New Dog Food Evaluation Page

[Giselle]

Ingredient wise, I would prefer Purina Pro-Plan over Iams or Eukanuba. Purina ONE isn't the best, but this all doesn't matter as long as your dog does well on the kibble. THAT is the most important thing. As long as your dog does well on the kibble, THAT is the only thing that matters.

As for information on kibble, I'm not one for internet resources. Unless it ends with .org or .edu, I always doubt the validity of the information. I'm always kind of wary of .com-ers since the information on the 'Net never really gets reviewed by experts nor peers. Who is to say that one site is better than the other? For what it's worth, I recommend Homemade Dog & Cat Diets: The Healthful Alternative by Donald R. Strombeck, DVM, PhD.

[Roxyluvsme13]

Ingredient wise, I would prefer Purina Pro-Plan over Iams or Eukanuba. Purina ONE isn't the best, but this all doesn't matter as long as your dog does well on the kibble. THAT is the most important thing. As long as your dog does well on the kibble, THAT is the only thing that matters.

As for information on kibble, I'm not one for internet resources. Unless it ends with .org or .edu, I always doubt the validity of the information. I'm always kind of wary of .com-ers since the information on the 'Net never really gets reviewed by experts nor peers. Who is to say that one site is better than the other? For what it's worth, I recommend Homemade Dog & Cat Diets: The Healthful Alternative by Donald R. Strombeck, DVM, PhD.

They give Pro Plan a 1 star rating, and Lily does really well on it, so I don't really care what they think.

[K9soul]

They give Pro Plan a 1 star rating, and Lily does really well on it, so I don't really care what they think.

Because a food has a lesser rating or is not as high quality in ingredients does not mean that a dog on it is going to be sick and their hair falling out in clumps . You aren't really going to notice "differences" unless you try higher grade foods and compare them. This particular rating system seems to be based off kibble that comes closest to being of a raw diet quality. So the 1 star foods are farthest off from being the level of a raw/natural diet, that is what that means (at least that's what I get from it).

You can take two people and have both eat fast food and chips and lots of sugar, and one may stay thin and have energy and do ok, and the other may become obese, have heart and cholesterol problems and so forth. Every dog is different just like every person is different. Different metabolisms, different genetic makeups and predispositions. Some problems develop slowly over years fed on a poor diet. Some just never develop them. Not everyone who smokes gets lung cancer, for example, but they are definitely at increased risk.

I'd suggest reading up at the link Kay gave. There is a lot of educational information there, and especially the sections about Commercial Dry foods. I don't understand why people don't just research and read up instead of immediately getting defensive about what they feed and why they feed it. Some may not have the option of feeding a premium food but that doesn't mean you can't read up and become educated on the differences, and learn about the benefits different diets and premium foods can offer so that when you DO have the option, you will know what you want to do.

[Giselle]

Agreed, K9soul. The objective of all these websites and books we are posting is to open your mind and educate you. The most important thing you can possibly do in your lifetime is to learn. It's absolutely fine that Lily does well on Pro-Plan. I know plenty of Greyhound owners who feed Pro-Plan and Nutro Natural Choice, neither of which make the 3 star mark. Technically, these foods would be considered "below average" - yikes. Yet, thousands of dog owners continue to feed these brands because it's what works for them. However, just because Pro-Plan doesn't make the cut in this particular dog food review, you shouldn't go on the defensive and claim that you do not care what the Editor of the website thinks.

It's a time for education, and, like K9soul mentioned, once your current situation improves and the option of feeding higher quality kibble is available, you can make the appropriate switch. I highly suggest you read why Pro-Plan received such a low score and learn from it. We all started from Square 1