Dog Food Questions Again I Know, But I need help!!!

[LokiDog]

Hey All,

I thought the original reply referred to the Diamond brand sold at Petco. I don't use it because it has corn, but I know a few people who use/like it. I guess Diamond is a popular brand name????

"Do you have a Costco? They have a Kirkland brand made by Diamond"

Here are the ingredients from the Petco website-
Ingredients
Chicken by-product meal, whole grain ground corn, wheat flour, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), brewers rice, beet pulp (sugar removed), fish meal, egg product, flaxseed, natural chicken flavor, brewers dried yeast. Vitamin


Guaranteed Analysis
Crude protein (min.) 26%, crude fat (min.) 18%, crude fiber (max.) 3%, moisture (max.) 10%, ash (max.) 5.5%, calcium (max.) 1%, calcium (min.) 1.1%, phosphorus (max.) 0.8%, phosphorus (min.) 0.9%, omega-6 fatty acid* (min.) 3%, omega-3 fatty acids* (min.)

[MonicanHonda]

Sorry! Lol I meant Diamond Naturals. I haven't even seen the original Diamond brand in a store before so I forget they sell it. The naturals ingredients are:

Chicken, chicken meal, whole grain brown rice, white rice, cracked pearled barley, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), oatmeal, beet pulp, egg product, flaxseed, natural chicken flavor, fish meal, potassium chloride, choline chloride, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.

This is the chicken one.

This is the chicken of the kirkland dog food

Chicken, chicken meal, whole grain brown rice, cracked pearl barley, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and vitamin E), egg product, beet pulp, potatoes, fish meal, flaxseed, natural flavor, brewers dried yeast, millet, potassium chloride, salt, choline chloride, carrots, peas, kelp, apples, dried skim milk, cranberry powder, rosemary extract, parsley flake, dried chicory root, glucosamine hydrochloride, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, chondroitin sulfate, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.

This is the Nature's Domain:

Salmon meal, sweet potatoes, peas, potatoes, canola oil, potato protein, potato fiber, natural flavor, flaxseed, ocean fish meal, salt, choline chloride, dried chicory root, tomatoes, blueberries, raspberries, yucca schidigera extract, dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus casei fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus plantarum fermentation product, dried Trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin (vitamin B2), vitamin D supplement, folic acid.

[LokiDog]

OK,

I may be a little dense, but are you saying all of the Diamond named products are bad??

I went to the Diamond Naturals website and found out that they carry it at Menards. Can't find a price there but I found it at Pet Direct and their price is ~37.00 for 40 lbs, so that's not too bad. Menards must have a comparable price.

I went to the Natures Domain website and found it is only sold at Costco. Can't find the price on their website, so I did a little research on the web and found a few posts that say it's 28.00 for a 40 lbs.

So...

Are any/either of these a good food???

[MonicanHonda]

Okay, I've found a few personal reviews of Diamond. These are by no means made by nutritionists or anything... just customers...

I have used Diamond all natural. The lamb and rice. My dog liked it. But there is another brand out that is made by diamond, and it is called Taste of the Wild. They have 3 flavors out. The prairie formula(bison and venison) The wetlands(roasted waterfowl) and the pacific stream(salmon) The first 2 are 6 star and the other a 5. It is an all natural food, containing fruits and veggies. My dog loves it, and she has gotten alot shinier coat since she has been on it. It costs me $40 for a 30 lb bag.



The Diamond Naturals is better than the straight Diamond. I know a lot of people like the Natural's line as a decent midrange dog food (IE better than Dog Chow but not Innova or Origen by any stretch of the imagination.

The Eagle Pack Holistic is about it's equal, I'm not a big fan of the regular Eagle Pack though.

I feed my girls Innova, but if price is a concern, Diamond Naturals is good, I'm trying to convince my mom to try it with her two dogs, she feeds Dog Chow. YUCK.


I think it's a crappy food. Diamond puts out /some/ decent diets (Chicken Soup For The Pet Lover's Soul, Taste of the Wild) but most of their diets are crap.

Not all pet food is made equally. A lot of it is full of corn, by-products, dyes, unhealthy preservatives, filler grains and all sorts of nasty stuff. A lot of pet food companies are perfectly happy to the dump cheap leftovers and things that aren't safe for human consumption (from human food processing plants) into their foods. Will it kill your dog? No, it has to be nutritionally complete and safe to even be marketed. Is it healthy? Not by a long shot.

Corn is a low quality ingredient you never want to see in your pet food. Corn and low quality grains are two of the biggest culprits when it comes to food allergies in our pets.

Thankfully, there are some excellent dog foods being made these days that include organic, human grade ingredients rather than trash not fit for human consumption.

Examples of low quality foods to avoid: Anything you can find in a grocery store will be low end, Purina, Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Royal Canin, Pedigree, Kibbles n' Bits, Beneful, Ol'Roy.

Examples of high quality foods to look for: Innova, Wellness, Solid Gold, Canidae All Life Stages, Fromm Four Star, Merrick, GO Natural, Nature's Variety Prairie, Nature's Logic, Artemis Fresh Mix, Timberwolf Organics.

Although the high quality foods are more expensive, you're getting what you're paying for. Less filler material means more concentrated nutrients... this means you typically need to feed far less of the high quality food than you would of the low quality one. Which also means less poop!

Before following your vet's food recommendation, keep in mind that vets get /very/ little nutritional training during their schooling. Besides that, what training they /do/ get is usually sponsored or taught by the crappy pet food companies! They also often get paid to sell some of their products at their clinics (Science Diet, Royal Canin etc.)

A great option is to go with an entirely grainless diet. Many of the high quality foods now put out grainless formulas. Some good grainless diets include: Innova EVO, Wellness CORE, Blue Wilderness, Nature's Variety Instinct, Orijen, Horizon Legacy, Merrick Before Grain, Canidae Grain Free All Life Stages, Fromm Surf & Turf, Now! and Sold Gold Barking At The Moon, Taste of the Wild.

Some pretty decent foods can even be found in common pet stores. Petsmart carries Blue Buffalo products (such as the excellent grain free diet Blue Wilderness). Petco carries Wellness, Solid Gold, Natural Balance, Eagle Pack Holistic, Blue Buffalo, Castor & Pollux Organix, Pinnacle, and Halo. If you can't find a food, most of the high quality food brands have websites with store locators on them.

Another option, if you can't find anywhere around you that sells good foods, is to order your pet food online. Here's an excellent place to do so: http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/

Remember that foods should be switched gradually (mixing new slowly in with the old over about a two week period), especially when switching to a higher quality one, so as not to upset tummies.



This is basically the majority of my feeling on the dog food. Diamonds had a MAJOR pet food recall in 2007.

*Edit* On another forum I belong to, they talked about the Kirkland and Nature's Domain brands. Out of those two, I would do Nature's Domain because it's grain free.... but I believe it's right up there with Taste of the Wild.

[MonicanHonda]

Also, if you think about 38 dollars for 35 lbs isn't bad, I had Remy on Chicken Soup before. But it had to much grains for her and gave her ear infections, but I hear a lot of pups do fine on it. Now she's on Taste of the Wild.