What dog food do you feed your dog?

Question

Ever since I started working at a local pet store, I've become a HUGE pet food health nut. The pet store sells the good food (aka Wellness, Solid Gold), and also the bad food (Iams, Science Diet). Just was wondering how many people actually fed their dog the food that is actually good for them.

Below is a list of ingrediants that some dog foods have in (By Nature, Iams, and others) that, once you know what it is, most people switch dog foods.

By-Producst are the parts of an animal not generall intended for human comsumption. These include, but are not limited to, feet, hooves, feathers, beaks, udders, snouts, hair, intestines, etc. Though some ingredients listed as by-products, such as liver, hearts, lungs, can be considered nutritionally beneficial, there is no distinction on an ingredient label between these "good by-products" and the undesirable by-products previously mentioned. Due to labeling ambiguity, it is best to stay away all together.

"Mystery Meat"
Products which list 'meat', 'meat meal', or 'mean and bone meal' should be avioded. It could come from any mammal, pig, goats, rendered animals from shelters, and road kill (YES, animals dead on the side of the road!!). It can also contain parts and animals not fit for human consumption, including "4D' aniamls - dead, diseased, dying, or disabled. It can include pus, cancerous tissue, and decomposed tissue. A similar term is "poulty", which can be any king of bird

@Nicole
The reasons vets recommend Science Diet are:
1) A vet made it...so they must "support" each other
2) VETS SELL SCIENCE DIET! They aren't going to tell you that Science Diet is bad for your pet, if they sell it. It wouldn't make sense

Purina isn't on the lowest list, I'd say it's right above Nurto, but there are some ingrediants on there that I don't like. I HAVE to feed my puppy Purina for he threw up EVERYTHING else, cause he has a REALLY sensitive stomach...poor little guy.

Wow I'm really surprised to see so many people feeding the pet foods I love lol. Usually most people feed their dog the ones that they can get anywhere and for a really low price.

For a while, my mom had my cat on Purina Natural (though the ingredients were NOT natural at all lol), and she would throw up every day. I switched her to Innova (fairly good, grain-free, and not too expensive), and she's only thrown up once since the 3 months we've had her on it :)

I'm not saying your pet is going to die on the other stuff. By all means he could live a happy normal life, but dogs have special dietary needs, and not all of the dog food contains it

Answer 1

I feed my dogs raw meat, fish and chicken. I don't trust the commercial stuff.

Answer 2

Over the course of a lifetime I have probably tried more different diets for my dogs than Carter has pills. So from experience 99% of the BS you will hear about different dog foods is absolutely nothing but creative marketing. Dogs are true omnivores and will at least survive on any diet.
What I have found is that dogs actually need an amount of trash (fillers) in their diet just as much as they need the "good stuff".
With our show dogs health and conditioning is imperative, otherwise we might just as well stay home.
So here, how does this little girl look to you??
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2083/1830668883_1f8f758729.jpg?v=0

Would you believe she has never eaten anything but (heaven forbid) Purina One.
With 10 AKC show Champions and 1 AKC AAQ-Master Hunter living here that have been on Purina their entire lives, I challenge anyone to show me where they have done better regardless of what they are feeding.

My advice to anyone that cares is just find the diet that YOUR dog does best on, and forget about all the hype.
Oh,,, and there is a reason (believe it or not) that Beagles do well on Purina foods. PURINA TESTS THEIR FOODS ON BEAGLES. Incase you didn't know Ralston Purina has the largest Beagle kennel in the world

Answer 3

I'm sorry Ali, but just because your vet went through a top school doesn't mean he recieved much nutrition education. And guess what, the little he recieved was very likely taught by a Hill's Science Diet rep. so its no wonder he thinks its a great food. Vets are great for medical stuff, not so great for nutrition.


