This question is for experienced and knowledgeable dog food people: Please give input on these dog foods:?

Question

1) Innova
2) Go Natural
3) Orijen

I currently use BlueBluff dog food. The website www.dogfoodanalysis.com is great. Please only respond about these brands. Or, if you know of another brand of greater or equal value, please say so.

Does anyone simply cook their dog's food from scratch? Pros and cons with this approach?

I am very impressed with everyone's input. This is very educational! I appreciate those of you who evaluated the website I posted. If anyone else finds websites for this question worth posting, please do so! Does anyone know of how we can stay in contact with each other on the matter?

Answer 1

I don't really use commercial food - there is some here for if we need to have pet sitters on short notice but the animals really don't eat much of it. What we do have is Innova and EVO.

We feed our dog and cats raw meat, edible bones and offal and base this on the model recommended by the vet Tom Lonsdale in his books "Raw Meaty Bones" and "Work Wonders". This is after LOTS of research into the needs of our pet carnivores. Some people will try to tell you otherwise but just because a dog can and will eat vegetable matter does not mean that it can gain maximum nutrition from these foods. Omnivores and herbivores have amylase in their saliva to start digesting carbohydrates and long intestinal tracts to gain maximum nutrients from plant matter (to name just a few). Dogs have neither of these. The link below has more information.

RAW bones are not dangerous (unlike cooked ones). Just make sure there is enough meat to help clean the mouth and the meal is large enough that the dog has to work for his dinner. Our stafford eats chicken quarters, lamb necks and pork trotters to name just a few meals. The general guide is to feed 70-80% meat, 10-15% edible bones and 10-15% offfal (at least half liver). Calculate this over a week or two.

Feed about 2-3% of expected adult body weight per day. My 16.5 kg girl gets between 400 and 500 grams per day. She has been fed this way since 9 weeks of age and has sparkly white teeth with no hint of plaque. Neither does the 15 year old cat!

A raw diet is only as hard as you want to make it. I think the people that talk about the amount of time and expense are those who feed by the BARF ground bone, vegetables and pre-made patty school of thought. As dogs ARE NOT omnivores this is totally unneccessary and the ground bone will not help to keep the teeth and gums clean anyway. There is NO need for supplements, grinding or pureeing - just make friends with your local butcher.

I hope the links help.

Answer 2

I FIND WELLNESS DOG FOOD TO BE THE BEST HUMAN GRADE DOG FOOD.

Answer 3

I personally don't trust any of the dog food brands at all anymore. I have four dogs and I make them a well balanced dinner every night. I make them steamed rice or potatoes, with steamed veggies, chicken, and apples, or bananas, with gravy and sprinkled grated cheese.
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Answer 4

Pro: Raw or home made dog food is good because you know exactly what your dog is eating. I included a link for you that I have used.
http://www.i-love-dogs.com/dog-food-recipes.html

Dogs on Raw diet seem to need less food because it is more digestable because it doesn't have alot of fillers in it that your dog cannot digest. Con: depending on what size and activity level of your dog it can get expensive.

Answer 5

Are you doing market research?

I can only speak on Innova. I raised two dogs on that food and they did beautifully on it. Perfect check ups for most of their lives, gorgeous coats, decent breath, manageable poops (on schedule, not too much, all good.)

I also know someone who toured their factory a few years ago and she came back with rave reviews of the quality of the ingredients.

Answer 6

I use Solid Gold (Barking at the Moon) Its up there with those 3 and I absolutely love it. MY obedience trainer and a few of my rescue friends use Innova and love it. What exactly are you wanting to know about these brands?

Answer 7

I cooked for our 50 toy Poodles they weigh 2-7 pounds, I mixed mostly chicken, then beef and then chicken liver mixed with brown rice and mixed vegetables and added calcium, folic acid and a good mixed vit/mineral supplement.
It is REALLY hard to know how much each one needed, so we would weigh them everyday and aduust their intake *split between 3 meals day* Honestly having to crate each of them 3 times a day so they could eat the right amount, while the others fussed to be next caused too much turmoil in our home, and we really didn;t see any real benefits.
As far as the foods you asked about, I have not researched them or know anyone who has tried them,good luck

Answer 8

commercial dog food is like junk food... real dog food is at you nearest meat shop (ex, Monterey) they also sell bones and saw dust... just imagine if you dog is left in the wild.. dont worry about salmonella..blah...blah... dogs have enough anti bodies to counter such.... if your dog is complete with vaccines.. you have nothing to worry about..

Answer 9

Dogfoodanalysis.com is too highly referenced by many in answers to dog food questions. It relies too heavily on myths perpetuated through the internet e.g., grains not being digestible (they are when processed and ground and too often dismissed as fillers) and gives no weight to other important factors such as Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio (should be between 5:1 to 10:1). Most foods recommended as six stars have a very high protein content (40% +) that is hard for dogs to process and is more than they need unless they are highly active. The site also does not identify their editors or their credentials in animal nutrition.

For informed information on dog nutrition check out dogfoodproject.com. The author identifies herself, gives her credentials, and updates her site with new information. The site does not rank dog foods, but does give good information so that you can make an informed choice yourself and not rely on amateur nutritionists on yahoo answers (i.e., myself).

Answer 10

I use the BARF method for feeding (Bones and Raw Food diet) It's healthier, but more expensive.

If you are thinking about using this method, do your research and start out slow or your dog could get intestinal problems.

You can find LOTS of information on this on the net.

Before I decided to go BARF (lol), I fed my dogs Nutromax. It's an excellent brand.