Is this food good for my dog?

Question

This is for my 7 year old mixed breed dog. Hes medium sized. Since I dont know what breeds hes mixed with so therfor I can not just buy a book on the nutritional needs of each of the breeds hes mixed with..still I guess all dogs require pretty much the same. I like that this food doesn't have any atrificial addictives or fillers. I am picky about what foods I feed my dogs. I recently discovered Peddigree,the food he was eating contained wheat gluten. So I had to switch.

You can can see the ingriendients by clicking the "More Information" bar.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=8956&N=2001+6000

Answer 1

That food is a lot better than Pedigree, but there's still a lot of room for improvement.

Here is a review of Pedigree:
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=3&cat=all

And here is a review of the Drs Foster & Smith food: http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=431&cat=all

You can definitely find better food than either one of those.

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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.

Here is an article about byproducts:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=ingrd

And an article on what ingredients to avoid:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=badingredients

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Some GOOD foods are :
* Merrick - http://www.merrickpetcare.com/
* Solid Gold - http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/
* Canidae - http://www.canidae.com/
* Timberwolf - http://timberwolforganics.com/
* Orijen - http://www.championpetfoods.com/orijen/orijen/
* Wellness - http://www.omhpet.com/wellness/
* Chicken Soup brand - http://www.chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com/
* Innova - http://www.naturapet.com/brands/innova.asp
* Innova EVO - http://www.naturapet.com/brands/evo.asp

Or check this website for good foods: http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/
(I recommend only feeding foods rated 4, 5, or 6 stars. Anything 3 stars or less, I would stay away from.)

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Stay away from grocery stores brands. They are low-quality foods chalk full of fillers, preservatives, dyes, etc.. (Grocery store foods are those like Beneful, Old Roy, Alpo, etc.)

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..)

Another thing to be wary of: A lot of vets will recommend what they sell in their office. They get profit 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 gradually. 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 2

Hi, I don't have dogs but I do have cats and although their nutritional needs are different the ingredients are usually similar. Ingredient-wise this looks like a good food. But what is available at pet stores around you? I personally prefer to have a ready source of food in case something happens and I run out, etc. Some really good brands to check out are Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul (my vet tech friend swears by this), Canidae, California Natural, and Innova.

It is good that you are switching. You can do much better than Pedigree.

Answer 3

You know, I am also very concerned about what goes into my puppy's tummy. When I was picking out dog food, I used the website: www.dogfoodanalysis.com to figure it all out. It's GREAT.

Of the first three ingredients in this dog food, only the first one is meat, and the other two are not. This isn't giving your dog the most protein it could get. Since the chicken that is the first ingredient is not a meal, most of that meat is water weight, which if taken into consideration, would drop the chicken's prominence on the ingredient list down considerably. Rice is also considered primarily a filler in dog foods...so I wouldn't be crazy about them being in my dog's top three ingredients, but that is my opinion.

Some brands to check out could include Timberwolf Organics and Innova. You can see their ingredient listing and analysis on the dogfoodanalysis website.

Good luck choosing a food!

Answer 4

Seems like it would fall in the premium range and is not a super premium. Protein is slightly low but OK. What I didn't like was the price. $19 for 15 pounds. Most super premiums go for about 1 dollar a pound in the 20 pounds bags.

Dog food does not have to be breed specific as all dog have about the same requirements.

I could talk all day about "fillers", as there aren't any in 99% of the dog foods. All ingredients are nutritionally important and the food has to have passed a feeding trial to display the AAFCO seal.

Answer 5

coming from a pet nutrition point of view you DO NOT want your dog food containing the fallowing ( they are all pointless additives that do more harm and cause more problems than good)
corn
soy
wheat
bha
bht
ehtoxyquin
dies
colors
artificial flavours
also you WANT to see stuff made in the united states, that have a meat meal as the first ingredient. wheat is not degested by dogs and soy causes dogs arteried to harden, this is why i do not recomend natural choice, they still get their products from china too..why trust them when they are still looking for the cheapest alternatives??? i recomend ( in order of highest QUALITY ( not price))eagle pack holistic select, innova, wellness, natures recipe, natural organics, oven baked tradition.....

oh ps- the dies they use in any pet food ( you want to avoid any company that sells a product with dies) causes kidney and liver failure in dogs and cats.... pedigree has dies and lots of corn...youre doggy will be pooping lot!!

oh sorryi mis read yourquestion, drs fosters and smith.. is great food but youre gonna pay an arm and a leg for it!! for a senior dog youre going to want to see a nice amount of glucosamine and chondrotin in it which this product has..it also has digestive enzymes which help break down the food better, and increase immunity in your dog. yes this would be great, price is a little high and the protein is a little low... thats just my professional oppinion tho.

to clear up another point "byproducts" are any spare part like the beaks, feet, eyes, of any unspecified animal that could have been eunthanized or just road kill. if swomething says meat meal you want it to say chicken meal or duck meal or venison meal.... if you only see chicken it means its 70% water and fat and only 30% of the actually protein so it really is not the first ingredient. chiken meal for example is the weight of the actual meat after is been cooked, meaning youre getting alot more meat in there!! avoid meat and bone meals or byproduct meals.....

Answer 6

Just to clarify:

Wheat Gluten in and of itself is FINE unless you are a human with Celiac DIseae, gluten intolerance, allergies or autism!

Gluten has been in dog food for years and years. It is the POISONED gluten that was the problem.

To be safe, I'd avoid foods with gluten for while, to be sure the problems get straight and buy American made pet feed.

Good luck.

Answer 7

I have 7 dogs and they all eat Solid Gold and Barking at the Moon dogfood mixed with canned white meat chicken and sometimes white meat turkey, a few frozen peas.
All I know is that corn, wheat, and chicken meal is not all that good for them. Chicken meal could mean just about any part of the chicken-yuck. My dad has done a good amount of reading about dog food. Our oldest dog is so picky she eats the chicken with brown rice(texmati) I made her-no dog food. hehe Good luck.

Answer 8

I'm not too fond of Pedigree. My dog was eating that while she was at the animal shelter and her skin and coat were unhealthy. I prefer something like Natural Choice or Nature's Recipe. But that is just my personal opinion. After switching my dog to Natural Choice Lamb and Rice her coat became soft and shiny, and she didn't have skin issues.

Answer 9

Why not go to the petstore and see about getting samples? With the wide variety one can get nowawdays, there's always a better dogfood out there.
I feed my doxie Science Diet (she has a trouble tummy and is prone to overeating) and boiled chicken and rice as treat.

Answer 10

I completely agree that Peddigree isn't the greatest. My dog always gets sick from it so I generally use Nature's Promise or Iams.