Dog food question, need help

[tanza]

And I agree with lvoss… no free feeding... especially puppies. As Lisa said it is much easier to potty train a pup when they are on a schedule.

[CarrieH]

I feed Sky Merrick Grammy's Pot Pie. Its the only food she'll eat dry. Thankfully its a great quality food. Its not grain free but its the best I can afford. Merrick brand makes a grain free called Before Grain. I agree with many of the others about free feeding, Sky gets two meals a day. Breakfast is a mix of dry and canned and dinner is dry only.

[kiroja]

If you are interested in learning about how to read dog food labels, or would like to know what are some of the better quality foods to feed, I suggest you read an article produced by Whole Dog Journal. http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/ You can purchase just the article from their website, and the article talks about a lot of common ingredients in dog food, how to decipher the ingredients list, and how to decide what you should feed your dog. At the end of the article is a list of food brands that WDJ deems "acceptable" to feed. You can also purchase a subscription to the magazine, and then you would have access to back issues (like the one with the dog food article) on their website for no additional charge. WDJ is a nice wholistic dog magazine that has excellent positive training articles and behavioral insights.

If you just want to find the food article, when you go to the website, click on "back articles". Choose "food reviews" from the drop down search box. Then click on their 2009 dry dog food review. There's a short exerpt from the article and then there will be a link at the bottom of the page to "purchase selection".

Personally I feed a variety of the grain free dry foods with some raw added in here and there.

There is no one right food to feed your dog. Every dog responds differently and what's perfect for one family might not work for you. But there are certainly some foods that should be avoided, period. There are a lot of high quality foods that would be good to pick from, and there are bound to be some of them in almost everyone's area. But if not, there are some companies that you can order online from and they will ship food, without too much of an expense.

[ComicDom1]

@AndrewnShango:

I work at a holistic dog-food carrier and bakery so I can be of some assistance. I've done my homework

1. Wheat, corn, and soy are not the best ingredients to give to your dogs, which is why we often stress switching over to Holistic food. Holistic = free from wheat, corn, soy, chemicals or by-products.

2. Any holistic food will help your pup achieve a better health but specific brands specialize in various things. It's really what a. you pup likes and b. you want for them.

3. I highly, highly recommend Innova's EVO brand. It's a grain-free, high-protein diet that is top quality. It's giving your dog exactly what it needs and nothing else: no filler or unnecessary garbage. ** My B, Shango's on EVO and eats it right up and he's quite the picky eater. EVO gives him a beautiful coat, higher productive energy levels and fewer and smaller stools.

4. While I don't feel that non-holistic food is 100% terrible, (Actually, some foods that are non-holistic are quite good!) there are some things to consider. IAMS, however, is quite a bad choice for dogs. Especially for dogs with sensitive stomachs or particular needs. I'd recommend researching the danger of IAMS as PETA and other organizations have done extensive research and found some pretty startling statistics.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have further questions.

Both our Basenji and Boston Eat Evo Red Meat. We started mixing it with Taste of the Wild Salmon and have found that to be a good mix if you want to lower the protein a bit. I have been feeding Roo our Basenji EVO for quite some time now but I have noticed with the mix his stools seem to be more firm. I remember when we started feeding EVO we were really getting some foul smelling stools but we hung in there with the food. I think the 50/50 mix we do now has help this become a non issue.

By the way EVO is the only food I know of that pass 21 different food inspections. Miranda works in Quality Control for a company that Extracts Wheat Germ Oil from Wheat Germ. What was interesting is that one of the inspections EVO passes in the same strict inspection for human quality food at the plant she works at. If I remember right, Evo is also produced in Nebraska.

Jason and Miranda

[wizard]

Here's another website that may be of help in evaluating different brands of kibble:
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/

[basenjikayah]

Hi ..it's Karen. We still have Kayah on the Iams puppy chow but will be switching to Taste of the Wild when she's a little older. It came highly recommended and the ingredients are amazing. All good products..check it out.

