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)

[Jenn&Bruce]

sorry this took me so long Karen...I just came across the discussion!
I am now feeding Bruce Taste of the Wild High Prairie formula....he was on wellness Duck with Rice, and seemed to be digesting very well. As some of you may know, Bruce has some allergy issues so that initially why I put him on wellness. however, Bruce started eating his own waste, OBSESSIVELY. and even after trying pineapple in his food, and a little shredded cheese even, it didn't get any better, and the allergies continued as well. I decided to kill two birds with one stone and switch to a grain free (all formulas we used before had grain) to see if there would be a change in his itching. although I haven't noticed a huge change in his allergic behaviors, he did completely stop eating his own waste. BONUS!! :)

[Marianne *OZZY & ZOEY]

All my dogs are on Wellness, they seem to do very good with it and keeps their coat smooth and silky.

[Linda Flanders]

Sadie is eating Natures Recipe Puppy Lamb & Rice and doing really well. We do mix vegatables into it (canned) and every so often, plain yogurt. She gets green beans, peas, carrots, wax beans and lima beans. We change up the veggie every few days. We switched her over from Eagle Pack Puppy (very expensive) over a two week period when she was 3 months old. We fed our Wheaten terrier the same brand (with the veggies, etc.) and she lived to be 14 yrs. old.

[Ann]

we had a terrier cross for 14.5 years who passed away last summer, but she was always on the same vet diet due to a chronic condition she had.
Now our doodle arrives in a weeks time ( she will be 8 weeks old) & I have been reading like mad about food, wanting to make a wise, educated, healthy choice. Her breeder has her on the Chicken Soup food, and I have read the first 20 pages of posts here and wow..I am soo confused .
So, I want to cook her meals, freeze some ahead, plus mix in some dry. I'm not sure of how much ( each site seems to vary), when & what!!! Do I gradually introduce my home cooked meals to her, or keep her on the Chicken Soup ( I didn't see it mentioned here ....) ?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

At that age, you'll want to change her food gradually. If you're going to change her kibble, don't add any other foods until she's adjusted to the new kibble. Do one quarter new food to three quarters CS gradually increasing the new food as you decrease the old, over about a week. Your breeder will advise you as to how much to feed. If you're going to stay with the CS, then you can add half a cup of homecooked food along with her kibble per day. Wait a few days until she's adjusted to this enormous change in her life (leaving her mom & littermates, & all her familiar surroundings) to make any changes at all. See the Homecooking section for lots of recipes, tips, etc.
Congrats on your new baby!

[Stella]

Wow, I have just spent the last hour reading all the posts here!!

Mine are both fed Royal Canin Large Breed (one on Adult and the other on Puppy). They both came from the breeder on this. Our older boy has had digestive issues - lots of diarrhoea (?sp?) when he was a puppy - which cleared up when we stopped giving him liver treats. Lately he is losing interest in his food, I am thinking he is bored and that it would be better to change to a brand that makes several 'flavours' so we can rotate and give him some variety. I have been looking at Orijin and Acana, I'd like to support a Canadian company if I can as thats where we live! But, nearly all the Acana kibbles have liver in them, so I am a bit leary of the change - still weighing up the options! Don't really want to go back to diarrhoea everywhere every day again!!

After reading about rendering and some of the disgusting things that go into dog foods (by-products etc), I have also had this thought about Royal Canin. It is made about 15 minutes from where I live, and their factory is right next to a Schneiders Meat plant. I wonder if Royal Canin gets any of their ingredients from the Schneiders place?? According to the ingredients list, Royal Canin do not use by-products.... but it does make you think?!!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Stella, I don't know which Royal Canin Food you are using, but the Dog Food Analysis website does not rate it very highly...only 2 stars out of a possible 6. I looked at the ingredients in several of their foods, and every one I looked at had either corn gluten, soy protein, or some other lousy ingredient within the first two or three. They are also using incomplete proteins such as pea protein to boost the percentage.You can do much, much better. Orijen and Acana are both excellent foods, and the liver in the formula won't cause diarrhea.
When looking at ingredients in kibble, there are several factors to consider, and there is no one best food for every dog. But in general, you want to stay away from corn, wheat, and soy. You want to be sure that the protein content is made of complete proteins, i.e. named animal proteins, and not boosted by things like pea or potato protein, which the company can legally count in the overall protein percentage, but which in fact does not provide the amino acids that the dog needs. You want to make sure the company does not use ingredients imported from China, and that any food that contains fish does not also contain ethoxyquin. (You will have to contact the company to ask, on some of them.) You also want to make sure the food does not contain menadione, which is synthetic vitamin K. we have researched a lot of the companies and done the work for you on some of them, although we continue to watch & question.
If you want to stay with a Canadian company, Orijen or Acana is a million times better than the Royal Canin. Hope this helps answer some of your confusion.

[Stella]

I know, everyone told us Royal Canin was a good food - vet, trainer etc. But I looked at the Dog Food Analysis site and was pretty disappointed with the score there. I also watched a doumentary on TV the other night about the pet food industry and the Menu food recall. They had a vet on that used to work for a dog food company and it was quite revealing - particularly when they boiled old work boots, added some vitamins and sent it for analysis, this disgusting mixture met the minimum standards for dog food!!

I like that on the Champion Foods website they categorically state that all the ingredients (except the lamb) are from Canada, that they don't include GM products or any of the other bad chemicals/ additives/ preservatives I have been reading about in this discussion.

So, I think it is off to the store to get some samples to try and see how we go...... Now, what to do with that giant bag of Royal Canin that is unopened in the garage? (Somehow, I don't think PetSmart will give me a refund!). Something else I picked up from researching dog food more - if it is in a grocery store or one run by 16 year olds, it is not worth feeding to my dog!!

Thanks so much for your help, and to everyone else involved in this group working so hard to ensure our dogs are better fed. Now, if only you guys could start lecturing at vet schools. Our vet had us on the Sciende Diet for a while when we couldn't get the diarrhoea under control. I was appalled by what the Dog Food Analysis site had to say about it, and I am glad that we did not stick with it for very long.

[Linda,Yankee & Finn]

Petsmart will take anything back. They told me that I can return anything, anytime for a refund. I've bought bottles that I've opened and they took them back so go for it.

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

Your research will reveal that most vet scholarships and school programs are paid by and even courses taught by Big Commercial Dog Food companies like Purina. I guess they feel that if they spend their money on propaganda, they would make more money then if they put it into real research and better quality foods.

Nutrition courses at vet schools are financed by DF Companies, vets get kick backs from DF Companies and most vets have no experience with canine nutrition, except for what they receive from DF Companies. Knowing this, I would never take a vets recommendation for a DF. Mine recommended Beneful (another Purina product), the day the 2007 recalls broke in the news. The Internet has become a grassroots tool for change. You can research anything! Whether for canine or human nutrition, DO YOUR RESEARCH and you will learn more than doctors tell you.

As far as returning the food, the big petstores should take it back for full or store credit. If they won't, you can always donate it to a shelter.

[Stella]

So, I did get a full cash refund from PetSmart for my unopened bag of Royal Canin, and we started the Acana (slowly changing over) on Saturday. So far, so good - eating happliy and good poops!! Found an awesome store run by a lady who really cares about dogs and the food you feed them, she was a useful resource, and she is going to order some Acana puppy especially for us to try with the puppy.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Great, I'm glad you were able to return the RC, and found a store you feel good about patronizing; also glad the Acana is working out so far. I think you'll be happy with it.