[Laura M]

I need a HIGH quality dry dog food with absolutely NO beef product in it. My Lab is severely allergic to beef and we are struggling to find a good food with no beef. Currently on Taste of the Wild High Prairie, but after a summer of misery for him, I found it does contain some beef product. I would LOVE some suggestions please.

[Christie L]

I would like to nominate Weruva, both the dry and the canned. It’s wonderful food. I took a lot of time deciding what to feed my 2 dachshunds and 1 chihuahua mix after feeding them Acana Regionals for years. The new Acana, made in the US, is just not even close to the same food as the Acana from Canada. My dogs refused to eat it. Weruva has been wonderful and they are thriving on it.

[zcRiley]

Zignature Trout & Salmon Meal Limited Ingredient Formula Dry Dog Food

[Deborah C]

I’m looking for a fish ingredient dog food, dry and canned for my Corgi-Spaniel Mix that does NOT have any Chicken, as Chicken makes her ITCH like crazy. Any recommendations for a “budget friendly” brand to investigate??

[anonymously]

Did the vet that examined her say she was in good health? If so, I would stay with the same brand. What did the veterinarian recommend? You can leave him a message for him to call you when he has a minute and see what dog food he suggests.
My small breeds like Nutrisca dry foods. Check Chewy.com for reviews. I have never tried Blue Wilderness. The Nutrisca is a small kibble so I find the little ones do well on it.
Hope this helps:
https://www.mspca.org/angell_services/choosing-the-right-diet-for-your-pet/

http://skeptvet.com/Blog/ see blogs on nutrition

[zcRiley]

For those who don’t home cook or do raw, I accidentally came across this site while researching new “brands” of grain free dry dog foods. It’s about ingredients and what they REALLY are or mean (as if we weren’t paranoid enough LOL). Great for analyzing a brand’s quality vs. its cost if you’re not an expert yet. Yes, even high quality kibble use words as smoke ‘n mirrors. Enjoy reading!

http://www.naturalnews.com/Report_pet_food_ingredients_8.html

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction
2. Why nutrition matters for your pets
3. Pet food ingredients listed by best to worst (part 1 of 2)
4. Pet food ingredients listed by best to worst (part 2 of 2)
5. Pet food ingredients listed by frequency of use in products (part 1 of 2)
6. Pet food ingredients listed by frequency of use in products (part 2 of 2)
7. Pet food ingredients listed alphabetically (part 1 of 2)
8. Pet food ingredients listed alphabetically (part 2 of 2)
9. Worst pet food ingredients

[frani v]

after skin conditions, mainly scratching and inflammation we changed to raw food diet, but about 6 months later he broke out in a skin condition, we suspected that it was maybe a break in the cold chain but had no evidence. We changed him to a Scientific formula dry pellet food and after about one year his skin condition returned; we then made homecooked food

1.5 kg chicken breast
2 kg broccoli
2 kg carrots
2 kg butternut
This would last about 10days but after 7 months his skin broke out severly and it was inflamed ; the skin became flaky; cracked; like a cracked heel and skin broke open like a wound, we had a skin break out every 2months and our vet used cortisone injections….we have weaned him off cortisone and hes back on a fish/potato based scientific dry pellet food; hes on strong antibiotics; the skin biopsy revealed pyroderma; we have a specially prepared mixture of shampoo to kill yeast and bacterial infections; we changed his antibiotic after one month with no results; we now use a stronger one; we STOPPED giving him all human food; we have introduced ATOPICA which is a new drug that acts like cortisone with much less side effects – the skin condition is under his one armpit – hes an indoor dog who has cotton bedding washed with very little chemicals and no fabric softners.. ..I would appreciate all comments. thanks

[don h]

what would be the daily amount of vitamin c and cranberry supplements to give a 9lbs 8 month old puppy to lower urine ph and which dog food . She is on Merrick dry puppy kibbles now.

[Susan]

Hi Susie, what is the Fat % in the can food she’s eating?? fat in wet tin food is different to the fat % in a dry kibble… if it says 5% fat wet tin food that’s around 20-23% fat in a kibble… sounds like your Sadie is having acid reflux, when she is gulping give her some liquid Mylanta about 1 teaspoon, the Mylanta will settle the acid.. & feed wet tin foods under 4% fat… I prefer to cook a lean pork mince with sweet potato, broccoli, carrot etc.

[stones]

Dog food manufacturers:
Ainsworth:
Blue Buffalo (some varieties dry)
Rachael Ray

American Nutrition:
Mulligan Stew can
Natural Balance can
Wellness can

Berwind Corp WellPet:
Holistic Select
Wellness

CJ Foods:
Blue Buffalo (some varieties dry)
Castor Pollux dry* (recently purchased by Merrick Pet Food—it is not known when or if they will move manufacturing to the Merrick facilities)
Drs Foster & Smith
Nature’s Variety dry
Rotations
Timberwolf
Nulo

Diamond Pet Food (numerous plants):
4Health
Apex
Canidae* (recently purchased their own manufacturing plant—it is not known when they will or if they will move all manufacturing to their own plant)
Chicken Soup
Country Value
Diamond
Diamond Naturals
Kirkland
Natural Balance dry
Nature’s Domain
Premium Edge
Professional
Solid Gold
Taste of the Wild
Wellness (one variety)

Elmira Pet Products Ltd:
Happy Paws
Happy Tails
K9 Premium
Nutram
Sigma 7
Petcurean dry

