Review Summary

Made in the USA and sold at Dollar General, Mossy Oak Nature’s Menu features two premium dry food recipes and three wet food formulas. Their dry food recipes are above average quality for cheaper food, but they’re not outstanding overall. We like their wet food formula best because it does seem to be a better quality than comparable canned food. The Salmon & Potato wet food formula provides your pet with a little bit of a different menu option than merely chicken or beef.

However, don’t let the salmon label deceive you. The recipe still contains chicken, so this wouldn’t be a good option for a dog who needs to avoid common food allergies such as chicken or beef. If you’re interested in decent quality food for an excellent price, read on to see if Mossy Oak Nature’s Menu might have a fitting plate for your pup.

At a Glance: The Best Mossy Oak Nature’s Menu Food Recipes:

Mossy Oak Nature’s Menu Dog Food Reviewed

Who Makes Nature’s Menu and Where Is It Produced?

Mossy Oak (yes, the company that makes camouflage socks and other apparel) is the manufacturer behind Nature’s Menu, and Sunshine Mills now owns the company.  According to their website, all of their food is completely made in the USA across multiple facilities.

Which Type of Dog Is Nature’s Menu Best Suited For?

All of the recipes listed here are formulated for adult dogs. While the food wouldn’t hurt puppies, it isn’t meant to fill the extra nutritional needs of dogs who are still growing. We recommend this food to dogs one year and older.

Which Type of Dog Might Do Better with a Different Brand?

We don’t recommend this food for dogs with a suspected food allergy because all of their recipes contain chicken or beef, which are the two main culprits. Although grains were once suspected to be the main cause of dog allergies, it’s now believed that common proteins may be causing the issue because of the way meat is commercially processed. Animal-grade dog food can also use 3D and 4D meats—animals found dead, diseased, dying, or destroyed—which may also be feeding the problem.

We believe that a fresh, human-grade diet is generally better for your pup and recommend a recipe like Just Food for Dogs Turkey and Whole Wheat Macaroni, especially if your dog suffers from allergies. However, if fresh food is a little out of your budget, you might want to consider a high-quality dry food like Natural Balance Limited Ingredients that relies on lamb instead of chicken or beef.

Discussion of the Primary Ingredients (Good and Bad)

Flax Seed

The Salmon & Potato Formula contains flax seed, which is an excellent source of omega 6. The dry food recipes have Omega 6 fatty acids, but not as much and they’re lacking flax seed. We also like the healthy fruits and veggies that are packed into the wet canned food. Blueberries, spinach, and cranberries are considered superfoods because they’re filled with antioxidants.

Proteins and Primary Ingredients

Don’t let the “Salmon & Potato” label mislead you into thinking this food is free from other meat proteins. Chicken is the first ingredient, and chicken livers are further down the list. While that’s not a problem for most dogs, it’s worth noting in case your dog has chicken allergies and you’re searching for an alternative protein.

Other than the primary meats, the ingredients in both dry formulas are very similar. Both contain chicken meal, ground rice, soybean meal, and whole-grain corn as four of the first five ingredients.

Vitamins

The vitamins list is also very similar. While the formulas feature some beneficial vitamins, we wish we would’ve seen common supplements such as taurine and probiotics. These supplements aren’t deemed vital by the AAFCO, but they may improve your pet’s overall health. For example, probiotics are good bacteria that fight the bad bacteria in your dog’s gut. Without these noble microbial warriors, your pet may be subjected to chronic inflammation, GI upset, and recurring infections, which can increase their risk of other health concerns such as cancer.

Grains

None of the recipes are grain-free, which is good, but we also feel like there were more wholesome choices than soybeans and corn. We would’ve liked to see more brown rice than ground rice, and some oatmeal. The Salmon & Potato Formula contains flax seed, but the dry food doesn’t.

Peas

Unfortunately, both of the dry recipes contain dried peas. This is a common substitute for grains in grain-free diets, but these formulas have been linked to heart disease in dogs. Currently, it’s unclear whether the connection comes from a lack of taurine and grains, or the presence of peas, lentils, and other grain substitutes.

Where to Buy Mossy Oak Nature’s Menu Dog Food?

One big red flag that we see with this food is that it seems to be hard to find. The website for Mossy Oak lists product descriptions but doesn’t provide buying options. An article on their website claims that the food is sold at Dollar General, but we couldn’t find it on their website, either. Mossy Oak Nature’s Menu isn’t available on Amazon or Chewy.

