Dry DOG Food ???

[TCJatko]

I feed my five Iams in the green bag and normally add some canned dog food and warm water to soften it somewhat and allow it to swell (veterinarian recommendation to avoid gastric torsion). All five look and act healthy, with shiny coats and high energy levels. I guess the real trick is to find something the dogs will eat and do well on, and stick with it. Switching diets tends to produce upset stomachs. In the past, I tried the senior versions of Iams (less fats, apparently) but their coats always looked dull.

Addendum: From you post: "The 2 girls eat about 100 pounds a month + another 50 or so pounds if I get a new big dog. The girls never know hunger as there is always food in their dishes & the eat when ever they want. Very busy & active girls, mother is almost skinny & daughter husky, neither fat."

My five (four roughly 75 lb each, one about 50) eat about 100 lb per month in total. Your figure of 100 lb per month for two 40 lb dogs seems high in comparison. Perhaps much of the food you're buying isn't digestible (useable) to the dogs?

 

[dave1949]

On a recent visit home to NW Ohio, I had occasion to be in Leipsic. Lots of corn and soybeans grown in that area.

There is a huge bioethanol refinery there (One of 27 POET refineries: POET - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

Next door to POET, and sharing the same rail line spur, is another good sized building. The sign out front says P & G (Procter & Gamble) and below that, "Eukanuba and Iams."

It makes a person wonder just what products those two places share, if any.

 

[TCJatko]

On a recent visit home to NW Ohio, I had occasion to be in Leipsic. Lots of corn and soybeans grown in that area.

There is a huge bioethanol refinery there (One of 27 POET refineries: POET - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

Next door to POET, and sharing the same rail line spur, is another good sized building. The sign out front says P & G (Procter & Gamble) and below that, "Eukanuba and Iams."

It makes a person wonder just what products those two places share, if any.

One of the ingredients in Iams is corn, I imagine the waste from that goes to the ethanol plant.

 

[dave1949]

One of the ingredients in Iams is corn, I imagine the waste from that goes to the ethanol plant.

http://www.agrilabs.com/t-BHWA-EthanolCoProducts.aspx

Animal feed, "corn gluten meal" is a valued by-product of corn ethanol production. I'm thinking the direction "waste" goes would be the other way around.

 

[IXLR8]

Another Taste of the Wild user here, buffalo/venison, from TSC as they are about the cheapest we can find it here. We have tried Canadae and Science Diet. Our dog is happiest with the TotW, least amount of gastrointestinal issues.

 

[dmccarty]

The wifey was feeding our dog a variety of expensive dog foods we bought from a specialty pet store. The store closed so we ended feeding the dog a raw meat diet. We buy meat on sale and go to a butcher shop that saves scraps for dog food. The dog certainly is healthy and the volume of her poop is MUCH less even with the good quality food we were feeding her.

Price is about the same or a bit less for the raw meat. Usually the dog is fed pig or beef but she also gets cheap canned salmon when it goes on sale.

Later,
Dan

 

[EarPlug]

Switched to Blue Buffalo Grain Free. One of our female dogs had urinary incontinence and was on medication. Switched to Grain Free and problem gone.

The cheap foods are "nutritionally acceptable" according to the "standards" but are really all bulk. While the quality foods seems expensive you actually feed much less so the cost per serving is not that much different. The quality foods are processed in the body much better and you will notice it when cleaning the back yard.

Also, be aware of the Caloric value you are feeding. A couch potato needs much less calories that a working/hunting dog.

 

[coobie]

I would like to hear what you feed your dogs & would you recommend it.

I currently have 2 girl dogs about 40 pounds each, My big girl died about 5 months ago & I would like to have another big dog. Some where in the 100 pound range.

Been up & down the internet looking & just about every recommended food is something I've never heard of.

Currently feeding food called Old yeller & one called Apptito, one from Kroger & the other from the local feed store. 1 has corn as its first ingredient then wheat & the other Wheat then corn, then meat "Products.

The 2 girls eat about 100 pounds a month + another 50 or so pounds if I get a new big dog. The girls never know hunger as there is always food in their dishes & the eat when ever they want. Very busy & active girls, mother is almost skinny & daughter husky, neither fat.

I was thinking maybe add 1, 50# bag of food that has meat first on the ingredients list.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

You need to research HERE.Dog and Cat Food, Treats, and Supplies | Free Shipping at Chewy.com We feed blue buffalo or taste of wild.

 

[kenmac]

I buy from the local feed store. I couldn't tell you what's in it...All I know is it's 21% protein . Coon dog seems to like it.. She doesn't complain

 

[DuckSlayer1017]

Another vote for taste of the wild. Look for the first ingredient to be a protein, the best grain is rice.

 

[MacLawn]

Blue Buffalo. She likes it better than the others, and doesn't eat as much. I'm kind of choosy about me hound's food. Don't want nary scratching, itching, belly problems, etc. and. Blue Buffalo seems to be one of the best from what I've researched.

 

[mikehaugen]

My five (four roughly 75 lb each, one about 50) eat about 100 lb per month in total. Your figure of 100 lb per month for two 40 lb dogs seems high in comparison. Perhaps much of the food you're buying isn't digestible (useable) to the dogs?

I agree, had an english mastiff until age 2 and a 50# bag of eukanuba would last him about 3 weeks. He was around 140#, now he's over 160#. It's a long story why we had to get rid of him, but found a very nice family to take him and we keep in touch. I miss that big, dumb animal.

