Golden Retriever owners....

Sinderelli

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 12, 2005
Messages
1,759
We have a 9 week old Golden Retriever. I was wondering what you Golden owners feed your puppies/dogs. The breeder had Biscuit (our Golden) on Nutro Natural Choice (Chicken Rice and Oatmeal formula). The oatmeal (he says) is good for Goldens' coats.

We went to the vet last week and he told me I should have Biscuit on a food specifically stated "For large breeds". The Oatmeal formula does not specify "for large breeds". I did find a Nutro that stated for large breeds- but my question is if you Golden owners find this is a good brand of dog food for your dog or if your Golden is on another kind. The vet advised me to keep him on a premium dog food; i.e. Nutro, Science diet, etc.
 
I have heard that the "large breed" dog foods can sometimes be too much of a good thing for pups...I'll see if I can find that info...(ETA...a friend believes that these types of foods don't allow the pups joints to grow correctly, but I have seen several high quality brands offering this now so maybe that's not really an issue).

Nutro is a good brand, but I'm pretty sure Science Diet is NOT.

Someone posted this a few weeks ago, perhaps you can use it as a guide.

DOG FOOD GRADES

Dog Food scores:

Alpo Prime Cuts - Score 81 C
Artemis Large/Medium Breed Puppy - Score 114 A+
Authority Harvest Baked - Score 116 A+
Authority Harvest Baked Less Active - Score 93 B
Beowulf Back to Basics - Score 101 A+
Bil-Jac Select - Score 68 F
Blackwood 3000 Lamb and Rice - Score 83 C
Blue Buffalo Chicken and Rice - Score 106 A+
Burns Chicken and Brown Rice - Score 107 A+
Canidae - Score 112A+
Chicken Soup Senior - Score 115 A+
Diamond Maintenance - Score 64 F
Diamond Lamb Meal & Rice - Score 92 B
Diamond Large Breed 60+ Formula - Score 99 A
Diamond Performance - Score 85 C
Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra Premium - Score 122 A+
Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Venison & Brown Rice - Score 106 A+
Dick Van Patten's Duck and Potato - Score 106 A+
EaglePack Holistic - Score 102 A+
Eukanuba Adult - Score 81 C
Eukanuba Puppy - Score 79 C
Flint River Senior - Score 101 A+
Foundations - Score 106 A+
Hund-n-Flocken Adult Dog (lamb) by Solid Gold - Score 93 B
Iams Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Premium - Score 73 D
Innova Dog - Score 114 A+
Innova Evo - Score 114 A+
Innova Large Breed Puppy - Score 122 A+
Kirkland Signature Chicken, Rice, & Vegetables - Score 110 A+
Member's Mark Chicken and Rice - Score 84 C
Merrick Wilderness Blend - Score 127 A+
Nature's Recipe - Score 100 A
Nature's Recipe Healthy Skin Venison & Rice - Score 116 A+
Nature's Variety Raw Instinct - Score 122 A+
Nutra Nuggets Super Premium Lamb Meal and Rice - Score 81C
Nutrience Junior Medium Breed Puppy - Score 101 A+
Nutrisource Lamb and Rice - Score 87 B
Nutro Max Adult - Score 93 B
Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice - Score 98 A
Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy - Score 87B
Nutro Natural Choice Puppy Wheat Free - Score 86 B
Nutro Natural Choice Senior - Score 95 A
Nutro Ultra Adult - Score 104 A+
Pet Gold Adult with Lamb & Rice - Score 23 F
Premium Edge Chicken, Rice & Vegetables Adult dry - Score 109 A+
Pro Nature Puppy - Score 80 C
Pro Plan Sensitive Stomach - Score 94 A
Purina Beniful - Score 17 F
Purina Dog - Score 62 F
Purina Come-n-Get It - Score 16 F
Purina One Large Breed Puppy - Score 62 F
Royal Canin Boxer - Score 103 A+
Royal Canin Bulldog - Score 100 A+
Royal Canin Natural Blend Adult - Score 106 A+
Science Diet Advanced Protein Senior 7+ - Score 63 F
Science Diet for Large Breed Puppies - Score 69 F
Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice - Score 97 A
Solid Gold - Score 99 A
Summit - Score 99 A
Timberwolf Organics Wild & Natural Dry - Score 120 A+
Wellness Super5 Mix Chicken - Score 110 A+
Wolfking Adult Dog (bison) by Solid Gold - Score 97 A

