[sparkysgirl]

Okay so I have decided to come out of the dark and just ask this question. What is the best food?! I recently just got my australian sheperd (5 months)in august and around the same time my boyfriend adopted a pit/husky mix puppy too. I would really like to feed raw but don’t have time to do it so I was planning to feed a good kibble in the morning then raw in the evening. I also just bought some canidae all life stages and read that it was a bad food too feed. So I bought a small bag of natures instinct chicken formula. My bf wants to feed them pedigree and keeps asking why buy expensive dog food/good dog food and I tell him that its better for them. He just doesn’t understand how some of the dog food is really bad so im just going to find the best dog food and ignore him. Help me please! (:

[theBCnut]

Best is to rotate between a few good foods that your dogs do well on. There is not one best food, because all dogs are different and need different things out of their food. Print up the 4 and 5 star food lists and take them with you to the different pet boutiques around where you live and find out what is available and at what price. I really like Earthborn Holistic, Nature’s Variety Instinct, and even NutriSource(a 4 star food). Soon I’m going to try Nature’s Logic, which is high on several people’s list. If you are willing to order online, you can find some more foods that are great at a great price, like Dr. Tim’s and my favorite, Brother’s Complete, not so great a price, but worth every penny.

[pugmomsandy]

Agree with Patty. There’s not a perfect kibble since it’s a processed food and not fresh! Just pick a couple foods that they like so you are offering them some variety. Some budget friendly ones are Nutrisource and Victor and they have several flavors to chose from. Offer some poultry, beef and fish foods.

[HabanaJoe]

I agree with Patty as well. My caveat would be to try to avoid food with grains….corn, soy, wheat etc.
We experimented…slowly with various brands and settled on Blue Buffalo or Wellness..both canned and kibble. Of course, every time we buy, we do check ingredients as companies are known to change to something cheaper and keep the label looking the same.
I would suggest that you show your boyfriend what “meat by products” are and let him know that they can have adverse effects on a dog.
We also stay away from any glutens for protein enhancing agents and only buy food that is made from ingredients here or in Canada. (no chinese). Check any treats you buy as well, as a lot of companies are putting an American flag on the package to make you think it’s made here. When you read the fine print, it says “made in china”. (poisonous ingredients a few years ago related to gluten).

The little extra spent on a quality dog food will pay you back in the long run with fewer vet bills and fewer skin problems for your pup.
Good luck with your new family member!

[sparkysgirl]

I went to the store today and bought sparky earthborn ocean fusion while the bf bought pro plan…go figure. Anyways i was looking at the raw food products online i was wondering if the ground meat(meat/bone/organ) is good to start off with?

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi sparkysgirl –

If you’re feeding one meal per day of a balanced commercial food I think it’s fine to feed a muscle meat/organ meat/bone blend (called a “grind”) for the other meal. If you want to feed an entirely raw diet you would need to either feed a balanced commercial product or learn how to properly balance a “grind” or completely homemade meal.

[jinxykb]

Nature’s instinct is a very good food! So is Nature’s Variety Prairie. I fed my pup prairie for years and she did well on it. We have also used Halo, which was great. Now we are on Honest Kitchen Preference–mixing in cooked meat, but you could do raw as well.

[Author]

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