Food For Thought

I cannot question the breeding of animals that need MEAT to thrive.  Or the protein derived from meat.  Not corn, meat.

Again, I am not saying that ALL those foods are horrid, but they are certainly not something I would feed MY dogs.

Then the people that are concerned about the food they are feeding there dogs, should pay attention to the stool and re-evaluate there dogs coats.

This is why I posted what they should look for. If there dogs do have brittle,dull, flaky, flat coats and there stool is really hard or soft, then they should look for a different food to feed. This post was intended to help educate people what to look for, so they can determine if the food is right for there dog or not. Once they realize there is a problem, then I hope they decide its time to change.

In reality People will do what people want to do, all we can do is educate them, and hope they do the right thing for their dogs. There is no one food out there that is best for all dog breeds and mixes. I am glad we have a variety to pick from. You don't have to buy the most expensive food, just a quality food with at least 2 meat sources in the top 6 ingredients. (but no by products if possible). Also we have to realize not everyone can afford alot. Many are on a fixed income so they are trying to do the best they can for there dogs, for what money they can afford.   

Whoa!  I'm not disagreeing with you!

For years and years I fed Purina.  Vets recommended Purina, thats what I fed.  Poop looked ok...but, what did I know?  That's what I'm saying here.  This is what I had always fed, and these were the poops I had always seen so I didn't realize how different things COULD be.  Less poop?  They eat, they poop....how would a food make them poop less?

Stinky ears?  Well, gosh they were COCKERS and cockers get ear issues.  Yes, they do, but what I didn't realize was how much I could MINIMIZE those ear issues with a better food.

All I am saying is that even generally well educated folks might not be hearing what we are saying.  I sure wasn't for a lot of years.  I thought it was all hype, as I'm sure many folks here do as well.

I live with a 13 yr old Chow and five German /shepherds and they all eat Pedigree daily. If you will think back to the dog food contaminations earlier this year you will find that Pedigree was the brand that did not have a single recell. NOT ONE, EITHER BAGGED OR CANNED.

Nor did Candiae.

Of the other two foods I use, Blue did have a canned recall.  This was not because of contaniments but rather because the facility that produced their canned had added some ingredient that was not on the label.  THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE FOOD, but Blue took a financial bath by recalling that food solely because of one ingredient that wasn't supposed to be in it. That was a responsible action on their part.  As I recall, some of the Innova canned might have been recalled also.  However, since I don't feed canned, preferring to prepared fresh homecooked for one meal, the canned recalls weren't a huge concern to me.  MOST canned is produced in one of a few major manufacturing plants for a number of smaller labels.

If you wish to feed Pedigree, that is certainly your perogative.  When I picked Tyler up from his family, the woman tried to give me a bag of Pedigree to transition him back to Innova.  I didn't take it.  I would rather deal with the soft stools of cold turkey change over than have that stuff in my house.  And that, is my perogative.

So what food brands are recommended by members of this forum?  I've been feeding my 2-year old black Lab either Iams or Eukanuba her whole life, and she loves it and hasn't any health issues.

That isn't a quick and easy question to answer.  Not any ONE dog food is going to work best for all dogs.  My gsds had huge and horrid poop on a couple different super premiums that a lot of dogs do extremely well on. A lot of folks here like Merrick foods.  I personally won't use them because of their history of quality control issues.

I rotate foods and in my current rotation are Canidae, Blue Buffalo and Innova.  All three of these work very well  for my dogs.  But, that's MY dogs, who also receive homecooked for dinner  and raw at least once a week.

I have to agree with you Kelliope, natural food is best. One of my dogs suffered from a recurring ear infection untill vet discovered it was food allergies. So I switched him to raw meat only, the difference was rapid and he has never had another ear problem. I am also a dog breeder/exhibitor and I changed my breeding stock to raw, boy what a difference in their coat shine and their overall look. It also shaped up those that tended to be a bit chunky. I've been feeding raw for several years now and would never go back to dry. My pups wean quickly once I introduce raw hamberger. I feed a varity of meats, raw beef, raw pork, beef heart is a favorite of most dogs, raw chicken, this also includes the bones. (never cook bones as they may splinter). This has cut my dental costs by 99%. So I'm well pleased with it !  It took me a while to get used to it, I myself do not eat meat, so I wasn't overly thrilled about handling it ! But I reminded myself that it's perfecly normal for dogs and dogs aren't humans !

masterpiece maltese

Sandra,

Can you tell me the name of the stuff you are putting in the water?  Do you have to change the water every day?

I know this sounds lame but we have 9 maltese and somedays the bowls dont get washed everyday.  I am picky about it but realisticly they are washed every two or three days and the other blue stuff my vet gave me had to be changed everyday?

Also , I know a lady who has finished (championed) over 150 of her own dogs.and feeds pedigree, no tearstains with it at all, dogs look extremely healthy and she says they all do well.   I was tempted but still feeding Canidae and fighting tear stains daily! 

