Woof !! What kind of dog food do ya'll feed your pooch

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I feed taste of the Wild, and I also recommend the 4health brand from tractor supply for a reasonably priced premium food. Many like diamond as well.

Grain free itself isn't bad. It's when companies swap out animal protein for legume protein which causes the problem as legumes don't have complete amino acids like meat does. I would avoid foods that have more than one source of legume.

I also would avoid too much protein, and fats because that can cause loose stools.

I would also avoid corn based dog foods as sometimes they can cause digestive upsets in dogs with sensitive stomachs. Dogs have a shorter digestive tract and have troubles digesting grains like corn.

There's often not one best food as dogs can react differently to different ingredients. So I would try one for a bit than find something else if it isn't working.

Researching dog food became one of my hobbies in the last few years as I tried to find the perfect diet for my dogs.

People recommend raw feeding, but from my understanding the dogs can get salmonella and spread it to humans. I personally wouldn't want that.

 

[Suzi18]

I feed taste of the Wild, and I also recommend the 4health brand from tractor supply for a reasonably priced premium food. Many like diamond as well.

Grain free itself isn't bad. It's when companies swap out animal protein for legume protein which causes the problem as legumes don't have complete amino acids like meat does. I would avoid foods that have more than one source of legume.

I also would avoid too much protein, and fats because that can cause loose stools.

I would also avoid corn based dog foods as sometimes they can cause digestive upsets in dogs with sensitive stomachs. Dogs have a shorter digestive tract and have troubles digesting grains like corn.

There's often not one best food as dogs can react differently to different ingredients. So I would try one for a bit than find something else if it isn't working.

Researching dog food became one of my hobbies in the last few years as I tried to find the perfect diet for my dogs.

People recommend raw feeding, but from my understanding the dogs can get salmonella and spread it to humans. I personally wouldn't want that.

Diamond dog food is what we fed our first 2 poodles. The last one we fed Science Diet for a while then switched to Merrick. He liked Merrick and did well on it but it was pretty pricey.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Diamond dog food is what we fed our first 2 poodles. The last one we fed Science Diet for a while then switched to Merrick. He liked Merrick and did well on it but it was pretty pricey.

Diamond makes some better formulas now. I used to feed diamond too, but switched when it became more corn than meat like a lot of foods started to do. Diamond, taste of the Wild and 4health are manufactured in the same plants I believe.

We tried Merrick but our dogs got loose stools on it so we went back to taste of the Wild.

 

[MissChick@dee]

Standard Poodles my dream dog! I’m sorry for your loss.
I feed Blue Buffalo it’s called Healthy Weight. My dogs are older and a smidge over weight. I used Blue Buffalo their entire life changing only with their milestones and age. I use the canned too. Read the ingredients. Good luck with your new puppy ~ photo’s are mandatory!!

 

[Suzi18]

Standard Poodles my dream dog! I’m sorry for your loss.
I feed Blue Buffalo it’s called Healthy Weight. My dogs are older and a smidge over weight. I used Blue Buffalo their entire life changing only with their milestones and age. I use the canned too. Read the ingredients. Good luck with your new puppy ~ photo’s are mandatory!!

Thanks.....I can't wait to smell puppy breath again! I will certainly post pics when he arrives

 

[ChocolateMouse]

So our vets have always suggested grain free, and that's what not only we feed with our two dogs but almost everyone I know goes with as well.

The real trick is making sure that your dog food is meat based. I feed Taste of the Wild. My sisters both feed Fromm (one feed their duck and sweet potato exclusively because of food allergies with her pit mix). I know a lot of people have a strong preference for Diamond as well. My friend worked for Blue Buffalo for a couple years and they're competent as well. Wellness is one of the oldest high-quality dog foods on the market.

Top-notch top-dollar dry foods are things like Evo, Acana and Orijen but those things are like $100/bag!? But there's a lot of other good options on the market right now. Sooooo many these days, it's not like it used to be! So the keys I look for are (in this order);

Meat-based ingredients (Chicken, chicken meal, bone meal, etc.) with a good protein content
No soy, no corn
No wheat
Low grain
No grain
Minimal ingredients list

The prices on grain free dog foods are higher per lb but you feed less. This is because plants don't have complete proteins, only complimenting amino acids which means there's a lot of extra calories and waste going through the dogs instead of well-absorbed nutrition.

