Do Premium Pet Foods Really Make A Difference?

[chrissyk]

Is there a preparation for the BARF diet? I thought you just gave it to them the way it was. I don't know much about it, but what I did read, I thought it was a bit too much work.

Anyway, I give my dog Nutro and it seems to go over well with her. Her poo is solid and a good color, plus her skin and coat are good and shiny. When I give her Dog Chow or something cheaper from the grocery store as a temporary thing, her hair starts to fall out and her poop's runny.

Nutro is a decent brand...I think that it has 1 ingredient in it that keeps it off the Whole Dog Journal's recommended list, but that's it.

My sister raw-feeds her dog (BARF diet), and she uses a prepared, frozen diet called BRAVO. There is no preparation involved, it's quite economical, and her dog is very healthy.

 

[minniecarousel]

Wow - what an eye-opener. My 12 year-old 18 lb tabby has been on a dry Eukanuba restricted calorie food for a very long time. Sounds like I need to get him off of the dry stuff. I'll go to the Pet store and see about "Wellness".

 

[DoeWDW]

We feed our dachshund with BARF but it can be a pain to prep correctly. Dogs don't digest veggie / plant material well in it's natural state, so you have to put it through the blender so they can absorb the vitamins & minerals. Also you have to balance the meats, bones, veggies, etc to make sure they're getting a balanced diet.

Thanks for mentioning BRAVO - I'm interested in looking for more info on it.

 

[denisem]

Is there a preparation for the BARF diet? I thought you just gave it to them the way it was. I don't know much about it, but what I did read, I thought it was a bit too much work.

Out of necessity (MAJOR IBD), we feed our F3 bengal cat a raw diet. Our recipe involves grinding raw chicken thighs & liver, egg yolks and various vitamins. 'Twas intimidating making it the 1st time, but now that we're organized DH & I can knock out 6 lbs. in about a 1/2 hour.

We'd spent $$$ at the vet (who recommended Science Diet) and I switched to raw the day I read the 1st 3 ingredients on a can of SD: pork, pork liver & corn - geesh, people don't even eat pork liver. Within 24 hours, Rocko had solid, virtually odorless stools.

Here are the brats resting up for their next game of "chase":

 

[wdwmom2]

Denisem

Your cats are beautiful!!!!! I love their shiney coats!!!

 

[denisem]

Thanks, Sharon!

Another plus to bengals is they rarely shed. After havin' a long-haired white cat, I really appreciate that.

 

[RUDisney]

I did a modified BARF diet for almost a year with one of my pugs. She was allergic to everything under the sun and there was no manufactured dog food that I could buy for her. I read a bunch of dog nutrition books and finally made my own recipe for kibble. She'd get 1/2 cup of that in the morning and 1/2 cup of raw meat at night. She'd get a marrow bone about once a week. She did very well on that.

Then, I found Azmira organic dog food. She is doing well on this, as is my other pug who was also switched. It is such a high quality dog food that you don't have to switch foods slowly.

When my other pug had crystals in her urine, the vet told me to use Science Diet C/D. Puggles hated it. I switched her back to Azmira and found that they make a holistic Kidney Flo product that has cured her crystal issues. The reason that I think, Azmira thinks (of course) and the vet thinks that she hated it was that she was too used to the good stuff. Sort of us going from a filet mignon diet to a hot dog diet.

 

[coliebird]

Check out this link for one vet's take on premium and other cat foods:
You might be surprised.

http://www.catinfo.org/

Thanks so much for posting this link. It was a real eye opener. My cat has been having kidney problems and has been on Feline k/d. I think I'm going to try the canned food and see if that helps him.

 

[Aimeedyan]

YES! Foods make a HUGE difference! And YES I'm a dog food freak!

=)

I feed Natural Balance. I used to feed Nutro Ultra until we got a PetCo because it was the ONLY decent food sold within 90 miles of me. Ultra is way overpriced and a step down from Natural Balance so I switched.

When I move back to a real city with choices, I may try out others like Innova and Wellness just for kicks. BUt we've been SO pleased with Natural Balance and it's cheaper than crappy brands and far superior (no by products, no corn, no icky fillers like white rice, no mystery meat, 3 main sources of protein in top 5 ingredients)

 

[lucky978]

Wellness is supposed to be a great brand. I used to work for the company that makes it (worked there as they were developing it). Check it out!

 

[chrissyk]

When my other pug had crystals in her urine, the vet told me to use Science Diet C/D. Puggles hated it. I switched her back to Azmira and found that they make a holistic Kidney Flo product that has cured her crystal issues. The reason that I think, Azmira thinks (of course) and the vet thinks that she hated it was that she was too used to the good stuff. Sort of us going from a filet mignon diet to a hot dog diet.

Do they make this Kidney Flo product for cats as well? Where can I get it? Were these struvite crystals that the product cleared up? My male cat suffers from those terribly, even with the organic diet and suppliments.

Aimeedyan, check out www.petfooddirect.com . You can get Wellness and other brands delivered to you from there, and there are always online coupons for that site on the various coupon websites.

