Dog Community

Good kibble?

Posted : 10/4/2009 9:30:27 PM

Wondering what you guys think is a good quality kibble. Not fot Bailey, for my dads dog Jack. I really dont know much other than the basics about kibble since i feed Bailey all raw. When he first got Jack, we were at wal mart getting a crate and my dad went to get dog food, when he came back with a big bag of Iams, i told him there was no way id let him feed Jack that crap. So we went to the pet store and they had Wellness. I read the ingrediets, and it seemed pretty good to me. I know pretty much what to look for in ingredients i just dont know the reputations of different brands of food, cause i never buy any of that stuff for Bailey. So anyways, Jack is on Wellness, and has been doing pretty well on it from what i can see. But since i really dont know much bout kibble i wanted to get some opinions.. So, is Wellness a good food? If not, what are some brands that i can tell my dad to look into getting?

Im asking cause my dad is not really a dog person. He likes dogs, but doesnt really know much about caring for one. This is what happens when he doesnt listen to me.. lol. I told him when he first got Jack, dont get any dog food from wall mart. At least a cheap one from the pet store would be better than wal mart. He was at wal mart and for whatever reason, he bought a bag of Beneful Confused (he still has a full bag of Wellness, so im not sure why he got it...) I didnt know he had gotten the Beneful that morning, and when i took the dogs for a walk this afternoon Jack would not stop crapping. It was sooo nasty. He must have gone about 6 or 7 times while we were at the park. So when i got back i asked if Jack ate anything weird cause he had the runs. And he said oh well he had some new food this morning. I asked what food it was and he said Beneful. I asked why in the world he would give him a completly different food for no reason and he said "well i saw it on TV this morning and when i was at wal mart i saw it and the bag says its all natural, plus it was on sale its so much cheaper than that other stuff(

glenmar

Posted : 10/4/2009 9:43:11 PM

The best way to explain this is that yes, it's cheaper per bag, but since he has to feed so much more, it probably costs just as much.

Blue Buffalo is my fav. Innova is good as are Wellness, Solid Gold and the Eagle Pack Holistics.

jennie_c_d

Posted : 10/4/2009 10:05:23 PM

Tell him to read the ingredients, on both bags. Beneful has sweeteners, and artificial colors and flavors. Things that you might eat in moderation, but you'd be unable to focus if that was all you ate. Wellness is a pretty nice kibble, and mine have done well on it, in general.

aerial1313

Posted : 10/5/2009 8:40:12 AM

jennie_c_d
Beneful has sweeteners, and artificial colors and flavors.

Yeah...all natural my bootie! It has dyes in it...how is Red #5 a natural ingredient? And sorbitol is an artificial sweetener that I thought was actually not good for dogs. Not as dangerous as Xylitol, but can still cause problems.

IMO, there's no comparison of Beneful to Wellness. It's a 5-day old vending machine tuna sandwich compared to a fresh tuna steak.

Maybe you can show your dad this thread to help him out with this? Just a thought.

Spazzy

Posted : 10/13/2009 9:15:46 PM

Apparently because since the bag says "all natural" its good, and because im only 17 i couldnt possibly know more than him about anything Confused

How about Pinnacle? The dog daycare i volunteer at sells it and so they would give us a good price on it, is it equal to/better/worse than wellness?

jennie_c_d

Posted : 10/13/2009 9:34:29 PM

Pinnacle is good! It's not as commonly found as Wellness, so I've never tried it.

shamrockmommy

Posted : 10/14/2009 10:13:26 AM

I am always happy to recommend PetGuard Lifespan. You generally have to get from (or have them order) a health food store, although Target now carreis the smaller bags and treats.

Other than that, I also like Natura products (Innova or California Natural or EVO) and Solid Gold.

Jason L

Posted : 10/14/2009 1:13:13 PM

I switched to raw about six months ago but before that I fed Blue Buffalo. I think it's pretty good. I heard really good things about Fromm and Evo too.

Liesje

Posted : 10/15/2009 8:24:06 AM

I just follow my two simple rules....

No corn, wheat, soy, gluten, gluten meal
First ingredient must be a meat or a meat meal

shamrockmommy

Posted : 10/15/2009 1:04:43 PM

That's a good guideline. I have the same type of rules for my guys. Only it's worked out more specifically to no barley, flax or yeast.

TysonSS

Posted : 10/19/2009 11:20:03 PM

I feed Wellness to Tyson. He likes it and he gets good poops with it (ew talking about poops) and I feed him around 2 cups a day so a 30 lb. lasts me about a month and a half. I dont know much Jack weighs but Tyson's like 55 lbs so if Jack is a small dog a 30 lb. bag should last him quite awhile. I pay $50 for a 30 lb. which is not too bad as its like for 45 days which comes up to less than $2 a day :)

DogPark

Posted : 10/22/2009 2:35:33 PM

We have had a lot of luck with Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lovers Soul - our dog has been on it for a couple months now and she has done really well.

crysania

Posted : 10/23/2009 8:12:30 AM

We feed Blue Buffalo and Dahlia loves it and it's a good quality. We feed her the fish and sweet potato formula (after trying all three and seeing that that was the one she liked the best).

RubyandStewiesmom

Posted : 10/23/2009 7:54:27 PM

I feed my pit and bulldog/pit mix Innova Evo and Chicken Soup for the dog lover's soul. I feed half and half mixed, and they just gobble it up and love it! I like that they are grain free, and all human grade food. A great site to go to is dogfoodanalysis.com which analyzes dog foods. I would look into the 5* and 6* foods. They're all fantastic!

DogPark

Posted : 10/28/2009 1:43:38 PM

Have you been feeding Chicken Soup since your dog was a puppy? We are going to need to switch our pup off puppy formula and onto adult Chicken Soup formula and I was just wondering how long you took to do the transition. Thanks!