GREAT LIFE DOG FOOD
Great Life brand dog food is manufactured by Doctor’s Finest Inc. Doctor’s Finest ships all of their products out of Southern California, and advertises all of their products as being made in the USA. Doctor’s Finest was first founded in 1996. The spokesperson for Doctor’s Finest is Dr. Elliott Harvey, who was featured on a show on Animal Planet. Dr. Harvey has also won the award for “Best Products Award” from Animal Wellness Magazine. None of Great Life’s dog food formulas have ever been involved in any pet food recalls.
GREAT LIFE DOG FOOD REVIEW
Great Life’s dog food formulas contain a unique freeze dried raw food nutrition complex, which is saturated throughout the dry kibble. All of Great Life’s formulas use meat that is free of artificial hormones and antibiotics. They also market their formulas as being made with only premium human-grade ingredients. In addition to this, Great Life also states that their formulas are low-glycemic, and retain “full active nutrition” after being baked.
GREAT LIFE DOG FOOD FORMULAS
- Great Life Grain Free Wild Salmon is formulated to be suitable for dogs of all life stages. The Guaranteed Analysis of this formula contains 30% protein and 14% fat.
- Great Life Grain Free Chicken is formulated to be suitable for dogs of all life stages. The Guaranteed Analysis of this formula contains 29% protein and 13% fat.
- Great Life Grain Free Buffalo is formulated to be suitable for dogs of all life stages. The Guaranteed Analysis of this formula contains 29% protein and 13% fat.
- Great Life Chicken dog food is formulated to be suitable for dogs of all life stages. The Guaranteed Analysis of this formula contains 24% protein and 14% fat.
- Great Life Buffalo dog food is formulated to be suitable for dogs of all life stages. The Guaranteed Analysis of this formula contains 22% protein and 9% fat.
- Great Life Wild Salmon dog food is formulated to be suitable for dogs of all life stages. The Guaranteed Analysis of this formula contains 22% protein and 12% fat.
- Great Life New Zealand Lamb is formulated to be suitable for dogs of all life stages. The Guaranteed Analysis of this formula contains 22% protein and 11% fat.
GREAT LIFE CONSUMER RATINGS
Customer reviews of Great Life brand dog food are mostly positive. The ingredients of Great Life are stated by many dog owners as being high quality and nutritious. Many dog owners reported that their dogs found the food appetizing, and didn’t need to be coaxed to eat it. The fact that most of the meats used in Great Life dog food are “free range” was another positive factor cited by some customers. For dogs with food-based allergies, Great Life dog food was used with positive results. A small percentage of dog owners reported that they experienced quality control issues, such as plastic in a bag of kibble. However, this seemed to be extremely rare, being the case with only one of the reviews.
25 Responses to “GREAT LIFE DOG FOOD”
I feed Great Life also. Protein and fat content is my main concern. I have several seniors with liver problems.
I use the companies brochures to do my homework ‘before’ going to the stores.
Great Life Brochure ingredient list does NOT match what is on the actual bag of dog food. We brought it to their attention and it still is wrong.
That all said I picked up my shipment yesterday and they switched the packaging from foil to plastic.
First concern is this plastic BPA free?
The kibble size is different
The color is different
The smell is different
AND
All the dogs in my show kennel have very odorous dark stools after 2 days feeding from new bag.
In my experience ALL of the above changes always points to them switching manufacturing companies and the new plant makes adjustments in ingredients to fit their overall processing. I will spontaneously combust if they have switched their dog food processing to the Diamond plant!!!!
I just went thru this same thing with Sold Gold when they gave their dog food to Diamond I had an entire kennel sick, clients dogs sick and when I called Solid Gold they said they did not change anything YET right on their website is showed the ingredient changes which was taken down after my phone call.
And we ALL KNOW what is happening at the Diamond plant right now, even sickening humans who touch the dog food. Yet……no dog has become sick from eating it?????
