it before committing.

Reading the label

Every listing in this collection carries the full guaranteed analysis and the calories per cup, so you can compare formulas properly rather than by the picture on the bag. Two numbers decide most choices: the calories per cup, which is what you actually feed to, and the AAFCO statement, which tells you which animals the food is complete for. Diamond also states that the facility making these foods produces other recipes, so trace amounts of other ingredients may be present - worth knowing if you are managing a diagnosed allergy.