Best Dog Food?

Question

I am adopting a 2 year old Yellow Lab from a pound tomorrow. This dog is the sweetest thing, but I am worried about all the recalls. What is the best dry food I can feed her? I would like to feed her a more high protein diet as well.

Answer 1

Unless you are working her a lot, avoid the higher protein food. But do get her food with good quality protein. You want the first 2 or 3 ingrediants to be a type of meat. Lamb. Chicken, etc. Maybe the third can be a meat meal: Turkey meal.

No by products. Avoid food with lots of grain, particularly something that has corn as the first ingredient.

Try Canindae, Innova, Wellness, Solid Gold.

Answer 2

Congratulations! Your new pet will really enhance your life in a lot of ways. i know it isalways so hard to choose what type of food to buy for your pet, having worked in a pet industry before, I really have to say you have to VERY VERY careful with what type of food you buy for your new pet. I would stay FAR away from Eukanuba, IAMS, Royal Canin, Science diet(the name is a marketing ploy itself) and the fact that food is sold in a vet doesnt make it any better. I would go with food brands like INNOVA, AZMIRA and all other holistic food products. I am not sure which country you are from so i dont know whether those are sold in your country as they are American products.

The basic point is most dry pet food are mainly made up of the first 4 ingredient you see under their ingrediet section at the back of the dry pet food bag. You have th beware when they advertise with hugh lettering saying there is good vitamins A or Omega 3 oil etc etc more likedly you wil lsee it at the bottom of the list of the ingredient and it will constitute probably only 0.00001% of the whole bag! Ingredient which are NO NO are by -products of chicken or prok or beef meat, rice, wheat etc. They just make your dog full and sick, I mean labradors usually will eat anything and dont be suprise if he or she start to eat their own **** sometimes too! You might think it is cheap now but wait till the medical and vet bills come in a few years time, when the organs starts failing. I mean that is the extreme side of things, it might not happen but that is like saying some smokers never die of lung cancer, do you really want to take the chance?
Also, I know this is out of topiv but i believe it is very important, I dont know how much experience you have with dogs but if any vet ever say to you to take the 1 year injection for the heart worm instead of the monthly troublesome tablet, DONT DO IT. If you want further explanation , just sent me an email.
I hope you have fun with your pet and as an animal lover, I will be more than willing to help you with your queries. I cannot say i am THE expert of it all , but i will help you with what i know.

I do agree with the slowly mixing and gradual introduction of the old food and the new food if not your dog with get stomach aches and **** to hell kingdom comes!

Have fun!

Answer 3

I've fed Eukanuba dry for 10 years and have never had any problems with the food. It also was not on any of the recall lists in the dry form. I breed and show German Shepherds and their coats and muscle tone are just fabulous. My parents also have English Springer Spaniels and this is the only food that they feed. My best friend feeds only Eukanuba to her Smooth Fox Terriers and my other best friend feeds only Eukanuba to her Australian Shepherds. As far as protein content look at the sides of the bags to see the protein %, but it also has allot to do with how active the dog will be. Usually a good adult dog food is plenty protein for dogs that are not doing competitive activities

Answer 4

Here's the best diet:
http://www.rawdogranch.com
But if you want to feed a dog food that is SAFER in light of recent recalls, here are some brands that do not include grains and/or are not involved in any of the recent recalls because they weren't processed with melamine contaminated product and have never been:
Canidae, Wellness, Newman's Own Organic, Nature's Recipe (not to be confused with Van Patten's Natural Balance).
I have three dogs and two have skin conditions when not raw fed, but they do well with cooked diet or Nature's Recipe Venison and rice.
Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul was a brand that recently was involved in the melamine scare. So was Royal Canin (still expanding recalls), Natural Balance, Nutro, Science Diet, and many others.
http://www.itchmo.com

Answer 5

well if u plan on feeding her kibble the brand does matter but the ingrediants matter even more. never buy a brand that has things such as corn and grain as the main ingredient. these r fillers and essentially they r put in there so the manufacturers dont have to buy a lot of the more expensive ingredients. so make sure things like that arent the main ingredient. i would reccomend chicken soup large dog breed

Answer 6

The best is raw meat and bones you can start off with ie..chicken/turkey wings and necks, and solid gold kibble at night, and a piece of liver or kidney once a week. Or feed totally rawhttp://members.shaw.ca/naturalpaws/rawdiet-dogs.htm It is not dangerous do your research, as long as you do not feed both during the same meal it is fine, and if you feed totally raw it is better than any junk they sell in a store. Also misam I did not see any real meat and bones on those recall lists you linked to your answer. But go ahead and feed your dogs processed garbage, and we will see whose dogs die from cancer, and whose dont.http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm#kibble here is a link about feeding kibble and a barf diet. Many people do it when first starting a dog on a raw diet.

