how do i choose the best dog food for my 1 -2 year old, active black lab?

Question

what qualities should i look for in a dog food for a 1-2 year old black lab who stays active and has a health weight?

Answer 1

Anything by these brands; Eagle Pack, Canidae, Timberwolf Organics, California Natural, Innova, Solid Gold and Chicken Soup For the Pet Lovers Soul are high quality foods. Even some of the brands you can get in places such as PetSmart (Natural Balance, Nutro, etc.) are ok.

Avoid junk like Pedigree, Science Diet, etc. These foods contain little meat (and any meat that they do contain is poor quality) and rediculous amount of grains and fillers. Feeding high grain/high carb food is terrible for the health of your dog therefore they should be avoided at all costs

Good luck!

Answer 2

I have Labrador Retrievers and I only feed Holistic Foods. Usually a good rule of thumb is if you can buy the dog food at the supermarket DON'T. The commerical foods like Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Purina etc use lower grade ingredients. Some people will argue but the ingredients speak for themselves. To find a good dog food check the ingredients, FIRST you always want the first ingredient to be a MEAT, a protein, and you NEVER ever want to see a meat by product, or rendered meat. That can be any part of animals from beak to feet to who knows what. And it is low grade stuff. The next 3-4 ingredients should be healthy protein sources and NO FILLERS. Like yellow corn, peanut holes all that is useless unhealthy garbage. The Holistic foods like Wellness, Innova, Life's Abundance, Eagle Pak, Canidae etc use higher grade meats and ingredients. Life's Abundance is one of the better and more natural foods but it can only be ordered on line because it is made fresh and shipped to cut out the preservatives. Many of your commerical foods also have carcinogen preservatives in them like BHA, BHT, and the worst Ethoxyquin And they are not always listed on the bag. The companies found ways around that. If the dog food amnufacturer does not add them then they do not have to list them. Since they by low grade meats like by products and rendered meats the meat slaughter houses add the ingredients and then they do not have to be listed as an ingredient.
I have one Lab on Wellness Weight Management and another on Life's Abundance. I use two different foods because each dog does better on a certain food.
Read your ingredients, the Holistic foods are way better and thet is apparant by the ingredients.

Answer 3

basically avoid cheep dog food, unfortunatly you get what you pay for. I recommend Natural Balance, Solid Gold, or Canidae. Those are all great food that brought out the best in my dogs coat and personality. She lost some wieght too. I've never tried blue buffalo but i have done some research on it it seemed like good food. Good healthy ingrediants. Just look out for fillers or anything that sounds outragious. I had my brittany on science diet light and it had peanut hull in it. There cant possible be any nutritional value in that.

Answer 4

Do not feed Hills Science Diet or Iams or anything else you can get from a grocery store. It's horrible food, full of fillers and by-products.

Go to this link and find a food that is rated high. The highest rating is 6. I feed my dogs Chicken Soup for the dog Lovers Soul because it's a good food and because of it's affordability and availability in my area.
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/index.php

Answer 5

As a few others have said #1 ingredient should be meat. I feed Innova Evo, its High protein, low carb, and no grains. Solid Gold is another good one. These foods are alittle more expensive but you get what you pay for.

Answer 6

I have a friend that bred dogs and did much research on dog food. The protein in some brands is simply HAIR.

She said that Iiams has the best composition, and would not use anything else.

Answer 7

Kangaroo meat is the best,its the highest protein meat.My dogs love it too.

Answer 8

If you aren't going to feed them real meat, rice, oats and vegetables, look for a food whose first ingredient is meat, not meat by-products, and which contains no corn or wheat products.

Answer 9

neighbors cats would be a good food for a lab of any age

Answer 10

We feed my lab Hills science plan which the vet reccommended for him but it would be best asking your vet. Check out the web (below) =)