Small Breed Dog Food??

ORIGINAL: Lilea

I was at petsmart earlier today and there was eukanuba rep there and she showed me some small breed eukanuba dog food that looked pretty good.

While, Eukanuba is not bad, it isn't worth the money they are asking for it. 

First off it contains by products, which is hotdog meat.  Think about it.  Eating hotdog meat everyday of your life is not what I consider healthy.

Second that long word  whole grain sorgham, is another word for by product grains.  Or cheap leftovers.

Third, Brewers Rice is the cheapest rice you can buy and doesn't have a whole lot of nutrients in it, same thing with the whole grain sorgham.

Fourth,  if you really want to feed Eukanuba, save your self the money and feed Iams.  It's the same company and almost the same food.

Eukanuba Small Breed Adult:
Chicken, Chicken By-Product Meal, Corn Meal, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Brewers Rice, Chicken Fat (Preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Fish Meal, Ground Whole Grain Barley, Natural Chicken Flavor, Dried Beet Pulp (Sugar Removed), Dried Egg Product, Fish Oil (Preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Brewers Dried Yeast, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Vitamins [Vitamin E Supplement, Ascorbic Acid, Beta-Carotene, Vitamin A Acetate, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate (Source of Vitamin B1), Niacin, Riboflavin Supplement (Source of Vitamin B2), Inositol, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Source of Vitamin B6), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid], Sodium Hexametaphosphate, Flax Meal, Calcium Carbonate, Choline Chloride, Minerals [Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Potassium Iodide, Cobalt Carbonate], DL-Methionine, Rosemary Extract.

If you have no other place to buy dog food than Pet Smart, then I would buy either Royal Canin Mini or Blue Buffalo.

You may also want to go tohttp://www.eaglepack.com/Pages/HS_Chicken.html.  On that site you will find a place to search for retailers of Eagle Pack in your area.  There Holistic Chicken formula is recommended for small breeds.

Compare these ingredients to the ingredients of Eukanuba.  Without any dog nutrition knowledge you can tell which ingredients are healthier.

Eagle Pack Chicken Holistic for small breeds
Chicken Meal, Ground Brown Rice, Ground White Rice, Oatmeal, Chicken Fat (Preserved With Natural Mixed Tocopherols), Pork Meal, Dried Beet Pulp, Anchovy, Sardine & Salmon Meals, Flaxseed, Dried Egg Product, Tomato Pomace, Menhaden Fish Oil, Carrots, Peas, Sun-Cured Alfalfa, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Quinoa (Organic), Blueberries, Apples, Inulin, Beta-Carotene, Cranberries, Dehydrated Kelp, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Yucca Schidigera Extract, DL-Methionine, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, d-Pantothenic Acid, Niacin Supplement, Choline Chloride, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Biotin, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract, Inositol, Polysaccharide Complexes Of Zinc, Iron, Manganese, Copper and Cobalt, Potassium Iodate, Sodium Selenite, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei, Enterococcus faecium, B. subtilus, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus coagulins, Aspergillus oryzae, and Aspergillus niger.

Here is some info I found doing a quick search, if you have any other info about this stuff I would be happy to read it.
 
Sorghum doesnt sound that bad to me:
"Sorghum is an important part of the diets of many people in the world. It's made into unleavened breads, boiled porridge or gruel, malted beverages including beer, and specialty foods such as popped grain and syrup from sweet sorghum."
 
I don't have a problem with by-products (I don't think its hot dogs).
 
Brewers rice doesnt sound bad either:
"Broken Rice. The kernel of rice can become cracked in the field, during the drying process, or during the milling process. Cracks are usually caused by moisture migrating too quickly within the kernel (drying too fast, or moisture being added back to a dry kernel). Often these cracks cause the kernels to break during milling and so broken rice is generated. The percentage of broken kernels (relative to total milled rice) generated during milling usually ranges from 12% to 24% in the U.S. Most brokens are removed during the milling process to less than 4% in order to give the consumer a high quality rice. Broken rice tends to get mushy during cooking and makes a poor quality table rice. There are different sizes of broken kernels. With long grain rice in the south brokens are often separated into different sizes. From largest to small they are called; second heads, screenings, and brewers. In California, where the kernel is smaller to begin with, the brokens kernels are only separated into second heads and brewers."

I will probably try a bag of the eukanuba because she gave a $3 off coupon but I will be trying a few different kinds of food before I stick with one.  Blue buffalo will likely be one of them.

Oh, the eukanuba also has a bunch of extra features, I can't remember it all but one thing was its supposed to fight tarter and keep the teeth healthy.

I did want to add that Eukanuba isn't a terrible food. Actually, if you look at it you'll notice it is one of the only foods "in it's class" (meaning at large stores) that is primarily meat based.  If you go to their site, they even have a breakdown of the percentage of calories to fat, protein and carbs.  90% of the formulas are more protein based than carb based (which is more than I can say for some of the holistic dog food companies).  As long as your dog doesn't have any allergies, it is a good choice. 

Just remember that it's the rep's job to convince you to buy that food. The people here don't get anything from you taking our recommendations, except hearing about how your dogs are doing. I'm not saying Eukanuba is the worst thing you could feed. It's definitely not. But it's not the best either, and for the price, you could get something a lot better. Feed what you want to feed, we're all just trying to help you through the hell of choosing dog food. []
 
I fed Eukanuba for a pretty long time. I generally went between Science Diet, Eukanuba, and Iams for several years. Cherokee was smelly and had yucky teeth.
 
