One more time, lol, which dry dog food are you buying?

[DDD]

I've finally convinced husband that we need to improve Ace's food. His boxer skin looks ugly and the Vet usually gives him steroids which doesn't make sense to me. Now I'm researching foods. Sweet potato or rice. Bison, duck, fish??? I remember that fillers and some grains are to be avoided. When I did a brand comparison ?? I decided I should sign up for a Master's degree.......or, lol...check with the family. DDD

 

[AnnieO]

I'm going to keep mum... Bubbles is cheap, is all I can say...

sister in law works with animals and suggests Science Diet...

 

[KTMom91]

Bud eats Nutro Max Natural - Senior formula. Just took him in for his yearly shots and check-up, and with the exception of the beginnings of cataracts (he's 11), he was doing great.

 

[donna723]

If you want to do a lot of comparison shopping, www.dogfoodanalysis.com is a good place to start. They analyze and rate virtually every brand of dog food there is, and you might be surprised to find that some of the most highly advertised brands are pure crappola! I have Bostons and Boxers are subject to a lot of the same issues that Bostons are, skin problems, sensitive stomach, allergies, etc.

You have to read the labels and compare the ingredients. You basically want to find a good, nutritious food where MEAT is the first ingredient listed - not "meat meal" or "meat by-products" - Lord only knows what that is! "By-products" can be chicken feathers and beaks or some other really unspeakabley gross things that you would never want to feed to your dog! You should avoid anything with artificial colors or flavorings, lots of chemical additives and preservatives, and there should be no "fillers". Some brands actually use SAWDUST as a filler ... they might call it something else (like cellulous fiber) but it's still sawdust! And avoid anything with CORN in it like the plague! Virtually all brands of food, treats and biscuits that you can buy in the grocery store have corn in them! Corn is used as a filler in dog foods. Dogs cannot digest corn - it goes right through them and causes massive poops! And corn is a very common allergen in dogs! It can cause skin problems and stomach troubles. If my Ragan were to go back to eating food with corn in it, she would be completely bald and scratching her skin off!

There are a lot of really good foods out there but they're not in the grocery stores and usually they're not in the "big box" pet stores like Petsmart. You'll have better luck if you can find one of the smaller, independent family-owned pet shops. Wellness is a really good brand and they have several different formulas, Merrick is wonderful food if you can find it, Blue Buffalo is good, and Taste of the Wild is also really, really good. Mine have been eating the Taste of the Wild bison & venison formula for about a year now and they're doing great on it! Even Ragan with all her allergies. Taste of the Wild is a very nutritious grain-free food that you can buy in the Tractor Supply stores if there's one near you. There is no one perfect food for all dogs and you may have to experiment a little, but you can buy very small bags if you want to check them out first. You will pay a little more for the premium brands but you will probably find that they actually eat less of the better foods because their nutritional needs are being met with a smaller volume of food, and without all those indigestible fillers, they will have smaller poops too. The ONLY exception I have found to the grocery store and Walmart foods is the Purina Lamb & Rice. I would never give them any kind of Purina as a steady diet, but in a pinch if I can't get to the Tractor Supply store and they're running low on food, they all tolerate the Lamb & Rice very well with no allergy flare ups or stomach troubles. I mix it with their regular food until I can get to the store to get their TOTW.

That dogfoodanalysis site is a big eye-opener. You'll be surprised at how some of the most expensive and highly advertised grocery store brands (Beneful in particular) are nothing but worthless crappola! They always show that big corn cob on their packaging and advertising too, like that's a good thing! It's virtually nothing but artifically colored corn and nasty "by-products" that are pressed into cutesy shapes, then sprayed with artificial flavorings! The dogfoodanalysis site gives it their lowest rating. Some brands actually spray the food with melted lard to make it taste good to dogs! You'd be better off feeding the dog dirt out of the back yard! At least they're probably not allergic to back yard dirt!

 

[donna723]

Also - I wouldn't put a whole lot of trust in the foods that are sold in the vet's office. They sell it because they get a cut of the profits but there's a lot much of better foods out there. You just have to read all the labels and compare the ingredients.

