Commercial Foods-The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Tell us what commercial foods have worked for you and which have caused problems; information, questions, warnings and advice on dog food companies, ingredients, brands, and switching foods.
(Recall information now in it's own discussion here in The Food Group)

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

Karen, I don't mean to be negative but ProPlan is made by the Purina company and gets ingredients from Mars Petfood. Both companies have had recalls and problems in the past as has their Nutro brand. You may want to do some checking on this product.

[Karen & Lucy]

Lynne, I did check into it as at the time of the recall I had been giving Lucy some Nutro also. I talked to the vet about it also and he said to keep her on it. I know it is scary. I went to different sites and checked out the recalls and compared the numbers with the ones on the bags that I had and they were always different. Thanks for your concern, I should as a good mamma switch, but I just do not want to upset her "apple cart". But then, I guess, that would be better than her getting sick.

[Lynn & Sadie in WI]

Right now I am feeding Sadie, who will be 6 mos old on the 28th, Innova Puppy. I have tried several of the High End foods, California Natural, Merricks, etc. She eats them all and has had no ill effects, except it seems the higher the food is rated the worse the SBD's are lol. I follow different forums about labradoodles and read all the postings about food. I have done the analysis of different types. The only thing I haven't read up on is RAW and Homemade.

It seems that a lot of people are having issues with allergies, ear infections, hot spots, etc and they blame it on the food and change brands and it seems to work for a while but then they have issues again. They all seem to be using the high end foods and have the issues anyway.

I had dogs for 30 yrs and always fed them Purina along with table scraps at times, my dogs were German Shepherds and all lived to 13 plus yrs and had healthy lives and beautiful shiny coats. Sadie is my first Doodle and the first dog I've had since 2001, when my last dog died. I had read about all the dog food recalls and wanted to be sure I fed her a safe food. From what I saw, Purina was never on the recall lists and I heard that they do not get any products from China.

I am tempted to switch Sadie to Purina, as I fed all my dogs in the past, after her current bag of Innova is finished. If she stays healthy on that food, I guess I don't see the reason for paying so much for the other foods. I'm just not sure what to do.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Hi Lynn: If you look 2 or 3 posts above yours, you will see a comment Lynne NJ made about the Purina company getting their ingredients from Mars Petfood, which continues to be involved in the recalls. After losing her beloved standard poodle to the 2007 pet food debacle, Lynne has researched this issue more than anyone I know, and I trust her information to be accurate.
I, too, have had dogs for many years (50 yrs, with me being the food provider for the past 31) and they all seemed to do fine on the grocery store brand dog foods. So I totally understand that point of view, and shared it myself for a long time. But the economic climate, and the way we do business in this country has changed. 20 years ago, we did not find ingredients imported from China in our pet's food, however inexpensive. As the global economy has expanded and the corporations seek to make greater profits, both we and our pets are being exposed to things that we previously did not have to worry about. I would urge you to explore some of the issues & information that is available here and elsewhere (check our bookshelf discussion for recommended reading) before making the switch. Like so many of us, you may be very surprised- maybe even shocked- at what you find. No agenda here- just an exchange of information to help each other with some of these confusing choices.

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

Lynn and Karen, this is exactly the problem. We all fed store brands for many years and our dogs lived to 16 or more. I had a Samoyed who lived to 17 and all I ever fed her was Alpo. She died in 1989. I always fed Alpo or Pedigree, even to Casey a std. poodle who died at age 3, who died in 1995. The vet said she died from som massive infection. She stopped eating on a Saturday and was dead by Wednesday. Magic had always had ear infections, at age 5 she started with frequent UTI's and leaking. My vet of 20 years gave various medications, ear cleanings and samples. He never connected the food. When she died it was after a mass was found in her kidney through an x-ray. She, too, stopped eating and for 2 weeks I spoon fed her boiled chicken and whiskey water. She wasted to the point that I had to put her down. That was 2 months before the recalls were announced.

I still had Cody and he was very lonely so I started a search for a Doodle. I thought it would take awhile but it didn't. I got Ginger 2 weeks after Magic died.

When the recalls were announced, I was feeding Iams and Eukanuba and had the recalled numbers in my cubboard.I immediately called the vet and he recommended Beneful. As I started researching, I could not believe the things I was reading. Each new story or book scared me even more. The petfood industry is a huge money making machine. Their bottom line is their goal, NOT the safety of our pets. The things that are put in dogfood (and allowed by the FDA) would turn your stomach and make you sick. Even when made in the USA, ingredients are imported from China. More and more fillers and additives means more profits. Many vet schools are supported by and classes are conducted by the petfood industry. Scholarships are given to vets and it is such an inbetted system, many vets are unaware of the true issues. It's such a scary situation that if it were our children in this country being trted like this, people would freak out.

