Dog Food

Whats everyone one feeding thier dogs? Been reading alot online some of the foods I use to use in the past are getting real bad rating now.

I feed my Lab Blue Buffalo, Lamb and Brown Rice. He does extremely well on it. http://bluebuffalo.com/dog-food/lp-lamb?pf=1&brand=lifeprotection&animal=dog

I have been making my own dog food for the last year.4lbs.ground venison,3 cups rolled oats,whole wheat flour,brown rice cooked each.4 eggs,1 can of gravy,2 cups powdered milk,1bag mixed vegetables.2hrs.in oven on cookie sheets at 275.Toothy

All I have ever fed my labs and pointers is basic dog chow by Purina. cheap and available almost everywhere. I know its not as hi-tech as some others, but it is much more affordable and I just feed more during hunting season and heavy workouts..........works for me.......................

I'm am leary of feeding my dog most of the factory made dog foods...any thoughts on the diet of ground venison, rice, and sweet potato....would this be a healthy choice?? am I missing anything? looking for natural options...

Great info to post HSB. Many may not know that. Yogurt is supposed to help as well. Around here it would be tough. Would have to strictly confine the old boy. The dogs find all sorts of things around here to eat. Pretty quick here they will get a steady diet of bear bait. They always find a way to get into some of it. Heck, some of these dogs eat the cheese off the mousetraps! Maybe even the trap!!

Steve I know you didn't ask for advice but I have a 14 year old right now that has gotten so gassy in his old age it makes him uncomforatble at times (bloating). When I talked with the vet about it he told me to give him 1/2 of a prilosec with each feeding. We buy the generic knockoff to cut down on the cost but it flat out works for him. Not something I'd want to do for year after year but it sure seems to be working great now.

Mine always did well on the High Standard. Logistics can be a pain. Over the winter to not have to buy the pallet worth. Went to using the Old Roy Hi Performance(brown bag) Dogs did really well on it. Even the dogs hunting hard put weight on. Feed them all they wanted up to about 4 cups though. After we were done cut them all back so they did not balloon up. Still not dropping weight at 2cups across the board. Not doing much now either. Not as good as the TOW by far. Would still feed the same. Just 3X the cost. Dogs love it though. Suppose due to the better quality. Might be able drop back to 1 cup a day. Then cost would balance out more. 12 dogs and no real problems with the feed now. Well, except the old dog that is a bit gassy. At his age just looking at any food has that effect, I think.

Taste of the wild Pacific Stream 30# bag is $42 Crude Protein 25.0% Crude Fat 15.0% Crude Fiber 3.0% Moisture 10.0% Zinc 150 mg/kg Selenium 0.4 mg/kg Vitamin E 150 IU/kg Omega-6 Fatty Acids 2.4% Omega-3 Fatty Acids 0.3% Fromm Salmon A La Veg 30# bag is $59 Protein 25% Min Fat 16% Min Fiber 3.5% Max Moisture 10% Max Omega 3 Fatty Acids 0.6% Min Omega 6 Fatty Acids 2.7% Min My dogs do well on both. With each brand being almost the same I cant justify paying the extra $$$ for Fromm.

Poor breeding has plagued our 4 legged buddies for a long time. Every time the dollar gets involved it makes it worse. Most of the hound breeds have had little health issues for a long time. Mostly because of strict breeding practices. Then the dollar started to get involved in many ways. Now some of the more popular breeds are seeing some real serious issues come from it. Finding cheaper easier ways to feed our friends. Has done a ton of harm. Soy is one of the best examples. How long did it take us to figure that out. How many dogs died as a result of our want for a cheaper protein source. Still to this day. Many folks do not understand what the problem was. I still hear folks say, I feed a lower protein in the off season because too much will hurt/kill the dog. They don't understand or believe it is simply a protein thing. When it was the form of it. Soy cannot be digested fully, or ground fine enough to pass. So it basically ends up cutting the guts up. Number one result was kidney failure. Still see many bags the state SOY FREE!! Some of you may be surprised what wild canines will eat. They have to get a balanced diet one way or the other. Meat alone is not good enough. Most bear hunters in the northern part of the state have had wolves on the baits. Until trail cameras it was thought they are just there to eat the other critters. Until you got that pic of a wolf with a jelly doughnut in it's chops. Really not much different then our dogs. That will eat just about anything. Most other wildlife will eat about anything. I still recall a deer camp a few years back. We got some of them fiery hot cheetos. Nobody would eat them here. So out into the deer feeder they went. MAN, do they love them things. Watching them eat circus peanuts is comical as well. It's not cut and dry. It is a combination of breeding, and the garbage that gets passed off as food. It's not hard to see what the problem is in many cases. Like the dogs that cannot eat meat! An allergy to beets, is something different. A lot of poor breeding practices out there, and even more poor quality foods!!

