I've never had a dog that wouldn't eat anything. My 10 month old bloodhound is turning her nose up to Purina Puppy Chow. What is a healthy, good tasting food that won't break the bank?

We feed Blue Buffalo to our dogs. Other foods give them the worst farts you've ever smelled.

Nutro natural

Oh, won't break the bank... Ha blue buffalo and nutro natural are both $48+ per 30lb bag

We have two new puppies that we're still trying to decide what to feed. We're currently trying Merrick food. Made in Texas and from looking at the ingredients my pups are eating better than I do.

Been doing some research on raw diets, but I think I'd have to sell my body to do that.

Natural choice 30lb bag at petsmart $39.99.

Lamb and rice.

Outlaw Feed is what I give my dog. It's a high protein no filler food, based out of temple I think. Low impact and is like $35 for a 50lb bag.

Anything without grain or rice. Ie Taste of the Wild, Blue Buffalo, etc.

I do taste of the wild. Amazon delivers, $47 a bag.
I tried raw diet. If it was just throwing them down some raw meat it's fine but once you buy all the other bs vitamins/minerals you'd be spending more on your dogs dinner than you do on your own. I'm all for feeding my dog good food but when he's eating the equivalent of filet Minot and I'm eating spaghetti then **** him.

[This message has been edited by Redlineag08 (edited 6/13/2014 6:16a).]

Costco Kirkland brand grain free food. $30 a bag. My dogs like it and its been a solid food. had them on canidae and taste of the wild before this, and this has similar results without the flatulance and at half the cost.

There is no right or wrong answer. All Dogs go to Heaven, but not all Dogs are alike. Whatever food that fits your budget and reduces the itching and Fart factor.

My stern .02. We make fat and unhealthy dogs by trying to find what they will eat. Souping up the diet with this and that. If the dog never learns that there are varieties out there they will be fine. I would stick with a good quality food and that is their diet for life barring prescription needs in the diet. My dogs the past week have pretty much gone from 2 a day to almost 1 every 2 days. Heat, storms,???. There is not a durn thing wrong with the dogs and they will not get catered to. Make sure there are not ants or something "wrong" with the food but DO NOT CHANGE IT JUST BECAUSE THEY GOT FINICKY. I feed nothing but Science diet. Dogs are healthy with no allergy, skin issue, gi issue. Always somebody to argue that so save it for somebody else. Iams, Science, Royal Canin all good stuff. Go ahead to the pet store where they will pooh pooh these. They get a better mark up on something else or if they can get you sold on a diet they exclusively carry does it make youo wonder. If raw diet so great why don't we eat raw? Vegetarian??? Same deal. Sorry got me on my soap box.

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Costco Kirkland brand grain free food. $30 a bag. My dogs like it and its been a solid food.

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I can second this. I believe that the food is actually made by Diamond, but marketed as Kirkland. Either way, we were feeding Diamond Naturals lamb and rice, and our dog ate it fine and would definitely recommend. The only reason we switched was that our dog kept getting yeast infections in her ears and our vet recommended going grain free. Once we started her on this it cleared right up.

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/
This site has reviews on almost every dry or wet dogfood out there. It'll show main ingredients, nutrition facts, etc. to help you decide what is best for your dog. In most cases, you really do get what you pay for.

Been feeding our pups and my dad's Victor for the last few years... all seem to like it and do well on it.

Can be a little hard to find... in fact, I am driving out to Taylor tomorrow to pick some up... and then on to Snow's in Lexington.

"It's not revenge... It's the reckoning... - Marcus Luttrell, USN Retired.

Not to go against dr Pete, but now with my third lab, I do know different foods do make a difference. I agree, don't go changing foods every 2 weeks because the dog is picky, but settle on a good food and stick with it if it agrees with them. Iams and similar foods are not the best in my opinion. I learned the hard way. With my 10 month choc lab, I started him on Fromms and will leave him on that. Yeah it's kinda expensive but so are sick dogs and vet bills. The type of food you feed can have an affect on more than their gut, it growing and bone health.

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Oh, won't break the bank... Ha blue buffalo and nutro natural are both $48+ per 30lb bag

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But with no fillers and other crap that 30lb bag goes a long way when a 100lb dog only needs 2 cups a day. And the flip side is a lot less dog s*** in the yard. We feed Blue Buffalo Wilderness blend and our dogs are in amazing shape.

Chicken Soup for The Dog Lovers Soul dog food

[This message has been edited by Burnetaggie99 (edited 6/13/2014 9:42a).]

