Rachael Ray's Nutrish

    • Gold Top Dog

    Rachael Ray's Nutrish

     My dog is just not all that interested in her dog food anymore.  I have to add chicken to it to get her to eat.  She is eating Natural Balance and her stool is great and there are no morning tummy upsets, so I am very pleased with the food.  She just doesn't seem to like it.  I know that Rachael Ray's food has to taste great, but does anyone know if it is really healthy for the dogs?  I have a friend who ran out of dog food, and picked up a bag of Nutrish and she said that it really looked appealing for the dog.  Do you think it would be best if I just switched to a different flavor of Natural Balance?  Or is it in the best interest of the dog, if I really start cooking for my dog instead of just adding pieces of chicken to dog food? 

    • Gold Top Dog

    I have not seen the ingredients on this food so I can't comment further than.....it's sold at Walmart......

    As far as homecooking, great idea, but you do need to know what you are doing so she gets everything she needs.  Calcium/phosperous balance is crucial to bone health for example.  Organ meat should avg 5% per day.  There are great canine nutritionalists who can put together a recipe for you.

    As for my own dogs....I'm not a short order cook.  They eat what they are given and they eat it in the 15-20 alloted before I take the bowl up.  If they are hungry they'll eat eventually.

    • Gold Top Dog

    Well, here is an ingredients list for the beef & brown rice formula:

    Beef, Chicken Meal, Brewers Rice, Corn Meal, Soybean Meal, Animal Fat (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Corn Gluten Meal, Brown Rice, Oatmeal, Dried Beet Pulp, Natural Flavor, Dicalcium Phosphate, Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Dehydrated Alfalfa, Dried Peas, Dried Tomatoes, Dried Carrots, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Olive Oil, Iron Oxide, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Dried Parsley, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (Source of Vitamin C), Mixed Tocopherols, Niacin, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Sodium Selenite, Vitamin A Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source of Vitamin K activity), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Potassium Iodide, Cobalt Sulfate, Folic Acid


    Meh.  Turnoffs in bold (by me).

    You could try a different flavor of NB.  Before I started feeding Orijen, I used NB.  I would rotate between three formulas of the allergy line, switching out every time I needed a new bag.  Harry was prone to loose stools and vomiting on certain foods, but I never had a problem with any of the NB formulas.  Worth a shot, anyway.  Good luck!

    • Gold Top Dog

     If I do the change to another flavor of Natural Balance, do I have to do it really slow?  

    • Gold Top Dog

    I never did.  Once one bag was done, the next bag was a different flavor.  But I always used the allergy line flavors, not the ultra or whatever.  It might depend on the dog, though.  But I will say that Harry has a sensitive tummy, and it never bothered him at all to go straight to one from another.

    • Gold Top Dog

    Um, yeah, re the ingredients....BLECH!

    • Gold Top Dog

    The ingredients are awful. It actually makes me mad that Rachel Ray is marketing it as a healthy food.

    • Gold Top Dog

    Luvntzus

    The ingredients are awful. It actually makes me mad that Rachel Ray is marketing it as a healthy food.

    Me too.  When I saw this first come out I wanted to try it, but then I saw those ingredients!  Oh my!  Doesn't she know???  She obviously loves her dog and really should be more informed if she's going to have her own line of food and call it "healthy".

    • Gold Top Dog

     

    Me to!!  I actually have lost a lot of respect for her.   So many people pick this up thinking it's great stuff for their dogs, when really it's just another poor quality food.