Dog Food Thread
 

Do you cook for your dog? Do you source freezer burned meat and feed them that? Do you look at the ingredient list on the bag... or is Ol'Roy at Walmart at $15 for 40lb of chow good enough food for your dog?

I'm curious how much people spend on food for their furry friends here and if there is anything in particular that they look for in the food they feed them.

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I buy Diamond Naturals All Stages food for my dogs because I have 14 year old dogs and I have 6 month old dogs... it's nice to just feed them all out of one bag. That said, I chose Diamond Naturals because the first two ingredients are both meat. Did reviews and found that the Naturals line of Diamond brand food is rated highly. The kicker, though, is that it is $38 for a 40lb bag. That is by far the cheapest I can find dog food that has meat as it's first two ingredients.

https://www.chewy.com/diamond-natura...xoCSVIQAvD_BwE

https://www.diamondpet.com/wp-conten...ont-080521.png

Science diet since always

Costco chicken and rice dry food for all of mine. Coats are pretty, healthy looking, no farts. Pretty cheap compared to the better brands. Think it's $30 for 40lbs.

Same two first ingredients as the one you listed.

costco mature dog food, I think it's diamond brand with a kirkland label. She seems to do well with that food, one time I got her beneful or whatever and her hair started looking pretty rough.

some canned food because she loves that shit

some pieces of meat when I cook it (the unseasoned part)

biscuits, treats and an occasional tortilla chip as a treat she loves those. Also carrots, she loves a few pieces of carrots every once in a while.

You got me excited... but I don't see it at that price. I see it at $45.

https://www.costco.com/CatalogSearch...kland+dog+food

My boy Louie farts up a storm no matter what he eats. The dude is constantly ripping. He will wake himself up after farting. It is highly amusing.

Purina pro plan large breed

https://www.chewy.com/purina-pro-pla...8aAtQNEALw_wcB

Salmon oil added once per day as a supplement. This stuff is great for coat shine and tons of other benefits with omega 3 fish oil. I just squirt it on the kibble

https://www.vitalpetlife.com/product...MaAub1EALw_wcB

Hard boiled eggs for treats. Plus chicken hearts and gizzards. Chicken and beef liver. All of which are my treats but I give in and share with the big fart knocker

We just got our first puppy last month so new to this we have just been using the same stuff the breeder gave us Royal Canin pupp food

first 5 ingredients
water sufficient for processing
chicken by-product meal
chicken
chicken fat
chicken fat

no clue if that is good or not haven't had time to research it yet, Puppy loves sugar snap peas, red peppers

Royal Canin is owned by the Mars family. I'm not an expert, but I think it's a quality product. They also own the Nutro brand.


The first ingredient you listed "meal" will usually have a high concentration of protein. I'm surprised that there wasn't something on the bag saying "First ingredient - chicken." When you see that it typically means that they're using a slurry instead of dry meal.

The cheap dog foods are usually full of corn, which is just filler. The high end stuff is probably good, but damn, it's going to get expensive if you don't have a small dog. Hills, Blue Buffalo, Royal Canin are all good. Merrick, a brand that TSC carries, is also go od. Just find something your dog will eat.

Oh, and moderation is key. And don't give them table scraps; dogs need more than just protein so you shouldn't just give them chicken over night. And if you happened to have bought your fur baby from an old guy in Chinatown you probably shouldn't feed him after midnight.

Wife was buying some iams something or other that had meat as the first 2 ingredients.

But he’s old as all **** now and got pancreatitis and vet recommended switching him to science diet low fat. So that’s where we’re at now.

I’m no nutritionist, but I’m not 100% sure dogs need a pile of meat these days. Wolves sure, but these aren’t that. Domesticated dogs have been eating what we eat for like 5000 years. So during a large part of the domestication process that was probably a lot of grain.

IDK. But I heard the grains line of thinking somewhere. Might be bullshit. Who knows.

Small dog thankfully lol , we needed something my son who has allergies could tolerate and my wife wanted something that could be a therapy dog so she could bring to work . My SIL was a vet tech for years I just haven’t had a chance to talk to her yet .

https://i.ibb.co/zXM5vwS/89-B638-D3-...4-A36-D0-F.jpg

On a side note:

This is a great place to go to check out the ratings of various foods and you can sign up to have them send you an email, when there is a recall of any kind on dog food.

There are more recalls than most people think, primarily from salmonella.

https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/

Diamond Naturals Beef and Rice for my 120lb lab. He loves the grain-free stuff but there are supposedly studies showing grain-free isn't good for their hearts. Opinions on that differ depending on who you ask but I figured better safe than sorry.

Toddlers occasionally snack on pet food so these companies have to maintain human food safety standards. Well, they're supposed to anyway. I would bet that a lot of the recalls are "better safe than sorry" situations.

Another thing to keep in mind is that pet owners will switch their pet's food from some low quality stuff that is basically sawdust to a high protein premium product and then say that there is something wrong with the new brand when Rover starts shitting like a cup of pudding thrown into an oscillating fan. You have to change their diets gradually.

