can anyone tell me a good dog food?

thank you all ~ minnezmomma

I am feeding Wellness Core original to my lab and my rattie. I was feeding Innova Evo (it is a good food), but the protein content was too rich for the dogs and they were having very loose stools. All is well now on the Wellness. On both the Evo and the Wellness, my lab's coat improved considerably. He was having alot of dandruff and now in just a few weeks it is minimal. He was on Beneful (a continuation of what his previous owner fed him) and I wanted to switch him from it. I am planning to give them 1/2 kibble and 1/2 raw but that will be a gradual process. I've had paisley (rattie) for just under 2 weeks. She was on Solid Gold small dog maintenance which appears to be a good food too, but she abandoned it pretty quickly for the new food, so maybe it is not super tasty?

I am using Eagle Pack Holistic Select (multi-stages).  I have a rattie puppy and a senior lab.  The extra Omegas(3&6) are supposed to be good for my labs dry skin.  And I was a bad girl for years and fed the lab yucky dog food.  After getting the pup, I did research (and read a lot of opinions in here) and decided to switch to natural foods.

btw...  if anyone has heard anything bad about this brand, please let me know.

I've never known a dog that didn't like BillJac   It's pricey, but still.  Right now, I feed Princess Science Diet Sensitive Skin because it's what the other dog needs due to skin issues.  So she gets that extra help to keep her skin from being irritated   Either way, whatever you pick, make sure you take a look at the ingredients.  Corn is up high on the ingredients of cheap blah types of brands.  It's sometimes hard for dogs to take, but I've had some pretty picky dogs.  I named mine Princess after all.  She won't eat any cookies except BillJac cookies LOL.  Seriously...the other dog gets all the milk bone cookies we just bought all to herself.  Princess won't touch them! What a diva!

Stephanie, Princess' mommy.

JMO but Science Diet Sensitive Skin (I just looked up the ingredients in case they were actually producing something healthy) is really bad food.  The first ingredient is brewers rice, then corn...no meat product until the 4th ingredient.  Also...chicken liver "flavor" - what is that?  Something to flavor the stuff and make them want to eat it!

Vets push the SC because they get money from SC for vet schools but most of it is crap.  There are much better foods out there.  My BIL's border collie died a couple of weeks ago (she had kidney failure) and hubby was always telling him to feed a good food but he fed her Beneful () and SD....he thought if a food was expensive it must be good!  Well, he gave us the leftover bags of food.....we gave them to a shelter.  No way would I feed any of my dogs that stuff.

 

Sensitive Skin Adult

http://www.hillspet.com/hillspet/products/productDetails.hjsp?PRODUCT<>prd_id=845524441760397

Stephanie...
 Ingredients in "Science Diet Sensitive Skin"...

Brewers rice, corn gluten meal, chicken by-product meal, corn meal, animal fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), dried egg product, vegetable oil, chicken liver digest, fish meal, DL-methionine, L-lysine, taurine, L-tryptophan, preserved with mixed tocopherols, citric acid and rosemary extract, beta carotene, minerals (potassium chloride, calcium carbonate, salt, ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenite), vitamins (choline chloride, vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, ascorbic acid (a source of vitamin C), niacin, thiamine, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement).

Brewers Rice that is missing most of it's nutrients that whole rice has.

Corn Gluten Meal is an inexpensive by-product of human food processing which offers very little nutritional value and serves mainly to bind food together. It is not a harmful ingredient but should be avoided simply for its poor nutritional value and quality. Corn in general is concidered a low quality ingredient and should NEVER be on of the first ingredients in a dog food.

Chicken By-product meal usually consists of low quality chicken parts such as feet, beaks, and feathers that are hard to digest and can stress a dog's kidneys.

Animal Fat is from an undetermined source. It could be ANY animal, including roadkill, dead zoo animals, and even euthanized cats and dogs!! Not only can this be canabilizing your dog, put the chemical used to put animals to sleep makes it through the rending process and into your dog. Also, the collars, tags, and plastic bags that the dead pets have on them are not taken off before they are rendered.

Veteble Oil is also from an undetermined source, and might even have a vegetable that is poisoness for all we know.

Chicken liver Digest is from a poor quality source mad from a cooked-down broth made from unspecified parts.

