What do you feed your dog?

[hooligan]

Thats GREAT post!
My Natures Recipe Vegetarian scores 99! Woohoo!!! Would have been 100 but it does have salt.
Too bad this is formulated towards 'meat based' dog foods. I could have gotten better!

 

[fowltemptress]

Yay! Mine scored over 100! I don't know how much more, because I stopped half way through the bonus points list . . .
I must admit, if I had larger dogs I'd be tempted to buy the cheaper brands. My family always bought the cheap stuff growing up, and now that I'm with my SO and feeding the more expensive stuff, I've noticed the stools are firmer, there's less of them, and they're actually BROWN, instead of various shades of red and orange. Plus, my dogs eat ALOT less. I think I'm spending about the same as when we bought the cheap stuff simply because I'm feeding them less.

 

[gila_dog]

Purina Dog Chow (plus elk scraps, and the odd gopher or mouse). He's still going strong at 12 years. But he works pretty hard, hiking and chasing rabbits.

 

[Pupsnpullets]

I feed my dogs raw food with bones but not the big beef bones that can break their teeth. I used to do the barf method but they didn't do so well with all the veggies. Very simple - just buy whatever is less than $1 lb and not processed, then hand it to the grateful mutts. They are 8 years old and have never had their teeth cleaned (no need) and the 4 visits to the vet have been for 2 broken toes and a broken neck (same dog, separate occasions) and one foxtail in the ear. The one that's had all the breakages is a greyhound mix who can run faster than she can mentally proccess the terrain ahead.

Barb

 

[hooligan]

Quote:
I have 3 APBTs, 1 EB, 1 AB and a Doxie...and believe me if we didn't measure out their food they would be fatties! We used to do free choice but not only were the dogs fat we were going thru 100lb a week!

 

[fowltemptress]

Oh, I never did free choice, but on the cheap stuff I'd have to feed more just to keep meat on their bones. My terriers are very active and it was always a struggle keeping them from being underweight. I don't have that problem anymore with the new food.

 

[mangled]

We feed a hunting dog mix that we get from the local feed mill. I believe it's Buckeye?

I know it's corn free because our boxer is allergic to corn. He was badly underweight when we got him and now he's a healthy 60+ pounds. He's a big dog. The previous owners fed him leftovers and scraps.

We tried Purina and when he started dropping fur, we switched to Beneful. The fur loss got worse, and we took him in to be tested.

Turns out he has all these bizarre sensitivities, and the vet recommended this milled stuff, and voila ... no more hair loss and awesome weight gain. He has filled out and has a nice sleek coat.

I put a vitamin E capsule in his food three times a week, as well. Another vet recommendation.

Em

 

[herechickchick]

My dogs are on Canidae All Life Stages and we are doing great. My mother feeds Innova and she loves it. She has a 90 pound greyhound and he only eats 2 1/2 cups of food a day and he looks fantastic! The huge plus to really good quality foods like Canidae, Innova, Blue Buffalo and From as well as others is that they have far less filler so the dogs need less food because they use more of what they eat and in turn poop less than they would on a lower quality food such as pedigree or god forbid Ol Roy (sorry but this stuff is awful!) Yes they cost more money but they eat less so it works itself out.

For great info on dog well being as well as holistic medicine and organic choices check out the Whole Dog Journal . This is a FANTASTIC publication and they put out a best and worst food list each year.

 

[hooligan]

My food has vit E added (one less thing I have to add!) and also garlic, and you can definately smell that but its good for them and keeps fleas at bay.

 

[mangled]

Ours has garlic as well, poor Chico has horrendous dog breath, but our ticks and fleas are epic.

I still have to treat with Frontline, as much as I hate putting a chemical on him that the body absorbs.

I honestly think the vitamin E has a lot to do with how nice his coat looks and feels. He's actually "sleek", you know?

Em