You can also sign up for Blue Buffalo coupons on their website for $5 off a bag a month. Petsmart also runs sales on it too, so you could save almost $10 a bag if you time it right.

I agree with everything Dr. Pete said. I'm not going to get into the dog food debate other than to recommend you stick with a company that has been around for awhile and actually done some research and feeding trials.

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Iams and similar foods are not the best in my opinion.

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I don't feed Iams, but am curious what your reasons are?

I have done a lot of internet research on what to feed my dogs over the years and found this was far and away the most informative that I came across. And surprise! They don't make a specific recommendation. They just give things to consider.
http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/dogfoods.html

Dog Food Advisor on the other hand seems to cater to a different crowd as in "OMG, my precious Fifi is eating what"?

We use the 4 Health from TSC. ITs good stuff. It's reasonably priced.

[This message has been edited by Brazosdog02 (edited 6/13/2014 10:35a).]

If you live in the Austin area, you can pay $7.50 a year to join Tomlinson's program and you'll get 10% off every bag of food or food product you buy. That fee pays for itself in less than two bags.

Here are my two pups. "Bruno" on the right is an 8 week old Great Pyrenees. "Rocky" on the left is a 10 week old mutt. He was advertised as a Mastiff / German Shepherd mix, but his mom that the owner claimed was a mastiff looked more like an Anatolian Shepherd or maybe a Shepherd/Mastiff mix and the dog they "believe" was the dad was a "German Shepherd with blue eyes", which I think was more likely an Australian Shepherd or at least an AS mix...



[This message has been edited by Hoss (edited 6/13/2014 10:44a).]

Maverick, what I'm mainly concerned with is the wheat and corn in a lot of foods and most of all the high calcium levels for growing labs.

Dogfood advisor is quite possibly the worst website out there, little to no scientific evidence to back up their claims.

As far as tomlinsons is concerned, you can buy your food there, but do not listen to any advice they give you. My favorite was a little old lady client if ours who's dog was having recurrent diarrhea. We ran a battery of tests and couldn't find an issue. We talked about diet but the owner wouldn't switch because of what tomlinsons was telling her. Finally had her bring the actual bag of food and they had been selling her a special order cat food FOR HER DOG the whole time (she has poor eyesight and couldn't read the print). Needless to say her attorney son is having a fun time with them.

For those that are blue buffalo fans, this company was started by someone that has no pet nutrition background, but is excellent at marketing. Unfortunately their product isn't always what it is supposed to be.
petfoodhonesty.com/
There are other studies besides what Purina is doing showing their products lacking in nutrients required by pets.

DP

[This message has been edited by Bmfvet (edited 6/13/2014 1:07p).]

bmfvet, what are your thoughts on the grain fee dog foods? I feed grain free varieties to both of my labs (one has fairly bad allergies), but I'm interested in hearing your thoughts.

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From Fox Business News: Blue Buffalo Chairman acknowledges reliance on outside, third-party manufacturers, doesn't entirely rule out the possibility of a manufacturing snafu…

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Using third-party manufacturers would concern me as much as anything. Any idea how many of the boutique dog food companies use third-party manufacturers?

I think grain free is blown out of proportion just like gluten free is in people. I'm not saying grain free is bad, just that grains have gotten a bad rap. Most food sensitivities in dogs are to meat and dairy products, not grains or other carb sources. Dogs are omnivores and some of that is grains (ie coyotes eating deer corn).

Most small and many of the bigger companies are made at third party facilities. Hills only makes their own food. I know some purina facilities manufacture other brands.

Article By Dr. Karen Becker:

Feeding your pet a low quality, highly processed food filled with fillers is not good for your pet. For most dogs and cats, there is no sudden, extreme negative reaction to the commercial diet they are fed. It often takes years of low quality, highly processed food, or an unbalanced homemade diet before a pet's organs start to fail. And then there's the problem of not connecting the dots when an animal develops health problems seemingly unrelated to digestion, for example, skin allergies. Poor coat condition and itchy, dry, flaky skin is often related to a diet deficient in omega-3 essential fatty acids and micronutrients, but most pet parents and vets don't make the connection.

So there are a lot of nutrition-related health problems that aren't treated as such when they crop up. In addition, it can take several years for more serious symptoms of low-grade, species-inappropriate or unbalanced nutrition to appear.

Your pet's body is resilient. Her organs will attempt to compensate when her body isn't receiving the type of nutrition nature designed her to eat. So for a number of years, it can appear as though all is well on the outside, while things are slowly deteriorating on the inside. Those overworked organs can't be counted on indefinitely – they will eventually wear out.

