better food options ???

[RUBZERK]

well after loosing both of our dog in the past 2 months, my wife and I are picking up our new addition to the family tomorrow.
in the past we always fed our dogs Beneful or Kibbles & bits. this time around we want to do better.
we have a local store (http://www.thatpetplace.com) that carries the brands listed below.
what is the pros & cons to premium food ?
we had the opportunity to speak to a rep for Earthborn and decided to give it a try, so we bought 2 sample packs of food to see if our new pup will like it.

Blue Buffalo
California Natural
Canine Caviar
Dogswell
EVO
Eagle Pack
Earthborn
Eukanuba
Hill's Science Diet
Horizon Pet Nutrition
INNOVA
Iams
Merrick
Nature's Variety
NutriSource
Nutro Max
Nutro Natural Choice
Nutro Ultra
Propac
Royal Canin
Sojo's
Solid Gold
Taste Of The Wild
Wellness
Weruva


any feed back would be great

[Curly_07]

IMO Taste of the Wild, Natures Variety, and Blue Buffalo are the best out there. I personally feed Taste of the Wild Salmon Formula to my 2. They love it, their coats are nice and soft/glossy, and their teeth have improved tons over the past few months. For me, it's the best you can get for the $

Some of the others on that list are good, and a few members here feed a variety of that list. Maybe they will chime in with their input

[AllisonPibbleLvr]

You know, to be honest, I really don't like Blue Buffalo. They talk alot about what other food companies lack, and not anything at all about what's so much better about their kibble.

They are also ridiculously high in calories. Some of their formulas are 500kcal/cup! Puppy food should be around 400kal/cup. I had a lab come in last week that had gained 20lbs in a month after switching to BB!

*gets off my soapbox*

Anyways, I'm a fan of the find something that works theory. I personally prefer to stay away from the "high-protein, no-grain" foods such as Orijen. TOTW and Natural Balance are the two in-store brands I recommend.

[FBODGRL]

I don't like any of the ones I bolded...
A lot of it is how YOUR dog does on the food. I feed prey model raw to my dog and my cats are on a rotation of foods. Currently they are eating California Natural. Which was bought by proctor and gamble, but I haven't seen any change in quality yet.

Blue Buffalo
California Natural
Canine Caviar
Dogswell
EVO
Eagle Pack..this is holistic select now. I really like how my cats have done on this food
Earthborn
Eukanuba although my parents GSD was on it as a puppy and did ok.
Hill's Science Diet
Horizon Pet Nutrition
INNOVA
Iams
Merrick
Nature's Variety
NutriSource
Nutro Max
Nutro Natural Choice
Nutro Ultra
Propac
Royal Canin
Sojo's
Solid Gold
Taste Of The Wild
Wellness I dislike them because they changed the size of their canned food to about .7 oz smaller than it was and smaller than most other canned foods, the raised the price. I think most people don't see they are getting shorted for the price.
Weruva

There are actually quite a few on that list I have never heard of. If I were you I would research how to read dog food labels...stay away from corn as an ingredient and decide what you think is best for the amount of money you can/will spend for food.

[Misskiwi67]

I dislike Merrick... Gimmicky Gimmicky Gimmicky...

I'm a big fan of purina pro plan. Its not a holistic food, but I've fed it to many many dogs and all my fosters, and been very happy with it. If your pup is going to be larger than 50 pounds, you will need a large breed puppy food, and holistic and large breed puppy foods don't go well together (lower calories, less calcium). If you need a large breed puppy food, pro plan is the way to go.

I have also fed Innova, California Natural and currently feed Taste of the Wild. All good foods in my opinion.

I agree Wellness is overpriced, but I've never heard a complaint.

I STONGLY dislike EVO. I think they should stop making it, I've seen just as many dogs look like crap on this food as I see on kibbles and bits.

[RUBZERK]

these are the 2 my wife wanted to try. these two are for any stage in life from puppy to senior. plus its grain free.

and my wife liked that they plant a tree for every 2 upc's you mail in. also the rep at the store gave us a bunch of coupons for up to $9 off a large bag and the coupons never expire. i figure its worth a try.

plus its made in the USA

[GSDBulldog]

I feed Earthborn, those exact two formulas as well. I love it and the dogs look great.

[Misskiwi67]

How big is your dog going to be as an adult? Are his parents larger than 50 pounds?

[jamielvsaustin]

How big is your dog going to be as an adult? Are his parents larger than 50 pounds?

