What dog food are you feeing your furry little friend?

[m4gician]

Hey everyone,

I mainly feed my chihuahua mix dogged Ultra Hollistic food like Nutra Ultra, Technical natural, or Science Diet Natural dry dog food.

I mix in some wet dog food sometimes to add variety, but am I doing the best thing for this little guy?

[3weddings]

We feed a raw food diet exclusively to our SharPei and Bichon Frise. Since we switched to it, no more ear infections, alopecia or allergies.
There is one brand of food that your little guy would like (you can buy it prepped or make it yourself) called http://www.theskyesthelimit.com/canine_life.htm

I make batches of it weekly, and my dogs have never been happier or healthier.

[laptop-tech]

We have a Shih Tzu and feed him with MediCal, as per the vet's recommendations.

[bionicbadger]

Timberwolf & Orijen mixed.

Orijen is pretty high calorie though so you can't feed a whole bunch of it or your dog will get fat.

Also my dog gets a carrot every day too, and in the summer he eats stuff from the garden (peas, raspberries, cucumbers, etc.)

[stealth]

A healthy Malamute and Golden Retriever here. Both get Pro-Plan Seniors. Have also used Beneful and Pedigree, all without issue.
My wife works for a manufacturer, so we get whatevers at the company store (and stick with it for quite some time).
Ours luv carrots too, and the occasional apple from the tree when they're in season.

[Carpe Diem]

I feed my Springer Spaniel (Nutro) Natural Choice Lamb Meal & Rice Formula.

He loves it.

[ricoboxing]

Ol' Roy from walmart, or the no nome one from No Frills.

8.5 years old, very lean and healthy, never any problems so far.

[CSK'sMom]

We've generally always fed all our dogs either Iams or Eukanuba over the years. For some insane reason we put them on the Nutro chicken and oatmeal, probably because the instore rep touted the reduced shedding. We've had nothing but problems with the 2 yr old Jack on it. Really loose stools with lots of jelly in them and bouts of accidents in the house due to it. After 5 months on it it didn't reduce the shedding or get any better and we just switched them back to Iams new formula. Never again!

[Techhead]

By Nature @Petsmart Lamb & Rice Dry. She rarely got any wet food. Treated her too turkey drippins 3x's a year.

[TheCheez]

One of our beagles(mixed) is on straight Orijen and the other is on a mix of Orijen and the rest of his purina something or other from his last home. We've had him a couple weeks and trying to make the switch.

Both also get random veggies and other small bits from us. Both dogs are quite healthy and the new one has dropped all the last owner's porking and is quite lean.

[tancamp]

BARF for the dog (bones and raw food) and my cat is on tlc petfood since she won't go on the barf diet. They deliver and have dog food too.

[brute33]

I think a raw food diet is best but for those like me who choose not to.....

I did a lot of research on different dog foods and IMO the best dog food for the money (best value) is the Kirkland Signature Chicken and rice. I once showed the ingredient label to my vet (who sells hills prescription diet) and asked her what was her opinion. Before she read it she asked me what kind it was. I smiled and told her I would tell her after give me her honest opinion.

She read the ingredients and said if the label it true-it was a very high quality product. When i told her who made it and how much i paid for it she started to warn me that the company can play with numbers, etc.

Among my research I found this unscientific method of giving your dogfood a score. Many dog forums swear by this method. Anyways the KS dogfood scored off the chart 110%. There are a few dog foods that are better but they are 2-4 times the cost.




