Brothers Complete Dog Food Reviews, Recalls & Coupons for 2024

Meet Brothers Complete Dog Food

Brothers is a dog food company that touches a lot of areas where other pet foods lack. Many pet food companies seem to focus on one thing, and as a result, they leave us wanting more in many other health areas.

For example, some foods claim to be grain-free, but they contain a lot of starchy filler. Some might claim to have high protein, but they lack antioxidants.

Brothers Complete pulls through as the only food that uses completely natural ingredients, 90% animal protein, and no GMO, grain, hormones, antibiotics, ethoxyquin, BHA or BHT, potato, sweet potato, sugar, or artificial anything.

In this article, Brothers Complete Dog Food Reviews, we’re going to see if they live up to their reputation; let’s get started.

Brand Quick Look

• Parent Company: Brothers
• Founded in: 2006
• Made in: Kansas and Nebraska, USA
• Made by: CJ Foods
• Available at: Chewy, Amazon, and Brothers Dog Food
• Types of Food: Dry
• Real Meat in First 5 Ingredients? : Yes
• Recalled in Past? : No

 

The Brothers Difference

In 2006 the owners of Brothers owned a dog food store in Florida. The family carried the best dog foods available, and they prided themselves in being well educated and knowledgeable about their inventory. Despite their efforts, they noticed the same dogs coming in with the same problems over and over.

As dog food store owners, many pet parents would share their concerns with them in the hopes that they would have a suggestion, but everything always fell flat on its face. The veterinarian suggestions never worked either.

The family concluded that even though they thought they were selling the best food on the market, it was that very food that was making dogs sick.

They did a little research about the AAFCO who is responsible for performing feeding trials on all of the pet foods that enter into the market. They discovered that in fine print the AAFCO says that their feeding trials are not designed to examine nutritional relationships to long-term health or disease prevention but to ensure food is not harmful to animals.

The AAFCO performs a six-month trial using eight different dog foods, and as long as six of them remain, your dog is still alive, and they haven’t lost more than 15% of their weight, the food passes.

Brothers perform their feeding trials where they examine over 1000 ingredients throughout three years to specifically explore the nutritional relationship to long term health and disease prevention.

Long story short, Brothers tests their food alongside Ph.D. Animal Nutritionists to find the best ingredients that will make the healthiest kibble possible.

Brothers Complete Dog Food Reviews

In this section, we’re taking a more in-depth look into Brothers pet food to find out if they live up to all the hype. On their website, they talk highly about the amount of research that goes into their ingredients so let’s see if they’re as good as they say.

We’ve randomly chosen two different lines of dog food to review.

1. Brothers Complete Turkey Meal & Egg Formula
2. Brothers Complete Lamb Meal & Egg Formula
3. Brothers Complete Goat Meal & Egg Formula
4. Brothers Complete Chicken Meal & Egg Formula
5. Brothers Complete Venison Meal & Egg Formula
6. Brothers Complete Freeze-Dried Chicken Dog Treats

1. Turkey Meal and Egg

First 5 Ingredients: Turkey Meal, Whole Eggs Dried, Pea Starch, Cassava, Peas

• Overall: 4 out of 5
• Flavor: 4.5 out of 5
• Ingredients: 4 out of 5
• Packaging: 4 out of 5
• Price: 3 out of 5

The first thing we want to look at is their reputation online. The amount of positive reviews they have tells a new customer whether people are recommending the product and they receive feedback on the pros and cons of each food.

This specific food has 35 reviews with 34 of them being positive. That’s incredible, and it makes a new customer feel better about making the switch to Brothers.

Some of the positive reviews state that it’s great for picky eaters, their dogs love the taste, and they think it helps dogs with allergies.

This list of five ingredients is somewhat standard in the healthy dog food community. Many of the dog foods you’ll find contain a lot of these same ingredients, but we notice as you get further down the list you’ll find things like chicken liver, pumpkin, and whole cell algae. We like to see these types of ingredients on the top half of the list.

2. Lamb Meal and Egg

First 5 Ingredients: Lamb Meal, Dried Whole Eggs, Turkey Meal, Cassava, Pea Flour

• Overall: 4 out of 5
• Flavor: 4.5 out of 5
• Ingredients: 4 out of 5
• Packaging: 4 out of 5
• Price: 3 out of 5

Next, we're looking at the lamb recipe that has 33 reviews on Chewy with 91% recommendation and 4.7 stars; not quite as high as the previous product but still excellent. Some of the positive reviews state that:

• Their dog loves the lamb and its helped with his sensitive skin.
• The lamb helped their dog maintain a healthy weight.
• It helped with yeast issues after eliminating canned food.

You can’t ignore the fact that this food is expensive, and you expect to get a little more out of these first five ingredients for the price you’re paying. As we said previously, once you get a little further down the list you start to find a lot of the great ingredients you wish were included up at the top.

