What's your favorite dog food?

[arivecchi]

Just curious about which dog foods people like here -particularly if you have large dogs. I had my great dane on nutri source grain free chicken and just switched her to nature's domain grain free salmon because the nutri source food was so calorie heavy and she has gained some weight. Many dane owners recommend the nature's domain food in the dane forum, so I hope it works out!

[Mermanaid]

Our dog is so picky we just try to find something she will eat. She has a pattern of eating a brand for a year or two and then refusing it. Right now she eats Bil Jac dry with a 1/4 of Iams wet mixed in each day.

Oh and she's a Brittney.

[KLD313]

I try to switch around because I've heard it's good for them and they get different things from different foods but I always do high quality foods. Currently I have all three on Earthborne Holistic Coastal Catch. I've also use Wellness Core and Merrick. My dogs range in weight from 50 to 110 lbs.

[queenmama]

We only buy grain free because he's prone to allergies. We've had him on Taste of the Wild for many months, I think the salmon one?

He's an American Bulldog, a smaller one, at around 85lbs.

Lara

[AngB]

California Natural Herring and sweet potato...we have a german shepherd mix and husky, we go through about a 30 lb bag a month or so. They have allergies and food issues and this works well for them. I get it from Petflow, $47 a bag (pretty good for holistic food), and it's delivered to our door free shipping/no tax. The pet food stores here either don't carry it or charge a lot more for it (plus the pain of going to get it and dragging it to the car then into the house vs. delivered to the door.) Whatever food you decide, I highly recommend petflow, when you first sign up there are coupon codes for $25 off or something similar.

[AnnieW625]

We have a black lab and she gets Natural Balance Reduced Calorie Formula. She has been getting this for the last 3-4 yrs., prior to that she used Eukanuba Weight Control, but the Natural Balance works better. She has lost 20-25lbs and is at her ideal weight of 75lbs. If I try anything else I will most likely try Canidae.

[maestramommy]

On my lil bro's rec, we feed Shep Iams. I use the Large Breed kibble.

[lmwbasye]

Wellness Core.

[oneontheway]

We really like Taste of the Wild. We use the bison/venison mix.

[SASM]

Initially we bought Origin (Canadian product) but it was getting difficult to stock due to border issues. We switched to innova and Poppy (standard poodle) eats Innova Prime grain free. She does very well with this brand.

[flashy09]

I try to do Taste of the Wild, but as there is a Kroger three minutes from my house (doesn't carry TOTW) I often end up giving Purina One Beyond. I think it's actually a pretty decent food and has the best ingredient list I have seen for dog food in a normal grocery store.

[SkyrMommy]

Canidae, the rescue group we worked with for our husky recommended it for her. She seems to like it.

[Kindra178]

Sis' Rottie got Canidae for years. They have switched recently because he is getting old and having all sorts of stomach problems.

[boilermakermom]

Science diet lamb and rice mixed with science diet healthy joint. We tried Wellness for about a year, but had to switch to a harder kibble. It wasn't getting plaque off their teeth, and neither are chewers so bones were not an option.

Merman aid-yay for Brits! We have two! Sweetest dogs ever!

[crl]

Apparently our Golden has a very sensitive stomach. I tried to switch him to a different, highly recommended food, but it caused stomach problems. Poor doggy and poor me, cleaning up. (Apples also cause serious problems for him--there was an apple tree in a front yard in our old neighborhood.) So I switched back to what our breeder feeds, ProPlan, and have no intentions of ever switching again.

Catherine

[TwinFoxes]

Blue Buffalo Basics line, turkey and potato. Another doggie with a sensitive tummy. Our boxer was on prescription food for quite awhile, but he tolerates this well.
http://bluebuffalo.com/dog-food/basics-turkey

[larig]

Newmans organic, our pup has eaten it for close to ten years, and he's going on 15 (Which for a 60 pound pup is pretty darn good.) newmans has never been affected by food recalls like some premium brands. AND, they donate 10% of profits to rescue organizations. In Seattle we could buy it at our mom and pop pet accessory store, in central Illinois we rely on amazon SS (but meijers carries the non old dog version), but the bags are smaller.

[zukeypur]

I try to switch around because I've heard it's good for them and they get different things from different foods but I always do high quality foods. Currently I have all three on Earthborne Holistic Coastal Catch. I've also use Wellness Core and Merrick. My dogs range in weight from 50 to 110 lbs.

For the love of your dog, don't buy Merrick!!!!!! They have had more recalls than almost anyone else. Although they deny using euthanized animals over and over, you have to wonder about a dog food company that also owns a rendering plant. They pick up my day's euthanized and dead livestock (he's a vet).

