Recommended brand of dog food??

[21hens-incharge]

They eat the gut of the prey first. If you saw corn in the scat, it didn't digest then.

Yup. Corn and apples in the prey will end up in the pred.

 

[Windrider]

When buying dog food, try to buy a feed that has grains in it. Ones that are grain-free are actually causing more harm.

Can you please link to the data that proves this? I've read articles that debunk it.

There is a lot of misinformation out there about this. I belong to a training club and we had a guest speaker veterinary researcher talk about this at one of our club meetings (it was his field of research). Here is the gist of his (long) lecture:

Dogs do not NEED grain in their diet, although they digest it better than their wild (wolf) ancestors. Some dogs have intolerances for some grains, but it is probably less common than originally thought (when the grain-free craze started). Because grain is cheap, some kibbled foods use far too much of it and you get fat, stinky dogs (like a person eating mostly carbs), but having some grains in the food is not harmful.

Making kibbled dog foods requires some form of carbs/starch to hold it together. In order to make a kibble grain-free, manufacturers were using potatoes and peas instead of grain. New research is pointing to a link between potatoes/peas and taurine deficiency in dogs. Dogs' bodies normally make their own taurine (unlike cats), but something in the potatoes and peas is inhibiting the uptake or use of taurine. It is NOT the fact that the food is grain-free that is the problem, it is the peas and potatoes.

This is especially noticeable in breeds of dogs that already had low taurine, most notably Golden Retrievers and Labs. Taurine deficiency leads to heart problems (like dilated cardiomyopathy) and sudden death.

What I got out of the lecture: Raw is the ideal, but there are good kibbles out there. If you feed kibble, feed one with meat as the first ingredients, and grains low on the list. Be cautious of "grain-free" with potatoes or peas (or pea flour). I ended up feeding a mix of Taste of the Wild Ancient (with quinoa and sorghum as the kibble binder) and raw Stella and Chewy patties to my Shelties. My 10 year old Sheltie still competes in agility at her full jump height (or did until the pandemic shut trials down), so I am pleased with the results.

DobieLover: If you do a search for "taurine deficiency and grain-free" you should find lots of info from reputable sources.

 

[Weeg]

My favorite brand is Canidae. It isn't too expensive, and has pretty good ingredients! Our dogs like it and it is much healthier then some foods.

 

[Madhouse Pullet]

I personally buy Taste of The Wild with limited ingredients for my two huskies, and haven't had any issues. I go back and forth between the Salmon and Trout every 6 months

 

[Madhouse Pullet]

I suggest you look into it further. Most vets have no training in nutrition. And what they do have is usually provided by companies that offer horrible quality food.
This article has links embedded in it. Have a read.
https://medium.com/@danielschulof_1...ggest-pet-food-story-in-a-decade-5cdafae7be77
When you think about how the ancestors of the domestic dogs eat, feeding them grains makes little sense. I've never once seen a fox, coyote or wolf raiding a wheat field.
I adopted this gorgeous gal a little less than a year ago. She was being fed Purina One. When I got her, she was over weight, stunk (not dirty dog smell just a bad smell to her and she's not the first dog I've taken in with that funky smell to them that had been fed Purina) and her coat was dull.
I switched her over to a raw diet and then switched to Orijen because I just couldn't keep up with the work of feeding raw with everything else I have going on. I highly recommend both of these feeds but the OP was specific about not recommending raw as her parents wouldn't do that and the Orijen line is one of the most expensive kibble dog foods on the market. I drop $95 for the original formula and up to $137 for the Tundra formula and two more price points in between for 25# bags of food. All three dogs eat it. Not many people are willing to spend that kind of money on dog food. For this household, health and nutrition are number one priorities so I forego other non-essential things and put that money towards the grocery budget instead.
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She is not wet in this picture. She just gleams in the sun.
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Your dogs are gorgeous

 

[DaisyG2317]

I feed our puppy the Blue Buffalo Lamb and Oatmeal and our 4 cats Blue Buffalo Multi-Cat Health. I have been feeding the cats Blue Buffalo for a really long time and had no problems with it so I felt comfortable trying their dog food.

I was very interested in the Taste of the Wild brand, but the fact that they are owned by Diamond really wigs me out with the recall history.

 

[Madhouse Pullet]

I was very interested in the Taste of the Wild brand, but the fact that they are owned by Diamond really wigs me out with the recall history.

I had no idea they're owned by Diamond. I thought I had done my research on Taste of the Wild (they haven't had a recall in a few years) but never came across their connection. Hmmmm gonna go google now.

 

[Madhouse Pullet]

It has been awhile since I have checked but this was the first answer...

I'm really surprised because I don't like Diamond after everything terrible I've read.

Ughhhh

 

[21hens-incharge]

It has been 12 years ago that we got a pair of brothers at 14-16 weeks of age. They had been being fed IAMS. Apparently from their condition not much of it either. They were skinny and reeked. Multiple baths did not relieve the stench. It took months before they were stink free.

Taste of the wild caused bone pain in both of them. To much protein for those growing boys.
Canadae has caused extreme runny poop in all the dogs we tried to feed it to.
Nutro is ok but again runny poops after a couple months on it.

While many do not believe in feeding a store brand feed we have had very good results with Authority chicken and rice large breed which is a Petsmart feed.

Each dog being an individual can react differently to a feed that others of the same breed do well on.

It can take months to find one that works well.

I don't recall if the OP's dog was diagnosed thoroughly by the vet. Seizures definitely need a vet to sort out root cause. It is far to easy to point at feed as the cause imho.

 

[DaisyG2317]

It has been awhile since I have checked but this was the first answer...
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I'm really surprised because I don't like Diamond after everything terrible I've read.

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Ughhhh

I hate the lack of transparency with the companies as to who is really making their foods. I have read of some general discourses amongst some people about Blue Buffalo being bought out by.. General Mills, I believe? So far I have had no problems, knock on wood.

I have heard good things about Earthborn. I think I tried some of their cat food years ago and my picky eater did not like it but maybe I will try it again, lol.