What kind of dog food should I buy?

Question

Im getting a new puppy and I want to know what you think the best dog food is and why? thanks

I forgot to mention he's mixed but is going to be a small dog.

Answer 1

Unfortuantely many dog owners never do research for themselves to determine what foods are the healthiest for their dog and instead buy whatever is cheap, whatever their dog likes, or whatever their vet recommends. (Although vets seem like a logical person to ask, in reality they recieve very little nutritional information in vet school and what they do recieve is taught by pet food companies themselves - usually Science Diet and Iams which is why you see them recommended so often. I'm in vet tech school and I can't tell you all the crap I've heard about how Science Diet is so great even though they use large amounts of grains that dogs don't really need and their quality of ingredients is very poor).
So kudos for asking this question and doing your own research!

I'm going to list off some high and low quality brands of dog food so you can get a general idea, however, I'll also include more in-depth information that will tell you how to read ingredient labels and select a pet food on your own.

High quality foods: Innova, Canidae, Wellness, California Natural, Natural Balance, Newman's Own, Nature's Variety, Solid Gold, Merrick, Back to Basics, Eagle Pack, Wysong. (High quality foods use ingredients approved for human consumption and small amounts of grain.)

Check out small or independant pet stores for healthy foods, not Wal-Mart, grocery stores, or big chain pet stores.

Low quality foods: Purina (Beneful or otherwise), Science Diet, Iams, Eukanuba, Ol' Roy, Kibbles N Bits, Alpo, Mighty Dog, and anything else at a grocery store. (Low quality foods use "feed grade" ingredients which are feedstuffs that have been condemned from human consumption and large amounts of grain which only make the dog eat and poop more.)

Things to Remember When Selecting a Dog Food
1. Always read the ingredient label.
2. Choose meats and grains that the dog or cat will get the most nutritional benefit from.
3. There should be as few grains as possible.
4. Avoid generic animal-protein sources and any other generic ingredients.
5. Avoid artificial preservatives, colors, sweeteners, and flavorings.
6. Human grade ingredients are preferred to feed grade.

The more in-depth information:

Reading Ingredient Labels
The first step in selecting a pet food is reading the ingredient label. The price of the food will often be the first indication quality. Higher priced foods tend to be better, but it is crucial to always read the ingredient label. Ingredients are listed in descending order by weight. When reading the ingredient label, it is important to keep in mind that dogs and cats are carnivores. Cats are obligate carnivores who cannot survive without meat while dogs have scavenger tendencies and are a subspecies of the wolf. Both animals have evolved to thrive on meat-based diet. Dogs and cats derive much less nutritional support from plant-based proteins (grains) than they do from animal-based proteins (meat). They have short digestive tracts that have difficulty digesting grains, and most pass through undigested. Animal-based protein should be the primary ingredient and whenever possible make up the bulk of the food. However, not all animal-based proteins are created equally.

Desirable Animal-Based Protein
•Specific Meats: Specific meats are listed as chicken, beef, lamb, etc. and are desirable. They are the clean, fresh meat from the specified animal, which may include: skeletal muscle, tongue, diaphragm, heart, esophagus, and portions of skin, nerves, sinew, and blood vessels normally found within that flesh.
•Specific Meat Meals: Specific meat meals are listed as chicken meal, beef meal, lamb meal, etc. They differ from specific meats in that meals have been rendered at temperatures between 220° and 270° Fahrenheit. Although meals contain less water and because ingredients are listed by weight, more meat, it also means that they have been cooked at very high temperatures and therefore have less nutritional value. Meals are acceptable, but not necessarily optimal.

Undesirable Animal-Based Protein
•Meat, Meat Meal, Bone Meal, Meat By-Products, Animal Liver, Animal Digest, and Animal Fat: These are vague terms and should be completely avoided.
•By-Products: By-products, whether they are vague (such as meat by-products) or specific (such as chicken by-products) should be avoided. By-products can be any part of the animal except for meat, hair, horn, teeth, and hooves, which means that it can be blood, feet, fatty tissues and heads, among other parts. Although a dog or cat would naturally consume the entire prey, it is unnatural and unhealthy to eat a diet with too much of a specific by-product. When you purchase a dog food that contains by-products you have no control over what by-products are in the food and in what proportion.

Grains
If you choose to feed kibble there will be a minimum of 40% grains that is needed to make kibble into kibble. Grains are cheap and many companies use more than needed to add bulk to the food and lower the food’s cost. Make sure that grains do not appear as the primary ingredient. It is also important to be aware of the industry practice of “splitting”. Splitting occurs when two or three types of the same grain are listed separately to make an animal-based protein appear higher on the ingredient list. When companies have split their ingredients it will usually end up reading something similar to: chicken by-product meal, brewers rice, corn gluten meal, corn meal, powdered cellulose, etc.

Acceptable Grains
Grains should be whole, minimally processed, and as bioavailable as possible to dogs and cats. Amaranth, barley, oatmeal, millet, brown rice, and white rice are some examples of desirable grains.

Grains to Avoid
Any incomplete part of a grain (such as brewers rice, peanut hulls, mill run of any kind, grits, corn husk, and wheat middlings), any other grain that is nutritionally inadequate (such as powdered cellulose), and gluten or gluten meal of any kind. These all have low levels of usable protein for carnivores, will provide little nutritional value, and are used as fillers to add bulk to the food. Wheat, soy, and corn are common allergens.

