Dog Food Question... ANYONE???

[jackie]

I wouldn't consider either of them high quality by any means but if I had to choose one I'd pick the Advance. Mixing them together won't hurt them, it might upset their tummies a bit for a while but it won't cause any long term harm.

Can you recommend a good dry food then.

I have always feed advance because it is what my vet and the animal shelter recommended.

[vinjashira]

here is a website that reviews dogfood

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/

Unfortunately not all the dogfood listed there available in the UK so they may not be available in Spain either. And I believe they may not have reviews for dogfood that is only available in Spain.

[kittycats_delight]

Can you recommend a good dry food then.

I have always feed advance because it is what my vet and the animal shelter recommended.

I would stay away from science diet. It is never been to high on my list of good foods but that is JMO.

[Flatcoatluver]

I would stay away from science diet also. If you have kirkland dog food, then that is a very good option for dog food, not the highest quality, but it beats science diet and other dog food by far. T.j and Sage eat canidae, Zoey eats a mixture of canidae and solid gold.

[jackie]

OK, going to start them on this diet.

Hills Science Diet

Ingredients: Chicken, Brown Rice, Whole Grain Wheat, Cracked Pearled Barley, Soybean Meal, Chicken Meal, Pork Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Dried Egg Product, Natural Flavour, Whole Grain Oats, Apples, Cranberries, Soybean Oil, Peas, Carrots, Dried Beet Pulp, Iodized Salt, Flaxseed, Broccoli, Vitamins (L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Vitamin E Supplement, Choline Chloride, Taurine, Minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid, Calcium Carbonate, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract.

Guaranteed Analysis:
Crude Protein......................................Min. 21.5%
Crude Fat............................................Min . 12.5%
Crude Fibre.........................................Max. 3.5%
Moisture.......................................... ....Max. 10.0%
Ash............................................... .......Max. 5.5%
Calcium........................................... ....Min. 0.5%
Phosphorus........................................ .Min. 0.4%
Vitamin E.............................................Min. 400 IU/kg
Ascorbic acid*(Vitamin C)....................Min. 120 mg/kg


Thoughts?

[Freedom]

Science Diet is a good food in general. Upper medium range in quality. Don't know about where you are, but here we can get it in the pet stores and not need to visit the vet for it.

There are a few things folks do not like about it:
- the vets push it, I think they have a financial interest in Hill's for schooling bills
- it has preservatives
- it has "chicken meal," which isn't clear WHAT is included in that, ugh!
- it has BHA and . . .. um another one I can't remember
- for cats, there are rumors among cat owners that it increases the overactive thyroid disease risk. Not confirmed by any studies or by Hill's, naturally.

I fed it to my cats for 12 years and was happy with it. Then I switched this past January to a higher quality food.

[Catlady711]

There are a few things folks do not like about it:
- the vets push it, I think they have a financial interest in Hill's for schooling bills
- for cats, there are rumors among cat owners that it increases the overactive thyroid disease risk. Not confirmed by any studies or by Hill's, naturally.

A good vet shouldn't 'push' any one type of food. At least where I work, we don't even sell any food that isn't a prescription diet, and at that we carry 3 name brands (Royal Canin, Purina, Science Diet). I tend to dislike vets that think they have to compete with the pet stores carrying and 'pushing' any of their products from foods to pet toys. They are supposed to be there to take care of your pets health not be a pet store also.

I believe most vets carry or prefer Science diet because Hills is more agressive with marketing and FREQUENTLY send unsolicited CASES of sample foods which we have to get rid of somehow or another. Also Science Diet, and a few other, are found at most any pet store so it makes more sense to recommend products that our clients can easily find without alot of hassle, otherwise they tend to go buy whatever cheap crap is on sale at the moment at the grocery store. We usually give a client a list of several brands of foods easily available in our area at most all the pet stores.

I never heard that particular myth about a food causing overactive thryroid problems. From my 6+ years experience working at the vet hospital it seems to be a very common problem in older cats regardless of what kind of diet they've been on from top of the line foods to cheap crap.

I think with any food it depends on the particular animal what works for them and what doesn't. I've seen clients come in with pets with horrible diarrhea and skin problems from Canidae and Dimond and I've seen pets thrive on a couple of non brand foods. I think it depends on the animal themselves. I have fed lots of different foods over the course of my cat owning life although I've prefered the last 3 I've used (Iams, Science Diet, and Royal Canin) the last one being the one I'm feeding now.