as in dog food? obviously and why?
Answers:
I feed Merrick. It's quality dog food, it's available locally, and my dog likes it. http://www.merrickpetcare.com/
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On choosing a dog food:
Read the ingredients on the food you buy. Go with a high quality dog food. A grain should not be in the first couple ingredients ingredient (corn and such are mainly fillers, dogs don't digest it well). Avoid foods that have a lot of "by products" listed.
Here is an article about byproducts:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?...
And an article on what ingredients to avoid:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?...
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Some GOOD foods are :
* Merrick - http://www.merrickpetcare.com/
* Solid Gold - http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/...
* Canidae - http://www.canidae.com/
* Timberwolf - http://timberwolforganics.com/
* Orijen - http://www.championpetfoods.com/orijen/o...
* Wellness - http://www.omhpet.com/wellness/...
* Chicken Soup brand - http://www.chickensoupforthepetloverssou...
* Blue Buffalo - http://www.bluebuff.com/
* Innova - http://www.naturapet.com/brands/innova.a...
* Innova EVO - http://www.naturapet.com/brands/evo.asp...
Or check this website for good foods: http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_...
(I recommend only feeding foods rated 4, 5, or 6 stars. Anything 3 stars or less, I would stay away from.)
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Stay away from grocery stores brands. They are low-quality foods chalk full of fillers, preservatives, dyes, etc.. (Grocery store foods are those like Beneful, Old Roy, Alpo, Pedigree, Purina, etc.)
Beware "premium" foods. "Premium" does not mean good nutritionally, and is not a nutritionally high quality food. It has the same types of ingredients as grocery store foods, just a bit better quality of those not-so-good ingredients. (Premium foods are those like Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, etc..)
Another thing to be wary of: A lot of vets will recommend what they sell in their office. They get profit from the brands they keep on their shelves, that's why they push it. Truth is, vet schools don't focus a lot on nutrition. It's not saying that a vet is a bad vet because he recommends those foods, a lot of vets just are told "this is good food", so they pass the message along without proper nutrition knowledge. Also, some dog food brands (like Hills) support vet schools, so vets have heard of it from the time they start college, which makes them think it's good as well.
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Higher quality food may seem more expensive at first, but it evens out. The higher quality the food, the less fillers eaten (and therefore the less poop comes out the other end). Your dog eats more to try to get the nutrition it needs, and most of the food just passes right on through. Also, it will make your animals healthier, so you save money on vet bills in the long run.
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"Big box" petstores like Petco and Petsmart rarely have quality foods. Also, grocery stores and Walmart aren't good places to buy food either.
Your best bets for getting quality dog food are:
- small, locally owned petstores
- dog boutiques
- farm supply stores
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When switching foods, do it gradually. I do this over about a two week timespan:
25% food A, 75% food B
50% food A, 50% food B
75% food A, 25% food B
100% food A
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pedigree. my vet told me to pick a medium priced food, didn't have to be one of those high dollar foods. when i asked him about pedigree or purina dog chow he said either would be fine. i like the fact that purina haas the different shapes in the kibble and so does my dog. she eats it good and has been thriving on it for her entire life - she got pedigree puppy for the 1st yr of her life and has been on pedigree small bites for almost 6
Canidae kibble - its human grade, high quality, sufficiently nutritious and inexpensive for what youre getting. (I buy smaller bags due to storage, so the price is a bit higher than it should be, but a 6.6lb bag is only $8 and it lasts longer than when we bought him a 5lb bag of Science Diet for $10 or a 10lb bag of puppy chow for $12)
Homemade-complete control of his eating, human grade ingredients, can focus it toward exactly what he likes or needs at the moment, great bonding-he loves sitting at my feet while I make the food-take about 30 minutes to make per day since Im currently doing one days food at a time. He sits there chewing a toy and intermittently getting up to run an excited lap or two around the house
We only feed dry food and I would speak to a big pet store too see what they have. Something normally middle of the range or recommended by a vet would normally be good as there reputation is on the line at the end of the day if it is **** so they will check it out.
