Victor Dog Food vs. Diamond: Which Brand Should You Feed Your Dog?

By: Andrew
Time to read: 15 min.

This post contains affiliate links.

When you choose your dog food, there are many things to bear in mind, such as the brand history, product safety, and nutritional value. Two brands that are foremost in mind when one thinks of dog food is the Victor dog food and the Diamond dog food brand. If pitted against each other, comparing the factors mentioned will help decide which dog food is better.

You should feed your dog the Victor brand since they are consistently high-quality. It has regularly met the AAFCO requirements, had no product recalls and offers various recipes that are high in protein, and has multiple recipe options.

This article will discuss a detailed comparison of the Victor and Diamond brands, which will deal with the key factors that help determine the brands’ quality and reliability. It is understandable that you care for your dog and would like to give your dog the best, and this article will act as a guide to help you decide which one of the two brands is better for your dog.

Brand Origin

Victor

The brand Victor is owned by Mid America Pet Food, an American company based out of Mt. Pleasant, Texas. The manufacturing also takes place in the same town, and all of Victor’s food products are made in the USA. The brand prides itself on the consistent production of high-quality dog food.
Each ingredient in their dog food targets a specific purpose that aids in the dog’s growth and well-being across the many stages of their life. However, it has been seen that Victor may not use too many vegetables and fruits in their recipes.
Rather it provides supplements with vitamins and minerals instead. Victor uses a lot of supplements in the dog food products it manufactures. Though this technically includes vitamins and minerals, it is not the same as whole food.
On many occasions, Victor has been applauded for rigidly adhering to the dog food nutrients profiles published by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO).

Diamond

Diamond dog food is an American family-owned company. Diamond not only produces food under their brand name but also produces food for other dog food brands. This makes Diamond a trusted brand in the dog food industry. Diamond has various dog food-producing factories located in California, Missouri, and South Carolina.
Compared to Victor, Diamond dog food tends to have more whole vegetables and fruits. Their dog food is made with relatively more whole food, which is considered to be healthier for the dog and will check manyboxes in most dog owner’s books.
The brand sources its ingredients worldwide and has a host of trusted suppliers to ensure safety, quality, and consistency. Because it has connections and suppliers worldwide, one would be correct in assuming that they tend to get the best supplies for your dog food.
Their food safety system adheres to stringent and regular protocols and testing by auditors. Every aspect of the manufacturing process is also critically monitored to meet the standards established by the AAFCO.

Ingredients

It has been found that Victor and Diamond use some controversial ingredients in most of their products. These controversial ingredients include brewers rice, tomato pomace, and powdered cellulose. While these ingredients do not outrightly fall under the category of poisonous food, if given over a long time, it may lead to health problems in your furry friends.

However, there are some controversial ingredients used solely by Victor, including liver and vegetable oil. Diamond, on the other hand, uses a host of other controversial ingredients such as meat meal, canola oil, beef by-products, ground corn, ground whole grain corn, poultry by-product meal, corn gluten meal, and canola oil.

Neither of these ingredients are good for your dog. Sometimes these ingredients are used as fillers or as cheap substitutes to make do for the lack of real and whole-food ingredients. As a purchaser of these products, you will need to be extra mindful and check whether the ingredients will be suitable for your pooch. Remember, your pooch cannot look up the harmful implications of certain ingredients on their own. Only you can do it for them.

Most of these ingredients mentioned above are classified as harmful as they lead to your dog’s adverse health effects. These ingredients use high quantities of preservatives that are not at all beneficial for your dog. In the next segment, we will be looking at some of these controversial ingredients in more detail.