Evangers:
By Nature can
Canidae can
Evangers can

KLN Enterprises (Tuffy’s Pet Foods):
Dogswell
Natural Planet Organics
NutriSource
Pet Time
Pure Vita

Mars Petcare (numerous plants):
Cesar
Nutro
Ol Roy dry
Pedigree
Royal Canin

Nestle:
Chef Michael
Purina
Pet Promise

Procter & Gamble (numerous plants):
California Naturals
Eukanuba
Evo
Iams
Innova
Karma

Simmons:
Blue Buffalo can
Canidae can
Castor Pollux Can
Life’s Abundance Can
Nature’s Logic Can
Ol’ Roy Can
Dogswell can
Evolve can
Petcurean can
Nature’s Variety can

[pitlove]

Hi Joseph-

You may disagree with Aimee and with the article she linked, but the information she presented to you is 100% correct. We now know that Malassezia Yeast is indeed NOT fed by carbs as once believed. The only role diet plays in the control of yeast is when a food allergy is involved.

When a food allergy is present, the immune system is weakened and allows the once controlled population of yeast naturally found on the skin, to overpopulate and thus causes a yeast infection. The key to controlling yeast is to remove the allergen trigger from the diet and therefore strengthen the immune system allowing it to do its job; controlling the yeast.

I was once like you and firmly believed that the only way I could control my dogs cronic yeast infections was by limiting or removing carbs from the diet. Once I started reviewing clinical research and discussing the subject with my vet, I realized how wrong I was and why nothing I tried was working. My dog eats a grain inclusive dry kibble with about 40% carbs and is yeast free, with the exception of the summer months when his environmental allergies flare up.

Edit: Also if you believe your dog has a food allergy you will want to do an elimination trial, also called a food trial to diagnois and confirm it. Discuss how this is done with your vet.

[Byron M]

Any suggestions / recommendations for large breed weight management Dry brands?

[InkedMarie]

This is an updated list of grain & white potato free foods. I included dry food only, no wet, raw, dehydrated or freeze dried. I included no part of white potato. Some foods on the prior list have been discontinued and a couple I can’t find ingredient lists for. I used the foods websites, not a pet food sellers website.

ACANA-Meadowland Regional
Wild Atlantic Regional
Appalachian Ranch Regional
Heritage
Heritage Freshwater Fish
Lamb & apple singles
Pork & squash singles
duck & pear singles
Wild Mackerel singles
Grasslands

AMICUS-small & mini breed adult
small & mini breed senior & weight management
small & mini breed puppy

ANNAMAET-Salcha Poulet

ARTEMIS-Osopure salmon
Osopure bison

AVODERM-senior health
joint health grain free chicken
Revolving Menu-all

BACKWOOD-buffalo & field pea
chicken & field pea
salmon & field pea

BROTHERS COMPLETE-all

BY NATURE-grainfree turkey & sweet potato
grain free ocean whitefish & green peas

CALIFORNIA NATURAL-all grain frees

CANIDAE-PURE Land
Pure Wild

CANINE CAVIAR-grainfree puppy
Leaping Spirit
Open Sky
Wild Ocean

CHICKEN SOUP-grainfree beef
grain free lamb

DAVES-both grain frees

DOG FOR DOG (formerly Freehand) both grainfree’s

DOGSWELL-Live Free salmon
Live Free chicken
Live Free turkey
Live Free lamb

EARTHBORN-Great Plains Feast
Meadow Feast
Large Breed
weight control

EVANGERS-grainfree whitefish & sweet potato
grain free chicken
grain free Meat Lovers Medley

EVO-all

FROMM-4 Star lamb & lentil
4 star pork & peas

GO! Sensitivity & Shine LID Duck
Sensitivity & Sine LID salmon
Sensitivity & Shine LID venison
Sensitivity & Shine grain free turkey

GRANDMA MAE’S COUNTRY NATURALS-grainfree only

GREAT LIFE-Dr E’s LID buffalo
Dr E’s LID duck
buffalo
salmon
chicken

HALO-Vigor turkey, chicken & salmon

HEALTH EXTENSION-grainfree buffalo & whitefish
grain free venison & chickpea
grain free duck & chickpea
grainfre salmon, herring & peas

HI TEK NATURALS-lamb, sweet potato & herring
chicken & sweet potato
Alaskan fish

HOLISTIC BLEND-Marine 5

HOLISTIC SELECT-grainfree adult health

HORIZON-Pulsar: fish
chicken
turkey
Legacy: salmon
adult
puppy

I AND LOVE AND YOU-salmon & trout
Nude: Simply Sea
Poultry Palooza
Red meat medley
Naked Essentials-lamb & bison
chicken & duck

KASIKS-Wild Pacific Ocean
Free Range lamb
Free Run Chicken

LOTUS-oven baked grain free turkey

MERRICK-grainfree rabbit & chickpea
grain free venison & chickpea

MUENSTER-grainfree all life stages

NATURAL BALANCE-Wild Pursuit: Trout/Salmon/Tuna
chicken/turkey/quail
lamb/chicken/guinea fowl
LID: legume & duck
legume & Wagyu Beef

NATURAL PLANET-rabbit & salmon
duck & whitefish

NATURAL PLANET ORGANICS-all grain frees

NATURES RECIPE-grainfree chicken, sweet potato & pumpkin

NATURES VARIETY-Instinct: all

NRG-Optimum line

NULO-all

NUTRISCA-all grainfree

NUTRISOURCE-grainfree chicken & pea
grain free seafood select
grain free lamb & pea
grain free small breed chicken
grain free Prairie Select

