Your choice in dog food?

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.

We raw-feed, but prior to that, we used Kirkland's signature brand, which is highly rated and affordable.

I feed my puppy either Acana or Origen...both only the grain free ones...

I don't feed her any grain based dog food.

This might be helpful:

HOW TO RATE YOUR DOG'S FOOD
(some brands are already rated at the end)

Start with 100 points.

1. For every listing of "by-product," subtract 10 points.

2. For every nonspecific animal source ("meat" or "poultry," meat, meal, or fat) reference, subtract 10 points.

3. If the food contains BHA, BHT, or ethoxyquin, subtract 10 points.

4. For every grain "mill run" or nonspecific grain source, subtract 5 points.

5. If the same grain ingredient is used two or more times in the first five ingredients (i.e. "ground brown rice," "brewer's rice," "rice flour" are all the same grain), subtract 5 points.

6. If the protein sources are not meat meal and there are less than 2 meats in the top 3 ingredients, subtract 3 points.

7. If it contains any artificial colorants, subtract 3 points.

8. If it contains ground corn or whole grain corn, subtract 3 points

9. If corn is listed in the top 5 ingredients, subtract 2 more points.

10. If the food contains any animal fat other than fish oil, subtract 2 points.

11. If lamb is the only animal protein source (unless your dog is allergic to other protein sources), subtract 2 points.

12. If it contains soy or soybeans, subtract 2 points.

13. If it contains wheat (unless you know that your dog isn't allergic to wheat), subtract 2 points.

14. If it contains beef (unless you know that your dog isn't allergic to beef), subtract 1 point.

15. If it contains salt, subtract 1 point.

EXTRA CREDIT

1. If any of the meat sources are organic, add 5 points.

2. If the food is endorsed by any major breed group or nutritionist, add 5 points.

3. If the food is baked (not extruded), add 5 points.

4. If the food contains probiotics, add 3 points.

5. If the food contains fruit, add 3 points.

6. If the food contains vegetables (NOT corn or other grains), add 3 points.

7. If the animal sources are hormone-free and antibiotic-free, add 2 points.

8. If the food contains barley, add 2 points.

9. If the food contains flax seed oil (not just the seeds), add 2 points.

10. If the food contains oats or oatmeal, add 1 point.

11. If the food contains sunflower oil, add 1 point.

12. For every different specific animal protein source (other than the first one -- count "chicken" and "chicken meal" as only one protein source, but "chicken" and " " as 2 different sources), add 1 point.

