Purina Beneful?????????????????

[LilacDragon]

Dogs can thrive on Ole' Roy, but that doesn't mean that it is good for them. Heck, I fed my dogs Purina for years before doing my research and learning about what was going in my dog. Since I didn't go to medical school and am not a scientist - I am sorry to say I didn't understand a word of your link to a "scientific study of the digestibility of corn protien (and I am talking about the nutritional value of corn as applies to dogs so the E-Look link for nutritional value in humans is pointless as far as I am concerned.)

I can tell you from experience, when I removed all corn and soy products from my older rottweiler's diet it was easier to manager her weight, she had more energy, her coat looked better, she farted much less and pooped less.

And yes, I do believe (though of course, can not prove) that the food she ate before I put her on a premium food was in some way, if slight, the reason that I lost her to cancer instead of old age.

[timlewis]

Please Help

[JenBKR]

I'll agree with the Nutro suggestion, it's a much healthier food. Arguments can be made for cheaper foods with lots of fillers, but the truth is that they just do not give as much nutrition, and in the end a better food will give you a healthier dog...not to mention a cheap food may lead to many more health problems when your dog gets older. The others mentioned such as Solid Gold, Canidae, etc. are awesome foods too of course

[MajesticCollies]

I can't put this any blunter. Without sounding rude......If you buy it from the grocery store it isn't worth feeding. Alls it does is put substance in your dogs belly. Not the proper nutrients he needs. I feed Solid Gold. You will be surprised the little private kennels and breeders close to you that are retailing the holistic and quality foods.

[LilacDragon]

Ok - here is the skinny.

You should avoid foods with lots of fillers, ie: corn, soy, brewer's rice, and other things along this line. You should also avoid foods with meat-by-products. If you must shop at your local grocery for foods then you are going to have to do your research and read labels.

If you live in the sticks, then chances are there is a feed store near you somewhere. Most feed stores carry some of the better foods. Also, if you live in the sticks, chances are you are going to "the city" every once in a while. While you are there - get dog food.

[Vela]

Honestly, Beneful is one of the absolute worst foods on the market. I am certainly not trying to tell you this to be rude, honestly, but it's horrid. I'd honestly feed dog chow first. I would check out all of those threads someone posted to the websites for the better food. Trust me, with a Boxer you don't need extra gas LOL, and that's what you get from those crappy dog foods, LOTS of it. You can often find good foods at local feed stores, small mom and pop operations, boarding and breeding kennels, etc. At least try looking at those sites to see if any of those are anywhere near you. You can also have food delivered by mail and, depending on the place, get free shipping or reduced shipping, etc.

[Tralee]

I can't put this any blunter. Without sounding rude......If you buy it from the grocery store it isn't worth feeding. Alls it does is put substance in your dogs belly. Not the proper nutrients he needs. I feed Solid Gold. You will be surprised the little private kennels and breeders close to you that are retailing the holistic and quality foods.

I beleived that, untill I was looking at the health food section in Hannaford and discovered they were selling Wysong dog and cat food, and a few other brands of natural dog food. Most of the brands did contain corn, but they are still much healthier than the foods found in the dog asile. Unfortunately the bags were quite small.

[mugsy]

I'll agree with the Nutro suggestion, it's a much healthier food.

I am going to respectfully disagree with this statement (although it IS significantly healthier than Beneful). Nutro has changed their formulation and has added soybean oil which is one of the top 3 allergens. Mike has converted 11 dogs from Nutro onto better (and in some cases, cheaper) food and the owners came in 2 weeks later falling all over themselves thanking him for saving the dog...they had runny, seepy ears and coat issues. Now, if your dog doesn't have allergies, then you probably won't see a difference. So....if you need Nutro come to Ft Wayne to the store and buy what we have left...the Nutro Max is marked down to $17.99 for a 35 pound bag so we can get it out of the store. Also, you will begin finding this at your local Wal-mart anytime, which is a sure sign they have lowered the quality of the food. Just an FYI (Mike gets this info from periodicals that he gets at the store).

I hope I didn't offend you!!!

[JenBKR]

I am going to respectfully disagree with this statement (although it IS significantly healthier than Beneful). Nutro has changed their formulation and has added soybean oil which is one of the top 3 allergens. Mike has converted 11 dogs from Nutro onto better (and in some cases, cheaper) food and the owners came in 2 weeks later falling all over themselves thanking him for saving the dog...they had runny, seepy ears and coat issues. Now, if your dog doesn't have allergies, then you probably won't see a difference. So....if you need Nutro come to Ft Wayne to the store and buy what we have left...the Nutro Max is marked down to $17.99 for a 35 pound bag so we can get it out of the store. Also, you will begin finding this at your local Wal-mart anytime, which is a sure sign they have lowered the quality of the food. Just an FYI (Mike gets this info from periodicals that he gets at the store).