 

[QRTRHRS]

Another vote for Taste of the Wild. We get it at TSC as well. We have looked at the health rankings. Other good choices would be Blue Buffalo or Canidae. One of our German Shepherds is a rescue, and she has had really bad skin and a bad coat. Once we got her on Taste of the Wild, it really helped clear up her skin and coat problems.

One of our dogs has severe skin issues. We have had better results with Blue Basics Sensitive Solution Formula, grain free, 5961000753, than with the Science Diet from the vet.

The others are on Earthborn Holistic Primitive Natural or Weight Control. We get ours at a store called Petscense. Buy ten, get one free. Works out about the same as it would from TSC plus the store sponsors adoptions and other pet related topics.

We have also used Taste of The Wild with good results. We only switched to almost all Earthborn to simplify storage and a couple of our dogs seemed to do slightly better on it.

What with eight dogs, there won't be any argument over an inheritance, lol!

 

[rsallen]

Not as readily available as other brandings.......
Orijen hands down is the best dog food on the market by any measure other than price.

 

[Jimmy Joe]

I work for a small company that supplies food to the fur industry, mink. We gradually got involved in selling to dog owners, raw meats primarily chicken, beef, turkey and salmon. We send a fair amount starting in the fall to Alaska for the Iditerod race. We had a previous sled dog racer formulate a complete diet that we now package in small packages for pet owners. It is a grain free raw meat food. Grains seem to be problematic to more and more dogs just as humans seem to have more problems tolerating them with gluten allergies along with other allergies.

We have people coming back after feeding raw for a month or so happy about how their dog is doing. First thing they seem to notice is the coat and teeth and how much less stools the dog has. They say the stools just kind of disintegrate in a short time if they don't get them cleaned up right away. I have a 3 year old yellow lab I always fed dry dog food, first ingredient was pork but some grain in it also. He did pretty well on it but always would kind of rub his eyes with his paws. I also fed the raw diet and just left a bowl of the dry free choice. He always ate the raw and sometimes some dry. I wanted the dry so the neighbor girls wouldn't have to monkey with the raw when we went on vacation. I would rather feed dry because raw is more work. I finally took the dry away and the dog stopped rubbing his eyes I think it was the grain.

I am not trying to sell anything , but if you have a pet with skin eye or ear problems try some grain free or raw food and see if it helps.

 

[Jarrod32]

One of our dogs has severe skin issues. We have had better results with Blue Basics Sensitive Solution Formula, grain free, 5961000753, than with the Science Diet from the vet.

Do not think of Science Diet as a quality dog food. It is NOT a quality dog food. It would be middle of the pack - at best - in most ranking systems.

 

[Alan L.]

We feed our dogs Wellness but it expensive and frankly I don't think it is that tasty according to at least one of the dogs reaction. The first ingredient is deboned chicken and it does have some "healthy" grains it has no wheat or corn. We tried food with no grain and it was just to rich and the dogs got the squirts. I think Taste of the Wild is a good food and might try a switch to see if they like it better. It ain't cheap either but less than Wellness which is about $55 for a 26 pound bag.

 

[TomSeller]

I used to have 100lb+ dogs (Mastiffs, Newfys, Great Danes, Shepards, etc.) but migrated down to <50lb dogs partially because of food costs. But also smaller dogs live longer. Love the big dogs, but times have changed. Also easier to get them in and out of the truck in their older age.

 

[jimmyj]

I've been in the pet food business for over 30 years and have seen and heard it all. I also have two good friends who are PHD's of animal nutrition who actually formulate pet foods as their job.

At the end of the day, better dry foods have more meat in them and that makes them cost more. The ingredient quality can also vary, for example you can buy all sorts of grades of ingredients at different prices so the question is does the company buy based on price or to a quality standard.

Foods like the oft mentioned Taste of the Wild have more meat and use decent quality meats. That food is made in a plant that also makes many other brands and all levels of food quality.

Use Dog Food Advisor to rate brands, it's quite good and accurate.

Philosophically, you have to decide if you believe in (or care about) evolutionary principles or science when you look at nutrients. Evolution would dictate that a dog evolved eating foods in their whole form and that their body will recognize nutrients in that form best (and when those nutrients are delivered in accompaniment with the other stuff they "belong with"). Thus an apple has vitamins, moisture, fibre, etc all together.

Science would prefer you to use controlled nutrient. So a scientist would prefer to get vitamin C from a factory that made it in a consistent, synthetic, unaccompanied form. My two pals both are scientists and prefer the latter approach. Most of my customers at our specialty store prefer the evolutionary approach because they don't trust the big ag and marketing companies.

At the end of the day, all that really matters is whether or not the food is made cheaply or expensively. More meat = expensive. More carbs = cheaper. Home made is good only if you are very careful to get the balance of nutrients right. There are supplements that you can add to be safe if you make your own food.

I only feed my dogs higher end brands including Taste of the Wild, Nature's Variety, etc. I rotate feed so they get a different food every month. We also add canned meat to each meal (various dog food brands).

Hope that's more helpful than confusing....

 

[Pixguy]

As humans I wanted to change flavors thinking that the dog would like a change of flavor (staying with TotW) every month it so but was told by the trainer that it's best to stick to the same food and flavor and that dogs don't look for a different taste.

Any thoughts?