Dog Community

What Should I Advise My Friend?

Posted : 8/12/2012 10:14:39 PM

Lately I have been reading quite a bit about feeding a dog different types of diets. Now, I have no idea what to tell my friend to feed her 3 year old bulldog. My dog eats naturally (a mixture of organic store bought dry food and wet food and food that I cook myself), but my friend has been hesitant to make the switch from regular dog food from the store. I give her my reasons, but she thinks I'm taking things over the top.

The problem is that there just seems to be so many different opinions and so many different ideas and theories about what is the best type of diet for a dog.

So, I guess I am really just looking for input at this point. I know there are some of you out there who have at least experimented with different types of diets for your dog. I would really love to hear from people who have switched over to a natural type of dog food and those who are currently using a raw food type of diet. Do your dogs seem to respond better to these types of diets? What has the experience been like overall? Also, what kind of advice would you give to someone who is just getting started with these types of feedings?

Also, I would like to know if there are things that I should NOT do as I attempt to explore these various options in your opinion?

lakalakadaka16

Posted : 8/12/2012 10:39:31 PM

I wish I could be of some help... we feed our dogs a variety of different dog foods (which I know is bad, but my parents buy the food, and we can't afford the organic food/wet food/the good stuff. Haha. We go from Purina, to Ol' Roy, to a few others. Whatever your friend switches to, just make sure that they revert slowly, mix the new stuff in the old stuff so they can get used to it, so it doesn't cause any problems.

griffinej5

Posted : 8/12/2012 10:46:33 PM

One of the persuading reasons I think for a lot of people, if they see no health issues in their dogs, could be price. Often times, upgrading to a higher quality food means the dog needs less. We showed this to a friend of my mom's the other day for her cat when we happened to see her in Petsmart. We flipped over the bags, showed her the ingredients in the Science Diet she was using, and helped her look for something without corn or by products. She ended up picking a grain free food. She realized when she saw the cat would need about half as much food a day according to the package (which is often an over estimate) that this food would actually cost her less. She was happy, and I'm sure the cat will be happy.

I'm actually allergic to dogs and cats. I sleep with one dog in my bed, and the other on the floor beside it. I do have an air filter, but that is a recent addition. I can't do this with dogs on low quality food. If I get around dogs or cats on junky food, I feel it so bad. I am always slightly congested, but get me around a Pedigree or an Alpo dog, I just about scratch my skin till it bleeds. Our cat lays on my laundry if I leave the dryer open. I never touch her food or feed her, but when my mom changed her food once to something a little cheaper, I actually went out and bought her the better food back because I could feel it right away.

oranges81

Posted : 8/13/2012 2:25:22 AM

The final factor is how the dog reacts to the food. I feed my three prey model raw diet, my roommate feeds her little dog EVO and my senior guy gets Alpo. I tried to switch him to something better, and he couldn't handle it. When he came to me, he was pedigree and pulled out his fur and had actually chewed a hole in his hip. On Alpo, he looks amazing. Don't ask me why or how, but it works for him.

Freedom

Posted : 8/13/2012 7:56:10 AM

I think rather that persuade your friend, educate her. Give her links so she can start some research and make choices herself.

For me, reading reviews on here: http://dogfoodanalysis.com/ was a huge learning curve. I suggest folks read a few 6 star, then read a few 2 star foods. This is something they can do a few at a time, not be inundated with data. It gets you to thinking about what you are feeding, and whether or not it is nutritious.

For me, having a ton of sites with lots of reading is a turn off, I don't have a big block of time. So this worked well for me.