What is the best dog food?

Question

I have a 3 1/2 month old Chihuahua and would like to know the best dog food brand to feed her. I live in the US and would like something inexpensive.

Can you elaborate like what type of canned food?

Answer 1

Inexpensive foods are generally not very nutritious.

While it's true that canned food can contain more nutrients than dry kibble, it can still have awful ingredients such as chicken and beef byproducts (things like the beaks, claws, feathers, hooves, and horns) if it is a cheap store brand.

One of the "cheaper" good foods is Nutro. I can get a 40-lb bag for about $35, and it lasts my two medium-size dogs a month. The good thing about a higher-quality food is that it has more calories and more nutrients, so your chihuahua won't have to eat as much of it.

The price usually evens out in the end. If you feed her Pedigree (a grocery store brand), she might have to eat a lot, but if you feed her Canidae (a very good brand from feed stores), she might eat half that much. And it works out that Canidae costs about twice as much per pound as Pedigree. You end up spending the same amount, except dogs that eat higher-quality foods get sick less often and so don't need costly vet care all the time.

An easy way to tell is to look at the ingredients and make sure the first three or four are meat. Also check that no type of corn or wheat is in the top five or six ingredients.

I imagine that with a chihuahua, you could buy the smaller (5 or 10 lb) bags of a brand like Nutro (or Blue Buffalo, both of which you can get at PetsMart or PetCo), and they would last you quite a while. If you're feeding a high-quality food like these, canned food is just as good (and not processed as much), so get a few small cans of these brands, too. Nutro generally costs $1.50 for a larger size can, which would be about 6 servings for a chihuahua.

Answer 2

You have a little bit of a dichetomy here. The best foods are not always the cheapest on the surface. However, they often require less food to be fed and can help your pet live a healther, happier life.

Old Roy, Iams, Purina, and several of the other mentioned products on here are essentially junk. Aside from Iams' horrific animal testing, they are loaded with fillers and sub-standard meats. Read the ingredient label and you'll see corn as one of the main ingredients - a common allergen and cheap filler. I personally don't care for Royal Canin either - loaded with fillers.

I prefer to feed my toy breed ultra premium foods. I started her on one that's readily available, Blue Buffalo, (even if it's not quite Ultra Premium) at 8 months old. She never had any problems with it. I fed dry food with a little hot water mixed in.

After she left her puppyhood, we switched to Natural Balance. It's a human grade product with all top-quality ingredients. All the meat is human quality. There are not a ton of unnecessary grains. It has other nutrients and ingredients to help with coat and general health. On this food, my dog has gone from pooping 3-4 times a day to 2-3 times every 36 hours. People always stop us to ask what kind of food she is on because she is so shiny, friendly, and has no dog smell. She's generally healthy and stable on this food. Currently we fix her a mix of wet and dry food.

Other brands to look for would be Solid Gold, Wysong, Wellness, Merrick, Canidae, and Evo. For me, it's worth the extra $20 a year that it costs over feeding stuff like Iams & science diet. She's healthy and gorgeous and loves the food! : )

Answer 3

We feed our Chihuahua Artemis Fresh Mix Small Breed Adult dog food. They make puppy food too. Also, Chi's usually like a few small meals vs. one large meal.

Spend the xtra money for good food. It'll save you in behavioral training and vet bills down the line.

Answer 4

any dry food, canned food is 80% water and 4% derivatives, out of that 0.4% is actually breast meat and thats measured when its wet, I've tasted felix beef in a can (product knowledge as i work in a pet shop) and it tastes like pure salt.

There are dry foods which are good for them but i'd recommend one called Nutro, they are actually 26% breast meat (27% for puppies) and thats measured whilst its dry ensuring you're dogs getting its goodness, they also have a money back guarantee if your dog doesn't like it but i swear by it, its the best stuff you'll ever get.

Hills pet food - puppy chicken for £12.99 a 3kg bag but hills is just a big name because vets are paid to endorse it.

James Wellbeloved - £6.15 for a 2kg bag but their main ingredient is "ground animal carcusses" and i have government evidence to prove that.

Royal Canin - is just overpriced from the start, i'd say its a good food but not as good as nutro and don't use the same quality meat.

Iams/eukanuba - they're just as bad as each other, i had a training evening with them and they were trying to tell us the 'good' qualities of its food saying that they refuse loadsa deliveries of meat as it isn't a good enough standard but they DO test on animals, every time a question was fired at them about it all we got was "call the helpline, they can explain it there" when these ladies were from the helpline.

Bakers complete dry - pure sh!t in a box, if you look on the side it says "its illegal to feed this product to farm animals" thats because the whole foot & mouth outbreak was caused by farm animals eating each other. They put that on the box because THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HELL THEY'RE PUTTING INTO THE FOOD it could be cow, it could be pigeon

I'd recommend Nutro, check their website for your nearest stockist

Answer 5

Royal Canine is an excellent dog food that has a small kibble that is dry and very tasty and extremely healthy. You can get some canned food too if you want to mix it. Another excellent brand is Nutro Ultra, imo, only their Ultra brand because some of their additives like soy are bad for dogs and that is in some of their foods. Natures Recipe has excellent food and I would recommend their wild game like duck and potato or venison or rabbit content foods. These brands don't use unhealthy preservatives or unhealthy additives and all are excellent.

Answer 6

Price has nothing to do with the quality of food, despite what dog food companies would have you believe. Some ultra-expensive brands are too rich for puppies (innova made my puppy sick!)Just find a brand that has chicken or chicken meal as the main ingredient, and you'll do fine! Also make sure you gradually introduce the new food, so you don't upset your puppy's stomach!

Answer 7

I own 2 yorkies and they just love Royal Canine, it is filling and everything they needs is in the food. You get a brand for every dog. It keeps theire coats shinny and its also good for tatar prevention

Answer 8

Trader Joe's Lamb & Rice. Very good dog food has no chemicals. Vet said so and not expensive at all.

Answer 9

I would not feed her canned dog food as most of that is too rich for a dog system and can cause a case of the runs. I have 2 toy poodles and I feed them Old Roy which you can find at Wal-Mart. Any good 100% complete semi-moist or dry dogfood like Old Roy, Pet's Pride or Scienfic Diet is good for dogs. I believe that Old Roy is cheaper than most and my dogs like it.

Answer 10

Kibbles & Bits (any flavor) i have a 3 month old pomeranian and a 5 month old chihuahua, they love Kibbles & Bits! CHicken flavor is the best for my puppy! It is only $2-$3 and it is healthy!