Evanger's
Is This Your Business?4.0
Author: Kalicia Bateman
Founder and championship dog owner, Fred Evanger firmly believed that a dog’s health was wholly dependent on a wholesome and natural diet. He even built a canning factory at his kennel to ensure that his dog’s food was made from quality ingredients and free of harmful preservatives.
Since its start in 1935, Evanger’s Dog & Cat Food has grown into a national dog food company as more pet owners are looking for quality ingredients. Evanger’s only uses high-quality inspected meats and avoids ingredients like soy, corn, wheat, artificial ingredients, or by-products that lack the essential nutrients dog’s need.
Keep reading our Evanger’s dog food review for pros and cons, plus customer reviews from pet parents like you.
Top Ranked Companies
The Good
- Variety of Meals and Treats
- Ask the Nutritionist
- Hand-Packed Canned Meals
Variety of Meals and Treats
Evanger’s offers dog parents plenty of different meal choices, including specialty, organic, and grain-free dog food options:
- Classic Line: Canned dog food meals in a variety of flavors, with specialties for dogs with sensitive stomachs, specific life stages, like puppies, older and less active dogs, as well as dog sport exhibitors and large breeds.
- Dry Food: A line of semi-moist dehydrated foods with flavors like Chicken with Brown Rice, Gamebird Recipe with Coconut Oil, Hi Bio Beef and Chicken Superfood. There are several grain-free dry dog food options.
- Evanger’s Organics: Canned food made with only organic ingredients. It is available in four flavors: Cooked Chicken, Beef Dinner, Chicken & Turkey Dinner, Turkey with Potato & Carrots Dinner
- Grain Free Game Meat: A variety of canned, grain-free pet food for dogs and cats. These contain 100% meat and are available in several flavors: Beef, Buffalo, Chicken, Wild Salmon, Rabbit, Duck, Pork, and Quail
- Grain Free Hand Packed: Evanger’s canned dog food that is hand-packed for the meal to stay in a more natural state, like whole chicken thighs or whole sardines.
- Nothing But Natural: Freeze-dried jerky and treats, in a variety of meats. Several options include fruits and vegetables.
- Signature Series: An anniversary line of slow-cooked canned stews in Beef, Chicken, Lamb or Turkey flavors
- Super Premium: Premium canned food products, with specialties like 100% Grain Free Sweet Potato, All Fresh Vegetarian Dinner, Beef Dinner with spinach and kale, and Duck & Sweet Potato Dinner
Evanger’s Nothing But Natural line pairs a variety of game meats with fruits and vegetables to provide a nutritious treat that dogs are sure to love. Each treat is freeze-dried with no additives or preservatives. Currently, there is free shipping on the jerky treats.
Even though Evanger’s primarily sells wet dog food, all of Evanger’s dry dog food is manufactured in the United States and use Alltech Advantage to ensure the ingredients are providing functional health benefits.
Ask the Nutritionist
A unique feature that Evanger’s offers pet parents is a weekly “Q and A” session. Owners can submit a health or nutrition question with the hashtag #GetPetHealthy and one of Evanger’s on-staff nutritionists will answer.
Recently, dog owners have asked the pet food company about how to help their dogs lose a few pounds, what they can do about allergies, and how they can implement a healthy diet into their pets’ lives to improve their overall health.
Hand-Packed Edition
The hand-packed edition of Evanger’s canned dog food is unique among pet food manufacturers, as a person fills each can, instead of a machine. This process benefits pet owners as they can see the ingredients that are in their pet's meal. Ingredients are hand-selected and placed in the can with no additives or preservatives. The ingredients are then cooked inside the can to lock in the natural flavor and nutrients.
The Bad
- Limited Store Locations
- FDA Dog Food Recall of 2017
Limited Store Locations
Evanger’s dog food is available in more than 5,000 locations; however, some customers may have to travel to specialty pet stores to purchase the Evanger’s brand which may be inconvenient.
However, many online pet store companies sell Evanger’s pet foods on their sites and pet owners can order the product through those websites.
FDA Dog Food Recall of 2017
After a consumer reported that her dogs became ill after eating Evanger’s Hunk of Beef Au Jus canned pet food, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigated the company’s Illinois manufacturing plant. According to reports and additional tests, the FDA confirmed that it found harmful additives, including pentobarbital — commonly used to euthanize animals — of varying concentrations in several dog food cans.
Evanger’s recalled five lots of the Hunk of Beef Au Jus, even though the pentobarbital was only found in one. The company even carried out a voluntary recall of the Evanger’s Braised Beef and Against the Grain’s Pulled Beef Products in case of potential contamination. This was the first recall for Evanger’s in its 82 years of business.
Recently, Evanger’s published a recall update to ensure consumers that the company was cooperating with the FDA to improve food safety standards and its quality control process.
The Bottom Line
Evanger’s has over 80 years of experience in the industry and aims to provide dogs with the highest quality foods available. Pet owners can expect to find a wide variety of wet and dry food for dogs. With plenty of options, dog owners are sure to discover a flavor their pet loves.
Finding a physical retail store might pose a challenge as Evanger’s is mainly sold in boutique pet stores, although the products are available on several online pet store companies.
Due to the dog food recalls, buyers will also want to take caution with the hand-packed beef cans and check the lot numbers on their can. Evanger’s is currently working with the FDA to improve its standards and quality control processes to ensure that only the freshest ingredients are included in its pet food products.
Review Source
Tracy Hill Draper, UT
7 years ago
