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I give my dog "Puppy Chow" but now people are telling me it is the worst dog food brand and it can damage my her joints.
When I first got my dog Sunny, the owner fed her "Puppy Chow". Sunny doesn't really seem to enjoy her food much at all. I thought she was just playing with me. I need help! What is the best dog food brand?
I agree with Bam-Bam. Science Diet is no good, neither is Iams or Eukanuba.
Go the the link Bam-Bam posted, thats how I came to choose the food my dog eats.
there is commercial and commercial higher end brands.
I don't like to recommend alot of brands because of the recalls and such.
I can only say I have luck with solid gold products, some success with special foods such as innova can.
I feed other things not in a bag.
I think it depends on your dog. One of mine gets the cheaper pedigreed. He is 9 yrs and he is little dog.
He does great on it. He is healthy, shiny coat and is very robust for his age. He runs outside like a rocket. He jumps over Dieta's back, under her , around her.
He has no joint problems, never did.
He shows no signs of even arthritis.
I think maybe someone scared you some.
Try Orijen and solid gold wee bits, she might like those. good luck with whatever brand you decide on. happy halloween!
Whoever told you it could damage her joints either doesn't know what they are talking about or is lying. Such nonsense is very common. The truth is, there isn't any good information generally available about different brands. dogfoodanalysis is a joke, a bad joke at that. It is all speculation based on the ingredients. There isn't the least bit of scientific study behind it.
If she is a year old, go ahead and switch to an adult chow. The Purina would be fine. If you move up to a meat based chow, you can feed a little less and have smaller, firmer stools to clean up. Make the switch over at least a week.
Most of what I know about about dogs, I have learned from a dog guide school. Years ago, they fed Purina with quite good results. They did switch to Pro Plan and the dogs are still doing fine. I assure you the highly educated, highly experienced professionals managing the program know more than everybody here put together. Also, none of them are selling premium food.
I also look for grain free foods like Evo, Innova, and Taste of the Wild. If the number one ingrediant is corn, then you might as well give the dog Fritos. Purina is corn chips. No wonder it looks brown in the bowl, but yellow on the lawn.....
*An interesting note....I'm switching my dogs food. Once Pepper was old enough for adult food I figured she and Snickers could eat the same. BUT, he at age 6 is getting plump. They weigh the same, but she's longer and taller and was too thin. Research time: Per cup the food I was giving Snickers has 391 kcal/cup (low fat!), the regular for Pepper, 511 kcal/cup. Too much for Snickers, not enough for Pepper. So he's going to Taste of the Wild- Bison and Venison, ( 370 kcal/cup), and Pepper is going to Evo Chicken/Turkey, ( 537 kcal/cup)
Your dog will be fine; however, it is best to feed a healthy food that has a named meat and/or a named meat meal in the first five ingredients. No corn, by products, or animal digest in the food. If you change your dog over to this type of food she will be healthier, have a shiny coat, no bad breath, and may live longer. (Just like the old guy who smokes, bad stuff doesn’t give everyone cancer but why chance it?) Taste of the wild, Blue buffalo… there are a lot of good dog foods, but you won’t find them in a grocery store. You will have to go to a pet store or a feed store. www.dogster.com www.dogster.com
Don’t mind Aster, he has some good sounding cut and paste, but since he can’t name any of these schools he is so proud of, I have come to believe they are a figment of his imagination. I can’t think of any other reason he would hide sources. Most of what he posts is misguided.
Well I have my doubts that it will ruin your joints I dont know any food that will do that. Puppy chow isnt the worst but it is far from the best. Its very grain heavy. But not even using good quality grains. Its got lots of corn and glueten and by products. And it uses menadione which I stay far away from. Also for the low quality ingredients it is very expensive. You can find much better for lower price or the same price. Check out dogfoodanalysis.com for a list and overview of all the dog foods. Its an interesting site. Foods I like are Merrick, Orijen, Summit Holistics, EVO,Innova EVO, California Naturals, NOW grain free, GO grain free and grain inclusive, NAtures Variety both prarie and instinct........ and much more. :D
Research all sides, and decide for yourself. Please, don't trust any one source. Not me, not the vet, not the guide dog "nutrition experts", not anybody. Think for yourself.
"Whoever told you it could damage her joints either doesn't know what they are talking about or is lying."
I can partly agree with you there, Aster. I cannot see how it could damage the joints. Of course, I'd certainly be willing to see what whoever claimed that has to say and his sources. Maybe there is a reason.
"The truth is, there isn't any good information generally available about different brands. dogfoodanalysis is a joke, a bad joke at that."
