Victor Bully Fuel review

Victor · Bully Fuel · Dry food · All life stages

87 / 100Our label score

★★★★½4.5 of 5 stars, from the score

34%Crude protein (min)

504kcal per cup

1FDA recall event for the brand

On the facts printed on its own label, Victor Bully Fuel scores 87 out of 100 on our rubric: a strong label by the standards of this database. The panel opens with Beef, and the first ingredient signal earns 20 of its 20 points. At 34% crude protein it ranks 3 of the 34 Victor recipes we scored for protein. Crude fat reads 22%.

At 504 kcal a cup it is calorie dense: small measuring errors become extra meals over a month, so this is a food to weigh rather than eyeball. Its adequacy claim rests on formulation: balanced on paper against the AAFCO nutrient profiles rather than fed to dogs in a trial. The brand carries one FDA posted recall event in our check, set out below with its date.

The panel runs to 54 ingredient lines. 6 of them are animal source lines and 11 are plant lines. The first added fat appears at line 3, so 2 lines sit ahead of it in the recipe by weight. Salt appears at line 17 of 54: ingredients listed after salt are present in small amounts, a standard reading aid for long panels. The vitamin and mineral pack begins around line 22; the 33 lines from there on are mostly supplements, preservatives and functional extras rather than staple foods.

Panel for panel, this is the same recipe as Hi-Pro Plus Small & Medium Breed Puppy, sold as Dry food: the ingredient lines match. What actually differs is the calorie line. Between the two, choose on format and on the size of dog in front of you, not on the ingredient list, because the lists are the same list.

The label facts

Maker	Mid America Pet Food
Format	Dry food
Life stage	All life stages
Full ingredient list, in label order	Beef Beef Meal Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols) Whole Grain Millet Chicken Meal Chicken Whole Grain Sorghum Blood Meal Brown Rice Yeast Culture Menhaden Fish Meal Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal Natural Flavor Potassium Chloride Carrot Powder Tomato Pomace Salt Organic Dried Seaweed Meal Taurine Choline Chloride Calcium Stearate Zinc Methionine Complex Vitamin E Supplement DL-Methionine Iron Amino Acid Complex Hydrolyzed Yeast Manganese Amino Acid Complex Silicon Dioxide L-Carnitine Selenium Yeast Brewers Dried Yeast Copper Sulfate Niacin Supplement Vitamin B12 Supplement Vitamin A Supplement D-Calcium Pantothenate Mono and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids Thiamine Mononitrate Biotin Yucca Schidigera Extract Calcium Carbonate Riboflavin Supplement Calcium Iodate Pyridoxine Hydrochloride Vitamin D3 Supplement Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate Rosemary Extract Green Tea Extract Spearmint Extract Inulin Lecithin Folic Acid Dried Bacillus coagulans Fermentation Product Dried Bacillus subtilis Fermentation Product
Guaranteed analysis	Crude protein (min) 34% · crude fat (min) 22% · crude fibre (max) 5% · moisture (max) 10%
Dry matter reading	With the water taken out, the same analysis reads 37.8% protein and 24.4% fat. Dry matter is how wet and dry foods can be compared fairly.
Calories	3,973 kcal/kg, 504 kcal/cup, as labelled
AAFCO adequacy	KCAL/Cup to fuel bully breeds’ energy needs Real beef is the 1st ingredient to promote lean muscle growth Natural glucosamine and chondroitin to aid joint support and health VICTOR BULLY FUEL for Dogs is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles for all life stages except for growth of large size dogs (70 lb. or more as an adult).
Price	Not listed. We publish a price only when we have verified it from a dated listing, and we had not for this recipe when the label was read.

How the score breaks down

Signal	Points	What the label shows
First ingredient	20 / 20	Beef, a named whole animal protein, opens the panel.
Animal protein depth, first 10 ingredients	15 / 15	5 of the first ten ingredients are named animal ingredients.
Protein level for the life stage	15 / 15	Crude protein reads 34% as labelled, read against the all life stages stage the label claims.
Fat level fit	3 / 10	Crude fat reads 22% as labelled.
Whole foods versus filler-flagged ingredients	10 / 10	None of the rubric's flagged ingredients appears in the first ten.
Artificial colours and preservatives	10 / 10	No artificial colours, colour-retention chemicals or artificial preservatives appear in the panel.
AAFCO adequacy basis	8 / 10	Formulated to meet AAFCO profiles for all life stages, including growth of large size dogs.
FDA recall history	6 / 10	One FDA posted dog food recall event found for the brand in our November 2026 check.
Price tier	Not scored	Not scored in this round. We publish a price only when we have verified it from a dated listing.
Total	87 / 100	Scaled from 87 of 100 available points. Stars are the score divided by 20, rounded to the nearest half. The method is published in full on the dog food hub.

