Dog food …..?
20 Jun 2008
Hi,
I’ve had serious problems with finding a suitable puppy-food for my 5-month-old Lhasapoo puppy. Bubba is “picky” if you will, we’ve tried IAMS (which we *thought* was healthy, and now know different) and Science Diet (Which is vet reccommended - yet I’m told it’s still unhealthy?) And he will *NOT* eat either. He seriously eats like two bites a day! Recently his IAMS food ran out (halelujah) and we went new-food shopping. We(aka; my mom - the one who can drive) don’t have time to go to the nearest petstore(about 100 miles away) to get food, so we got him “Old Roy Puppy-food” .. he loves it! AHHH! First time ever, we gave him some, he gobbled it down! So strange. And all the other foods had CORN as the #1 ingredient, but Old Roy had bones & meat, brown rice, THEN corn. He seems to think it’s “the heavenly” dog food, I just don’t know how healthy it is…?
Thanks for the suggestion, but I don’t think he’s sick - just picky
Diamond….anyone have some information on this brand? Is your dog happy with it? Is it healthy? Thanks!
19 Responses
2008 Jun 22
We get Diamond brand. It is a premium brand made in America. You can buy it at feed supply stores here.
2008 Jun 23
Maybe Bubba is sick
2008 Jun 26
I would say Natrual choice, and pro plan would be the best.
Try going to petsmart and talk to an expert on dogs.
Puppy chow, iams, pedegre are all the most popular but they are not the best.
Its like giving them junk food.
When they (poop) lol it shouldn’t be soft.
I used to work at a petsmart.
But donn’t give them to much dry food.
Mix it up a little.
2008 Jun 27
I dont think its very healthy. I would try a dog food called nutro. its pretty expensive but its what everyone has recommended to me. my friend says this “if you put trash in, trash comes right back out” meaning if your puppies bathroom break #2 is runny i wouldn’t recommended feeding that to them again but if it comes out solid its really good for them. This is what my vet and the guy at pet-smart told me to go by as well as my friend.
good luck ! & happy halloween!!!
2008 Jun 28
Ok this is a good one.
Doggy food .. sorry don’t have a dog but ……
…….. On Television there is an advertisement that says ……
“New ingredients in *********** dog food, extra taste that makes your dog come back for more”
The bottom of the Ad (in small letters) …..
“Not for human consumption”
Ummmmm who tested it ??
2008 Jun 30
unfortunatly old roy is Crap…and was on the recall listanything you can get at the typical grocery store is simply crap…
meat should be the first ingredient, NOT meal by product or bone meal, CHICKEN or LAMB.
if you have a costco neerby, their kirkland brand is actually realy good at a nice price.
canidea, innova, solid gold, royal canin, california natural, nutro, timberwolf organice, chickensoup for the puppylovers soul are all good foods…
2008 Jul 02
it’s probably one of the worst foods out there(which is no doubt why he likes it). I would very seriously consider making the drive, and stocking up on the better food so you won’t have to go often. If that is really too far away, consider feeding him raw food, all ingredients can be found at the grocery store. Just get him off old roy fast.
2008 Jul 06
Old Roy sucks as far as a dog food goes, the reason your puppy is eating it is the sugar content. If you don’t have access to a pet store often you can buy a big bag and keep it in the freezer bringing out a coffee can at a time. I always recommend Royal Canin… dogs who won’t eat anything else eat it! Also, Eagle is a good food, as is Eukanuba. Nutro Ultra is also rated as very good.
Sometimes to get a finiky eater to eat we will wet the dog food down and let it soak till it’s semi soft and add a bit of chicken broth to the mix… gradually cut out the wet and then cut out the broth (however, a good food should be pallitable without messing with it) and I know for me the Royal Canin has done that.
2008 Jul 06
Ol Roy is the WORST food you could feed. Iams, Science Diet, Eukanuba,Royal canin are the top foods . Your puppy will probably have MORE stool while on Ol’ Roy, because it is FULL of “filler”.
2008 Jul 07
Personally, I don’t think much of Old Roy. Anything with grain high on the list of ingredients is not all that great. I feed Solid Gold Wee Little Bits to my Poms. It is made from Bison and Salmon and the pieces are tiny and they love it. I admit that every now and then I buy a sack of Old Roy for my Lab, who eats like a horse, simply because it is cheap. And, you are right, dogs seem to love it. But I think of it like people liking fast food….tastes great, but not all that good for you. You can order Solid Gold on the internet, since a Petco is so far away from you. I would suggest maybe mix the two together, so your dog gets a bite or two of the good stuff, and a bite or two of what tastes good, and you make the good stuff last a lot longer, too.
2008 Jul 10
Iams, Science Diet, and Old Roy are all what I like to refer to as “crap in a bag”. It’s the equivalent of eating McDonald’s every day. Sure, you can live on it, but it’s not very healthy.
Dog food is a subject I recommend NOT trusting your vet on. The majority of vets don’t have much knowledge about nutrition.
Dogs don’t have a good sense of taste. Instead, they decide what is more edible by smell. Cheaper foods tend to be sprayed with fat so that dogs will eat them.
Do you give him snacks, table scraps, treats, etc? If so, cut all of that out of his diet (at least for now) and only give him his dog food. Call the dog to you, put the bowl down, and pick it up 15 minutes later regardless if he has eaten or not. Offer the food to him in this manner 2-3 times a day. A dog will not starve itself. It will learn that the food you give him is his food that he should be eating.
But *FIRST*, I recommend getting a better dog food.
You say the petstores are a ways away, but do you have a farm supply store? They often carry at least a couple varieties of higher quality dog food, such as “Chicken Soup” brand is often sold in farm supply stores.
