Dog owners: What dog food do you feed them?

[09Prodigy]

Originally Posted by a1fa

you really hate your dog and want him to get salmonella?

It is extremely rare for an animal to get salmonella.


I shop the meat department for the oldest steaks and "manager" specials. take them home and separate them in ziploc bags with a pulverized Zinpro (Zinc supplement) biscuit mixed in. She wont eat the biscuit by itself. Picky Bitch.

I will mix up the steak with Chicken, Chukar (Partridge) and Pheasant from time to time depending on the season. (She acts as a fill in bird dog at a local game bird ranch and I get the birds for free)

[discochris]

Loyall adult maintenance. One dog lived to be nearly 16, and the other is going strong at 11.
In fairness, I actually know the people who developed it, so I trust their judgement, but our one dog had terrible skin issues and the vet put him on fish oil supplements. When I changed to the Loyall, they went away.

[jazzmans]

Just wanted to post a pic of my dog. The little one is a friend.

[NikonsAndVStroms]

For the last few years my rottie has been eating Merrick.



She had a ton of health issues around 6-7 to the point where I almost lost her but she is going on 12 now.

Also I just checked the dog food adviser site and they don't list the flavors she eats but all the Merrick foods I clicked on had 5 stars.

[Ko]

Originally Posted by Bueller

You don't want corn period. When's the last time you saw a dog break chase at a game animal to rip an ear of corn off of a corn stalk?

While that's true, many a dog lived long lives working their tails off- sheepdogs kept on scraps of polenta and sheep milk. Those dogs put on dozens of km each day and night- now they won't say no to the occasional game they can catch, but their main meal is corn...

My dogs are on a combination of home made and kibbles- the kibbles I use now are Natural Balance. The reason for it is the digestive system of my Belgian, she shits solid on this food.

As a rule of thumb, radiated food is bad. Road kill is bad. Too much protein is bad- especially for some breeds/individuals highly sensitive to this (Bull terriers, etc). The too much protein rule applies to active dogs too.

Just because your dog eats it doesn't mean anything- crap food can taste good, in the short run. Unlike rats, who can smell on other rats what not to eat, and memorize a gazillion food experiences, our companion dogs lost this ability. So do it right...

Ko

[rawdog]

Taste of the Wild, salmon flavor.

[PMC]

California Natural Lamb and Rice
Dogs are Miniature Schnauzers

[Bueller]

Originally Posted by Ko

While that's true, many a dog lived long lives working their tails off- sheepdogs kept on scraps of polenta and sheep milk. Those dogs put on dozens of km each day and night- now they won't say no to the occasional game they can catch, but their main meal is corn...

And humans can survive on gruel. But with all we've learned about nutrition we know how to eat better. I try to treat my pets the same way.

[wfopete]

I feed my Great Dane "Holistic Select Large and Giant Breed Adult Formula" kibble augmented with cunks of meat table scaps. Minimal farts, happy poops, no puking or other neg. side effects. Get it on line through Petflow.com, it's runs me $1.80/pound and my Dane goes through about 40 lbs/month.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Bueller

And humans can survive on gruel. But with all we've learned about nutrition we know how to eat better. I try to treat my pets the same way.

I checked out your link from page 1. I've been into a lot of different dog food stores, and I honestly have never seen or heard of half those brands. I wonder how many of them are store specific brands or are regional only.



Day at the beach.

One of my 'holes in the couch' into which I pour money.

[slideways]

Raw Kobe beef. No vegetables added

[anotherguy]

I'd like to add my last Dog had issues with tumors all his life. Can't prove it but I believe it was due to the food. That dog was special. He was a mutt of the highest degree,Rottie/Pit Bull and German Shorthair Pointer.

Climbed trees,ran deer down and had a real problem with ground hogs. He'd hunt them down,find where they lived and wait until they emerged and pounce on them from 10 feet way. grab 'em by the head and 2-3 shakes and they'd had it. Then it was dinner time. Pretty gruesome sight. One time I came home and he was in the yard playing with one of the kills. Threw it up in the air,he heard me coming and looked at me. The carcass landed on his head like a Dan'l Boone hat. He just sat there panting waiting for me to make it down the driveway.

Anyway I spent thousands throughout his life on surgeries to remove tumors. The last time the Vet buffaloed me into a big surgery at 12 years old. The biopsy came back malignant but he said it was a slow growing type of cancer and should it return he'd be done by them anyway. 4 months later he stopped eating. X-rays showed him riddled with tumors. I was told to take him home feed him well and he'd tell me when it was time. He did. As I sat there with him while they administered the drugs he looked up and gave me a big slurp on the face. 10 seconds later he was gone.

Feed your dog the best you can afford. He'd do the same for you.

[Dukeryder]

I've been feeding our dog Innova. The stuff is expensive but you're paying for what you get not some national advertising campaign. The better dog food not only means the dog has fewer stinky farts and shits but the dog will also eat less of it.

http://www.innovapet.com/about/manufacturing-quality


Pure meat diets aren't necessarily the best diet for a dog, as wild dogs would've had eaten herbivores and the partially digested grasses in their stomachs so some vegetable content is actually good for your dog. However you shouldn't be feeding him/her a corn based food or ANY that contain Cellulose (i.e. wood pulp/saw dust).

[ysr612]

Originally Posted by Tinks

We used Purina for years. We have a 14 year old Border Collie and 16 year old Golden. I have a tough time thinking an average food is all good or all bad. Now we use a food made in Arkansas...specifically my kitchen. Our youngest dog has some very severe and unique allergies and the best way to dodge them is making food. You have to make sure you don't short them on vitamins and minerals amd give them long-term nutritional deficiencies. The dogs are doing well, and my Border Collie is losing weight without being grumpy. This has been helping her joints and mobility. It is cheaper than some of the special brands, but more than we used to spend, given the volume of food we need for two large and one medium size dogs.

I at one time worked for a pet food manufacturer and we used Purina as the golds standard, if are foods could match Purina we were happy. We found no other maker was able to beat Purina.

[DriveShaft]

Originally Posted by Bueller

www.dogfoodadvisor.com

Acana for all of my dogs now, after having three dogs with elevated liver values and one dog that died of complications from liver cancer all while I thought Science Diet was still a good dog food. I'll never be able to prove that synthetic vitamin K3 in Science Diet and many other shitty dog foods had anything to do with it, but it's more than a little coincidental that the third dog that had elevated liver values in blood tests on Science diet for 5 years now has normal liver values on Acana. Go figure.

Research your dog food thoroughly. It can make a big difference in the amount of time you get with your best friend. And yes, I'm a little bitter about the loss of my Siberian, and more importantly the difficulty she went through for the last three years of her life.

Hmm...that's interesting. I just switched to Science Diet, after spending a bunch of time switching around between a few brands--some "natural," and some not-so-"natural," trying to find a seniors formula that the dog wants to upchuck. All I give a damn about is that it's reasonably tasty to him...reasonably healthy, not upchucked, and reasonably easy to clean up after. Pretty much the same criteria I put on myself (I have noooo qualms eating highly processed junk food, and I friggin' love pig knuckle, pig ear, intestines, and all that other crap we eat in Asia that nobody else wants to eat).

I'll be paying attention to the blood tests on the next vet visit.