Raw chicken necks it also good as a treat every couple of days.
Bones to clean there teeth depending on the bone every couple of days for the man made ones or 1 a week to fortnight for animal bones.
i feed my dogs ,pet chicken mince. i cook it up with potato,carrots and rice one week and cook it up with pasta the next week and dry dog biscuits.i feed them this because its a hell of a lot cheaper than buying can dog food and the dogs really like it, once in a while i will give them can food just for a change. after all you would hate to eat the same tasting food day after day wouldn't you?
I feed my dog Purina Dog Chow. Reason being, the breeder we got her from started her on Purina Puppy Chow %26 we just stuck with the brand. Seems to work, so why change? Ya know?
You can feed your dog, dog food. it has the nutrients that dogs need. You can also feed you dog bread.. never feed your dog chicken bones or anything sweet because that makes your dog sick and die.
I feed my dog Innova puppy, and will switch over to the adult innova in a few months. I chose Innov for its high quality, American manufactured ingredients. I didn't want my dog dinning on corn and corn gluten meal.
I feel the money is worth it. Nutrition for an animal is just as important as it is for a person, I know its not healthy for people to live on substandard food(we can survive on frozen pizza, and pb%26j, but we are not as healthy as if we eat quality).
Personally I feel that if I take an animal into my home, then I should be providing them with the best I can afford(not want to afford). The entire point of owning an animal is to care for them.
I didn't go with what the vet recommended, as after all they are a business. When I saw the stack of Iams sample packets I knew they must be getting compensation for pushing the product, just like my dentist gets for pushing Crest.
We've got a couple brands going, actually. My older two dogs eat Beneful Healthy Weight, and have been quite healthy for their entire lives with me; they have also eaten Pedigree foods at some time, and puppy-style foods when little. Our Great Dane eats Innova large breed, which is a human-grade product kibble. He's got a really sensitive stomach, and the Innova agress with him nicely. It's more expensive, but higher quality, and he loves it! Whereas, our other two wouldn't go near the Innova with a 10-ft. pole! Good luck!
We used to use Royal Canin (Lab Mix) but, with the Chinese dog food poison scandal we switched to an organic mix mad by Merrick and she seems to thrive on it. I attached a great web site for evaluating dog foods.
My puppy is very spoilt, :)
i buy him a whole chook from woolworths, rip it up into little bits, then cook pasta or rice and mix it around.
Or i buy human mince premium quality, cook it up and add pasta or rice. he also gets a cheeseburger twice a week from mcdonalds.(meat paddy only)
plus kibble on the side,
hmm
hmmmmmmmmmmm
pedigree
somtimes south indian food cauze he likes it very much
chpati
milk
cerelac (ferex)(he is still a pup n doctors recomment so)
I feed mine Canidae All Life Stages! It's high quality, human grade, naturally preserved, made in the USA, has NO corn, wheat, soy, grain fractions, fillers, by products, preservatives or dyes in it. My dogs love it, they have NEVER been sick, they are more energetic, and they have beautiful coats. It is also very reasonably priced, for such a high quality food! I'm staying with Canidae!
You may think that pet manufacturers have your dog's best interests in mind when formulating their products, this is not true. Current pet food regulations allow manufactures to use ingredients that you would never knowlingly feed your pet. Many foods include by-products..By-Products are feet, bones, intestines, blood, hair, chicken feathers, among other scrap. By -products are also not good because they come from what you call the 4-D's. Dead, diseased, dying and decaying animals. That means that when some farmer's cow dies from a disease, or has tumors and abcesses or whatever and let's consider that the cow was also probably heavily medicated as the farmer is trying to save this cow..it dies and the truck comes to pick it up and the dead cow is brought to the procesing/rendering plant where the cow is now considered a by-product and is scrapped and sold to the pet food companies...YUK. Also consider all of the road kill also is put into pet food as a by-product too, and all of this is allowed. (I know this first hand I am a farmer and we have cattle and we go the processing plants and I certainly wouldn't feed these animals to my pets) Now these pet food manufacturers have to add tons of chemical preservatives like BHA, BHT to preserve this pet food because it's made in mass amounts. This pet food now has to sit in unrefrigerated trucks due to lack of storage for up to two years before it ever hits the store shelves. Then the pet food gets delivered to the stores, like PetSmart, PetCo and then the bags are sprayed with an insecticide and then we touch the bag and feed it to our pets...Plus some bags are split open and then they sell for a discounted price. It's a no wonder our pets can't live their expected life expectency of twenty something. These commercial pet food companies also add grains like corn, wheat, gluten and soy, which are used as a protein source (because obviously the by-products don't have any protein left..all the good stuff was sold to better pet food companies and for human consumption) These grains are often difficult to digest. The result of most allergens and all of these ingredients can put unnecessary stress on your pet's system and can lead to diminished overall heatlh making a dog of 6 or 7 yrs old now a senior...Wow how awful!
