dog food

[pnance]

I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for a good dry maintanance dog food?

Thanks!

[wolfsoul]

There are lots of really good brands. :) Innova EVO is my favourite, but here are some others I recommend:

Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul
Canidae
TimberWolf Organics
Wellness
Go! Natural
Foundations
Summit
Nutro Ultra
Fromm's
Healthwise
California Natural

Did you need any help on what to look for in a dog food?

[wolfsoul]

Even though Boxerworld is a site for boxers, I always find that they have alot of good information. Here (http://www.boxerworld.com/feeding/) is their feeding article. It's very informative. If you look on the feeding section of their forum, you'll find alot of recommendations for kibble and alot of helpful information about feeding RAW, plus recipes!

[wolfsoul]

Oh, and here are the top dog kibbles on the WDJ list. I disagree with a few of their choices, but for the most part, good food.

WHOLE DOG JOURNAL DOG FOOD LIST

Artemis
Azmira
Back to Basics
Bench & Field Holistic Natural
Blue Buffalo
Burns
California Natural
Canidae
Chicken Soup
Drs Foster & Smith
Eagle Pack Holistic
Flint River
Foundations
Fromm Four Star
Go! Natural
Innova
Karma Organic
Lick Your Chops
Lifespan
Limited Diets
Merrick
Natural Balance Ultra
Newman’s Own Organic
Organix
PHD Viand
Pinnacle
Prairie
Prime Life
Royal Canin Natural Blend
Solid Gold
Timberwolf Organics
VeRUS
Wellness
Wysong

New to 2005

By Nature Brightlife
Canine Caviar
Cloud Star
Evolve
Nutro Natural Choice Ultra
Premium Edge
Wellness Simple Food Solutions

[elizabethann]

Fenway eats Merrick's dry food as well as Merrick's soft food. He also eats Wellness soft food once in awhile. He likes it and it contains fruits and veggies as well as chicken or venison or fish (as the first ingredient).

Dog food can be so confusing (cat food too). You want your dog to have the best, but there are so many kinds out there. You almost need to be a scientist to figure out some of the ingredients.

[LKPike]

we feed mainly B.A.R.F. ((raw)) with Nutro as snack or inbetween, or on the go meal :p

[caseysmom]

Casey eats california natural chicken and rice weight control formula....bubba eats the puppy formula...its good for dogs with sensitive tummy's and it makes for little poops.

[pnance]

wah that's a lot of different foods. :) Thanks everyone, you definately gave me a lot of options to check into. I also checked out the boxer link and that gave me a good idea what to look for while I'm checking into the different ones listed. I've heard of a few of them:

Chicken Soup
Canidae
Solid Gold
Nutro Ultra

But there not considered "main stream" so most people I asked didn't seem to know much about them, which is why I hesitated since I wasn't sure if they were good or bad. I'll take another look now that I have an idea what to look for.

On another note but similiar topic, I'm also trying to find a good weight control food. One of my dogs is an ~ 8 year old aussie/pyraness mix that has weight problems. He's currently on science diet R/D and has been since we got him about 3 year ago, which I'm not a big fan of. The problem is every time I try to switch him to a different weight control he gains weight even when I restrict his food. He gets walked daily and plays with the other dogs, but because he has arthritis in his back legs he can only do so much with regards to exercise.:)

[wolfsoul]

Originally posted by pnance

On another note but similiar topic, I'm also trying to find a good weight control food. One of my dogs is an ~ 8 year old aussie/pyraness mix that has weight problems. He's currently on science diet R/D and has been since we got him about 3 year ago, which I'm not a big fan of. The problem is every time I try to switch him to a different weight control he gains weight even when I restrict his food. He gets walked daily and plays with the other dogs, but because he has arthritis in his back legs he can only do so much with regards to exercise.:)

Have you tried Nutro Lite? I know Tikeyas_mom has had success with it. You could also try the "green beans" diet. Feed 20% less kibble and add green beans as a filler.

Maybe give Innova EVO a try. It is very high in protien, but has very little carbs. It's like the kibble form of the BARF diet. Have you given raw feeding any thought?

[Buddy Blaze Lover]

We give Blaze lamb IAMS, and he loves it...plus it's so healthy and good for him!:)

[caseysmom]

Just stay away from dog foods with lots of fillers. I always buy from the feed stores not the pet stores.

[LuvGold00]

I feed all my dogs the Eagle Pack Holistic line of foods, love it! :cool:

[mruffruff]

Bella Mae (chow/Lab) is on Nutro Lite and veggies. She lost 10 pounds in a year and has a shiny, silky coat. She now weighs 52 pounds and gets 2 and 1/2 cups of dry food with a half cup of defrosted veggies once a day, only two small 'cookies' every day for treats.

Vet says she's just right. Works for us!

Mary

[pnance]

So far I've tried iams, natures recipe, plus a few other weight management ones, I've even gone so far as to try some of the other brands like purina one weight management, etc just to see. I confess I haven't tried Nutro lite, but the vet did suggest the frozen veggies/dry food diet when we were originally trying to drop his weight and he wasn't losing anything even on R/D, and that seemed to help. We'd gotten away from it once he got down to his optimal weight, and I'd forgotten all about it until it was mentioned here. :) As for the B.A.R.F diet I've heard of it but am not that familiar with it. My understanding is that it's feeding raw meat? I'll look it up on the net and see what it entails.

Thanks!!!

[wolfsoul]

Yup, BARF is primarily RMBs (Raw meaty bones). BoxeroWorld has an awesome BARF forum (http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=5) . I find it very helpful and informative. You might want to check it out! :) Feeding raw can take some work though, so you can buy the premade stuff. I give my cat Nature's Variety raw, and he loves it. It costs about $15 but it has over 50 "medallions" in it so it lasts me almost 2 months because I feed half kibble and half raw. A large dog would probably need 2 medallions in one sitting. All in all, it is alot cheaper to make your own lol. And raw is actually cheaper than kibble!