I need some dog food recommendations

[CandyPants]

I n my experience, you could be dealing with an allergy. Instead of focusing on what meat is in the food, look at the grain. Try a food that does not contain corn meal. That crap is just that...crap. Filler that goes right through the dog. They can't digest it.

Also, be careful with switching to exotic types of food. My vet always says to feed the most common food your dog will tolerate. For example...feed chicken based food if you can. If your dog develops an allergy, you can always go to lamb and rice. But if you start with kangaroo or fish and potato, you have no where to go.

I feed Kirkland Senior for the old fogies in my house (I many over 7 years old, but I do have a 10 year old great dane that still goes for brisk walks every day) and Nutro for my puppy (1 yr old St. Bernard).

 

[Sporin]

We feed our dog Blue Seal Lamb & Rice.

 

[Blue77FJ40]

One thing I learned with my lab, was she got a serious case of colitis when she was 13. I didn't know that once a dog reaches 10-12, ya need to change their diet to senior formula. The senior formula has lower protein content and more binders. After two weeks of rice and ground turkey, her colitis went away. She was good to go on senior formula thereon after.

I believe I gave her Purina One for most of her 17 years.

 

[LoveTractor]

I n my experience, you could be dealing with an allergy. Instead of focusing on what meat is in the food, look at the grain. Try a food that does not contain corn meal. That crap is just that...crap. Filler that goes right through the dog. They can't digest it......

A complete list of grain-free dog foods from www.dogfoodproject.com :
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=grain_free

Kirkland Signature ranked highly in the "dogfood scoring" thread links I listed above.

And just for the record, I feed my 10-yr-old Golden with hypothyroidism Chicken Soup For The Pet Lover's Soul Senior Dog Formula. Ghey name.
Ingredients
Chicken, turkey, chicken meal, cracked pearled barley, whole grain brown rice, oatmeal, millet, white rice, potatoes, ocean fish meal, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), tomato pomace, duck, salmon, egg product, flaxseed, natural chicken flavor, choline chloride, glucosamine hydrochloride, dried chicory root, chondroitin sulfate, kelp, carrots, peas, apples, tomatoes, blueberries, spinach, dried skim milk, cranberry powder, rosemary extract, parsley flake, yucca schidigera extract, L-carnitine, Enterococcus faecieum, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Saccharomyces cerevesiae fermentation solubles, dried Aspergillus oryzae fermentation extract, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.



Another thing to consider is how readily you can acquire your choice. There are a couple foods that I would rather feed my dog(like Dick Van Patten), but I coldn't find it in Charleston. There seems to be more "crunchy" alternatives out in the "crunchy" west, if you know what I'm sayin'.

 

[patride71]

wellness/core

we did feed ours natural balance and she almost died as it contained tainted ingredients from china. we just settled with them and their insurance carrier because of it.

 

[patride71]

we also feed raw for 1 meal per day (turkey neckbones and pig neckbones). i get to take my agression out chopping those bad boys up.

 

[inthewall]

science diet for my dogs. they have a sensitive stomach blend. my vet recommends it. I havent had any problem with my dogs except when they eat week old dead rabbit.

 

[cary]

Sweet, almost at page 2, then we can take this off topic and start snipping at one another.

 

[freeway]

Avodeerm. Good for food allergy dogs. Also digestive friendly. Found my Ridgeback as a pup dumped on the freeway. He is the best dog ever except that he's got allergies to just about everything. Avo is also made with avacado. Good for skin and fur.

 

[mtb_rider]

Check out LoveTractor's links. There is good info there.

I have a lab that has a sensitive stomach and have found that the Diamond Naturals brand has been the best without breaking the bank. There is some really good dog food that will cost you 45 to 50 dollars for a 40 lb bag. The Diamond Large Breed scores high on the scale in the links above (I think a 99), but is only about 20 dollars for a 40lb bag. Anyway, it worked for us and you might want to try it before going for the really high dollar varieties.

I haven't tried the Diamond Naturals, but the Diamond Premium Blend, or something to that effect, I have tried. That was what I was feeding her the first few months I had her. Good food, but it's what we were on when the whole problem started.

