How did you choose your dog's food?

[BamaTanya]

The SPCA gave us some puppy food when we adopted our pups, but I went shopping yesterday for a BIG BAG and got so confused!

I'm not asking you to recommend a brand. I've read the advertisements. I'm asking, "What was a deciding factor in your decision?" Besides cost, :001_smile:.

Yes, I know to slowly change from one to another by mixing them for a few days to prevent digestive upset.

These babies are growing fast!

tia

[Laura R (FL)]

Hmmm.....after working with animals for so many years, I knew that there was a difference in pet foods, and I do believe there is a breaking point between different levels of quality. What I'm trying to say is...certain premium foods are better than certain store brands.

If I had a choice, my pets would have all eaten top of the line premuim foods from the get-go. However, we certainly couldn't afford that way back when we were first married and had puppies and kittens. So, they ate Cat Chow and Dog Chow, which I felt were the best foods in that price range. I've always felt that Purina was the leader in the pet food industry for decades. Now, that cat is 16 and his buddy is 6 and eats Prescription Diet no matter what the cost. :) (They both have kidney issues) Our first dog has passed away and our recent dog is almost 6 and just had major orthopedic surgery. Since it's a degenerative condition and they predict his other knee to go within a year, I'm probably switching him over to an all natural food with glucosamine, hoping to prevent arthritis in a young, extremely active dog that we just adore.

So how do I pick my pet food? I pick the best food that I can afford that suits the needs of my pet. It's a priority to me now that might be different for someone else or might be different if they weren't all special needs critters.

So now, picking a pet food is about health issues. Back then, it was name recognition. I'm not trying to sell you on a brand, but for instance, I always liked Purina because they have been researching animal dietary needs for decades. They have some great lines at a variety of prices...Puppy Chow to Pro Plan to ONE, etc. Cost is definitely an issue, and those foods are affordable. When I first worked with animals, I worked in the kennels, walking dogs and cleaning cages. Dogs fed cheap foods poop alot and I always surmised that they must be fed lots of fillers. Dogs on premium foods did have more compact stools...less waste...literally.

[Lisa at Home]

We tried many allergy brands, but only one worked for our dog. That was the deciding factor.

~Lisa

[MicheleinMN]

High quality, no vomiting (we have 2 dogs prone to this), and they deliver!

Michele

[Gamom3]

When I was searching I learned that "By-products" mean everything that we would NOT eat from that animal, is put into the dogs food!
So try to find some food that does not have this!


http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/ this site has some info.

[3lilreds in NC]

Well, I did a LOT of research and we tried lots of premium brands, including some that the dog didn't like, LOL. I have mail-ordered the dog/cat food. However, I have an excellent vet, and she recommends the brand that we use - that was good enough for me. It's a brand we can easily find, which is great.

[Night Elf]

I went with my vet's recommendation. She is a firm believer in a frozen raw food diet. When I rescued my dog from the shelter, she wouldn't eat anything except scrambled eggs. I don't know what they were feeding her at the shelter. I did call to ask and they said it's a hodge podge of donated foods. I tried about a half dozen different brands and she wouldn't eat any of it. My vet told me about the frozen raw food and my dog gobbled it up from the get go. Since then, whenever we've run out and had to buy something regular at the grocery store, her bowels suffer. On the frozen raw food, her poops are small and not super bad smelling. On regular dog food, she has huge smelly poops. We try very hard to not run out of the good food!

FWIW, I pay $20 for a bag of nuggets that lasts us about 2 weeks. I don't think I could afford this diet if I had a big dog or multiple dogs.

[transientChris]

I go for a store bought high quality food that does not bring about problems. My dog now has to eat a true lamb and rice food ( many lamb and rice products include wheat and/or corn which are allergans for him). Before that problem and with previous dogs, I would use something like Iams or Eukanaba. I am currently using a more select formula of Purina for my senior cats that works very well. I decided by looking at serving sizes. Some popular cheap brands would have my dog eating three times that amount I feed him with better quality foods. I figure three times the food, three times the waste and no thanks.

[Karen sn]

No corn!

[elegantlion]

We tried many allergy brands, but only one worked for our dog. That was the deciding factor.

~Lisa

What brand do you use? We have a lab with allergies to all the wonderful trees in our yard.

to answer OP: cost is our deciding factor at this point. I used to work for a vet and one of the concerns I have for other brands is not just their ingredients but the consistency of the quality/quantity of them from bag to bag. We use Purina because I trust that they have good qaulity controls in place. I wouldn't mind switching if I could find something to help out the allergies, however.

[Lisa at Home]

From Dick Van Patten.:) I always laugh when writing that!

The only version that works for us is the vegetarian blend. Our dog also eats lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Once in a very great while she may get a small piece of salmon or a raw egg.