If the dog is to be 50 lbs or more should an all stages food not be fed?

Rubzerk, I like all the things your wife likes about that food, and lately we've been considering changing from TOTW to something else, but we've got a whole bag to go through so we've (read I've) kind of put it off.

[Misskiwi67]

How big is your dog going to be as an adult? Are his parents larger than 50 pounds?

If the dog is to be 50 lbs or more should an all stages food not be fed?

All life stages = puppy food that people feed to adult dogs.

Its not the label that matters, its the calcium, fat and protein content. Large breed puppies should be fed lower calorie foods (HARD to find in premium diets) with lower calcium and fat levels, and higher end protein levels. These specific requirements are not met by the average dog food, and most premium foods are WAY off.

[RUBZERK]

this is the breakdown on the Earthborn great plains feast

Crude Protein, not less than---------------------------------34.00%
Crude Fat, not less than--------------------------------------18.00%
Crude Fiber, not more than-----------------------------------4.00%
Moisture, not more than--------------------------------------10.00%
Calcium, not less than-----------------------------------------1.50%
Phosphorus, not less than-------------------------------------1.10%
Vitamin E, not less than---------------------------------------300 IU/kg
Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), not less than--------------------100 mg/kg*
L-Carnitine, not less than-------------------------------------15 mg/kg*
Taurine, not less than-----------------------------------------0.05%*
Omega-6 Fatty Acids, not less than--------------------------2.60%*
Omega-3 Fatty Acids, not less than--------------------------1.90%*
Docasahexaenoic Acid (DHA), not less than-----------------0.20%*

Carbohydrates - 25.0%

[Misskiwi67]

Protein is good, too high in fat and calcium... like the majority of super-premium foods. Its not the worst I've seen though.

You want (for a large breed puppy only):
More than 25% protein
LESS than 1.2% Calcium
As close to as possible - 10% fat

[Sarah]

I don't like any of the ones I bolded...
A lot of it is how YOUR dog does on the food. I feed prey model raw to my dog and my cats are on a rotation of foods. .

May I ask why your dog eats raw, but your cats eat commercial pet foods? If I was going to feed raw to one of the 2 species, my choice would be cats, which are true carnivores, and don't have the advantage of thousands of years of eating human scraps and garbage to adapt them to eating a varied diet.

[FBODGRL]

I don't like any of the ones I bolded...
A lot of it is how YOUR dog does on the food. I feed prey model raw to my dog and my cats are on a rotation of foods. .

May I ask why your dog eats raw, but your cats eat commercial pet foods? If I was going to feed raw to one of the 2 species, my choice would be cats, which are true carnivores, and don't have the advantage of thousands of years of eating human scraps and garbage to adapt them to eating a varied diet.

Because Khan eats raw due to his allergies. I didn't necessarily "choose" to feed raw in the beginning. It was more because of the allergies. As I have learned more (I only switched in November) I am glad I switched for other reasons. I am just now starting the cats on RMB's after doing some research. Tomorrow will be the first day for all 4. 1 has already had them previously Cats are much harder to switch over to raw than dogs are and are at risk of fatty liver disease if they go for a period of time not eating. They are not like dogs who you can wait out for them to get hungry enough to eat. Since I am new to raw and didn't really research cat stuff when I started I have just begun researching it. For now they will get RMB's a couple times a week (which hopefully they will all eat) and eventually I may switch them over to more or 100%. Once I have things researched up I have 1 who I will switch to raw...becuase I know he will eat it no problem.

[jordanberry20]

You know, to be honest, I really don't like Blue Buffalo. They talk alot about what other food companies lack, and not anything at all about what's so much better about their kibble.

They are also ridiculously high in calories. Some of their formulas are 500kcal/cup! Puppy food should be around 400kal/cup. I had a lab come in last week that had gained 20lbs in a month after switching to BB!

*gets off my soapbox*

Anyways, I'm a fan of the find something that works theory. I personally prefer to stay away from the "high-protein, no-grain" foods such as Orijen. TOTW and Natural Balance are the two in-store brands I recommend.

i feed blue buffalo and the two formulas i fed one was 452kcal and the other was 430kcal. I feed the wilderness formula from them now and its 415kcal.

Crude Protein 34.0% min
Crude Fat 15.0% min
Crude Fiber 6.5% max
Moisture 10.0% max
Calcium 1.3% min
Phosphorus 0.9% min
Omega 3 Fatty Acids* 1.3% min
Omega 6 Fatty Acids* 3.0% min