Nutritional Dog Food

[brandywine]

The list Anny posted contains excellent choices.

Be aware that quality food brands can be bought up by giant conglomerates, who then mine the reputation of the label while selling garbage in the same bag.

This happened to both Eukanuba (bought first by Iams and then subsumed by Proctor and Gamble) and Nutro (more recently gobbled up by Mars, which has a current recall on anther kibble product for salmonella contamination). I fed Nutro for many years, but not any longer -- it is simply not the same product.

So you have to watch any brand you are feeding, and find out if they have literally sold out.

Most anything will be an improvement on the Kibbles & Bits -- you will see a big difference very quickly.

Be aware that the Hills (Science Diet) products that are pushed by vets and priced as if they were "premium" are among the lowest quality pet foods out there. They are almost all grain and soy, the cheapest, crummiest ingredients they can source. It's a real scam.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Taste of the Wild is great. I also have a min pin, and she loves it.

 

[EmmyGirl]

We used Innova for a while and it did seem to cut down a little bit on the "output"

It's pretty expensive but probably well worth it. Our only complaint was financial--we went through it too fast (2 G.Danes)-- they would only eat it mixed with hot water--If they didn't finish their meal a lot ended up being pitched since it was soggy and cold after 1/2 hr. I switched to a semi-homemade solution. We eat boneless skinless chicken almost every night so they share a few oz. of our cooked chicken with brown rice mixed with olive oil, low-salt broth and garlic and about a cup of good quality dry food. I make a giant batch of rice once or twice a week. It seems to agree with everyone (our oldest Dane is almost 14) and they gobble it up immediately. The bargain food with meat listed way down on the list will definitely create a lot more mess since it's all junk that just passes through. I see Rachel Ray has a new food out there called "Nutrish". I saw it in WalMart the other day--The ingredients sounded pretty wholesome so I may have to try this one and will let you know. Good luck!!

 

[MissPrissy]

I try my best to give my dogs a well rounded raw diet.

For instance - yesterday I dressed a lamb. The dogs have a freezer full of meals I prepared today from cooked rice, chopped liver from the lamb and when it is time to serve they will be given a fresh cracked egg.

I have very healthy dogs.

 

[mtnhomechick]

I gave up on dog food years ago. I make my own now.

If the FDA can't protect OUR food.........how far would they go for our beloved pets?

I pay the same for home made as I did for commercial.

The difference is peace of mind.....I KNOW what my dog is eating.

Too bad the cat is " Hooked" on dry food.

 

[bUg_Farm]

Look into PMI Exclusive Dog Food. They also have cat food. We use both and love it. Animals eat less and leave less.

Here's a link: http://www.pminutrition.com/

 

[Foxhound lady]

We feed EVO from Innova right now the output is less and disengrates quickly.

 

[moenmitz]

Here is an excellent resource for finding a quality food- the method used for grading the food is listed at the bottom. I foudn this on another site some time back, can't recall where it originated though.

We feed Canidae to both our Pug & Malamute. The Pug poos HUGE, and the Mal, quite small-go figure. Some things might just come down to how individual dogs metabolize particular foods.

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 Frozen - Score 74

Bil-Jac Select - Score 48 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+

By Nature puppy formula - Score 99 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

Eagle Pack Holistic Chicken-114 points A+Flint River Ranch: 92 (non-specific fat source) B

Eagle Pack Large and Giant Breed Puppy: 94 A

Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra Premium - Score 122 A+

Van Patten's Natural Balance Venison & Brown Rice - Score 106 A+

Van Patten's Duck and Potato - Score 106 A+

EaglePack Holistic - Score 102 A+

Eagle Pack Natural: 94 A

Eukanuba Adult - Score 81 C

Eukanuba Large Breed Adult: 83 C

Eukanuba Natural Lamb and Rice-87 points B

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

Iams Large Breed: 83 C

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+

Natural Balance Duck and Potato-114 points 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 Chicken, Rice, & Oatmeal: 85 (non-specific fat source) C

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+

Ol Roy-9 points F

Pedigree Complete Nutrition: 42 F

Pedigree Adult Complete-14 points F

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 All Breed: 68 F

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 chicken adult maintainance-45 points F

Science Diet for Large Breed Puppies - Score 69 F

Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice - Score 97 A

Solid Gold - Score 99 A

Solid Gold Bison-123 points A+

Summit - Score 99 A

Timberwolf Organics Lamb and Venison-136 points 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

 

[EmmyGirl]

Wow, that list was enlightening--who knew!? We've had more than a few bags of 'F' foods here in the past--Ugh, look at the score for Ol'Roy (a 9!) Thanks for sharing this--Really helpful!!

 

[Smoky73]

This is a very good source of info online about dog food where you can compare them.

www.dogfoodproject.com

I feed Flint River, which IMO, is an excellent food, they make dog and cat food.