I agree about the breeding versus pedigree thing to a point. If a breeder is responsible they may require the correct papers for the mate of their dog but they also require that the dog is all correct, not just papered correct. Probably the healthiest dogs are mutts. While dogs are carnivores their wild cousins do eat some vegitation and usually the first thing eaten on a kill is the guts so they can get the nutrients in them. Omnivores will also eat meat often when given the chance as they don't want to pass up protien, deer will eat baby birds and dead fish at times.

I agree with 100% of that one Steve......and I never said "well bred" meant a pedigree. We agree that some "breeders" are doing way more harm than good. I'm just saying that all canines evolved over millions of years to be carnivores (mostly). None of them have a digestive tract suited to foods containing a large percentage of their protein diet derived from processed cereal grain......just like I didn't evolve with the gut for raw whale blubber and Kimchi. :')

It's not that a pedigree makes a difference. In fact some can be much worse. As folks breed for money not for the health of the dogs they are breeding. It has gone on for many years and will obviously continue. Can see that just in the attitudes of posters. I SAID WELL BRED!! That does not always mean a pedigree. You can have very poor breeding in a papered dog. Worse really, because of money. I can just hear some already muttering through the computer. But stop and think about it. If what I am saying has no truth to it. Then why are there so many tests that need to be done with many of the pure breeds. Use to just be a suggestion of hips, or eyes. Now there are so many I dont even know the names of them. Look at the St Charles. Absolute poor breeding done just as a novelty. Brains grow larger than the skull. That's nice!! Then look at all the dogs with food allergies. The best ones being the dogs that are allergic to all meats. REALLY? A CANINE THAT CANNOT EAT MEAT! Yep, sounds like good breeding to me. Would be real nice if the wolves would follow these great breeding practices. Many of us would have little problem with them if they were just another large vegetarian. They are not, and would be considered well bred. Disease and genetic defects are quickly taken out of the pack. Humans call it culling, and many find it deplorable. Nature calls it survival of the fittest. It's great for the pet industry. As folks mindlessly take their dogs to vets for problems that should not exist. Special foods are made for these genetically inferior animals. Special drugs are made to treat them, and prolong the lives. So they may breed more like them. Understand the difference in wordings before getting excited. Well bred does not mean a pedigree, but a pedigree does not mean well bred either. Never seen a wolf with a pedigree!! Papers are tools. That when used properly will give you a direction to go when things go wrong in theory. Unfortunately, they are used more to sell pups these days. However, many more issues are created by humans in the foods made for dogs. There will be issues with these foods, as we put things in them that would not be naturally eaten. Just don't see any wild canines flocking to corn, soybean, wheat, beet fields and so on. To feed on these foods. Yes, they will go to them to hunt the animals feeding there. Not much crop damage done by a pack of wolves!!

Feeding diamond premium adult. Tried Fromm last summer when diamond had all of it's recalls, thought it was alright until I started hunting them this fall and they couldn't keep any weight on. Switched back to diamond and they are doing better than when they were on Fromm, longer endurance, feed less without weight loss, and shiney coats. I think every dog varies a little as to what is the best food for them. A person really needs to find what works well for there own dog on there own. I really highly doubt that pedigree makes a difference.

Is there even one Purina dog food that has a 1 out of 5 star rating? I've found that dogs need to eat more of the cheap food so you end up paying about the same as quality food and with cheap stuff you need to pick up more and larger piles in the yard. I like Fromm, not cheap but well worth it.

We started feeding Blue Buffalo L&R about 3 months ago. It's ungodly expensive ($52 / 30#) but both dogs are doing great on it. No complaints so far. I completely disagree with whoever is blathering below about "well bred" dogs being able to eat any protein source. While that may or may not be true, not a single dog in the world, well bred or not, evolved with the ability to digest processed corn meal....and that is what causes digestive problems IMO.