ORIJEN-all

PET BOTANICS-Healthy Omega chicken
Healthy Omega salmon
Healthy Omega lamb

PET KIND-all

PINNACLE-grainfree trout & sweet potato
grain free duck & sweet potato
grain free chicken & sweet potato

PIONEER NATURALS-all grain free

PRECISE-both grain frees

SOLID GOLD-Mighty Mini
Lil Boss
high protein with duck

SPORT DOG FOOD-Elite Beef
Elite whitefish
Elite chicken
Elite venison

TASTE OF THE WILD-Appalachian Valley
Pine Forest
Southwest Canyon

TUSCAN NATURALS-Ocean

UNDER THE SUN-All grain frees

VICTOR-grainfree active dog & puppy
Yukon River
lamb
chicken
Ultra Pro
Hero

WELLNESS-Core Wild Game
adult chicken
Tru Food: adult salmon & turkey
adult lamb
adult chicken
puppy

WILD CALLING-Rocky Mountain Medley-all
Western Plains Stampede all
Xotic Essentials-all

WYSONG-Epigen 90

ZIGNATURE-LID trout & salmon
LID kangaroo
LID turkey
LID lamb
LID duck
LID whitefish
Essential multi protein

ZOIC-all

4 HEALTH-puppy
small breed adult

[Susan]

Hi Peter, I have the same problem with my dog Patch that has IBD & food/skin allergies, tooo many big poo’s on certain kibbles…..Look at the Protein % as well, too much protein can also make poos bigger & softer, when my IBD boy eats a kibble with 30% & over in protein, he does 4-5 poos a day & when he eats kibbles with fillers like corn, gluten meal, barley, oats, millet, he gets itchy smelly skin & does big sloppy poos.. when I feed a kibble with under 30% protein around 26% protein & grain free with limited ingredients, my boy does only 2 poos a day…Taste Of The Wild, Sierra Mountain Roasted Lamb seems to suit him the best out of all the kibbles I have tried & Canidae Pure Land, he does 1-2 small poos a day. Both these kibbles have limited ingredients…

Just keep rotating different brands of kibble until you work out which brands your pup does the best on, then rotate between them, never just feed the same brand for years & years also start adding some fresh whole foods to his kibble as well…

Finally people are telling these pet food industries, we’ve had enough, we love our pets & we want the best for them & don’t want to feed a kibble with maize, corn gluten meal, beet pulp, tallow, by-product meats, preservatives, food colouring etc…..
Back in the 1940-1980 dogs were feed table scraps & those dogs were much more healthier, they were not feed processed kibbles with maize/corn, gluten meal & by-product meats, they ate what we ate…then in the 90’s Hills & a few other pet food companies started saying, Don’t feed foods we eat, it’s not good for your dog, your dog needs a well balanced diet dry KIBBLE & people followed like sheep & still to this day, there’s still some un educated people who say “Oh no, you can’t feed your dogs & cats foods we eat”…..
50 yrs later finally people like Rodney Habib (someone you should follow on F/B) is saying enough is enough to these pet food companies & educating people to feed fresh meats, fresh fruits, fresh veggies again like our parents did…..Back in the 50’s 60’s & 70’s, dogs didn’t get cancer & have all these food & skin allergies, dogs didn’t have as many health problems as they do today, why??
Watch a video Rodney Habib put together called “Maggies Story the Oldest Dog in the World” Maggie was a kelpie X Cattle dog that lived on a dairy farm, Victoria Australia, she wasn’t over vaccinated, she only had her puppy vaccinations, she wasn’t desexed until she was 14yr old cause a dairy worker brought his dog with him & Maggie fell pregnant, she lived till she was 30yrs old & just passed away in her sleep this year…she wasn’t feed kibble, you have to watch the video to see what she ate & drank…

Your on the right track, you’ve know about ingredients in kibbles, now start looking at healthy foods to add to the kibble, they did a study & found dogs that were feed 1 tablespoon of fresh foods added to kibble just 3 times a week reduced their chances of getting cancer, the post is on Rodney Habib F/B page, there’s lots of excellent info on Rodney F/B page https://www.facebook.com/rodneyhabib/?pnref=story

Have you tried Ziwi Peak Air dried raw?, I use the Ziwi Peak as treats when I don’t have any fruit like apple, water melon or raw almonds & I have just started my 5 month kitten on the cat Ziwi Peak & then when she loses her teeth I will be giving her a chicken wing once a week to clean her teeth, look after your pups teeth, small breeds are prone to teeth problems, give a raw chicken wing once/twice a week for breakfast, peel off the skin so there’s less fat…also email kibble companies & ask for samples..Ziwi Peak sends out samples http://www.ziwipeak.com Good-Luck

[InkedMarie]

If the dogs raw diet hs meat/bone/organ/tripe in it, feed that food only. You don’t need a dry food.

[Sheila H]

Please take a look at the Annamaet Salcha’s. There are 3 different Salcha varieties. My Shiba Inu eats the chicken-turkey-duck variety and is doing very well. She is allergic to beef, lamb, corn, maize, fish, peanuts, wheat and anything else stored long enough to develop mold of any kind. Her strongest reaction to other foods caused constant ear infections. While she has done well on this grain free food, I have had to put her on a weight reduction diet due to a heart valve condition. She is currently eating 1/4 cup of the Annamaet dry food, a smattering of poached chicken on top and 1/4 cup of frozen chopped green beans for a first course for breakfast and dinner, with an additional 1/4 cup frozen chopped green beans for a quick follow up after each meal. Mid day she gets two servings of frozen green beans and a Dasuquin chewable. She is losing weight nicely at a slow pace and finally has no itching, no ear problems. I will increase her diet when our vet approves it. She was 23 pounds when we adopted her almost two years ago and is now 19 lbs. Just a few to go. She is a 10 year old little girl who was rescued from a puppy mill and is very happy in retirement.
One online provider has Annamaet reasonably priced as a subscribe and save choice.
Good luck.