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/dogformulas/Vegetarian.html

~Lisa

[RoughCollie]

My dog eats Flint River dog food. It is human-grade food. I order it online and it comes in the mail. I switched to it after the debacle with contaminated dog food and after doing a lot of research on dog food. My pooch is really picky when it comes to food made especially for dogs, and I am delighted that he really likes this food. Cost was not a factor. I originally wanted to try the BARF (raw food) diet for him, but my dog will not eat raw food, no way, no how. I even have to bake bones I buy at the store for him before he will eat them -- just enough so they aren't raw.

The good stuff about this dog food is listed on the website:

http://www.flintriver.com/

RC

[Jean in Newcastle]

When the dog food scare hit I researched dog food extensively. I was shocked that the food we were feeding them (Beneful) had added sugar! I was told both by my vet and my neighbor who boards dogs that of cheaper dog foods (which is all I can afford) that the Kirkland brand (Costco) is one of the best. Because they have allergies I use their lamb and rice one. My neighbor who boards dogs uses the Flint River brand and loves it but we did not have the money to feed two big dogs with it.

[Sunny]

They have an issue every year that details what they found in dog foods, and their recommendations of particular ones. There is a full page worth recommending! They carry that article online, for a fee. If you really want a high quality food, I'd look at that list.

We decided that raw was the best for them, and so it was a matter of finding where to buy it. price is obviously a factor when buying pure meat, but that's our criteria. No "processing".

[elegantlion]

From Dick Van Patten.:) I always laugh when writing that!

The only version that works for us is the vegetarian blend. Our dog also eats lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Once in a very great while she may get a small piece of salmon or a raw egg.

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/dogformulas/Vegetarian.html

~Lisa

Thanks, off to check that out. Funny, I think of Dick Van Patten every once in a while. My ds loves to watch poker and his son Vince is the announcer.

[Maria from IN]

When my boyfriend was "blessed" with a stray pregnant dog, we put her pups on store-brand dog food for a while, but they were just too sick and not very active at all. We switched them to a Science Diet variety, and their energy level (and digestion) improved dramatically.

When I brought the runt of that litter home, I continued feeding him the Science Diet Lamb and Rice, but his digestive problems were slowly returning. Bouts of nausea and vomiting only prompted exclamations of "Parvo! He must have Parvo!" from the receptionist at the vet's office. One day I asked her for the Prescription Diet catalog she kept behind her desk and asked her to order a food without beef, corn, or wheat. Potato and Duck, I think it was. He did wonderfully on that food, but it's $45 for an 18 pound bag--though it lasted six weeks. I found a brand at Kroger called Brandon Farms Pork and Barley variety which is a little cheaper, I don't have to order it, and Fiver likes it so much we also use it for training treats. To stretch our dollar we supplement it with veggies and brown rice.

It takes a while to find the food that's exactly right for your dog, but it's worth it. Don't think that the only food they need comes out of a bag. Fresh vegetables and grains are healthy, too.:001_smile:

[LisaNY]

During the dog food scare, I began researching grain-free foods and found Innova Evo. I also began making stew for them. The stew/Evo blend has worked out really well. The added bonus was the drastic reduction in shedding from my 115lb German Shepherd.

[Mamagistra]

We feed a medium grade food with 21% protein on the recommendation of our breeder, supplementing with occasional fiber (canned pumpkin) and and fat (olive oil). We give wholesome scraps from time to time, mainly eggs, yogurt, or chicken and brown rice. My indoor dogs (great dane and pug) eat a different food than my outside dogs (border crazi...I mean, collies). ;)

Keep abreast of food recalls, too. You can Google for a national pet organization (sorry, I forget the name) that will email alerts any time a food or treat is recalled. The latest that I heard is for Innova large-size biscuits, which were contaminated with metal and rock fragments. :eek: It may not seem important, but it seems that the pet food industry is pretty irresponsible sometimes. :glare:

[Tammy]

I use the same kind! I use the potato and duck formula!

[Ellie]

and no, he didn't sell the kind he recommended :-)

When I first took a pet to Dr. Belfield, he wouldn't recommend *any* commercial pet foods. He only recommended making food using this meat product stuff that was sold raw and frozen, and cooking that with rice, carrots, vitamin C powder, and I forget what else. I did it once and gagged while it was cooking :-o and none of the animals would eat it (not that I blamed them!) So we went back to Iams.

I had been using Iams because I thought it was a better product than anything I had bought in the grocery store--I forget why I though that--and when I started feeding it to my cats, their coats improved and they seemed to have more energy.

Anyway, the reason Dr. Belfield wouldn't recommend any manufactured pet foods was that most of them (I'd like to say "all") use euthanized animals for the meat (http://www.felineinstincts.com/successStories/drbeldfieldsfoodnotfitforapet.html), and sometimes the drugs used to euthanize the animals remains in the food. The vet had newspaper articles with documented instances of dogs dying because of the food. Oy!

Eventually, one of Dr. Belfield's other clients came up with his own pet food: Naturapet (http://www.naturapet.com/default.asp), which manufactures Innova and Evo, among others. Dr. Belfield then recommended Innova (although he still never sold it).

Petsmart and Petco do not sell Innova (or Evo). They might sell one of the other Naturapet products.

