Thread: What kind of dog food do you feed your dogs?

I've tried pretty many different brands of dog food over the years. I started off feeding Eukanuba to my dogs and was happy with that for years. My Golden Retrievers both developed allergies and I thought it could be from their dog food because of the grain in it.

I switched to Natural Balance and they seemed to do better on that but not completely. Their allergies bothered their paws and caused them to become raw. They would lick them a lot. They weren't completely allergy free with the Natural Balance so I switched then to Taste of the Wild. That has proved very successful in eliminating their allergy problems.

I have my puppy on Blue Buffalo but (not to be too graphic) she has kind of loose stools. I never had that problem with the Eukanuba. So now I'm going to try the Eukanuba again for my puppy. I'm really not sure if I'm making the right choice and I don't want to keep switching. I just bought the Eukanuba Large Breed Puppy Food today so after gradually switching to that I'll see how things go.

What dog foods and puppy foods have you had the best luck with?

I haven't bought puppy food in awhile, but I belong to Costco, and use the Kirkland brand, good ingredients at a reasonable price.
http://www.petforums.com/f11/kirklan...od-review-490/

Here's a review on Eukanuba, I've never used it because I thought it had some undesireable ingredients.
http://petfoodtalk.com/dogfoodreviews/eukanuba/

I feed my cat Blue Buffalo kitten, no loose stools.

I belong to Costco too and thought about buying the dog food there. Now I'm wishing I would have tried it. I guess I'll still try the Eukanuba for a bit. I mixed a small amount in her found earlier today. Thanks for the links. This whole dog food thing has me confused.

It IS very hard to understand the whole dog food thing. I just have an idea of bad ingredients, and try to avoid them.
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index....badingredients

I tried one of those REALLY expensive foods with no grains, but it was way too high in protein and too rich for my dog. It actually gave him blood in his stool, and I threw it out.

Some other brands I've used in the past are Canidae and Avoderm, but they're all expensive. The Kirkland chicken and veg formula is around $25 for a 40 pound bag. I switch it up with their mature dog formula, since he's slowing down and gaining weight.

PS: I also get the Nature's Deli (Costco) chicken breast jerky (made in the USA) for him. It's $16+ for a 3 pound bag, but sometimes they'll offer a coupon for it. It's pricey, but he loves it. He gets it as a treat when he gets the morning paper, not a full piece, so it lasts a long time.

Another treat I use is Mother Hubbard peanut butter biscuits, I buy at Petsmart, around $7 a bag, he gets one per day, so it also lasts awhile.

WOW! That's a great deal at Costco! I've gotten Bully Sticks at Costco and it was an awesome deal. I don't recall the price now but I know it was significantly less than what I had just paid at Petsmart.

That's so cute that your dog gets the newspaper for you. I used to have a German Shepherd that would do that for me. We don't get the newspaper delivered anymore. I read it online now.

Originally Posted by eslucky

WOW! That's a great deal at Costco! I've gotten Bully Sticks at Costco and it was an awesome deal. I don't recall the price now but I know it was significantly less than what I had just paid at Petsmart.

That's so cute that your dog gets the newspaper for you. I used to have a German Shepherd that would do that for me. We don't get the newspaper delivered anymore. I read it online now.

Petsmart is more expensive for sure. I was happy to find an acceptable dog food at Costco. They have some versions that aren't so good, I like meat as the first ingredient.

It's hard to read a paper online with a dial-up connection, all pictures, etc. load extremely slow. Plus my hubby still like to read it with his morning coffee, although the local paper is getting smaller and smaller, almost like a brochure. Well, it's easier on my dog's neck on Sundays, lol. There used to be a choice of 2, but one's completely gone. Every year the price goes up too, which is really a rip off.

Here's another way to judge that I saw a long time ago online...

Here is a test that can help you judge the quality of your dog food.
You give points for quality items and take away points for fillers and low
nutrient ingredients. At the end of the test there are a list of several
popular dog foods and how they rate using the test.