[Denise R]

Our Brittany (who passed away last month) was allergic to all of those ingredients plus peanuts. After years of reading labels, then settling on a food only to have it change formulas… The last dry food we fed her was the PetSmart store brand, Authority. Of course you need to read the labels because they weren’t all safe for our dog but they had dry & canned food that met her needs. She & our other 2 dogs did really well on that brand. (For a while the only brand that we could find was Pedigree.) their fur got shinier & thicker, stools were smaller, etc. PS I am in no way associated with Pet Smart. I just spent over 16 years of doing everything possible to make life more comfortable for my dear sweet girl

[Dick W]

My mother-in-law has a Jack Russell/wiener mix that is allergic to just about everything. We’re looking for a dry food that is grain free (tons of those) AND potato/pea/garbanzo free. She feeds raw food in the morning but would like a dry with a better variety of nutrients.

Dose anyone know of a dry that meets these restrictions?

[jakes mom]

The best idea would be to switch to raw foods, little to no carbs. For dry, I like Wellness Core.

[Jenn H]

When I am trying to decide what brands to feed my large breeds I always contact the company and ask them the MAX calcium & phosphorus is on a dry matter basis.
Companies are required to label the min. That’s not helpful when you have to know the upper limit of certain nutrients.
Even if I have fed that food before. If it’s been a while I contact them again to find out about any changes.
Many foods say they are formulated for large breeds yet have calcium amounts at or beyond the max. You must find out the exact percentage.

[Bag of Opals]

I’m calling her Opal, and will be bringing her home this weekend. She’s a toy breed mix and the cutest little thing. Opal is going to be fed raw during the day and some Ivory Coat (an Australian dry food) at night. I’ve read about rotation feeding and agree this is a good idea. However, there’s already going to be a lot of variety in the food, so should I leave everything as is or still try to find something new to swap in every now and then? This is what I am seeking suggestions on. I’ve lived with pups, but not actually raised one myself.

The raw food is possible thanks to my parents. They make it for their Sheltie and Irish Wolfhound (the latter managed to steal a chicken wing last night!) with some extra to give to me, so I’m not exactly in a position to dictate what ingredients go into the mix. It’s ground up and contains:

-Lamb mince, liver and heart
-Pork tongue
-Sardines
-Chicken wings
-Crushed eggshell
-Peas and carrots

Very nice, but is there still a risk of developing food sensitivities because these proteins are all being fed at once? I’ve considered purchasing something like the Ziwipeak beef and venison canned formulas, but they’re not cheap and I’d like to avoid that expense if it’s not necessary.

As for Ivory Coat, their puppy formula is chicken-based. I plan to rotate among the other formulas in the brand when Opal’s grown up. I know a lot of folks here advocate rotating between brands as well as flavours, but I want to support an Aussie company, plus this seems to be the only dry food here with a protein % in the 30s. That’s not to say we don’t have good imported choices, but they just don’t compare.

Reactions to chicken are probably as common as they are because so many puppy foods use it… The only non-chicken food specifically for puppies that I know of and is available over here is TOTW Pacific Stream. Diamond, gah. Opal should be fine with just Ivory Coat, but I’m a paranoid lady and want the best for her.

[zcRiley]

TOP 4 causes of Maltese facial hair discoloration:

**RED YEAST INFECTION – This is a very common health issue with certain dog breeds, including the Maltese. When the facial hairs are wet it is the perfect breeding ground for bacteria.
**BLOCKED TEAR DUCTS – This health issue is present in about 10% of all Maltese dogs. This needs to be corrected with surgery.
**EAR INFECTION – How can an ear infection cause tear stains? Just about everything on a dog’s face is interconnected. To keep ear infections away, it is important to dry the inner ear very carefully after bath time. Do not allow moisture to stay inside. Excessive long hairs should be removed with a tweezers. Your dog’s veterinarian will prescribe antibiotics if your Maltese has an ear infection.
**WATER – Believe it or not, the simple element of water can cause tear staining on a Maltese if that dog is drinking water with a high mineral content. If all other possible reasons have been eliminated, it is suggested to give your dog only filtered or bottled water.

Unless his whole body’s itching, it’s not the food unless it contains artificial coloring that’s rubbing onto his hairs. See what the vet finds first.

[zcRiley]

Its ingredients are: Whole Grain Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal, Flaxseed, Soybean Mill Run, Brewers Rice, Soybean Meal, Pork Fat, Powdered Cellulose, Chicken Liver Flavor. So your answer is no, do not feed this garbage.

For joint health given daily (with visible results), get Nutramax’s Dasuquin with MSM soft chews. And for dry food, Halo’s Vigor in the pork, venison and salmon formula. They use millet for grain. The kibble is very small and my pups love it. You can also finely grind it in a blender if it’s still too big.

[Kathy D]

My doctor recommended this for my mini Aussie.
What do you think of this dry food?

