**DOG FOOD - The Owners Tell All**

It was Barking at the Moon.  I don't think you can get the stuff in regular stores or pet cos etc.  But we have a lot of specialty dog food places around. You can have it mailed to you.  Which is better on your back! LOL  30 and 40 lbs is too heavy to carry around, but gotta do this.

i just looked on their web site, and there are a couple of places that sell it here. one place i refuse to shop at, and the other i had never seen before. i just contact the second place (via email) to ask what they stock so maybe we will be giving it a try in the near future. []

i have heard and been told that iams is not the best dog food, but i am very happy with it. up until recently my dog would barely nibble his food. after we switched to iams he slowly started eating his dog food like a normal dog.i havent noticed any dryness in his coat, no strange smells, and his poop is normal, and he is neither under nor overweight. i did discover though that he will eat the whole bowl if i sit in the kitchen with him while he is eating, this may be a partial reason he is suddenly eating all of his food. everyone thinks im weird when they come over and i say i cant leave the kitchen for a few minutes because im watching my dog eat []
 
 he does still eat alot of people food though, he always gets the fat i cut off chicken breasts (no bones) and beef steaks, and little bits of burger, he eats scrambled eggs on a pretty regular basis too since my daughter never finishes them. he seems to be awfully fond of the grass that grows around the stream in our back yard too, he was never a grass eater until we moved here, but the neighbors dog mows it down too so im pretty sure it is just especially good stuff.
 
he is always super shiny and really soft, my husband says its the eggs and animal fat.
 

Well, I have a cairn who has developed severe allergies and arthritis this past year.  Here is her progression as I can remember it.
 
12 weeks - Nutro Puppy kibble
 
Hard stools (constipation sometimes), not a favorite to eat, very picky
 
6 months - 1 year - Nutro and several others I can't remember
 
stools varied, coat not wonderful, very picky eater
 
3 years - Canidae, kibble and canned
 
stools firm and great, coat much better, appetite increased, loved this food
 
9.5 years - Natures Prarie, Beef and Barley (kibble and canned)
 
Comes raw but my picky pooch won't eat it UNLESS her cousins are eating theirs which they LOVE.  Dancing occurs with the lab in anticipation of one of these treats.
 
stools great, coat better than ever, allergies and hot spots almost completely cleared up, arthritis seems better (but could be due to accupuncture), loves this food. 
 
I won't feed anything else unless this food becomes unavailable.  Right now only one place in town that carries it.  It is not anymore expensive than Canidae. 

-Name of the dog food Exceed Lamb/Rice

-Palatability Beagles eat anything lol. But they like this food quite well. Considering some dogs eat poop I'm not sure this is a real key issue lmao.

-Energy level Umm...high enough for me to have problems keeping up!

-Stool analysis poops are firm...probably 3 per day per dog? Unless I overfeed in which case it's a bit looser. My bad.

-Effect on skin and coat Both are lovely. No itchyness to report, shine on the coats is enough that people remark upon it. No flaking of the skin...no ear issues or other allergy related things.

-Overall appearance of your dog Well I think they're gorgeous of course. Nothing to complain about really...good weights and good muscle development.

-Any other assessments of this food you would like to address none aside from I wish I didn't have to have a Sam's club card to get it!

I don't have too much to contribute here because we haven't experimented much, but...
 
Currently feeding:
Nuturo Naturaly Choice Puppy Lamb & Rice Formula.  She was on the Chicken & Oatmeal formula, but the pieces are so small she just sort of inhaled the food.  She eats the Lamb slower, and switching formulas didn't result in any sort of upset stomach.  At dinner I substitue a 1/2 cup of dry kibble for 1/4 can of one of Nutro's Large Breed Puppy wet foods.
 
When we switch to adult food:
I avoid any food that has fat or corn products in the first 4 ingredients.  This actually doesn't leave a whole lot of options for food that is affordable and commercially available, hence my sticking to Nutro.  However, Costco has their own brand of adult dog food that has the same ingredients, in the same order, as Nutro Natural Choice.  So, when she's a year old we'll switch to the Costco brand... which is only $18 for a 40 lb bag!  My only challange will be how to keep 40 lbs of food fresh, since she eats about 20 lbs/month.
 
Results:
The dog loves her food, and she has a soft shiny coat, relatively compact poops, and energy level appropriate for a puppy her age.  Last weigh-in at the vet was 53 lbs, which the vet said was "perfect".  So, I figure, why change a good thing?

Chimming in late here but I thought I'd add my experiences. I'll start with my first dog that I had as an adult (after college).
 