Agreed. Also great are Canidae, Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance, Solid Gold (like Holistique), and Wellness.



Don't buy any pet food sold in the grocery store. They are garbage (literally).

The best: home made (with vitamins and minerals added specifically for a canine's dietary needs).

Feeding her Canidae Lamb And Rice currently.

I have used Kirkland (costco) dog food for a while and it seems to be pretty decent. I have two boxers, which as a breed generally don't do well with corn based foods. I buy the lamb and rice (green bag).
Here's the ingredients,
Lamb, Lamb meal, whole grain brown rice, rice flour, white rice, egg product, cracked pearled barley, chicken fat (preserved witn mixed tocoperols and Vitamine E), beet pulp, potatoes, fishmeal, flaxseed, natural flavor, milet, brewers dried yest, carrots, peas, choline chloride, rosemary extract, parsley flake, dried chicory root, glucosamine hydrochloride, taurine, vitamin E suppliment, iron proteinate, copper proteninate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteniate, manganous oxide, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), Vitamin B12 supplement, menadione sodium bivulfite (source of vitamin K activity), riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid

Guaranteed Analysis:

Crude Protein 23% minimum
Crude Fat 14% minimum
Crude Fiber 4% maximum
Moisture 10% maximum
Zinc 200mg/kg minimum
Selenium 0.4 mg/kg minimum
Vitamin A 15000 IU/KG minimum
Omega-6 fatty acids 2.2% minimum
Omega-3 Fatty Acids 0.4 % minimum
Glucosamine HCl not less than 300 mg/kg
Chondroitin sulfate not less than 100 mg/kg

I'm not coniseur of dog foods, but it's about $18/bag and my dogs seem to do well on it. I switched from Nutro BTW. Not because of a particular problem, but the vet said kirkland was essentially similar but 1/2 the cost.

Apparently Whole Dog Journel (I have no idea if they are a good source) voted Kirklands as the best and beneful as the worst.

EDIT: BTW we feed unlimited ie. the bowl is always full. We also run our dogs ~3miles/day, sometimes twice a day and they are outside in the yard the rest of the day. So far they have remained at a healthy weight. I'll cut back if they begin to add much fat.

Kirkland food is Diamond. Very good food. It is there Premium blend or whatever they call it. 18 bucks at Costco, almost 30 at the pet store.

we started cooking for our dogs a few years ago, as they both got some gut infection.....so we started cooking.....and its been GREAT for them, we cook boneless, skinless chicken breasts, rice, garlic, carots and some other stuff....the dogs are 15 and 17 years old now. For breakfast both get 2 cups of Nurto(sp) dry food, then dinner is the cooked food

BTW.......Beau dog was not feeling well last week, he was falling down, couldn't stand etc....thought his back legs/back had gone.........turns out it was just an inner ear infection....all fixed now and he is running(well as much as a 15 year old lab runs) around again and happy as can be

I had to cook her white rice and boiled chic breast the first time she got really sick.

I n my experience, you could be dealing with an allergy. Instead of focusing on what meat is in the food, look at the grain. Try a food that does not contain corn meal. That crap is just that...crap. Filler that goes right through the dog. They can't digest it.

Also, be careful with switching to exotic types of food. My vet always says to feed the most common food your dog will tolerate. For example...feed chicken based food if you can. If your dog develops an allergy, you can always go to lamb and rice. But if you start with kangaroo or fish and potato, you have no where to go.

I feed Kirkland Senior for the old fogies in my house (I many over 7 years old, but I do have a 10 year old great dane that still goes for brisk walks every day) and Nutro for my puppy (1 yr old St. Bernard).

I was thinking the same thing, about a possible allergy. Was going to run that by my vet.

A complete list of grain-free dog foods from www.dogfoodproject.com :
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=grain_free

Canidae is grain free. I know that grain is bad for dogs, as their systems can not digest it. Dogs are naturally carnivores, and that is what their systems are intended to digest.


Thanks for all the input guys!