Dog Food Recs.

[FreshTressa]

Okay....my dog came from the breeder on Purina ProPlan.

I kept him on it and weaned him slowly to an organic brand which gave him horrilbe gas.

In fact, all of the high end dog foods seem to give him gas or diarrhea.

He does fine on the proplan or on the Costco brand that he has whenever he stays at my mom's house.

Any suggestions? Or explanations?

I want to feed him the best food, but not if it gives him a tummy ache!

 

[Shugardrawers]

Talk with your vet. He may have some good suggestions for you but think of it this way: Millions of dogs are fed Purina every day and they live and thrive to ripe old ages. I would avoid cheapo generics though. I feed Petey Science Diet. I've tried the designer and organic stuff and he won't touch it. So we went back to what the breeder fed him to begin with, Science Diet. He's happy, healthy as a horse and the perfect weight. There will of course be posts that say I'm a horrible mommy and slowly killing my dog but we'll just agree to disagree there.

 

[Jynohn]

Have you tried Natural Balance? It's a high quality, organic food and I've fed it to all of my Danes with no problems. Great Danes are prone to bloat and gas, and BELIEVE ME, you do not want to be in the same room with a Dane with gas! We tried Nutro, then some of the other organic foods before finally making the switch to Natural Balance. It's a little pricier than some of the other foods, but well worth the price. It's also available in Petco so you don't need to have it shipped like some of the other holistics.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

Jynohn

 

[pumba]

our vet said that purina for puppies lamb and rice growth and developement was a great product and they sell their own foods too....science and something else.....when our dalmatian was almost a year we switched her to purina lamb and rice for adult dogs....can't remember the technical name of it.....but she has good poops and she has thrived on it......Our other dalmatian did good on lamb and rice too.

 

[goofy!]

.....

 

[goofyforlife]

our lab did great with proplan....

Our bernese didn't do as well..(Her coat looked too dry) so we tried the pricey foods ie Wellness (that gave her the runs too...)

We switched to Nutro puppy lamb and rice (for large breeds) and that seems to work out well.....

If she gets too many treats, I notice right away because that gives her the runs too......

I wish I could feed them both the same but our lab gets reduced calorie due to her hip dysplasia......

 

[labdogs42]

I feed my labs Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul -- stupid name, good food. My yellow lab has some allergy issues and does best on food without corn (most dogs have a tough time digesting corn). What is important isn't the name on the bag, but the ingredient statement. Look for meat to be the FIRST ingredient, look for whole grains like rice or oats (not corn, or brewers rice), look for whole vegetables, and no meat by-products. If you find a food with those types of ingredients at a reasonable price-point, go for it. If your dog does well on the Costco food, go for it. I've heard good things about the Diamond foods.

BTW, if you are looking for a source of doggie-info (esp. regarding nutrition, etc) try the Whole Dog Journal. It is a great reference for any dog-lover! (no I don't get a cut form them! I just like their magazine!)

 

[hiwaygal]

Opinions on dog food vary widely, and many people are very "attached" to their beliefs about it.

I agree with the poster who said if your dog is healthy, and likes what you are feeding him, there may not be a reason to switch. If it ain't broke...

Different breeds have different needs too. For example, many breeds don't need much in the way of veggies, but basenji's do need that...so my dogs get canned veggies as a supplement every now and then.

I wanted to find the *best* dog food I could afford and found a website that ranked dog foods (probably couldn't find it again if I tried). The "number one" food was a holistic brand from Canada that I would only be able to get through mail order...it was WAAAAYYY too expensive for me.

The second highest rated was the Chicken Soup brand...I've only had my dogs on it for a couple of weeks now. So I'm anxious to see how well it works.

Just try to find something that doesn't have a lot of fillers and lists some kind of meat as a first and second ingredient. Find the best you can that you are comfortable with and can afford and don't worry too much about feeding something you can't afford!

 

[DMickey28]

My Lobo is on the Natural Balance too. He had Eukanuba for a year after coming from the breeder but once we switch from Puppy to adult he couldn't do it anymore. Natural Balance is the only one that he can handle... it works really well for us. It is a pain that you can only get it at PetCo but that's ok! The girl at Petco showed me another brand that is supposed to be really good and I am considering trying it but I don't remember what it was! I only know where it is in the store... (and only that store!)

 

[The Mystery Machine]

We did use Nutro Ultra Premium Puppy first and it was just too high in protein for them. It gave them the runs. I think it was 31%???

Now we use Dick Van Pattens "Natural Balance". So far, so good. We are on the Duck and Potato brand. Good thing is they have the "Dog Rolls" which we stuff in their Kongs as a treat as a supplemental feeding.

 

[FreshTressa]

Thanks guys...

I feel better now about the ProPlan....he just does so well on it.

He is an arctic dog...don't they need high protein?

