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What dry food is best?


KillilovesBC
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Hello!

 

Our BC is 8 months now. We have had him on Purina One since we picked him up, that is what the breeder had him eating. Recently, we changed his food from the beef to the chicken and he has had major diarrhea for several days. We introduced it slowly but that doesn't seem to help.

This got me looking into more high quality foods...

Should we steer clear from Purina and cheap brands or is it okay? He does shed quite a bit but I am not sure what is normal. What foods do you guys recommend? And I realize that whatever food works just works but I'm feeling weird about Purina now...

 

Thanks for your help!

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We fed Fergie PetsMart's own brand, Authority, lamb & rice kibble for almost all of her 15-1/2 years. She did great on it. Bill G., from the Working Stockdog site told me what percentages of what to look for - and what to avoid. I went to every store in central North Carolina that carried any kind of kibble. This was the one food that fit his recommendations.

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FWIW, my vet's recent advice on the subject was pretty basic -- look for a statement that the dog food meets AAFCO recommendations, usually underneath the ingredient list. Beyond that, you generally get what you pay for, so more expensive = higher quality.

 

Other than that, my vet said if the dog seems to be doing well on a particular food, then the food is fine.

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If your dogs aren't doing well on a food, then that's not the food for them. I don't feed my dogs any grocery store brand. Years ago we fed Pedigree, but when our dogs started looking poor and not doing as well, we gave it up.

 

What I look for is a dog food that does not include corn, and that includes a couple major meat/protein sources high in the list of ingredients. I presently feed "Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul" Adult and "Premium Edge Skin & Coat."

 

Brands can vary by region, though, so a good place to do some local brand comparison is this website: http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/

 

You can look at brands available at your local feed stores or whatever, and compare them on this site. Purina makes various kinds of dry foods, so you'd have to see what you've got. Their regular Purina Dog Chow gets only 1 star. Purina Pro Plan gets 3. My dog foods both get 4.

 

There are some top of the line dog foods out there, like "Taste of the Wild," but if you're on a budget, like I am, look around and do some comparisons on that site. That should help! :)

 

~ Gloria

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Thank you so much!!

 

 

If your dogs aren't doing well on a food, then that's not the food for them. I don't feed my dogs any grocery store brand. Years ago we fed Pedigree, but when our dogs started looking poor and not doing as well, we gave it up.

 

What I look for is a dog food that does not include corn, and that includes a couple major meat/protein sources high in the list of ingredients. I presently feed "Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul" Adult and "Premium Edge Skin & Coat."

 

Brands can vary by region, though, so a good place to do some local brand comparison is this website: http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/

 

You can look at brands available at your local feed stores or whatever, and compare them on this site. Purina makes various kinds of dry foods, so you'd have to see what you've got. Their regular Purina Dog Chow gets only 1 star. Purina Pro Plan gets 3. My dog foods both get 4.

 

There are some top of the line dog foods out there, like "Taste of the Wild," but if you're on a budget, like I am, look around and do some comparisons on that site. That should help! :)

 

~ Gloria

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What I look for is a dog food that does not include corn, and that includes a couple major meat/protein sources high in the list of ingredients. I presently feed "Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul" Adult and "Premium Edge Skin & Coat."

 

-----

 

There are some top of the line dog foods out there, like "Taste of the Wild," but if you're on a budget, like I am, look around and do some comparisons on that site. That should help! :)

 

~ Gloria

 

That's interesting - around here TOTW, chicken soup and Premium edge are priced similarly. And all are significantly cheaper than food like Wellness, Core and Orijen.

 

to the OP- if you do a search on "food" here, you come up with many, many, many threads on the subject :)

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Hello!

 

Our BC is 8 months now. We have had him on Purina One since we picked him up, that is what the breeder had him eating. Recently, we changed his food from the beef to the chicken and he has had major diarrhea for several days. We introduced it slowly but that doesn't seem to help.

This got me looking into more high quality foods...

Should we steer clear from Purina and cheap brands or is it okay? He does shed quite a bit but I am not sure what is normal. What foods do you guys recommend? And I realize that whatever food works just works but I'm feeling weird about Purina now...

 

Thanks for your help!

post-11867-086739700 1320338144_thumb.jpg

 

I fed ONE for about 1 years my dogs had dry skin and stool issues

went to TOTW Ocean and they look fantastic no more itchy dry skin it took a few months but worth the money as I actually feed less of it.

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That's interesting - around here TOTW, chicken soup and Premium edge are priced similarly. And all are significantly cheaper than food like Wellness, Core and Orijen.

 

Maybe it depends on the area and the suppliers. Here, Chicken Soup and Premium edge are about $38 a bag, while ToTW is about $50 per bag. We just can't bring ourselves to pay that extra twelve bucks, when feeding 5 dogs. :(

 

Gloria

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Sometimes you just have to try a bunch of different foods to see what works for your dogs digestion: we were feeding Taste of the Wild, but after Brody was very sick he had very runny stool, so we started working our way through the mid-priced premium dog foods ( Orijen etc is not in the budget) and the only one that agreed with him was Blue Buffalo, it took about three months of experimenting.

