Your choice in dog food?

CarleyLovesPets

My boyfriend owns a specialty pet food and supply store. He says Purina, Pedigree, Beneful, and Science Diet are the worst. He sells only the natural stuff like Orijen (his favorite), Acana, Honest Kitchen, Blue Buffalo, EVO, Innova, Wellness, etc. He is a member on MFP. If anyone is interested in messaging him directly about particular dog foods, here you go:http://www.myfitnesspal.com/messages/new/8185836

I would want to shop at this pet store.
If I had my own pet store I would do the exact same thing.

ki4yxo

We feed our dog Beneful. She's 12 years old,
and still going strong.

PaleoPath4Lyfe

I would love to be a client at your vet clinic. I told my vet to let me worry about my dogs nutrition and so he now remains quiet.

We own a vet clinic (DH is a vet) and we recommend raw diets. *G* I do bravo because good sources and it is the cheapest if y

ou buy it in 20lb chubs. Nature's Variety instinct we like a lot (no grains and good quality meats), but we are really just big proponents of grain free. Then pastured/grass fed and then organic, but grassfed is more important than the organic because organic does not mean much beyond certain chemical and such limitations.
Even better, we raise our own chickens, pigs, beef and milk a cow so they get the best of both worlds.
Taste of the wild is great.

The person who works in a vet clinic and says purino pro, iams, science diet and such are good - which vet clinic are you at so we know to avoid it. . Seriously, science diet is one of the most disgusting filler loaded garbage dog food I have ever read ingredients on. By products, beet pulp, and should be priced at Ol Roy level for the nutrition in it. Our liver, kidney and renal dogs have done great since going off it . . . the guy in the white coat on the bag is what sells it. Plus the fact that through 4 years of vet school science diet gives all the vet students free dog and cat food (when you can't afford to have pets they make it so you can). . . oh and they also gave us free pizza every Friday and subs the rest of the year. They figure they'll have loyalty then and it works - all the vet clinics sell it like it is a good product.
Who not to trust with animal nutrition . . . vets are given zero nutrition training and the one course we had in vet school, the large text book was put out by . . . tada Science Diet . . . there's unbiased nutritional education. Vets know squat about nutrition if they go on what they are taught during vet school. So if you go to a vet who says diet makes no difference and that you can have a healthy pet regardless of what you feed . . . run the other way and find somebody who has actually done some research!

By changing pets diets we have been able to eliminate insulin shots, kidney failure, liver blood work goes down, allergy dogs get better - there really isn't much that isn't changed with good diet.
Having said that, we know that we all have only so much money for food, so I would say taste of the wild is one of the better priced grain free diets. Watch the switch - high protein can make them constipated if they are used to fillers. But in our experience dogs that switch use about 1/3rd less the kibble than on the other things. Another plus is how much less poop there is to scoop *G*

Zombielicious

Thank you @Justa_Paperbag...that list is awesome! I usually use Nutro, but with a B rating I guess it's time to move up...

snrose

I work in a veterinary clinic, and we get this kind of question all the time. There are a lot of "fru fru' dog foods out there that claim to be nutritional, healthy, and delicious. The new refrigerated kinds of foods are a big fad right now. However, we try and steer our patients away from such foods. Iams, Purina, Eukanuba, and Hill's are all wonderful foods. You don't need anything special or pricey. Purina puppy chow is a perfectly fine food for your new puppy. Good luck, and remember that everything you do with your puppy is part of it's training.

Don't listen to this. vet offices are paid to push these products (especially science diet), i assure you.

PaleoPath4Lyfe

I work in a veterinary clinic, and we get this kind of question all the time. There are a lot of "fru fru' dog foods out there that claim to be nutritional, healthy, and delicious. The new refrigerated kinds of foods are a big fad right now. However, we try and steer our patients away from such foods. Iams, Purina, Eukanuba, and Hill's are all wonderful foods. You don't need anything special or pricey. Purina puppy chow is a perfectly fine food for your new puppy. Good luck, and remember that everything you do with your puppy is part of it's training.

These are the Vet offices I try to stay away from.

There is nothing healthy about Iams, Purina, Hill's etc.

Purina is the WORST. I can't believe a vet tech is actually advocating feeding Purina Puppy Chow to a growing pup that needs MEAT, not grains and other fillers.

taralc1

I feed Taste of The Wild. My male saint has a tummy issues, and this works for him.

RealWomenLovePitbulls

Our doggie eats Blue Buffalo Chicken and Rice Puppy - he will switch to adult food on the next bag tho - it's not cheap, but he has a very sensitive tummy and is finicky (we tried to switch him to one that was the same brand and flavor, but with more of certain nutrients, and he shunned it) and he also can't have anything with corn or corn meal, etc in it. I'm actually nervous about switching him to the adult formula, even though we will stick with the same brand, he's really stubborn!
oh, p.s. he's a Pitbull puppy 8 and 1/2 months, and the vet said after 9 months, switch him to adult formula or he will get chubby!

zestyzaftig

I'm another one that cooks for my dog.

