The Jack Russell Terrier (JRT), also known as the Parson Russell Terrier, is one of the ancient dogs that dates back some 200 years ago in England. Having been bred for fox hunting, the Jack Russells are a handsome, lively, and intelligent breed with an average height and weight of 28 cm and 7 kg, respectively.
They are extremely affectionate and love the companionship of a family. However, do not take their innocence for ease as they are pretty hard to train and hence, novice pet owners are suggested to look for some other dog breeds.
Initially, it may seem easy to cope with a new Jack Russell. It is pretty common to develop this mindset as the TV shows usually portray JRTs as calm and obedient. But once the dog gets comfortable with you, you will be amazed at its high energy and enthusiasm to try out new things.
They require constant attention and rigorous training to help them properly get along with their daily lives. The real challenge comes in socialization. It is extremely important that you try to civilize your JRT as early as possible as they have a tendency to act out in an unwanted manner.
Compared to other dogs, JRTs have better trainability but the training sessions must be creative as they tend to get bored easily. You do not want your JRT to be bored as they start doing activities that the owners may dislike.
To meet such a high need of daily activities, your Jack Russell requires numerous dietary requirements that must be fulfilled. JRTs have the highest amount of energy when they are young and thus, the recommended daily calorie intake is 450-600. However, your dog’s activity level can cause the level of calorie requirement to vary.
Another important thing to consider is the kibble sizes of the processed dog foods. At times, certain products contain large-sized bits of food. Even though it might contain all the necessary nutrients, if you feed it to your puppy dog with a smaller mouth, you risk them choking on it.
Also, large kibbles in small mouth means that each bit may not get properly bitten and these large unchewed chunks may not get digested in the stomach. Hence, food size should be checked at all times before buying.
Nothing stays forever and so does your Jack Russell’s diet as it gets older. Each and every life stage of your JRT will require certain type of ingredient requirement. For instance, a young JRT will need a high protein diet that will improve its physique and enhance its growth.
The recommended protein content is at least 24% of all the ingredients according to Honest Whiskers. Besides, JRTs are also susceptible to hypoglycemia or “hypo” which results in an unusual extreme drop in blood sugar level. For this, they need ample amount of carbohydrates thattends to reduce the chances of hypo occurring.
Brown rice or barley are great sources of carbohydrates and a common ingredient used in many local dog foods. If you are worried that grains may trigger your dog’s allergy, then you can choose grain-free carbohydrate sources such as potatoes and peas.
Fibers are also another important ingredient for the digestive system of Jack Russells. They help to prevent constipation andhelps to cure diarrhea by improving the stool texture of the dog..
Coconut and beet pulp are excellent sources of high-quality fiber. Most of the JRTs are prone to allergies and exhibit sensitive skin issues. Therefore, they will need an ample amount of omega-3 and 6 fatty acids which facilitate natural oil production in the skin.
Additionally, fatty acids also help JRTs’ cognitive development as well as prevent cardiovascular diseases such as pulmonic stenosis, a common inherited disease which occurs when the pulmonary valve inside the heart narrows down. Hence, it is recommended that fat content of the dog food contains at least 10% and a maximum of 20% fat content.
Also, Jack Russells requires certain vitamins and minerals for its overall health development. Calcium and Phosphorus are two of these important ingredients that are needed for your JRT’s skeletal system as it enhances bone growth. The correct amount, as assigned by AAFCO, of these should be fed to your dog.
Blueberries and tomatoes are great sources of vitamins and minerals and also contains antioxidants that protect tissue damage caused by protein-digesting free radicals. Lack of vitamins might become detrimental for your JRT as many of them usually inherits glaucoma, cataracts, and primary lens luxation (PLL). Vitamin-A is crucial in solving this problem and can be found in meat organs such as livers.
So, with all these variables of diet into play, it is pretty common that pet owners may not choose the right dog food. However, with our carefully researched top 6 dog foods for your Jack Russells, you can put away all your worries! The feeds in our list provides all the necessary ingredients needed for your dog’s long-term healt. You can easily find these foods in any local pet store or on the Amazon website. So, without any further delay, let us get to it.
