Fromm Dog Food Review: How Does it Stack Up?

Fromm Family Dog Food is an “artisan pet food company” based out of Wisconsin. Their family has been involved in dogs for a long time – in the 1930s, they helped create the first distemper vaccine. The family company has been making dog food since 1949 and even pioneered the process of creating kibble that’s used today.

But how does Fromm dog food measure up? Whenever I’m checking out dog food, I try to answer the questions laid out by the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) in their handout on selecting dog food. We’ll get to those eight questions in our review of Fromm later on.

Also Read: 10 Best Affordable Dog Food Brands of 2023

Fromm Dog Food Review: Overview

Fromm boasts of only selling through neighborhood pet specialty stores. This alone is enough to warm my opinion of them – I can’t help but support a Wisconsin business (I’m a Wisconsin native) that works closely with other small businesses. You won’t find Fromm sold at PetCo or Chewy.com. In fact, Fromm’s website specifically calls out Chewy and Amazon (as well as Ebay, Target, Walmart, and others) as unauthorized retailers.

I support that. However, I find it a bit frustrating that Fromm seems to have more on its website about who it sells to than about its actual food formulas. Their site does list ingredients, guaranteed analysis, typical analysis, and feeding recommendations for each of their formulas. The site even has a handy product guide quiz to help you find the perfect food for your pup.

Fromm dog food generally homes as highly-rated and is well-regarded, with good reason. They take great care in producing their foods with high-quality ingredients. Many of Fromm’s foods are high-protein with a variety of vegetables. They don’t tend to have many fruits, though this depends on the exact formula that you’re looking at.

Fromm does not use any artificial preservatives and none of their ingredients come from China.

Fromm uses lots of fresh meat and fish, farm-fresh fruits and veggies, and some Wisconsin cheese for good taste. Yum!

How Does Fromm Stand Up to WSAVA Guidelines?

I am not a nutritionist, and my dog will eat just about anything (seriously, he ate a dropped eggshell this morning). So my Fromm dog food review would be quite inadequate if I based it off of my own intuition and how much my dog liked a food.

Instead, I’ll fall back on the World Small Animal Veterinary Association guidelines for selecting dog food.

• Do you employ a full-time qualified nutritionist?
  • I had to call Fromm to ask about this. They do not have a board-certified nutritionist on staff. The owner is a chemical engineer, but that’s not quite the same thing!
• Who formulates your foods and what are his/her credentials?
  • When I called Fromm to ask about this, they said that they bring together a team to formulate Fromm foods that include chemical engineers, veterinarians, molecular biologists, and food production engineers.
• Are your diets tested using AAFCO feeding trials or by formulation to meet AAFCO nutrient profiles?
  • Fromm’s formulas are formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO. They do not do AAFCO feeding trials.
• Where are your foods produced and manufactured?
  • All of Fromm’s food is manufactured at one of their three Wisconsin plants. Fromm owns and operates all of the plants that produce their food.
• What specific quality control measures do you use to assure the consistency and quality of your ingredients and the end product?
  • Fromm’s website states that they use outside labs to check all Fromm food for microbes. They also have voluntarily implemented HACCP (Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Points), a food safety approach designed to prevent all sorts of hazards. They are compliant with USDA, FDA, and APHIS and get regular inspections from these entities. In fact, Fromm actually has an entire page on their website about food safety. Quite impressive.
• Will you provide a complete nutrient analysis for the dog or cat food in question?
  • Fromm has both guaranteed analysis and typical analyses on their site for each of their formulas. This is important because the guaranteed analysis just covers minimum and maximum numbers rather than an exact number.
• What is the caloric value per gram, can, or cup of your foods?
  • Fromm makes it easy to find the caloric value per cup and pound of their food.
• What kind of product research has been conducted? Are the results published in peer-reviewed journals?
  • I searched Google Scholar for “Fromm” and was unable to find any research specifically into Fromm food – just a few studies that used Fromm food as part of their research, and even those were barely footnotes! When I asked a Fromm representative, they told me there were no independent studies on Fromm.