This is how the grades were determined:

Start with a grade of 100

1) For every listing of "by-product", subtract 10 points

2) For every non-specific animal source ("meat" or poultry", meat,
meal or fat) reference, subtract 10 points

3) If the food contains BHA, BHT, or ethoxyquin, subtract 10 points

4) For every grain "mill run" or non-specific rain source, subtract 5 points

5) If the same grain ingredient is used 2 or more times in the first five
ingredients (i.e. "ground brown rice", brewer's rice", "rice flour" are all
the
same grain), subtract 5 points

6) If the protein sources are not meat meal and there are less than 2
meats in the top 3 ingredients, subtract 3 points

7) If it contains any artificial colorants, subtract 3 points

8 ) If it contains ground corn or whole grain corn, subtract 3 points

9) If corn is listed in the top 5 ingredients, subtract 2 more points

10) If the food contains any animal fat other than fish oil, subtract
2 points

11) If lamb is the only animal protein source unless your dog is allergic to
other protein sources), subtract 2 points

12) If it contains soy or soybeans, subtract 2 points

13) If it contains wheat (unless you know that your dog isn't allergic to
wheat), subtract 2 points

14) If it contains beef (unless you know that your dog isn't allergic to
beef), subtract 1 point

15) If it contains salt, subtract 1 point

Extra Credit:

1) If any of the meat sources are organic, add 5 points

2) If the food is endorsed by any major breed goup or nutritionist, add 5
points

3) If the food is baked not extruded, add 5 points

4) If the food contains probiotics, add 3 points

5) If the food contains fruit, add 3 points

6) If the food contains vegetables (NOT corn or other grains) add
3 points

7) If the animal sources are hormone-free and antibiotic-free add
2 points

8 ) If the food contains barley, add 2 points

9) If the food contains flax seed oil (not just the seeds) add 2 points

10) If the food contains oats or oatmeal, add 1 point

11) If the food contains sunflower oil, add 1 point

12) For every different specific animal protein source (other than the first
one; count "chicken" and "chicken meal" as only one protein source, but
"chicken" and "" as 2 different sources) add 1 point

13) If it contains glucosamine and chondroitin, add 1 point

14) If the vegetables have been tested for pesticides and are pesticide
free, add 1 point
 
Wow, hiwaygal, thanks for that list! I had no idea. Looks like he's on a pretty good one. I would like to just keep him on this one and then switch him to the "large breed" one later. I'd love to see the info you mentioned in regards to large breed foods.
 
I can't take credit for that list...it's been posted a couple of times and I just happened to be able to find it for you;)

As for the large breed puppy food...I can't find anything. A friend on another board mentioned that she had heard that it isn't the best option for pups, but I couldn't find anything to back that up. It may have been something she heard awhile ago and is just sticking with it (doesn't everyone tend to be loyal to some things sometimes?;) :rotfl: )

I did notice that several ultra premium brands (Royal Canin, Solid Gold) have started putting out their own large breed puppy formulas so maybe my friends concern is unfounded.

Personally, I don't think I'd worry about that too much...as long as you are feeding a good quality food you shouldn't have any problems. Later, when your pup is older you can give some glocosamine/chondroitin supplements which help with joint health if needed.
 