13. If it contains glucosamine and chondroitin, add 1 point.

14. If the vegetables have been tested for pesticides and are pesticide-free, add 1 point.


94-100+ = A
86-93 = B
78-85 = C
70-77 = D
<70 = F

FOODS ALREADY SCORED

Authority Harvest Baked / Score 116 = A+
Bil-Jac Select / Score 68 = F
Blue Buffalo / Score 114 = A+
Canidae All Life Stages Chicken & Rice / Score 94 = A
Canidae All Life Stages Lamb & Rice / Score 101 = A+
Canidae Platinum / Score 91 = B
Chicken Soup Senior / Score 115 = A+
Diamond Maintenance / Score 64 = F
Diamond Lamb Meal & Rice / Score 92 = B
Diamond Large Breed 60+ Formula / Score 99 = A
**** Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra Premium / Score 122 = A+
**** Van Patten's Duck and Potato / Score 106 = A+
Doctors Foster and Smith Adult Chicken & Brown Rice Formula / Score 101 = A+
Doctors Foster and Smith Adult Lamb & Brown Rice Formula / Score 102 = A+
Eagle Pack Holistic Select Large & Giant Breed Adult Formula / Score 101 = A+
Eagle Pack Super Premium Large & Giant Breed Puppy Formula / Score 97 = A
Eagle Pack Super Premium Natural Formula / Score 96 = A
Eukanuba Large Breed Puppy Formula / Score 82 = B
Foundations / Score 106 = A+
Hund-n-Flocken Adult Dog (lamb) by Solid Gold / Score 93 = B
Iams Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Premium / Score 73 = D
Innova Dog / Score 114 = A+
Innova Evo /Score 114 = A+
Kirkland Signature Chicken, Rice, and Vegetables (Costco brand) / Score 110 = A+
Nature's Recipe Lamb Meal & Rice / Score 96 = A
Nature's Variety Chicken Meal & Brown Rice Medley / Score 111 = A+
Nutrisource Lamb and Rice / Score 87 = B
Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy / Score 87 = B
Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Adult / Score 86 = B
Nutro Max Large Breed Adult / Score 85 = C
Pet Gold Adult with Lamb & Rice / Score 23 = F
Premium Edge Chicken, Rice & Vegetables / Score 111 = A+
Premium Edge Lamb, Rice & Vegetables / Score 110 = A+
Premium Edge Puppy Large Breed Lamb, Rice & Vegetable / Score 104 = A+
ProPlan Natural Turkey & Barley / Score 103 = A+
Purina Beneful / Score 17 = F
Purina Dog / Score 62 = F
Purina Come-n-Get It / Score 16 = F
Royal Canin Bulldog / Score 100 = A+
Royal Canin Large Breed Giant Adult Formula / Score 95 = A
Royal Canin Natural Blend Adult / Score 106 = A+
Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice / Score 97 = A
Science Diet Advanced Protein Senior 7+ / Score 63 = F
Science Diet for Large Breed Puppies / Score 69 = F
Wellness Fish & Sweet Potato (for skin & coat issues) / Score 108 = A+
Wellness Super5 Mix Chicken / Score 110 = A+
Wolfking Adult Dog (bison) by Solid Gold / Score 97 = A

I feed my dog Purina One Beyond (chicken and oats). I did a LOT of research before I decided on it. Not as good as the pricey 'healthy' ones, but not as bad as most. After a year, he seems to be doing just fine!

I give him a 1/4 C. in the morning, with 1T. cooked chicken breast and 1 T. cooked frozen peas. For dinner he gets another 1/4 C. and 1 T. cooked ground beef and 1 T. cooked frozen petite green beans. He gets apples, cucumber, cantalope, etc. for a lot of his treats for training. NO JUNK FOOD FOR HIM OR ME!

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 you 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*

By the way. . . protein may have many ramifications but gaining weight is not one of them. If you want your pet to lose weight put them on a grain free diet that is high in good animal protein. It slims them down like nothing.
He suggested Iams weight control because it is absolutely chock full of fillers so the dog can eat lots without gaining weight - ie. the dog feels full. When you calculate how much of it you have to feed it ends up being much more expensive than a high quality food. It can be very hard on some dogs to be on a restricted diet (ie. only 3 cups instead of 8) and sometimes people feed the weight control ones so they can give there dogs tons of it, but it just gets pooped out the other end with no benefit except to let the dog eat lots and not beg so much.

I feed my dogs Purina One. It is an okay food as far as the big brand foods go, and not too hard on the wallet, especially since between the five of them they go through a 40 lb. bag in a week. Even my great dane with the sensitive stomach seems to tolerate it well. I only use treats as training tools - they don't need treats the way we think of them - they have no concept of the notion of a 'treat' in the way most of us think of them.

I'm another one that cooks for my dog. Rice, ground beef, mashed frozen peas, nutritional yeast, joint supplement and mineral premix. My previous dog lived until she was nearly 17 on this diet, and my present guy is nearly 15 and just starting to show his age. Pretty inexpensive, and once you get into a routine, not that much effort.

I know there are many raw fans out there, but though raw food folk will deny it, it is a very risky thing for both you and your dog. Doesn't take a lot of salmonella to make either of you seriously sick.

My dogs get Acana. If you buy anything that you can get at Walmart, a grocery store etc, its the equivalent of feeding your dog McDonalds or Burger King everyday. Look at the ingredients on the bag, does most of that look like food to you? Check out dogfoodanalysis com, very informative.