Eighteen dry dog foods obtained commercially in the United States were digested using microwave assisted nitric acid digestion and a simulated gastric digestion. Digests were analysed for 23 elements using inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry. Data, expressed as dry matter concentrations, were compared to published nitric acid digestion results. Nitric acid data obtained in the present study were not statistically different from published data, with the exception of Mo, Sn, Sb, Tl and Th. However, significant differences in individual intra-sample results were observed between published studies and the present work. Simulated gastric digestions demonstrated lower extraction efficiencies (