How to grade your dog's food:

Start with a grade of 100:

1) For every listing of "by-product", subtract 10 points
2) For every non-specific animal source ("meat" or "poultry", meat, meal or
fat) reference, subtract 10 points
3) If the food contains BHA, BHT, or ethoxyquin, subtract 10 points
4) For every grain "mill run" or non-specific grain source, subtract 5
points
5) If the same grain ingredient is used 2 or more times in the first five
ingredients (i.e. "ground brown rice", "brewer’s rice", "rice flour" are all
the same grain), subtract 5 points
6) If the protein sources are not meat meal and there are less than 2 meats
in the top 3 ingredients, subtract 3 points
7) If it contains any artificial colorants, subtract 3 points
8 ) If it contains ground corn or whole grain corn, subtract 3 points
9) If corn is listed in the top 5 ingredients, subtract 2 more points
10) If the food contains any animal fat other than fish oil, subtract 2
points
11) If lamb is the only animal protein source (unless your dog is allergic
to other protein sources), subtract 2 points
12) If it contains soy or soybeans, subtract 2 points
13) If it contains wheat (unless you know that your dog is not allergic to
wheat), subtract 2 points
14) If it contains beef (unless you know that your dog is not allergic to
beef), subtract 1 point
15) If it contains salt, subtract 1 point
Extra Credit:
1) If any of the meat sources are organic, add 5 points
2) If the food is endorsed by any major breed group or nutritionist, add 5
points
3) If the food is baked not extruded, add 5 points
4) If the food contains probiotics, add 3 points
5) If the food contains fruit, add 3 points
6) If the food contains vegetables (NOT corn or other grains), add 3 points
7) If the animal sources are hormone-free and antibiotic-free, add 2 points
8 ) If the food contains barley, add 2 points
9) If the food contains flax seed oil (not just the seeds), add 2 points
10) If the food contains oats or oatmeal, add 1 point
11) If the food contains sunflower oil, add 1 point
12) For every different specific animal protein source (other than the first
one; count "chicken" and "chicken meal" as only one protein source, but
chicken" and "" as 2 different sources), add 1 point
13) If it contains glucosamine and chondroitin, add 1 point
14) If the vegetables have been tested for pesticides and are pesticide-free
add 1 point

94-100+ = A This is a food with excellent nutrition
86-93 = B - this food is very good for nutritional value
78-85 = C This food is not very good and can cause nutrional problems
70-77 = D This food will probably cause health issues down the line
<70 = F This food FAILS the test and should be tossed in the trash.

Popular Dog Food scores:

Alpo Prime Cuts / Score 81 C
Artemis Large/Medium Breed Puppy / Score 114 A+
Authority Harvest Baked / Score 116 A+
Authority Harvest Baked Less Active / Score 93 B
Beowulf Back to Basics / Score 101 A+
Bil-Jac Select / Score 68 F
Blackwood 3000 Lamb and Rice / Score 83 C
Blue Buffalo Chicken and Rice / Score 106 A+
Burns Chicken and Brown Rice / Score 107 A+
Canidae / Score 112 A+
Chicken Soup Senior / Score 115 A+
Diamond Maintenance / Score 64 F
Diamond Lamb Meal & Rice / Score 92 B
Diamond Large Breed 60+ Formula / Score 99 A
Diamond Performance / Score 85 C
Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra Premium / Score 122 A+
Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Venison and Brown Rice / Score 106 A+
Dick Van Patten's Duck and Potato / Score 106 A+
EaglePack Holistic / Score 102 A+
Eukanuba Adult / Score 81 C
Eukanuba Puppy / Score 79 C
Flint River Senior / Score 101 A+
Foundations / Score 106 A+
Hund-n-Flocken Adult Dog (lamb) by Solid Gold / Score 93 B
Iams Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Premium / Score 73 D
Innova Dog / Score 114 A+
Innova Evo / Score 114 A+
Innova Large Breed Puppy / Score 122 A+
Kirkland Signature Chicken, Rice, and Vegetables / Score 110 A+
Member's Mark Chicken and Rice / Score 84 C
Merrick Wilderness Blend / Score 127 A+
Nature's Recipe / Score 100 A
Nature's Recipe Healthy Skin Venison and Rice / Score 116 A+
Nature's Variety Raw Instinct / Score 122 A+



