tag

Search

Lotus Pet Foods Dog Food Review

Facebook
Pinterest
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email
Print

Lotus Pet Food, Inc. was founded in 2001 by a group of pet lovers. They also own the Centinela Feed and Pet chain in Los Angeles. Daron Matsuura is the president. 

The company created its first pet food in 2003. They offer baked pet food options. Lotus manufactures its dry products in a bakery in Canada. They make wet foods in their own micro-cannery in California. They opened it in 2011. 

The head office is in Torrance, CA. 

For our Lotus dog food review, we’ll look at the food ingredient quality and safety of each line of food. Our dog food reviews are based on these criteria.

IS LOTUS PET FOODS A GOOD DOG FOOD?

Lotus produces 5 lines of dog foods. There are 2 lines of baked kibble. They’re made in Small Bites and Regular Bites. These are essentially the same product. We will only review Regular Bites. There are 3 lines of canned dog food. The Canned Stews and Loaf Recipes are reviewed here as one line, and Just Juicy on its own. The company discontinued its line of raw dog food. 

These dog foods are moderate risk by our criteria.

Lotus’ dry dog food is oven-baked in small batches. Food is baked at 500 degrees. The internal temperature only reaches 160 degrees. It takes about 10 minutes to cook each batch of kibble. This preserves amino acids, vitamins, and antioxidants. Lotus makes its canned products in small batches. They don’t use processing aids like carrageenan, guar gum, or xanthan gum. 

The company gives great detail about its sourcing. Green mussels, lamb and grass-fed venison are from New Zealand. Rabbit is raised on farms in Italy. Pork comes from farms in Iowa. Turkeys are from California. They source GAP-certified chicken (stages 3 and 4) from Minnesota. They use sea clams harvested along the California coast. Sardines are caught off the coast of Baja California. Salmon is farmed in Canada or wild-caught in the USA. Pollock is from Alaskan waters. The Marine Stewardship Council certifies the fish as sustainable. 

Lotus uses North American-sourced non-GMO fruits and vegetables. Some ingredients have a high pesticide risk. If they used organic produce it would avoid pesticide risk and GMOs.  Lotus doesn’t use corn, wheat, and soy (except for soy oil). However, several lines are very high in carbohydrates. These are from potato starch, sweet potatoes, rice, rye, barley, oats and peas.

Most of the fish products used are wild-caught. This is preferable as wild fish is more nutritious. It also has a better fatty acid balance than farmed fish. Lotus doesn’t provide the omega-6:omega-3 ratio. This is true of most companies. It’s a concern because AAFCO allows a very inflammatory ratio of 30:1. Diets rich in omega-6 fats can cause chronic inflammation.

Let’s look at each line in a little more detail.

Lotus Canned Dog Food

Score: 6.4/10

Ingredient List For Stew Turkey Recipe: Turkey, turkey broth, potato starch, carrots, blueberries, calcium carbonate, monosodium phosphate, potassium chloride, olive oil, salmon oil, sweet potatoes, whole flaxseed, salt, new zealand green mussels, dried kelp, dried pumpkin flakes, whole cranberries, agar-agar, choline chloride, betaine, zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, niacin, vitamin E supplement, thiamine mononitrate, copper proteinate, manganese proteinate, sodium selenite, calcium pantothenate, vitamin A supplement, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement, calcium iodate, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid.

Lotus Canned dog food is a moderate risk dog food by our criteria. Average protein in these recipes is 42%. But the recipes have high carbohydrates that average 23%. This is calculated on a dry matter basis. The line is highly processed. It is cooked which has several stages of heating. There are excessive vitamins and minerals. Recipes also include cheaper, inflammatory seed oil. There are high pesticide/herbicide ingredients in the top 5.  

Canned Benefits

  • Made in house
  • High protein
  • No GMOs
  • Wild-caught fish

Canned Concerns

  • High in carbohydrates 
  • Excessive added vitamins & minerals
  • Seed oil
  • Highly processed
  • High pesticide/herbicide foods in top 5 ingredients
  • Does not provide omega-6:omega-3 ratio
  • Glam ingredients

View The Entire Review on Dog Food Reviews

Lotus Just Juicy Dog Food

Score: 6/10

Ingredient List For Beef Recipe: Boneless beef, beef broth, potato starch, tomato paste, calcium carbonate, monosodium phosphate, sunflower oil, salt, chicory, salmon oil, agar agar, potassium chloride, choline chloride, betaine, zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, niacin, vitamin E supplement, thiamine mononitrate, copper proteinate, manganese proteinate, sodium selenite, calcium pantothenate, vitamin A supplement, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement, calcium iodate, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid.

