Dog Food

[pennypen]

Penny is officially 1 and at the end of her puppy food. I was trying to find a really good holistic dog food and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions. She tried Halo once and loved it but its $55!!! I know my friends use Eagle Pack Holistic. Any suggestions?
I was feeding her Iams but she has never been to crazy about it.

[tanza]

Don't like IAMS due to the corn and beet pulp, those are just fillers, they really have no value.

I use Fromm's Surf and Turf, a bit pricey… but like how well the kids are doing on it. But to eliminate the problems of ever having to switch foods, I mix it with something different every new bag. I have used Natural Balance Sweet Potato and XXXX (Meat), Call of the Wild, Orijen, Californa Natural Meat only, Evo.....

[sharronhurlbut]

I use Paul Newmans and its great.

[curlytails]

What are you looking for in a "holistic" dog food? What kind of proteins does Penny do well on?

I think Natural Balance and Taste of the Wild are some of the best kibble you can get for a fair, mid-tier price. Around here, 18 pounds of Halo puppy is also about $55, Halo adult is a few bucks cheaper.

28 pounds of Natural Balance or 30 pounds of Taste of the Wild is about the same price as an 18 pound bag of Halo.

It takes my two dogs quite some time to go through that amount of food though (we do occasional raw meals now), so I figure the cost between raw, those previously mentioned kibbles and Orijen 6-fish, which is the priciest kibble that I rotate, doesn't amount to that much in the end for exponentially better quality food than IAMS!

[pennypen]

Thanks everyone!
I actually got her Blue Buffalo lol which no one suggested but i had look into a couple weeks ago and then finally decided to try it. I read tons of good reviews on it and from people at my local dog park. So far she likes it (i mixed her old with it) she kept picking out the BB so i guess thats a good sign
Thank you again tho!

[curlytails]

Blue Buffalo's pretty good, from what I've heard. Another advantage is that it's widely distributed through places like PetsMart.

Keep an eye on it though. There was a recent recall on Blue Buffalo due to excess Vitamin D levels:

http://news.vin.com/VINNews.aspx?articleId=16727

[DebraDownSouth]

I used to feed Martins, a small company that uses human grade…but local distributor closed. I have tried a few but have been using blue buffalo for about 6 mos and like it. I also feed raw, and I toss in a bag of other good stuff.

I find the Whole Dog Journal and the doberman comparison site good places for info.
http://www.doberdogs.com/

[Ellusionz]

I've just swapped my dog to Wellness Core. It's high in protein which I was told is really good for the basenji breed with how active they are. Also grain-free. But they say it shouldn't be fed to dogs younger than a year. They sell it at Petco. There's also the regular Wellness that Petsmart carries thats been rated just below the Core. I researched the ingredients in the brands on dogfoodchat.com

[tanza]

@pennypen:

Thanks everyone!
I actually got her Blue Buffalo lol which no one suggested but i had look into a couple weeks ago and then finally decided to try it. I read tons of good reviews on it and from people at my local dog park. So far she likes it (i mixed her old with it) she kept picking out the BB so i guess thats a good sign
Thank you again tho!

Blue Buffalo is a very good food also….

[pennypen]

@Ellusionz:

I've just swapped my dog to Wellness Core. It's high in protein which I was told is really good for the basenji breed with how active they are. Also grain-free. But they say it shouldn't be fed to dogs younger than a year. They sell it at Petco. There's also the regular Wellness that Petsmart carries thats been rated just below the Core. I researched the ingredients in the brands on dogfoodchat.com

I thought about going with a high protien …. i'll deff look into that for next time after this huge bag is done