 

[TheRatPack]

Another vote for Natural Balance here. Our doxies eat it and our Yorkie eats the duck and potato allergy formula. We also buy the dog food rolls for treats

We used Innova for years with our Doxies, but it got hard to find it around town so we switched them to NB too.

 

[FreshTressa]

Natural balance gave him gas too

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

I am such a dog food snob.

I had Chloe on California Natural for years, but her ears started bothering her, so I've recently switched to Eagle Pack Holistic Chicken and she's doing great on it. They're more expensive, but there are no preservatives in them and the ingredients are far superior to most other brands.

I was feeding her the BARF diet for awhile and loved the results I was seeing, but it was making her... well, it was making her barf at night. My husband thought she was ruining the carpet, so it was back to commercial dog food.

 

[kayeandjim00]

I agree with the philosophy of doing what works and also just confirming with your vet that whaqt you are doing is working. There are so many choices and so many options that there can be some trial and error and dogs are so different! We feed From's which is an organic food made here in Wisconsin. We feed both the cats and the dog that and have had wonderful results and the cats especially LOVE the duck food that they have.
Good luck finding what works for your sweetie.

 

[FreshTressa]

I am such a dog food snob.

I had Chloe on California Natural for years, but her ears started bothering her, so I've recently switched to Eagle Pack Holistic Chicken and she's doing great on it. They're more expensive, but there are no preservatives in them and the ingredients are far superior to most other brands.

I was feeding her the BARF diet for awhile and loved the results I was seeing, but it was making her... well, it was making her barf at night. My husband thought she was ruining the carpet, so it was back to commercial dog food.

hehe, I can still remember the smell of the California Natural farts...very distinct.

That was my favorite dog food because it was so low allergy.

I'm thinking of trying Flint River Ranch. I'm not sure whether to keep trying things or to stick with what works.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

hehe, I can still remember the smell of the California Natural farts...very distinct.

That was my favorite dog food because it was so low allergy.

I'm thinking of trying Flint River Ranch. I'm not sure whether to keep trying things or to stick with what works.

You know, Chloe never had farts with Ca. Nat., but at first they were room-clearing with Eagle Pack! I was told to live with it for awhile and sure enough, she adjusted to it.

Flint River was one that I was looking at, as was Wysong. I had a website that compared the different foods, with human ratings. I'll see if I can dig it up.

 

[FreshTressa]

How long did it take to adjust to the eagle?

For cody...we gave him 6 weeks with California Natural.

Gas the whole time!


What I don't get is he can eat crap food forever like at my mom's house when he eats her dogs Alpo.

What would be causing this?

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

How long did it take to adjust to the eagle?

For cody...we gave him 6 weeks with California Natural.

Gas the whole time!


What I don't get is he can eat crap food forever like at my mom's house when he eats her dogs Alpo.

What would be causing this?

Gosh, I almost hate to start this conversation on here, but usually the main reason dogs have gas, is from grains. Dogs can't digest them. They aren't "made" to digest it. In their natural state, like a wolf, they aren't biologically geared to handle it.

Even dogs teeth aren't formed for munching grains, but are sharp and pointed, to tear into meat. Yet, because it's cheap, it's what dog food is mainly made of. They'll throw some meat byproduct in there, but it's held together with grain and you don't even want to know what else. It'll literally make you sick. (Here's just one of many things you'll read over and over again: http://www.belfield.com/article3.html)

Typically, the cheaper the food, the more grains and/or byproducts.

Do some research online and you'll also see why so many vets push Purina and Science Diet. I'd rather not (and won't - I'm far from an expert) get into it on here, because these conversations usually go the route of politics and marriage, if you know what I mean. I've seen it get n-a-s-t-y. Just do some research. I promise, you'll be surprised at what you find.

Anyway - aren't you sorry you asked? I had a Beagle die of cancer and when that happened, I started doing research and learned more than I ever wanted to know! I learned that preservatives are one of the suspected causes of canine cancer, so it led me to California Natural.

To answer your question, six months seems like a long time, but it could be the type of food you're feeding too. Chloe was on Lamb and Rice. Have you tried that? It's usually the easiest to digest. And even though California Natural is a premium food, it's not perfect, just like Eagle Pack isn't.

 

[Aimeedyan]

I have a dog with a sensitive tummy - Natural balance was too much for him. I switched him to Ca Natural lamb and rice and he does better but still VERY gassy. My vet (I see a holistic vet who does NOT buy the Science Diet, Purina, etc marketing speels and would never recommend them) suggested to put him on a digestive enzyme as well. She said that CA Natural is one of the less "rich" foods there are so it'd be better to try that then try to find another grainy food.

The junk brands are not an option IMO so we have stuck with this and will add an enzyme. If that doesn't work, I may try Eagle Pack or Flint River to see how that fares with him.

=)