I have a 2 year old chihuahua and want to give him a healthy diet. i am not sure but it may be that pedigree, iams and other brands are not that good. What should buy him that is not that expensive but is a good healthy diet??
please help!!
Answers:
healthypetnet.com
Life Abundance is great food, you can go to this website and compare your brand to their brand..
i am a fan of nuetra.. i think thats how it is spelled?
There isn't one single dog food that is the overall "best" on the market for all dogs. For example, some dogs do best on grain-free diets, for others, grain-free is too rich and they need a little lower protein diet. What you want to find out is what HIGH-QUALITY dog food is the best food for your dog.
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.
Chicken Soup brand is very reasonably priced and is still a good dog food to feed. (I believe it runs roughly $1 per pound or so.)
http://www.chickensoupforthepetloverssou...
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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/
* Fromm - http://www.frommfamily.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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"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
.
Canidae All Life Stages
What kind of area do you live in?
Most of the things people will recommend are only available in major cities or if you can find a store that will do special orders. Or you have to order by internet, pay shipping and wait. So more expense added to already expensive food.
ol roy from walmart, don`t let the name fool you it is a good quality food. all my dogs eat it and one is pretty picky what she eats.
We feed Canidae All Life Stages, dogs love it, and we're happy with it as well
=D
Nutro Natural Choice is great! I highly recommend it!
Purina Mills is the kind I use and it's works fine
dog foods in feed and farm stores are good. the kind i use is called sportmix, another good one is diamond. they come in a variety of protein/fat ratios are available to tailor the diet to high energy or weight gain. they are also cheaper because they don't advertise. these are both great foods that are used by owners of sport dogs. ie labs and beagles.
Nutro is good for dogs because it doesn't contain animal by-products (most dog food does, like Iams and other popular ones.) As for wet food, I feed my Yorkie "Cesar" I don't know if it's that good for him but it wasn't recalled or anything.
i give my dog mighty dog brand. i give him half a can of that each day and a little bit of dry food (kibbles and mini chunks) i mix it together and my dog loves it. you should try. my dog was a lot more active when i started feeding it to him
I recomend any type of brands.My dogs eat Ol' Roy wet food and Kibbles and Bits dry food.You should try experimenting different brands of food to see what your dog likes.
Nutro Max it is affordable with great ingredients
Pedigree puppy food soft id suggest.i work with dog rescue with my mom and its a great food.my chug (chihuahua-pug mix) eats it and he is healthy.if u don't like this, go to:http://healthypetnet.com/healthypetnet/h...
A chihuahua doesn't eat enough to be a big expense, so buy the best dog food you can find.
I use Canidae for my dogs, but Ca. has lots of good, holistic, small company dry food, without preservatives, meat listed as the first product.
Analysis should be close to 30 percent protein, 18 percent fat.
Chis as notoriously picky, so I always added a little lean chop meat or white meat boneless chicken to the kibble for my chi.
Good food is a lot cheaper than vetting, so don't try to economize on that. Supermarket brands are mostly corn and fillers - terrible nutrition, not good for dogs.
i would suggest feeding your dog iiams or science diet those are both very good brands for a healthy dog
do not buy anything that the ingredients start with corn or soybean those are the fillers meat needs to be in the top 4
ingredients
I work at an animal control.
We feed the does there Diamod Brand Dog Foog.
I also have a chihuahua I give her that brand. The dog mess less.
IAMS is good, little expensive food.
I have never trusted commercial dog food. I just don't trust what they put into it.
I prepare my own food for our dogs. Dogs eat somewhat the same food we do. Most vets say "no human" food. However, they figure you are just going to give them lefts over and they will not get a balance diet.
Dogs need meat, and veggies. And our dogs like chicken best. I make up a batch twice a week. Catch some chicken on sale somewhere and stock up. (sometimes use ground beef)
Roast the chicken in the oven until tender, cool and bone it out (be sure to watch for the little bone in the leg) Leave in the grissel
(save a wing-raw for a once a week treat) Dogs can handle chicken bones before they are cooked but NO COOKED CHICKEN BONES. And if she has never had a piece of raw chicken keep a close eye on her while she is eating it. She may eat it too fast and not get it bitten up.
The cooked bones get brittle, uncooked are flexable Out dogs really love the raw treat.
Add veggies to the chopped up chicken, Canned or frozen (mixed) is OK. We sometimes use fresh raw, but the guys don't seem to like the raw veggies as well as the canned. Canned and frozen are actually picked and processed nearer to prime that the fresh.
We add brown wild rice (cooked) and some oats (not instant oats) We soak the oaks in the chicken both
We add a nutritional supplement for dogs www.juiceplus.com/+Lb53116 and about every 3 days we add some FishOil-omega 3's
Meat about 60-70% the rest veggies and grains.
Make up a container and just take out a little each day to serve. It is actually cheeper than most of your premium dog food and they enjoy it more and you know exactly what is in it. My friends made fun of me until the last dog food scare and then they all called me for a formula.
My guys thrive on this mixture and are beautiful guys. My guys are 45 pounds each and so you baby will be very inexpensive to feed. And at our house if there is nothing in the frig to eat we can always eat dog food. Ha!Ha!
I can't get the spell check to work. so I appologize if I missed something
Nutro Natural Choice is great! I highly recommend it! I gave it to my shar pei and it made his coat look great. and he actually digested the food rather then in one end out the other end like alot of the other foods i tried with him.. not that they upset his stomach he just pooped a lot more with the other brands.. so there for more waste in the foods then in neutro. he loved the lamb and rice meal small bites kinda pricey but with a lil dog.. it wouldnt be that bad. i paid $22 for a 20 pound bag.. that would last ur lil dog a longggg time.. good luck hope u find something that works great for the 2 of you. :)
Iams
You can't really say which is best as ever dog does different on the same food. A really great med-high quality food for your Lil one would be Solid Gold Wee bits. Since you have a chihuahua,he wont break the bank as he will eat little. Also, being on a high quality diet he will eat less and poop less because hid body is absorbing more food because there are more 'good things' in it to eat,rather that expelling a lot of poop because there's more filler and by-product etc. If you want to go the 'grain-free' root, check out Nature's Variety Raw instinct, it has clay in it as an absorber for toxins,berries for the immune and urinary system,as well as top cuts of muscle meat,rather than carcass and inners that take up the mass ingredient in cheap dog food. glad you care about his health! you won't be disappointed.good luck!:)
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