[dconley]

Hi all, I have a year old heeler/corgi mix and a 2 yr old border Collie. They have been on Iams, but I’m becoming more aware of how this product lacks, and want something better. But it seems everything has a recall or some strings attached! I just need a good dog food for two healthy, active pups with no special needs! I’ve read every review and just don’t know anymore

[pugmomsandy]

You don’t have to feed just one food for life. Try out several and rotate through a couple that you really like. And you don’t have to try just 5 star foods either. Try some 4 star foods too. Some dogs just can’t handle a 5 star food right off the bat. Nutrisource, Fromm, and Victor have both grain and grain free foods and so far, no recalls and they’re mid-priced. Maybe try a grain-inclusive food but with better quality ingredients like the brands I just mentioned since your dogs are currently eating grain food. Some 5 star grain foods are Merrick and Nature’s Logic. I’ve probably fed 20 different foods before keeping a few “staples” on hand and I still try out new foods as well but always rely on my staples. My fosters who get no transition time eat Nutrisource and Nutrisca.

[justme2]

Hello,
I have yorkies and a 10mo old shepherd puppy, what is the best food for them? they’ve been on Purina Pro Focus but they’ve all started itching horribly, no fleas and we don’t understand what’s changed?

[theBCnut]

They could be sensitive to a particular ingredient, but if it is all of them, I would expect it to be a grain mite issue or something environmental. If it is a sensitivity to a particular ingredient, it can be any ingredient that has protein in it. The usually culprits are chicken, beef, grains, soy. You may want to take your current ingredient list with you and find a food that is about as different as you can get.

[pugmomsandy]

Justme2,
If the shepherd is a “large breed” then he needs a food with a special calcium level and calcium:phosphorus ratio for proper joint development and to avoid too fast growth of bones and orthopedic disease till he’s at least 18 months old. There’s a section here in the forum for “large breed puppies”. Check it out for sure. As for the yorkies, the smallest kibbles I’ve used are Nutrisource Small/Medium Breed Puppy, Nature’s Select Hi-Pro, Amicus (for toy breeds, grain free) and Nature’s Logic. These are ok for pups and adults and all of them are gluten free last time I checked. Then the next size up kibble but still very small is Nature’s Variety and Brothers Complete, Nutrisca, and Nutrisource grain free Lamb. I’ve used all of these in my house. I’ve fostered over 200 pugs now! On a side note, as Patty mentioned a possible grain mite issue, Purina did have a recall for mold in the recent past. How do you store your kibble? Do you keep it in the original bag and in an air tight container in air conditioning and preferably roll the bag down so there’s not much air in it? Or do you pour it out into a container? Do you clean the container before you refill it?

• This reply was modified 12 years, 2 months ago by pugmomsandy.
• This reply was modified 12 years, 2 months ago by pugmomsandy.

[justme2]

thank you!!

[Cheryl Alford]

There are not many good dried dog foods. The vacuum packed “fresh type foods are much better, however, the lack of “crunch” means you do need to clean your dogs teeth.
The things you must avoid are:
Maize (This is a cheap filler made with corn, no corn is not good for a dog)
By products
meat, animal and vegetable derivatives
Soy and soy products (not lecethin)
and very long words that look lie they have come from a science fiction book, these are usually the additives or preservatives.

If you put in the name of the food in the search part of this site, it will explain the good and bad.

If your dog is scratching, it could be food mites, what you need to do is freeze a bag of the food or in a tub overnight and then let it defrost normally before serving, this kills the mites and stops the itchy skin, another way to stop itchy skin is to add flax seed oil, you can not overdose on this, it contains omega 3 6 and 9 and is great for your dogs heart, brain and joints.

[theBCnut]

Even with crunch you still have to clean teeth. Kibble does not keep teeth clean, maybe cleaner than canned, but not clean.

[dconley]

So Nutri Source would be suitable for a small dog who has a harder time eating big pieces, even though they don’t have a small breed variety? Thanks everyone for the ideas!

[theBCnut]

NutriSource has small kibble size, but they also have a small/medium breed puppy food that has tiny kibble. It is perfectly fine to feed puppy food to adult dogs, just not ok to feed adult dog food to puppies.

[pugmomsandy]

The Nutrisource grain free Lamb is xsmall. The Nutrisource Heartland Select is a little bigger and flat and round (small, but bigger than Lamb).

[dconley]

Awesome, thanks Patty and sandy!

[Molzy]

I also spent a long time trying to pick the “best” dpg food. I finally realized that there are lots of good choices. We did nutrisource grain free for a long time. I’m from Minnesota. So I liked that it was a local company that tries to source ingredients from the Midwest. We’ve also done merrick for its local farmer push, though I don’t know how true it is. We are big on the local food movement, so our next step will be raw, though I think I’ll be doing honest kitchen in the meantime due to the human grade ingredients.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, there are lots of great dog foods. We have decided to try and support those which also operate under ways we respect.

Good luck!

[theBCnut]

The honest Kitchen has an excellent premix to make starting out in raw feeding easier. Take a look at Preference.

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