Nutra Nuggets Super Premium Lamb Meal and Rice / Score 81 C
Nutrience Junior Medium Breed Puppy / Score 101 A+
Nutrisource Lamb and Rice / Score 87 B
Nutro Max Adult / Score 93 B
Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice / Score 98 A
Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy / Score 87 B
Nutro Natural Choice Puppy Wheat Free / Score 86 B
Nutro Natural Choice Senior / Score 95 A
Nutro Ultra Adult / Score 104 A+
Pet Gold Adult with Lamb & Rice / Score 23 F
Premium Edge Chicken, Rice and Vegetables Adult Dry / Score 109 A+
Pro Nature Puppy / Score 80 C
Pro Plan Sensitive Stomach / Score 94 A
Purina Beneful / Score 17 F
Purina Dog / Score 62 F
Purina Come-n-Get It / Score 16 F
Purina One Large Breed Puppy / Score 62 F
Royal Canin Boxer / Score 103 A+
Royal Canin Bulldog / Score 100 A+
Royal Canin Natural Blend Adult / Score 106 A+
Science Diet Advanced Protein Senior 7+ / Score 63 F
Science Diet for Large Breed Puppies / Score 69 F
Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice / Score 97 A
Solid Gold / Score 99 A
Summit / Score 99 A
Timberwolf Organics Wild & Natural Dry / Score 120 A+
Wellness Super5 Mix Chicken / Score 110 A+
Wolfking Adult Dog (bison) by Solid Gold / Score 97 A __________________

I am over in the UK. I have found and use a website which has US and UK pet supplies. I find it interesting to see what is available in US as to UK.

I like this idea of having a system for assessing the quality of dog food.

(Timberwolf Organics Wild & Natural Dry / Score 120) Seems to have the highest score. Is it a popular dog food in US?

Any ideas as to the most popular dog food in US?

For our dogs we tend to use a supermarket value dog complete food. We then occasionally add: Cod liver oil and Garlic Pearls. They also have occasional canned food and mixer as well as leftovers.

I always thought all dog food was basically the same, but obviously not the case.

I'vebeen using Costco's Kirkland dog food for along time. But Something has changed, when I open the bag it smells horrible and my dogs have to be really hungry to eat it. Now I discover there's been a recall on it.... Now I'm back looking for good dog food without having to get a second job to pay for it.

I've been using Kirkland Signature dry dog food from Costco for a long time also, and haven't had any issues. This is the past recall info regarding salmonella that is online...http://foodpoisoningbulletin.com/201...le-salmonella/.

I just opened a brand new bag of Mature Dog Kirkland food today, and the expiration date on it is June 12, 2013. The recall info said that best buy dates that were affected were 12/9/12 - 1/31/13.

The large bag of the Kirkland Chicken, Rice and Vegatable formula that I used before that, had an expiration date of May 8, 2013. The recall info said that best buy dates that were affected were 12/9/12 - 1/31/13.

So, although I have just one dog, and these bags last a good amount of time, none of the Kirkland food I've been using was contaminated with salmonella, or on recall.

You should at least check your dates to see if the bags you're buying are involved in the recall. I personally have never had a bag of this dog food that smelled foul at all, and never have my pets had a negative response from eating it.

Even excellent expensive brands like "Blue" have had recall issues in the past, it seems to be something we can't avoid, and at least the companies acknowledge a problem and agree to recall and return the price paid. BTW, I currently feed "Blue" to my cat, and am very happy with that brand also.

Well I like to give a mix of all different kinds of food! I will always buy a bag of normal dog food even though I know it isn't good, but I will only mix with raw chicken, eggs, boiled chicken, fruits, cheese, pasta.

The bowl doesn't last a minute!

Why not cook your own dog food?

Here's what I feed my dogs:
1 3/4 # organic ground turkey thigh meat
3/4 cup organic milk
3/4 cup organic oats
2 organic eggs
1 1/2 cups frozen organic peas and carrots
Mix it all together and cook at 350 for 75 minutes

I cut the cooked meatloaf into six pieces and freeze them. This amount of meatloaf will last about 1 1/2 weeks (my dogs are small).

When I prepare their meals in the evening, to the cooked meatloaf I add some Udo's oil, a probiotic, and Flying Basset multivitamins.

These little guys are so healthy they'll probably outlive me (and I'm not that old!).

Sounds like a good recipe, probiotics and vitamins are so important to add. Always happy to hear from those who take very good care of their furkids...welcome!