Something that stands out about Brothers food is their protein content of 30% or more which is quite high. While it might work great for some pups, not every dog can handle a high protein diet. You want to make sure you consult with your veterinarian before switching to a protein-rich, grain-free diet.

Overall, the ingredients in Brothers food does not stand out much from the crowd. The significant difference in their food is the inclusion of live probiotics to help with intestinal and digestive health.

3. Brothers Complete Goat Meal And Egg

First 5 Ingredients: Goat Meal, Whole Eggs Dried, Turkey Meal, Cassava/Tapioca, Peas

• Overall: 4  out of 5
• Flavor:  4.5 out of 5
• Ingredients:  4 out of 5
• Packaging: 4.5 out of 5
• Price:  3 out of 5

If we go by the reviews on this particular Brothers Complete recipe, then it will be a two thumbs up for the meal. The goat meal and egg formulation has a 4.6 stars out of 5 and a 100% percent recommended rating on Chewy.com. 

Many of the favorable reviews by pet owners detail how the food has helped their pets slowly recover from itchy skin and allergies. A few have also mentioned that the formulation is excellent at keeping their dogs’ weight under control and for tummy issues like loose stool, bloating, or gas.

Many customers believe that the food is high-quality, which is why some reviews come with one negative point — it’s a little pricey. But that’s to be expected from using premium ingredients.

There are two types of quality meat meals here (goat meal and turkey meal), which account for the high percentage of minimum protein present (30%). Surprisingly, there’s also chicken liver present, and it contributes much to the mineral and vitamin content of the food.

The cassava/tapioca acts as the carbohydrate source for the food, but it lacks the natural nutrients that other carb ingredients contain, so we’re not that happy with it. It is more like a filler in this food and should not have made it to the top 5 main ingredients. We’re fine with everything else.

We did like seeing guaranteed levels of probiotics and prebiotics, which are both essential to gut health and a happy tummy.

4. Brothers Complete Chicken Meal And Egg

First 5 Ingredients: Chicken Meal, Whole Eggs Dried, Turkey Meal, Pea Starch, Cassava/Tapioca

• Overall:  4 out of 5
• Flavor:   4.5 out of 5
• Ingredients:  4 out of 5
• Packaging:  4.5 out of 5
• Price: 3  out of 5

91% of reviewers out of 33 recommend this dog food to other consumers. Pets who usually suffer from itchy skin and excessive licking were able to recover by being switched to this Chicken Meal and Egg recipe. 

Many also commend the premium ingredients, which can be seen by the inclusion of two types of high-quality meat meals in the first five ingredient slots.

Pets on this diet are claimed to show definite improvement in weight management, skin conditions, and tummy health. 

Taste is also something that seems to set this apart from other recipes. Dogs like the flavor and thrive on this diet.

Okay so chicken is not for every canine, but for those who are fine with it, this recipe can help them thrive. It’s one of the best protein sources out of other meats, even better than beef. And the protein levels of this food (36%) supports that.

While the food is admittedly higher priced than other dog food brands, if it can lower the incidence of going to the vet — which translates to expensive vet bills and medications — for skin allergies and other sensitivity issues, then it’s well worth the price. 

The only thing that we have against the food is the inclusion of cassava/tapioca in the first five ingredients. That means that tapioca makes up a significant amount of volume in the food.

It would have been better to use other carbohydrate sources rather than rely on tapioca, which is basically a filler since it doesn’t contain much nutrients. 

5. Brothers Complete Venison Meal & Egg Formula 

First 5 Ingredients: Venison Meal, Whole Eggs Dried, Turkey Meal, Pea Starch, Cassava/Tapioca

• Overall:  4 out of 5
• Flavor: 4.5  out of 5
• Ingredients:  4 out of 5
• Packaging:  4.5 out of 5
• Price: 3 out of 5

Venison offers canines natural allergy care since it is considered a novel protein. Majority of reviewers agree about the recipe helping sensitive pups cope and recover from their condition, and 92% of them give it a recommended rating.

The formulation eliminates itching, prevents or resolves yeasty conditions, and lessens or removes bloating and gas. Excessive shedding is also another thing that usually goes away when allergic reactions are lessened or resolved completely when switched to this diet. 

Most also find that their pups like the taste and will chow down on the food with gusto. And since it uses low glycemic carbs, diabetic canines thrive on it. 

This is an  excellent recipe that is thoroughly meat-based, owing to the large volume of meat ingredients included. It has all the essential amino acids that your dog needs plus guaranteed levels of probiotics and prebiotics to keep his gut balanced and healthy.

It has the correct levels of nutrients, and in some cases, even better than what is usually seen in other pet foods. The list of ingredients may be a little long for a formulation designed to target sensitive dogs, but plenty of reviews seem to suggest that it works well for canines with allergy issues.

