Dog Food Advice.....?

Question

I currently feed my dog Purina Dog Chow - Healthy Morsels. Is this a safe and healthy choice for her? I spend about $15-$20 dollars a bag on this and the bag lasts up to a month (she is a small dog). I would be willing to spend more if there is a brand that will keep her healthy for a long time.

Thanks

Answer 1

There are only two brands I feed my pet. Innova, which I can only get online and at some health food stores and Maximum Nutrition at Wal-Mart. Innova is very expensive at $50 a bag but Maximum Nutrition is very cheap and is one of the highest quality brands around. The important thing is to look at the ingredients and make sure the first one is a meat product. Some companies like Science Diet, Eukanuba, Pedigree, and Iams have a horrible marketing technique in which they start out with a good product, get a good reputation, the start using cheap products without notifying the consumers. Products such as cornmeal and brewers rice don't provide any nutritional value to the dog and only cause them to defecate more frequently.

Answer 2

There are a lot of foods out there that your dog will probably do better with - if money is a concern, then Nutro or Nutro-Max is about the same, costwise, as Purina. To read more about what to look for in the ingredients list, go here:
http://www.4pawsu.com/dogfood.htm

Some of the top-rated foods are:
Nature's Variety, Wysong, Orijen, Solid Gold, Timberwolf, Artemis, California Natural, Canidae, Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul, Evangers, Fromms, Go Natural, Innova, Merrick, Natures logic, Wellness, Blue Buffalo, Dr's Foster & Smith, Natural Balance, Performatrin Ultra, Pinnacle, Premium Edge, Sensible Choice, Flint River Ranch

Answer 3

Most of your commerical dog foods are not good for pets. After a great deal of research I refuse to feed my dogs any commerical food. Commerical foods are Eukanuba, Iams, Purina etc, the Holitic blends are 100 times more healthier. Most of the commerical foods contain by-products and preservatives like BHT BHA and Ethoxquin which are all carcinogens. They also have way too much fillers like corn. The way better choices are Innova, Wellness, Canadea, Raw Instinct, and the most natural kibble is Life's Abundance(which can only be purchased on line. The best thing youo can do is read the ingredients,, you never want to see a meat by-product (which means it is complete animal scrap, and can be any animal and any part. You also never want anyhting rendered, The first ingredient should ALWAYS be a meat and the next 3-4 should be a protein. I would suggest switching to one of the holistic blends,

Answer 4

You need to understand what dogs can eat. For instance dogs can not eat corn. If there is corn in the diet you are asking for problems. Not only is it indigestible but it can also rob other nutrients from the food. By-product anything is bad, by-product is basically things that they can't sell you to eat.

Ideally whatever food you choose should include whole grains like brown rice and real meat. If you compare the feeding charts you should be feeding less then the Purina with quality dog food.

Before I switched my dog to a home cooked diet I fed Costco Kirkland brand dog food and for 40lbs it cost 25 dollars. You can find good dog foods relatively inexpensively but the main thing is to read the ingredients.

Good luck

Answer 5

What you need to do to figure out what you want to feed is think logically about dogs. Gluten, Corn meal, Meat-by-products, do those sound like good ingredients for your dg to be eating? Look at the back of your dog food, (the label) and rate it.

Here is a link that will help you dechipher good ingredients from bad ones, and why.

http://www.lassie.com/naturalway/natural-way-flash.htm

I feed Natural Way, found at my local grocery store, luckily.

It isn't as expensive as Purina either, but read it, it's way better.

And IMO, Science Diet is the worst stuff out there!

Answer 6

I feed my dog Royal Canin. He's kind of fussy, but he seems to love this brand. Also, they have breed specific food for little dogs. When I shop for food, I try to make sure that the food does not contain animal by-products. Royal Canin has really good ingredients like real chicken, carrots, green tea, blueberries, etc. Plus, dogs like it a lot.

Answer 7

Many years ago, my veterinarian told me to only us dog food that can be bought in the grocery store like Pedigree or Purina. Since then I've fed my dogs nothing but Pedigree and have NEVER had a health related issue with any of them.
However, If you are going to change food make sure you do it slowly by mixing in small amounts each day, increasing it slightly until you've weaned your dog off the old food.
A dogs digestive system can be very sensitive and you can cause health problems by not weaning properly.

Answer 8

I feed natures variety, it is a grain free diet. You should try to feed a food that has no grains in it. If there is corn, wheat or other grains listed, especially at the top of the ingreident list, it is not as good a quality of food. The grain free foods can be more expensive, but you usually do not need to feed as much.

This website may be of interest to you

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com

Good luck.

Answer 9

Of the supermarket brands, my dog's vet said Purina One. He said that has good ingredients and not a lot of chemicals. He gave a thumbs down to Purina Beneful because it has too much sugar. My dog eats a mix of Science Diet and Purina One and seems to like it. She reacted (allergies) to Purina Dog Chow and Iams and didn't care much for Eukanuba.

Answer 10

You want to stay away from foods with ingredients such as corn, wheat, fillers, beef and by products. All of those ingredients are hard for your dog or puppy to digest.

Some bad foods are Iams, Purina, Alpo, Science Diet, Pedigree and Bil Jack.

Some GOOD foods are Natures Recipe, Nutro Max, Lassie and Royal Chain.

I personally recommend Natures Recipe. It is an all natural food and extremely healthy for your dog or puppy. It leads to a shinny coat and a healthy body. It also cuts down on shedding, bad breath and the amount of stool your dog produces.

Also with Natures Recipe it comes for all ages and sizes. So you can get her one made for small dogs and it will be easy for her to chew.

Before switching foods you want to check with your vet and make sure your dog or pup has no health problems.

After that you want to switch him or her slowly otherwise it will make him or her sick.

You can find those healthy foods at your local Pet Smart or Pet Co.

Also remember to stay away from wet food as it sticks to their teeth and leave bad breath. It is ok as a treat every once in a while.

Also stick with natural bones and compressed bones for her toys. As Rawhides are bad for the dogs. They are hard to digest and stick to their teeth ad gums.