[Sarah A]

Hello! We have a rescue dog that we adopted 2 years ago. For the first year she ate her dog food no problem. We feed dry avoderm and mix some salmon or chicken in with it. For the last year she won’t eat consistently. She sits with our other dog while we prepare it but then will just stand there, or try to ‘bury’ it with her nose, or walk away completely or sometimes she just eats. This caused us to try other foods, no luck. We took her to the vet 3 times, they find nothing. She sometimes doesn’t even want a piece of what I’m eating (tried that to see if she was just wanting people food). Also we put our foot down and said we won’t give her anything else, she needs to eat what we make her. That lasted 2 days and we gave in before she did. We feed twice a day, always at the same times. She acts hungry but then won’t eat. We are worried and don’t know what to do.

It’s to the point now she won’t eat dry food at all. We can usually get her to eat chicken and some pumpkin and that’s it. We give her freeze dried vitamin mixed with probiotic and some yogurt. But we really want her to eat normally again like our other dog. Any ideas? Thank you!

[Kristi G]

I am having a problem with my 12-year-old Yorkie, we have a weight problem.

She should be at 7-7.5 pounds but we are pushing 8.5-9 pounds. I was feeding her Wellness Core and that nipped the problem in the bud. Her weight was down, she loved the food, and felt healthier than ever. Then, the vet said her kidney levels were a little high and advised me to not feed her a high protein food and feed her a senior food instead. I then used the site again and started using Blue Wilderness Senior Grain Free, she was back up in weight in no time. We don’t do treats or bones so no culprit there. Pet Smart recommended Wellness Complete Health Senior, but she won’t eat the food so I can’t tell if it will work or not. We are still in the process of switching. She’s not typically a fickle eater and is usually quite the opposite-always ready to eat. But she turns her nose up to Wellness Complete Health Senior.

I want a dry (teeth are good), 5 Star Senior Food that won’t make her fat and will keep her at a Healthy Weight. Anyone have any recommendations? I’ve been trying to find something right for her for almost 2 years now and am desperate to find the right thing for my baby.

[Michael F]

Hi all, my dog was recently diagnosed with suspected I.B.D., however his ultra sound looked good, as did his Pancreas. The only thing on his blood work was that his B12 was at low the low range of normal. I’m thinking this may have only been caused by the bland diet he was on so often over the past several months. Anyway a couple things, I have changed his night, partial bland, partial dry dog food, partial dehydrated dog food, and he has been doing much better, I also added on a Probiotic, my first question is how long do I need to keep giving the probiotics? Forever? I am also going to try Pet Factor B12 from Wonder Labs, I’ve read that is a good B12 supplement for dogs if they can absorb it. Does anyone else have experience with Probiotics? Does anyone else use Pet Factor B12? How often do you add on the B12?

[Michael F]

Hi, my dog was on Nutro and he always had sloppy yellow bowel movements, but as we all know the food that works for one dog, doesn’t always work for another. You might try Nutri-Source Weight Management dry food, I’ve had good luck with some of their other foods and they are a small plant out of Minnesota and have had no recalls. Is your dog healthy enough to get out and walk, when my other dogs were elderly we did four short walks per day and it really helped them with their weight and arthritis, they had a much easier time getting up and down and moving around. It interesting how several short walks provide less stress on the joints and you still burn a lot of calories that way throughout the day. You might also just try a regular dog food and make sure to feed the amount for his required weight so that he gets a balanced diet and not the amount for the weight he is at, and between that and increasing his exercise, he should take weight off. Good Luck with everything!

[janet w]

my new pit Lil Boy Bue has a rash too so i switched him to grainfree SALMON FOOD bathed him in medicated shampoo with coal tar an aloe and that seems to help a lot but i sat in a warm bath with him for about an hour an let his skin hydrate well, then towel dry and spray with aloe spray i got all these products at petsmart and now he’s resting comfortably the rash flairs up now n then so i just repeat the process until he feels better <3

[Jason R]

My Golden Retriever just turned 10yrs old and he is about 12-15lbs heavier than the vet would like. He was diagnosed about three months ago with Cushing’s disease. I’ve been waiting until we found the right medication/dosage to treat the Cushing’s before I made any dietary changes.

For the last few years, he has been eating Blue FREEDOM ‘Healthy Weight’ dry food. He also has been getting 1/3 can of wet BLUE Freedom Senior Chicken as a topper. The more I learn about BLUE, the less I like them. Their food is also overpriced when there are foods of similar or better quality available for less.

We finally got the Cushing’s medication to the necessary level a few weeks ago. At that point, I had researched a lot of foods and decided to switch to NUTRO. In particular, I’m feeding him NUTRO Lite Chicken flavor dry food and NUTRO Large Breed Adult Weight Management canned food (again, as a topper). I also supplement his food with green beans, green peas and sometimes half of a sweet potato as a treat.

I’m curious if anyone else here uses NUTRO and, if so, what is their opinion of it?

[Cathy G]

I have 3 Aussies – 2 at 3 yrs & 1 at 7. Any recommendations?

[Logan W]

For those new or novice to homemade dog food, it does take some research and a little bit of trial and error to see what your dog will eat. I’ve been doing homemade 100% for about 7 or 8 years now and I would highly recommend it. It does require some initial time and research but it’s all well worth it. I first started with several dogs and wasn’t convinced, like many here, that anything available on the market was as nutritionally dense as homemade. I started when I first adopted several dogs and they loved eating anything I bought, but the food certainly never agreed with them and they were sick all around my house. I think the last food, both dry and soft, they ever ate from the pet store was Blue Buffalo way back when. I would give them rice and chicken till they got better then slowly start working commercial food back into their diet. Every time… they got sick. That’s when I started out on the quest for something that I could rest assured was wholesome and nutritional… from my own hands.

