What foods are best

[Mia]

so this morning I tried 1/4C of Merrick's with 3/4C of her old food…Well it didn't take her more than 10 min to gobble the whole thing up! Usually what we did was put a cup of her old food out in the am, and sometimes even by dinner time it would still be full. Needless to say I think Merricks was a good choice for her palate. It's not that pricey either. It's definitly worth seeing her lick her chomps for like 10 minutes afterwards, and the bowl too! lol
I can't wait to see if she leaves us alone at dinner time when I give her the other 1/2 of her daily food.

[tanza]

Chance of that are slim to none…gggg (leaving you alone during dinner)... especially when the new pup comes. Of course then it will be time to feed each in their crates.... and your girl will not have a chance to "leave" food since you will not be leaving it all day...

[jys1011]

Jazzy's Mom-I totally did not mean to offend…my apologies if I did At the time most of Purina's ingredients were not what I wanted to feed my pet & that's just in my humble inexperienced opinion.. From what I undersand a lot of the dog food companies have totally revamped their dog foods. Especially considering the dog food crisis we just experienced in this country.

I read up on the ingredients & I almost gagged (I'm quite serious about this). Corn was the first ingredient which I had read was a big no no. Followed by all kinds of animal "meal" which to me was not something I wanted to feed my dogs. I won't go into what it is because it still makes me nauseous to this day.

The trainer told me it was designed by Vets & contained the utmost nutritional value. I wondered if she had ever read the label? I wondered if she even knew what animal meal was?? I questioned the manner by which stated her authority on dog nutrition. To me, I felt she was completely wrong and needless to say I did not trust her.

[JazzysMom]

@jys1011:

Jazzy's Mom-I totally did not mean to offend…my apologies if I did

No offense taken. I just thought the wording was strong.

We're good…..:D

[Ninabeana26]

I think I may just leave ours on the Eukanuba the breeder has been feeding him. She raises, shows, etc. tons of adult Bs & so I trust her opinion on the matter. Anyone think Eukanuba is a mistake?

I read the ingrediants & didn't think it looked too bad. Meat was the first thing listed & I have been told you know it's a bad dog food if anything besides meat is listed first.

[Nexa]

I found this list a few weeks ago and thought it was interesting. It lists the majority of dog foods and their top 6 ingredients and percentages of protein, fat, fiber…etc. Some of them just look disgusting. It's at least a good place to start when comparing different foods.

http://www.alternativepetservices.com/Dog_Food_Ingredient_Analysis.xls

[tanza]

@Ninabeana26:

I think I may just leave ours on the Eukanuba the breeder has been feeding him. She raises, shows, etc. tons of adult Bs & so I trust her opinion on the matter. Anyone think Eukanuba is a mistake?

I read the ingrediants & didn't think it looked too bad. Meat was the first thing listed & I have been told you know it's a bad dog food if anything besides meat is listed first.

My only problem with Euk is the corn and beet pulp.. I think that you can get better food for the same price. And I used to always use Euk… on my kids, both show and performance dogs and expecting Moms... and pups.... but not any more, of course I do have one that is allergic to corn period....

[Mia]

@Nexa:

I found this list a few weeks ago and thought it was interesting. It lists the majority of dog foods and their top 6 ingredients and percentages of protein, fat, fiber…etc. Some of them just look disgusting. It's at least a good place to start when comparing different foods.

http://www.alternativepetservices.com/Dog_Food_Ingredient_Analysis.xls

wow that's a great list…and Nina it lists chicken by-product as the second ingredient in Euk...to my knowledge by products of any meat are a no no for a dog.

[Ninabeana26]

@Mia:

wow that's a great list…and Nina it lists chicken by-product as the second ingredient in Euk...to my knowledge by products of any meant are a no no for a dog.

Yea I want to avoid by-products. On the bag I bought though I didn't see that listed. The list given in the previous post actually doesn't have the Euk puppy food listed, only regular & adult.

I think choosing a food is the most complicated part of becoming a pet parent!!! :p

[tanza]

Here are the listed items for Euk Lamb & Rice Puppy (From their website)

Chicken, Corn Meal, Chicken By-Product Meal, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Brewers Rice, Fish Meal, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Natural Chicken Flavor, Dried Beet Pulp (sugar removed), Dried Egg Product, Brewers Dried Yeast, Potassium Chloride, Fish Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Salt, Vitamins [Vitamin E Supplement, Ascorbic Acid, Beta-Carotene, Vitamin A Acetate, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Niacin, Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Inositol, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid], Choline Chloride, Minerals [Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Potassium Iodide, Cobalt Carbonate], DL-Methionine, Marigold, Rosemary Extract.

[Ninabeana26]

I have it narrowed down to two brands…

Blue Buffalo or By Nature

I checked the website given earlier in this site & those were two that were recommended for dogs. Any opinions over these two?

