Nutrition: First ingredients are brewer’s rice, chicken by-product meal, and wheat | Breed size: Small | Wet or dry food: dry | Cost: $6.80 per pound

Of the 13 veterinarians we spoke to, ten said Royal Canin dog food is their top pick for their own pets and the dogs they treat at work. Dr. Gregory Gstrein, a staff veterinarian at a VCA Animal Hospital in California, says, “The best foods are backed by actual research and feeding trials, and Royal Canin does the extensive work needed to prove their foods yield excellent real-world results.” Dr. Catriona Love, an associate veterinarian at Heart of Chelsea Veterinary Group, feeds Royal Canin to her five-pound, 12-year-old Chihuahua rescue and says that of the three dog-food brands she recommends to her patients, Royal Canin is the most palatable. “I think the animals tend to like it more,” she says.

Strategist junior writer Brenley Goertzen tested Royal Canin’s medium-size formula with her Australian shepherd mix and says when she first opened the 17-pound bag, the dog (and her 160-pound Great Dane) ran to the bowl. Each scoop has a strong, meaty aroma, and the kibble appears more moist than other brands Goertzen has used, like the Core line from Wellness. Despite normally being a grazer at feeding time, her Aussie immediately scarfs down the food, Goertzen says, adding that her Great Dane sometimes tries to knock over the bag to get in on the meal.

Nutrition: First ingredients are water, pork by-products, and pork liver | Breed size: All breed sizes | Wet or dry food: Wet | Cost: $0.37 per pound

Veterinarian Dr. Jeff Werber says he likes Royal Canin because the brand has a positive track record and a trusted name, and its products are readily available. He told us he has always been a fan of mixed feeding, meaning providing a little of both dry and wet foods. Werber explains that because a lot of dogs don’t drink enough water, adding moist canned food (which has fewer carbs and more flavor) to their dry food is a win-win. He says his dogs “love with a capital L” Royal Canin’s low-fat canned dog food.

Rifruf co-founder Peter Liu is another fan. When his French bulldog, Caesar, began developing digestion issues (which can be common in brachycephalic dogs, or those that can be identified by their shortened snouts), Liu says a veterinarian recommended switching the pup to this gastrointestinal-friendly food. Caesar quickly took a liking to the wet meal, Liu says, because it smells similar to the fresh food he previously consumed — only it’s made with low-fat ingredients that are more suitable for his sensitive stomach.

Note that while this is the cheapest food on our list, it comes packaged in 13.5-ounce cans, so a single unit is much smaller than most other dry foods.

Nutrition: First ingredients are dehydrated chicken, organic barley, and dehydrated potatoes | Breed size: All breed sizes | Wet or dry food: Dry dehydrated | Cost: $7.99 per pound

When Strategist senior editor Crystal Martin’s soft-coated wheaten terrier started having stomach issues that caused the dog to lose almost 25 percent of her total body weight, she turned to food made with human-grade ingredients rather than kibble. “It stopped her [gastrointestinal] problems almost immediately, and she’s been fine ever since,” Martin says of the food she’s chosen for the past six years. And even though this food is gently dehydrated, Martin says it also looks like it could be for humans, “almost like they dehydrated every ingredient then minced it.” (To serve, owners add warm water to rehydrate the food and wait a few minutes for absorption.)

Nutrition: First ingredients are turkey with ground bone, turkey liver, and turkey gizzard | Breed size: All breed sizes | Wet or dry food: Dry dehydrated raw | Cost: $2.25 per pound

When it comes to raw-food diets for dogs, there are some strong opinions in the veterinary community. Unsurprisingly, many vets feel that feeding your pet raw food can lead to potential health risks for both the dog and the humans who live with it. “I am not an advocate for any raw food at this time, as there is a very real risk for contamination to other household members, including people,” says Finn. “If the research comes out years down the road and suggests that raw food is indeed better for pets and can improve their lives, then I will be the first person to switch my dogs over immediately. Unfortunately, the research is lacking at this point in time.”