[mauigirl]

@kiroja:

WDJ is a nice wholistic dog magazine that has excellent positive training articles and behavioral insights.

Kiroja, I checked out their website recently and when I found a list of articles out of back issues I was sold! Really great topics. Unfortunately I can't access them until I have a subscriber number but that will happen shortly. Thanks for the recommendation.

[basenji_fan]

@mauigirl:

Kiroja, I checked out their website recently and when I found a list of articles out of back issues I was sold! Really great topics. Unfortunately I can't access them until I have a subscriber number but that will happen shortly. Thanks for the recommendation.

You'll love it, great buy!!

[youngandtired]

What do you think of the Merrick brand foods, wet and dry. I will switch if need be, Sahara loves it, but I want her to be healthy, healthy.

[Chelbell26]

We tried Jackpot on Merrick & he didn't like it. Wellness made him sick…so now he's on Fromm Duck & Sweet Potato & doing well

[tanza]

@youngandtired:

What do you think of the Merrick brand foods, wet and dry. I will switch if need be, Sahara loves it, but I want her to be healthy, healthy.

Is she having any problems? Merrick is a decent food, IMO

[AndrewnShango]

@youngandtired:

What do you think of the Merrick brand foods, wet and dry. I will switch if need be, Sahara loves it, but I want her to be healthy, healthy.

Hey you! I've replied on your user-page

[Danny]

I'm very happy to say I got my dog his first bag of Orijen today. It was 4 dollars more than eukenuba and it's so much better it's just ridiculous. I was talking to the owner of the store for a while about how non educated most people are about this. Some people feed their dogs purina or science diet and they honestly think that they are feeding good food to their dogs. They might look at the ingredient list which is never easy to find in brands like this and then you read that corn meal is the first ingredient and your common sense just tells you there's nothing wrong with a corn meal. People don't know what these things are, and it's sad because it's something the vet should tell you. I shouldn't have to go on the internet to find out I'm feeding garbage to my dog you know?

Argh, just a little vent. Hope everyone and their B's are all right

[AndrewnShango]

@Danny:

I'm very happy to say I got my dog his first bag of Orijen today. It was 4 dollars more than eukenuba and it's so much better it's just ridiculous. I was talking to the owner of the store for a while about how non educated most people are about this. Some people feed their dogs purina or science diet and they honestly think that they are feeding good food to their dogs. They might look at the ingredient list which is never easy to find in brands like this and then you read that corn meal is the first ingredient and your common sense just tells you there's nothing wrong with a corn meal. People don't know what these things are, and it's sad because it's something the vet should tell you. I shouldn't have to go on the internet to find out I'm feeding garbage to my dog you know?

Argh, just a little vent. Hope everyone and their B's are all right

Good for you! It's unfortunate that people aren't as educated on the matter, but not everyone has basenjis

[basenjikayah]

I have my dog on Evo small bites. Pretty good food.

[Danny]

I've been having a very hard time finding dog treats with good ingredients, some help would be much appreciated.

[etzbseder]

Several of the good dog food companies make treats as well, but if your dog likes the food enough, you can always use that as treats. Or just boil some chicken breast and shred it some and stick it in the fridge to use as treats.

[renaultf1]

Good for you finding the new food. $4 is a small price to pay for better nutrition. Oh, and Innova makes EVO makes grain free biscuits. BTW, I think my 2 b adults love Orijen best of any food I've tried…I always get yodels when they get that...other foods, they eat fine but don't sing for.

[bellabasenji]

I just bought Bella some Merricks Grammy's Pot Pie (dry). It sounds so good I'm tempted to give it a try, LOL!!! I haven't given it to her yet, I'm trying to time it out so I can introduce it slowly… I had to get it at a feed & seed supply store.

It IS sad that people are uneducated about the differences of dog foods… but what is worse is that some of these companies don't care how bad the food is for our pets. Another example of how money is more important in their pocket...

BTW, for treats we like Old Mother Hubbard!!!:D