What's the best dog food?

Answer 1

Royal Canin they make breed specific food as well as several other varieties. Both of my dogs are picky eaters and they love their food. I have tried Iams, Candae, Wellness, Eukanuba, and several others but without a doubt my dogs look and feel the best on Royal Canin. My Lab is on their Labrador Retriever 30 and his coat looks great, his shedding has cut down, he has more energy and has toned up a lot. My Pit Bull is on their adult food and he has had problems with every other food except this one. Check out their website it is full of information.

Answer 2

Even though this is a contriversial subject, raw is best. I feed mine the barf diet. (biologically appropriate raw food) There is some very good dog foods on the market such as innova evo, wellness, solid gold, california natural. Even though they are more expensive than those cheap commercial dog foods they are better.
They do not have the fillers in them like corn
They are nade of all natural ingrediants and not the diseased rendered meats that go into the cheaper foods.
Feeding innova or the others i mentioned, you will find the dog will eat less and poop less.
Some people will tell you science diet, well it is an expensive food but not better, a matter of fact it fits in the same category as those cheap foods that are not good for your dog.
Eukanuba and iams is a no also as they are not good either. http://www.nzymes.com/Articles/pet_foods_whats_really_in_them.htm
this website will tell you what is really in the pet foods and it will shock you.

Answer 3

The best thing for you, or any pet parent to do when researching a food to feed is do your research.

#1 - Go to an independent pet store, and see what they recommend. Petco and Petsmart will push whatever is on sale, and Grocery Stores won't even care. An independent pet store is in business because the owner has a passion for pets, and wants to make sure their area's pets are getting the best food available to them.

#2 - Follow up their advice with research of your own. Look at ingredient panels, nutritional information, and ask around. Go to a dog park and ask people with healthy looking dogs what they feed. You could also look at the pet food manufacturer's websites, or go to a local dog show and ask the top dogs what their owner is feeding them...

#3 - Ask for samples. Good pet foods will have samples available, for you to try on your dog. Bottom-line pet foods are more pallatable (tasty) for dogs because they spray fat and/or other byproducts that make the food taste good to dogs. Natural and holistic pet foods don't do that, so your dog may or may not like some foods. If one doesn't work, find another good one, until you find a good fit for your dog.

#4 - Talk to your vet. Ask them if this is a good food for your pet. If your dog suffers from food intolerances or itching / hot-spots, stay away from food with WHEAT, CORN, or SOY. These are the big 3 "no-no's" in Pet Food. (I put the vet at #4 because if you go there 1st, they'll say 'Science Diet', which is overpriced crap. Vets get a commission when they sell it, so they push it all the time)

Hope this info helps. Below are a few sites, so you can see some of the premium foods out there, and make your own jugdement as to what is the absolute best for your pup. Good luck!

http://www.oldmotherhubbard.com/dogs/wellness_overview.html
http://www.canidae.com
http://www.naturesvariety.com
http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com
http://www.wysong.net
http://www.primalpetfoods.com
http://www.chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com
http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=inn-home

Answer 4

Scoring Your Dog Food
*Please note that the following is for entertainment purposes only and has not been researched by DAN and may not be a "true" grading of food. If you have any questions regarding the food you are feeding your dog consult your veternarian.
This is a very interesting way to check out the quality of the dog food that you are feeding. It's interesting, because sometimes paying more, does not get you more and vice versa.
The scores are rather interesting.
How to grade your dog's food: (Some brand reviews already calculated here)
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 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 isn't allergic to
wheat), subtract 2 points
14.If it contains beef (unless you know that your dog isn't 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 86-93 = B 78-85 = C 70-77 = D 69 = F
Here are some foods that have already been scored. If you don't see your dog's food here, ask and someone will score it for you.
Brand Dog Food scores:
•Authority Harvest Baked: 116 A+
•Bil-Jac Select: 68 F
•Canidae: 112 A+
•Chicken Soup Senior: 115 A+
•Diamond Maintenance: 64 F
•Diamond Lamb Meal & Rice: 92 B
•Diamond Large Breed 60+ Formula: 99 A
•Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra Premium: 122 A+
•Dick Van Patten's Duck and Potato: 106 A+
•Foundations: 106 A+
•Hund-n-Flocken Adult Dog (lamb) by Solid Gold: 93 D
•Iams Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Premium: 73 D
•Innova Dog: 114 A+
•Innova Evo: 114 A+
•Kirkland Signature Chicken, Rice, and Vegetables: 110 A+
•Nutrisource Lamb and Rice: 87 B
•Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy: 87 B
•Pet Gold Adult with Lamb & Rice: 23 F
•ProPlan Natural Turkey & Barley: 103 A+
•Purina Beneful: 17 F
•Purina Dog: 62 F
•Purina Come-n-Get It: 16 F
•Royal Canin Bulldog: 100 A+
•Royal Canin Natural Blend Adult: 106 A+
•Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice: 97 A
•Science Diet Advanced Protein Senior 7+: 63 F
•Science Diet for Large Breed Puppies: 69 F
•Wellness Super5 Mix Chicken: 110 A+
•Wolfking Adult Dog (bison) by Solid Gold: 97 A

Answer 5

Innova is one of the best, all real natural healthy ingred. Check out their web site and others and compare. I think alot of pet owners will be amazed at all the junk in some foods. Store bought brands are filled with alot of filler stuff which attributes to alot of dogs with food allergies.

Answer 6

There is no "best" brand, however stay away from foods taht contain corn, wheat, soy, beet pulp,by products.Look for foods taht have a named meat source as at least the first 2 ingredients. Look for foods that don't simply say animal fat, but rather name the source such as chicken fat. Stay away from foods that use dyes and chemical preservatives such as BHA/BHT. Stay away from foods such as IAMS/Eukanuba, Science Diet, Purina Dog Chow, Beneful,Pedigree, Alpo, Kibbles n' Bits and other foods of their type.They are loaded with cheap fillers and by products.It takes twice as much of these types of foods for a dog to get proper nutritional value as it does a good quality meat based food. Look for foods such as Solid Gold, Innova, Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul, Premium Edge,Blue Buffalo, Merrick, Tiumph.Become a label reader.Remeber dogs are designed to eat meat and to extract their nutrition from meat proteins not grains.

Answer 7

Defenitely not any that you can buy at any market store. They are junk, they just make them blow up. Go to a pet store, and there are many. Some have free samples that you can try out with your dog. I have two German SHepherds, and they would not eat anthing but "Royal Canan." Keeps them trim and well balanced. Check their web site. (No by-products)

Answer 8

If you have a PetSmart near you then I would try the Blue Buffalo food. It's natural and the first ingredient is a meat/protein product, not cereal and filler. My basset hound puppy eats it and he is doing great. He also loves the snacks.

Answer 9

My vet recommends Eucanuba and Royal Canin. However, she said it depended on the breed. I have a pomeranian, and she told me some of the other brands would make her gain too much weight (such as Science diet and BilJac) She did not want her on those.

Answer 10

Homemade.