Thanks for posting that list, Hiwaygal...after reading the OP I was just about to start looking for my copy! One thing the OP should remember is that one must be careful with large breed puppies NOT to feed something that would cause the dog to grow so very quickly that the bones and joints can't keep up. Oh, dear, I don't know that I am explaining it too well, but larger dogs can develop joint problems if they grow TOO fast. I know of breeders who never feed puppy food just for that reason--they just feed a high quality food for the dogs' entire lives.
My three year old Golden gets Nutro lamb and rice, my 10-yo small dog Wellness. On a side note, I recently tried to switch the Golden over to Wellness, since it is rated a little higher than Nutro, and he totally refused to eat it! So I decided the Nutro would be OK since he loves it. :love:
My vet just says to never feed "grocery store" brands.:mad:
 
We feed our dog the Timberwolf Organics and it is great. He has the most beautiful black coat (Lab). Feeding Science Diet is about like throwing a corn cob in your dog's bowl if you look at the ingredients.....
 
My Golden is on Wellness Lamb and Rice. We switched him to adult food at 4 months, because we were told the puppy formulas are too rich and cause them to grow too fast and too fat. Leading to bone and lifelong weight issues.

He is in great shape at 1 1/2 years.
 
/
I agree with the above posters about foods. I might have been one of the posters of that chart many months ago. We have had two goldens and they are pretty good eaters. Our Irish setter is not a good eater and reacts to wheat and corn.

I would suggest you use the information you find to choose foods that don't contain wheat or corn and use high quality ingredients. We feed Natural Balance by Dick Van Patton. Tucker loves it and we given him one can each evening and he self feeds dry during the day. Setters can get fatal reactions to ingredients in lamb in rare instances so I needed to find some varieties other than lamb. Natural Balance has liver, beef, chicken as well as the fish and sweet potato and duck and rice he loves. We special order the more unusual canned varieties from the pet store that sells the dry. Even the dry is available in duck and venison.

So, feed what you are comfortable with and that he will eat. Keep the table scraps to the absolute minimum.

If you are worried, consider a multivitiman with minerals as a suppliment. I get them on line too.

Science Diet is horrible food. All my pets vomited it up and many others I know had the same problem. Why the vets sell it is beyond me.
 
We had a lot of trouble finding an appropriate food for Casey as a puppy. She, apparently like a good number of Goldens, had a very sensitive stomach. She would end up vomiting and with soft stools fairly regularly. We finally ended up putting her on a large breed puppy formula that we bought from the local feed store. It was the only thing that really worked for her. Unfortunately, for the life of me I cannot remember the brand name and we've since moved away from that area completely!

Neutro is a brand that many breeders have their dogs on. It was the one that Casey was on... but didn't stay on because, with time, it was too much for her. We always fell back on the hamburger and rice when she was going through those periods and slowly introduced the new food as not to shock her system.
 
I've got my pup on Innova puppy food. I heard it was pretty good stuff. It's scary to know what's in some of that "other" dog food, mainly the big name brands.
 
Our breeder uses NutriSource Large Breed Adult chicken and Rice for his dogs. He starts the puppies on it as well. Nutrisource is only sold in 2 places around here, both 25-30 minutes away.

I wanted to use something that I could get locally at Petsmart, his recommendation is that we use large breed formula, either puppy or adult. After some research, we settled on Authority (Petsmart's house brand) Large Breed Puppy. Our dog has a beautiful coat, very thick and shiny and healthy looking.

So far she has tolerated the food very well, she has a touchy stomach, but that is because she chews on all sorts of things she shouldn't be getting into.
 
I have 2 Goldens! They are the best :) My puppies came from the breeder (same breeder for both) eating Nutro Large Breed Puppy. The large breed puppy keeps them from growing too fast, which can be bad for their bones, esp. with Goldens who are prone to hip displasia. My breeder told me to keep them on the puppy food until they are a year old. Once they turned 1, I switched them to Wellness. Just be careful...Wellness or other human grade food are very rich and many goldens have sensitive tummies.

If your pup is doing well on what he's eating now, I wouldn't switch.

Photos please ;)
 





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