I've got a multi diet house here. One dog recieves a rotation of Canidae and Innova, another recieves a mix of raw, Canidae and Innova. Kibble is never fed on a raw day. Both of those dogs would recieve the raw, but one isn't mine, so feeding at least a high quality kibble was a compromise.

My third dog is just starting on Eagle Pack Holistic Select Lamb and Rice mixed with Evanger's Lamb and Rice canned. She's a very picky eater who is hard to keep weight on, these foods proved themselves to me at the dog show last weekend. Bindi is more interested in everything around her than she is in her food. Getting her to eat is a real challenge. For example on a camping trip this summer she refused to eat for two days, there was just to much going on around her. At the dog show she did it again, so I grabbed some samples from the vendor and despite the distractions, she chowed down. Never in the year I've had her has she shown that much interest in food, even raw food. A week later and she still chows down on this stuff.

Answer 4

I feed my dogs Canidae. It has been wonderful for them and is a top rated food, although wellness is a smidge better Canidae is better for my budget and still just as good. I started researching pet food when my malamute kept having chronic ear infections, my pit mix had skin problems (IE flaky skin and losing fur but no fleas or any other source of skin irritants) and discovered a lot of dogs eating the bad foods with the mystery meat and ROADKILL (ewwwww I cried when I read that I felt like a horrible mom, I was so uneducated about the whole pet food industry and thought I was feeding them something good) as soon as I discovered all of that I switched to Canidae. In the month they have been on it my malamutes eyes and ears have cleared up (still not 100% but getting there) and my Pit stopped itching all the time! And as a bonus I feel like a good mom again!

Answer 5

My dog eats Wellness Super 5 Mix (Lamb). So far so good. I've changed her food quite a bit in her first year. We started at Puppy Chow, then Nutro Max, then Natural Choice, then Nutro Ultra, then Blue Buffalo, and now Wellness. If I found Innova or Candidae somewhere here, I'd probably change her to that. I'm all for feeding my dog the best!

Answer 6

I did feed my dog Iam's 4 days ago :( I feel so guilty saying that, I was actually convinced Iam's was good, because of the common comericials, and 4/5 vet reccomended :( I feel so bad, but infact the good foods are the one's that aren't advertised. So I asked on yahoo what they feed their dog majority fed canidae, nd innova, I picked canidae because it was better deal then innova or timberwolf, even though innova timberwlf is slighlty higher quality, but canidae is still good, VERY VERY digestible, filled with enzymes, my dog didn't even have dirreah!

Answer 7

You make it sound like if you feed your pet dog food it's going to die. My dog is 13 and on Science diet. She has been on Iams. She is healthy as can be and still going strong. There is a way to read the labels they have a kind of code when it comes to telling what really is in dog food. every vet I have worked for has fed there own dog science diet. Yes the vets are also getting discounts on the food as well but they would not feed it to them if it was not good.

They do have pet food standards and regulations set by the AAFCO. Look up all your facts. I would like to know where you got this info.

http://www.api4animals.org/facts.php?p=359&more=1

Feeding your dog people food or making your own food is not necessarily the way to go. Unless you are giving vitamin supplements for the different stages of its life.

So I take it you only eat organic food? Are you a vegetarian too?

Yes some pet food is way better then other. I don't disagree with you there. You make it sound like if you are not feeding the fancy expense stuff then you are a bad pet owner and that's not fair. My dog is healthy and happy.

Answer 8

Natural Balance

Answer 9

My dogs eat about 20% Innova large breed and 80% home-made food, based on recipes in Dr. Pitcairn's book "Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats".

Answer 10

We feed our pup Royal Canin, they do a lot of progressive research on the nutritional value and benefits of the ingredients which I appreciate. It also is extremely palatable so my puppy actually chooses it over other dog foods. My Vet also said that it was a good choice of food.

Answer 11

My male is on Natural Choice Large Breed Adult, and my female is on Natural Choice Senior. Both have all natural ingredients, and I would recommend the brand to anyone looking for a good brand.