Thanks Bwana....Great read and very helpful to see where your pets food ranks/recommended.

I dont have dogs but I feed my cats a brand I found on some review sites that I've never seen mentioned anywhere else called "Go!". It's not cheap by any stretch of the imagination but the first 5 or 6 ingredients are all protein, same goes for their dog food.

One other thing you really have to look out for is "Ingredient Splitting." There is some shady stuff going on on the dog food world and it pays to do some research.

Here's on article on it, from the place I posted about earlier in the thread.

https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-f...ent-splitting/

Elk antler is super handy if your dog is a heavy chewer
Mine goes through an XL in a couple months

https://www.ebay.com/itm/16383111849...evt=1&mkcid=28

I remember getting my first Doberman in ‘07 and reading through all the research for the right pup food to start him on... what a pain in the ass and so much bs out there. It is nice to find a vet that doesn’t push whatever brand they sell but gives you a handful of brands to choose from. I got lucky finding a vet like that this time around. Years ago it was trial and error and just a major pain in the ass.

Dog food industry was created to make profits off of contaminated food. Boil it down and spray it with animal fat so Bowser will eat it. I just give my dogs fresh meat veggies and some rice. It's not much more money and not that hard. You can pay a little more now or pay a lot more later.

Yeah a good vet is worth their weigh in gold. A lot of them try to push products when you are walking out the door and it has a "I'm calling you about an extended warranty on your vehicle," telemarketer feel to it.

I have found country/farm vets are the best. Still gotta find one here.

Yeah this one I was asking about a hip/joint supplement for a large breed pup in the first year. A once a day tablet vitamin type regimen. He looked at the food ingredients on the food I fed him and I brought in a bottle of the salmon oil and he said I can sell you a supplement but what you have there is going to work just fine. You don’t need to add anything else.

In the nw Iowa part of the state where I’m at lots of vets do cattle horses and all livestock so word travels fast if they are liars or dickhead salesman type

Just as an FYI, I know that grain-free foods have become increasingly popular over the last ten years (Blue Buffalo, etc.) but there appears to be a link between those foods and an increased risk of dilated cardiomyopathy, especially in certain breeds.

We have a very athletic Vizsla mix and a fat lab mix.

They are both free range over thousands of acres. Basically dog heaven.

Purina high protein and energy, with all of our leftovers. Add in hunted rabbits and birds. The Vizsla is such a stud she can catch anything and make it look easy.

Drove the 4 wheeler next to her when she's running and she keeps up to 33-34mph and her head looks stationary when she's hauling ass. Not a single wasted motion.

Well shit. I honestly haven't paid much attention I suppose. I know it was hovering around that $30 mark when I started feeding it to them all about 3 years ago.

Lol, never seen those studies but I would bet they are paid for by dog food manufacturers that use corn as the first ingredient.

For anyone that doesn't know, the first ingredient listed is the the largest amount. So, if you dog food lists corn as the first ingredient (or one of the first few) it's garbage.

I give my boxers Blue Buffalo. It's somewhat expensive but it keeps them in good health.

We have a Hills plant here so every vet in town has a huge Science Diet display. 😔

https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinar...cardiomyopathy

Seems like they are focusing on how much peas and potatoes are replacing the grain.

Science diet since it has the glucosamine supplement in it

I get what my vet says to get.
$60 for a 50lb bag.
Can’t remember the name but it’s got a lab with a lightning bolt shooting out it’s ass on the front of the bag
Zeke is doing fine on it.
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I'm all out of dogs but with my last brace of dogs (English Setters) I did some research and settled on Native. That's all I ever fed them. It's made by Kent. I did the research at https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/

https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-f...-dog-food-dry/

https://kentfeeds.com/product-lines/native/

I really miss the dogs this time of year.

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...ree/Dogman.jpg

I bet you do man. Hell you were going to drive all the way out here for birds at one point.

I would have. I hunted by a little town called Lewis one year. I forget that old mans name but he was a character. We harvested 10-12 roosters. Well me and my dog Casey did while the other guys just kind of walked around wasting ammo.:D

ROFL

Ground beef, ground turkey, chia seeds, flax seeds, broccoli, green beans with added vitamins. Tired of having my beautiful dogs die of f'n cancer.

Freshpet, recommended by my vet. The vet we have is amazing. As Bwana said, worth his weight in gold. The Freshpet is in a fridge in the pet aisle in my food store. I've also seen it at Walmart and Target. It's not cheap, but in 13 years I've never had any food/allergy issues with my dog.

Just food for Dogs is what I feed my dog, it’s a local dog food. I also give him treats as well.

Hill's Prescription Diet. It’s like a hundred a bag from the clinic.

Only Wolf’s Tooth rat flavor. Good food for mean dogs.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...256d34b2be.jpg

MJ this is the price at my Costco in north kc. Website is way higher for whatever reason


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got a blue heeler with a grain allergy, he gets colitus every time he eats grain based dog food ! so i use nutrena loyall salmon and sweet potato feed, its 32.00 for 30lb bag a little pricy but cheaper then a vet visit and they love it.

