Good dog foods?

Question

We've been feeding our mini schnauzer Science diet since we got him four years ago, but I just found out that they actually PAID for vet endorsement! I want excellent food for my dog, but there's so much variety. Please help us choose the right one!

Answer 1

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 2

Do not purchase anything from the Iams Corporation (iams/eukenuba) as they do so pretty nasty testing on their animals, especially since most of it isn't necessary. Royal Canin is a super high quality brand, which has many varities to choose from, and since you have a smaller dog they do have the mini food. Science diet is still a quality brand and it does give you a lot of varities to choose from...If my bulldogs didn't eat the Royal Canin Bulldog, they'd probably be on Science Diet Nature's Best, which seems to do a lot for overall health and the pets love the flavor (my cats eat it like it's going out of style). A lot of people swear by nutro but I've seen a lot of animals have problems with digestion on that stuff, but it can also be worth a shot, since it has a lot of varities to choose from.
Beyond that there are so many more to choose from. Good luck!

Answer 3

Artemis, Canine Caviar, Wellness, Innova Evo, Chicken Soup, Merrick, Verus, Wysong.

Okay foods: Eukanuba, Nutro, Authority, Royal Canin.

BAD FOODS:
Iams, Purina, Pedigree, Alpo, Science Diet, Ceasar.

Try to find a naturalist pet store in your area, or consider ordering online. Most of the foods found at petsmart and petco aren't very good, and NOTHING from a supermarket is good. And like you said- vets get paid to say their foods are good.

Good for you for looking out for your dog's health! He'll thank you for it.

Try www.petfooddirect.com for ordering.

Answer 4

Wow , you've opened up a can of worms with this question.You will recieve many different opinions from people on what's good and bad. Me personally myself i've been feeding Diamond Naturals . I also like Canidae and Nutro Natural.You don't have to spend a lot of money to get a decent food . You read the ingredient list and try to make sure your top ingredients are protien and no by products.

Answer 5

science diet is also known to cause cancer.

Iams has too much corn. you want a nice food with the first ingredient being a real meat product. Real meat is the best but kibble is fine too. Just make sure that you read the ingredients and also make sure that there is no BHA or BHT

Answer 6

You should find out what kind of flavor he likes. Test him by giving him chicken, beef, and any other flavors. Once you know which one he likes go to Pet Co and ask one of the people what food they think is the best and tell them your dog likes a certain flavor. Once you get the food make sure to start mixing it in with your dog's old food, first about a quarter of a cup and increase the amount more and more but still mixing it with the old food until most of it is the new food. That prevents your dog from getting an upset stomach.

Answer 7

The brand ROYAL (from PetsMart or Petco) is made especially for different individual breeds. See if they make one for your doggie.
I have an English Bulldog and her food is shaped for your
small teeth so she doesn't gobble it down whole, and also doesn't include grains which Bulldogs
have allergies to. Check it out.

Answer 8

nutro or euanuba are good quality food..... iams is bad. it is know for causing intestinal problems.... pedigree is an ok food...... u mainly want to find a food with meat or meat by-products as the number one ingredient(s). dogs are carnivores u know(meat eaters). its good to here u are getting off science diet because it has way to much corn in it. alot of dogs cant handle that much corn.

Answer 9

ive been having the same problem myself..recently i've found a brand of dog food my dog absolutely loves, and i hear that it's very healthy for him..You should check into Diamond dog food..

Answer 10

Timberwolf organics is known to be a good dog food, and it is hihgly recommended by experts. My dogs loved it.