[zukeypur]

We feed either Wellness Core or Avoderm. I have a friend who is an insane dog nerd and these are two that she recommended, along with Orijen and Acana.

[OKKiddo]

We have Basset Hounds and have always tried to give them good food and not just good enough. We have had two Bassets with Addison's Disease and the Vet emphasized how important a good quality food was for their immune system and health when they were diagnosed. I could tell when the food wasn't good enough based on how tricky their symptoms were to manage when on the foods that we termed not good enough.

We started out with Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lover's Soul and that was nice but $$ and hard to get when we lived in the desert in California.

Next was Nutro Natural's Lamb and Rice and was readily available and offered a free bag after 10 bags purchased. This is when our 1st Basset was diagnosed with Addison's Disease. Her symptoms remained tricky and we ended up losing her just 2 years after she was diagnosed (which wasn't only because of the food but also the high dose of Percorten that we didn't know to reduce at the time).

Next we felt we could relax a little and save a little money and went with Diamond Naturals Lamb and Rice (same stuff as the Nutro but half the cost). It worked the same, cost less, but we had yet another Basset diagnosed with Addison's Disease (the 1st dog's son). We continued with the food and managed the Percorten and Prednisone much better and saw great results--but the Basset with Addison's still had dull fur and shed an insane amount.

After that we moved from KS to VA and Tractor Supplies weren't as nearby as before. We moved to Blue Buffalo (much more expensive) and saw an immediate improvement in the fur and shedding in both dogs--the one without Addison's was literally shining like he'd been freshly groomed, and the one with had much more energy.

The Blue Buffalo is easy to find, and we found that Petsmart wasn't always the least expensive. In fact, I found a great place just down the street from us called Pet Nutrition Center that sells all manner of "superior" dog foods. The Blue Buffalo brand is the lowest on the rung at their store. I tried EVO (EVO and Orijen were both recommended at the same time) after seeing I could get 2 lbs more for the same price. Another improvement in fur and shedding. Same for energy.

And then I decided to give the Orijen a try. It's excellent! They have even more energy, act like puppies again, great fur and skin (less itching), and very little shedding. In fact, when I put the Orijen and EVO in the same dish to help them transition--they would shove the EVO out to get to the Orijen. Again, I get a few ounces more for the same price but I get $5 in loyalty discounts for purchasing at the same place (and he has a great choice in chewies and snacks that I can't find at Petsmart--like antlers and duck feet!).

Sorry for the book, but we've spent a lot of time and money on finding good food. I hope you can find what works for your dog and budget!

[OKKiddo]

We only buy grain free because he's prone to allergies. We've had him on Taste of the Wild for many months, I think the salmon one?

He's an American Bulldog, a smaller one, at around 85lbs.

Lara


Yep, we noticed that one of our Bassets had stopped scratching and "reverse sneezing" after we switched to a grain free. Poor guy had food allergies and we never realized it. :(

[arivecchi]

Taste of the wild is also highly recommended in the dane forum. I think we will try that if nature's domain does not work out. Our dane seems to really like
ND so far though and it gets a great rating on dfa.

Btw, love dfa:

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/

[KLD313]

For the love of your dog, don't buy Merrick!!!!!! They have had more recalls than almost anyone else. Although they deny using euthanized animals over and over, you have to wonder about a dog food company that also owns a rendering plant. They pick up my day's euthanized and dead livestock (he's a vet).

Really? I haven't used it in awhile but did regularly a couple years ago. More recalls than Diamond? I'm seeing foods recommended here that are made by Diamond I try to avoid those like the plague.

[TwinFoxes]

This thread is cracking me up, because BBB mamas clearly research the heck out of things for their furry children too! :)

[arivecchi]

We only buy grain free because he's prone to allergies. We've had him on Taste of the Wild for many months, I think the salmon one? Agree. My dane has bad ear allergies and we switched her to a grain free food as soon as we adopted her. The grain free kibble has helped a ton with her allergies and her coat and skin improved considerably. I actually really liked nutri source grain free. It's a great food but has about 500 calories per cup which is too much for my dog. ND salmon has about 330 per cup. How many calories per cup does TOTW grain free have?

[OKKiddo]

Taste of the wild is also highly recommended in the dane forum. I think we will try that if nature's domain does not work out. Our dane seems to really like
ND so far though and it gets a great rating on dfa.

Btw, love dfa:

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/

Thanks! That link is really helpful. I was able to compare all of the foods we've ever used and it correlated with the dips in their healthy skin and coat when we went to one that was less than 4 stars.

[Tinkerbell313]

We were using Taste of the Wild because our dogs are grain free...however, we switched to Natures Domain (also grain free) when we saw it at Costco. It saves one extra trip to another store and at least $20 per bag if TOTW is not on sale.