Look for a pet food that does not contain corn at all. Corn also molds and then causes a mycotoxin that is deadly to your pet. Remember Di______'s recall a year or two prior to Menu's recall. Their food had the mycotoxin in the corn and it killed hundreds of animals. Some of the pet food manufacturers test for mycotoxin before adding corn, some do not..I wouldn't want to risk it would you? Also look for human grade ingredients, no preservatives and no chemicals, quality and freshness. The foods below have it all!
I personally feed Life's Abundance...All human grade and it's made with fresh quality ingredients. All of Life's Abundance is inspected and certified and made here in the US, USDA certified. It also contians a blend of natural antioxidants. Life's Abundance is also APHIS certified for European market, which has more stringent regulations than the US. It's delivered to your door. Plus Life's Abundance is formulated by a vet, not by some soap manufacturer. Life's Abundance also has funding and free fundraising programs available for resucue organizations...Now how many pet food companies can say that. Personally I like buying a good food and now that I know that they give a portion back to the homeless animals..I love it even more!
I also like Flint River. Flint River has wheat in two of thier products...If you don't want the wheat then Flint River has the Lamb and Millet and the Fish n Chips...brands minus the wheat. FFR contains no chemicals, all human grade and also delivered to your door.
Life's Abundance is HolisticPetMenu.com
Flint River Ranch is www.frrco.com/122135.
Canadai is also pretty good..I have fed it in a pinch but my animals like the Life's Abundance much better and I feed less of that than I did the Canadai.
I am a vet tech and I run a small rescue of around 13 dogs and 25 cats, some horses. I can easily afford to feed all of these animals these natural and healthy diets and know that I am safe from recalls. Plus my rescue animals bounce back so much quickly on the good food than they do the store bought brands. Plus the foods listed above have many more good nutritious ingredeints in them, more protein and better quality protein using meat and fish as first ingredients. Pull them up on line and read the ingredients for yourself.
Good luck, you can email any time.
food
Wellness Core it is completely grain free and made of all human grade meats. It is based on high protein and meat or the raw diet. Dogs are carnivores so feeding them meat makes the most sense. Wellness does not have the garbage of the commerical foods. It is natural and ahs 5 different meats
Hey =] We only feed her dry food, and we figured she liked Pedigree adult mini the best. We tried a cheap kind, Friskies, Purina etc, but settled for that one, and she is one happy pouch. You? xx
I feed my dogs raw meat because its natural and better for them. Most dog food contains by-products, which are just left overs from butchering plants, like chicken heads, feet, wings with feathers, cow intestines, and so on. I've heard that "meat by-products" on a dog food label can be dogs and cats.
Another pet food recall can happen at any time, I don't see how other owners are so quick to trust pet food companies again. I'm sure that most companies still do business with China.
Raw meat doesn't make dogs mean, my dogs are just as friendly as any other dog can be.
I feed my dogs pedigree ( have for 11 years) and dog is still alive and well, in great physical condition and not over weight! Contrary to what is always said dogs do need some corn in their diet! I'm no dog expert by any means just letting you know what works for me!
i feed my bichon eagle pack duck and oatmeal for his ibd and i feed my 3 month boxer wellness puppy because its puppy food.
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