Controversial Ingredients

Both brands have been known to include a few controversial ingredients. While the Diamond dog food includes tomato pomace, ground corn, and chicken meal, Victor is known to have liver, blood meal, and tomato pomace. Here is a brief review of each of these ingredients and why they fall into the controversial category:

Liver – If the list of ingredients does not specify which liver is being used to make that particular dog food, then as a buyer, one would be apprehensive as no one wants to feed their dog with dog food containing dog liver or cat liver. Generally mentioning “liver” will not truly clarify matters. It needs to be specific. If the animal source from where the liver is taken is specified, it will help alleviate concerns.
Blood meal – Many Victor dog food contains blood meal. If this is sourced from a quality supplier, it can be trusted. Blood meal can even be safe and nutritious for your dog if sourced from the right channel as it helps add protein and amino acids to the food.
Tomato pomace – It is a byproduct of tomato manufacturing. While many dog food companies claim that tomato pomace is used in dog food production to increase the fiber content, others believe that it is only used to bulk up lower grade foods. Tomato pomace is widely used across the dog food industry and not just by Victor and Diamond.
Ground corn – Ground corn is not easily digested by dogs making it a very controversial ingredient to be included in dog food. Many dogs also suffer from sensitive stomachs, and having something that they cannot digest so easily will only aggravate their suffering. Thus, the inclusion of ground corn as an ingredient in dog food has long been debated.
Chicken meal – Chicken meal is a ground form of slaughterhouse waste. When poultry is packaged for sale, some parts do not get processed. These are called slaughterhouse waste. Many dog food manufacturers, including Diamond, collect these waste products and grind them to make chicken meal, which they use in dog food. Chicken meal also includes the bones and blood of the slaughtered animal.

Primary Ingredients

The dog food’s primary ingredients determine what is appropriate for which dog and stage of life. Victor uses four key ingredients in all its recipes. This is along with a variety of meat flavors and vegetables.

The Victor brand is known for using meat meal in the dog foods that it manufactures. This is believed to add a higher amount of protein to the food. Along with it, a large amount of fat is also added in the form of chicken fat or canola oil.

Victor makes two basic kinds of recipes, grain-free recipes, and regular recipes. While regular recipes include whole-grain carbohydrates, more complex carbs are used in the grain-free recipes and so potatoes and legumes are often used in the latter version of the recipes. The key ingredients in every bag of dry dog food include:

Selenium yeast – This is helpful to your dog in building and retaining a strong immune system. However, this particular yeast is also known to aggravate any pre-existing conditions of allergies and food sensitivities that the dog may already have. It is strongly advised to consult with your dog’s vet in case of any such pre-existing condition before giving your dog food that has this ingredient.
Prebiotics – Prebiotics are universally known to help with digestion. Adding these ingredients to the dog food will help promote your dog’s overall well-being and promote good digestion in them.
Probiotics – Probiotics also act as prebiotics and include a host of great digestive bacteria that promotes healthy digestion.

Diamond dog food ingredients rely heavily on the three basic food categories. Anything they include as part of their recipe is added, keeping in mind the overall contribution these ingredients will have on the three aspects of fat, fiber, and proteins.

Protein – Whether through meat or grains, Diamond uses protein-rich ingredients in manufacturing the dog food. Diamond uses both meat meal and whole meat to ramp up the protein content in the dog food.
Fats – Diamond uses salmon oil extensively throughout all the dog food that it manufactures. Salmon oil adds a lot of fat, and as it is also rich in omega fatty acids, it promotes a healthy and shiny coat for your dog along with many other health benefits. A couple of other common ingredients used in Diamond products are chicken fat, sunflower oil, and flaxseed.
Carbohydrates – Diamond uses many fruits and vegetables in its recipes and prefers to use whole foods as much as possible. This ensures that there is a slow and sustained release of energy for your dog. There are, however, certain exceptions where this is not strictly adhered to. This is in instances of limited ingredient diets where the food products are created to have reduced exposure to any potential allergens.

Nutritional Analysis

The AAFCO requires all food labels for pet food to carry an analysis of the various nutrient contents and proportions in every unit of pet food sold. Chief among them is the protein, fat, and fiber content.

AAFCO requires pet food manufacturers to provide information on the labels that has details of the minimum percentage of crude protein and crude fat and the maximum percentage of crude fiber and moisture. According to AAFCO, “the analysis must provide guaranteed minimum percentages of crude protein and crude fat and maximum percentages of crude fiber and moisture.”

Protein

Protein is considered to be vital for your dog’s growth and general well-being. It is one of the essential components in your dog’s diet. The lack of proteins in their diet may cause dogs to develop serious health problems.

