What type/brand of food do you feed your dog?
We fed our last dog Science Diet but switched to Purina Pro Plan Chicken & Rice for our new dog. A breeder told us that Pro Plan produced the least amount of waste.
I was researching different foods and people kept talking about raw meat for their dogs. Venison seems to be very popular. This caught my interest because I have a freezer full of venison. The last thing I want to do is get the dog sick. I am going to wait to talk to the vet about it, but has anyone tried this?
Hey Buck,
Good question.
I use Pro Plan Lamb and Rice for my crew. My Zorro had allergies and the lamb and rice seemed to work best. It also has 22% protein in it vs. 26% in the others. My dogs are not working dogs so they don't need a high protein ratio. That only leads to problems up the road. I believe the chicken and rice is 22% also. Chicken is the most digestable for dogs. Beef the worst. But if the dog food one is feeding their dog works there is no reason to change. I used to use Natural Life but the price on that went sky high. Not that Purina hasn't gone up tremendously also. I'm not a big fan of Nestle-Purina but the boys are. ::) :D :D
In my opinion ( and this is just my opinion), there is no need for the fancy dog foods unless the dog has problems with digestion. I go with Puppy Chow when they're puppies and then switch to Purina One. Steeler is actually using the Puppy Chow now while she's nursing the pups. It has a higher protein count which I like for Steeler and soon Tater. They both are working dogs and will burn quite a bit of energy just in training, let alone when they're hunting. Steeler and the rest of my dogs have all done well on this food and I save a ton of money. I do supplement them with homemade treats. I just recently (thanks to advice from HCT) dehydrated a bunch of bananas and Steeler absolutely loves them as treats, so she gets those as treats for reward when retriever training. I do have a friend who has to have one of his labs on a special diet because of some allergies and he spends $40 on a 30 pound bag. If the dog needs that type of food then the dog needs it. If they don't, they do just fine on something like Purina One, etc. The only difference between the high priced dog foods and Purina One is that my wallet is lighter. Didn't notice a difference at all in the dogs.
We are now using Iams Chunks. We used to do some of the expensive stuff, did not notice any extra difference. We ended up with Iams during a Liver Failure panic with our older dog about 2 years ago. Now the old girl likes it just fine. I can get it just about anywhere. he does not eat much so it goes a long way.
My Boss does the fresh meat thing. He gets big quantities and cuts it in his shop, he sells it to others he has swayed the benefits. Claims it helps the dogs. He raised Mastiff's for showing. Has a good number of them now and a champ or two from time to time. When they win a good show, they make a good price is offspring development. And apparently the fresh meat part adds to that price. Whatever.
We use the Eagle Brand of dry food. I think they call it Eagle Pak (not sure). Ann always adds some cooked chicken meat or cooked tuna or salmon to it with a touch of low sodium broth. We use the mature blend for old boy Sir Winston and the regular blend for Miss Bea (she's two years old). They seem to do well on it and the vet approves of the diet.
Hey HCT I'm interested in the banana treats. Our vet said to stay away from the dehydrated sweet potatoes because of the starch makes Winston a bit chubby. I bet the kids would love the banana threats though. How dry do you dehydrate them ?
Pat, I just answered your pm. ;)
Thanks for the PM HCT. ;) Great info and the kids will really appreciate the treats when I get them made.
Ive been using Members Mark Exceed Lamb and Rice from Sams club for 7 years now. When I started buying it was $18 for a 44lb bag and is up to $25 or so now. I always get comments on how nice their coat is.
I do sometimes feel bad for the dogs eating the same thing every day. Maybe I can smoke their dog food one day :o
They do go crazy for jerky. The first batch I did they did things I have never seen before. Im going to make a batch of dog treats one of these days.
Science Diet here. We had some digestive issues as a pup and stayed on it. He still can't digest a rock. ::) :o ;D
No longer have a dog but if I did, I would LOVE to feed my wife's cat to him!! Actually, I do send my dog owner friends packages of Chummy Yummys ( http://www.yummychummies.com/ ) and they love them (the dogs...not the owners. ;) )
My daughter's lab was having a hard time with Pedigree food (impacted glands). My brother in law suggested using canidae, as their lab had stomach problems and the canidae did the trick. The new puppy loves it so we are sticking with it.
One thing to keep in mind is that meat should be the first ingredient, not meat byproducts. Corn and wheat are fillers, many dogs are allergic to the wheat. Corn isn't that digestable. Preservatives should be natural not chemical. When you find a food that is agreeable, stick with it. Dogs don't have great taste buds, that's what their nose is for. Crazy as it sounds, I taste everything before giving it to my boys. You'd get a chuckle seeing me at the snack bar in Petco. :D :D :D Hey, some of their cookies aren't half bad. ;D
had the cookies Ithough they very good