Pretty inexpensive, and once you get into a routine, not that much effort.

The routine is about what made me give up, but I'm so glad I didn't. It took about 2-3 weeks for me to get into the "groove" of preparing his meals daily.

Edited to add: YES, very inexpensive. I spend about $15 per month to feed my Doxie, whereas specialty organic foods can easily cost upwards of $35.

DsAdvocate

Kirkland regular food. Thinking of switching to the grain free one.

PuddinPop1

We feed our two Newfs Purina Pro Plan...never had a problem!

zeebruhgirl

Nature's Recipe adult lamb and rice.

Its the only food that keeps my Corgi svelt and at a perfect weight :]
It also gave my Chihuahua an AMAZING coat.

I wouldn't feed them anything else.

kat5556

I have 3 dogs and my oldest has digestive issues and skin problems - he's almost 18 years old. I feed Natural Balance Limited Ingredients Lamb flavor and for treats they get Per Guard My Pugsley (the grain base is organic quinoa) and they all do great on it. Oh, any my oldest is almost 18 pounds and for a 65 lb dog that's doing pretty good!!

carey593

Raw. Less expensive than kibble, and easy to do. No skin problems, his coat is so shiny he glows in pictures, no stomach issues, and it's a species appropriate diet.

Also, most dogs aren't allergic to chicken.....they're allergic to the processed, immunogically unrecognizable substance labeled a chicken in kibble.

Liasings

Both of my dogs were on Iams when I got them. Horrible flatulence, ploppy poopies, and my female would go days without eating. After much research, I decided on Chicken Soup For The Dog's Lover's Soul-Adult Light. Now my girlie dances and runs when I put the bowl down. My male has a very, VERY delicate tum, so to keep him on track, they get a pumpkin "cookie" twice a day. (Cream of Rice and canned 100% pumpkin, mixed, squished, and baked)

As far as treats, Sophie ADORES chicken (Luke eats mulch-he's easy to please), so I tend to get high-end chicken treats. I spend a a lot of time and money to keep these dogs GI tracts percolating properly.

...aaaand my husband feeds them Doritos.:noway:

BTW-I used to work for a vet in the '80s, we put our cats on Science Diet and they did marvelously. I do question the corn content.

SherryTeach

Organix by Castor and Pollux. First ingredient: organic chicken. Also includes peas, salmon, quinoa, egg, flaxseed, blueberries, apples, carrots, broccoli, pumpkin, and pears. No corn or artificial coloring.

I've also used Wellness and Merrick, which are excellent choices, but my picky Havanese didn't like them very well.

You can can look at dog food reviews at dogfoodanalysis.com, which rates and reviews most of the brands and lists all the ingredients and gives opinions on why you would or would not want to use them.

SherryTeach

I work in a veterinary clinic, and we get this kind of question all the time. There are a lot of "fru fru' dog foods out there that claim to be nutritional, healthy, and delicious. The new refrigerated kinds of foods are a big fad right now. However, we try and steer our patients away from such foods. Iams, Purina, Eukanuba, and Hill's are all wonderful foods. You don't need anything special or pricey. Purina puppy chow is a perfectly fine food for your new puppy. Good luck, and remember that everything you do with your puppy is part of it's training.

These are the Vet offices I try to stay away from.

There is nothing healthy about Iams, Purina, Hill's etc.

Yes, Purina Puppy Chow is mostly by products, CORN, and chemicals. I would never feed that crap to my dog.

Purina is the WORST. I can't believe a vet tech is actually advocating feeding Purina Puppy Chow to a growing pup that needs MEAT, not grains and other fillers.

cole_carter

Science diet

kaytee003

Not sure if it has been mentioned but Diamond Natural, there's no junk in it and the price is amazing. however if you can't find it near you I would go with Premium Edge

126siany

Kibble: Canidae All Life Stages or 4Health Performance + GlycoFlex III (joint supplement) and Grizzly Salmon Oil.


She's been on the joint supplement since she was 3 because she has a luxating patella. Hers wasn't bad enough that it needed surgery, but any improperly moving joint predisposes the dog to arthritis and our vet thought this supplement (along with very carefully managing her weight and exercise) could delay the arthritis. She was x-rayed at 8 and still had no arthritis.

The Grizzly Salmon Oil is for the Omega 3s, as the ones in the kibble don't survive the heat of the processing or the exposure to air once the bag is opened.

Treats:

-She gets one or two small-dog IAMS biscuits per day.
-Zuke's Mini-Naturals
-Sometimes a little yogurt or cottage cheese or cooked eggs (raw eggs impede the absorption of biotin). Sometimes meat.
-I also have a Peanut Butter Oatmeal biscuit recipe that I make for her and we use those in place of the IAMs biscuits.