Pedigrees suggested feeding ratios are:
If your dog weighs 50 to 75 lbs., feed 3-3/4 to 5 cups**

Taste of the Wild feeding ratios are:
40 lbs 2⅓ Cups
60 lbs 3 Cups
My dogs are 45 and 60lbs each. One gets 2C of food a day the other just under 3. Much more and they start to slowly gain weight, much less and they slowly loose it. So I would say that their measurements are spot on. Also, pedigree has 21% protein and TotW has 32% (depending on formula). This seems to line up nearly proportionally with how many cups of food you're supposed to feed.

When I first got my first dog I fed Chicken Soup For the Soul brand (not sure if they even exist any more) which was a low-grain (rice and barley only) dog food but my dog didn't like it and they also were having soft stools so I went 100% grain free and never had another problem. So I go with Taste of the Wild cause it's inexpensive and good for your dogs, comes in four flavors, two nearly identical nutritionally (one other has rice, and the fish one has lower protein), and it's great stuff. But there's plenty of other options if you don't like TotW. And most major brands are coming out with their own grain-free versions of their dog foods. So there's a lot of good options and you can do your own research and experiments. Find something your dog likes and is healthy on, does not have soft stools on, and roll with it.

 

[Pugsabi]

I feed my pug, Wasabi, Fromm gold(not the grain free kind). He loves it and does very well on it. Pugs are prone to food allergies so I have to be very careful with what he eats or he'll get horrible rashes.
It's not sold at regular big box stores, but here's their website so you can see if they sell it in your neck of the woods.

https://frommfamily.com/

Wasabi

 

[Pugsabi]

So our vets have always suggested grain free, and that's what not only we feed with our two dogs but almost everyone I know goes with as well.

The real trick is making sure that your dog food is meat based. I feed Taste of the Wild. My sisters both feed Fromm (one feed their duck and sweet potato exclusively because of food allergies with her pit mix). I know a lot of people have a strong preference for Diamond as well. My friend worked for Blue Buffalo for a couple years and they're competent as well. Wellness is one of the oldest high-quality dog foods on the market.

Top-notch top-dollar dry foods are things like Evo, Acana and Orijen but those things are like $100/bag!? But there's a lot of other good options on the market right now. Sooooo many these days, it's not like it used to be! So the keys I look for are (in this order);

Meat-based ingredients (Chicken, chicken meal, bone meal, etc.) with a good protein content
No soy, no corn
No wheat
Low grain
No grain
Minimal ingredients list

The prices on grain free dog foods are higher per lb but you feed less. This is because plants don't have complete proteins, only complimenting amino acids which means there's a lot of extra calories and waste going through the dogs instead of well-absorbed nutrition.

Pedigrees suggested feeding ratios are:
If your dog weighs 50 to 75 lbs., feed 3-3/4 to 5 cups**

Taste of the Wild feeding ratios are:
40 lbs 2⅓ Cups
60 lbs 3 Cups
My dogs are 45 and 60lbs each. One gets 2C of food a day the other just under 3. Much more and they start to slowly gain weight, much less and they slowly loose it. So I would say that their measurements are spot on. Also, pedigree has 21% protein and TotW has 32% (depending on formula). This seems to line up nearly proportionally with how many cups of food you're supposed to feed.

When I first got my first dog I fed Chicken Soup For the Soul brand (not sure if they even exist any more) which was a low-grain (rice and barley only) dog food but my dog didn't like it and they also were having soft stools so I went 100% grain free and never had another problem. So I go with Taste of the Wild cause it's inexpensive and good for your dogs, comes in four flavors, two nearly identical nutritionally (one other has rice, and the fish one has lower protein), and it's great stuff. But there's plenty of other options if you don't like TotW. And most major brands are coming out with their own grain-free versions of their dog foods. So there's a lot of good options and you can do your own research and experiments. Find something your dog likes and is healthy on, does not have soft stools on, and roll with it.

