New Dog Food Evaluation Page

[Vela]

Thanks for the link Kay. Very informative.

[dab_20]

That may just be carried in Canada?? I've never seen it in any Wal-Mart in the US. IMO, the "best" quality I've seen at EVERY Wal-Mart is Purina ONE. The only selections I've really seen are Iams, Purina ONE, Pedigree, Kibbles & Bits, Beneful, etc.

Purina one is better then Iams? I was always told that Iams was better.

[Vela]

If I had to pick from Iams or Purina One I'd pick the Purina.

[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.

[Crazy-Cat-Lover]

I was just curious, I went to thegreatdanelady.com and can't find those articles even when using search. What is that site? It seems like it's a search engine for advertisers..

Sorry about that! Here is the proper link... Great Dane Lady. Go to the side of the page and you will see "Articles". Sorry about that!

[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.

[Uabassoon]

It seems I'm the only one with this problem, but I can't get the link to work.

[K9soul]

It seems I'm the only one with this problem, but I can't get the link to work.

I had that problem at first. I just kept trying and it finally worked for me and I haven't had the problem since. Odd

[Roxyluvsme13]

It seems I'm the only one with this problem, but I can't get the link to work.

I couldnt get it to work either, but once I typed it in my addy bar it worked better!

[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

[Uabassoon]

I give up! I tried to click the link, copy and paste, type in manually and no luck!

[Vela]

I also wanted to mention that just because a food receives a 1 star rating on their scale doesn't mean your dog will die from eating it, it's just not the highesty quality food out there, which is no secret to anyone anyway. There is never a reason not to be willing to learn and find out information you didn't know before...in anything. I know the person who compiled the information, which is simply a reproduction from the exact food labels of each product, and they also go on to explain exactly how and why the foods are graded the way they are on a separate page from the reveiws. In fact the person who compiled the information feeds raw...but that doesn't make the evaluations any less valid. For myself I enjoyed the site mostly to see what products are out there for me to choose from and what ingredients they use so I can then make a decision for myself which food works best for me and my dogs. It's easy to read and even if you don't agree with the rating scale and how it's done, the information is still helpful and you can easily compare foods to make up your own mind about what you want to feed or not feed.

Sorry the link didn't work for you Uabasson.

[mruffruff]

Has anyone seen the food Drs Foster and Smith make? The price seems to be comparative to the Nutro that I buy. (See DrsFosterSmith.com website).
30 lb. Bag of Lamb & Rice for $25. I pay $18 for 15 lb. bag of Nutro Senior. I'm not very good at comparing ingredients, though. If it's a better food than supermarket brands, it could be an alternative for those who don't have access to pet supply stores.