Has Fromm Family Dog Food Had Recalls?

Fromm voluntarily recalled some food in 2016 because of elevated levels of Vitamin D “out of an abundance of caution” because eating the food for too long could cause a decrease in appetite for some dogs. That’s a pretty impressive track record for a company that’s been around for over 100 years!

What Formulas Does Fromm Family Dog Food Offer?

Fromm has a variety of different lines of food. You can select from their Fromm Gold Nutritionals, Fromm Four-Star Nutritionals, and Fromm Family Classic. Each of these lines has several different formulas and flavors. The Fromm Gold lines are “a holistic approach to each lifestyle.” Four-Star Nutritional food is “a variety driven gourmet experience for your dog.” Finally, the Fromm Family Classics offers “simple and balanced nutrition.”

Fromm also has options for puppies, older dogs, and pregnant or lactating mothers. Some of their formulas are well-suited for active dogs while others are good for dogs who need to lose weight.

Since there are so many different Fromm formulas, let’s take a look at just their two most popular formulas:

Fromm Large Breed Puppy Gold

Fromm Large Breed Puppy Gold is formulated for growing puppies that will be 50 pounds or bigger when they’re adults. Their Heartland Gold formula is also popular, but it’s grain-free with a lot of peas (that’s a potential risk factor for heart disease in dogs).

This is a chicken-based diet that’s enhanced with oils and probiotics for a healthy coat and digestive tract. Dried tomato pomace isn’t considered a high-quality ingredient, but otherwise, the ingredients list looks good.

This food offers 384 kcal per cup of food. The typical analysis (which is based on lab analysis of the food rather than a minimum or maximum amount that the guaranteed analysis shows) is below.

	As-Is Basis (%)	Dry Matter Basis (%)
Moisture	8.30
Dry Matter	91.70
Protein	26.94	29.38
Fat	14.80	16.14
Fiber	3.75	4.09
Ash	5.81	6.34
Calcium	1.35	1.47
Phosphorus	1.02	1.11
Sodium	0.31	0.34
Potassium	0.76	0.83
Magnesium	0.13	0.14
Iron	156.85	171.05
Copper	12.14	13.24
Manganese	69.79	76.11
Zinc	146.51	159.77

Fromm Large Breed Adult Gold

This chicken-based diet is specially formulated to be perfect for adult, large-breed dogs. The first several ingredients are all chicken, then it has several different grains. Lower in the ingredient list, you’ll find carrots, sweet potatoes, salmon oil, and probiotics. Overall, this is a high-quality food for adult dogs.

This food has 377 kcal per cup of dry food. The typical analysis (which is based on lab analysis of the food rather than a minimum or maximum amount that the guaranteed analysis shows) is below.

As-Is Basis (%)	Dry Matter Basis (%)
Moisture	7.5
Dry Matter	92.5
Protein	24.57	26.56
Fat	12.92	13.97
Fiber	3.52	3.81
Ash	5.19	5.61
Calcium	1.29	1.39
Phosphorus	1.07	1.16
Sodium	0.3	0.32
Potassium	0.63	0.68
Magnesium	0.12	0.13
	As-Is Basis (mg/kg)	Dry Matter Basis (mg/kg)
Iron	135.54	146.53
Copper	12.36	13.36
Manganese	69.51	75.15
Zinc	143.38	155.01

Where to Buy Fromm Food

Fromm Dog Food is of high quality, but it’s not always easy to find – and it’s not cheap! Here are a few possible substitutions for Fromm dog food.

Fromm Adult Gold Large Breed	Blue Buffalo Life Protection Large Breed
Fromm Large Breed Puppy Gold	ORIJEN Dry Dog Food, Puppy Large, Biologically Appropriate & Grain Free
Fromm Four-Star Nutritionals	Zignature Pork Formula Dry Dog Food
Fromm Four-Star Grain-Free Dry Dog Food Game Bird Recipe	Merrick Backcountry Grain-Free Raw Infused Game Bird Dry Dog Food
Fromm Gold Holistic Adult	Holistic Select Natural Dry Dog Food Large and Giant Breed

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