People are right here when they warn you of feeding your dog homemade food without understanding your dogs nutritional needs. We all know our dogs will eat just about anything and you’d hate to learn the hard way that you are malnourishing your dog. I started by searching the web for a canine version of a daily nutritional requirements list that includes not only the macro nutrients (proteins, fiber, fat, carbohydrates, etc.) but also details all the micro nutrients (different amino acids, minerals, vitamins, etc.). The lists are out there if you search. It will be a long, long list of about 30-40 nutrients.

Once I found this list, I did some calculations based on my dogs activity level and size, multiples really. Then I created an Excel spreadsheet of all the target daily nutritional requirements. From there I started searching the web for natural sources of each nutrient and cross referencing them again sites to make sure they weren’t toxic to dogs. You’d be surprised to find that much of the normal fresh meats and vegetables at the store have just what your dog needs. I created a list of ideal food ingredients and Googled each ingredient’s full nutritional profile and built a tab for each ingredient in Excel listing out its nutrients per 1 gram or other serving size. Then I would build other worksheets modeling possible combinations of natural ingredients and seeing how the resulting nutrional profile compares to the target. You’ll find, just like with any animal, that you’ll never get it perfect. You may figure out that adding sweet potatoes helps you fill one nutrient you were targeting only to provide an exceeding amount of another. This is inevitable but just make sure that you aren’t creating a recipe that has far too little of one nutrient that is very important, or even far too much of another that can cause problems if ingested in large quantities like Vitamin A, etc. Its really a process or trial and error modeling a recipe that is really close. I got a few recipes and then went for it. But I do give my dog a multivitamin once a day too just to be a little safer.

The recipes I’ve been using for some time is muscle meat and some organ meat like ground beef and beef livers or kidneys, or chicken breasts and chicken livers. Organ meat is very nutritionally dense and its what dogs go for first when they find a animal in the wild. Muscle meat is a thing we humans prioritize for some reason so remember that you dog IS NOT BEST SERVED WITH FILET MIGNONS OR CHICKEN TENDERS. For veggies, I use about 3-5 different vegetables and switch them up every once in a while. My favorites are sweet potatoes, carrots, spinach, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, squash and zucchini. For fiber and carbohydrates, I pick between a rice (white or brown) or beans (dry pinto or black beans). There’s other things I do too, like I use quite a few eggs and I boil the eggshells to sterilize them. Then I grind the dried shells into a powder for their high calcium needs. I also add some ground flax seed and olive oil to every batch. That’s really it about ingredients… now the PREPARATION METHOD becomes vitally important.

If your dog is like any of mine, they probably don’t care to eat vegetables raw or their own flavor. Also, how you cook the vegetables and beans/grains can either retain most of the nutrients or deplete most of them. Dogs have very short digestive tracts compared to humans and that means that just because they can eat a raw carrot…. it doesn’t mean there digestive tract can break it all down fast enough before it passes. Pressure cookers are great for dog food vegetables. Pressure cookers apply high heat for a very short period of time that not only softens the vegetables so they are more digestible, but it helps retain the nutrients in the vegetables much better than, let’s say, boiling them. One could simply use a steamer, but the trick I use is adding some chicken broth to the pressure cooker so that it injects a tasty flavor in all the vegetables. I chop all my vegetables and pile them into the pressure cooker and add a couple cups of real chicken broth and set it for 10 minutes, done. I pull out the finished veggies and set aside. Then I do the same flavor-injection with the beans or rice by using the pressure cooker too. I take out the beans or rice when finished and mix it into the cooked vegetables I set aside.

Next I chop up a cook the meats/organs either in a large pan or also in the pressure cooker (depends on the meat). I add a generous amount of olive oil and pour in the eggs and ground eggshells + ground flax seed. When this is all done I mix it all together with the already completed parts I set aside. A little salt and its done. I divide the food up into glass, airtight containers that hold enough for no more than 5 days of food. I keep one in the fridge and the others in the freezer. After the first container is nearing empty, I start thawing the second container. I give me 20-30 lbs guys about 1 cup of the food nuked for about a minute, morning and night.

How’s it working? Wonderful coats, plenty of energy, no skin problems EVER, all vet checkups clear and I’ve had their blood tested drawn at different times of their metabolic cycles to test for nutrients in their bloodstream (a whole lot of expensive testing just to reassure me that what I was doing was good) and not a single thing ever wrong with them. Since their food is not very hard or dry, you do need to brush their teeth or make sure they get plenty of dental chews. Their stool should be nice and loose, but not huge and frequent. Once or twice a day is normal. Their digestives tracts are using more of the food mass than was being used when feeding commercial food filled with corn and other grains. So their stool gets smaller. You can go online and find paid recipes backed by vets, but I’ve yet to see one that is truly all homemade. They typically create recipes that require using some overly priced supplement powder they distribute or co-advertise for. Don’t waste your time on them.

You may find that your dog devours the food right away or plays the hold-put game for something better. Mine play both games depending on their mood. They usually don’t eat the food right away cause it’s just been reheated and they know not to try. So they usually meander around for a while before eating it later. But when they finally eat… they eat it all… every last piece of vegetable, bean and rice, etc.

