Serious Dog Food Question?

Question

I know thats the designer dog food brands are bad for dogs (Purina, Science Diet, Pedigree, Eukanuba, etc.) but which all natural dog food is the best. I read that Life's Abundance is one of the best, but is it better than Wellness or the other oragnic foods. Money is not an option for me, I will only feed my dobe the best. She is only 3 mo old, and we are feedin her Eukanuba now(we didnt know how bad it was when we bought it) Only Organic foods please, no science diet, or anything like that.

Thanks

The website
http://www.healthypetnet.com/HealthyPetNet/Products/LifesAbundance/DogFoodCompare.aspx?Ath=False&realname=10088383&hdr=&cat=0
lets you compare dog food brands and most designers/supermarket dog foods have by-products in them, which is pretty much everthing humans dont eat, it can be anything from beaks to disease infested animals that have died. I dont know about you, but my dog deservs better than that.

Go check out the website before you say Im wrong or Im crazy.

Answer 1

You're not wrong or crazy. You're on the right track. I'm sorry to say that I don't know that much about Life's Abundance, but I do know that I wouldn't feed Science Diet, Iams or Eukanuba to my dogs. Years ago my husband saw a segment on the TV show "Extra" about what's actually in pet foods. We looked it up on line and were absolutely floored. And after reading Ann N. Martin's books "Food Pets Die For" and "Protect Your Pet," I will only feed the better quality, natural foods.

I feed my two adult dogs Natural Balance and my puppy Fromm Large Breed Puppy Gold. (Fromm also makes a regular puppy formula which is not holistic, which I won't use.) Five of our six vets use Science Diet or Iams. The sixth vet thinks "outside of the box," and feeds his dogs Natural Balance. He takes a more holistic view to his treatments. His patients do well and his clients love him.

AAFCO feeding guidelines and the government's regulations with pet food are not as stringent as a lot of people think. The best thing any dog owner can do is to do their own research and draw their own conclusions. No one can tell me that beet pulp, corn, and by-products are great things to feed my dogs just because a government agency says it's okay put that garbage in the dog food.

Answer 2

Here's the 2006 list from the Whole Dog Journal. These are highest quality foods. Most of these are not carried at large chain stores but you can usually find them at small pet stores, feed and grain stores, etc.

Artemis: www.artemispetfood.com
Azmira: www.azmira.com
Back to Basics: www.beowulfs.com
Bench & Field Holistic Natural Canine: www.benchandfield.com
Blue Buffalo: www.bluebuff.com
Burns: www.bpn4u.com
by Nature BrightLife: www.bynaturepetfoods.com
California Natural: www.naturapet.com
Canidae: www.canidae.com
Canine Caviar: www.caninecaviar.com
Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul: www.chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com
Cloud Star Kibble: www.cloudstar.com
Drs. Foster & Smith: www.drsfostersmith.com
Eagle Pack Holistic Select: www.eaglepack.com
Evolve: www.evolvepet.com
Firstmate Dog Food: www.firstmate.com
Flint River Ranch: www.flintriver-pet-food.com
Foundations: www.petcurean.com
Fromm Four Star Nutritionals: www.frommfamilyfoods.com
Go! Natural: www.petcurean.com
Hund-N-Flocken: www.solidgoldhealth.com
Innova: www.naturapet.com
Innova Evo: www.naturapet.com
Karma Organic: www.karmaorganic.com
Lick Your Chops: www.healthypetfoodsinc.com
Lifespan: www.petguard.com
Limited Diets: www.royalcanin.us
Merrick Pet Foods: www.merrickpetcare.com
Mmillennia: www.solidgoldhealth.com
Natural Balance Ultra Premium: www.naturalbalanceinc.com
Natural Choice Ultra: www.nutroproducts.com
Newman's Own Organics: www.newmansownorganics.com
NutriSource: www.nutrisourcedogfood.com
Organix: www.castorpolluxpet.com
Performatrin Ultra: www.performatrinultra.com
PHD Viand: www.phdproducts.com
Pinnacle: www.breeders-choice.com
Prairie: www.naturesvariety.com
Premium Edge: www.premiumedgepetfood.com
Prime Life: www.ompetproducts.com
Royal Canin Natural Blend: www.royalcanin.us
Timberwolf Organics: timberwolforganics.com
VeRUS: www.veruspetfoods.com
Wellness: www.oldmotherhubbard.com
Wellness Simple Food Solutions: www.oldmotherhubbard.com
Wenawe: www.wenawe.com.uy
Wysong: www.wysong.net
Zinpro: www.lincolnbiotech.com

Answer 3

If you have a Petco nearby, they sell more quality food than PetSmart. Petco has Wellness, my dogs are on Wellness Core, it's better than Canidae. Some Petcos don't carry Wellness Core. Remember, if your dog doesn't eat a new bag food that you bought, you can always return it and get your money back, even if it's half used. There should be some pet stores have raw food diets, just ask. Good luck with your dog! Hope he gets better soon and these answers from all of us help you out!

Answer 4

I completely agree with you about those brands, and would add Iams to the list. That commercial they have out saying Iams has everything your dog needs and nothing he doesn't is false advertising. Dogs don't need corn, and that is their main ingredient.

