Dog Food

[Heavyweight]

I’m curious what you guys feed your dogs. Do you go in for the super premium foods or more off the shelf brands? The reason I ask is because I’ve been feeding Purina One for a very long time. It’s all I ever fed to my 17 year old pup. And when she died two years ago I started feeding it to my new pup. Same small breed….Papillons. I just figured 17 years without a problem was a pretty good track record. But wow have things changed. Now people treat you like you’re abusing your pet if you don’t feed them some ultra high end custom food at $75 a bag. You should see the stink eye I get when I leave Hollywood Feed with my Purina!

I’m not trying to start a war between pet owners. I just feel like pet food should be a pretty simple choice and now a days it’s anything but.

As always you guys stay safe!

Heavyweight


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[Averageman]

My Dog had a stomach problem while my Son was watching him this fall.
The Doc reccomended Rachael Ray Nutrish while he recovered.
That's all we feed him except for table scraps.

[utahjeepr]

Quite a few years ago I read an analysis on the nutritional quality of dog foods. The brand I was using was rated pretty bad. I think most of the Purina line was kinda "meh". Oddly enough some of the "super premium" stuff wasn't rated very good either.

One of my dogs was having trouble with her current diet which is what prompted our looking around. Turned out that the Costco Kirkland line was rated fairly well so we switched to that. The dog in question did better on it. So we have just stuck with that.

I wouldn't know where to find the article now, or I would offer a link. It has been several years though and things have most likely changed since then.

Our switch was driven by a (relatively minor) health concern with an apparently food sensitive dog. As I recall you are a health care professional correct? So no doubt you recognize that nutrition, while important, can be a mixed bag of studies and you really gotta work hard separate the wheat from the chaff. I would say "if it ain't broke...". I mean my diet ain't exactly the best but as long as I'm doing ok and my doc ain't having one of "those" talks with me about my eating habits I ain't gonna sweat it too much.

[Gabriel556]

We switched to Canidae all stages years ago. It isn’t the cheapest but not the most expensive either. I think it’s around $60 for a 40lb bag, it lasts us a couple months, maybe longer now with the dietary changes. Our old pup is a 16yo IG and she’s now on a kidney support diet which is prescription, and she’s otherwise very healthy. Our young one is 6 now a cattle dog, and she had an issue with eating too much with our old brand which was discontinued. We tried grain free and it gave both of them diarrhea even with partial mixing. Now the youngest is still on a portioned diet of the Canidae chicken and rice all stages blend and it works well for her.

My SIL is a vet and told us a few years ago that many of the “Walmarts of dog food” have lots of fillers they can’t digest so they end up passing it, buying some of the better foods ends up costing the same because you can feed them less volume and still get the same nutrition.

[Heavyweight]

As I recall you are a health care professional correct? So no doubt you recognize that nutrition, while important, can be a mixed bag of studies and you really gotta work hard separate the wheat from the chaff. I would say "if it ain't broke...".

You are so right about the mixed information and misinformation. And everyone has an opinion. Grain free diets are best, no you need healthy grains, etc. After doing a ton of reading I just decided on a common sense approach. I look at the crude protein, is it around 30 percent? I look at the first 5 ingredients on the label to see where that protein is coming from. And I look for healthy fats and make sure there aren’t a lot of empty fillers like cornmeal and soybean. Purina One did fairly well with that approach. And after feeding it for 19 years now with no issue I would have to be really impressed by another food to switch over I think.


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[utahjeepr]

That filler thing has merit. When we switched our dogs over we started at the same volume and they started getting fat quickly. I think we are at about 2/3 maybe even a little less now.

[WillBrink]

Premium kibble, with added raw stuff both meat and vegi, fish oil, vitamins, frozen turkey necks (teeth health, etc), collagen, etc.

[henri]

My pups get fed Acana Grasslands kibble, eggs, Newman's 'natural' jerky treats and BoarsHead classic chicken slices. In addition, baby carrots & blueberries.

[LoboTBL]

Ours get a mix of shredded/chopped chicken (rotisserie chicken from Costco) w/some rice, green beans & some Hills SD kibble added in. Carrots and sweet potato for snacks

[ChattanoogaPhil]

The correct food can be dog dependent. My last dog had standard dry dog food and some table scraps. Always healthy.

Our current dog was about the same until a severe digestion problem arose at year 6. After about four months, three vets and a variety of different foods, including so-called prescription dog food and home made, I figured the dog was going to die. Then we took her to a vet that had a local radio show. After looking at the history he said our dog has a problem with protein. WTF? Recommended hydrolyzed canned dog food. Apparently it somehow makes protein that her system doesn’t recognize. Immediate fix. It’s only $5 per can (2x per day) grrrrrrrrr. Only in America….