So there’s my experience and I hope it inspires you to give it a go and stick with it. I have an electric pressure cooker only for the dog food… best investment ever. It costs me about 50 cents to feed 1 lbs dog for a week. So that’s $10 a week for one 20 lbs dog. I consider that a much better ROI than commercial dog food. Since I only have one freezer, I only make food every 2 weeks and spend about 2 hours when I do. But you get used to it and you learn the process inside and out. I’d never go back. Now if only I would eat as good as these damned dogs do!! 😉

[Jo C]

PITLUV- My dog isn’t picky and she is pretty tolerable to mostly everything she has tried in her whole life besides RAW. Home cook she has ate and looooves home cook food like chicken, cheese, any meat. Veggies not RAW she will only eat when mixed and soft. It’s mostly be being very cautious. Also, I don’t want to over feed her as I want her to lose some pounds. However, this is the first time she will be eating quality food not Pedigree with home cook meals consistency but I already know she will not have any type of problem with the home cook food lol. I think i’m just overthinking everything and being very overly cautious. Now i’m sticking with a set measurement as before with Pedigree I would just feed her with this one cup I had and half a can food of Pedigree wet food. So all and all this route i’m taking has to be better than before. I will do the one cup of dry morning and night and 1/4 of home cook?? or 1/2 cup of dry and 1 cup of home cook?

[pitlove]

Hi Jo C-

As long as your pit can tolerate it, you can certainly add fresh foods to her diet. You will need to decrease the amount of dry food you feed when feeding fresh food along with kibble, so as to not overfeed calories. Also starting off right off the bat reducing the dry food by half is not a great idea. You will need to slowly introduce fresh foods to her diet because it’s not something her stomach is used to. It’s like introducing a new dry food. You will need introduce it slowly and moniter her stool to make sure she can handle it.

Unfortunetly mine can not handle raw or lightly cooked food in his diet. But he seems to have a lot more issues than yours does.

[Patti S]

I recently found a wonderful dog food that’s classified as having “marked restriction” sodium levels.
The Honest Kitchen “Verve” dehydrated dog food has a sodium level of 0.18% on a dry matter basis.
PROTEIN 22.5%
FAT 8.5%
FIBER 5.8%

All ingredients in this dog food are processed in the USA in a human grade food processing facility. They are non genetically modified and free of any chemicals & preservatives. All meat is hormone and antibiotic free…. and my dog loves it and willingly eats it!

[Jo C]

Susan- thank you so much!! I have been feeding 1 cup of kibble (Just 6 Rachael Ray) and 1/4 of Fresh Pet wet food. I will be transitioning her to the kibble I have mentioned above which I doubt will be any problem as mu baby girl is no picky what so ever especially if real food is involved lol. So I should do 1/2 cup of dry(kibble) and 1/4 of homemade and see how that goes. I feel like even the amount I do now she seems always hungry but then again she loves food so if I would feed her all day she would eat lol

[Jo C]

PITLUV- you seem to know alot. I was thinking on top of my quality dry food I want to go with chicken, veggies etc mixed with. However, I do not want to over feed her so i do not know if that is a good idea..The food shows first few ingredient as chicken, turkey, chicken mean and then turkey meal so should I even feed meat on top of that. i was thinking making chicken, carrots, green beans, sweet potato here and there and spinach in crockpot and store in baggies. also feed salmon and/or sardines with something on top of the dry food…what do you suggest with dry and homemade food together???

[Barry S]

Our 19 week old Goldendoodle has giardia. The vet put him on a treatment of 5 days of Panacur followed by 5 more days of Panacur. It didn’t work. She then put him on metronidazole and again it didn’t work. There was no probiotics or supplements additionally recommended. We do not have any standing water and live in a sandy very dry area. We clean his poop up at least daily. He is never been to a dog park. The vet now wants to try probiotic “juvita” and Royal Canin Gastrointestinal Puppy Food for a month to see what happens. Any suggestions for anyother natural method would be greatly appreciated as we don’t want to expose him to any more antiobiotics and this puppy food is very expensive given he’s a growing fast 37 lb puppy.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 4 months ago by Barry S.

[Christine M]

Hi,

My poor Bear is not quite 4 and has suffered from bad teeth his whole life. Any suggestions on what to do besides frequent dentals and tooth brushing? He is an American Eskimo, and at 6 months old required his first dental. We got another dental done in december and he lost a tooth… And it looks like he will lose at least two more on the top that have bad cavities near the base of the tooth… My poor baby. He’s going for a dental checkup on Saturday, but wanted to get some info on other steps before then.

We are currently feeding him Orijen Adult dry dog food (we are in Canada). He won’t eat the vet dental food and I’m not a fan of the ingredients anyways. I’m not really into raw feeding due to the possibility of bacteria, etc., and Bear doesn’t seem to care much for many of the pre-made raw foods out there anyways.

He likes the CET chews and they helped him a lot but they are hard to find now, so we got the Enzadent ones but they don’t do as much for him. He gets bully sticks to chew too (they always have a few to chew on).

We probably still aren’t brushing his teeth enough, but he tolerates it quite well. We use the CET toothpaste from the vet and a normal toothbrush… We tried one of the powered toothbrushes for pets but he hated it and he doesn’t like the ones which go around the whole tooth.

Any other recommendations for water additives, etc.? We also have a 4 mo old puppy but his teeth are fine.