Fish meal is from an unspecified fish source.

Many of the 'minerals' are oxides and sulfates, which are poorly obsorbed by your dog. They can't hurt, but they can't help either.

Science Diet is a terrible dog food, weather it is their "sensitive skin' food or regular food. It could actually be making your dog's skin issue worse because it provides poor nutrition. Biljac is also a low quality dog food. If your dog has problems with her skin, try adding some fish oils. Most dog foods (even the better ones) don't have enough omega 3 and 6s, which cause joint and skin issues.

 Try looking at thise site to read up on dog nutrition:

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=main

I tried googling to find this answer so I wouldn't sound like such a nut case (again), but didn't really find anything that made sense to me.  I was reading the ingredient list that EMG posted and of course went and read my dog food.  What is the difference between chicken by-product meal & chicken meal (which is what I see is in my brand).  I also listed the ingredients below... is there anything gross in it?

Ingredients:  Chicken Meal, Ground Brown Rice, Ground White Rice, Oatmeal, Chicken Fat (Preserved With Natural Mixed Tocopherols), Pork Meal, Dried Beet Pulp, Anchovy, Sardine & Salmon Meals, Flaxseed, Dried Egg Product, Tomato Pomace, Menhaden Fish Oil, Carrots, Peas, Sun-Cured Alfalfa, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Quinoa (Organic), Blueberries, Apples, Inulin, Beta-Carotene, Cranberries, Dehydrated Kelp, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Yucca Schidigera Extract, DL-Methionine, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, d-Pantothenic Acid, Niacin Supplement, Choline Chloride, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Biotin, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract, Inositol, Polysaccharide Complexes of Zinc, Iron, Manganese, Copper and Cobalt, Potassium Iodate, Sodium Selenite, Lactobacillus acidophilus Lactobacillus casei, Enterococcus faecium, B. subtillus, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus coagulins, Aspergillus oryzae, and Aspergillus niger.

Plain meals (chicken meal, lamb meal) consists of meat and skin, with or without the bones, but doesn't contain feathers/hair, heads, feet, horns, entrails etc. and have the proper calcium/phosphorus ratio required for a balanced diet. Meals are a very good source of meat/protein and are easily digested.
It is impossible to determine the quality of anything listed as a "by-product" (meal or not) but it is usually made of low end sources of protein like feathers, heads, feet, ect, that are hard to digest.
It looks like a good food! The only thing that would concern me is the amount of beet pulp...beet pulp isn't necessary a BAD thing, it is a pretty good source of fiber and can't really hurt your dog as far as I know, but it seems to be used as a filler here. However, it seems like a trivial matter, IMO, but others may disagree.

If that ingredients list is Eagle Pack Holistic Select Chicken & Rice then I wouldn't worry about the beet pulp.  I don't think you'll find a higher quality food.  I'm feeding it now and rotate it with their new Small and Mini Breed Formula food. 

Definition of chicken byproduct meal,  according to the dogfoodproject:

AAFCO: Consists of the dry, ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, and intestines -- exclusive of feathers except in such amounts as might occur unavoidably in good processing practices.

Chicken byproducts are much less expensive and less digestible than the chicken muscle meat.The ingredients of each batch can vary drastically in ingredients (heads, feet, bones etc.) as well as quality, thus the nutritional value is also not consistent. Don't forget that byproducts consist of any parts of the animal OTHER than meat. If there is any use for any part of the animal that brings more profit than selling it as "byproduct", rest assured it will appear in such a product rather than in the "byproduct" dumpster.

Thanks to the well-informed people on this site directing me to http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=main and one other dog food analysis site (not sure of addy now) I now feed a great food "Taste of the Wild"  It is a grain-free food.  In my case the grains where causing allergies in one of my ratties so I was feeding a science diet "corn-free" diet.  But after going to the dog food research site and reading and learning about ingredients and searching out food ingredients I learned what to look for and that the other grains and poor sources of carbs where likely contributing to his allergies as well.

