Which commercial brands of dog food are BOTH completely safe and fully nutritious ?

[Sue R]

Woofs?

 

I have a place like that too, and although I pay a tad bit more it feels good to know theres 2 of us watching.

Yes, and Jodi knows my dogs and I can go in any time and discuss what I'm feeding, what I might like to feed, what I'm seeing in my dogs - and I know she is very knowledgeable about everything she carries. And if I have something to say, she treats me with respect and listens.

 

She really does research what she carries - and she does carry some foods she would not feed to her dogs herself, but because some customers demand them. But anything that she promotes or recommends, is well worth looking at. She is free about giving her reasons for liking or not liking a food or certain ingredients, and I rely on her expertise. Plus, she's selling dog food but she's not a representative of any one company or line of food, so I know she is not prejudiced towards something just because promoting it benefits her.

[Mark Billadeau]

 

 

Mark :D/>

[Cathy@Petcurean]

As an employee of a premium Canadian brand of pet food, I would like to make a point here that I feel has been missed. Feeding a high quality pet food means that you are feeding your hard working dogs a diet that is utilized completely by the dog's body. By feeding a lower quality food, you have to feed much more food to support your dog's needs to do the job. The higher the KCAL's, the less food they need, the lower the KCAL'S, the more food they need, with alot of the ingredients just being fillers in which you ultimately end up picking more up in the back yard. If you do the math, it is only pennies a day more to feed a high quality of food vs an economy bag. You feed so much less and your dog is healthier, and you pick up less waste in the yard.

[juliepoudrier]

I don't think anyone here has suggested feeding an economy food, but rather the best quality one can afford. FWIW, dogs are individuals (I'm sure I've said this before) and some do well on foods that others do not do well on, and that holds for the super premium foods and the lower-priced (but still good) foods.

 

Pennies a day is relative, and depends on the number of dogs one has as well.

 

On the subject of recalls, it's definitely good to consider a company's track record, but the cynic in me says that the companies who have never had a recall simply haven't been caught yet. Not trying to disparage any company, but unless you're making stuff in tiny batches and cleaning thoroughly after every batch, it's likely that bacteria and other nasties are living among the processing equipment. It's a fact of life--the ingredients used to make pet foods (and people foods) attract pests and pestilence. Fortunately, dogs have GI tracts that can handle most of the things that might arise in the manufacturing process (note I'm talking about recalls involving things like Salmonella; dangerous chemicals are another story, and I think the latter is the bigger issue with food/treats made in or sourced from places like China).

 

J.

[Mark Billadeau]

Calculated metabolizable energy (i.e. kcal) provides a good way to compare costs of various foods but these values are just predictions of an individual dog's nutrient intake for each food. Foods with the same calculated M.E. may not yield the same nutritional value for a dog due to that dog's specific body chemistry ingredient differences between foods.

 

Mark

[Jedismom]

Jedi gets Orijen. He's lean, great coat, stunning..ok so I'm biased.

 

Cadi gets Taste of the Wild because it's the only grain-free that I've found that doesn't give her the runs. I think the Orijen is better quality but she doesn't do well on it.

 

Cody gets Acana now because they changed their formulation to a higher fiber content. He needs that. He used to eat Nutresca.

 

So you see how individual it can be. It's the highest quality that meets their needs, and that I can afford.

[Sue R]

Calculated metabolizable energy (i.e. kcal) provides a good way to compare costs of various foods but these values are just predictions of an individual dog's nutrient intake for each food. Foods with the same calculated M.E. may not yield the same nutritional value for a dog due to that dog's specific body chemistry and ingredient differences between foods.

 

Mark

This is so important and let's face it, not all calories are the same. Using calories per cup (or whatever measure you use) is a very simplistic way of looking at a pre-made dog food. After all, 100 calories from lean meat, 100 calories from beef or poultry fat, and 100 calories from corn provide very different sorts of nutrition for the same calorie count.

[Gary_and_Karen]

I have a question, but first let me state I have tried making dehydrated sweet potato slices as a treat using a RapidWave convection oven, but it is very time consuming and I am not able to do it all the time and need to find some safe store bought treats for times when I don't have homemade available.

 

So my question is -

 

Are there any truely SAFE store-bought treats ?

 

NOTE: the only close by stores are places like Walmart, BiLo (grocery store), CVS pharmacy, not any actual pet stores.

 

I have searched the forum some and have seen past posts that even questioned the safety of well known treats such as Milk-Bones and Pupperoni, it seems that if you search online for info on just about ANY brand of store bought treats that you might find someone who questions their safety, so are there ANY store-bought treats that we can have a reasonable assurance of safety with ?

 

I do know to avoid anything that is made in China (and hopefully it is labeled as such), but are there any brands to absolutely avoid and any brands that are fairly trustworthy ?

[Sue R]

You know, there can be a question about anything so I think that generally what you try to do is research and then choose what seems to have the best chance of being your best choice, by minimizing potential problems and maximizing potential benefits.

 

Have you considered ordering online? Amazon, Drs Foster and Smith, and many other companies offer a wide range of dog supplies and treats (some even offer kibble but unless shipping is free, that's often prohibitive). Many places offer free shipping with an order of $25 or $50. When I order something from Amazon (being careful that it's eligible for free shipping) or another company, I just make sure I have an order that is sufficient to get the free shipping.

 

Plato and Zuke's are two brands I think highly of but they are not the only ones that are American-made and good quality. They seem to be long-lasting in the bag and, if you buy extra to make a minimum shipping, you can store extra bags in the freezer.

 

Actually, for my dogs, even kibble works as a treat - although I know there are dogs (like my "grand-dogs") that would turn up their noses at that. The kibble I use as a treat is a different brand and a different protein source than their regular kibble, and they are as eager to "work" for the kibble bits as for any other treat.

 

You can also use string cheese that can be made into tiny treats and other "people food" that the dog will regard as very high value. Those, of course, are not as easy as something you can pop in your pocket and that won't spoil at room temperature.

 

*Everything* poses some form of risk - minimize the risk and maximize the benefit by careful shopping.