Diamond Pet Food

Why We Choose Diamond Pet Foods 🐾🥣
At County Line Kennels Mini Dachs, what goes into our dogs’ bowls matters to us. After researching ingredients, contacting manufacturers directly, and looking beyond the pretty pictures and advertising on a bag of dog food, Diamond Pet Foods has become a brand we feel confident feeding and recommending to our families.

It all starts with the ingredients. Diamond Pet Foods told us that their meat ingredients come from different sources depending on the type of meat being used, and that their meats are selected to meet specific formula requirements and are USDA inspected and approved. Diamond also says its ingredient suppliers go through an approval process designed to evaluate food safety, ingredient quality, and reliability.

From there, Diamond produces its foods in seven manufacturing facilities across the United States. Their dry formulas are extruded at approximately 205°F, which Diamond says helps eliminate microbiological risks such as Salmonella and E. coli. The company also reports routinely monitoring its manufacturing process before, during, and after production.

But making safe food is only part of the equation—it also has to provide the nutrition our dogs need. 🐾 Diamond says its recipes are developed using proprietary formulation technology with input from experts and scientists in veterinary medicine, companion-animal nutrition, food microbiology, food production, and food science.

Diamond states that all of its formulas meet AAFCO nutrient profiles through formulation and analysis of the finished product, while AAFCO six-month feeding trials are used on a limited basis.

 Information in this section was provided directly to County Line Kennels Mini Dachs by Diamond Pet Foods. 

Knowing what goes into our dogs' food is important—but I also want to know what happens before that food ever reaches their bowl.

Diamond Pet Foods told us that they routinely test and monitor their manufacturing process before, during, and after production. Their facilities have dedicated quality assurance and food-safety personnel and follow Good Manufacturing Practices.

And the amount of testing Diamond reports performing each week really caught my attention! 🔬

According to Diamond Pet Foods, their safety and quality testing includes:

• 3,458 mycotoxin tests per week 
• 1,538 microbiological tests per week 
• 268 oxidative stability tests per week 
• 5,520 ingredient nutritional tests per week 
• 40,095 finished-product nutritional tests per week 

Diamond also told us they use a Test & Hold Program. Samples are collected and tested for every product produced, with testing conducted by a certified independent laboratory.

Diamond says samples are also retained for a period equal to the product's guaranteed shelf life—typically 12 months.

For me, this is an important part of choosing a food. I don't only want to know what is printed on the ingredient panel—I want to know that the ingredients and finished food are actually being tested. ❤️

Here's another feature I really like about Diamond's formulas!

Diamond told us that its kibble provides more than 80 million colony-forming units (CFU) per pound of canine-sourced probiotics.

Probiotics are beneficial microorganisms that can help support the microbial community within the digestive tract. Diamond's approach is particularly interesting because its proprietary K9 Strain Probiotics are specifically developed for dogs and are added to certain formulas after the cooking process to help preserve their viability.

That means when we're talking about nutrition, we're not just talking about protein and fat. Digestive health and the ability of the dog to utilize the nutrients in the food matter, too. 🐶🥣

At County Line Kennels Mini Dachs, I want to know more than what the front of a dog-food bag tells me.

What's in it? Where did it come from? How was it made? Was it tested? And what is being included to support the health of my dogs?

Those are the questions behind our “What's REALLY in Your Dog's Bowl?” series—and they're questions I encourage every dog owner to ask. 🐾❤️

Testing figures and manufacturing information above were provided directly to County Line Kennels Mini Dachs by Diamond Pet Foods. Information regarding Diamond's K9 Strain Probiotics comes from Diamond's published product information.