 

[RUDisney]

I'm not sure if it is for dogs and cats. The web page and my book doesn't say specifically. I did realize, however that it is spelled Kidni Flow. The web site with this information is: http://www.azmira.com/ProductHerbalExtracts.htm and there is a link to distributors. I know that I have to call Erie, PA to get mine. There are regional distributors.

I used to be able to get this through www.petfooddirect.com, but they discontinued it because they couldn't get a reliable supply of the food. I have had no problem with getting it through Nature's Herbals in Erie, since PFD stopped handling it.

Good luck with your cat's issues. Puggles suffered with the same struvite crystals. She became very aggressive with our other pug because a side affect of the crystals made her mouth feel like sandpaper on the inside. At least that's what the vet attributed the aggression to. Since on Kidni Flow, she isn't aggressive about food any more either.

 

[chrissyk]

I'm not sure if it is for dogs and cats. The web page and my book doesn't say specifically. I did realize, however that it is spelled Kidni Flow. The web site with this information is: http://www.azmira.com/ProductHerbalExtracts.htm and there is a link to distributors. I know that I have to call Erie, PA to get mine. There are regional distributors.

I used to be able to get this through www.petfooddirect.com, but they discontinued it because they couldn't get a reliable supply of the food. I have had no problem with getting it through Nature's Herbals in Erie, since PFD stopped handling it.

Good luck with your cat's issues. Puggles suffered with the same struvite crystals. She became very aggressive with our other pug because a side affect of the crystals made her mouth feel like sandpaper on the inside. At least that's what the vet attributed the aggression to. Since on Kidni Flow, she isn't aggressive about food any more either.

Our cat is so aggressive that he's on 5 mg. of Prozac a day! I don't know if I'd attribute that to the crystals, though. He's been like that since he was 2 months-old.

I found the Kidni Flow through a distributor on that website. I PM'd you this also...how often do you give this product to your dog, and how is it admininstered (in water, in food, directly into mouth, etc.). I'm wondering how much I need to order. Also, how long did it take for the crystals to disappear? We had his urine cultured 2 weeks ago (he had a UTI at the time), and his struvite crystals were just horrendous. I'm going to have his urine recultured in 6 weeks, so I would be psyched if we could see a reduction in crystals by then. This is a VERY longstanding problem for our cat, unfortunately

 

[The Mystery Machine]

YES! Foods make a HUGE difference! And YES I'm a dog food freak!

=)

I feed Natural Balance. I used to feed Nutro Ultra until we got a PetCo because it was the ONLY decent food sold within 90 miles of me. Ultra is way overpriced and a step down from Natural Balance so I switched.

When I move back to a real city with choices, I may try out others like Innova and Wellness just for kicks. BUt we've been SO pleased with Natural Balance and it's cheaper than crappy brands and far superior (no by products, no corn, no icky fillers like white rice, no mystery meat, 3 main sources of protein in top 5 ingredients)

Do you do the dry or tubes? What is the protein %? I am feeding them the Ultra Nutro Holistic Puppy but they just are going too much.

 

[goofy4tink]

Wellness Venison for my golden and he is very happy. No filler, no grains, no chicken. He can't have chicken or corn. No hot spots, good weight. You get what you pay for. So, why am I feeding my cats Purina??? Guess I should get them on Wellness also.

 

[Marseeya]

Here are the brats resting up for their next game of "chase":

Your cats are absolutely gorgeous! Wow. I've never actually seen a bengal "in person." What are their personalities like?

 

[RUDisney]

For the benefit of others, I have also responded to the PM.

For our 17 pound pug, we give her 3 drops per day in her food. 1 ounce of Kidni Flow lasts a long time at that rate. It took about 2 months for us to see a great improvement in Puggles. The last time I bought a bottle of this was in July and I haven't needed to open it yet. I probably still have a month's worth in the last bottle.

 

[cherylp3]

I feed wellness to both my dog and cat also my local specialty stores sell barf food if I ever wanted to switch.

 

[Jynohn]

BUt we've been SO pleased with Natural Balance and it's cheaper than crappy brands and far superior (no by products, no corn, no icky fillers like white rice, no mystery meat, 3 main sources of protein in top 5 ingredients)

We've been feeding Natural Balance to our Great Danes for years and have been very happy with it. It is also easier to find then Innova, Wellness, etc. since they carry it at Petco.

Google the article "Food Pets Die For" if you REALLY want to know what's in some of the other brands, including so-called "premium" brands like Eukanuba, Iams (both made by the same company btw) and Science Diet. It's pretty shocking.

 

[RUDisney]

Google the article "Food Pets Die For" if you REALLY want to know what's in some of the other brands, including so-called "premium" brands like Eukanuba, Iams (both made by the same company btw) and Science Diet. It's pretty shocking.

The thing I really hate most about all of the "premium" brands that you mentioned is that they are all preserved with BHT... a known carcinogen... although most vets discount this. Do I really want to be putting something harmful into my pets? Nope. That's not what goes on in my house.