This is from another dog list. I thought it was pretty interesting. If your dog's food isn't listed, why not try this out and let us know! - Bonnie & Sushi

How to grade your dog's food: Start with a grade of 100:
1) For every listing of "by-product" , subtract 10 points
2) For every non-specific animal source ("meat" or "poultry", meat,
meal or fat) reference, subtract 10 points
3) If the food contains BHA, BHT, or ethoxyquin, subtract 10 points
4) For every grain "mill run" or non-specific grain source, subtract
5 points
5) If the same grain ingredient is used 2 or more times in the first
five ingredients (I.e. "ground brown rice", "brewers rice", "rice
flour" are all the same grain), subtract 5 points
6) If the protein sources are not meat meal and there are less than 2
meats in the top 3 ingredients, subtract 3 points
7) If it contains any artificial colorants, subtract 3 points
8 ) If it contains ground corn or whole grain corn, subtract 3points
9) If corn is listed in the top 5 ingredients, subtract 2 more points
10) If the food contains any animal fat other than fish oil, subtract
2 points
11) If lamb is the only animal protein source (unless your dog is
allergic to other protein sources), subtract 2 points
12) If it contains soy or soybeans, subtract 2 points
13) If it contains wheat (unless you know that your dog is not
allergic to wheat), subtract 2 points
14) If it contains beef (unless you know that your dog is not
allergic to beef), subtract 1 point
15) If it contains salt, subtract 1 point

Extra Credit:
1) If any of the meat sources are organic, add 5 points
2) If the food is endorsed by any major breed group or nutritionist,
add 5 points
3) If the food is baked not extruded, add 5 points
4) If the food contains probiotics, add 3 points
5) If the food contains fruit, add 3 points
6) If the food contains vegetables (NOT corn or other grains), add 3
points
7) If the animal sources are hormone-free and antibiotic-free, add 2
points
8 ) If the food contains barley, add 2 points
9) If the food contains flax seed oil (not just the seeds), add 2
points
10) If the food contains oats or oatmeal, add 1 point
11) If the food contains sunflower oil, add 1 point
12) For every different specific animal protein source (other than
the first one; count "chicken" and "chicken meal" as only one protein
source, but "chicken" and "" as 2 different sources), add 1 point
13) If it contains glucosamine and chondroitin, add 1 point
14) If the vegetables have been tested for pesticides and are
pesticide-free, add 1 point
Score:
94-100+ = A 86-93 = B 78-85 = C 70-77 = D 69 and below = F

Here are some foods that have already been scored.

Dog Food scores:
Authority Harvest Baked / Score 116 A+
Bil-Jac Select / Score 68 F
Canidae / Score 112 A+
Chicken Soup Senior / Score 115 A+
Diamond Maintenance / Score 64 F
Diamond Lamb Meal & Rice / Score 92 B
Diamond Large Breed 60+ Formula / Score 99 A
Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra Premium / Score 122 A+
Dick Van Patten's Duck and Potato / Score 106 A+
Foundations / Score 106 A+
Hund-n-Flocken Adult Dog (lamb) by Solid Gold / Score 93 B
Iams Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Premium / Score 73 D
Innova Dog / Score 114 A+
Innova Evo / Score 114 A+

Kirkland Signature Chicken, Rice, and Vegetables / Score 110 A+ !!!!!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nutrisource Lamb and Rice / Score 87 B
Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy / Score 87 B
Pet Gold Adult with Lamb & Rice / Score 23 F
ProPlan Natural Turkey & Barley / Score 103 A+
Purina Beneful / Score 17 F
Purina Dog / Score 62 F
Purina Come-n-Get It / Score 16 F
Royal Canin Bulldog / Score 100 A+
Royal Canin Natural Blend Adult / Score 106 A+
Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice / Score 97 A
Science Diet Advanced Protein Senior 7+ / Score 63 F
Science Diet for Large Breed Puppies / Score 69 F
Wellness Super5 Mix Chicken / Score 110 A+
Wolfking Adult Dog (bison) by Solid Gold / Score 97 A

[rdtx2002]

Steamed Chicken Livers with Rice.

[Fanboy]

My $1500 Golden Retriever gets a nice scoop of cheapo Ol' Roy every day and lots of handouts.

She's healthy, bright, has lots of energy and has never been sicker than an occasional bout of diarrhea.

We turned her into a pretty big mooch, though.

[Dustbunny]

Mine eats a raw diet too. Never again will I feed a processed food. There are just too many good things in eating whole foods and that means no vet bills for ears and eyes and other issues my dog would (by her breed) typically have fairly often.