What brand of dog/puppy food do you feed?

[Chick_a_dee]

Royal Canin only.

It is vet recommended and high quality (LOL and totally reflected in the price, yikes). We also feed the cat Royal Canin.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Labs: Ranch Hound. The 14-year old can only eat Ranch Hound...anything else makes him sick.


Smaller dogs: Ol' Roy Puppy Complete.

 

[lorieMN]

Quote:
my friend sells RC in her store,,the only reason she does is she gets such a kickback from RC that it pays her store mortgage every month..tried it for my cats years ago and they wouldnt eat it,so I gave $32/15 lbs of cat food to the chickens..seriously it isnt any better or worse then any of the other high end grain added brands.

 

[Crazyland]

Quote:
Just a suggestion; I love Taste of the Wild, and they say it is for all life stages, but I would NOT feed it to a puppy. Puppies have different nutritional requirements than adult dogs. Can't remember if it was the protein or something else, but it's just not formulated for a puppy. You might switch to something else for now, and switch back to TOTW when your puppy is an adult. Just my .02

Pup has been on it since we brought her home. She is now 8 months old. She is a stout little dog, mixed terrier and bull terrier. Not overly worried about hip problems like I would be of a large fast growing dog.


I do see a trend in a lot of posts about dogs getting sick if not on a certain brand. How long were you giving the dog to adjust to the new formula? Did you check for allergies? What about something like SIBO?
My dogs were on a pure raw diet in Germany. When we moved back to the states I needed to transition them just in case they had to go into boarding. If I gave them any more than 1/4 of a cup of kibble they would get ill. It was such a gradual process to readjust them to kibble it was almost painstaking. But I also helped with pumpkin and probiotics to keep the stool firm and their stomachs settled.

 

[BLaBauve]

I try to feed Raw when I can afford it. I have 7 dogs so it gets pricey. I actually run a retail dog/cat store. We carry 22 lines of all natural foods, including Taste of the Wild, Canidae, Orijen, Nature's Variety, EVO, etc. I rotate between all of the foods we carry to ensure my dogs get a balanced diet. Rotation is key!

 

[19hhbelgian]

Blue Seal's "Natural 26" - Our Chow/golden can stomach it, it comes in 50# bags, & it's affordable... We get 2 bags each month so that's a very important factor right now. I have yet to find a decent food that compares to the blue seal dog food, ingredient and price wise (cost/pound).

 

[Chick_a_dee]

Quote:
my friend sells RC in her store,,the only reason she does is she gets such a kickback from RC that it pays her store mortgage every month..tried it for my cats years ago and they wouldnt eat it,so I gave $32/15 lbs of cat food to the chickens..seriously it isnt any better or worse then any of the other high end grain added brands.

IDK, I like it much better than anything else and its the only food one of our poodles will gain weight on. The puppies this year have thrived on it, and the cat loves it. Maybe its a different formula where you are. Its highly recommended by the vets, and comes in the Medi-Cal prescription version too (used to be Techni-Cal). I did see a holistic brand in my tack shop recently calld Orijen that is grain-free and made from regional ingredients (and made in Canada).

http://www.orijen.ca/orijen/products/6fishcat.aspx

so I may talk to my vet about it on Monday when the cat goes in for his ultrasound..

 

[cmjust0]

We have seven dogs and use three different brands of food.

If they do OK on Purina Dog Chow, they get Purina Dog Chow.. Right now, five of the seven do just fine on Purina. I actually contemplated switching them to something better at some point and ran the idea past a few vets at the clinic we use...they all said that if a dog's fine on Purina, leave it on Purina. The one I trust the most actually said "It's Purina...it's not like you're feeding Ol' Roy or something.." So, that's what we do and it's working for us.

If they don't do well on Purina for some reason, they get whatever they need to do well. Right now, one is getting TOTW's Fish and Potato blend because it's grain-free and she has some grain allergies...and because TOTW grinds up better than some of the other grain-free kibble we've tried. She has megaesophagus and has to have her kibble ground to powder and mixed one part food to two parts water. And she has to be fed standing up at a really steep incline, on a little feeding stand I built special just for her. And she has to be fed three times a day.

I know, right?

(...she's worth it

...)

The LGD puppy we're raising came here on a diet of Hill's original adult formula -- Hills being just as 'corny' as Purina -- so she's been switched to Purina Large Breed Puppy formula. She's scarfing that down and growing like a weed. She and our adult LGD both also get human-grade glucosamine/chondroitin and fish oil supplements.

Something I think causes problems -- no matter what food you're offering -- is not feeding according to the condition of the animal. Personally, I think lots of folks WAAAAAY overfeed their dogs, even if that's what's recommended on the bag. The way we feed is that if someone starts getting a little ribby, they get bumped up a bit until their condition is where it should be.. If they get a little too much condition, we cut them back. With as many dogs as we have, someone's feed level is always under adjustment.

Is it more difficult than either free-feeding or going by what the bag says? Sure...but, like I said, five of our seven are as healthy as horses and just as sleek and shiny as they can be on "cheapo" Purina dog chow.

So...that's how we do's it.

 

[lorieMN]

Quote:
my friend sells RC in her store,,the only reason she does is she gets such a kickback from RC that it pays her store mortgage every month..tried it for my cats years ago and they wouldnt eat it,so I gave $32/15 lbs of cat food to the chickens..seriously it isnt any better or worse then any of the other high end grain added brands.

IDK, I like it much better than anything else and its the only food one of our poodles will gain weight on. The puppies this year have thrived on it, and the cat loves it. Maybe its a different formula where you are. Its highly recommended by the vets, and comes in the Medi-Cal prescription version too (used to be Techni-Cal). I did see a holistic brand in my tack shop recently calld Orijen that is grain-free and made from regional ingredients (and made in Canada).

http://www.orijen.ca/orijen/products/6fishcat.aspx

so I may talk to my vet about it on Monday when the cat goes in for his ultrasound..

I'm not saying its bad..just I believe in feeding like nature intended,whole raw prey when I can,I also think some of the higher priced foods with better known names are charging for the name,not ingrediants..IMO dogs dont need fillers or grains and I am not going to pay for them,but I do have the luxery of living in farm country and have avilable lots of animals to feed my dogs.

 

[miss_thenorth]

I make my own dog food. We had tried several different ones over the years, with the last one being Kirkland brand from costco. My one dog was getting terribly thin and she wouldn't eat the dog food, so i started making my own. both dogs love it, it is cheap and easy for me, and the thin dog is now gaining weight. And both of them, being senior dogs, were very achy with either arthritis or hip dysplasia, and now they both are limber and more energetic. Considering that i raise many meat animals that we can choose to feed them, I won't be switching back to store bought at all.