I have been feeding my frenchie great life since we got her which has been almost 2 years now. Recently we just bought another bag of the grain free potato free buffalo and she won’t eat it. We have a few kibbles from the bag before and she’ll eat it but for some reason she won’t eat the new one. I noticed that the new food is darker and bigger than the previous one. I called the store where we bought it from and they won’t take the bag back because we opened it but what am I supposed to do with it. So I was wondering if anyone had their phone number so I can asked if they changed the food. Thank you so much.
Hi
I am a long time buyer of Great Life dog food. I just recently found out that Great Life has been lying on their labels. Great Life lists a meat as the first ingredient on all of their dry foods eg:
Buffalo
Salmon
Lamb etc.
In reality they use dehydrated meats in all or their foods eg:
Dehydrated Buffalo
Dehydrated Salmon
Dehydrated Lamb etc.
This was exposed on another review site, Dog Food Advisor under the Great Life Grain Free (Dry) review.
Great Life is trying to cover this up and every time I ask about it on their Facebook page they delete my question.
For me this is about trust. I had trusted Great Life to list the ingredients in their foods accurately on their labels. For whatever reason they have been lying on their labels for at least as long as Pied Piper Pet & Wildlife has been making their foods.
Pied Piper has no refrigeration at their dry food plant and only uses dried meats in ALL of their foods. Pied Piper cannot produce a dry food with fresh or frozen meats.
Thank you,
Jack Jones
we at muddy paws care about what we sell our customers,so when great life came to our area we decided to bring it in to our store,we dont carry many lines but thought it was a good fit,well its been two years and i couldnt be happier with the product,99.9999% of our customers dogs and cats are thriving on this food,the owners are saving money because of the cost. please keep in mind all you naysayers,not all foods work for all pets,so dont bad mouth it just move on.ps ,make sure to rotate their diet for a healthier immune system
I had been feeding Great Life for the last 2 years. I had switched from EVO as I had considered Great Life to be a higher quality food and Natura Foods (which makes Innova) was purchased by Proctor & Gamble. My dogs all loved the Great Life and I had them on a rotation of the Buffalo, Chicken and Wild Salmon. I used to tell my friends all about how great it was and where they could buy it in our area. Note: used to.
The last 6-7 months I have noticed a change in what I was finding when I would open a new bag. And one of my dogs had developed very loose stool off and on within the past 2 months (She is healthy otherwise. The vet has examined her and believes it’s her food. I had been supplementing with Nupro, so stopped to see if that was causing the problem. Nope.). The first couple times, I assumed the manufacturer was changing the kibble size. White chunks of something (bone maybe?) were baked into the kibble. Then every other bag, the kibble size and color would change (smaller and darker than what had been the norm). This was all from the same protein variety (Salmon). This last bag I opened had three different types of kibble. The normal, then a smaller, darker flat circle and an “X” shape (think cheap cat food). It totally freaked me out and went back to the natural pet food store I purchased it at. They had no idea what was in the bag. They even opened one of the cat food bags (since they are made at the same plant) to see if the manufacturer had mixed it up. NOPE.
I’m afraid the quality control for this manufacturer is severely lacking. And, as one of my dogs has an auto-immune disease, I will not take risks with what I am feeding them. I had trusted this company, but after the crazy mixture I found in this last bag, I will not be buying this anymore. It’s not worth it. And I’m extremely disappointed.
I exchanged my bag for Orijen 6 Fish. It smelled like a fish house when I opened the vacuum sealed bag. My dogs downed their dinner faster than they had in a long time. Hopefully, they will do well on this food. Good luck to you all.
But I found out orojen dog food is made in Canada. And has been though radiation.before it enter the us.
so think about that…..radiation kills bad and good stuff
hello,
i own an organic pet shop and i had noticed that people usually feed great life for about 4 months and then they stop…the reason being is unknown (we have only been open for a year) i was wondering if they change the formula..also some of the salmon bags had changed the front sticker…the large sticker would say salmon and the small sticker under it grain free and potato free WILD salmon. I am thinking we will be discontinuing this food, I would rather see my customers come back all the time !!!
