I need to switch dog foods. Help on brands?

[mamaKate]

I switched my dogs to raw little while ago and the difference was noticeable. They look better, feel better and poop less. You can't count on a food being mostly meat because it's the first ingredient. The manufacturers can use three different grain sources, and if EACH source is less than the meat, they can still list the meat first. Also, unidentified"meat" can come from some pretty nasty sources. Google the B.A.R.F. diet(Bones And Raw Food).
NEVER use Ol'Roy-or any unknown brand. Purina is probably the best cheap one. Raw eggs are O.K. if your dogs don't have access to your nest boxes. You woudn't want them to decide to "help" you gather the eggs.

 

[Jessika]

I buy Diamond Brand Lamb and Rice. I get it at the feed stores and it is still about $25 bucks a 40 lb bags.....my boys (who have sensitive tummies) do great on the stuff.

 

[Elly]

What ever brand of dog food you want to buy...check the ingredients list...the first item should be a meat product for the best food, Chicken or beef meal is second best and then the by-product type is next. Your shouldn't be getting anything where the first ingredent is a grain like corn. Rememeber you get what you pay for. Also feeding a better quality of food requires less per feeding so although it cost more to buy you can feed less and therefore it will last longer.

 

[monarc23]

yep raw eggs are perfectly fine for dogs, i've read they aren't so good raw for cats though something about biotin (sp?).

My dogs get raw eggs about once a month, i'd give it to them more often than that but I need most of those eggies for making dinner ha ha! They get left overs about once every week depending on what we make otherwise leftovers go to the chickens.

I completely understand your concern about $$$ if it wasnt for our very low rent, I think we'd have to go to a lower quality brand as well.

it can be stressful tryin to feed yourself let alone the pets....i always laugh though (but it's true) my pets all eat way better than me! LOL!

 

[ChooksinIowa]

I find this site to be particularly helpful when choosing dog food brands. It has them in 3 categories by ingredients - Best, Good, and Poor. Pretty much every brand is in there, and the rankings for some of them are surprising. Take a look!

http://drydogfood.bravehost.com/menu.htm

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Thanks, y'all!

I picked up a bag of Purina One yesterday. It was $28 for 35lbs. The Natural Choice was up to $41 for 33lbs. Acck!!! I've got a couple of other sources in town where I need to price both. I may be able to mix them together or just supplement the Purina One with eggs and such.

I appreciate the help. Clearly it's just as well that I never had kids. If I stress this much over the dogs, I'd likely be a neurotic mother for sure!

 

[ChooksinIowa]

I hope you noticed that Purina One is in the "poor" category of dog foods on that site I sent, due to its ingredients. Even if the "best" ones are too expensive, I'd at least try for one of the "good" as opposed to the "poor" foods.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I found the best page and the avoid page, but I didn't see the good page. What am I not seeing? (and it was late when I looked at the site so it could be in plain sight!)

The Purina One will hold them until I find a better food source. There is a new feed and seed store near me and I think their price on Natural Balance is about $5 less.

I'm still looking to see what is available. Most of the stuff on the best list isn't sold around here. That makes it hard to make a reasonable choice. But $41 for less than 35 lbs of food is steep. It's gone up about $5 a bag in the last few months. If it continues to rise than we're in trouble.

Thanks!

 

[ChooksinIowa]

OK, so if you go to that link, across the page there are 4 pictures of dog food bags. The one to the far left is Avoderm, and under that picture it says "To the best foods" and if you click on that, you can go through 5 pages worth of "best" foods. (page links at top) We use Blue Buffalo (which is available at PetSmart or Canidae (which is at our feed store) or sometimes there is another one on there at PetSmart whose name evades me right now.

The second bag picture is Nature's Choice and under that bag in blue letters it says "Not too bad" and under that it says "good ingredients" and that is the listing I was suggesting. There are 3 pages of those foods.

The last two bag pictures (Purina Hi-Pro and Bil Jac) say "Not so good" under them and under that it says "poor ingredients" and I would avoid brands from those two lists (also several pages each).

Hope that helps explain it!
Claire

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Got it this time. Thanks!