So many people are looking for "the best dog food" that I thought I'd make a thread that was easy to find where we could share info.

Before I brought Baxter home, I read almost everything I could about doggie nutrition. These two websites were extremely helpful:

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/

Obviously, it'd be great to be able to feed raw, but in the end, I settled on a dry food for Baxter. I realized that if I was going to spend a lot of money, I was better off avoiding all "supermarket" brands because of inferior ingredients. I picked on a food that used human grade ingredients with proteins being three of the first five listed on the label.

My food is also made and sold locally with no foreign ingredients except for lamb brought in from New Zealand. It would probably get rated as a "5 star" food on the Dog Food Analysis website I linked to above.


How did you arrive at the food you use?

I arrived at the food I use just by reading labels of brands I knew that were the better ones, so I now use Merrick Dog Food.
I tried making homemade food for Honey after the recall, eventhough Merrick was never on the recall list. I had her on the "new" diet for about a month and a half and when I brought her in for her yearly physical (I also have them draw blood to check kidney levels, liver and glucose) the doctor informed me that her kidney levels were just a little elevated than the last time and suggested to get her off of the diet, although all I was giving her was organic lamb, chicken or sirloin with brown rice, tomato, carrots or broccoli and the occassional blueberry and bits of apple at breakfast time. Well, I took her off the diet and put her back on the Merrick, waited a month and the levels came down, so no more homemade food for my baby. The Vet couldn't understand it either, since I had asked him about changing her diet before I did it and asked him what was safe and what wasn't, but once she came off of it the levels came down. Apparently she can't handle the extra protein.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Yve*,

Yve, do you have more info on Merric Dog food? I think that's the one that made my pet ill but not sure. thanks

I've tried several dog foods for my pekes and I am sticking with Nutro Natural, their coats look so much better and they are not overweight at all. They really like it and it is a dry dog food.

I know a lot of people disagree with me on this, but my pets get the grocery store brands. I switch often, on the assumption that if one brand is missing something the other brand may have it. And I never feed them Old Roy (WalMart house brand).

My lab-chow is 15 years old, the beagle mix is 14. Obviously I'm doing something right.

We had always fed grocery brands (i.e. Purina, etc) until we got Vado. He has food allergies and we've been thru the gambit of different foods trying to find one that doesn't bother him and he likes. We've finally settled on Nature's Recipe, Venison and brown rice. He's doing great! The new addition is currently eating Purina naturals, but I'll probably start switching her over to Vado's food once her bag starts getting low, for no other reason than convenience on my part.

Hi! My hubby is from Hungary where he grew up with very healthy pets fed only scraps from their table. He tells me that Americans are brainwashed into thinking that bones are bad for their dogs. He always gave chicken bones and others to his pet dogs and we give them now to a feral cat named "Miss Kitty". She is very spry and eats everything!
Unless you know for sure ~ most commercially canned pet food contains rendered and sick animals, chemicals, and who knows what else!
Please love your pets as you do yourself.
Blessings! Jayna

yve, what is the protein content of the Merrick you feed? Where do you find it? Thanks.

Halo...it is a holistic all natural food

Obviously, dogs have survived for years and years on a range of diets. My intent wasn't to say that anyone was wrong, just to present the different resources out there and let people share how they arrived at their choices.

BTW, raw bones are great for dogs. Cooked bones are a problem because they can splinter.

quote:

Originally posted by Redtosew:
Yve, do you have more info on Merric Dog food? I think that's the one that made my pet ill but not sure. thanks

Ill in what way? Merrick is considered a "premium" brand and I haven't heard of any problems with it.

There are loads of different Merrick formulas. Some are extremely high protein (which not all dogs should have). Just google them to find their website or use the links I posted above to look up how different sites have analyzed their different formulas.

Redtosew, their website is www.merrickpetcare.com, she didn't get sick from the Merrick, I apologize if I wasn't clear, her kidney levels were elevated when I changed her to the homemade diet, and again, Merrick wasn't on the recall and I haven't heard of any problems either.

glp, the protein content is 23 or 25% depending on which flavor. Honey eats grammys pot pie or turducken. I can only find it at a pet supply store, but you can also order online. As a matter of fact they are on the link Jeannine put up - dog food analysis.