A Quick Look at Mossy Oak Nature’s Menu Dog Food

Recall History

We have great news! Mossy Oak Nature’s Menu Dog Food has never had a single recall to date.

Reviews of the 3 Best Mossy Oak Nature’s Menu Dog Food Recipes

1. Salmon & Potato Formula Canned Dog Food

We think this formula is high-quality for inexpensive wet dog food. Real chicken is the first ingredient, followed by nutritious fish broth and salmon. This recipe also features flax seeds, which is an excellent source of Omega 3 fatty acids. The inclusive blend of spinach, blueberries, and cranberries, pack antioxidants into your pup’s diet. We also like how this formula is fortified with brown rice, a healthy whole grain that’s a good source of fiber.

We’re not really keen on chicken being the first ingredient in a salmon formula because it’s a little misleading. While this might not bother most pups, this food isn’t a good chicken or beef alternative for pups who suffer from protein allergies.

Potatoes are listed as the fourth ingredient. This veggie gives your dog some healthy vitamins, but they also contain lots of carbs. We wish that sweet potatoes or another grain had been used in its place.

Like all of the other recipes by Nature’s Menu, Salmon & Potato has a decent vitamin mix that includes nutrients deemed essential by the AAFCO, but ultimately, it’s missing a few common ones. Taurine is an amino acid that your dog needs for healthy heart function. Interestingly enough, taurine deficiency has been linked to dilated cardiomyopathy—the same disease that the FDA linked to grain-free diets in 2018. Research still needs to be done to determine whether this correlation is due to the lack of grains, common grain substitutes such as peas, or lack of taurine in popular grain-free diets.

We also would’ve liked to see probiotic supplements because they help your dog’s gut, which leads to better health overall.

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2. Real Chicken & Vegetable Recipe

Chicken is the first ingredient followed by chicken meal. While chicken meal is a bit of a controversial ingredient, it refers to ground chicken meat and bones, and is a cheap source of protein. Real Chicken & Vegetable also includes fish meal further down the ingredients list.

We like how this isn’t a grain-free food, but we wish brown rice had been a more prominent ingredient instead of ground rice, soybean meal, and whole grain corn. We also don’t like how this recipe uses dried peas, which is a common ingredient in grain-free diets and may be linked to heart disease in dogs.

While this dry recipe doesn’t have as much as the wet formula, Real Chicken & Vegetables still contains a good source of Omega 3 fatty acids, which are particularly beneficial for your pet’s skin, coat, brain, and joints.

The vitamin blend includes essential nutrients but lacks taurine and probiotics, common supplements that may aid your dog’s overall health.

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3. Real Beef & Brown Rice Recipe

This dry food recipe uses real beef as the first ingredient and is fortified by chicken meal. Meat meals are controversial ingredients, but they’re a cheap source of protein. Like the Real Chicken & Vegetables Recipe, chicken and fish meals are used in this formula.

We wish brown rice had taken the place of ground rice since it contains more heart-healthy fiber, but it’s further down the ingredients list.

While this recipe uses plenty of grains, it also includes dried peas—a common ingredient in grain-free diets that may be linked to heart disease. It’s still unknown whether the peas have any direct involvement in this connection, so we don’t typically prefer them in our dog’s food.

Although Real Beef & Brown Rice includes all the essential nutrients for your adult dog, we wish it contained taurine and probiotic supplements since studies have shown they help your dog live their best lives by helping their circulatory and digestive systems.

Conclusion

We didn’t expect to find premium dog food at Dollar General, but we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the Salmon & Potato Formula Canned Dog Food. The dry food formulas, Real Chicken & Vegetables and Real Beef & Brown Rice, were decent quality, but didn’t impress us much. We noticed that they lacked some common supplements such as taurine and probiotics and relied on cheap protein meals for nutrition.

Additionally, we appreciated that these dinners included grains, but we wish brown rice had taken the place of ground rice, and we would’ve swapped some of the less nutritious grains such as corn for some heart-healthy oatmeal. Overall, though, we didn’t enter our review with the mindset that we were going to find the best food on the planet at the dollar store, so we were relatively pleased with the results.

See also: 10 Amazing Superfoods for Dogs: Vet-Approved Picks & Potential Benefits