When it comes to feeding a smaller dog, it’s possible to find food tailored to their specific nutritional needs. Cesar is one such brand of dog food.

Part of Mars, Inc, Cesar produces a massive range of dog food designed for small to medium-sized breeds. This is mostly wet, although there are a few fresh and dry options, too. All these are sold in packaging adorned with an image of the brand’s mascot, a super-cute West Highland Terrier.

Enough about the marketing, we hear you say — is Cesar dog food good or not? Wag!’s answer is yes. Sure, it might not be the best on the market (although the more premium lines are certainly close) but the majority of the offering is meaty, nutritious and pretty affordable when bought in bulk.

There are three types of Cesar wet dog food — the classic loaf in sauce, the classic loaf with a topper in sauce, and filets in gravy. These all come in small pots and can be served straight out of the packet.

All three variations are pretty similar aside from the different compositions. They’re wet dog food with real meat as the first listed ingredients and lots of meaty additions (be that organs or broth), which adds even more protein. There’s not much in the way of vegetables, but the recipe includes all of the necessary vitamins and minerals.

What’s perhaps most impressive is the huge number of options. It’s safe to say even the fussiest of dogs should find a recipe to their liking.

Although many parents would wish to share their own dinner with their pets, it’s not wise to do so as human food can be bad for canine insides. The next best alternative is dog food designed to resemble parents’ meals — that’s exactly what’ll you find in the Cesar Home Delights range.

These wet recipes are definitely on the gourmet side, with real meat always the first-listed ingredient followed by vegetables, carbs and all the vitamins and minerals a dog needs.

If you want to start your dog on a health kick, feeding them Cesar Wholesome Bowls would be a good start. The calorie count is modest, making it a dependable choice if your dog needs to lose weight.

These wet recipes also have real meat as the first listed ingredient, plus lots of nutritious vegetables, minerals and vitamins added, too. And not an artificial color, flavor or preservative in sight.

As the name would suggest, there’s a minimalism to these recipes — the ingredient lists for all are very short, consisting only of meat, vegetables and water.

This means they’re undoubtedly healthy, but lacking in many of the vitamins and minerals a healthy dog needs to function. As such, the Cesar Simply Crafted range is only intended for supplemental use — this means using it as a topper for other food, perhaps.

Compared to the huge variety of Cesar wet dog food, there are much fewer options when it comes to dry dog food — just three flavors, in fact. These each have real beef or chicken as the first listed ingredient and score a more than respectable 26% minimum crude protein.

Following on from the named meat, the ingredients take a bit of a nosedive in terms of quality — there aren’t many of the spring vegetables promised and there are a couple of inclusions that aren’t particularly welcome, like artificial colors and anonymous meat meals.

We should also point out the slightly deceptive title. Dog food companies are obliged to follow a named ingredient in the title with ‘Flavor’ if the ingredient in question can be detected by a specially trained tasting animal — the quantities of actual filet mignon in the dry Cesar filet mignon dog food will be microscopic.

Never to be left behind with a trend, Cesar launched a small range of fresh dog food called Cesar Fresh Chef in 2021. The two recipes are made with human-grade meat and vegetables, and feature no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives.

They’re pretty simple to serve as well, only requiring parents to cut up slices for their dog’s bowl and store the rest in the refrigerator. Although they don’t resemble human meals as closely as other fresh dog food, they’re still likely to rank closely when it comes to nutrition.

Parents could feed their dog a different type of Cesar dog food every day and not run out of options for more than a month. This huge range of products makes it easier to find a recipe that’s ideally suited to your pet’s needs, as well as a flavor that will have them running to their bowl come dinnertime.

Having real meat first up on the ingredient list is a big plus when it comes to Cesar dog food. This is a superb source of protein and much better than meat byproducts of dubious origin or bulky carb ingredients that serve only to keep a dog feeling full.

Although the majority of the ranges are formulated to meet the AAFCO’s nutritional requirements for adult dogs of all sizes, Cesar dog food is very much geared towards smaller breeds, particularly in terms of portion size.

The modest prices for most of the product ranges will be welcomed by parents operating on a budget. At the time of writing, it’s possible to buy pots of Cesar wet dog food at just over $1 each when purchased in bulk.

Despite having a massive range of product ranges, there’s just one Cesar dog food product formulated to meet the specific nutritional needs of puppies — hardly ideal in the event of stock shortages or your puppy turning their nose up at it.

There are only three flavors of Cesar dry dog food and the quality of these is a marked contrast to Cesar wet dog food. Yes, real meat is the first listed ingredient, but this is followed by vaguely named byproducts, lots of carbs and artificial colors. Wag! can’t recommend Cesar dry dog food in good faith.

Cesar had to recall a limited number of Cesar Filet Mignon Flavor wet dog food products in 2016 due to the risk of plastic contamination.

“This was a good choice when my little terrier had some teeth pulled. She loved all the flavors, the food is easy to serve, [and] not messy or smelly. Easy open containers. The only bad thing is she wants this over her regular food now. This will be a special treat for her.”

“Our hound dog loves Cesar classic loaf! We top off his dry food with two packets of Cesar as his special evening meal. He licks his bowl clean. The packets are easy to take along when we travel, too. The plastic container is recyclable.”

“My Goldendoodle would not eat dog food but we were fortunate enough to discover this brand. She loves it. They come in small portions but my dog loves them.”

Read more reviews at Chewy.

Cesar dog food was launched in 1989 by Mars Incorporated, a multinational family-owned company with a huge portfolio of petcare brands that also includes Royal Canin, Pedigree, Iams and Whiskas.

Mars Inc’s earliest forays were in confectionery, but the company expanded into petcare when it acquired the UK-based Chappell Brothers Ltd, a manufacturer of dog food.

In the decades since, Mars Inc has continued to acquire and launch pet food brands, as well as veterinary clinics and diagnostic centers across the world.

There has been one incident of Cesar dog food being involved in a product recall. This occurred in 2016 when the company issued a recall of Cesar Filet Mignon Flavor wet dog food with certain lot codes.

These products were recalled because there was a risk the food was contaminated during the production process with small pieces of plastic. Parents in possession of pots with the relevant lot codes were encouraged to send them back to Cesar and receive a full refund.