Dog food question, need help

[Ninabeana26]

I feed Dallas blue buffalo & he's done really well on it. It is a good, high-quality brand of dog food but isn't quite as expensive as some of the other brands out there.

[renaultf1]

My 2 b's are currently on Orijen (6 Fresh Fish) and Solid Gold (Barking at the Moon)…both grain-free. They do really well on both foods.

Definitely check out the many threads about feeding & foods. Also, check out the website dogfoodanalysis.com...foods are rated there.

[AndrewnShango]

@Ninabeana26:

I feed Dallas blue buffalo & he's done really well on it. It is a good, high-quality brand of dog food but isn't quite as expensive as some of the other brands out there.

Blue Buffalo is a great food!

[Kananga]

I was feeding him Blue Buffalo Wilderness for awhile but since it's not 100% grain free, I decided to switch. I'm using Nature's Variety Instinct - Rabbit Formula. Bit more expensive but it's 100% grain free.

[tanza]

@Danny:

From what I've read basenjis have a very fast metabolism and won't over eat. My pup is only 3 months, so I make sure to fill the plate up 3 times a day… he's not like my previous dog (a beagle) who would jump on the food right away, at least my B is pretty calm about how fast he eats his food.

IMO that is not true… and they can and do become overweight, maybe not as a puppy, however I have seen Basenjis that are more then 10 to 15lbs overweight. IMO, they need to have set times to eat and never be free fed... It does not promote healthy eating habits.

[Danny]

@tanza:

IMO that is not true… and they can and do become overweight, maybe not as a puppy, however I have seen Basenjis that are more then 10 to 15lbs overweight. IMO, they need to have set times to eat and never be free fed... It does not promote healthy eating habits.

Well, I think the lack of exercise has a lot to do with that. Even though I live in an apt. there's a lot of fenced areas here where I can let the dog run loose, and of course call him back to me and have him come back, it works great.

That being said though, I do agree that as an adult he should never be free fed.

But I guess we're not talking as much about eating habits as we are about brands in general, I'm not going to mention what I've been feeding my dog but I just found the damn label which is hidden on purpose and his food is definitely not grain free. I'm gonna go to the store later and see if I can find one of the brands you guys have mentioned, might be hard because here in PR we mostly get the commercial brands.

If I can't find any one of those brands, other than grain free and no by products what is it really that I should look for?

[Danny]

Ok, so I went out to some big pet stores and vet clinics thinking holistic food would be easy to find, but it wasn't. After looking at the ingridients from brands like Purina, Science Diet and others I thought Eukanuba was the best, it has grains but it actually has some real chicken in it, I paid 18.00 USD for 6 pounds of it.

I came back home to do some more research and I'm not sure this brand is that much better than Purina puppy chow. However, I called some places asking for holistic dog food and this one place gave me a website that turned out to be very useful, it's www.eaglepack.com You can order it online or you can search for retailers around your area, I found quite a couple around San Juan so it's all good. Now I'm just wondering if the vet clinic will give me a refund for a bag of 18 dollar non holistic dog food… I doubt it

BTW, how much does a 5-8lb of holistic dog food cost? I thought what I paid today was a little much... I wouldn't mind paying the same for holistic food, I just hope it isn't a lot more.

[bellabasenji]

@tanza:

IMO that is not true… and they can and do become overweight, maybe not as a puppy, however I have seen Basenjis that are more then 10 to 15lbs overweight. IMO, they need to have set times to eat and never be free fed... It does not promote healthy eating habits.

Yes, this must be the case, because I have definitely seen overweight Basenjis before! I do NOT free feed. Bella gets fed in the morning 1/2 of her daily intake and then in the evening the other half. Sometimes I will mix in wet food or something special in the evening meal… I have tried several foods with Bella and though she is not on it now, Canidae has been the best one so far (It is difficult to obtain here). And even though the Blue Buffalo has good ingredients, it upset her sensitive tummy. Just make sure you switch gradually and mix the old food with the new for awhile...

[bellabasenji]

@Danny:

… After looking at the ingridients from brands like Purina, Science Diet and others I thought Eukanuba was the best, it has grains but it actually has some real chicken in it, I paid 18.00 USD for 6 pounds of it.