I hope I didn't offend you!!!

Oh no, I'm not offended! I've been feeding Nutro for a little while now, and I'm very pleased with how Roscoe is doing on it. I don't know how to read labels extremely well, but what little I do know I researched and I'm comfortable with Nutro (although I hadn't heard that they changed the formula). I am curious though, you said that Mike converted some dogs off of Nutro and onto other brands, and some of them are cheaper. Mind me asking what brands those are? If something is healthier and cheaper, and I can find them anywhere around here, I might consider switching. Thanks!

[mugsy]

I believe that he switched them to a brand called Nutri Source (also on the top 30 list). I know it's hard to find here, but don't know about around you. I have heard (and know for the Ft Wayne store) that Gander Mountain is carrying Nutri Source now. Odd isn't it? The other probable brand that he switched them to would be Canidae.

I have learned SO much since Mike took over the store (a lot of which we get the "first run" information through vendors). For instance...I didn't know that Wellness has switched from baking their food to an extrusion (steaming) process and that is partly why the holistic vet in our area quit recommending it.

Mike put it very succinctly the other day....(and I believe that's how it got to the McDonald's scenario)...that is...if given a choice between McDonalds and spinich most people would take the McDonalds even though they know the spinich is better for them. Dogs are the same way...they're going to take the Beneful because it tastes like chips to them, but, they NEED better nutrition than that. It's funny that the secretary here at school and I got into this discussion this morning. She thinks it's ridiculous that people spend so much on their animals when 20 years ago they didn't the dogs lived just as long. I argued that they didn't. And I'm sure that there are dogs that do just fine on Purina, etc, but, on the whole the more expensive food isn't really that much more expensive because you don't need to feed them as much. Our Daisy is a 135 pound Great Dane and she gets 4 cups of food a day on the premium food, where she would have to eat about 7 cups of Purina to get the same nutrition as in, say, Canidae. I've got a chart at the store that shows the comparisons...if I can figure out how to duplicate it, I will post it.

The other thing to look for that is a sign that a company has changed their formula and "dumbed it down" is when you can find them in the grocery store or Wal-mart like stores. Usually they put more corn in it and take out the better stuff but still charge the higher prices.

[JenBKR]

Well if i find Nutro in the grocery store I will most likely change food. Until then I may just investigate. One more question, is it bad to switch pets' food often? I have already switched Roscoe's food a couple times, I don't want to mess him up.

sorry if I am hijacking this thread!

[coco-bean]

I personally dont like Beneful because we got it for coco and she ate it for about a week and didnt like it, it startd making her very sick, she would throw up and the pieces of food would still be whole when they came out, and she was no longer excited to eat food anymore! She use to jump around and be excited then after she ate that for a while she turned her nose up to it and dreaded when she had to it that!

[labmomma]

After a lot of research I chose to go with Flint River Dog Food due to the quality of their product. They have free shipping and I'm on the autoship option where they automatically ship to me according to a schedule we arrived at. I live 45 minutes from the closest pet store so this is my best and healthiest option for my Labs.
Labmomma

www.flintriver.com

[Logan]

FRR is my food of choice, too, but it got too expensive with 4 big dogs. Now I have 3, one puppy, and two big dogs and I might consider going that route again. It certainly was nice to have the UPS man (poor guy) bringing it to my door!

My big dogs are eating Purina One Barley and Lamb, right now. It is the one in the white bag, and they are doing just fine on it. Puppy Mack is still on Iams Puppy food, which is what the breeder was using, but in time, I may switch all 3 of them back to FRR.

Good luck!

Logan

[elizabethann]

I had a coupon for Beneful & bought Fenway a couple. I love their packaging and they were great to use when we were on vacation. Of course, Fenway thought he died & went to heaven & ate it all up. Would I personally buy Beneful as his regular daily canned food? No.

He's back to his Merrick canned food. Actually, another reason I bought the Beneful was that Merrick only had large cans. But they recently came out with small (cat sized) travel cans. So I take those on vacation now. Easy and good stuff!

Buying our animals pet food is such a hard decision. If I could only tell you how long it took me to decide what to feed my animals. And now with one of my cats with kidney disease, I've probably spent over $100 trying to find a food that he will eat.