What is the best dog food!!!?

Question

I was wondering !!! i have a 8 month old corgi and i want the best for her so can anyone help me thanks!!!

Answer 1

I switched from Iams to Innova a few months ago, and my 3 dogs and 2 cats look amazing and have more energy than ever. Canidae is also a great product. Choose a food that has real meat as the main ingredient(s), and whole grains. Avoid corn, wheat, soy, by-products, preservatives, artificial colors or flavors,
All the foods like Science Diet, Iams, Eukanuba, Purina, Purina ONE, etc are all pretty much the same. They aren't very good.
Stick to a super-premium food. If you can find it in a grocery store, don't buy it. Check out some websites below.

Answer 2

There are a bunch of good posts on this question that I want to echo or expand on.

1. In terms of commercial dogfood, do go to www.dogfoodanalysis.com and look for foods that are five or six stars. I feed my dog either Innova Evo or Solid Gold Barking at the Moon. I've tried Canidae and he liked it but I wanted to go with a higher grade.

Also, I feed only dry food. Why? First, I found that when I fed my dog wet food he'd sometimes just pick that out. Second, wet food makes it difficult to judge the right serving size (because it is mostly water). Third, all dry is actually better for a dog's teeth. The dry food helps reduce tartar and clean the teeth and gums.

2. Why does the quality of the food matter? Lots of reasons.
--dogs don't eat the same diet we do. They need more protein and more fat. A diet that would kill a human would be fine for dogs (ie: 40% protein, 20% fat). A diet that many humans do well on (high in complex carbohydrates) would produce a fat, low-energy dog with many allergies. You want a dog food that has a minimum of 25% protein and unless your dog is aging with a big obesity problem, at least 15% fat.
--the post about the first five ingredients is very, very, very true. You should look at your dog food and see real meats listed (salmon, buffalo, turkey, chicken, lamb). Not "meal" or "byproducts." And you definitely shouldn't see wheat or corn. In fact, wheat and corn are responsible for a high percentage of dog allergies.
--high fat and protein, low carbos, no corn or wheat and you'll see a thinner dog with more energy with a coat that glistens. I'm serious, you may not recognize your dog in 2 weeks on a high quality food, the difference in their coat and how it feels to your touch, you'll think you have a totally different dog.

3. Why different foods? Because just like humans, dogs appreciate variety. So I rotate between the Evo and Solid Gold. And some of the Solid Gold (which is highly rated) my dog just didn't go for. So I'd start out with 2-3 small bags and give each one a week to see if your dog seems to go for it. Also, you rotate foods every couple of months because given enough of anything, it's possible to develop an allergy.

4. And there is merit to the BARF (Bones and raw food) diet as well (www.barfworld.com). This takes a bit of time but I have yet to find someone who wasn't a big proponent of it once they switched. The question is if you have the commitment to make it work (I don't).

5. Last piece of advice when it comes to food: nearly 50% of dogs in America are obese and the biggest reason is overfeeding. Do an obesity test on your dog (website below). Then follow the food guidelines so you don't overfeed. And occassionally (1-2 times a week), take the kibble from one meal and instead of having dinner, just use it for rewards throughout the day. Take a walk and call your dog's name, she looks up, you praise and treat. At home you call, she comes, praise and treat.

Answer 3

I have an 11 year old Border Collie that has been on Wellness Senior diet for about 7 years and he does great on it. I am a firm believer in premium pet foods for any pet, however, I do believe that some breeds do better on specific pet foods, for example, my husbands lab ate eukanuba for 12 years and he did great on it, never a skin or ear problem etc., we started my parents lab on the eukanuba and we got the same result, great skin, ears etc. I would recommend that you do your research on each brand of food and see what you think would work best for your dog. Always remember when switching your pets diet to:

give 75% pets regular food to 25% of the new food for 7 day, then give 50% regular to 50% new for another 5 days, then
give 75% new food to 25% of regular food for another 5 days, this should help to avoid any dietary indiscretion.

Answer 4

First stay away from any and all commerical foods, they are gross and full of nasty things. I have tried many foods and by far my dogs have done the best on Wellness Core. It is a Grain Free Food, which makes sense since dogs are carnivores and are made to eat meat. But the wheats and grains cause many dogs many problems because their bodies are not meant to break down the grains. But besides that is also has NO by=products and NO preservatives and it uses 5 USDA (humans grade meats.

Answer 5

I do like the results I am getting from the evo brand all of my dogs skin problems are starting to clear up and his coat is softer and he sheds less although I don't think a german shepherd will ever stop shedding there is a significant difference I use the red meat kind but they have others the people here can give you great advice don't buy a regular grocery store or pet store brand buy one with better ingredients and less fillers or none if possible

Answer 6

The best food is the one that works for your dog. The dog food analysis site is useless because their criteria is based on some unimportant things. I believe it is funded by one of the dog food companies and set up so their brands will come out on top. Ask the breeder where you got the dog what they feed and recommend. Go to a feed store or pet store and see what you can get locally. I don't recommend buying online to get a food that you can not get locally. What will you do if your supply gets wet or contaminated by insects and you can not buy another bag that day?For herding breeds I like National Training Extra or Blackwood 2000. If you can't find them locally it doesn't help you much. There are lots of good brands available. Try some and see what works.

Answer 7

There is no "best" dog food nor "worst" dog food; many foods are tied for highest quality, and there are some tied for lowest. The following link should help get you started. It rates and writes reviews on every food labeled "premium".

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com

Answer 8

Science diet is horrible. Sold by brainwashing veterinarians who know nothing about pet nutrition. All they know is what Hills science diet company teaches them.
If 'ol roy' offered them a sales percentage to veterinarians, then the vets would be stocking and pushing 'ol roy' and telling everyone how great the stuff is.

and you know what?
most people would believe it because 'their vet told them so'

a doctor is not a nutritionist.
a veterinarian is not a pet nutritionist.

Try this link:
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/

Answer 9

I use Eukanuba (large breed puppy), but I only found it by doing some research on what was best for my dog. Check out some books on dog nutrition or even just google it and try and find some actual academic articles. Don't just go with what your vet says right off the bat. It's usually pretty pricey for us the food from the vet was $1.50/lb and the eukanuba is $.90/lb on sale/$1.08/lb regular. Once you find out what you want in a dog food, go to your local pet store as well as some smaller pet stores that would have different brands, and make yourself a chart that include the brand name, the price and weight and what ever nutritional information that you want to know. At least check out the protien, fat, and 1st few ingredients. Keep in mind that different sized dogs have much different nutritiona requirments. Animal nutrition is much debated and I suggest that you go, do your research from good sources and then make your own decision based on what your dog needs and what you can afford

I agree that science diet sucks, it's 1st ingredent for the puppy food was corn for crying out loud! Dogs eat meat!

Answer 10

The best dog food is no dog food. Dog food was created as a means of utilizing waste left from food for human production. The dog food industry has come a long way but artificial food is not healthy. Please go to www.tipschihuahuas.com and go to my nutrition page. There are links there as well as my own information.