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  • 2 weeks later...

ours get TOTW high prairie...we used to feed diamond athlete but it made one of our girls go all "bulky" in the muscle department..since we switched over she has returned to a lean machine. If you do switch just remember to do it slowly..mix both for awhile to get their tummies used to new food..week or so of that will help. One of ours has tummy probs if I switch on the fly. :-)

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What Dry food is best in my opinion and the only one I would feed my dogs... Orijen or Acana. What does you're dog do best on, try a few of the listed above. There are so many dry kibbles out there that it really depends on what you can afford, how easy it is to find it, and ultimately how does your dog do on it.

 

But that's the opinion of a raw feeder :rolleyes::D

 

If you want to do some more reading and research I find this site interesting

Dog Food Project

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I'm with Danielle on Acana or Orijen. My boys gets Acana, the cheaper version of Orijen from the same company, Champion Petfoods. When I got him at 6 weeks he was on Eukanuba and his coat was dull, so I did some research and switched to Innova. Since Innova's 'joining' with P&G I've switched to Acana and love it. Oliver's coat is so silky and shiny I could pet him all day - which he would have no qualms over ^.^

I'm a firm believer that any dog food that contains corn is crap. Also that at least the first ingredient should be meat. Its great if you have a picky eater, it has a high palatability. Also, the less grains in a dog food the less likely food allergies are to arise.

The only downside is that it isn't exactly cheap. A 30lb bag is $60 where I live, good thing I only have one dog :)

There are lots of other good dog foods out there, Acana/Orijen is just the one I chose.

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Would anyone be able to offer any advice or experience with either of these two brands of puppy food? I have been scouring all the places within a reasonable distance to see what is available and will fit our budget and I have identified these two foods as possibilities.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Doug

 

 

Wellness Just For Puppies

 

http://www.nationalpetpharmacy.com/product/366/Wellness-Just-For-Puppy-Dry-Dog-Food?utm_source=amazon&utm_medium=cse

 

Crude Protein (minimum)28.00%

Crude Fat (minimum)17.00%

Moisture (maximum)11.00%

Crude Fiber (maximum)5.00%

Omega-6 Fatty Acids (minimum)4.00%

Omega-3 Fatty Acids (minimum)1.33%

DHA* Not Less Than0.13%

Taurine* Not Less Than 0.09%

 

Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Oatmeal, Ground Barley, Salmon Meal (natural source of DHA-Docosahexaneoic acid), Canola Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols, a natural source of vitamin E), Ground Brown Rice, Tomato Pomace, Rice Bran (from brown rice), Tomatoes (natural source of Lycopene), Natural Chicken Flavor, Rye Flour, Carrots, Spinach, Sweet Potatoes, Apples, Blueberries, Ground Millet, Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride.

 

 

Chicken Soup For The Puppy Lovers Soul

 

http://www.nationalpetpharmacy.com/Product/47/Chicken-Soup-For-The-Puppy-Lovers-Soul

 

Crude Protein28.00%

Crude Fiber 3.00%

Sodium0.30%

Omega-3 Fatty Acid0.50%

Crude Fat17.00%

Omega-6 Fatty Acids (min)3.30%

Moisture 10.00%

 

Chicken, turkey, chicken meal, turkey meal, whole grain brown rice, whole grain white rice, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), oatmeal, potatoes, cracked pearled barley, millet, duck, salmon, egg product, flaxseed, natural chicken flavor, kelp, potassium chloride, salt, choline chloride, chicory root extract, carrots, peas, apples, dried skim milk, cranberry powder, rosemary extract, parsley flake. Vitamins and minerals.

 

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I have never been a fan of puppy food. I think if you find a good food you can feed a puppy the adult version. From what I have experienced from friends is that puppies grow pretty fast on puppy food, but that's just me.

 

Both those foods seem about the same. I think oatmeal is a better grain than rice, but between your two foods you narrowed it down to, I'm sure either will be fine :)

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Not trying to hijack the tread. But to those feeding TOTW and or orijen. Has any of your dogs been itchier then normal?

 

Was feeding TOTW and orijen in the am and raw at night earlier this year... no problem

April I switches over to just dry food TOTW and orijens.

Aug-oct both of my dogs were extremely itchy. Roommates dogs were fine.

Switch back to raw and both been less itchy to not itchy at all.

 

Talking with other TOTW feeder it seem as if a lot were saying their dogs were itchier then normal. Just curious is all...

 

To the op. Normally I would say TOTW or orijen but after this last incident I don't know anymore.

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  • 4 weeks later...

PRICE LEAP!!!!

 

Well, our 9 week old BC got one bag of Wellness For Puppies in her and was doing great on it.

 

I paid 11.99 for the bag about 2 weeks ago.

 

Went to get another bag and it had jumped to $17.99!

 

Back to the drawing board and dogfoodadvisor.com to find a new brand.....

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