As with all other Brothers Complete recipes, this one too uses tapioca to provide the carbohydrates. An advantage of tapioca is that it is low glycemic, but it does not contain enough of other nutrients to be considered as more than a filler. Plenty of other nutritious ingredients can be used as an alternative instead.

6. Brothers Complete Freeze-Dried Chicken Dog Treats

Ingredient: 100% Chicken Breast Meat

• Overall:  4.37 out of 5
• Flavor: 4.5  out of 5
• Ingredients:  5 out of 5
• Packaging:  4.5 out of 5
• Price: 3.5 out of 5

The brand keeps it simple but nutritious by sticking to just one ingredient for its dog treat. This food is 100% made of chicken meat that has been freeze-dried to keep it from spoiling without resorting to additives or preservatives.

There’s no need to worry that the treats can contribute to unwanted weight gain since each treat only packs about 2 calories on average. The treats don’t contain any gluten or grains to trigger sensitivities. 

The food is crafted for all breeds and stages of canine life, so if you are in a multiple pet household, all of your pups can enjoy the scrumptious chicken treats.

We’re happy that this treat is suited for all dogs ( except those with chicken allergies) because there is no other ingredient that may possibly trigger sensitivities in pups. 

It is completely free from antibiotics and hormones. And the chicken part used is a premium one — breast. It is a bit pricey, but that’s to be expected of this treat.

 

What Types of Dog Food Does Brothers Complete Offer?

Brothers offers five specific food formulas that focus on providing protein and fat to your dog instead of carbohydrates and starch. The brand puts a lot of focus on gut health as well, so it make sure all of its food is high on fiber.

One thing that’s quite impressive about this dog food company is its willingness to provide information. The website has a variety of useful knowledge on how to keep your pet healthy, and that is a testament to the brand’s own meticulous research.

We’ve also learned through our research and experience that companies with fewer offerings are the ones that have better ingredients and less issue with recalls.

The fact that Brothers only has five recipes is a great thing. It allows the company to focus on taking care of its ingredients and monitoring its processes more efficiently and effectively.

Here are its five food offerings:

• Turkey Meal and Egg
• Chicken Meal and Egg
• Lamb Meal and Egg
• Goat Meal and Egg
• Venison Meal and Egg

Brothers Complete Recall History

During our research, we did not find any recalls of Brothers Complete dog food.

Customer Feedback

The only accurate way for you to tell as a consumer if a dog food lives up to expectation is to read the experiences of real customers. In this section were taking a look at some reviews from actual pet parents who tried Brothers and had something to say; Most of which are very positive.

Positive

No more licking and scratching

• This is probably the 7th or 8th food we've tried for our picky Shihpoo mix. We've tried all the best foods, and If he likes it, he was licking and scratching a lot. After just a couple of days on this food, almost no licking or scratching at all! I hope he keeps liking the taste because he's going to be eating Bothers food for a long time (unless something drastically changes). A little expensive, but great food! – Chewy Customer

Our Staffy loves it!

• So far so good! We started this food 1/2018 because we've had so many problems with allergies. Environmental. (Possibly chicken and potato) Since starting this food, her skin and paws have zero irritation. She's not licking and causing infection. We still wipe her feet after going outside and bathe with allergy shampoo. But even though the food is pricey, I'm saving a vet bill $. Thank you Brother's Complete and Chewy! – Chewy Customer

Negative

Not appealing to 2 of 3 pups.

• Sadly I tried to switch my dogs to this after two started rejecting Dr. Harveys mixed with rotating Wellness canned they had been on for a year. All are 13 and were hearty eaters. First, all 3 rejected the lamb. Now only my girl sheltie will eat it, and my girl golden eats it sporadically….but my golden boy hardly eats it. I thought it might work given it addresses sensitivities. I'm frustrated. May try going back to Blue dry. But will take the boy to the vet just in case there is something else going on not related to diet. – Chewy Customer

Scientifically Backed Research, Quality Ingredients, Hefty Price Tag

If you dive in and do your research on Brothers Complete dog food, you’ll find that its scientific research is next to none. The company takes a lot of extra steps that no one else does to ensure your pup eats only the best food possible.

Even if we, as consumers, may not understand many of the ingredients included in our dog foods, it at least helps us to know that the elements have their place and that they’re based on years of testing and trials.

Brothers Choice has outstanding reviews and a solid reputation as a top-of-the-line dog food that focuses on your dog's digestion. The brand does this by eliminating grains and starches and beefing up the protein and fat.

The only downside to all of these is that the foods come with not-so-cheap price tags. But that’s quality for you, and if that’s the value of your pup’s health, then it’s a price most pet owners are willing to pay.

If your pup is struggling to maintain a healthy weight or is scratching and licking a lot, you might want to give Brothers Complete a try.