I do know that over a year it went from having organic ingredients in the list to just plain regular ones!
I am surprised and a bit concerned after reading some of the reviews of this product. I moved to great life dog food about a month ago. I have to pitt mixes and was feeding them each about 2 cups of dry Fromms and 1/2 can of Evangers canned meats a day and was on this diet for about a year. They love the wet food but most of the nutrients are in the dry food, but tthey just stopped eating the dry Fromms. So this is why I switched to a new brand. They must love the taste of Great Life because they clean their bowls every day.
Mind you I am not a vet, but there are two ways I go by on the health of my dogs. First is my dogs active with a good attitude and the quality of their poop. I am guessing because they are actually eating they seem to have a little more zest to life in their step.
Their bowl movement did change signifigantly. With Fromms they may have had a good bowl movement maybe twice a day but sometimes their stool was just a little too loose. I think this dog food might be easier for them to digest, because they have at least 3 BM a day and it has always been firm.
Someone one told (and I don’t know if this is true or not) but another way of judging the stool is how quickly it starts to calcify. While I always pick up the poop right away, occasionally I’ll leave a sample to test, and with this dog food it is almost all white in 2 days. I think this is a good thing. Can anyone confirm?
I have been using it for a long time and I noticed this thick greasy stuff in all the cans and half goes down the drain
I was told by them that Evangers manufacturers and cans it and I called them and they wouldnt even talk to me
I think I am done with this but I dont know what to get now
We’ve tried GL buffalo and chicken. Both are horrendous for the coat of a German Shepherd. The buffalo caused dry flaky skin and massive shedding. The chicken caused massive shedding and a stink to their coats. The food “sounds” good, but the proof comes from the dogs. Great Life products are NOT for German Shepherds. We have seven unrelated GSDs.
Dr. Harvey answers the phone, I stopped using this food a couple of years ago because he seemed VERY rude and arrogant when I was asking him a few questions, I very much agree with the former negative assessments of his attitude, plenty of really good foods out there we all just have to do our research and ultimately let our dogs be the judges.
We found using Acana Fish works best for our food allergy sensitive Terrier Mix, much better than Orijen Fish even(there is some ingredient in Orijen that she is allergic to and gets dandruff really bad, but doesnt scratch). All other brands of kibble has caused some bad reaction, and over the last 3 years we have tried most everything, even Rabbit, Kangaroo, Pheasant, you name it, we tried it…But anyway, this food has been very comparable to Acana, my dog loves the taste and seems to do well on it. Its the same price, but my dog seems to have slightly tired of Acana, used to down the bowl when it hit the floor, lately walks away and comes back a few minutes later to eat it. The Great Life Grain Free Fish must taste good as she is back to downing the bowl asap. Her coat looks really good, people stop me and ask what I do to keep her coat so good looking, most ask if I just gave her a bath. And with these foods my dog has no “dog smell”. She has been allergy tested and Fish is about the only thing she isnt allergic to. Gotta watch, some foods are “Fish Formula”, but have either Chicken Meal, Chicken Fats, ro Chicken Flavoring, all which make my dog lose her fur and itch like mad. So far we really like this food, but time will tell, only been a few weeks. I think alot of people have very critical opinions of dog foods and they havent even tried them. If you havent actually tried the food, maybe you shouldnt leave a review. Then again, opinions are like rear-ends, we all got one, just that they are all a little different…
I noticed little tiny silvery hair or fibers embedded and stinking out of my Great Life Grain Free Chicken kibbles as well. I returned the unopened bag to my pet store and now we are transitioning to Orijen Regional Red.