I feed my dobie Wellness Simple Solutions Venison Formula. It's $50 with tax for a 26lb bag and it lasts her about 4 weeks. She's close to 2.5 yrs old and is VERY active. She's been on this food now for over a year and looks great. The reason I do the simple solutions is because of her bad allergies, but I have noticed that she poops less and her teeth are bright white. I really liked the Innova EVO line. I tried the Red Meat variety with my girl, but she ended up having allergies to it. However, while on it she was really shiney, very little dandruff to speak of and her coat looked immaculate. The Red Meat variety does have a very high protein/fat content, so if you don't exercise your dog regularly for long periods, they could get fat from overfeeding. What I did was mix about 1 cup of the Red Meat with 3 cups of the Venison on a daily basis, and she loved it. The Red Meat was $18 for a 6.6lb bag, so it's quite pricey. But simply adding it as a supplement to another great quality food, I found to be very beneficial. I also know a lot of people that feed BARF and supplement with the Red Meat. Hope this helps you a bit.

Answer 5

Good for you for doing so much research on this issue -- it's smart dog parenting on your part. :) And you're absolutely right... not all "designer dog foods" are the same. My one dog has fairly severe food allergies, so we feed both of our dogs Solid Gold HundenFlocken. The ingredients are top-notch (no corn, no unnatural preservatives, etc.). And the dogs both seem to like it (a bonus). For any dog owner -- but particularly owners who have dogs with food allergies -- I highly recommend Solid Gold HundenFlocken. It's made a real difference in terms of my dog's allergy problems. It's a fairly small company, so it's sometimes difficult to find, even in larger pet stores. I generally order mine online through petfooddirect.com , and have it delivered right to my door. If you're interested, you can find more info about the company at the following website: www.solidgoldhealth.com

And no, I do NOT work for Solid Gold; I'm just a satisfied customer. :)

**ADDED: Just in case anyone is interested, here are the ingredients for Solid Gold's Hunden-Flocken (from the Solid Gold website):
Lamb | Lamb Meal | Millet | Brown Rice | Cracked Pearled Barley | Oatmeal | Rice Bran | Menhaden Fish Meal | Canola Oil | Flax Meal | Amaranth | Blueberries | Dried Chicory Root | Carotene | Choline Chloride | Vitamin E Supplement | Iron Proteinate | Zinc Proteinate | Yucca Schidigera Extract | Copper Proteinate | Manganese Proteinate | Potassium Iodide | Thiamine Mononitrate | Ascorbic Acid | Vitamin A Supplement | Biotin | Calcium Panthothenate | Sodium Selenite | Pyridoxine Hydrochloride | Vitamin B12 Supplement | Riboflavin | Vitamin D Supplement | Folic Acid |

Answer 6

Dog foods like the ones you are denouncing are properly formulated to meet the animal's needs. They must meet strict AAFCO standards for nutritional content and processing. Most of those brands have certified organic options.
The BARF diet is based on the concept that dogs should get the same food they would in the wild. However, your dog is domesticated. Wild dogs have much shorter life spans and poorer quality of life. They also get much more excercise (running from predators, constantly hunting, etc.). Your dog will live a longer, healthier life if you base your decision on balanced nutrition. Whatever you choose, make sure it's a large breed puppy formula. She'll need it until she's about a year to support normal development.

Answer 7

Well, i have a dobe too, and dobes are of course very high energy. BUT DO WHATEVER YOU FEEL IS RIGHT FOR YOUR DOG. go to a pet store, or feed store AND READ ALL THE BACKS TO THE DOG FOOD YOU THINK WOULD BE RIGHT. dont listen to anyone else, you will get one hundred diffrent answers. lol but what I do Is buy my dobe purina puppy chow ( hes a year, but i have to feed it to him for 18 months) and becuase i dont really know what is IN dog food, and i make them food, and i get all these recipes from online vets and breeders, and its fast and very healthy takes me about 5 minutes to prepare, and at the most 25 minutes to cook. And dobermans have to have high energy dog food, and the food i make him is strickly protein. even food like rice, and grains they have a good source of protein. and the food i usually make him about 3-4 times a week is made up of chicken, beef, fish,eggs, rice-grains and a few veggies.

Even though it dosent sound like a good diet, it really is. all my life i raised dobes, and they all have been 85 pounds and up+. And i feed them both the dog food one night and homecooked food the next or what ever. and my vet checks their blood work every year bc they are show dogs and she says they have more than a efficeint amount of vitamins and minerals in their blood stream. so, if you wanted i could help you out, but if time is a burden for you, the go with what i said in the begging. but it is a good idea becuase YOU control what your dog eats not some company.GOOD LUCK! and go with what you and your dog agree on!

Answer 8

Wellness
Merrick Pet Food Products
Canidae
Solid Gold
Innova
California Natural
All of these are great, my Border Collie eats a combo of Wellness and Merrick Senior Medley;

Hope this helps.

Answer 9

There is really nothing wrong with Eukanuba dog food, there are just better ones out there. We feed our dog a combination of Canidea and Eukanuba. Eukanuba was recommended by our vet and she has been doing very well on it, but I wanted to go with a food that had very little fillers in it, so that's why I added the Canidea.

Answer 10

everyone thinks the more you pay, the better it is and they don't realize that the more you pay, the more the company makes.....simple

I fed Purina, I feed Eukanuba now, I may try Canidae.....but I also cook chicken for my dogs, so any cereal is just that to them,...a filler. I don't go with the raw style. I think if that diet were adequate , then feral dogs would look great....and they do not. I would find someone who shows dogs all over the world, if I could and ask them their opinion......