Another option is to order it by mail either from the food manufacturer’s website (some have online ordering, some don’t), a petstore website, or from a site such as:
=== === ===
On choosing a good dog food:
Read the ingredients on the food you buy. Go with a high quality dog food. A grain should not be in the first couple ingredients ingredient (corn and such are mainly fillers, dogs don’t digest it well). Avoid foods that have a lot of “by products” listed.
Here is an article about byproducts:
And an article on what ingredients to avoid:
—
There is no single food that is “best”. For example, some dogs thrive on grain-free foods, while grain-free is too rich for other dogs. What you want to find is the high-quality food that *your dog* does best on. (I recommend feeding dry food instead of wet. It’s healthier for the gums and teeth.)
Some GOOD foods are :
* Merrick -
* Solid Gold -
* Canidae -
* Timberwolf -
* Orijen -
* Wellness -
* Chicken Soup brand -
* Blue Buffalo -
* Innova -
* Innova EVO -
Or check this website for good foods:
(I recommend only feeding foods rated 4, 5, or 6 stars. Anything 3 stars or less, I would stay away from.)
—
Stay away from grocery stores brands. They are low-quality foods chalk full of fillers, preservatives, dyes, etc.. (Grocery store foods are those like Beneful, Old Roy, Alpo, Pedigree, Purina, etc.)
Beware “premium” foods. “Premium” does not mean good nutritionally, and is not a nutritionally high quality food. It has the same types of ingredients as grocery store foods, just a bit better quality of those not-so-good ingredients. (Premium foods are those like Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, etc..)
Another thing to be wary of: A lot of vets will recommend what they sell in their office. They get profit from the brands they keep on their shelves, that’s why they push it. Truth is, vet schools don’t focus a lot on nutrition. It’s not saying that a vet is a bad vet because he recommends those foods, a lot of vets just are told “this is good food”, so they pass the message along without proper nutrition knowledge. Also, some dog food brands (like Hills) support vet schools, so vets have heard of it from the time they start college, which makes them think it’s good as well.
—
Higher quality food may seem more expensive at first, but it evens out. The higher quality the food, the less fillers eaten (and therefore the less poop comes out the other end). Your dog eats more to try to get the nutrition it needs, and most of the food just passes right on through. Also, it will make your animals healthier, so you save money on vet bills in the long run.
—
“Big box” petstores like Petco and Petsmart rarely have quality foods. (I do believe that PetCo sells “Solid Gold” brand, which is a quality food, but most of the foods aren’t.)
Also, grocery stores and Walmart aren’t good places to buy food either.
Your best bets for getting quality dog food are:
- small, locally owned petstores
- dog boutiques
- farm supply stores
—
When switching foods, do it gradually. I do this over about a two week timespan:
25% food A, 75% food B
50% food A, 50% food B
75% food A, 25% food B
100% food A
.
2008 Jul 11
I wouldn’t trust a brand that had lots of their products recalled recently. I give my two pups dry Eukanuba, they like it because i mix in also a bit of meat (ground beef, turkey or chicken) with small veggies, but the mayority is the kibble and they love it. Before they wouldnt eat the kibble by itself, now they are eating everything
2008 Jul 13
Only a vet or chemist can give you an accurate answer. Bubba is giving you good feedback, so don’t dismiss it. No food is good if he wont eat. We’ve been giving our Jack Russel a supplement in his dry food. It’s called Dinovite and it’s meant to help with various allergies. It seems to help our guy with allergies to his dry food and grass. Check with your vet but it seems Bubba likes it, so Bubba gets it unless a problem develops.
2008 Jul 16
Sorry, but the dog food doesnt “sound” healthy. Do you have chicken thighs at home and rice? Try giving ur puppy some boiled chicken mixed with cooked rice and steamed veggies. My dogs love it and maybe ur puppy will aswell.
2008 Jul 19
Of the foods you have mentioned, Diamond is the best. Try Diamond Naturals Lamb and Rice. It sounds like your mom is only interested in foods she can get at a mass retailer, and this is probably the best you will find in a place like that. It’s an OK food, much better than the others you have mentioned, but it’s not the BEST available. If your mom is unwilling to spend the money on a great dog food, or unwilling to drive out of her way to pick it up, go with the Diamond.
2008 Jul 21
I was going to say look for Abbyful’s essay on dog food, but I see she has posted it. Read and heed.
2008 Jul 24
Sorry to burst your bubble but Ol’Roy is at the bottom of list when it comes to healthy dog food. Iams, Science Diet, Pedigee ..They’re all the same!
They all contains ingredients such as dyes, by products, fillers, and synthetic preservatives which are BAD for animals just like they are for us.
Also an ingredient that shouldn’t even be in dog food in any form is CORN.
I would reccommend to you the foods Abbyful mentioned above they are ALOT healthier. The extra effort and dollars spent is well worth it.
I would highly suggest that you read the information on the website posted in my source list.
2008 Jul 24
That stuff is not very healthy at all. It has all kind of by-products and preservatives. The best thing for your dog would be to find a dog food that had no by-products and no preservatives (even Science Diet has this…). Also, you should mix in some wet dog food every other day or so to make it a little healthier. Wet dog food is way less processed, so it is easier to digest. Then, it is also really good to feed your dog “Extras” with their food. You can mix in things like a spoon full of cottage cheese, chopped up carrots, while grain rice, steamed veggies, or banana. My dogs love this!
2008 Jul 26
Go to both sites
dogfoodanalysis.com
dogfoodproject.com
using both sites is better than just using one. it would be better if you have a mental list of the products available there so you can check the brands out on the two sites. just make sure the formula is suitable for your dog.
I use Canidae and Solid Gold as they are the only good ones available here and I switch brands after every bag. If Innova Evo Red meat is available here I would use that as well.