Best Food for Doodles

[charlene wilson]

Fergie was on grain free food for a year because she was sick.  The vet suggested adding food with a single protein source and a single grain.  We did and she seemed fine.  But now we have chronic ear issues and I'm wondering, is it food??? What do you all feed the Doodles?  I'm using Blue Buffalo

[Katie, John & Parker pup]

Parker eats the Blue Buffalo wilderness (all flavors) and has had no issues (knock on wood)!  We had issues getting his "poops" regulated on other foods and this one just happened to work for him without killing our wallets!

[Jennifer and Jack]

HI Charlene.... I just wanted to make you aware in case you are not, there is a huge group for people looking for food information. If you go to the top of the page and go under groups, click on most popular and you will see a cute dog that says feed me. Click on that and you will find so much information.

There is actually a list of recommended dog food and things like that, I am sure you will find so much help there too.

I have used several brands, Orijen, Taste of the Wild, Fromm, Natures Instinct. but my dog is a toy golden doodle and he seems to not be able to tolerate that high of a protein,  His stools have been chronically soft since I took him off of what he came to me on. I recently put Jack on Dick Van Pattens, limited ingredients, which is what he came on. He for the first time in two years is pooping formed poop,. not straining to go potty. 

In my opinion which is not expert, I tried so hard to put my dog on what I knew to be "the best" food, but recently learned from wise people on here "the best is only the best if it is good for your dog" I would pick a food from the approved list and try that, Each dog has different needs. While I wish Jack was on a food that didn't list potatoes as the first ingredient, it works for us at least for now.

Good luck in finding a food, Dick Van Patten has single protein sources, but so do others.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The DK Food Group

The DK Recommended Brands List

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

The grain could be contributing to ear infections if she has allergies. What sickness did Fergie have in the first place? That may influence what the right food may be (it is not the same for every dog)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I agree with this. I'm also wondering if the vet's suggestion may not have been to choose a food with a single protein source and a single carbohydrate source, and not necessarily a grain. Many grain-free foods contain potatoes as source of carbohydrates.

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

In regards to cost - a bag of high quality food is obviously much more than a same size bag of low quality food. But it can be quite deceiving. My inlaws recently rescued a dog - their previous dogs were fed low quality food. My MIL was happy to listen to our advice and do research herself, but for my FIL it was all about the price of a bag. So we started to compare the cost per day of many different foods - low, middle and high quality. because a dog needs to eat so much more of the low quality, low protein, low meat content foods, the cost per day was almost identical. (of course this will vary slightly from place to place as certain foods cost different amounts in different stores and areas of the country/world). Plus you save on vet bills!

[Diane and Alma]

Hi Charlene,  I have an almost 3 year old doodle named Alma (All-ma).  I looked at dogfoodanalysis.com for their research and bought what I thought was the best. I tried Evo, Origen, Fromm, TOTW and others but she had loose stools and was always "sick" including ear infections.   I went to a ranch and feed supply store and asked their opinion.  I switched her to Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance food about 6 months ago. She is doing great on this food. I am also very careful on the treats I feed her.  Keep us posted.  I hope this forum helps.