What kind of Dog Food does everyone use?

by **damienApbt** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 1:25 am

i feed my boy IAMS large breed. his poops are fine, no problems there. he looks real healthy and his coat is nice and shiny. he does have a lot of "dandruff" during season changes but he always has really bad skin problems. during the summer and winter i have to give him 5 pills a day. antibiotics and alergy pills twice daily and derm caps once daily.

i didnt read of any one feeding their kids IAMS is it that bad.. after reading this thread i may try Canidae. may be his skin will get better. and if it helps rip him up too that'll be nice.

by **kazuo** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 3:10 am

Yea I don't think IAMS is very good. Another one of those main line companies using by products, fillers, chemicals. I don't know all of the chemicals off hand, but just comparing w/ what is in Canidae, you can see a noticeable difference when it comes to quality ingredients.

Solid Gold, Canidae, and Wellness are my top 3 choices. I've heard the Wellness Fish & Sweet Potato can work wonders for skin issues.

by **damienApbt** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 3:34 am

i live right above a pet store so i'll check it out in the morning, or whenever i wake up. im a stinking insomniac lately. they sell iams for over 20 bucks for a 15lb bag. i can get it at target for 14. any way i dont care how much it costs. i dont really keep track on rod's bills.

i'll have to ease him in to it. i'll probably just mix the bag in with what i have of iams and then take it from there. he poops like 3-4 times a day man so im used to dealing with that crap, literally. i'd like to tighten him up too so if you think wellness fish and SP will do that as well as help with his skin let me know.

i was reading up on the internet about canidae too. it looks like a really good choice. what do you think? between them.?

by **kazuo** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 4:00 am

Yea that fish & sp is definitely worth a try. Personally I kind of like to mix up the food a little bit just to keep things interesting. I figure the same thing all the time must get boring. I normally buy a 20# bag of Wellness Super5Mix Chicken, 6# bag of Wellness Fish & Sweet Potato. I usually mix 1/2 & 1/2 morning and evenings. Lately I've been picking up a few small cans of Solid Gold Turkey & Oceanfish too. I mix in maybe 1/4 of the small can w/ the dry food at dinner just as a little extra treat.

If you do switch, you will probably notice a decrease in poop because the good quality foods are more densely packed w/ good ingredients, so you actually feed smaller portions.

Between Wellness and Canidae, I can't really say either one is better than the other. Both of them are great foods in my opinion. I think I just chose Wellness at the time because of the variety in flavors.

by **CinderDee** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 5:29 am

Iams is not a great food. I think that Canidae is probably the best choice from what I've read.

I tried Wellness Fish & Potato because my dog has horrible allergies, but it made him gassy and he pooped twice as much. :eek:

I'm on my 5th food and now he's chewing himself raw, so I'm on the lookout for another one. He's been at the vet 3 times to the tune of close to $700.00.... Antibiotics, ear meds, allergy pills, etc.
BYBers..... :yucky:

Good luck,
Dee

by **damienApbt** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 5:45 pm

i just checked the pet store beneath my apartment and the dont have canidae. they do, however, have wellness fish and SP. that will help his skin out a lot so i may try it. what about super5mix chicken or lamb. will they help with skin as well as help tone him up??

i remember getting a sample of the fish and SP. it smelled really bad, so i dont know if i want my boys breath to smell real bad as a result.

by **rosiegirl** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 10:23 am

I like to switch around Rosies food for variety too. Right now she's having wellness chicken. Before that I tried a few bags of the fish and sweet potato-it does stink like fish but it didnt make her or her breath stinky and it helped with her itchy dry skin during the winter. I think next time I might try canidae or maybe chicken soup for the dog lovers soul.

by **barbponys** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 1:37 am

My Pit eats Timberwolf(the best dry food available) Black Forest dry and a variety of raw stuff. She gets a half and half diet. She's doing better on the Timberwolf than any other food she has ever eaten. That includes Solid Gold, Wysong and Lamaderm.

My Pug who is allergic to the world gets raw beef cuz he's allergic to every other meat protein. His dry food is Pinnacle Trout and Sweet Potato just to keep his system used to getting dry food for the rare occasions someone watches the kids. Amazingly enough he CAN eat trout without trouble.

Pat

by **formula1** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 1:12 pm

After doing a lot of research I settled on Wysong. My dogs love it, they seem healthy, their stools have very little odor, and they rarely have flatulance anymore.

by **hyperbole** » Thu Apr 15, 2004 1:36 pm

Where do you get these high end kibbles? I looked at Petco and PetSmart and they don't have much beyond Nutro... ?

by **mydogroxy** » Thu Apr 15, 2004 1:43 pm

at petco you can get natural balance, which is good, and at petsmart you can get blue, also good.

by **mnp13** » Thu Apr 15, 2004 2:02 pm

I feed Royal Canin to my dog and cats. The dog used to get the 'Natural Choice' line (brown bag, blue writing), but now she's on the next level down in quality in the same brand, 'Sensible Choice'. It has different flavors and that was key for Ruby. After being a very picky eater she wolfs down the cheaper stuff so I'm happy. I give her oil or an egg a few times a week to keep her coat in good shape.

For those of you with picky eaters like Ruby was, balance their eating good food with happily eating. There were more than a few times I had to sit and convince her to eat - makeing her meal times very stressful for both of us. If they are happier on a lower grade food, try doing a half and half mixture with better food you may get the same good results and save yourself and your dog major headaches!

by **moto1320** » Thu Apr 15, 2004 2:02 pm

leaf back through the thread and you will find web sites to most of the companys. Those that aren't up you can Google your way too. They have locations in your area where you can find their products.

by **brindlepit** » Sun Apr 18, 2004 7:15 pm

i used to feed canidae but i swithed her to costco kirkland and she loves it.

by **mnp13** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 10:22 am

CinderDee wrote:Iams is not a great food. I think that Canidae is probably the best choice from what I've read.

I tried Wellness Fish & Potato because my dog has horrible allergies, but it made him gassy and he pooped twice as much.
I'm on my 5th food and now he's chewing himself raw, so I'm on the lookout for another one. He's been at the vet 3 times to the tune of close to $700.00.... Antibiotics, ear meds, allergy pills, etc.
BYBers.....

Good luck,
Dee

Dee,

Have you tried a home made diet? Connor has bad allergies as well, and when we were fattening him up he was on beef, rice and whole milk yogurt with 3 benedryl mixed in. It might be something to try for a short time and see how your dog does. His gas and diahreah were gone in about two days. It's not all that expensive or time consuming either.

It does not cover all nutritional needs so is not good long term, but it might make your life easier short term and you'll be able to sort out exactly what he's allergic to.

Michelle

What kind of Dog Food does everyone use?

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