[Mamagistra]

Anyway, the reason Dr. Belfield wouldn't recommend any manufactured pet foods was that most of them (I'd like to say "all") use euthanized animals for the meat (http://www.felineinstincts.com/successStories/drbeldfieldsfoodnotfitforapet.html), and sometimes the drugs used to euthanize the animals remains in the food. The vet had newspaper articles with documented instances of dogs dying because of the food. Oy!

Um...er...ick. :eek: Thank you for the article!

[astrid]

We feed a human-grade kibble, rotating between "Nature's Variety," "Flint River Ranch" and "Innova Evo." HOWEVER, when I bought a new bag of Nature's Variety last week, I was shocked to see that the price had jumped $9 since my last purchase, two and a half weeks ago. Freight costs, I assume. **** these gas prices have GOT to come down! :cursing:

[Kimberleigh]

We switched from Science Diet to Innova when the contamination issue came up last year. As a nice side effect, our golden retriever's hip problems disappeared, her coat became shinier, and she stopped foraging in the flower beds (which we took as a sign that the new food was giving her more of what she needed so she wasn't looking to "supplement" on her own). Her poops are also smaller and don't smell as bad, which my son appreciates since it's his chore to scoop up the yard.

The Innova is more expensive and less convenient because it's not available at Petsmart or the grocery, but it's been worth it. We switched our cats to Innova, as well, and they stopped having problems with hair balls.

So to answer the OP's actual question, I guess you could say we based our decision on what was for our pets health-wise.

Kimber

[Janet in Toronto]

We started with the food that the rescue gave us, but when it became clear that our dog had sensitive skin, we switched him to a hypoallergenic food (Lamb) suggested by our vet (Royal Canin). After reading about how dog food is made, we moved to human grade/super premium dog food. We currently feed Nature Variety Venison and Millet kibble for breakfast, and rotate between Nature's Variety frozen raw medallions (venison and veg) and Merrick canned ("French Country Cafe") for supper.

[Tami]

We wanted high quality, natural ingredients. Plus, our dog does best with a rice, not wheat, based food. We like California Natural and Innova. There are about 5 ingredients in them - meat, rice, chopped veggies, and vitamins; and no preservatives, fillers, or cheap ingredients.

HTH!

[Tami]

We switched from Science Diet to Innova when the contamination issue came up last year. As a nice side effect, our golden retriever's hip problems disappeared, her coat became shinier, and she stopped foraging in the flower beds (which we took as a sign that the new food was giving her more of what she needed so she wasn't looking to "supplement" on her own). Her poops are also smaller and don't smell as bad, which my son appreciates since it's his chore to scoop up the yard.

The Innova is more expensive and less convenient because it's not available at Petsmart or the grocery, but it's been worth it. We switched our cats to Innova, as well, and they stopped having problems with hair balls.

So to answer the OP's actual question, I guess you could say we based our decision on what was for our pets health-wise.

Kimber


I agree - Innova is a great food. Our dog's gas issues (sorry if that's TMI!) are nonexistent with Innova or California Natural! Otherwise, we have to make a rice/meat based diet ourselves.

[Cindyg]

Make a chart in Microsoft Word or even on a notepad. Down one side, list 10 brands that you think you might buy (based on price, availability, or sales pitch, or whatever). Then in the next column, list the first 3 ingredients of each brand. You can usually get this online easily enough. If not, you can stand in the dogfood aisle at the store and do it.

Then take your list and study it. You'll probably see a pattern. "Chicken, brown rice, sweet potatoes" will be a better choice than "Corn, flour, meat by products."

In addition to this, I wanted one that provided probiotics, healthy fat, no dairy, no flour, no corn; so I put that on my chart too. There are some really good dogfoods available right now.

You're a good a dog mom to be thinking about this.

[Parrothead]

I wanted to do the right thing for our dog, but he is picky and stubborn. Basset hound. When we brought him home we has a bag of Iams. He didn't eat for two days. Well, the poor puppy is starving, and dd had just had surgery two days ago. He was her present for being brave. So we gave him scraps. Did I mention he was starving. Gobbled it up in five seconds. Obviously nothing wrong with his appetite. He just doesn't like Iams. Come to find out after six months of trying different dog foods he doesn't like Iams, Science Diet, the high end Purina products, andy canned dog food, moist dog food or most of the mid-range dog food.

He had gotten older and could handle going hungry longer. The longest I tried to wait him out was five days. Then it was back to the scraps. By this time though I was preparing an extra serving of what we had for dinner for him. I'd mix it with dry dog food hoping he'd eat it that way. No, he picked the dry dog food out. Did I mention he is half Basset hound?

Finally, finally I brought home a small bag of Kibble and Bits and Bits. He ate it mixed with his serving of dinner. Over the last year I've been able to reduce the amount of dinner I mix with his cereal. Now if there isn't anything available to mix with the Kibble he will eat it without the scraps. Usually in the middle of the night after he realizes that I'm not cooking any more that day.