Love me a blue healer. Mine is getting old. :(

My dog only eats cat food and table scraps.

Only food he's ever eaten other than once when the Egg House was out, and canned the few times I haven't been able to get to the Egg House before running out.

Well shit... I kinda wish I had a Costco membership now. That is $8 per bag less expensive than what I use and I'm plenty pleased with the ingredients.

Nice find!

You really need to think about giving him some kind of chocolate supplement to balance out his diet.

Pretty sure that brand had several recalls in the last year.

Nothing but Ol’ Roy for my pets.

They had one on certain lot numbers. And that's why the Egg House didn't have any in stock.

Isn't broccoli toxic to dogs?

BTW, the dogfoodadvisor website recommendation was a great one. I have been using it for years. Was just reading this and thought it would be good to share here. Look at that Kibbles and Bits Homestyle ingredients label.

-BHA (a controversial preservative that causes cancer)
-Corn Syrup
-Propylene glycol (isn't that engine coolant?
-Titanium dioxide (WTF? This is what is used to make paint and thermoplastics white in color)

A good read on these so-called premium/gourmet/natural/homestyle labels.
https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/choos...rmet-dog-food/

Same stuff I use - same reasons.

Spent several days doing homework on it when I got my first dog about 15 years ago. Then we picked up his sibling about 7 months later (owner couldn't keep him). He was nowhere near as deep brown and within about 2 months his coat had changed color to the same deep chocolate his brothers had always had with us. To my eyes that was proof positive of the quality of the food. I haven't felt inclined to re-educate myself on reading the damn dog-food label so I've just stuck with what works.

Now with the rotty I suspect I should probably get something a little higher in protein content since he's just so damn high drive and high energy. 3 years old and he's still a tornado. Ultimately I could probably feed him live cats and he'd still be a terror so whatever.

One thing I will note is that all my dogs have ended up on the smaller side of where I expected. The rotty especially. His dad was a moose and his mom quite big as well. He was the clear alpha of the litter (still a headstrong ass) and the biggest puppy but he's just never broken 80 lbs. My 2 chocolate labs were around 72-78 depending on how close I monitored them (they dropped into the 68 lb range in their teens when they slowed down and I tried to keep the weight off them through senior food to protect their hops. The black lab sits around 85-90 (he's a tank; just built differently -- still on the shorter side of breed standard though).

Not sure if the foods played a role or if it's just some fluke coincidences. Afterall, the 'rescue' sibling started on a different food through a lot of his development months and ended up the same size as his brother with our chocolates. And the black is as healthy as can be, just never got very tall. His mom was on the squatter side as well. So maybe the Rotty was just a bit of a fluke occurence.

We have a full size Bernedoodle. She is quit sensitive to chicken and chicken byproducts. This is what we found works great.
https://vetdiet.com/us/product/adult...th-all-breeds/

https://vetdiet.imgix.net/wp-content...12&auto=format

We have noticed this on heavier stuff that isn't too expensive, they bake the shipping into the online site cost.

We use this same food for our GSD mix. Costco Nature's Domain is made by Diamond (confirmed) and I believe the grain-inclusive Kirkland food is made at the Diamond facilities with a Costco recipe.

Usually just adult Purina dog chow. But after hearing the ads on the radio a few thousand times I went and ordered some Dinovite and have been mixing it in with their food the past few weeks. It has all kinds of supplements and vitamins in it. Their coats are looking better and they seem more energetic these days. Has anyone used Dinovite before? Just wondering if it's worth it.

We use "Taste of the Wild" grain free, Buffalo and Bison. Rated highly on the link Bwana posted.

Our two dogs, both in my lap right now, a Yorkie and a Yorkie/Pom mix are pretty particular and still sort through the kibble and set aside anything they don't like.

According to the link Bwana posted, it is made here in Missouri.

Mrs. mixes canned Pedigree chunks with it since our 14 year old has only a couple teeth left. I just looked it up and the canned stuff is rated poorly.

Now we need to find a canned one that is rated better.

Thanks for posting this thread. If people were like dogs we would have no problems in this world.

If you live in the KC area near a Natural Grocers or HyVee, you can find a local (Lawrence, KS) based dog food business that my buddy and his brother recently started called Love Grub. Great guys and my dog seems to be quite happy with their food. You can look up the ingredients they use at https://www.mylovegrub.com/our-products

The best post here, BTW. Why people don't want to feed their dogs real food is beyond me. It's not much more expensive that an ultra-premium dog food. My dogs eat pretty much all proteins although they process ground beef, ground lamb and eggs best. I always have the rice cooker on so I mix sometimes. My dogs love asparagus and brussel sprouts. If the dog is really their best friend I don't get why people want to feed it shit. I posted a thread on this years ago and shortly there after Klosters dog died from contaminated dog food, Purina if I am not mistaken. The whole industry was created to make a profit off of this contaminated shit. Boil it down and spray it with some animal fat so bowser will eat it, you know kind of like the MSM. LOL Supps and treats are their own subject.