My pups are doing great on "taste of the wild" and my "allergy" dog is putting on some weight for the first time in a long time - he was whippet skinny and until now ate twice what our lab ate but wouldn't keep his weight.  I figure the money we save in the amount of food fed (not to mention my animals' health) is well worth the bit of extra cost.  I feel awful that we just assumed that Boogie has a high-metabolism and that was why he didnt put weight on - I am so glad we got it right now. 

Read ,  Learn and listen to these guys... thats my advice..

Good luck to you - I know you will find a food for your babies.

PM

AAFCO: Consists of the dry, ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, and intestines -- exclusive of feathers except in such amounts as might occur unavoidably in good processing practices.

Chicken byproducts are much less expensive and less digestible than the chicken muscle meat.The ingredients of each batch can vary drastically in ingredients (heads, feet, bones etc.) as well as quality, thus the nutritional value is also not consistent. Don't forget that byproducts consist of any parts of the animal OTHER than meat. If there is any use for any part of the animal that brings more profit than selling it as "byproduct", rest assured it will appear in such a product rather than in the "byproduct" dumpster.

OMgoodness... glad I askedI think.  Seriously... THANK-YOU for the info.

Also...Science D and many other similar "store-brands" contain an ingredient surrounded by much controvery concerning it's safety...DL-Methionine.

I am POSITIVE my Labs would not have had the multitude of health problems they had had I known more ....they were fed Pedigree and other crap foods.... and one had Cushings Disease, and died from Adrenal Cancer, and the other never put on weight, and had horrid skin probs...& both lived on Steroids. ARGHH!

Yogi is a picky eater...when he was rescued the group had him on Science Diet.

I immed put him on NB (Duck Potato/Salmon-Potato), and Taste of the Wild...later Blue Buffalo products..Organic Chick & Brown Rice (OK) and Blue Wilderness Evolutionary Low Carb.

I mix em up. Add in a little cottage cheese, and also "Missing Link Omega3 Supplement".

Making up for my poor Lab's horrid diets...due to my ignorance at the time.

I think you mean Menadione.  It's a synthetic vitamin K that has been removed from most of the better foods. 

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=menadione

OOPS! Right Ski...only " caution re: DL-METHONINE" an amino acid, is that it DID cause severe terminal paralysis in PIGS fed the same...never know.

NONE of the "Naturals Foods" have that added that I know of...the amounts of added amino acids are in question apparently...

BUT!   Menadione (?) is really the worst culpret tho right????? Who can keep up!?!!!

good news!!!!

I am finally getting to the bottom of the bag of the yucky puppy chow that I've been feeding Tinkerbell since like the beginning of winter!

I plan to drive 75 miles tomorrow to go to a petco and buy her some NaturalBalance to start mixing it and change her diet. I've been wanting to for a while, but I had all the other and she doesn't eat much! I was just wondering because I cant remember. I know that Canidae is all life stages but I don't think NB is...if it is then ignore my stupid question...but if its not, do you think it will be okay to go ahead and begin feeding her the adult formula since she will be a year old in July? I have not decided which formula I will get either but I was thinking sweet potatoe and venicin (sp?)...whats the difference between that and the potatoe and duck?

The venison/sweet potato has just that in it - venison and sweet potatos.  The duck/potato has duck and potato (regular) in it. 

Most of the Natural Balance foods say they are for "all stages".  The exception being the reduced calorie variety.  The feeding guidelines for puppies are different.

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/dogformulas/PandD.html

Frankly, I don't believe any of that "life stages" stuff that the dog food companies try to sell. Here's something from dogfoodproject.com on the "life stages" scam:

"This is what pet food manufacturers want you to believe [that there are appropriate life stage formulas] but it is just a way to secure their customer base early on and increase sales. The more items in a particular line of food, the higher the visibility of their product on a store shelf - an of course the more likely people are to buy and stick with the brand through the whole life of the animal. Fact is that a food declared as suitable "for all lifestages" will feed a growing puppy just as well as a lactating bitch, an adult or a senior dog - just the amounts you have to feed will change. Puppy and senior food is often more expensive than the regular type of food of the same brand, yet does not differ much in nutritional value. Compare the guaranteed analysis and ingredient list.

Further, puppy food can cause large and giant breed puppies to grow at maximum rate, which is not healthy for them. A slower, more even growth results in far less risk of orthopedic problems and a healthier adult dog. "