And no, I don't think of by-products as hot dog meat, because I'm sure hot dog meat is better taken care of than some by-products for pet food. I'm not saying all by-products are bad, the trouble is you can't tell from the ingredients list whether the company uses the good, fresh liver, kidneys, heart, etc., in their by-products, or whether they use old, rotting garbage as their by-products. That's why I avoid them in general. But to each their own.

ORIGINAL: chelsea_b

Just remember that it's the rep's job to convince you to buy that food. The people here don't get anything from you taking our recommendations, except hearing about how your dogs are doing. I'm not saying Eukanuba is the worst thing you could feed. It's definitely not. But it's not the best either, and for the price, you could get something a lot better. Feed what you want to feed, we're all just trying to help you through the hell of choosing dog food. []

Oh, I know   Thats why I'm posting about it here, to get the feedback.  I havn't heard anything yet to make me think its not a good food but I'm certainly listening![]
 

I think EUK is horribly overpriced. The 6 pound bag at petco was 13.00 but the 5 poung bag of Natural balance at petco was 7.99 (None of them were on sale)

ORIGINAL: ILoveChi

I think EUK is horribly overpriced. The 6 pound bag at petco was 13.00 but the 5 poung bag of Natural balance at petco was 7.99 (None of them were on sale)

Wow, that is a lot.  The bag I looked at at Petco was $9.00 and I thought it looked like an 8 pound bag but I dont know what sizes it comes in so it could have been the 6.5 pound bag.  Anyway, with the coupon It'll cost me $6.00 for the bag.

ORIGINAL: jojo the pogo

First off it contains by products, which is hotdog meat.  Think about it.  Eating hotdog meat everyday of your life is not what I consider healthy.

I would rather have chicken by-products in my dog food than chicken meal. Chicken meal is mostly backs and necks (more bone than meat) while by-products are mostly organs, entrails and feet. To each their own...

while by-products are mostly organs, entrails and feet.

You hope [] I think it's mainly a lucky or unlucky dip when it comes to by-products,it gives the manufacture the leeway to change it's byproduct ingredients from batch to batch depending on what is most easily/readily available and cheapest at the time.One batch you could be feeding mostly organs,entrails and feet,the next could be mostly feathers,hooves and lips,how can you honestly know exactly what it is you are feeding your dogs?
.Besides arent most organs used for human consumption nowadays? [:'(] they're not going to sell it on the cheap to pet food manufactures when they can get top dollar in the human food market

ORIGINAL: Edie

while by-products are mostly organs, entrails and feet.

You hope [] I think it's mainly a lucky or unlucky dip when it comes to by-products,it gives the manufacture the leeway to change it's byproduct ingredients from batch to batch depending on what is most easily/readily available and cheapest at the time.One batch you could be feeding mostly organs,entrails and feet,the next could be mostly feathers,hooves and lips,how can you honestly know exactly what it is you are feeding your dogs?
.Besides arent most organs used for human consumption nowadays? [:'(] they're not going to sell it on the cheap to pet food manufactures when they can get top dollar in the human food market

That is not true.  When they seperate the carcass, there are bins for 1.) Organ meats (for humans/pet food industry) 2.) muscle meats (for humans) 3.) Necks/backs (large boney portions with no real meat on them) also pet food industry (which a lot of raw feeders include this in their diet as well and 4.) Feathers, stomach contents, etc

The bins with the feet and feathers gets ground up and is either incenerated or used as organic mulch (after it is ground up).  I am so sick and tired of people saying "it could be this, it could be that" when it is NOT.  I have been to these processing plants and seen it for myself. 

If by-products were so "mysterious" and just feet, etc, then it would not supply the amino acid profiles needed in the food.  If that was the case, every dog that ate a food with by-products only would become majorly protein deficient, and would cause severe problems (more than just itchy skin and whatever else people blame it on). 

Besides arent most organs used for human consumption nowadays?

 
That's a good point. I can get all kinds of organs at my so-called "hometown supermarket". Kidneys, tripe, liver, heart, brains, I've even seen spleen and eyeballs! [:'(] They're all around a buck a pound too. [&:]

ORIGINAL: Edie

while by-products are mostly organs, entrails and feet.

You hope [] I think it's mainly a lucky or unlucky dip when it comes to by-products,it gives the manufacture the leeway to change it's byproduct ingredients from batch to batch depending on what is most easily/readily available and cheapest at the time.One batch you could be feeding mostly organs,entrails and feet,the next could be mostly feathers,hooves and lips,how can you honestly know exactly what it is you are feeding your dogs?
.Besides arent most organs used for human consumption nowadays? [:'(] they're not going to sell it on the cheap to pet food manufactures when they can get top dollar in the human food market

Poultry by product meal: ground, rendered clean parts of slaughtered poultry, including necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidably in good processing practices.

Meat Meal: the rendered product from mammal tissue exclusive of blood, hair, hoof, hide, trimmings, manure, stomach, and rumen contents except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices.

As you can see, feathers and hooves cannot be found in these products. I'm not expecting by-products to be 90% chicken livers... but I do expect that meal purchased from a quality company will be from quality sources. Studies have shown that by-product meals vary in nutrition from the best possible nutrient source, to little better than sawdust. You can pick meat meal if you want... but eggs without shells still sounds more nutritious than a chicken back to me.