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Best food to buy for my gals.

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Sophie I'm sweet but- sassy!     Barked: Mon Feb 25, '13 11:53am PST  Hey everyone. For those not on the raw food diet what dog food do you feed your dog(s)? Tell me the benefits from your dog food choice. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

UCH Onyx TT Do you even- lift?     Barked: Mon Feb 25, '13 5:05pm PST  Well I feed raw, so I don't have a personal recommendation, but have you looked at the So You Are Confused By Dog Food thread? It lists some commonly recommended, high quality foods. There's definitely no one-fits-all answer when it comes to dog food, so you might need to experiment a bit to find what your dogs do best on. Most dogs on foods that agree with them will have shiny coats, good energy levels, low dog odor, non-offensive breath, solid stools, ect. If price is no concern, you could consider a dehydrated raw food like ZiwiPeak. Orijen Red is another pricey but very nutritious food. I also like Nature's Variety pretty well. But again, the important thing is to find a food within your price range that your dogs do well on, which won't necessarily be the same food other people's dogs do well on. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Member Since 02/02/2013     Barked: Mon Feb 25, '13 7:50pm PST  The best food for your dogs is as individual as your dogs. What is best for my dogs may not be best for your dogs. As a matter of fact, what is best for my one dog, my other dog cannot eat. Blue Buffalo Wilderness is a good brand of kibble. It worked perfectly for my one dog. Earthborn Holistics Primitive Natural is good kibble that worked perfectly for my other dog. Neither of the dogs did well on the other dog's food. There are other good quality brands out there. The thing to look for is high protein dog food that derives most of its protein from animal meat. Therefore, scratch any dog food that does not have meat as its first ingredient (by law, ingredients are listed in order of highest percentage weight contribution before processing). So, that's basically anything you find at the regular grocery store and most of the stuff your vet carries in his office. These foods usually have a plant for the first ingredient (corn). High protein means low carbs which is good for the dogs. Corn and peas are high protein but has relatively low digestability for dogs compared to animal meat. Therefore, a lot of the protein just goes in the mouth and out the butt. Protein from animals has a higer digestability, therefore, the dog uses most of it. I prefer my protein at 30% or above, and at least in the high 20's. Grain free is good if you have a breed that is prone to allergies. But, for those that are not allergy-prone, grain free dog food is only better if it is not subsituted by another high carb starch that still keeps the carb percentage high. Do not get anything that has "generic meat" such as "poultry" instead of "chicken" or "turkey" or "duck" or something that says "animal meal" instead of indicating the specific animal like "beef meal". Do not get anything that says "by product" on the meat ingredient. There are a lot of other stuff to watch out for but it is better to do your first stab at picking the kibble from those guidelines above then when you find one go to something like dogfoodadvisor.com to see how it rates. Hope this helps. Edited by author Mon Feb 25, '13 7:56pm PST my posts [notify]

Member Since 02/27/2013     Barked: Wed Feb 27, '13 1:32am PST  Great advice above, so use that information when you look for a food. My website petfoodratings.org covers a number of main brand foods which I've reviewed although there are many I haven't. It also depends on your dog as different foods work for different dogs (we all have different tastes right!). You may need to try a few of the better foods to see what's right for your dog. my posts [notify]