Thanks for all the info. I just took Wasabi to the vet recently and she told me about grain free not being good for dogs. However, the sample she gave me had cornstarch as the first ingredient and soybean oil in the top ten ingredients along with all the other chemicals they try to foist off as real food. Needless to say I threw away the sample and plan on going elsewhere for veterinary care.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

I will always, always take what vets say with a grain of salt. :T I once had a vet, a DMV, tell me that dogs and wolves aren't the same species. I had another vet send a puppy who had been sneezing and seen the same vet two weeks later sent the same puppy home despite her being nearly unresponsive with nothing but a shrug and a saline drip and telling me to give her a pepcid for vomiting. She literally died on the way home (necropsy said lung infection! Lo and behold!). There's a lot of "professional" dog groups in my area (rescues, trainers, etc.) that won't deal with you or your dog if they're not on heartworm during the winter, even though we're under a foot of snow in the winter where I live. Etc. Etc.

So professional opinions only go so far as they actually hold up to scrutiny. It's always best to find what works for you. Sometimes that will be some cheapo dog food. But it's more likely to be a low-no grain food, or something with a smaller ingredients list.

I feed what I feed because I have seen more dogs than I can count with soft stools (I do some occasional work with rescue dogs) on grain based diets. And for me, I found when I fed my dogs low-grain they were having soft stools about half the time, which is concerning. Switching fixed it.
If I didn't have problems I wouldn't have switched from low-grain. Low-grain dog food is fine. Even grain based dog food CAN be fine as long as your dog is actually doing well on it. And knowing what that looks like matters.

Oooh, here's a REALLY good chart on it, now that I look for it!
https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2015/07/15/assessing-dog-poop.aspx
Almost every grain-fed dog I see has this last type of stool or worse. My dogs have the first type despite being on dry kibble.
See also:
https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/coat-and-skin-appearance-in-the-healthy-dog
https://i0.wp.com/rachelebaker.com/...16/11/Dog-Body-Condition-Score-650W.jpg?w=650

Knowing when something is wrong makes it SO much easier to know when to make changes.

 

[Suzi18]

So our vets have always suggested grain free, and that's what not only we feed with our two dogs but almost everyone I know goes with as well.

The real trick is making sure that your dog food is meat based. I feed Taste of the Wild. My sisters both feed Fromm (one feed their duck and sweet potato exclusively because of food allergies with her pit mix). I know a lot of people have a strong preference for Diamond as well. My friend worked for Blue Buffalo for a couple years and they're competent as well. Wellness is one of the oldest high-quality dog foods on the market.

Top-notch top-dollar dry foods are things like Evo, Acana and Orijen but those things are like $100/bag!? But there's a lot of other good options on the market right now. Sooooo many these days, it's not like it used to be! So the keys I look for are (in this order);

Meat-based ingredients (Chicken, chicken meal, bone meal, etc.) with a good protein content
No soy, no corn
No wheat
Low grain
No grain
Minimal ingredients list

The prices on grain free dog foods are higher per lb but you feed less. This is because plants don't have complete proteins, only complimenting amino acids which means there's a lot of extra calories and waste going through the dogs instead of well-absorbed nutrition.

Pedigrees suggested feeding ratios are:
If your dog weighs 50 to 75 lbs., feed 3-3/4 to 5 cups**

Taste of the Wild feeding ratios are:
40 lbs 2⅓ Cups
60 lbs 3 Cups
My dogs are 45 and 60lbs each. One gets 2C of food a day the other just under 3. Much more and they start to slowly gain weight, much less and they slowly loose it. So I would say that their measurements are spot on. Also, pedigree has 21% protein and TotW has 32% (depending on formula). This seems to line up nearly proportionally with how many cups of food you're supposed to feed.

When I first got my first dog I fed Chicken Soup For the Soul brand (not sure if they even exist any more) which was a low-grain (rice and barley only) dog food but my dog didn't like it and they also were having soft stools so I went 100% grain free and never had another problem. So I go with Taste of the Wild cause it's inexpensive and good for your dogs, comes in four flavors, two nearly identical nutritionally (one other has rice, and the fish one has lower protein), and it's great stuff. But there's plenty of other options if you don't like TotW. And most major brands are coming out with their own grain-free versions of their dog foods. So there's a lot of good options and you can do your own research and experiments. Find something your dog likes and is healthy on, does not have soft stools on, and roll with it.

Thanks so much for the info