Victor Performance: our recipe review

Victor · Performance · Dry food · Adult maintenance

On the facts printed on its own label, Victor Performance scores 83 out of 100 on our rubric: a strong label by the standards of this database. The panel opens with Beef Meal, and the first ingredient signal earns 16 of its 20 points. At 26% crude protein it ranks 18 of the 34 Victor recipes we scored for protein. Crude fat reads 18%.

At 399 kcal a cup it sits mid range for energy, so standard portion maths applies. 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 53 ingredient lines. 4 of them are animal source lines and 10 are plant lines. The first added fat appears at line 4, so 3 lines sit ahead of it in the recipe by weight. Salt appears at line 14 of 53: ingredients listed after salt are present in small amounts, a standard reading aid for long panels. The vitamin and mineral pack begins around line 19; the 35 lines from there on are mostly supplements, preservatives and functional extras rather than staple foods.

Its closest relative in this brand is Professional, sold as Dry food: the two panels share most of their ingredients. In the first ten, this recipe has none in the first ten, where its relative has none in the first ten. The full comparison is on the relative's own review page.

The label facts

How the score breaks down

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 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.
• Grain Sorghum. Grain Sorghum is a plant ingredient, bringing energy, fibre or plant protein to the panel.
• Whole Grain Millet. Whole Grain Millet is a plant ingredient, bringing energy, fibre or plant protein to the panel.
• 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.
• Blood Meal Conventionally Dried. Blood Meal Conventionally Dried 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 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.
• Pork Meal. Pork 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.
• Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal. Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal has already had its water taken out before it is weighed in, so a kilo of it stands for several kilos of the fresh meat. It is one of the most protein dense forms an ingredient can take.
• Yeast Culture. Yeast Culture sits on the panel as a functional ingredient: a binder, supplement or processing aid rather than a nutrient base.
• Natural Flavor. Natural Flavor is a flavouring: a spray or powder added so the food tastes stronger to the dog. It is not a protein source and our rubric does not count it as one.

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

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):

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