I think Eukanuba does have by-products and corn, but my brother-in-law swears it's the best… I beg to differ. However, Eukanuba has come out with a new product called "Naturally Wild" and it is an improvement over the old standard. It has no meat by-products, corn, fillers, or artificial preservatives. They still have grain in it, though. I have Bella on it now and she is doing well with it. I bought it at Petsmart, so you may be able to find it near you. I only paid about $10.00 for a 4lb bag... Oh, and by the way, I have heard good things about Eagle Pack and Evo, too. Really the food is personal choice and what is tolerated by the dog. The more expensive foods will fill the dog up more so in the long run the expense is off-set by less consumption... And you'll have firmer stools which makes cleaning up the yard a little easier, LOL!!! If you can't return the other food, you might consider donating it to a rescue group or local animal shelter...

[renaultf1]

@Danny:

BTW, how much does a 5-8lb of holistic dog food cost? I thought what I paid today was a little much… I wouldn't mind paying the same for holistic food, I just hope it isn't a lot more.

Dog food prices at my local stores (Maine):
5lb Solid Gold (Barking at the Moon) - $19 / 15lb - $39
5lb Orijen (6 fresh fish) - $19 / 15lb - $47
5lb Wellness Core (Ocean) - $17 / 15lb - $42
5lb Evo (Small Bites Red Meat) - $15 / 15lb - $35
5lb Eukenuba Large Breed Puppy - $11. Don't know pricing of larger bag as I intend to switch my new pup to Orijen Puppy (Orijen puppy 15lb - $39).

Hope that gives you a gauge of pricing.

[Danny]

Thanks guys,

I was wondering though, does the ingredient list have a specific order?? If the first ingredient is chicken, and corn is like the 8th does that mean there isn't as much corn in it as in purina??

BTW, here's Purina puppy chow top 3 listed ingredients

whole grain corn
chicken by meal
corn gluten meal

Compared to Eukanuba
chicken
chicken by product meal
corn meal

• no soy ingredients

I don't know how different they really are, but Rocky has reacted very different to this eukanuba brand. He had never eaten a full bowl of food out of one sitting, he did that today and was asking for more. I also noticed that he wasn't biting his hair/skin after eating like he usually does (or hopefully use to) I hope to get more info from the net and the nice people here, I am very concerned with what my dog eats. At one point I was considering a raw diet but I'm not sure I can afford it right now.

[bellabasenji]

I am not totally convinced about the raw diet (B A R F). I worry about the chances of Bella getting Salmonella or E Coli… But some owners do swear by it! I can see some of the benefits, but it's just not for me!

[lvoss]

Ingredients are required to be listed in order of weight. The first ingredient is the one that is the largest percentage by weight. Manufacturers though have several ways to make their food look better than it actually is without lying under these rules. Whole chicken is about 85% water so it weighs alot but isn't actually as much meat as when chicken meal is the first ingredient because the meal contain much less moisture.

As for free feeding and maintaining healthy weight, when I was doing evaluations for rescue, I evaluated a petite 15 inch tri girl who weighed in at 38 pounds, the owner was proud to say he had successfully gotten her down to that weight from the 42 pounds she weighed a year earlier. This owner had her from a puppy and free fed. He took his dogs on hikes and they had access to a yard, it did not matter, they liked to eat and they were literally eating themselves to death.

I do not free feed my dogs, not even as puppies. Housebreaking is much easier when a puppy is on a set feeding schedule. I also am able to get the best idea of how much they are eating and need to eat. Since refusal of food is often one of the first symptoms that a dog is ill, it is important that I know if they are eating or not and how much.

[tanza]

@Danny:

Thanks guys,

I was wondering though, does the ingredient list have a specific order?? If the first ingredient is chicken, and corn is like the 8th does that mean there isn't as much corn in it as in purina??

BTW, here's Purina puppy chow top 3 listed ingredients

whole grain corn
chicken by meal
corn gluten meal

Compared to Eukanuba
chicken
chicken by product meal
corn meal

• no soy ingredients

I don't know how different they really are, but Rocky has reacted very different to this eukanuba brand. He had never eaten a full bowl of food out of one sitting, he did that today and was asking for more. I also noticed that he wasn't biting his hair/skin after eating like he usually does (or hopefully use to) I hope to get more info from the net and the nice people here, I am very concerned with what my dog eats. At one point I was considering a raw diet but I'm not sure I can afford it right now.

If he was giting his hair/skin after eating the puppy food with the first ingredient of corn, then he most certainly has a problem with corn…. and you really should try to find something with No Corn... biting the hair/skin, licking the bottom of feet, itchy ears, rubbing the mouth just after eating is a dead giveaway to a food allergy...

[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.