OSOTORO said:
costco, science diet and any other food that can be at the vet or a pet store are all garbage. they are full of fillers and the only reason that some vets carry it is to profit from it. it is like a dentist giving out candy at halloween so he can make money filling cavities. go with a all natural food that is organic, it will cost you a bit more but you will have a healthier dog and save on vet bills in the long run. a new one that is good is timberwolforganics.com it has everything that your dog needs to stay healthy. the nice thing about this is there are five different types ranging from elk, bison, venison to one high in fish. they all have the same essientials but are different flavors so you can switch without upsetting the dogs stomach. their web site also talks a bit about raw diets which they also believe in. just a note, our friends two 3 year old bulldog which ate eukanuba died of cancer and my parents lab that ate science diet died of cancer at a young age as well.
Typical B.S. and propaganda. Just because large chains carry Science Diet does not mean that it is unhealthy. By the way, Vets sell dog food to help dogs, not just to make profit. They can sell any brand they want for profit. They sell Science Diet because they offer a broad based, well made line that represents different ages and health needs. Large companies have the resources to conduct quality R&D and are usually not in the business to produce garbage in an extremely competitive market. Most of these people love dogs and want to help them.
By the way, just because your dog eats Eukanuba or Science Diet and gets cancer, doesn't mean anything. Your parent's Lab may have eaten Science Diet and gotten cancer, yet that has nothing to do with the fact that Mom and Dad smoke 10 packs a day around the dog, live next door to a Toxic Waste Dump, and the dog loves to lick lead paint off of the 40 year old porch columns.
Saying that the dog food is the causation of cancer is uniformed, slanderous, and ignorant. By the way, raw meat is not always the best diet. Dogs will eat grass to help them digest. Properly made dog food will have fiber and other materials you call "fillers" to aid in digestion.
Organic Science Diet
Combining the expertise of Hill’s with delicious, balanced goodness gives you more than a precise balance of premium taste and nutrition. You can count on superior protein quality from one real beef, chicken, or fish protein, a poultry-based protein, and egg. The superior antioxidant formula of Nature’s Best™ features the highest level of vitamins E + C** to help your pet stay healthy and thrive.
http://naturesbest.sciencediet.com/
From:
http://naturesbest.sciencediet.com/more/reports-ingredients_make_difference.asp
The Natural Difference
Science Diet® Nature's Best™ was created specifically for pet owners wishing to feed their pets a great tasting, high quality, natural* product.
Many pet foods use natural ingredients, but their ingredients are preserved with artificial preservatives. What makes Nature's Best™ unique is that all of the individual ingredients that comprise the finished product are preserved naturally.
Multiple Animal Proteins Are Better
Meat, listed as the first ingredient on a pet food label, does not indicate the quality or quantity of meat protein in a product. In fact, a combination of multiple animal protein sources produces a better quality of protein than any single animal protein source. Science Diet® Nature's Best™ brand pet food uses three animal protein sources (Beef, Chicken, or Ocean Fish combined with Chicken Meal and Dried Egg), plus vegetable proteins to provide optimal protein quality. Science Diet® Nature's Best™ provides a nutritional profile optimized for puppies and adult dogs, kittens and adult cats. That's why veterinarians choose Science Diet® brands to feed their own pets.
* With added vitamins and minerals
Balance of Amino Acids Drives Protein Quality
More protein is not better. It is the quality of protein in a product that is important. That is why Science Diet® Nature's Best™ uses multiple animal protein sources. Protein comes from two sources, animal and vegetable, and is the source of essential and non-essential amino acids. Essential amino acids are not naturally produced by your pet and must be supplied by its food. The quality of protein is based on its ability to deliver essential amino acids to your pet, not on the source of the protein. In simpler terms, the right balance of amino acids determines the quality of protein.
High-quality Ingredients Deliver High-quality Nutrition
It is necessary to use high-quality ingredients to achieve high-quality nutrition in pet foods. Many pet foods contain protein sources with excessive ash, phosphorous, calcium, and magnesium. Filtering and excreting these excess nutrients can be hard on your pet's kidneys. In fact, kidney failure is the number one cause of non-accidental death in cats and the number two cause in dogs. At Hill's Pet Nutrition, we select and carefully formulate the highest quality ingredients to ensure the highest quality nutrition for your pet's health.
I'm also sure that Eukanuba invests thousands of dollars to produce cancer causing dog food. Yeah right.
http://www.eukanuba.com/en_US/jhtml...n_page.jhtml?sc=D&bc=E&li=en_US&pti=AD&qi=11#
http://www.eukanuba.com/en_US/jhtml...age.jhtml?li=en_US&bc=E&pti=NF&sc=D&lsc=&bsc=
Small scale organic dog food producers are not always the best. They approach the problem with a "natural is better" philosophy, without using the science of overall nutrition to adapt to the individual dog, breed, and age. Hey, throw the dog a raw elk, venison, or beef steak. Dogs like meat! Sure, but they need other balanced nutrients, fibers, minerals, and vitamins.
Most small scale producers lack laboratories, clinical studies, and teams of qualified Vets to do research. There are some good small scale outfits and Timberwolf looks like they make a good product, but I wouldn't be so quick to discredit the large brands.
Otherwise experiment and see what your dog works best on. The Newfie gets by on other stuff, but runs really well on Eukanuba Large breed. The Zia dog has gone through a variety of foods, including us making it, and has settled on Petsmart's house brand of lamb and something. She'd rather have the meatier canned stuff, but it really doesn't suit her well.