Others, including Krause, Liff, and veterinarian Dr. Marty Goldstein (who literally wrote the book on holistic medicine for pets and has his own line of dog food), explain that extra hygienic precautions need to be taken with raw foods, but they believe those precautions are worth the added nutritional benefits, such as improved digestion and immune-system functioning as well as less inflammation and fewer allergies. Liff says she has patients that do well on raw diets, but she always has “a lengthy discussion with owners about food handling to prevent foodborne illness.”

According to Goldstein, freeze-dried raw foods have less risk of foodborne illnesses and can be stored without refrigeration. Krause says that if her own dog didn’t have specific food sensitivities, she would feed it a raw diet — specifically, these Stella & Chewy’s dehydrated raw turkey patties. They meet AAFCO standards and can be served dry or mixed with a little warm water to rehydrate them. Krause told us she’s a fan of literally everything the brand makes, saying, “Stella & Chewy has never put out anything I haven’t liked.”

Nutrition: First ingredients are ground beef, russet potatoes, and eggs | Breed size: All breed sizes | Wet or dry food: Frozen wet | Cost: $8.00 per pound

Fresh dog food is more appealing to many dog owners who appreciate that it looks more like something they would eat. “If health and wellness are a priority, I absolutely recommend human-grade fresh food,” says Satchu, who feeds fresh-cooked dog food to his own pets. However, he stresses that whatever food you pick (especially some of the newer, designer-label foods) must be nutritionally balanced. The AAFCO stamp of approval helps to make this easy to differentiate. When we spoke to veterinarians about the best food for puppies, Richardson recommended the direct-to-consumer subscription brand Nom Nom. According to her, the brand works directly with a veterinary nutritionist to create diets specific to your pet that conform to AAFCO standards. “There are not a lot of other companies who do that,” she told us.

Nom Nom says its plans start at $2.40 a day for the smallest dogs with few dietary restrictions. To determine a meal plan (and an actual price), the company asks you to fill out a survey about your pet’s breed, age, activity level, and weight goals. If you want Fido to try before you buy, you can order a variety pack with four of the brand’s foods for a flat $15.

Nutrition: First ingredients are chicken liver, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage | Breed size: All breed sizes | Wet or dry food: Frozen wet | Cost: Varies based on subscription

Satchu suggests the slightly cheaper subscription-based food from the Farmer’s Dog for anyone looking for a fresh option. (According to the brand, plans start at around $2 a day for the smallest dogs with few dietary restrictions to upwards of $12 for the largest breed dogs.) Like Nom Nom, this brand worked with board-certified veterinary nutritionists to formulate recipes that are complete and balanced according to AAFCO standards. As further evidence of its food’s quality, the Farmer’s Dog has released results from ongoing long-term feeding trials showing that the nutritional value in its food exceeds AAFCO recommendations. Again, you’re asked to answer questions about your dog’s breed, age, activity level, and weight goals to determine a meal plan and its actual cost.

Nutrition: First ingredients are lamb hearts, brown rice, and cauliflower | Breed size: All breed sizes | Wet or dry food: Wet food | Cost: $0.53 per pound

While Finn is not exactly anti-kibble — “Every animal and situation is different, so don’t ever let someone shame you for the food you feed your pet,” he says — Finn likes the California company JustFoodForDogs, which, he says, “has an astounding team of veterinarians from multiple specialties” and “is doing a good job in terms of fresh-cooked food.” Fadl also recommends the brand because they offer vet-prescribed diets — and because they’ve overcome “one of the biggest challenges” with prescription foods: low palatability. The company’s PantryFresh range is made up of complete meals formulated from human-grade ingredients like macaroni, rice, turkey, beef, potato, lamb, and chicken. As the name implies, these prepackaged foods are pantry stable and ready to eat, yet they contain no iffy preservatives, which means they can work for a dog with allergies or even one with kidney disease, Fadl says.

