Quote Originally Posted by critter crazy
my boy Duke who is 1 year old today!!! has been on pedigree since i have had him(7months) my vet recomended it! I had my boy zues, who passed away just before x-mas on it as well(per vet advice) and they both have done well on it! Is it okay?? you all have me worried now!! I have never heard of most of the brands you keep refering to! should i change his food??
The best thing you can feed your dog is whatever he thrives on. But to be honest I'd never feed Pedigree to my dogs. As I stated in my above post, vet's are not generally nutritionists. You know your dog best and it's up to you to research and find which food is best for your dog.

I have 5 dogs. I feed 3 of them (Charlie, Nacey, and Nova) Blue Buffalo. I recently switched the other 2 (Bitsy and Buster) to Innova.

When you're looking for a food you need to look carefully at the ingredients. The first ingredient should be a specific meat (ie: chicken) or a specific meat meal (ie: chicken meal). I also look for foods that don't have corn and wheat as fillers.

Here are the ingredients for pedigree:
GROUND YELLOW CORN, MEAT AND BONE MEAL, CORN GLUTEN MEAL, CHICKEN BY-PRODUCT MEAL, ANIMAL FAT (PRESERVED WITH BHA/BHT), WHEAT MILL RUN, NATURAL POULTRY FLAVOR, RICE, WHEAT FLOUR, SALT, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, CARAMEL COLOR, VEGETABLE OIL (SOURCE OF LINOLEIC ACID), VITAMINS (CHOLINE CHLORIDE, dl-ALPHA TOCOPHEROL ACETATE [SOURCE OF VITAMIN E], L-ASCORBYL-2-POLYPHOSPHATE [SOURCE OF VITAMIN C*], VITAMIN A SUPPLEMENT, THIAMINE MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], BIOTIN, d-CALCIUM PANTOTHENATE, RIBOFLAVIN SUPPLEMENT [VITAMIN B2], VITAMIN D3 SUPPLEMENT, VITAMIN B12 SUPPLEMENT), MINERALS (ZINC SULFATE, COPPER SULFATE, POTASSIUM IODIDE).

1) ground yellow corn- a filler, it has no real nutritional value
2) meat and bone meal- not a specific kind of meat, it could be anything
3) corn gluten meal- more corn, again a filler
4) chicken by-product meal- by-products are all the things you'd normally not eat (ie: feet, intestines, beak, necks)

Here are the first 10 ingredients in Blue Buffalo:
Chicken, Chicken Meal, Whole Ground Brown Rice, Whole Ground Barley, Rye , Oatmeal, Chicken Fat (preserved with Natural Mixed Tocopherols, Citric Acid and Rosemary), Whole Carrots, Whole Sweet Potatoes, Ground Flax Seed

Can you see the difference?