Table of Contents
Blue Buffalo Life Protection Small Breed Adult Chicken Dog Food
The top position of our list goes to Blue Buffalo Life Protection Small Breed Adult Chicken Dog Food because of its overall composition of all nutrients and is considered the best dog food for Jack Russells. This recipe can be fed to JRTs of any life stage; however, it does specialize on adult ones.
The recipe contains a distinct formula made specially for young JRTs and offers small-sized kibbles with 397 Kcal per serving. Thus, its high-calorie-packed serving provides the optimum energy needed for your JRT to function properly.
Besides, high calories work well with their stomach as their metabolism rate is high.
The primary sources of high-quality protein are deboned chicken and chicken meal, make up 26% of all the ingredients, thus going over the minimum threshold protein limit of 24%.
These two sources are perfect for JRT foods as they are high in protein, with relatively lower saturated fat content.
Besides, plenty of glucosamine is found in chicken that improves the bone and joint condition of your dog. It also significantly reduces the chances of dysplasia developing, which is a common phenomenon among the JRT dogs.
Additionally, this recipe also contains important fats such as natural Omega-3 and 6 fatty acids extracted from flaxseed and fresh Menhaden fish meal. These acids help the skin produce its own natural oil and improve your dog’s skin and coat formation.
In addition to all these, the formula also contains high-quality complex carbohydrates originating from oatmeal and brown rice which helps to prevent hypoglycemia and provides your dog the energy it needs to carry on its daily activities. This recipe comes in various shapes and sizes, starting from a 5-lb bag of $16.98 to a 15-lb bag of $16.98
Merrick Grain-Free Real Texas Beef & Sweet Potato Puppy Food
The #2 position on our list goes to Merrick Grain-Free Real Texas Beef & Sweet Potato Puppy Food. As the name suggests, this recipe specializes in making dog foods for your puppy dogs.
As we have mentioned before, your puppy Jack Russells require a high-calorie special nutritional requirement that must be met in order to ensure long-term healthiness.
This is exactly what Merrick’s recipe offers as a high-quality premium protein, 75% of which comes directly from animals.
The primary ingredient is the deboned beef, which has the largest protein composition of 28% and is considered sufficient enough to enhance your puppy’s healthy growth.
It also contains a relatively lower fat content of 15% and provides almost 400Kcal per serving, making it a high-calorie nutritional recipe.
Besides, the whitefish meal provides DHA and omega-3 fatty acids, which ensures healthy coat and skin development, in addition to eye coordination and cognitive development.
Another important ingredient is the Turkey meal that acts as a rich source of chondroitin and glucosamine, which is essential for your puppies’ joint and bone development and prevents future risk of developing arthritis.
Additionally, the recipe provides important vitamins and minerals such as calcium and phosphorous that further improve the skeletal system of the puppy. The price range of this product starts from a 4-lb bag of $21.99 to a 22-lb bag of $64.98.
Nutro Natural Choice Senior Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe Dry Dog Food
Nutro’s natural choice recipe takes the #3 position in our list. It focuses mainly on providing the correct nutrition to senior JRTs as the name suggests.
The key features of this recipe are that it does not allow for GMOs, wheat, corn, and soy and so, is a perfect dog food for your Jack Russell with sensitive stomach issues or allergies.
Although Jack Russells are prone to being overweight during the earlier stages of their lives, their higher metabolism rate eventually catch up in the later part of their lives, causing them to lose weight faster than ever.
Thus, a high-calorie special formula like Nutro’s recipe provides exactly what you need. Its whole chicken meat ingredient accounts for 25% of the total protein content and is a rich source of glucosamine followed by an additional 1.2% calcium content, which does an excellent job improving the bone and joint condition of your dog.
As your dog gets older, the glucosamine and calcium will ensure that the risk of developing arthritis is minimized. Additionally, this recipe also contains dried beet pulp that improves your senior JRT’s stomach by providing healthy bacteria.
In addition to all these, the recipe also contains antioxidants extracted from coconut, dried pumpkin, tomatoes, and vegetables. Apart from its main function of improving
digestion, it also enhances the old immune system of your senior dog and thus prevents life-threatening diseases from occurring.
The only downside that it has is its different taste and smell from other recipes. This kind of offsets many senior dogs and they may not take a single bite.
However, it varies greatly for each dog. In fact, this recipe is a pretty good choice as our survey has showed that almost 93% of this recipe users have recommended it. The price range of this product starts from a 13-lb bag of $26.98 to a 30-lb bag of $47.00.