Purina One - He liked the food fine but he had terrible skin issues, developed what looked like doggie acne.  (Reese was a Dal)
 
Nutro Lamb and Rice/and other flavors - After the switch, skin problems went away, dogs did great on this for years.  After Reese passed, our lab, Lille stayed on this food but then she started to develop skin and allergy issues.  She became very itchy (you could barely pet her) and she had almost constant yeast infections in her ears.  At this point we also had Dasher and he was itchy as were the cats who were also on Nutro.  This is where I started to do my research online and found I-Dog. []
 
Natural Balance - I made this switch about 1.5 years ago and all of Lille's skin and allergy issues have gone away and stayed away.  Dasher likes this  food as well and his coat is nice and shiney and stools are very consistant.  One of our cats however has gotten itchy so I am experimenting with Chicken Soup for the kitties.  They are fed the diet NB as one kittie is a fattie so I'm not sure if that is the issue with the itchy cat. 
 
Nature's Variety Raw - Just started adding this to Dasher's food...we shall see how he does on this.
 
 

Here's what we've tried for Zoe - she eats 1/4 cup dry in the morning and 4oz of canned in evening:
(I comment mostly on how well she liked it and what her poop was like, I haven't seen any difference in quality of coat with any of the foods)
Dry:
 
Purina Puppy Chow - this is what breeder was feeding.  Nothing really notable except a lot of poop.  Ate it enthusiastically.
Science Diet Puppy Small Bite - Zoe ate this eagerly, lots of light colored poop, firm although it actually looked like cornmeal!
Nutro Ultra - Bloody diarrhea, took her off this one after a week
Wellness - very large, voluminous soft poops, she got tired of it after a while
Innova small bites (currently feeding)- started out eating this enthusiastically but I think she's getting tired of it after about 6 months, nice small firm poops
 
Canned:
 
Wellness - loves all flavors, poops are firm
Innova - same as above
Solid Gold - same as above
Innova Evo 95% meats - diarrhea
 

For the first few years of my dog's life I didn't know any better so I fed what I though looked good based one ads. So, I fed Purina One, Pedigree sometimes, and once I bought a bag of beneful. It was the only food that made my dog uke bright colors. Seriously. When she was baout three, I started researching and switched to Nutro. She had an improved appetite.. Since then I've fed Nutro, Flint River Ranch, Canidae and Chicken Soup with success.
 
Her favorite flovered food is Flint River- if I mix it in, she picks out the FRR pieces and leaves the other. On all of the recetn foods she has a shiny coat, not a lot of poop, either. She's a 9 y.o ACD/rott mix but people always think she's very young. She is in great shape and has pretty teeth and fur.
 
The only food which I saw to cause a marked decrease in her looks/health was the new Diamond Naturals. I bought a bag a few months ago when it first came to our local feed store- after a couple of weeks her coat was dull, she seemed skinny and tired and had watery stool.  I switched back to Canidae and she's back to normal within a couple of weeks.
 
    

Everyone looking for advice on dog foods, please read this thread!!! []

I'll make this short and sweet:

Science Diet Puppy Lamb & Rice - disinterested; 6-8 soft stools per day

Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lover's Soul - liked it; down to 4 firm stools per day; good coat & growth

Canidae all life stages - would not eat a single bite

Solid Gold Millenium Beef & Barley - liked it; good poop (2-3x day); good coat but skin a little dry/itchy, fine when supplemented w/ salmon oil

Innova regular adult - likes it; good poop (2x day); beautiful coat; still on it!

I'll add my comments . . . even if its only on one food.  So what this means for the following is that I have no comparison, but in any case . . . .

Innova Puppy Dry: Winston loves it, energy is good, coat looks great, stools are nice and firm. He does get some eye boogers though.

Edited to add (3/28/07)

Nature's Variety Beef and Barley: Ate it just fine, but itching, redness, and foot gnawing increased big time . . . eye boogers got a lot worse.  Suspecting a Barley sensitivity.

Eagle Pack Holistic Chicken and Rice: Hates it . . . skipped meals for the first time in his life, even if it was topped with something.  Tried this as it doesn't contain barley and the itching has decreased slong with the redness.  I'm going to re-introduce barely to see what happens . . . .

ORIGINAL: Shohin

I'll add my comments . . . even if its only on one food.  So what this means for the following is that I have no comparison, but in any case . . . .

Innova Puppy Dry: Winston loves it, energy is good, coat looks great, stools are nice and firm. He does get some eye boogers though.

I read somewhere (can't recall where) that any type of air fresheners or cleaners can make dogs get eye boogers too, just a fyi.

When I brought April home, the breeder sent Purina food home with her, but April didn't eat it.
 
She was on Nutro for a long time and then all of a sudden stopped eating it.
 
Then she was on Chicken Soup for awhile and never liked it that much.
 
She was always a picky eater.
 
She has now been on Innova Evo for about 6 months and loves it eats it all, first time ever.
 
The only thing is she has put on weight on it and she only eats once a day and only about a cup. 
 
April will be 7 in Feb. when do you change your dogs food to adult food?

April will be 7 in Feb. when do you change your dogs food to adult food?

I would say at around 6 months, but some people prefer to feed an "All Life Stages" food right from the beginning. It's really up to you...