[Jo C]

Yeah my pit has been very good on other food before but always just stuck with pedigree. I’m just hesitant and scared to switch to something that may cause her harm 🙁
I looked at Whole earth Farms food which everything looks good on her as rate and ingredients but looking at reviews a lot of peoples dogs started getting sick. ugh this is so stressful makes me want to just stick with pedigree cause I know she eats it but I want better food. So far so good with RR Just 6 but rated a 3 I think but I give her Freshpet wet dog food as well which is rated good. I want to stick with fresh pet but trying to figure out a decent dry food with good reviews and good ingredients but affordable..Am I asking for to much lol

[Jo C]

Hi Pitluv-

Previously I was feeding her and had since she was a pup Pedigree (I know GARBAGE) but currently she is eating Rachael Ray Just 6 and FreshPet wet food both got at Walmart. She looooves both she did however threw up once but nothing else. She is herself and she has no health issues last blood work was good. She did weigh in at 70 pounds though but to me she doesn’t seem fat…hmmm
she walks slower of course but still loves to play, walk and just get a lot of love nothing major but I want her to live a more healthy longer life. I’m basically new at this natural stuff and portion size for her weight and age. I usually just feed a mug size dry food and 1/4 of wet. I want a good brand with real ingredients but affordable for a decent pound bag. I’m so scared after non stop searching and reading reviews to even try with how many dogs get sick and/or die of certain foods. Do you have any suggestions on brands to look more into? I searched about Authority, Nutro, Wellness Core, Kirkland Mature Dog, and Pure balance.

[Jo C]

HI,

I was looking on a couple post about senior dogs and dry dog food. Some people say to feed a senior dog my baby is 13 years old a higher protein food. Does the carbs and fats matter as when I’m looking up dog food to see what they are rating at. When I look the brands up I see the percentages and I usually see 22-25 % range for protein but the carbs and fats are high, basically I don’t know what to look for as a proper diet for her she has no digestive issues or anything like that.

[Sara B]

I have a new Shorkie puppy, 10 weeks old & 5 lbs. I would like suggestions for a dry Ned wet food for him. Our other dogs have had allergies and I am crying Norene’s about that also. And what kind of chew treats do you recommend?

• This topic was modified 9 years, 4 months ago by Sara B.

[Diane K]

You may want to try a different food……. consider trying Zignature Limited Ingredient (single protein source, duck, kangaroo, etc) or Nature’s Variety, Limited Ingredient, Duck Meal (or you can check out the other single protein sources). No potato in either of these formulas which, per all the research I have done in the last few days, can wreak havoc if there are skin issues.

1 Tablespoon of Coconut Oil has about 120 calories. You would just need to figure out how many calories, by food only, that he gets to maintain his weight and decrease the amount of dry food so that if you add coconut oil the calorie count remains the same.

[Blake E]

We are in need of some advice, we have got own first puppy. Ted is an 11 week old Cockapoo, we had been feeding on the ‘Royal Canine Mini Junior’ but we had decided we wanted to feed him in a raw food diet. So we went into to PAH and brought a bag of Natures Menu Puppy Raw food, however after giving Ted his first meal this morning of Raw Food, it is as though this has gone straight throu him and now has diarrhoea.

So I gues my question is are we right to of done this so soon? Or should we of kept him in dry food??

Thanks in advance!!

[Cindy R]

Artie is a 4yr old golden/mix rescue. He gets elk velvet antler, cosequin, and omega 3 daily on advice from surgeon following knee surgery for failing, arthritic knee joints. He’s doing well. Other than his itchy, dry skin. He scratches ALOT! It’s got to be miserable.
I began to give him coconut oil, which he devoured along with his TOW Wild Prarie food, but then began to question caloric impact? Artie can’t be overweight.
Should I continue? How much? Any other suggestions? Artie weighs 68-70lbs.
Thanks!

[Lila]

I have a 10yr old hound/pit mix. She has always had a sensitive stomach. I’ve tried various quality dog foods and she has done well on Merrick Limited Incrediant Turkey flavor. Now that Purina has bought them out I need to change foods. I’d like to stay in the same price range as the Merrick if possible. You all seem very knowledgable soooo, any suggestions?

[Sandra W]

Does anyone have an opinion on canned for for mixing with dry food? What’s good, what isn’t, what to avoid?

[Josh H]

Though I haven’t tried the brand myself (yet), I have several friends who use Earthborn Holistic and they only have nice things to say about it. Here on DogfoodAdvisor their puppy food hasn’t been reviewed (which is a bit of a bummer), but they have scored very high marks with most of their labels, especially with their Primitive Natural Grain-Free dry dog food which received a perfect score on here.

I also want to point out that the Earthborn Holistic brand has NEVER had a recall and they specifically exclaim this on their website. All and all it sounds like a great dog food brand that deserves an Editor’s Choice nod.

[Jennifer H]

Ok, so I make my own RAW food. I am feeding A LOT of Saint Bernards (14) and thus process my food every 2 weeks and freeze it (700 pounds at a time, so yep…. I’m hardcore). I basically grind everything (meat with bone, organs, muscle meats, veggies and fruits) and freeze it in 10 pound bph free plastic buckets. I then thaw it as needed and feed it by the scoop (an ice cream scoop of all things, lol) and add some whole raw food to the bowl to give my guys something to chew on and clean their teeth (chicken backs, turkey necks….).
I know for a fact there is NOTHING artificial or grain based or synthetic added to my food. My frozen ground food is wet and bloody when thawed and served. I stir up the food (blood and all) to serve and my dogs love it.
SO….. why is it the commercial raw foods you can buy on line or at the store are not bloody and wet?
I drain all my stuff before I grind it to minimize the wet and work to make sure my food is as dry as I can make it but it is still a bloody mess.
If anyone knows what the commercial folks are doing different, I would love to know. I worry they are adding something that I wouldn’t want to add to my food but still would really like to know.
Thanks