Purina ONE SmartBlend Small Bites Beef And Rice Dry Dog Food
The #4 position in our list goes to Purina ONE SmartBlend Small Bites Beef And Rice Dry Dog Food. This recipe is considered as the most economical dog food for your Jack Russells because of its amazing value for price ranges.
The feature that makes this recipe trustworthy to pet owners is the product is the most scientifically researched of all dog foods.
This amazing all-in-one package contains some animal proteins that some of the big renowned recipes lack. The key feature of this ingredient is its unique formula that fuses superfoods like peas and carrots together. The primary ingredient of this recipe is real beef, which makes up for the recipe’s 26% protein content.
Thus, this more than high-protein content along with other densely packed proteins like chicken by-product meals, ensures a strong cardiovascular system and a well-built muscular physique. The by-product also provides glucosamine and chondroitin, which ensure healthy bone and joint condition for your dog.
Contrary to other dog foods, this recipe contains garlic oil, which uniquely provides support to the liver, the immune system, and the heart. This small amount of garlic oil ensures that any cholesterol or fat accumulation does not occur in the heart of your JRT.
Our investigation has showed that this recipe has significantly enhanced some dogs’ performances and the picky dogs’ appetites have greatly improved. The price range of this product starts from a 16.5-lb pack of $29.58 to a 31.1-lb pack of $46.28.
Solid Gold Mighty Mini Gut Health Small & Toy Breed Dog Food
The #5 position goes to Solid Gold Mighty Mini Gut Health Small & Toy Breed Dog Food. This is the only dog food for your Jack Russell that will provide premium ingredients.
Almost every pet owner wants the best food for their dogs and that is exactly what Solid Gold provides in their recipe.
This premium product provides the exact level of energy needed for your JRT to function properly as it provides a high-calorie diet of 450Kcal per serving.
Besides, the complex carbohydrates extracted from peas and sweet potatoes ensure high energy as well as better digestion for your dog. The primary protein ingredient is the lean whole chicken meat that accounts for 30% of the protein content of the recipe.
Hence, your dog will have improved physique as well as good joint condition because of the glucosamine and chondroitin of this recipe. Additionally, this recipe contains externally added probiotics that improves the digestive system of your dog by helping them to breakdown the food easily.
Even though this food improves the overall condition of your JRT, it still has a high content of peas. This is extremely harmful if your JRT has a history of allergies and thus, this product does not suit all dogs. The price range starts from a 4-lb bag of $14.06 to a 11-lb bag of $31.63.
CANIDAE PURE Small Breed Grain-Free Salmon Dry Dog Food
Last but not least, the #6 position in our list goes to CANIDAE PURE Small Breed Grain-Free Salmon Dry Dog Food. This dog food specializes in providing the balanced nutrition your dogs need while ensuring all allergy causing ingredients are excluded.
Unlike the other dog foods, this recipe is only composed of only 8 ingredients. As we have discussed before, Jack Russells are at constant risk of developing sensitive stomach and unfortunately there is not any permanent solution to this.
However, proper dietary control can greatly reduce such problem and Canidae’s product ensures that.
Proteins usually contain the highest number of allergens, so salmon fish is the prime protein ingredient here that relatively contains lower number of allergens and makes up 24% of the protein content of the recipe.
The salmon meat also has a special ability which helps the dog to generate natural skin oil. It also contains high amount of omega-3 fatty acids extracted from fish ingredients that ensure proper skin texture and coat formation of your dog and prevent dry skin.
In addition to all these, the garbanzo seeds, lentils, and peas in it ensure a better digestive system. They also provide the energy needed to maintain the high metabolism rate without the use of grains.
This product has the most positive reviews and even the pickiest dogs have become a fan of this product. The price range of this recipe starts from a 4-lb bag of $19.99 to a 10-lb bag of $38.99.
Conclusion
Each and every Jack Russell is different from one another and so they may have their respective choices regarding feeds. In the end, it depends upon your budget as well as on your dogs’ requirements as you have seen that Jack Russells require special diet and care at all times. Our list
consists of a ranking system based on our investigation of each product’s merits and demerits and so, you have to correctly choose the one based on your dog’s age, underlying conditions, and appetite while also keeping the availability and your budget in check.