Here's what I know:
- I would never fully trust one company to feed my family or my pets.
- The Mars Petfood Co. buys from China & has had salmonella issues & even closed a plant over it.
- Menu foods, which make many high end brands was the big culprit in the 2007 recalls, as were others.
- A multi-million dollar class action lawsuit is pending over the 2007 recalls.
- Made in the USA, means put together in the USA, ingredients come from other places.
- If a company has one problem, there WILL BE other problems.
- It takes many, many years for cancer to grow, you may not see problems for 5 years, or until it's too late.
- Many vets are not up on canine nutrition and most testing is sponsored by, guess who? The Petfood Co's.
- Why would anyone take that chance?

[Misty Roberton]

Hi Lynne-

We pick up our Labradoodle puppy this Saturday and I have spent the last week doing research on which food we should feed her. After reading through all these discussions, I am educated but not any closer to a decision. Ugh! A few that have been recommended to me by breeders, trainers, etc. are Canidae, Natural Balance, Blue, Go, Life's Abundance, and Costco's Kirkland Signature Brand. That is actually what our puppy is being fed before coming home with us. I have one question.... after all of your extensive research, what are you feeding your dogs right now? :-)

I know every dog is likely to have a different experience, but I'm looking for a place to start. I would love to cook for our new puppy, but I have two boys (ages 5 & 3) and I can hardly keep up with our meals! :-)

Thanks so much for your input!

Misty

ps... read a bit further in detail and see you've posted what you are feeding... unless that changes the more I read. :-) Such a big decision.... ughhh

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

Misty, I am the Homecooking Queen (not my title) around here. I homecook for 2 doodles and a Bijon once a week, freeze and give dinner of that. I free feed Innova Evo, Taste of the Wild, Life's Abund or other premium kibble, for that "anytime snack" and sometimes an egg or something small for breakfast. My routine is in "Homecooking for your Doodles" discussion so I won't re-do it here. Needless to say, I am not a believer in kibble only nor kibble as main meals. I am also not a believer in one food for life and I do believe in Balance over time rather than complete and balanced as touted by dogfood companies.

I change bags of kibble every other bag or so and never had a problem with changing food because my dogs are used to a variety of foods. I will recommend Dr. Pitcairn's, "Natural Health for Dogs" as a great resource that every dog owner should have. And I will say that puppies have different needs, so the high protein kibbles might not be right for now. You have listed choices of good kibbles, I just wouldn't rely on ANY one food for a long period of time as tastes change as do recipes. Whatever food you decide on, you should still give a variety of fresh meats, fruits and veggies to ensure a healthy doggie. That's my advice. I hope I have helped.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Here's some more lovely info about the tricks of the pet food industry; this is an e-mail from a relative of mine who works in sales for a major pet food company. I have deleted the company name and description for obvious reasons.

"Karen, just read some info from my (deleted) meeting yesterday. They have changed some of the ingredients in some of their food. The lamb and rice in the (deleted) bag has changed from the first ingred. being lamb meal to lamb, next the grains and then lamb meal. Have also added pea and potato protein. The new bags may not come out yet for a while - they have 6 months to use up the old bags and it's very probable that you have been feeding the "new" food to your dog for maybe 2 months, already"

Isn't this great? In other words, they put the new formula into the old bags that still have the old formula ingredients listed on them...and you have no way of knowing! So there you are, conscientiously reading the labels, and the food in the bag isn't even the one that goes along with the ingredient list. And this, apparently, is legal? Poor Jackdoodle- I am absolutely the world's worst cook, but I can see it becoming necessary. Lynne, don't be surprised if one morning you find a very tired & hungry-looking shaggy blonde doodle standing at your door carrying a knapsack on a stick!

[sbis0oszc95r]

I took my puppy to the Vet last night to check his itchy ears and got good news. No ear infection, no redness.....she thinks it's just a lot of inner ear hair that may be tickly to him....

She said that she could sedate him and pluck those hairs, but didn't recommend it. She told me just to keep his ears dry and clean.

and after hearing some comments on Nature's Variety food which he likes better than Solid Gold, I think I'm staying with Solid Gold with some shredded cheddar cheese on top.

Thanks for all the good info.!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Always good to hear when one of our doodles is doing fine!
(OT: There are lots of discussions on DK about plucking or not plucking ear hair, and general ear health. As a long time poodle owner, I can tell you that dogs who have Poodle-y, non-shed coats definitely need to have the hair plucked regularly- groomers do it with a hemostat and it should not be painful. Cleaning with Epi-Otic solution helps, and keeping them dry is important.)
Thanks for letting us know!

[Ali]

What are the comments on Nature's Variety? Did I miss something?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Ali, I feed Jackdoodle Nature's Variety, among other foods, and I have satisfied myself that as far as kibbles go, it is one of the best for us. I did a search through the forum discussions and did not see anything negative here about the line. The comment you are referring to confused me a little, too.
It's so easy to become confused with all this, and some of the names do sound similar. I think maybe it was "Natural Choice" that was being referred to, one of the Nutro foods.