I'm glad to hear that someone else feeds their hairy children regular food you can buy at the grocery store. I have had dogs all my life - 55 years - and always fed them reg. food. All of my dogs have lived healthy lives, living as long as 19 years, even after surviving Parvo. Sometimes reading these posts I feel guilty for not going to something more expensive, organic or natural, but then I think back to how my dogs have done over the years and say hey, they lived long, healthy lives, so why change it.

If I had the time (and money), I'd make Baxter's food myself with food from the grocery store. I think that's great...and many others do, judging from the growing popularity of raw feeding and BARK feeding.

The only people who might feel guilty are the ones who are duped into buying expensive food like Hill's/Science Diet or Eukaneuba when for the same money, they could be getting a premium brand (Solid Gold, Merrick, Eagle Pack, etc.) that has much better ingredients.

BTW, there are some fairly good, reasonably priced foods if the premium brands don't fit in the budget. The brand sold at BJ's Wholesale Club (Kirklands?) and one of the Blue formulas sold at PetsMart are ranked fairly well by Dog Food Analysis.

The two toy poodles that own me like Solid Gold kibble for small dogs. It's primary protien is bison. I also somtimes give them a little Solid Gold canned food mixed in. If I don't feed them this or a homemade mix of lean turkey, rice and veggies, they throw up all over the place. I think their stomachs are just sensitive to anything but the best. Of course! LOL

Just wanted to add that I'm not saying Solid Gold is the best, but I do know it is one of the very best.

Have any of you tried the store brand Purina Naturals. I believe that's the correct name. Someone on Martha mentioned that is the brand they feed their dogs. I read the ing label & it did mention meat as the first ing which is good. I got a small bag but haven't tried it yet. thanks.

Dutch5352, don't feel "guilty!" If your dogs are healthy and living as long as 19 years, you are doing SOMETHING right! lol I think a lot of this talk is just that. Personally, I don't lose a whole lot of sleep over this. Once I found out what my dog liked, and the vet confirmed that that was good and healthy for him, and he ALWAYS gets compliments on how beautiful and silky and fresh his hair looks (I'll post a pic one day soon), I'm good. No worries. Honestly, at first it bothered me that I might not be feeding Roscoe the "superior" food, but when I took a step back and assessed things, I realized he gets a lot more than a lot of dogs, and back in the day, dogs were just fine when people fed them any number of things. This made me feel a lot better. And to be honest, maybe as a relatively new pet owner, I'm just not in the "know" or whatever, but I had not even heard of a lot of those foods on that list and one of the only ones I've tried on that list "Pro Plan," my dog doesn't even like! lol So I'll stick with Beneful, Cesar, Purina One, and Authority treats until I see a need for a change.

We've ALWAYS fed all of our dogs Pedigree & they've all THRIVED on it & all lived to be around 15 or 16 yrs. old. With Pebbles, we still have her on Purina Puppy Chow...vet said it's a good choice. We'll probably keep her on that until she turns 2, then probably switch her to pedigree. That's what we've always done with our dogs, start them out on Purina Puppy Chow & then after a yr. or 2 (depending on size of dog) switch them to pedigree.

thanks for the links!

We have been feeding our Bassett Hound and Beagle Iams weight management for a few years, just recently our Bassett hound has quit eating it, just like she did a couple other brands!
But she loves to eat cat food! HA!(She trys to be sneaky and eat it, but I catch her most the time).
We just got some Purina One last night at the store and hoping she'll start eating that, we're scared she might start meowing and that would look funny coming from a 50 # Bassett Hound! LOL

I feed the Dachshund Royal Canin, it has chondroitin and glucosamine in it for the
joints and back. My little guy was having back issues and they've gone away. I know you can grind up the pills and put them in regular food ( correct amounts of course) but I just really like the quality of Royal Canin. I do half dachshund mix and half adult mini mix. It costs me about a dollar a day to feed him.

GLP, look up the brand and formula on one of the websites I linked to above and read some of the reviews.

In general, it's recommended that 3 of the first 5 ingredients be protein (and not by-products) and that the food be free of corn. Corn's a cheap filler used in many foods.

I believe as opposed to trying to convince others to use certsain foods...it is a pet owners call. If you are swayed to listen to others, in my opinon, unless they are a vet, well known breeder or animal nutritionist...it is just that persons OPINION

Of course it's the owner's call...but I think few people are aware of the resources available to help someone who is trying to pick one food when the pet stores have so, so many options.

I was so completely overwhelmed by the brands and formulas offered that I went to the web and found those two websites. They, along with reading posts on a dog forum, helped me navigate the sea of choices.