Pet Food Sherpa offers a more structured methodology than most pet food blogs — FDA recall data and AAFCO nutrient comparisons are legitimate inputs — but its "customer experience" scores are aggregated from Amazon and Chewy, the same retailers that pay it affiliate commissions, and the proprietary ingredient scoring system cannot be independently verified.
What it's really for Helps pet owners compare commercial pet foods via a proprietary algorithmic score; generates affiliate revenue when readers click through to purchase on partner retailer sites.
What our grade covers The grade on this page is about Dog and cat food recipes scored on ingredient quality, recall history, nutrition, price, customer experience, and manufacturing method, not everything the site does.
Medium Scoring Confidence Mostly sourced, but a detail or two still needs a primary source, so the grade could shift slightly.
Pet Food Sherpa's affiliate disclosure page names Amazon, Chewy, Walmart, Petco, PetFlow, and Healthy Paws as commission partners. The site earns a commission when readers click through and purchase. Critically, Chewy and Amazon retailer ratings are also inputs to the "customer experience" scoring dimension, meaning the same retailers that generate affiliate revenue also supply a scoring input — a structural conflict the site does not address directly.
Source →- Operating since
- 2019 (7 years) · source
- What it costs you
- Free to read The reviews are free to read.
- How they make money
- Affiliate commissions from Amazon, Chewy, Walmart, Petco, PetFlow, and Healthy Paws pet insurance; no paid placements or sponsored reviews disclosed.
- What they do
- Runs a searchable database of 5,000+ dog and cat food products across 500+ brands, scoring each recipe on six data-derived metrics: ingredient quality (proprietary 4-point classification system built with veterinary input), recall history (FDA database), nutrient value (vs. AAFCO standards), customer experience (aggregated retailer ratings from Chewy and Amazon), price (within-category comparison), and manufacturing method. A DVM veterinary nutritionist is listed as a contributor to the ingredient classification system.
- What to watch for
- No hands-on feeding trials or lab testing are described anywhere in the methodology. Customer experience scores are pulled from Amazon and Chewy ratings, which are vendor-hosted and gameable. The ingredient classification system and score weighting are proprietary and not fully reproducible by an outside party. The site participates in affiliate programs for several of the retailers whose ratings it aggregates (Amazon, Chewy, Petco), creating a structural overlap between its data sources and its revenue partners.
- Composite score
- 2.90 / 5.00 → grade B-
How the grade was reached
Does the site take money from the very entities it ranks? Pay-for-placement, vendor-funded data, and affiliate commissions all pull this down. The less the ranking can be bought, the higher the score.
What is the ranking actually built on? Hands-on testing scores highest, then verified first-hand reviews, then opinion or popularity surveys and self-reported figures, then pay-to-rank, which scores lowest.
Is the methodology published, specific, and reproducible? Can a reader see how a given rank was reached, or is it a black box?
Are commercial relationships, sponsorships, and affiliate arrangements disclosed clearly and near the rankings themselves, rather than buried?
How hard is it to game? Controls against fake reviews, solicited reviews, and vendor gaming raise this; an open box anyone can stuff lowers it.
Evidence
- Pet Food Sherpa's affiliate disclosure page names Amazon Associates, Chewy, Walmart, Petco, PetFlow, and Healthy Paws as commission partners, and states the site receives 'a small commission if you travel to the vendor website via affiliated links and make a purchase.' Source: Pet Food Sherpa Affiliate Disclosure →
- The rating methodology page describes six scoring dimensions including 'Customer Experience,' which aggregates ratings from Chewy and Amazon — both of which are also affiliate revenue partners. No disclosure connects these two facts. Source: Pet Food Sherpa Rating Methodology →
- The about page lists Zara Boland DVM as a veterinary nutritional expert contributor and describes a 4-point ingredient classification system, but the specific weights and thresholds used in the composite score are not published. Source: Pet Food Sherpa About Page →
- The affiliate disclosure states the site does not accept free product samples or payment for reviews, and that affiliate links are added only after independently selecting products. Source: Pet Food Sherpa Affiliate Disclosure →