dog food question.

[BreakfastSurreal]

Does anyone else here have their dog on a raw diet? Was just wondering what brand you use. I just switched kodi over from Innova puppy to Nature's Variety, and I got a bag of their raw medallions to mix in...He LOVES them. They are like eating treats to him. He has never really fancied the taste of any dog food so I am pretty happy with this. Innova is supposedly the healthiest food you can buy, it gets 6 stars on the dog food rating chart I saw, but it just tastes like shit apparently. We had to do everything under the sun to get him to eat it. I'm so glad we switched, I can already tell a difference in his mood level now that he enjoys eating his food. Nature's Variety is very healthy as well, but only recieves 5 stars. But taste has to count for something.

 

[SilentEyz]

I don't know.. My dogs eat whatever brand I can afford to get them that week..

 

[Veronica]

MIne eats science diet. But, I give him LOTS of treats. LOL

 

[Mrs Behavin]

Thats what mine eats too, Science Diet. That shit is expensive though. It makes their poo less stinky though. lol

 

[AUDRAA]

we feed our dogs Iams

 

[Jersey]

i have like a 50 pound bag of pedigree that we got with the dog, so when that's finished, in like 2009... i'll decide what to get her!

 

[BreakfastSurreal]

science diet used to be really good back in the day...but they aren't rated very high anymore..and iams, same thing...ever since Proctor & Gammel bought them out they are basically the same thing as purina or pedigree just with a higher price tag. Check out Dog Food Analysis - Reviews of kibble to see where your food rates.

The main thing with dog food is knowing how to read the labels, and what everything on the label means. The items on the labels are listed from highest to lowest quantities in the food.
To tell, you need to look for the words "animal" or "meat". This two terms are used to describe the "generic" renderings that pet food companies get from the rendering plants. they don't specific cat, dog, chicken, beef, horse, etc because they don't know. It all just comes as one big contain of "mush".

You also want to stay away from CORN (dogs can't digest this and it is a cheap filler companies use), BY-PRODUCTS (this is the feet, feathers, beaks, organs, etc of whatever animal source), BHA/BHT (these are CANCER causing chemical preservatives, or carcinogens) and WHEAT, BEET PULP, SALT, FLOUR, etc. These products should all NEVER be in pet foods.

I did a little copy and pasting to show you that Pedigree really is a crap food. There is NO human quality meats, corn is the first ingredient (a huge NO, NO), and they are preserved with BHA/BHT so the company could killing your dog.

Pedigree Chicken w/ Rice Adult
Ground Whole Corn, Meat and Bone Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Chicken By-product Meal, Animal Fat (preserved with BHA/BHT), Chicken, Rice, Natural Poultry Flavor, Wheat Flour, Dried Whole Peas, Dried Beet Pulp, Wheat Mill run, Salt,

Pedigree Complete Nutrition
GROUND YELLOW CORN, MEAT AND BONE MEAL, CORN GLUTEN MEAL, CHICKEN BY-PRODUCT MEAL, ANIMAL FAT (PRESERVED WITH BHA/BHT), WHEAT MILL RUN, NATURAL POULTRY FLAVOR, RICE, WHEAT FLOUR, SALT,

Pedigree Large Breed
GROUND YELLOW CORN, CHICKEN BY-PRODUCT MEAL, MEAT AND BONE MEAL (NATURAL SOURCE OF CALCIUM), RICE, CORN GLUTEN MEAL, ANIMAL FAT (PRESERVED WITH BHA/BHT), NATURAL POULTRY FLAVOR, DRIED BEET PULP, WHEAT FLOUR, SALT

Pedigree Choice Cuts Canned
SUFFICIENT WATER FOR PROCESSING, POULTRY, MEAT BY- PRODUCTS, WHEAT FLOUR, WHEAT GLUTEN, PEAS, SALT, CARROTS

Now that you can see Pedigree is kind of gross, look at Innova (www.naturapet.com) which is probably the world's healthiest pet food.

Innova Adult Dog:
Turkey
Chicken
Chicken Meal
Ground Barley
Ground Brown Rice
Potatoes
Natural Flavors
Ground White Rice
Chicken Fat
Herring
Apples
Carrots
Cottage Cheese
Sunflower Oil
Alfalfa Sprouts
Egg
Garlic

Innova uses ONLY human grade whole fresh ingredients in their foods. They are also one of the few companies that have been certified at a high enough standard to produce Organic foods (which means no chemicals, pesticides, etc).

If you want your dog to live longer and healthier lives, have more enegry, have a shinier coat, and have less trips to the vets, you should consider switching to a better food.

AND THESE HIGH QUALITY FOODS DO NOT COST MORE BECAUSE YOU ACTUALLY FEED LESS!!!

If you can't find Innova, here are some other great foods: Wellness, Solid Gold, Nature's Variety, Fromm, California Natural, Merrick, Eagle Pack Holistic, Canidae, Evolve. If you can't find any of these foods or are truly pressed for cash, the best thing you can by at a pet store like petsmart is Royal Canin. It has a 3 star rating on dogfoodanalysis.com.

Good luck and I hope you pass this message along to others. It's about time pet food companies were held responsible.

PS.... Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Purina, Royal Canin, Pro Plan, Walthams, etc are all the same as Pedigree..

I just looked at Science diet and they list corn as their second ingredient, and soybean meal as their 4th. I'm not trying to preach at any of you or anything, or call you bad per owners for feeding your dogs things like this. I am just trying to help educate people on better pet health. I was shocked when I learned that Eukanuba, which used to be the best dog food around, uses these bad things in their food. A lot of people don't know about this, and I think every pet owner deserves the right to know if they are putting their pet at risk later for diseases or early death. I'll post the links to some websites so you guys don't think I'm jsut trying to be a prick and call you out or anything, because that's not what I'm trying to do.
Bad Dog Food:
The Truth Behind Pet Food

 

[BreakfastSurreal]

more links to check out:
Natural holistic food and supplements for your dog, cat, horse or bird: Nature's Pet
The Truth About Commercial Pet Food

 

[Peter Parka]

I used to feed my dog special Greyhound food. For some reason greyhounds need a lot more protien than other dogs.

 

[GuesSAngel]

I don't remember what I fed my rottweiler...and I don't even know what my mom feeds her now. I do know that it's something to slim down the fat that she has on her, although she is still a fatty.

And I feel that taste would matter to the animals. How would you like to eat the same thing every day with no taste to it?

 

[BreakfastSurreal]

yeah i had that problem with Kodi. Innova was the healthiest food I could find, but it pretty much tasted like crap to him, so i had to do things like add gravy or scrambled eggs to it just to get him to eat it...but I found out recently that adding things to the food makes some of the nutrients in the food obselete, so i decided to switch. Nature's Variety isn't quite as healthy as innova, but it's still pretty high up there, and he LOVES it, so I'm glad I switched. It's still a pretty holistic and natural food.

 

[Tim]

I was looking at that site to see how they rated the dog foods and saw this

What we look for in pet foods:

Meat, meat and more meat products. Cats and dogs are carnivores, and a species appropriate diet for these animals must be based on meat. They have no evolved need of carbohydrates in their diet. Grains are in pet food because they’re cheaper than meat products, and are needed to hold the kibble bits together. Not because they’re species-appropriate nutrition for a carnivorous mammal.

I wondered, what do vegans feed their dogs? They can't feed them off the shelf dog food with meat products in them. Let me rephrase, people who don't eat meat as a statement to the cruelity that animals suffer during processing

 

[Sneakiecat]

My sister is a vegetarian and she has no problem feeding our cats and dog meat. Her reasoning is that they need it to live while humans don't have to eat it.