Switching dog foods Purina or Eukaneuba?

Question

Right now im feeding my three month old mini dachshund Purina beneful for puppies. I was on the AKC website and they have Eukaneuba food specialy formulated for dachshunds, and i was thinking about switching to that when shes an adult. Is there harm in switching the brands? Does anyone know which brand is better for the dog, and when will i know to switch her to adult food? I feed her purina because that is what the breeder suggested. Her dogs were beautiful and my puppy seems to be liking it just fine, but i want her to have the best quality food. Is Eukaneuba specialy formulated for dachshunds better?

Answer 1

Way to go Abby k9. You hit the nail right on the head with that answer!! It's a "BEST ANSWER" is I ever read one!! :-) I couldn't have put it better myself.

Answer 2

If the choice is between Purinas Beneful or Eukanuba, I would choose the Eukanuba as I am not a fan of Beneful. Take the bag of Beneful and read its ingredients, I am sure there is not one quality protien that is not a by product-the first five ingredients make up the bulk of the food. I would consider doing some more research on foods just to get an idea of what quality foods are available to you in your area.

Foods that I would recommend that you research would be:

Wellness (what I feed my Border Collie)
Solid Gold
Innova
California Natural
Canidae

As always, whenever you switch your pet to a new food make it a gradual change by giving him 25% of the new food to 75 % of his regular food for 7 days, then give 50% new food to 50% regular food for another 5 days, then give 75% new food to 25% regular food for another 5 days. This should avoid any digestive upset. Good Luck.

Answer 3

In my opinion Beneful is a bad dog food based on ingredients. I also think the advertising of healthful, wholesome ingredients is extremely misleading. Yes, the packaging and marketing is beautiful, but look at some of the ingredients: Chicken-by-product meal, soy flour, sugar, animal digest, water (listed as an ingredient), added color (Yellow 5, Red 40, Yellow 6, Blue 2), F-4090 (what the heck is that)?

The sugar and dyes alone in this food should be enough to steer anyone away from it - run far, far away from it. Can you imagine your dog ingesting these ingredients over a lifetime?
Not to mention...Purina Mighty dog puches have been recalled, as well as Alpo--who is owned by Purina (nestle).
Eukaneuba & Iams (proctor and gamble) are being boycotted right now by PETA for serious animal abuse. They are doing incredibly cruel tests on PETS (mostly beagles and kittens) but I wouldn't purchase pet food from a company who tortures pets...would you? Also, Iams and Eukaneuba pouches have been recalled.
If you truly want your dog to have the best, quality food. I suggest you find one that isn't owned/operated by a major food producer. Nestle & Proctor and Gable only make petfood so they can profit off their food scraps that would otherwise be waste...
I feed my dogs Canidae-- it is holistic and has human grade ingredients.
Natures Variety is also a good food.
There are tons of others...innova, timberwolf organics, royal canin, nutro natural choice, nutro ultra, wellness, paul newmans new organic dogfood. Just do some research.

Answer 4

I'm not sure about dachshunds specifically but I'm switching my dogs off of Purina because if has so many fillers and additives. My dogs are pooping every time I turn around. Eukanuba is definitely a better brand. It still has fillers but not as it's primary ingredient. If you really want to go all out and get the best try Innova, Wellness or Canidae. Most chain stores don't sell these brands though so check out their websites and see where you can buy it. I'm actually switching mine to Nutro Natural Choice for Large Breeds because I have St. Bernards.

Do a google search on "choosing a dog food". It will help a lot on understanding ingredients and what is good/bad for your pup.

Answer 5

Neither.

Instead of asking, "Which food is better, Purina or Eukanuba?" your should be asking, "Which foods are on the market that would be the best choice for my dog?" To which the answer would be, Purina and Eukanuba are not even on that list.

The truth about dog food is that many foods are processed cheaply and contain a lot of fillers, such as wheat and corn, that really fill no function other than making the food cheap to produce and helping your dog feel full. The nutritional value of those foods is ... well, not that great. Foods that are in this category of "commercial dog food" are all the foods you see television commercials for - Purina, Eukanuba, Pedigree, Beneful, etc. etc.

