Pet Food

[denali]

I was asked to start a new thread to discuss pet food. As I have stated, I am not an expert but have spent considerable time researching and some training on the subject. I welcome discussion, questions and ideas. If I don't know the answer, I will strive to obtain it for you.

I am putting a disclaimer on this as I am not an expert, these may be my opinions only but I have formed those opinions through research.

Here is my first thought about labels and what they MAY mean:

1. Chicken Dog Food - ingredients are at least 95% chicken before water added
2. Chicken Dinner for Dogs - ingredients are 25-95% chicken before water added
3. Dog Food With Chicken - ingredients are at least 3% chicken before water added (yes only 3%!)
4. Chicken Flavor Dog Food - no minimum percentage of chicken required, only that there is enough chicken to taste it!

YES, marketing HYPE!!!!!!!

[denali]

Just to bring this over from the Signs of Spring thread:

When we fed a 100 pounds of food-over a period of time, of course, this is our findings measured in pounds of back yard clean-up:

Nutro Natural Choice 39 pounds
Nutro Max 42 pounds
Nutro Ultra 49 pounds
Eukanuba 49 pounds
Science Diet 51 pounds
Iams 56 pounds
Pro Plan 56 pounds
Beneful 62 pounds
Ol' Roy 71 pounds
Pedigree 71 pounds
Dog Chow 79 pounds

[michael medeski]

i never weighed the stuff before. usually i just mulch it with the mower.

we take our dogs to the vet on a regular schedule. every ince in a while one of my dog's pukes yellow foam. we have tried different foods and found purina one to be the best. we did use iams, but it dried their skin out and made them dig alot. the vet said he might have an allergy to something. they could do testing but it is big $$$$. so i get use to him about once every 2 months puking. he makes it to the door and outside most of the time, but not always.

[denali]

i never weighed the stuff before. usually i just mulch it with the mower.

we take our dogs to the vet on a regular schedule. every ince in a while one of my dog's pukes yellow foam. we have tried different foods and found purina one to be the best. we did use iams, but it dried their skin out and made them dig alot. the vet said he might have an allergy to something. they could do testing but it is big $$$$. so i get use to him about once every 2 months puking. he makes it to the door and outside most of the time, but not always.

Ha, Ha. Most of us don't weigh our dog's poop but>>>>>>>>>>

You have to remember that just because a company has a big name and a lot of people use it, it does not mean that it is the best. Many times you pay for the name. You also have to remember that companies change their ingredients a lot, cheapen their ingredients so you have to check the ingredients on the bag once in awhile. A bag that you buy today may be different than what you buy a couple of months from now-----that is why this is so difficult.

I agree that your dog may have allergies or may simply have a problem with ground yellow corn or by-products. That is where I would start because that is the easiest. Now, since I work for a certain company, I know my product and that is what I would naturally recommend.
So depending on your dog's age or dog's size, I would recommend Max Mini Chuck, Max Adult or Max Large Breed or Nutro Natural Choice Chicken, Rice and Oatmeal-this all depends on what you want from a food.

I will be in the Angola Rural King this Sat. from 10am-2pm and Sun. 11am-3pm if you are interested, stop by and after getting more information we could find a food to meet your needs. I have had experience and good results with sensitive stomachs with our foods. Which brings me to the point that your dog may not really have a sensitive stomach it just may be the food causing the problem.

I hope that I have not just confused you more.

[michael medeski]

Ha, Ha. Most of us don't weigh our dog's poop but>>>>>>>>>>

You have to remember that just because a company has a big name and a lot of people use it, it does not mean that it is the best. Many times you pay for the name. You also have to remember that companies change their ingredients a lot, cheapen their ingredients so you have to check the ingredients on the bag once in awhile. A bag that you buy today may be different than what you buy a couple of months from now-----that is why this is so difficult.

I agree that your dog may have allergies or may simply have a problem with ground yellow corn or by-products. That is where I would start because that is the easiest. Now, since I work for a certain company, I know my product and that is what I would naturally recommend.
So depending on your dog's age or dog's size, I would recommend Max Mini Chuck, Max Adult or Max Large Breed or Nutro Natural Choice Chicken, Rice and Oatmeal-this all depends on what you want from a food.

I will be in the Angola Rural King this Sat. from 10am-2pm and Sun. 11am-3pm if you are interested, stop by and after getting more information we could find a food to meet your needs. I have had experience and good results with sensitive stomachs with our foods. Which brings me to the point that your dog may not really have a sensitive stomach it just may be the food causing the problem.

I hope that I have not just confused you more.

thankyou

i have 2 medium size dogs around 5yrs old. i don't know for sure. my girlfriend would. is this food expensive? do you buy it at rural king?

i would like to try something easy on their stomach. but i don't want to make them sick by switching brands. plus i can't spend a whole bunch. i can't make it this weekend, but any suggestions that might help would be worth a try. i'm going back to hardwood floors this spring! i'm tired of having to scrub the carpet every time.

[hairypumper]

I used to feed Black Gold, but when gas prices went through the roof I couldn't afford to drive to Wabash to get it. I tried a lot of other foods and finally settled on Retriever from Tractor Supply. They like it even though it is not as high quality as Black Gold. And yes, they poop about 50% more.

[denali]

thankyou

i have 2 medium size dogs around 5yrs old. i don't know for sure. my girlfriend would. is this food expensive? do you buy it at rural king?

i would like to try something easy on their stomach. but i don't want to make them sick by switching brands. plus i can't spend a whole bunch. i can't make it this weekend, but any suggestions that might help would be worth a try. i'm going back to hardwood floors this spring! i'm tired of having to scrub the carpet every time.

You can buy it at Rural King and it is less expensive there than at pet stores. I see that I received a lot of food in this past week and my rep said that we were going to have some great specials coming up to promote our Max brand so I assume that the store is getting ready for that. Depends on what you think is expensive, Max 35# Adult is what I would suggest since I know their age and size, is $32.99 for 35#, which may look like its more than what you are feeding now but you will feed less, also you buy 10 get 1 free, and if you watch the specials-at times we may have the 35# for $23.99 so it depends on how well you watch the sales. I help my customers on knowing when the sales are when I know.

As far as switching, I switch dogs cold turkey all the time without a problem but this is what I suggest:

Day 1 & 2 75% old, 25% new
Day 3 & 4 50% old, 25% new
Day 5 & 6 25% old, 75% new

You should not have a problem switching by following the above.

Please let me know if I can help.

I don't blame you, my carpet is ripped out to be replaced with tile and wood, carpets are just too full of allergens for me.

[Night Owl]

I agree that your dog may have allergies or may simply have a problem with ground yellow corn or by-products. That is where I would start because that is the easiest. ...

Thanks for taking up the thread Denali!
My wife knows more about the dog food than I do. From what I remember, the corn can not be digested, has no nutritious value for dogs, passes right through them. Correct me if I am wrong, but can't it cause allergies in dogs? Seems like there was something....

[denali]

Thanks for taking up the thread Denali!
My wife knows more about the dog food than I do. From what I remember, the corn can not be digested, has no nutritious value for dogs, passes right through them. Correct me if I am wrong, but can't it cause allergies in dogs? Seems like there was something....

Rice is more digestible than corn, so when you see ground yellow corn in the ingredients, especially near the top of the ingredient list, it has a lot of corn in it and yes that is one of the reason why the pet has bigger stools. (I hope that I don't gross people out talking about poop, stools, etc.-fact of life.) Another great thought-you know what happens when we eat corn? Well, pets digestive system is far less complicated than ours.