It has been seen that the dry Diamond dog food recipes contain 4.29% less protein than Victor’s dry recipes. For wet dog food, both Diamond and Victor provide roughly the same amount of protein. However, the 4.29% difference in dry food has a substantial difference in the protein content between the two brands and may mean a world of difference for your dog.

Fat

Fats play a pivotal role in the growth and development of your furry friends. It aids in the proper development and function of the body. Some of the benefits include the production of prostaglandins that helps in the reduction of inflammation.

Prostaglandins also help with other critical functions. Fats further help with the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins in the body, improve your dog food’s taste, and make your canine buddy’s skin and coat healthier and more glowing.

It has been seen that both brands provide around the same amount of crude fat in their dog food, with Victor providing slightly more, roughly 3.64%, crude fat than Diamond. Given the benefits of having crude fat in dog food, this 3.64% will add up and, in the long run, prove more beneficial for your dog.

Fiber

The third and equally important category that the AAFCO recommends is that of crude fiber analysis. While both Victor and Diamond guarantee a similar amount of crude fiber, it has been found upon analysis that Victor typically provides around 2.27% more fiber in the category of wet dog foods.

Fiber content is essential in dog food as it aids with the absorption of key nutrients in the body. So, having a slightly higher fiber content, once again, gives the Victor dog food brand an edge over the other.

Product Recall

Another yardstick by which a brand history can be compared and measured is the number of product recalls it has had in the past. Many product recalls indicate that the brand has consistently fallen short in some key requirement or another. In contrast, lesser product recalls indicate that the brand has a history of meeting standards and has been continually providing good quality food.

The reason behind a product recall is also stated next to the date and batch details of the recall. This indicates why the products were recalled in that instance. It has been seen over a period that products with the same reason cited for the product recall had to introduce massive changes to their production line to get rid of the discrepancy.

Brand value also tends to grow for those particular brands which have had few to none product recalls in the past. While Victor has never been recalled to date, Diamond has been recalled in the spring of 2013 as it was found that the batch contained lower than optimum levels of Vitamin B1.

Cost

When broken down to per pound cost, the one thing that directly impacts the products’ pricing is the varying amount of moisture present in its food products. You will see a marked difference in the food prices of wet dog food and dry dog food.

Similarly, the prices vary between dry and freeze-dried goods as well. The average cost per kcal needs to be taken into consideration to eliminate any influence that moisture may have on the pricing.

To calculate the average cost, simply look at the cost per 100 gms (0.03 oz), and you will get an idea of the cost of each brand. The table below tries to break down the average food cost for both the brands per pound and per calorie.

Dry Dog Food	Victor	Diamond
Per Pound	$1.59	$1.35
Per Calorie	$0.0010	$0.0008
Wet Dog Food	Victor	Diamond
Per Pound	$3.05	$2.22
Per Calorie	$0.0062	$0.0039

Table: Paw Diet: Victor vs. Diamond Pet Food Brand Comparison

If you are looking at calculating the long-term cost of buying dog food, the analyzer tool on Paw Diet’s website will help you figure out the costs per year. You will simply need to input your pet’s weight in the tool, and it will churn out the costs for both the brands. You can also calculate the cost-per-day using this tool, but that may not be the most practical way to calculate costs.

A quick use of the cost analysis tool using multiple variables shows that Victor is a little more expensive than Diamond both on a cost per day basis and the cost per year basis. To a large extent, the difference in costs can be mitigated by changing your shopping habits.

Since the price difference between the two brands is relatively lower, it can be safe to say that buying in bulk will help reduce the price gap between the two brands.

Dog Food Categories

Victor offers three main categories of dog food, namely Classic, Select, and Purpose. It also includes another line of dog food that is a blend of everything from stews to pâté. Each of these varieties is for a specific purpose and is appropriate for specific stages of a dog’s life.

