best food?

Question

Ok now I'm confused. Every one has said something different about food. My vet recommends science diet. My friend who's a dog breeder recommends Iams. The woman I adopted my cat from said Iams tests on animals so get purina. What's the best dry dog and cat food? I want to give them the best and I don't think I'm doing that right now..Dog is eating Iams puppy, and cat is eating purina pro plan (it had higher nutrients than science diet did..) Thank you in advance.

Thanks again for the very helpfuland informative replies. I decided to try the brand Innova for both my dog and cat.

Answer 1

There isn't one single dog food that is the overall "best" on the market for all dogs. For example, some dogs do best on grain-free diets, for others, grain-free is too rich and they need a little lower protein diet. What you want to find out is what high-quality dog food is the best food for your dog.

On choosing a dog food:
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, Pedigree, Purina, 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

I, personally, don't think any of them are good. I would recommend brands such as Canidae, Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul, Timberwolf Organics, Flint River Ranch, Merrick, Innova, California Natural, Eagle Pack, Wellness, etc. Any food you can get at grocery stores/Wal-Mart are horrible no matter how good they're advertised. I think you should try to stay away from brands such as Iams, Eukanuba, Beneful, Purina, Science Diet, Pedigree, Ol' Roy, etc. Those have tons of fillers such as corn and by-products. There are definitely more brands out there that are more nutritious for your pets than the ones you listed.

Answer 3

Nothing you find at a grocery store is going to be a good food. High quality foods can be found at large pet store chains, or online. A couple of foods I like are Solid Gold, Innova, and Cannidae.

There are other high quality dog foods. Here's how to spot them:

A high quality food will have little or no fillers such as corn, wheat or soy. These aren't very digestable for dogs, and are common food related allergens. Since you were seeing corn meal in the first few ingredients, those are not high quality foods. Foods list ingredients by content, with the ingredient it contains most of at the top.

A high quality food will not contain BHT, BHA or Ethoxyquin, these are all chemical preservatives that have been linked to cancer.

A high quality food will not contain by-products of any kind. Meat meals are ok as long as the source of the meat is listed, such as Chicken Meal.

A high quality diet should have meat as at least the first ingredient., and be made from human grade ingredients. Foods that don't use human grade ingredients often get their ingredients from less than desirable sources, such as meat from animals that were diseased, or euthanized.

There is another diet option other than dog food. Some people choose to feed a raw diet. This involves feeding the dog raw meaty bones and organ meat. However it is not as simple as throwing a couple chicken bones in a bowl everyday. If you wish to feed this type of diet, do lots and lots of research first. Switching to this diet without knowing what your doing can lead to nutritional problems for your dog. I'll give you some links as a starting point in research if you are interested in this type of diet.

http://www.willowglen.com/barf.htm...

http://www.bestfrisbeedogs.com/diets.htm...

http://www.rawlearning.com/rawfaq.html...

http://www.rawfed.com/myths/index.html...

http://www.rawdogranch.com

What's Really In Pet Food
http://www.api4animals.org/facts?p=359&m...

Answer 4

Ok good for you for asking first!:)


#1 , you vet reccomend SD because they get a contract and they are the vendors..

#2 I don't knowbut I think the breeder would reccomend Iams because they feed it , because its cheap and if its a BYB then they don't really care.

#3 Purina and Iams not sure about animal testing but neither are good foods because of the ingredients

Feed Innova and Canidae for dogs , and Felidae and Innova(if they have for cats!)

I love em both

Your welcome , good luck

-ali!

Answer 5

You are right, those aren't the best foods available. Personally I wouldn't feed either of those foods.

Most veterinarians are taught nutrition by the dog food companies and receive no other education on the subject at all. Many of them do honestly believe that the food they recommend is the best but that's only because they've bought what the pet food company has taught them hook, line, and sinker. Further, Hills/Science Diet offers discounts to veterinarians plus perks for selling their products.

When I look for a quality dog food I pay special attention to the first five or six ingredients. The other ingredients are important too, but since ingredients are listed according to weight/volume in order of most to least the first five or six are what makes up the majority of the food. You want a food that has a specified meat meal (chicken meal, lamb meal, fish meal, etc) as the first ingredient. Beware of foods that list "real meat" as the first ingredient. Ingredients are listed in order of weight/volume BEFORE processing. Since meat is more than 50% water, most of that weight is lost in the processing...meaning that there is more of the second or even third ingredient in that food if the first ingredient is just meat. If the first ingredient is a specified meat, the second ingredient should be a specified meat meal. I try to avoid more than two grain sources in the first five ingredients and no corn at all in the first six. Corn is used in dog food for one reason only...it is cheap. It is also not easy for dogs to digest and can cause allergies. Avoid by products and unspecified protein sources (like "meat meal" "bone meal" "animal fat" etc). While these are not necessarily bad ingredients, they are not quality ingredients either. By products are basically the leftover bits not fit for human consumption and the contents vary from batch to batch (one bag may include mostly chicken heads for example and the next may be mostly chicken feet). Aside from being such a wild card as far as what goes into them, by products and unspecified protein sources like meat meal are not necessarily required to come from slaughtered animals. This opens the door for sick animals, animals that died before slaughter, and even animals that are not commonly thought of as food (such as road kill and even euthanized cats and dogs) can legally be included in pet food under such vague labels as "meat meal" and "animal fat." Also avoid any food that includes salt, sugars (including fructose and glucose), the preservatives BHA, BHT, and ethoxyquin, or artificial colorings ANYWHERE on the ingredients list. These ingredients serve no nutritional purpose and with the exception of the preservatives are there simply to make the food taste more appealing to dogs or look more appealing to people. The preservatives I've listed as well as most artificial colorings have shown a potential to be carcinogens with prolonged exposure (such as eating it every day for 10+ years). BHA and BHT have been banned in many European countries becuase of their potential carcinogenic properties and Ethoxyquin was never intended for human consumption and has never been shown to be safe to feed over the lifetime of companion animals.

When using those guidelines:
Science Diet fails because their first ingredient is corn, followed by chicken by-product meal, and also contains animal fat and salt. Iams fails because although their first ingredient is chicken, the second ingredient is corn meal, followed by another grain (way more grain than chicken in this food) and chicken by-product meal and also contains salt.

Answer 6

I feed my dogs and my cats Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul and Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul. They are very good foods!

Answer 7

you want no corn, wheat or soy, dried brewers yeast, by-products, rendered or tallow. no artificial preservatives or dyes, just to name a few of the things to stay away from.

you want a holistic food - not just a "natural" food.

google natura for info

authoritey is definately NOT good food

Answer 8

Purina is very good. Just take a look at the ingredience and find the food with less sugar (corn syrup). That's my advice. But ask around different vets to see what they think because they would know best.

Answer 9

Both of those are garbage.
Try somthing wit real meat in it. no corn wheat or by products

Answer 10

none of the above go natural

try authority from petsmart