Nutrition: First ingredients are salmon, barley, and rice | Breed size: Large breed | Wet or dry food: Dry food | Cost: $3.41 per pound

According to the experts we spoke to, owners of large and giant-breed dogs should avoid foods that contain legumes as a protein source. Nicole Goudey-Rigger, the owner and CEO of doggy-day-care service Pets a Go Go, told us she took her two purebred Akitas and two medium-size mixed breeds (a golden retriever–Chow Chow mix and an Australian shepherd mix) off their low-grain diets after the potential connection between DCM and grain-free food was identified. Instead, she now feeds her four big dogs Purina Pro Plan Salmon Sensitive Stomach, which contains brewer’s rice and barley (and no legumes). She and four other experts we spoke with like Purina Pro Plan foods because, as Gstrein points out, the recipes meet AAFCO standards and are formulated by a veterinary nutritionist.

Goudey-Rigger adds that the Purina Pro Plan line also features a wide variety of proteins, including chicken, beef, salmon, duck, lamb, pork, and even quail. Looking for a variety of proteins in a brand’s line is important, she says, because “not all proteins agree with all dogs.” After discovering her Australian shepherd’s sensitivities to chicken, for example, Fadl began feeding the Purina Pro Plan food shown because the main protein source is fish. “A lot of other salmon-flavored foods still have some chicken by-products, so you don’t get a great response to feeding,” she says. Ochoa’s dog also likes Purina Pro Plan and gets a small portion of the brand’s shredded-chicken food (a legume-free mix that includes chewy and crunchy pieces) as a complement to Hill’s Science Diet.

Nutrition: First ingredients are cornstarch, hydrolyzed poultry by-products aggregate, and coconut oil | Breed sizes: All breed sizes | Wet or dry food: Dry food | Cost: $8.53 per pound

Although Krause is a fan of minimally processed or raw-food diets for dogs (and is a brand ambassador for the freeze-dried raw-dog-food brand I and Love and You), she says her own pug is “allergic to life.” Because of allergies, Krause’s dog is on a super-hydrolyzed diet, which means the proteins it eats are broken down into individual amino acids. She says the diet “is so far from natural, but he does great on it and he’s happy on it.” Liff, Gstrein, and Satchu also recommend this hydrolyzed diet for dogs with allergies, as does veterinarian Dr. Jennifer Coates, who feeds it to her elderly boxer, Apollo, which has severe inflammatory-bowel disease. Note: While this food is for sale online, you do in fact need a vet’s prescription to purchase it.

Nutrition: First ingredients are brown rice, brewers rice, and egg product | Breed sizes: All breed sizes | Wet or dry food: Dry food | Cost: $5.42 per pound

Hill’s vet-prescribed food is about $1.25 less per pound than the option above and is a favorite of Goertzen, who feeds it to her Great Dane, Benny, to curb his skin allergies. Last summer, when she noticed Benny licking his legs and paws until the skin became red and raw, his vet suggested a diet change: three scoops of this dry food mixed with half a can of the brand’s wet meal twice daily. Goertzen says that since the switch, Benny has displayed fewer allergy symptoms like itching and licking, plus “he seems to enjoy it even more than what we were previously feeding,” she says. Note: While this food is for sale online, you need a vet’s prescription to purchase it.

Nutrition: First ingredients are chicken, chicken meal and broth, oatmeal, pearled barley, brown rice | Breed size: All breed sizes | Wet or dry food: Dry food | Cost: $3.20 per pound

For over seven years, Strategist writer Arielle Avila has given the food from Wisconsin-based Fromm to her hound mix, Maggie, who’s suffered from itchiness caused by skin allergies since she was a puppy. It wasn’t until a veterinarian recommended switching to the family-owned and -operated brand that the dog’s symptoms finally began to clear. (Maggie only gets dandruff and the occasional hot spot now, Avila says.) Avila also says she likes that the company offers its dry food in five-pound bags, which allows her to change up the flavors (and recipes) she feeds Maggie each week. And unlike the two picks above, this doesn’t require a vet’s prescription, so purchasing the food is less of a hassle, Avila says. It’s not available at large retailers, but Avila says she can typically find it online or at local pet stores, like in Brooklyn.