A lot of what people consider "lower quality" food is just fine for dogs. In fact, a lot of the more expensive food brands tend to use tricks to make you think they are better and contain more meat or whatever, but it's amazing how tricky they can be. Generally, meat meal has a lot more bang for your buck (and better nutrition content) than whole fresh meat. Whenever they say "whole fresh" that is wet weight. So the brands can label the food with that as the first ingredient but when dried, that "whole meat" can often amount to less than half of the meat meal. Also, whole veggies is another ploy that people often fall for. They again use amounts that allow them to label the bag to show there are lots of different things, but many veggies have no proven benefit for dogs.
That said, a "c" rating is not necessarily a bad rating as people tend to believe. It means the food contains all the necessary ingredients a dog needs to survive. Some dogs do better on certain brands than others and sometimes it is just a trial and error thing!
We've had great results with Iams food for our cats and some people hate it. Luckily there are lots of choices for all types of people! Definitely don't feel bad about using a brand others down upon. There is often nothing wrong with them!