The reason that vets and breeders recommend these foods is that they don't know a whole lot about nutrition. Seriously. Veterinarians receive very little training about dog nutrition in their schools, and once they have a practice, much of their information on nutrition comes from these big dog food companies themselves. So of course Purina and Eukanuba are going to say, "We're high quality foods. Balanced nutrition. Everything your dog will ever need." and your vet will tell you that because most don't know better.

I would start researching dog foods and learn how to recognize a quality food. The Dog Food Project website (http://www.dogfoodproject.com/) is a great start. It will help you identify quality ingredients and better foods.

Some good foods that are carried in the big chain stores (PetsMart and PetCo) are Blue Buffalo, Nutro, and Natural Balance. Another food most stores carry that would be acceptable (it's borderline to me because it has wheat and corn), is Royal Canin, which has a specialty formula for Dachshunds.

If you have a feed store or holistic pet store anywhere nearby, they carry organic pet foods that are of a much higher quality than those sold at pet stores. Some of those brands are Innova Evo, California Naturals, Solid Gold, Fromm's, etc. Those foods are made from natural, human-grade ingredients and don't include useless fillers, food coloring, etc. Most are priced about the same than the expensive store brands (Eukanuba, etc.)

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Regarding switching.

There is no harm in going to a different brand of dog food, but any switching of food needs to be done gradually over a longer period of time. I would start by adding no more than 10% of the new food to your old food for the first few days, then gradually increase the amount of new food in the mix until your dog is eating only the new food.

If you switch suddenly, it will very likely cause digestive upsets in your dog. Most common when switching suddenly is diarrhea. If your dog naturally has a sensitive stomach, you may want to mix a little bit of plain canned pumpkin in with the food during the switch, as that helps settle tummies.

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Switching to adult food - how old is your dog?

It's safe to switch small breed dogs to an adult food between 8 and 10 months of age, whereas with large breed dogs, you would want to wait until 14 to 18 months old. The reason being that small breed dogs reach their full size and mature sooner than large breed dogs do.

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And I'm surprised at the amount of people here who are saying Purina or Eukanuba are great brands. Just goes to show that most people have absolutely no idea what they're feeding.

Answer 6

The one with less filler and better qualtiy ingredients is always the better one. I don't feed my dogs either of those so I can't tell you. I also have big dogs. So examine the labels next time you're food shopping. If you choose to switch, then slowly add the Eukaneuba little by little until it's all the new food. It should take about a month ideally so it doesn't cause GI problems. Just keep in mind that Eukaneuba is a lot more expensive than Purina, so you also need to consider that. Good luck!

Answer 7

The Eukanuba food for dachshunds only gets a 2 star rating (out of 6). It's not a good food - it's not only got corn meal in it, it has sorghum which is a very low quality grain, and corn is not digestible. This food is definitely very low quality, as is Purina.

Some of the better foods are Solid Gold, Canidae, Innova - look for a food that has higher meat content, no corn, no sorghum, no beet pulp, in other words, no fillers.

Whatever food you decide to switch your dog to, you need to make the change gradually, adding the new food in ever-increasing amounts or your dog will get diarrhea.

Answer 8

wow abby k9. what an informative answer. i too am suprised at how many people feed their dogs these foods. research, research. that is what i did before choosing my dogs food. no more science diet for my little girl. and she is better for it. in the long run, if you invest in one of the mentioned dog food ie: innova, cannidae, ect., your dogs health will be better. less health problems. i mean, half the crap they put in those dog foods is probably what causes most of the illnesses. just do your research. there are much better foods for your dog than purina or eukaneuba. good luck.

Answer 9

Personally, I don't either are good foods. Just check the ingredients. Lots of fillers and by products. Why not try Innova or Merricks? Also make sure and check that the food that you choose is not on the recall list.

Answer 10

I dont know which brand is better but when you do switch do it gradually by mixing the two foods. this will cut down on a stomach ache for the pup.
You should keep her on puppy food for at least a year.

Answer 11

neither one they are both garbage . try royal canin they have a breed specific food as well . I feed mine science diet right now cause it seems like that is the only thing his system, will tolerate right now . he had devoloped allergies to alot of other dog foods. good luck .