Classic – This Victor dog food line is a source of rich protein sources and grain to maintain a balanced diet. There are four separate recipes within this food line primarily focused on highly active dogs, moderately active, and one for all stages. All of these are nutrient-dense and a source for providing sustained energy for all dogs and puppies.
Select – This line is created, keeping in mind the suitability with all life stages and offers specific proteins for your canine friend. It has various recipes that give a lot of options to large and small dogs and is tailored to the needs of dogs with allergies to specific proteins. Of the seven recipes in this line, three of them are grain-free recipes.
Purpose – This line is created, keeping in mind dogs who need specialized energy for joint health. It is also suitable for dogs on a low carb diet or dogs on weight management. There are six varieties under this line, with most of them providing high quality protein levels and half of them being grain-free.
Canned food – This line is also great for adults as well as puppies. It is made of added vitamins and minerals and does not use artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives. It comes in five varieties with three of them in a stew, and two in pâté flavors. The stew-flavored ones are grain-free while the latter is made of rice.

The Diamond dog food brand contains six different recipes: puppy, high energy, maintenance, performance, and premium adult under each of its three lines, Natural, Care, and Pro89. The brand also adds antioxidants, probiotics, omega fatty acids, and other essential vitamins and minerals to provide optimum nutrition for your dog.

Diamond Naturals – This line is known for holistic nutrition and offers both dry and canned food options. It has much more variety on offer than Victor with 13 dry food recipes and 3 canned food recipes. This food line is good for various dog breeds in different stages of their lives and can be given to small and large breeds, including puppies and seniors.
Diamond Care – This line is a kind of specialty food developed by experts that focus on unique dog health issues. It is specifically made for dogs with renal diseases and those dogs that suffer from sensitive skin and gut.
Diamond Pro89 – This line is specifically developed for performance dogs as it is densely packed with protein and amino acids to provide sustained energy. The name Pro89 is to indicate that 89% of the protein is derived from animal sources. Nonetheless, it also contains ancient grains such as sorghum, quinoa, chia, and millet.

Recipes

Diamond trumps over Victor in the number of dog food recipes available. While Diamond has 17 dry dog food recipes, Victor has 17 to show for it. Similarly, for dog treats, Diamond has various 6 dog treats while Victor has none to show for it. Victor, however, comes across as a winner in the wet dog food category with 5 wet dog food recipes compared to a measly 3 that Diamond has to offer.

The Victor Grain-Free Cuts in Gravy with Beef and Vegetables Dog Food is a wet dog food produced by the Victor brand. The package contains twelve 13 oz (368.5 gm) cans that contain the wet food in stew-like consistency. It comes with added vitamins and minerals and does not contain artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives.

Amongst the varieties of dog treats that Victor offers, the Victor Super Premium Pet Food Dog Treat comes highly recommended. The dog treat is available in three flavors, namely chicken, lamb meal, and turkey meal.

On the other hand, the Diamond Naturals Dog Food Canned-Grain Free Variety Bundle 11 Items comes in three different chicken, beef, and lamb flavors. The package comes in a bundle of 11 cans. The food is grain-free and contains natural superfood antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, and fruits and vegetables.

Product Comparison

Here’s a quick product comparison of the two most commonly sold dog foods by the two brands shows how certain things work for the brand and how certain other things about each of these two brands may benefit by implementing some improvements.

Victor Classic Hi-Pro Plus Dry Dog Food

The Victor Classic Hi-Pro Plus recipe boasts of 30% protein, which is great for growing puppies, high-energy dogs, and pregnant, and nursing dogs also benefit from this food.
It is not ideal for dogs with allergies and food sensitivities.
This food is also not the ideal option for dogs with low energy levels.
Lastly, the dog food contains the controversial ingredient, blood meal.

Diamond Naturals Adult Dog Food

It is a protein-rich food that also contains superfoods.
It provides digestive support and is also known to reduce the chances of meat sensitivity.
It is costlier when compared to Victor dog food.
This is not ideal for puppies or pregnant dogs.

You can watch these two videos to learn more about each of the two dog food brands:

Conclusion

Sometimes, it isn’t easy to find a quality dog food that suits your dog’s needs. Hopefully, this article has shed some light on the key criteria based on making your decision.

While Victor dog food is better when compared in a general matrix of factors, Diamond is also worth considering because it offers more specialized food for your dog if they have allergies or other diseases. Both Victor and Diamond are premium dog food choices. It ultimately boils down to what your dog’s special needs and preferences are.

Sources

Mrdogfood.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. We also participate in other affiliate programs which compensate us for referring traffic.