As for "treating disease through diets" … the goal should be preventing disease through biologically appropriate nutrition that replicates the animal's natural diet. In my opinion, most commercial pet foods on the market today create or contribute to the diseases so many pets suffer from.

I find the vast majority of dogs do indeed improve on grain-free diets. That's because dogs have no biological requirement for grain. The only grain wild canines get in their natural diet comes predigested in the stomach contents of prey animals.

Dogs living in the wild hunt, kill and eat prey animals. They don't graze on an abundance of grasses or other sources of grain like cows or horses do. Dogs aren't herbivores. They aren't omnivores. They are carnivores, of the Order Carnivora – meat eaters.

And most pet foods containing grain contain loads of it. In fact, various forms of grain are usually the primary ingredients in those diets, because grain is plentiful and cheap. Grain-based pet foods are detrimental to the health of dogs and are even worse for cats – again, because as carnivores, dogs and cats aren't designed by nature to process food containing grain.



[This message has been edited by Burnetaggie99 (edited 6/13/2014 2:12p).]

Orijen is made at its own factory and made with fit for human consumption ingredients. The down side its expensive but you can get 20% coupons to help offset the cost some.

More background:

Champion Petfoods and Orijen are known for producing "Biologically Appropriate pet foods from Fresh Regional Ingredients." They operate on the principle that dogs should eat a diet that contains foods similar to what they would eat on a natural diet in the wild. The food contains lots of meat protein. Orijen foods have 75 to 80 percent meat and they contain 38 to 42 percent protein. This is more than most dog foods. They only have 18 to 22 percent carbohydrates which is very low. They are made with up to 40 percent fresh meats which is virtually unique. And they use a minimum of five fresh meats in each formula. There are really no other foods, especially kibbles, that are similar to Orijen.

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Dogs living in the wild hunt, kill and eat prey animals. They don't graze on an abundance of grasses or other sources of grain like cows or horses do. Dogs aren't herbivores. They aren't omnivores. They are carnivores, of the Order Carnivora – meat eaters.

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On a daily basis, my dogs eat every single hibiscus flower off our plants, graze on the Chinese fringe flower shrubs, search for pecans to eat (in season) and then check the back corner to see if any new fruit has dropped off of our neighbors tree. Maybe they are atypical, but our prior dog did the exact same thing. I get that grain is bad if it is the primary component, but my real question was is it really bad for them in moderate proportions.

Okay, I said I wouldn't do this but I can't help it.

Cats are carnivores.

Dogs are Omnivores, just like we are. Dogs were domesticated by humans thousands of years ago, and for the most part, ate the same food humans ate (scraps). They adapted to human food over time.

Dogs are not wolves or wild canids, and have different nutritional requirements. Anyone who tells you that dogs are carnivores is either misinformed or is trying to sell you something.

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Orijen is made at its own factory and made with fit for human consumption ingredients.

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They operate on the principle that dogs should eat a diet that contains foods similar to what they would eat on a natural diet in the wild.

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The only grain wild canines get in their natural diet comes predigested in the stomach contents of prey animals.

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These statements are inconsistent. Since canines don't eat "fit for human consumption ingredients" in the wild, then why do dog food manufacturers get high marks for including only fit for human consumption ingredients in their food? Even the quote from Dr. Becker says canines eat the stomachs of their prey in the wild (which we all know), but yet a dog food that includes stomach contents will get bad reviews.

I like learning about this and want to feed my dogs what is best for them, but it is almost impossible to cut through the marketing BS to actually make an informed decision.

Here's the website for the Merrick stuff we've been trying for a week or so now. I don't claim to be a dog food expert, but it had good reviews on Dog Food Advisor and the folks at Tomlinson's (who I guarantee know more about dog food than I do regardless of the cat food story above) spoke very highly of it. I was trying to decide between Merrick, Blue Buffalo, Taste of the Wild, Canidae and a few others and pretty much picked this one because it's a Texas based company and I liked the ingredient list.

www.merrickpetcare.com/

Like I said, we've only been using it a week, but the dogs seem to like it. Right now we're trying their puppy formula (click here), but they have some grain free formulas we'll probably try as well.

After I lost my last dog, my advice is listen to everybody, talk to the professionals, but please do your own research and make your decision based on that research. Too many people are biased for one reason or another (even the professionals). I'm convinced I made mistakes and my best friend paid for it.