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)

[2m42srv7vi6sq]

Once upon a time, we fed supermarket brands and found that our dogs (we always had giant breeds) ate about 10 c of food a day, EACH, and made great BIG poops.

Bella, our Neapolitan Mastiff has food allergies and has had a chronic ear problem, since puppihood. When we had to switch her to the more "expensive" brands that did not contain grains, I found that the premium brands were actually "cheaper" to feed. Based upon past feeding levels, where as a bag of Pedigree would last me less than a week (the 30# bag @ $23.00), the 30# bag of Taste of The Wild, while costing $44/bag, lasts me 2 1/2 weeks for TWO dogs.

I would be spending around $92.00/mo for supermarket brand food for both dogs if I were still feeding Pedigree and now spend about $75.30/mo.

Plus, you save on Vet bills and your dog will have less joint problems. I am sure that the cancer rate will go down also, as the "premium" brands do not contain the same carcinogens that the store brands do.

[3iwe1z4z14fov]

I totally agree, I do not believe that you should feed supermarket brand food unless you really do your research on the food, it is just not healthy for your dog. Spend a little more on good food and save a lot on vet bills.

[Paula]

Sure makes me wonder about using the higher priced brands. We've used the higher priced brands and had two large breed dogs who grew up together die 6 months apart of ca at 7 and 7 1/2 yrs old. (not the same breed or sex). . Probably had nothing to do with food?They were on Technical; not that Technical was that expensive in 1996 I know. But we never used that brand again and began using more expensive brands with higher protein and less grain. Thinking if we spend more money it will be safer.. better. But I don't really beleive that any more I don't think. We've fed our puppies EVO, FROMM, CANIDAE and are now on ROYAL CANIN LARGE BREED PUPPY.After being so ill on the Canidae.I have absolutely no idea what's best, I'm only guessing and hoping for the best like alot of people are doing I think.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It's not just the price, it's the ingredients, and more importantly, where the ingredients come from. Who owns the company, and what is their track record with recalls & quality control. These things do have a lot to do with safety, and unfortunately, you don't get them with the cheaper brands. But "more expensive" is a relative term...some people think Nutro and Eukanuba are more expensive, and they ARE, compared to some of the stuff at Walmart or the grocery store. But they are cheap compared to Solid Gold or most of the "premium" brands.
Food can only do so much...you could eat the healthiest, most perfect diet in the world, and still get cancer.
But it's not so much preventing disease with the better dog foods, it's preventing harm from ingredients that can kill our dogs and giving them what they need for optimum health.

[3iwe1z4z14fov]

Consider yourself lucky, the most important thing you can do for your dog is feed them good food and before the food recall I was feeding Science Diet and my poor dog always had ear infections and she would scratch her hair off her nose, I switch food and that solved the problem. Feeding good food can save money by keeping your dog out of the vets office.

[Leslie and Halas]

I give Halas Innova Evo, and he seems to be doing well on it, although I do think his coat could be shinier at times. I decided on Evo after reading some discussions on DK and following some links to sites that analyze dog food. Before that, I knew about the recalls, but I didn't know how much healthier some of the more natural foods can be. I'm lucky, because I live by myself with one dog (who is pretty small, so doesn't eat much) and no kids, so I can afford to spend a little extra on Halas' food. I switched him over very slowly, but mostly because I still had a huge bag of his old food when I decided to switch.

Halas' grandma makes wonderful homemade dog treats for him. If a lot of people are interested, I could start a discussion and post some recipes. Otherwise Lori, I can email you privately. So, how about it? Is anyone interested in sharing dog treat recipes?

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

Definetly, it's nice to share recipies. But put them in the recipies discussion so others can find them.

[Leslie and Halas]

Oh, now I see. I hadn't looked very closely at the other dicussions yet. I'll get some dog treat recipes posted in the recipe discussion that's already started.

[Leslie and Halas]

I'll post a few recipes. Most of them come from books that she has, so I'll get title and author names, too. I'm out of town right now, so it will probably take me a couple of days, but I'll get to it early this week.

[Trowby]

I'm very glad to see a food discussion. We were feeding Sage Wellness Puppy and she did ok on it so then I was looking for an adult food when she got to 5 months. Tried Wellness fir Small Dogs but her digestion wasn't good. Now using Merrick Before Grain Chicken and she loves it and her digestion is great. This food is a medium level protein and has sweet potato and probiotics. I think I will buy the BG buffalo the next time to give her some variety. Anyone else had any experience with this food?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I think a lot of people are very interested in this subject, and I hope everyone will chime in here with their experiences, good or bad! Of all the topics I see on dog-related forums, the question of which kibble to feed is the one that most often comes up. It WILL be nice to have to it (hopefully) all in one place!

[Joy Williams]

Great idea for a group, Karen!

We have put Morgan and Maddie on Canidae, All Life Stages and it seems to be working okay for them so far. The only thing we have noticed recently, and this may not have anything to do with the food, but they have an odor about them now. Seems mainly around their face, not as much on the rest of their body. We gave them a bath last weekend, and the very next day, the odor was back. Has anyone else who feeds their dogs Canidae noticed anything like this?