Lotus Just Juicy dog food is a moderate risk dog food by our criteria. The food has low carbohydrates averaging 7%. This is calculated on a dry matter basis. Average protein is 61%. The line is highly processed. It has several stages of heating. There are added vitamins and minerals. Recipes also include cheaper, inflammatory seed oil. There are high pesticide/herbicide ingredients in the top 5.  

Just Juicy Benefits

  • Made in house
  • No GMOs
  • High protein
  • Minimal carbohydrates
  • Wild-caught fish

Just Juicy Concerns

  • Excessive added vitamins & minerals
  • Contains seed oil
  • Highly processed
  • High pesticide/herbicide foods in top 5 ingredients
  • Does not provide omega-6:omega-3 ratio

View The Entire Review on Dog Food Reviews

Lotus Regular Bites Dog Food

Score: 5.8/10

Ingredient List For Sardine Recipe: Sardine, herring, dried potatoes, dried peas, dried egg product, pea protein, pea fiber, cassava flour, catfish oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), ground flaxseed, dicalcium phosphate, brewers dried yeast, calcium carbonate, choline chloride, salmon oil, olive oil, carrots, apples, salt, calcium propionate, monosodium phosphate, garlic, dried kelp, spinach, pumpkin, blueberries, zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, vitamin E supplement, copper proteinate, manganese proteinate, niacin, vitamin A supplement, calcium pantothenate, inulin, yucca schidigera extract, dried lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, riboflavin supplement, thiamine mononitrate, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin B12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, calcium iodate, folic acid, sodium selenite, rosemary extract.

Lotus Regular Bites dog food is a moderate risk dog food by our criteria. The food has excessive carbohydrates averaging 41% as calculated. Average protein is only 24%. The line is moderately processed as it is baked. It loses 1 point for some heating. There are excessive vitamins and minerals. Recipes also include cheaper unnamed protein such as white fish, and plant protein. Ingredient safety suffers from using high pesticide/herbicide ingredients in the top 5. They also use rice which can be contaminated with arsenic.  

Regular Bites Benefits

  • No GMOs
  • Moderately processed
  • Wild-caught fish

Regular Bites Concerns

  • High in carbohydrates 
  • Excessive added vitamins & minerals
  • Contains plant protein
  • Contains unnamed animal protein
  • High pesticide/herbicide foods in top 5 ingredients
  • Contains rice
  • Does not provide omega-6:omega-3 ratio

View The Entire Review on Dog Food Reviews

LOTUS DOG FOOD RECALLS

To date, Lotus has not had any recalls or voluntary withdrawals.

Evaluation Criteria

These dog foods were evaluated and scored based on two criteria:

Are the Ingredients High Quality?

Here are some common low quality ingredients or markers we look for:

  • Is there excessive carbohydrate content, which can cause gut imbalances?
  • Does the food contain unnamed proteins, which are low quality?
  • Does the food use cellulose (wood pulp) as a source of fiber instead of real food?
  • Are there excessive vitamins and minerals added in place of real food nutrition?
  • Are there excessive added amino acids or plant proteins instead of expensive meat protein?
  • Does the food contain inflammatory processed seed oils?

How Safe Are the Ingredients?

Many ingredients come from unhealthy, inflammatory sources or are full of pesticides so we look for:

  • How processed is the food?
  • Does the food contain known genetically modified foods?
  • Does the food contain ingredients known to be high in pesticides?
  • Does the food contain natural flavor, which are often MSG or animal digest?
  • Does the food contain rice, which is high in arsenic?

We evaluate each food by these criteria. We assign a score using the average of ingredient quality and safety. This is NOT a paid list and there are no affiliate links. Dogs Naturally partnered with DogFoodReviews.com to develop unbiased, objective criteria for dog owners. This will help them choose the best dog food on the market. You can view the full Evaluation Criteria at DogFoodReviews.com.

5 minutes a day. Healthier Dog.

Get important health plans from vets & experts. It’s natural and it’s free.

START MAKING YOUR OWN DOG FOOD TODAY

Get instant access to easy-to-make and affordable recipes. Plus get new recipes delivered right to your inbox.

Recipe Cards for Making Raw Dog Food

Related Posts