I find it disturbing, Aster, that you don't encourage people to look at both sides. How are they supposed to find the truth without looking at both sides?
"It is all speculation based on the ingredients."
*breaks out laughing* Ingredients don't matter--! That's a good one! Hey, guess what everybody! I can eat junk food and as long as I eat it so that the nutrients are balanced, I can have a balanced diet! Yay! Let's break out the Cheetos and Dr. Pepper! LOL!
"There isn't the least bit of scientific study behind it."
The experiences related by the vet at thepetcenter.com and others like me on how much better our dogs have done on a meat-based diet doesn't count?
Oh, and there is an old study called "Pottenger's Cats", though it compared a cooked diet to a raw one rather than a meat-based one comapred to anything else that supposedly is "balanced".
Here: therawfoodsite.com
This was before kibble and canned became popular. You can look up Pottenger's Cats all over the internet. Google it.
"If you move up to a meat based chow, you can feed a little less and have smaller, firmer stools to clean up."
And you know why the stools are smaller? Excrement is the body's way of getting rid of what it does not need. Smaller stool means that the food contained more ingredients that the body could actually use.
My raw-fed dog normally has small poops. I mean, really small. The times they have been bigger was when someone fed him something with grains in it. And my German Shepherd's poops after eating a raw meal are about the same size as Treader's. Tiny! Plus it's biodehgradable. Disappears in a few days.
"Most of what I know about about dogs, I have learned from a dog guide school."
Like they know everything. There's much to be learned all over Aster.
"Years ago, they fed Purina with quite good results."
Yeah, yeah. "Good" isn't the same as best. My dogs were Purina/Pedigree/whatever's-cheap dogs for years with "quite good" results. Since the switch to a meat-based diet however, they are doing better.
"I assure you the highly educated, highly experienced professionals managing the program know more than everybody here put together."
Nice tunnel vision. And just what are they trained in? Sure, they know more about training a guide dog than any of us, but they are not experts at everything. Heh, nobody is. And even the experts can be wrong, make mistakes, be misled, and lie. That's why I think for myself, and look at all the sides. I can be misled, sure, but it's better than trusting someone else not to do this for me.
"Also, none of them are selling premium food."
Ah, but you have yet to provide proof that they do not have a contract with Purina to use their food.
Aster, while I in a way like you being here since it gives people a chance to see the controversy and kinda prods them to think for themselves, may I ask why you are always talking about how non-factual you think we are, yet you provide very little facts yourself? Talk is cheap. Why not use in your answers all those wonderful facts you've learned, and tell people where to look these facts up? Hmmm? After dealing with you for a long time, constantly asking you to back up your statements (which you have yet to do), you've convinced me that there's little to back up what you say. How come when I asked you to provide resources for corn being chock full of animo acids, I got the silent treatment? Notta reply, not one reply. "You wouldn't believe me if even if I did give credible sources and controlled studies" is one lame excuse. How come, Aster, how come?
But I'll let the others decide for themselves.
We live in an enlightened age. Dogs are healthier than they have ever been in terms of the access to medical care and the respect their health issues are given. As a result, we know that the food we fed dogs years ago (like Puppy Chow, for example) is inferior to better quality foods. We know that corn and animal by products can cause health issues and can even sometimes be carcinogenic depending on how they are processed.
Why anyone would choose to continue to feed their dog a sub-par, outdated formula, assuming they can afford even a LITTLE better is beyond me. That is, once they KNOW. Not everyone knows about food differences. But once you know....you can do better.
Brands like Eagle Pack, Innova, Wellness, Origen and Canidae are excellent choices.
Puppy chow is not the best food, but i dont think it is damaging his joints unless it is causing an emballance in the the dogs body causing them not to grow right. It can happen, they have a reaction to something inthe food that makes them not to with the rest of the dog. hard to explain but i did have it happen to me with a dog that was given food that did not work for him.
Hey Sunny! Mom recommends reading the ingredients. She suggests a food like Ultra that has a protein source in a meal form as the first ingredient such as chicken meal. Chicken meal is just like the chicken that you and I eat but, with most of the water and fat extracted so that it is a more concentrated source of protein. It takes about 5 lbs of chicken to make 1 lb of chicken meal! Ultra also doesn't have any ground yellow corn which means less back yard clean up for your mom! There are no chicken by-products (the heads, feet, and intestines which may be found in other foods) or artificial colors or preservatives. Check the guaranteed analysis for linoleic acid and a level for at least 3.5% so Sunny can have a nice shiny coat!
Mom works for Nutro and says to check out their website at: www.ultraholistic.com
Maverick
answered 3 weeks, 4 days ago.
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