 

 

http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/product_detail.asp?pf_id=1101730&dept_id=172&brand_id=487&Page=

Since when is Science Diet a low end food? I've always heard that's a decent brand and that's what I am feeding my two boys, a 3 year old springer and a year old GSHP. My vet seems to approve even though I know they'd like me to buy the Eukanuba they sell. I was surprised to read through this topic and see a lot of digs at Science Diet.

Some of you might fall over when you read this based on what I've read in this post, but I fed my English Springer Spaniel Kibbles n Chunks for years because I was a teenager when I got her and couldn't afford high priced food. That beautiful dog got comments from everyone, including my vet and groomer, on how gorgeous her coat was and people would ask what I fed her and seemed shocked when I told them.

Now, I am not saying I would promote Kibbles n Chunks for everyone, if you can feed your dog better food than that, please do, but she did great on it. When I was able to afford better food and she was around 10 I tried switching her over to Innova SR and she wanted no part of it...so back she went to Kibbles n Chunks. I figured she had been doing well on it that far into life, she might as well stick with what she liked.  (She started out on Kibbles n Bits but didn't like the chicken flavor pieces so we switched to chunks). Springers have a life expectancy of about 12 to 15 years and she made it to just shy of 13. Not bad. I do sometimes wonder if she could have lived longer if I had been able to feed her a better food from the start but I think she had a long and happy life and mostly healthy life on her Kibbles n Chunks. She never had a single ear infection, she never had cancer, she had great teeth and so on.

Just wanted to throw that out there because I don't think there's any right food or perfect food. I've heard a lot of negatives about people that cook homemade food for their dogs because they often aren't giving them all of the nutrients they need and so on. I think factors like healthy weight and regular vet exams play a huge part in a dogs life span. But, as with people, who really knows what works for one is awful for another. 

~Erin

http://www.ladyabbies.com    

Hi all...I'm new here, however, I'm anything but new to dog owner/companionship. I have an almost 1 year old black Great Dane that's about 150# and growing daily as well as a 3 year old tri-color Beagle. They're both extremely healthy, happy and for the most part hungry!

I know every single person that's posted here means really well for their animals as do I, but we can't all afford the best for our animals or ourselves for that matter. As I was reading this thread, I started to wonder exactly what condition all these posters keep themselves in through high end diets?! I REALLY would like to see pix of everyone and see the reality...Fat? Skinny? Pale? Pallid? Healthy and vital looking? Have dandruff and don't? Scoriasis? Diabetes?

I was an RN (male) many years ago and met this British vet at a party and my wife and I developed a long friendship with he and his wife. He used to say that even the very worst dry dogfood is multiple times better for dogs than the best diet we humans eat for ourselves (although he believed the VERY best was fresh cooked lamb mixed with brown rice). I have over the years switched back and forth from premiums to regular dry foods, but I've never fed canned food. Most all of my dogs most of which were notoriously short living Great Danes lived to at least 10 with 1 living to 14. I feed my GD puppy Diamond puppy chow now because of his super large breed and that food's protein and fat content he needs. My beagle gets and has gotten since she was a year...yep, you guessed it: Pedigree. As illustrated by all of the postings in this thread, all creatures (both 2 and 4 legged) are different and will respond differently to different foods. Overall though I (and judging from my dogs' eager anticipation) have found Pedigree to be just fine. I do supplement with (gasp) Purina large breed Dog Bones and sergeants daily multivitamins. It may not be the world's best but it is all I can afford and as I've said, no complaints from Katie yet, I'll have to see how Thor does when I switch him to it in January.

 I think LOVE is no question the absolute best food one can feed their dog, pet or mate for that matter!

Cheers to all.

Am I the only one who is completely amused by all the new posters?

If you're really all new, WELCOME! I hope you'll post some more about yourself and your pets.  

This thread certainly has attracted a number of new members, hasn't it?

What many people don't understand is that it can actually be less expensive to feed a higher quality food than something like Pedigree.  Because of the much higher kcals (useable calories) in the better brands, you fed MUCH less.  For example if you have to feed 8 cups of a food and I need to feed 2 cups of a different food to the same size, breed, age and activity level dogs, then I feed FOUR meals to your one, so I could pay four times MORE for the feed and still break even, or not actually be spending any MORE money.

And, sometimes, even if it is a bit more, you are likely to find that the savings in vet costs are wayyyy more than you're spending on dog food.  My six gsds go to the vet once a year for an annual check up, fecal, HW bloodwork, to have titers pulled and to keep a baseline bloodwork current.  If they are due for rabies, it's done at that visit.  We have no illness, no skin conditions,  no FLEAS, despite using nothing as a preventative for 3 years now, no worms or paraistes......the pennies extra per serving that I *might* be spending are far offset by what I'm NOTA spending at the vet.

And, for the record, my homecooked recipe was developed by a canine nutritionalist.

"I know a lady who has finished (championed) over 150 of her own dogs.and feeds pedigree, no tearstains with it at all, dogs look extremely healthy and she says they all do well. " 

I'll bet money that she had those dogs on Tylan powder or some other product that contains a low dose antibiotic to prevent tear stains.

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