I would like to switch my dogs food to a better brand...which ones are good?

Question

I have a ten month old pug/beagle and a two year old golden retriever. I'm looking for a good quality brand that I can feed both of them. Any suggestions???

Answer 1

How to grade your dog's food: 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's 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. Dog Food scores:

> Authority Harvest Baked / Score 116 A+

> Bil-Jac Select / Score 68 F

> Canidae / Score 112 A+

> Chicken Soup Senior / Score 115 A+

> Diamond Maintenance / Score 64 F

> Diamond Lamb Meal & Rice / Score 92 B

> Diamond Large Breed 60+ Formula / Score 99 A

> **** Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra Premium / Score 122 A+

> **** Van Patten's Duck and Potato / Score 106 A+

> Foundations / Score 106 A+

> Hund-n-Flocken Adult Dog (lamb) by Solid Gold / Score 93 B

> Iams Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Premium / Score 73 D

> Innova Dog / Score 114 A+

> Innova Evo / Score 114 A+

> Kirkland Signature Chicken, Rice, and Vegetables / Score 110 A+

> Nutrisource Lamb and Rice / Score 87 B

> Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy / Score 87 B

> Pet Gold Adult with Lamb & Rice / Score 23 F

> ProPlan Natural Turkey & Barley / Score 103 A+

> Purina Benful / Score 17 F

> Purina Dog / Score 62 F

> Purina Come-n-Get It / Score 16 F

> Royal Canin Bulldog / Score 100 A+

> Royal Canin Natural Blend Adult / Score 106 A+

> Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice / Score 97 A

> Science Diet Advanced Protein Senior 7+ / Score 63 F

> Science Diet for Large Breed Puppies / Score 69 F

> Wellness Super5 Mix Chicken / Score 110 A+

> Wolfking Adult Dog (bison) by Solid Gold / Score 97 A

Answer 2

I highly recomend NUTRO brand dog foods. Your Golden may need a large breed formula if it is over 60 pounds. You smaller dogs is still a pup so it should be on a puppy food until it is a year old. NUTRO makes many different types of food and it is of a high quality. Also much more reasonable than IAMS or SCIENCE DIET which I do not like for any dog.
Go to the NUTRO dog food site. They have wonderful information there.

Answer 3

I feed Nutro Ultra Adult. I think the price is overkill but it contains no fillers like corn, etc. Dogs cannot digest corn and it just makes for bigger and sometimes more runny poo. Any of the nutro line is very good, but she prefers the taste of ultra. Better food = less poo and better health, coat, clear eyes. Food falls under three categories in my mind. (A) High-quality sometimes harder to come by i.e. nutro, eagle pack, wellness, diamond and more. First ingredient listed is a type of meat like chicken, beef, lamb. Never meat meal or bone meal, that means you don't know what part or animal it even is. (B) Better quality with more advertisements and available in most stores including grocery and places like Target. Iams, Purina, blah blah, I also think Science Diet falls in this category because it contains similar ingrediants but has a lot of money to spend on making it seem really good. We feed our last dog SD and she was healthy overall but I feel her coat and poo could have benefitted from the extra nutrition, if I had only known then. And finally (C) cheapo foods with meat meal, bone meal or some other ingredient listed first - alpo, gravy train, kibble and bits. These foods are like humans who eat processed food all the time and never benfit from it.

Answer 4

Form my own personal experience I use Diamond Dog Food and Science Diet. These are great brands for keeping your dogs coat healthy. The food has a lot of Omega 3 & 6 in it. Also, if your dog is skinny it has a good amount of fat to make them gain weight. I use Diamond and Science Diet on my Show Dogs (German Shepherd and Golden Retriever)

Answer 5

Yeah that's not enough info on the question. What are you willing to spend on feeding them? From there, than you can decide on what you are looking for. Nutro actually is a pretty good brand. I have to use hills science diet but that's because he's a 13yr. old 90lb. German sheppard mix. So I have to give him the incredibly high priced stuff.

Answer 6

Any brand that doent have meat by products. Celated minerals are good too. Iams is good, blue seal super premium lamb and rice or chicken is really good. Natural balance from walmart is very good too. I assume you dont want to pay a fortune for designer foods. Stay a way from most grocery store foods. Petigree sticks check the bag. Meat by products are the leftover of the meat, bone hoofs floor sweepings saw dust you name it. Go to the websites of some of the more popular brands purina, petigree see what in the food.

Answer 7

I feed my 7 year old Jack Russell Terrier Nutro Natural Choice for High Energy Dogs. There are several different formulas and you could choose one for each dog. My JRT loves the taste, and the benefit for me is that he doesn't leave much poop.

Answer 8

Innuva, maybe Innova. Point being, it is high in real meat products, and has little, if any, corn and beet products (both which effect dogs like sugar on a five year old).

Answer 9

I agree with the first poster. We feed Nutro Natural Choice and our dogs love it and thrive on it. For our pups, we feed Nutro Ultra Puppy. Nutro guantess that their product will improve skin and coat and we have noticed a big change since we switched last year.

Answer 10

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/

A great place to start. I like the foods that have less grains and simpler ingredients. I also supplement with Salmon Oil, which is great for skin and coat. I don't put it in my dogs' food every day as you can do too much of this - every other day is fine.