And on the Nutro, it's an OK food but you might want to keep a close eye on the dog and read the label for any formula changes for a while. The company that makes the Nutro foods has been bought out by Proctor & Gamble and whenever that happens, there are almost always changes to the formula, corners being cut, cheaper ingredients being substituted, and the quality goes downhill.

 

[Fran]

We do Blue Buffalo lamb and brown rice. Cowboy is a nervous kind of guy and throws up easily. Darcy on the other hand is quick with the runs. I haven't changed
their food for a long time. 1 1/2 cup twice a day.
Go figure, Miss Lizzie was a stray. She will still drink water from a rain puddle and eats anything and everything with little digestive problem.

 

[Kjs]

Kenzie eats Pro Plan. Although she is not overweight, we use the weight maintenance. Chloe needed that food and we couldn't keep Kenzie from eating her food. So, after Chloe left us we just kept the same food. I miss my Chloe.

 

[GoingNorth]

I feed Nature's variety raw food in rotation with their prairie brand dry food. Taste of the Wild was recently bought out by Diamond which has had a LOT of recalls on their products. I won't feed a Diamond product and switched my cat over to Wellness which he is doing very well on.

My dog is outright allergic to corn and suffers from pancreatic and small intestine problems.

Most independently owned pet food shops carry the Prairie dry food and some also stock the raw foods. You can also purchase these foods online. I use www.k9cuisine.com to order my dog food from. Their prices are reasonable and shipping is free on orders over 50 dollars.

 

[jal]

We have a 3 yr old Boston. She's petite (about 15lbs), solid muscle and a great coat of fur. We use Innova Small Bites. It keeps her absolutely regular and she has no gas issues on it. It has turkey, chicken, barley, brown rice, potato, apple, carrot, egg, cottage cheese and alfalfa sprouts in it. She loves it.

 

[DaisyFace]

DDD--

Can you be more specific about "looks ugly" ?

Is it dry? Scaly? Bald patches? Is he scratching himself silly? Bloody? Open sores?

Many times, a dog's allergies will show up in his skin. In humans, allergies tend to trigger nasal symptoms - running nose, sneezing, etc. In dogs, it presents as dry, itchy skin...

If it's an allergy, it's usually something that's commonly in dog foods, but uncommon in a canine's natural diet - like milk (think Milkbones) or beef (think beef flavored anything) or cheese (you get the idea).

 

[Star*]

We used to feed Black Diamond. The dogs loved it, protein was high, vet said it was a good food. Then we went to Nutro. Nutro got to enjoy their product a little too much, so we switched to Eukanuba lamb and rice. We were getting it at Sams Club. We did the dog food comparison one day and was speaking with a peeved off Nutro sales person there who told us the Sams Club brand of Eukanuba Lamb and Rice is just as good as the Eukanuba brand and about $8.00 less expensive.

We feed that, and with Caspers allergies (Corn is a huge no no and shampoos with sulfa) it's been wonderful. We also add Omega oils to Pooties little treats to help her not shed. We don't with the other two as it gives them the runs. But you can buy the Omega capsules, pop them with a pin and squirt the oil (smells a little) on Ace's food.

If I had my choice out of all the foods? I'd probably feed Blue Buffalo. The with Duck, venison and Sweet Potato in the pet store gave everyone the runs.

 

[witzend]

We buy California Naturals Lamb and Rice. It's a really good food and not too expensive. Duck and Potato is OUTRAGEOUS!

 

[HaoZi]

It's been many years since I had a dog, but when I did we used the hi-pro Wal-Mart one and added drippings from burgers, bacon, etc to it a few times a week. We also gave them yeast tablets.

 

[DDD]

I have looked at the web sites suggested. Geez, you almost have to be a rocket scientist and maybe a budding millionaire to make sure. Ace is at the Vet right now. Guess we'll see what he says but last time he advised his in house brand. Not cheap and I don't think much improved over the better quality foods available elsewhere. Ace has always eaten the "small bite" dry food. Hmmm. It will be interesting. Wolf King has bison as the first ingredient. That's what my SD changed to for her boxer and he is doing great. Decisions. Decisions. Decisions. Thanks! DDD

 

[donna723]

