Please give me your opinions on these dog foods!!?

Question

I want to switch my dogs to a new healthier food and would like your advice.
I have 2 large black labs mixes, male 90 pounds and female 55 pounds.

I have been reading about different foods and it looks like:

Innova
Go Natural
Summit
Orijen
Wellness

seem like the better ones. These use all natural products, no by products and don't have all those fillers.

One of the things I noticed about them though is that they don't seem to have a lot of fruit or vegetable products. I know that I should give the dogs mostly meat but I thought that having a good mixture is better for them. Does it matter?

Does anyone use these brands? What are your experiences with them? If I do use them, can I just give my dogs some veggie table scraps to get a good mixture?

Would you recommend any other brands? I realize that making homemade raw dog food is best which I hope to do eventually but for now please give your opinions on dry dog food brands.
Thank you very much for your help

Answer 1

Innova = great
Go Natural = great if your dog handles high-protien well (too rich for some dogs)
Summit = okay
Orijen = great if your dog handles high-protien well (too rich for some dogs)
Wellness = great

I use Merrick brand dry kibble; but Wellness and Innova are on the top of my list for alternate foods.

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On choosing a good 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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There is no single food that is "best". For example, some dogs thrive on grain-free foods, while grain-free is too rich for other dogs. What you want to find is the high-quality food that *your dog* does best on. (I recommend feeding dry food instead of wet. It's healthier for the gums and teeth.)

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/
* Blue Buffalo - http://www.bluebuff.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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Higher quality food may seem more expensive at first, but it evens out. The higher quality the food, the less fillers eaten (and therefore the less poop comes out the other end). Your dog eats more to try to get the nutrition it needs, and most of the food just passes right on through. Also, it will make your animals healthier, so you save money on vet bills in the long run.

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"Big box" petstores like Petco and Petsmart rarely have quality foods. (I do believe that PetCo sells "Solid Gold" and "Natural Balance" brands and Petsmart sells "Blue Buffallo", which are all quality foods, but most of the foods aren't.)

Also, grocery stores and Walmart aren't good places to buy food either.

Your best bets for getting quality dog food are:
- small, locally owned petstores
- dog boutiques
- farm supply stores

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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

Wellness brand is the best one there in my opinion. What you want to look at is make sure that at least the first 3 ingredients on the package are meats, not a starch or wheat which the dog does not need. Mixture will come with the food, do not worry about that. SOME veggies scraps may help are not needed.
Please feel free to ask anymore questions.
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Answer 3

I have two rat terriers with digestive problems - our vet never mentioned diet as a problem, he just kept giving treatments and expensive medications. Last summer, I finally got into research about organic dog foods. There are many wonderful brands - I buy Wellness from a website called SmartPak (they have many brands) and there are many other only natural pet sites to shop from. I also supplement with veggies and fruit and give them a daily multi-vitamin. Since switching them to organics last July, we have had no emergency vet visits, no allergy issues, no ear infections, and very few vomiting/gas attacks which used to be common. I will never go back to a commercial brand like Ol Roy or any other and I just feel sad that my dogs were 2 and 4 years old before I found great, organic food for them.

Answer 4

Go Natural and Orijen are among the very best, as is Innova's EVO line. Wellness is a very good food, as are the other Innova products. No experience with Summit.

I would add Sold Gold Barking at the Moon and Timberwolf Organic Wild & Natural to the list of very best, and the other Timberwolf Organic products to the very good category, along with the Canidae foods.

Answer 5

I'm not personally familiar with Go Natural and Summit, but the others are definately good foods. I feed my girls Timberwolf Organics and it does have a fair amount of veggies in it too.

It's not bad to add veggies from the dinner table. I do it with my girls all the time. Just be sure if it was canned veggie you get no salt added canned veggies (you can add salt on your plate if you want it). Too much salt in any diet, human or animal isn't good.

Answer 6

i work in a pet shop and many people love the wellness because it is natural but doesn't totally bust your wallet. if you want no by-products and meat and veggies i would totally go with Merrick dog food wet or dry. even though they have silly names like grammys pot pie if you turn the bag over there is chicken/ chicken broth carrots peas and other things you would find in a chicken pot pie! it is a little more expensive but it is good enough food that if you were stuck with it you probably could eat it! i hope this helps. and if you have anymore questions just go to a few local pet stores and compare what they say.

Answer 7

Contrary to what many people seem to think dogs are CARNIVORES. They have no need for vegetables, grains or dairy and in fact cannot digest these foods properly. They do not have the necessary teeth, digestive enzymes or length of bowel to gain adequate nutrition from vegetable matter. See the attached article for more information on this.

What dogs do need to be healthy is RAW meat, edible bone and offal - think of it as feeding a carcass. There is no need for grinding, pureeing or buying pre-made patties - just make friends with your butcher. If you feel that you must feed commercial foods then the few you have listed do seem to have the least inappropriate ingredients.

Answer 8

First of all large breeds, I have learned do not thrive on high protein low carb no grain dry foods.. it damages their kidneys.
Canidae is a really good dry food if you want to know what I feed.

Answer 9

Nutro Ultra Holistic has everything inside that your dog needs. It also doesn't have fillers or by-products either.

Answer 10

I use Wysong for my dog and cats. It's great they love it! It is all natural no byproducts and has the extra veggies and vitamins I think your looking for.

www.wysong.net