[eagle]

Just curious about which dog foods people like here

i dont eat dog food.

[queenmama]

i dont eat dog food.

Smartass level: eagle

:D

Lara

[miki]

We've been feeding Orijen. We started our current dogs on Acana but thought one of them was having a problem with the eggs it contained so we switched to the Orijen formula that only has fish protein.

Taste of the Wild and Costco's Nature's Domain were recommended to us but DH doesn't like how those are manufactured by Diamond.

[spannaz]

Our Wheaten is allergic to everything. She's on Natural Balance's limited ingredient diet of Bison/ Venison and Sweet Potatoes. It's literally the only thing that doesn't make her itch.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[trales]

We do local, Blue Seal Feeds, and Purina Giant Breed Puppy - the fancy expensive one.

[trcy]

Purina One. I have also had good luck with Royal Canin & Pro Plan, but they are just too expensive for our buget right now. Any other food I have ever tried has resulted in vet bills for a variety of reasons. So, I am just sticking with the Purina One and not messing with it :)

[zukeypur]

Really? I haven't used it in awhile but did regularly a couple years ago. More recalls than Diamond? I'm seeing foods recommended here that are made by Diamond I try to avoid those like the plague.

I think they're neck and neck. I really used to like TOTW until they were bought out. I just don't trust diamond AT ALL. my dad tried to ask the truck drivers if the dead horses went into the dog food and they didn't speak English. If I were given a free lifetime supply of Merrick I would not even donate it to the shelter.

[LizLemon]

Our Wheaten is allergic to everything. She's on Natural Balance's limited ingredient diet of Bison/ Venison and Sweet Potatoes. It's literally the only thing that doesn't make her itch.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Our dogs have been eating Natural Balance's limited ingredient Salmon and Sweet Potato for the past few months. They love fish and veggies (and everything else) so it's a big hit. To be honest, though, we have tried several brands of dry food and have never found one they disliked. Before we moved we used Sammy Snacks (a high-quality locally manufactured brand) for years.

[KLD313]

I think they're neck and neck. I really used to like TOTW until they were bought out. I just don't trust diamond AT ALL. my dad tried to ask the truck drivers if the dead horses went into the dog food and they didn't speak English. If I were given a free lifetime supply of Merrick I would not even donate it to the shelter.

My dogs never did well on TOTW and I always thought it smelled weird. Once I heard it was made by Diamond I never used it again. Wellness had some recalls as well, I forgot about that and have used that fairly recently. I looked up Merrick recalls but all I found is treats, not foods. That's seriously gross if they use euthanized animals. I'm really happy with Earthborn Holistic and I can get it from amazon shipped right to my door.

[sophiesmom03]

Taste of the wild is also highly recommended in the dane forum. I think we will try that if nature's domain does not work out. Our dane seems to really like
ND so far though and it gets a great rating on dfa.

Btw, love dfa:

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/

IIRC TOTW Salmon and ND Salmon are both made by Diamond in the same plants, with the same ingredients except that one has peas and the other does not.

I had one Newf on Holistic Select Duck and the other on TOTW Salmon, then switched both to ND Salmon about a year ago.

[brittone2]

Our cat and dog do best on grain free. Skin and teeth much healthier, weight is great, etc. My dog really never has weight issues, but the cat has always trended toward being overweight easily (was like that when we adopted him from a rescue as a 6 yo).

We were feeding raw for a while and it was fantastic for us. Then we moved, ended up back on grain free kibble (eta: embarrassingly, DH has been buying the dog food lately and I don't even know what brand. California Naturals maybe? We dump it into a huge hinged bin in our garage, so the bag is only ever around for a few mins). The costco salmon stuff made him stink and made his coat greasy looking and disgusting; then with the Diamond situation we definitely never went back to that.

DH and I found a raw food distributor in our area and will probably go back to feeding raw. For us it ends up less expensive than the better grain free foods. It is a bit of a pain in terms of thawing, divvying up into portions, etc. but DH takes care of that most of the time ;)

[Corie]

I try to switch around because I've heard it's good for them and they get different things from different foods but I always do high quality foods.


I've heard the total opposite regarding switching dog foods! I've heard
that it's not good on a dog's tummy to switch dog foods. It can cause
diarrhea and vomiting.

Here are some tips on how to switch your dog's food. This website
recommends the switch to take at least a week since you want to transition
the dog slowly to the new food.

http://www.professorshouse.com/Pets/Dogs/Feeding/Articles/Switching-Dog-Food-Brands/

[Binkandabee]

We've used Ol' Roy from Wal-Mart forever. It's the cheapest food there is I think. Took a lot of slack about it from my family, but you know what? My dogs are 14 and 15 (we've had them since puppies) and neither one has ever been to the vet for anything other than routine vaccinations. They've not had a single health problem.