Answer 7

Read the ingredients on the food you buy. Go with a high quality dog food. A grain should not be in the first couple ingredients ingredient (corn and such are mainly fillers, dogs don't digest it well). Avoid foods that have a lot of "by products" listed.

Beware "premium" foods. "Premium" does not mean good nutritionally, and is not a nutritionally high quality food. It has the same types of ingredients as grocery store foods, just a bit better quality of those not-so-good ingredients. Premium foods are those like Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, etc..

Here are some good foods (these are just a few, there are definitely more brands out there that are quality dog food, but it will give you an idea of the ingredients to look for):

Chicken Soup Brand - http://www.chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com/
Merrick - http://www.merrickpetcare.com/
Innova - http://www.naturapet.com/brands/innova.asp

Or check this website to find GOOD dog foods, not full of fillers and byproducts, they rate dog foods based on the ingredients, 6 being the best. I would recommend feeding only 4+ star foods. Any food 3 stars or less, I would avoid.
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/index.php

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Here's an ingredient comparison of not-so-good food (in this case, Pedigree), to good food (in this case, Chicken Soup brand):

Pedigree:
Ground Whole Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal, Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Animal Fat (preserved with BHA/BHT), Meat and Bone Meal, Natural Poultry Flavor, Wheat Mill Run, Potassium Chloride, Wheat Flour, Salt, Carmel Color, Vegetable Oil (Source of Linoleic Acid), Vitamins (Choline Chloride, dl-Alpha Tocopherol Acetate [Source of Vitamin E], L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate [Source of Vitamin C*], Vitamin A Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate [Vitamin B1], Biotin, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin Supplement [Vitamin B2], Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement), Minerals (Zinc Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Potassium Iodide), Added FD&C and Lake Colors (Yellow 6, Blue 2, Red 40, Yellow 5).

Chicken Soup Brand:
Chicken, turkey, chicken meal, ocean fish meal, cracked pearled barley, whole grain brown rice, oatmeal, millet, white rice, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), potatoes, egg product, tomato pomace, duck, salmon, flaxseed, natural chicken flavor, choline chloride, dried chicory root, kelp, carrots, peas, apples, tomatoes, blueberries, spinach, dried skim milk, cranberry powder, rosemary extract, parsley flake, yucca schidigera extract, L-carnitine, Enterococcus faecieum, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Saccharomyces cerevesiae fermentation solubles, dried Aspergillus oryzae fermentation extract, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.

Notice how the better food has more meats, less grain, and no by-products than the other brand? That's where to start looking for what food is higher quality. Also be aware, just because it's expensive doesn't mean it's a good food.

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Another thing to be wary of: A lot of vets will recommend what they sell in their office. They get profit and kick-backs from the brands they keep on their shelves, that's why they push it. Truth is, vet schools don't focus a lot on nutrition. It's not saying that a vet is a bad vet because he recommends those foods, a lot of vets just are told "this is good food", so they pass the message along without proper nutrition knowledge. Also, some dog food brands (like Hills) support vet schools, so vets have heard of it from the time they start college, which makes them think it's good as well.

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When switching foods, do it slowly. I do this over about a two week timespan:
25% food A, 75% food B
50% food A, 50% food B
75% food A, 25% food B
100% food A

Answer 8

Find Canidae it is high quality no by products or corn or wheat or soy. I feed this to both my Goldens and have no skin issues and their fur is beautiful.

I recomend it very highly. It has not been involved in any of the recalls.

Answer 9

First find out what the pound is feeding and gradually change the food or she'll have the S&*%s

Answer 10

CATS!!

My Egyptian Besingee Terrier loved them.