[TuckerVA]

Other ingredients to avoid in the Euk are the:

-Brewers Rice (which is the cruddy part of rice that has no nutritional value)
-Salt

Merricks Wilderness Blend is considered to be a 5 star food (I believe Blue Buffalo is a 6 star food). This is Merricks ingredients list, for comparison, for the Wilderness Blend:

Buffalo, Oatmeal, Barley, Salmon Meal, Venison, Whole Brown Rice, Canola Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols – a source of Natural Vitamin E and Ascorbic Acid, a source of Vitamin C), Flaxseed, Freeze Dried Potatoes, Freeze Dried Carrots, Freeze Dried Peas, Freeze Dried Apples, Dicalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Chloride, Lysine, Guar Gum, Sea Salt, Choline Chloride, Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Whole Blueberries, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Dried Venison Broth, Whole Garlic, Chondroitin Sulfate, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Natural Venison Flavor, Chicory Root, Marigold Extract, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Enterococcus Faecium, Lactobacillus Casei, Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Natural Celery Flavor, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Vitamin E Supplement, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Natural Caramel Color, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Copper Amino Acid Complex, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin D3, Niacin, Lecithin, Ribofl avin Supplement, Biotin, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Cobalt Amino Acid Complex, Folic Acid, Thiamine Mononitrate, Sodium Selenite.

[youngandtired]

I tried Blue B as well and Sahara did good on it. It is not available in the town that I live and so I researched and decided to go with Merrick's products. I like the fact that it is a family run business, they all have dogs and all the ingredients are good, no by-products and the business is very successful. I like the idea of putting apples, sweet potatoes, peas and carrots in the food, the fiber is good for dogs. Sahara does not seem to have any problems with her anal glands, and a big plus is that I can buy it locally at a pet nutrition store which is run by a local vet and his family.

[jys1011]

Corn Meal, Chicken By-Product Meal, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Brewers Rice, Fish Meal

I have problems with these ingredients…if you look up what these are it's really not good nutrition IMO.

www.dogfoodanalysis.com

[Chelbell26]

Just curious…I've always fed my dogs (larger breeds) Bil-Jac...but I don't see this mentioned anywhere on this thread? Any opinions on Bil-Jac products? The reason I've always used it was because I was told by my breeder when I had a lab that the first two ingredients should be meat (don't know if that's really a big deal or not). But I'm wondering if Bil-Jac would be okay for my b-pup that we are bringing home in 2 weeks. It is not what the B-breeder is feeding them currently, so we'll make the transition slowly...but I'm definately interested in anyone's opinion/experience with Bil-Jac!!!

Thanks all!

[tanza]

@Chelbell26:

Just curious…I've always fed my dogs (larger breeds) Bil-Jac...but I don't see this mentioned anywhere on this thread? Any opinions on Bil-Jac products? The reason I've always used it was because I was told by my breeder when I had a lab that the first two ingredients should be meat (don't know if that's really a big deal or not). But I'm wondering if Bil-Jac would be okay for my b-pup that we are bringing home in 2 weeks. It is not what the B-breeder is feeding them currently, so we'll make the transition slowly...but I'm definately interested in anyone's opinion/experience with Bil-Jac!!!

Thanks all!

Bil Jac is not bad food and meat should be the first ingredients.. however be careful that it is meat and not "by products"… The only thing that I don't like about the Bil Jac is the corn. Corn is useless for dogs, IMO, it is a filler that has no value and many dogs have allergy problems with corn... There are a number of threads about foods on the forum

[Chelbell26]

Pat,
Thanks for your opinion….I didn't know that about the corn (had heard that many dog-people had opinion about teh cane molasses that is in the Bil-Jac product...we might go with something else (EVO, Merrick, Wellness all sound like they come highly recommended from the look of things on the threads in the forum).

Again, thanks for your opinion.

[Ninabeana26]

I switched Dallas over to Merrick's but for some reason he didn't take to it very well. He did at first, when I switched him from eukanuba but then suddenly stopped eating. He would nibble a bit but would actually spit the kibble out. Not sure if it was just that specific kibble, since he did seem to like the Wilderness blend [he spit out the Cowboy Cookout] so now I am trying to get him on Wellness. I mixed it tonight with the Merrick's & he ate more than he has in the past week and a half but I'm going to keep an eye on him since I really do like the Merrick's brand…

[tanza]

@Chelbell26:

Pat,
Thanks for your opinion….I didn't know that about the corn (had heard that many dog-people had opinion about teh cane molasses that is in the Bil-Jac product...we might go with something else (EVO, Merrick, Wellness all sound like they come highly recommended from the look of things on the threads in the forum).

Again, thanks for your opinion.

I have one that has allergies to corn, so I am pretty sensitive to corn in foods… and things like "by products" since you have no idea what is in "by products".... we all do the best we can with feeding our kids.. and food does become a person choice...

[chiya]

I have recently switched to Blue Buffalo and my kids really really like it.
I like that they have these lifesource bits mixed with their kibbles thats cooked in much lower temperature, so all the vitamins, nutrients, antioxidants are not being destroyed by the high temperature processing, so are much potent. What I like about blue buffalo food too is that they use deboned chicken so you are getting more meat for the buck. Not to mentioned they have no corn, by products and other fillers.
Anyhoo…..Highly recommend! And you can get them at any petsmart and I think some of the petco.

I personally don't believe in feeding puppies puppy food. I either feed all lift stage or start with a premium quality adult food.