DDD, if you just go through all the brands and variations listed on the site, it can be overwhelming. A lot of the ones listed are regional brands too and not available everywhere. I think the best way to go about it is to find two or three brands that sound promising, ones that are available where you live, then look them up on the site and compare them. There is no one right answer. If your dog has skin problems he probably has allergies so I would look for a food that has only a few major ingredients, maybe avoid chicken and beef, and the grain-free foods are very good for dogs with allergies. The duck and sweet potato varieties are good, and there are some made with fish or lamb. Very few dogs are allergic to those foods. And some of it is just preference too. Wellness is a very good brand and I tried mine on a small bag of their fish and sweet potato variety ... turns out that mine flat out refuse to eat any food that has fish in it. One by one, they walked up to the bowl, took one sniff, gave me a dirty look, and walked away!

And when you do make a change-over, remember to do it gradually to avoid tummy upsets. Just gradually mix in more and more of the new food with the old food each day for a week or two until he's finally getting just the new food.

 

[Hound dog]

My animals are cheap. It started because I didn't know better. Now? They refuse to eat anything else. Well, Molly will, but not Betsy and Rowdy. A week of no eating convinced me they weren't just being difficult child.

If I were to start with a new dog.........I'd be asking the same questions.

Betsy and Rowdy both eat Walmart generic kibbles n bits. Molly due to teeth issues eats generic Moist n Meaty. She can't do can......the runs and gas would kill us, we've tried. Doesn't matter what brand. The moist n meaty is soft enough she can chew it.

Molly has allergies......or psoriasis. Maybe both.

Winter.....her skin heals. All other seasons is a challenge to keep her from chewing herself to death.

Which tells me it's not food. Tells me it's not fleas. (did not use flea preventatives this winter just to finally see)

I'm waiting to see if it's the weeds in the backyard as I've always believed it to be at least part of the cause. They have to grow up some before husband and I can dig them out.

Could be a combo psoriasis and weed allergy......I guess. But then I'd expect if it was psoriasis I'd see it in the winter......which it always goes away. hmm

I don't understand what meat makes any difference in a dog food......as long as it's actual meat? I mean I get that like with people dogs will react differently to different ingredients....I think you need a degree for some of this stuff. lol

One thing I used to do that I stopped when money got tight.......... Each dog got 2 eggs (boiled) on sunday. They also get meat scraps and real bones. But I stopped the egg thing.......and when I think back I don't really recall Molly having the issue when I did that. Now it may not be related at all as when I stopped we also had moved, which means a new yard.

 

[SearchingForRainbows]

We feed my "favorite sanity saver" Taste Of The Wild. She loves it! We used to feed her California Natural Lamb and Rice but she was always getting the "runs" and was always itchy. Once we got rid of all grains she no longer had those problems.

 

[svengandhi]

Purina Dog Chow in Costco bags is what we feed all of our dogs, an 11 year old border collie, a 10 year old mutt and a boxer puppy (8 months old). H doesn't believe in wet food because it makes them have wet poops. We are giving the boxer (we rescued him from a neighbor) back to his breeder, another friend of ours, because he's just too big for our family. I don't walk dogs and nobody else wants to, this puppy needs to exercise and I don't have a fenced yard.

 

[HaoZi]

Wet and semi-moist food is also bad for their teeth if you can't get them to eat a lot of hard food to scrape the tartar off their teeth.

 

[Star*]

Just got done reading a book about what is in your pets food. It was a long, dull, zzzzzzzzsnoozer of a book, but I learned a lot about what I won't feed.

Basically the book could have been summed up in a few short words, my vet is constantly telling his clients that is true, very true.

Dogs do NOT eat corn on the cob in the wild, (he jokes and says - "ever see one with a bib, butter and those little holders? Ever?) it should not be the first five ingredients in their food. If it is? You're going to have to clean up more poo, and your dogs will have less shiney coat, more shedding and possibly more health problems. He sums it up nicely - Product in - Product out. The bigger the bargain bag of dog food? The bigger the shovel should be for your yard, and the less nutrition your dog will be receiving. (Corn, corn meal, corn gluten, ground corn, corn by products)

Somewhere there was a dictionary of what the language of dog food ingredients were - when I find it? I'll post it. Not for the squeemish. This is why I will only give my dogs a food that is for human consumption.