I called Great Life after noticing large amounts of animal(buffalo?) hair in their food. I returned the food. I have tiny chihuahuas and they can’t digest this. Each kibble, if you break it apart and look closely, has hairs in it. You can even see them protruding from the kibble without breaking it. When I called them the guy who took my call was rude and brusque, telling me to just return the food. No explanation about the large anmount of hir in it. Clearly they use the hide to make the food, with thee hair still on it. Not for my tiny babies and not worth the price for sure. I would not give this to my dogs even it it was free. The place I bought it from said the guy is rude to them as well.
I have tried everything with my super sensitive lab for five years…this is the first food that she has shown incredible improvement. I own two pet supply stores that are all natural…no Iams, Hills, etc…just the best! I do my research and Great Life has NO shady dealings. Our holistic vet has tested the food and recommends its to most of her clients (she does not sell food, which keeps her recommendations pure). Since we have had it in our stores for about 6 months, it sells like crazy…all my customers say it feeds great and has made incredible positive results with sensitive dogs!
Pied Piper Pet & Wildlife manufactures this food (according to a representative from Great Life that I spoke to on the phone yesterday). The plant in west Texas (in Hamlin, TX) does all the processing. A number of other foods are made at this plant, most of which I’ve had to try with my dog and not had any issue (other than they were too complex for him to digest, which goes for most foods).
Edith-
can you be more specific? How do you know the formula has changed? How does the “doggie store” know?
I have been feeding GL- Buffalo for 7yrs to my Belgian Tervuren and have noticed no difference.
thanks-
Just found out today why my German Shephard is shedding like crazy; the Great Life Buffalo Grain and Potato free is not what its suppose to be. We were informed by the Doggie Store that the formula changed and it has not got the protein content its suppose to have; therefore causing chronic shedding due to lack of protein. My dog gets raw turkey necks daily and would have to eat 12 to get the correct amount. I am hopping mad! and I am gonna find out who makes this food; they need to be sued for false advertising…BEWARE OF THIS FOOD FOLKS!
Becky, you said Great Life is a middle of the road food. What food do you consider to be much better? Just know that I’m not asking this to challenge your claim, I really do want to know.
Rude????? Just stating fact. I have read the package and have read the website, but I guess you haven’t. Great Life is a middle of the road food that is overpriced. I do care what my “furables” eat and will make sure that I have all the information! You’re right about Phillips now distributing the product, but most of their sales people don’t even know where it is actually manufactured. I am not suggesting that anything is shady, I am only asking where it is manufactured. Oh, Edie, you do your research and I’ll do mine!
There is only one pet food manufacturer that has the capability of making a dog food with a raw freeze dried bio coating and that is Pied Piper. I called the manufacturer and they will be announcing the official name of the manufacturer soon but cant until all contracts are signed — they did say it was outside of Abilene, TX – -and Pied Piper is in Hamlin, TX. It is not manufactured in Southern California –that is the main office. I know Phillips Feed & Pet Supply just picked it up — they wouldn’t pick up a line with a shady background.
Becky, Doctor’s Finest, Inc. manufactures Great Life products. Please read above where it says the products are made in the USA and shipped out of southern Cali.
I’m only a customer who feeds my furbabies Great Life, but I found your comment rude. Perhaps if you had read more carefully, or did more research, you easily could have gotten your questions answered.
That is not true — that is the corporate office – the owner will not reveal where it is made – he says either Abilene, TX or Midland, TX – considering he has a raw bio freeze coating then most likely it is Pied Piper because they manufacutre natures variety which also has a raw bio freeze coating – - what I don’t understand is how he can get that kind of protein levels without using a meat meal – -he only uses meat which once cooked loses a lot of its moisture and falls down on the ingredient list. Somethign just doesn’t add up.
Where do you get the lamb kibble? It was recommended to me, but I can’t find the lamb
Who manufacturers this food? Does anyone really know. Something doesn’t add up here. If I were making a “quality” product I wouldn’t hide where it is made. What’s the deal?????