Ingredient notes: the first ten, one by one

Definitions below are written from AAFCO's ingredient definitions in our own words. They describe what an ingredient is, never what a brand claims about it.

Beef. Beef is the named meat in fresh form. Panel order is set by weight before cooking, and fresh meat is mostly water, so its share of the finished food is smaller than its place at the top suggests.
Beef Meal. Beef Meal is the named animal rendered and ground, with water and most fat cooked off before it is weighed. Per kilo it carries far more protein than the fresh meat does.
Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols). Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols) is rendered fat from the named source. Fat is the densest energy in the recipe and carries much of its flavour.
Whole Grain Millet. Whole Grain Millet is a plant ingredient, bringing energy, fibre or plant protein to the panel.
Chicken Meal. Chicken Meal is the named animal rendered and ground, with water and most fat cooked off before it is weighed. Per kilo it carries far more protein than the fresh meat does.
Chicken. Chicken is the named meat in fresh form. Panel order is set by weight before cooking, and fresh meat is mostly water, so its share of the finished food is smaller than its place at the top suggests.
Whole Grain Sorghum. Whole Grain Sorghum is a plant ingredient, bringing energy, fibre or plant protein to the panel.
Blood Meal. Blood Meal is the named animal rendered and ground, with water and most fat cooked off before it is weighed. Per kilo it carries far more protein than the fresh meat does.
Brown Rice. Brown Rice is a milled grain used for energy and to bind the kibble. Whole grain forms keep the bran and bring gentle fibre with them.
Yeast Culture. Yeast Culture sits on the panel as a functional ingredient: a binder, supplement or processing aid rather than a nutrient base.

Who it suits

Active, lean dogs that burn through protein and hold weight easily
Homes that want one bag to cover a puppy and an adult dog together
Owners who want a named whole meat, not a meal or a plant, at the top of the panel

Who should skip it

Dogs that gain weight easily, unless every portion is weighed
Owners who specifically want a food proven in feeding trials rather than by formulation

The brand's recall record

2023: One rolling Salmonella recall ran through autumn 2023 at Victor's maker, Mid America Pet Food: it opened in September 2023 with one lot of Hi-Pro Plus, expanded in October to Victor Select Beef Meal and Brown Rice lots, and expanded again in November to every dog and cat food the maker produced at its Texas plant. The FDA and CDC investigation linked the strain to human illness, including infants. Under our counting rules the expansions are one event.

The event dates from autumn 2023 and involves Salmonella at the brand's maker, Mid America Pet Food. It is the reason this otherwise strong label loses recall points.

See the full dog food recall tracker for recent events across all brands.

Other Victor recipes we scored

Recipe	Score / 100	Protein	Format
Hi-Pro Plus Small & Medium Breed Puppy	94	30%	Dry food
Raw Blend Farm Chicken Recipe	94	34%	Dry food
Raw Blend Rancher's Beef Recipe	94	34%	Dry food
Hi-Pro Plus Large Breed Puppy	91	30%	Dry food
Hi-Pro Plus Small Breed Adult	91	30%	Dry food
Raw Blend Fishermen's Salmon Recipe	91	34%	Dry food
Grain Free Formula with Beef and Vegetables Cuts in Gravy	87	8%	Wet food
Hi-Pro Plus	87	30%	Dry food
Nutra Pro	87	38%	Dry food
Grain Free Hero Canine	86	33%	Dry food
Grain Free Active Dog & Puppy	85	33%	Dry food
Grain Free Chicken Meal & Sweet Potato Recipe	85	33%	Dry food

Those are the twelve highest scoring of the 33 other Victor recipes we scored. The full comparison, flagship review included, is on the Victor brand review.

Feeding it

Switch foods gradually over about a week, mixing more of the new food into the old each day. Portion by calories, not by the look of the bowl: our feeding calculator works out a daily amount from your dog's weight, and this recipe's calorie line above is the number it needs.

What that means at the bowl, for a typical neutered adult (resting energy 70 times body weight to the power 0.75, times 1.6; treats come out of the same budget):

Dog's weight	Daily energy	Of this recipe, at 504 kcal a cup
3 kg	about 255 kcal	about 0.5 cups
10 kg	about 630 kcal	about 1.2 cups
20 kg	about 1,059 kcal	about 2.1 cups
30 kg	about 1,436 kcal	about 2.8 cups

Puppies, pregnant dogs and very active dogs need more; older and weight watching dogs need less. The calculator linked above adjusts for those cases.

Victor Bully Fuel: our recipe review