Feed Grade Vs. Human Grade
Foods that contain all human grade ingredients only contain ingredients that were approved for human consumption. Feed grade food may contain food condemned from human consumption such as rancid grains, 4D meat (meat from animals that are dead, dying, diseased, or downed upon reaching the slaughterhouse), meat recalled from the human market, road kill, zoo animals, and diseased or cancerous tissue from condemned animals.
Many companies do not advertise this on their packaging and you must e-mail, call, or write them to find out. There is no AAFCO definition for human grade ingredients so ask specifically if the raw material they purchase and use is USDA approved for human consumption (purchasing ingredients from a plant that simply processes human grade ingredients does not necessarily mean that the ingredients they are purchasing are human grade).

Other Considerations Concerning Food and Feeding
The dishes you use should not be plastic as many dogs and cats can develop allergies to these and they can harbor bacteria in tiny scratches. Stainless steel, glass, or ceramic dishes are best.

When switching foods make sure to do it gradually so your pet doesn’t get an upset stomach. Do this by slowly mixing in the new food with the old food, adding a little more new food each day for about a week.

Answer 2

For the 50 pund bag you bought, you paid 26 dollars, being Pedigree, 22 pounds out of the 50 is probably filler and garbage your dog does not need. Grab your bag of dog food and look for the guranteed analysis on it. Does it have one? What 3 items are listed? What percentages are they, maybe 4 or 5 at most ineach category? If you love your pets, and you have invested your hard earnedmoney in their health, why skimp on crappy food? Spend a few dollars more, get healthy, grain free food, Canidae, Solid Gold, Innova EVO, are just a few very good and healthy dog foods you can buy. Your dog will be happier, healthier, the coat will shine, and the piles you pick up are much smaller because there is no filler that is just passing through.

Answer 3

I feed my dogs Innova EVO which is a kibble made without grains (dogs don't need corn!) It's an all-life stage formula so it would be okay to feed a puppy, too. The kibbles are fairly small so I don't think he'd have a problem with it. Solid Gold is also a good food and they make a puppy and a small bite formula. Cheap foods are unhealthy and even some of the expensive foods are unhealthy too like Science Diet and Iams. Be careful of artificial preservatives like BHA and BHT becaues they have been linked to cancer and there are natural preservatives like ascorbate and mixed tocopherols that work just fine and don't cause damage.

Answer 4

You don't want to buy food out of a grocery store or retail store like walmart. It's all nothing but junk. I feed my dogs Canidae All Life Stages Dry, with Chicken, Turkey, Lamb and Rice. They have never been sick, have never had any problems with allergies or problem skin, are more energetic, have beautiful, shiny coats and they absolutely love it. It's a high quality food, at a reasonable price. You don't have to worry, about switching to adult food, you can use this food, for as long as you own your dog. This food is great for allergies and problem skin in dogs. They don't have to eat as much of this food, to fill up and they still get all the necessary nutrition they need, to remain healthy and happy, so you don't have to keep going to the store every week to buy more food and you really end up saving money in the long run.This food is all natural, human grade, has NO corn, wheat, soy, grain fractions, fillers, or by products, is made in the USA, and is naturally preserved. I would highly recommend this food to anyone.

Answer 5

Stay away from store brand foods such as IAMS/Eukanuba, Purina, pedigree, Alpo, Beneful, Kibbles n' Bits, Science Diet, etc...they are low quality, grain laden foods with cheap fillers & by products.
It takes up to 3 times as much of these cheap foods for a dog to get proper nutrition then it does of a good quality food.
Look for a good quality food such as:

Canidae,Wellness, Chicken Soup, Innova, Solid Gold, Merrick, Fromm to name just a few.

Answer 6

Cost effective wise,most store brand puppy food is pretty much the same as most namebrand foods.But,it's best to ask whoever you are getting the puppy from what it has been eating.If you insist on changing it's food,you must do so slowly,by mixing the new with the old until you have a complete bowl of the new.And,in the end,only dry food should be fed.No canned,no soft food.For your dogs teeth,once he is big enough and can chew,dry food only.And totally NO PEOPLE food should ever be fed to your dog.

Answer 7

I don't think foods like Kibbles N' Bits is a good choice, the first ingredient is corn. A better quality dog food will have a meat as the first ingredient.

Answer 8

Think about how much food your dog will eat as an adult.. I have a rot and she eats 50 lbs. of food a month so we got something middle of the road Purina Dog Chow and she's been fine.. If you have a smaller breed dog you may want to consider Nutro or something more expensive like IAMS/Eukanuba... Just think about how much you want to spend in the long run...We spend about $20 a month on food for our dog..Also factor in puppy shots, flea/tick, grooming costs, toys/treats etc... That you can afford to spend a month as well. She's happy and healthy... Good luck..

Answer 9

i think nutro natural choice is great. its all natural ingredients and since i've changed it, my dog hasnt had any stomach problems or soft stool.
we've switched it a lot from eukanuba, royal canin, ceasar's, blue buffulo, and whatever. but nothing seemed to stop his soft stool. until nutro came along.
they have a holistic line, but i dont use it cause they dont have a low calorie kind in the holistic line. i'm sure they have kibbles for puppies too so thats great.
you should visit this website too: www.iamskills.com
before thinking of getting eukanuba or iams.

Answer 10

Well I buy a dry food that is a mixture of bison and salmon meat. But that's only because my dog is allergic to corn and most dry foods have corn as one of their main ingredients.

Answer 11

I'd get one that is grain free, like Evo. It is considered the best dog food in a bag that you can buy.

http://www.naturapet.com/brands/evo.asp

www.dogfoodanalysis.com - any of the 6 star foods are the best you can buy.

Good luck.