Of course, if they had allergies or some other problem, I'd have no problem switching to something else to make them healthy. But for us, the Ol' Roy has worked out great!

[KLD313]

I've heard the total opposite regarding switching dog foods! I've heard
that it's not good on a dog's tummy to switch dog foods. It can cause
diarrhea and vomiting.

Here are some tips on how to switch your dog's food. This website
recommends the switch to take at least a week since you want to transition
the dog slowly to the new food.

http://www.professorshouse.com/Pets/Dogs/Feeding/Articles/Switching-Dog-Food-Brands/

I'm not talking about switching on a daily basis. You feed one food for a chunk of time and switch. Yes, some people do gradually switch to a new food because they think it causes tummy upset. My dogs have never gotten sick from cold turkey switching. In a healthy dog it doesn't usually cause problems.

[arivecchi]

IIRC TOTW Salmon and ND Salmon are both made by Diamond in the same plants, with the same ingredients except that one has peas and the other does not.

I had one Newf on Holistic Select Duck and the other on TOTW Salmon, then switched both to ND Salmon about a year ago. Glad to hear you feed your dogs the same food! Many dane owners on DOL highly recommend ND grain free, so I figured I would give it a try. My dog seems to really like the salmon version. The DOL posters report that their danes' coats are very shiny and soft on ND and - TMI alert - the poops are well formed. I think it's so funny that the dane forum even has a poop smiley. Hilarious. Thanks for recommending that I join DOL! It has been so helpful.

[mackmama]

Our dog eats Wellness. He has some skin itching issues and has had some improvement using their fish and sweet potato formula.

[AnnieW625]

I think they're neck and neck. I really used to like TOTW until they were bought out. I just don't trust diamond AT ALL. my dad tried to ask the truck drivers if the dead horses went into the dog food and they didn't speak English. If I were given a free lifetime supply of Merrick I would not even donate it to the shelter.

That bolded part makes little sense to me, you don't trust Diamond because they don't employ English speaking truck drivers? Also did you dad track down the Diamond people at a protest or something, or stalk them at their plant? I hope that no euthanized animals or horses are used in our dog's food. I would be appauled if they were though.

But see what I found after reading Dog Food Advisor is that they gave Merrick 5 stars. The Natural Balance foods we have fed our dog were not part of the Diamond foods recall because we are in California. Had they been I would have switched to something else, not sure what though.

[bluestar2]

I switched my slightly picky dane to ND a few bags ago and she seems to be doing pretty well with it. Prior to that, she ate mostly TOTW, but for $20 less a bag, I thought we'd give the ND a shot. We've also tried Buffalo Blue, Canidae, and a few other brands and she seems to do fine on most grain free food. Foods with grains, however, we won't try again. Like you said, with danes, it's all about the poop. Hers was mushy and huge and she had to go a few times a day. Not fun to pick up!

[KLD313]

That bolded part makes little sense to me, you don't trust Diamond because they don't employ English speaking truck drivers? Also did you dad track down the Diamond people at a protest or something, or stalk them at their plant? I hope that no euthanized animals or horses are used in our dog's food. I would be appauled if they were though.

But see what I found after reading Dog Food Advisor is that they gave Merrick 5 stars. The Natural Balance foods we have fed our dog were not part of the Diamond foods recall because we are in California. Had they been I would have switched to something else, not sure what though.

She was answering a question I asked. I think my question was disjointed but she was answering what I typed. Her father was trying to ask if the euthanized animals were used in Merrick food but the truck drivers didn't speak English. At least that's how I was reading it. The Diamond issue was a separate issue. They've had tons of recalls but separate from the Merrick recall.

I've always thought Merrick was good as well. The only recalls I've ever seen were for treats. I was surprise about her observations so that's why I questioned it further.

[zukeypur]

That bolded part makes little sense to me, you don't trust Diamond because they don't employ English speaking truck drivers? Also did you dad track down the Diamond people at a protest or something, or stalk them at their plant? I hope that no euthanized animals or horses are used in our dog's food. I would be appauled if they were though.

But see what I found after reading Dog Food Advisor is that they gave Merrick 5 stars. The Natural Balance foods we have fed our dog were not part of the Diamond foods recall because we are in California. Had they been I would have switched to something else, not sure what though.

My dad is a vet. He euthanizes animals on a regular basis, in a small town outside of Amarillo. He asked the truck drivers who were picking up dead animals what they did with the animals. They did not speak English, which is common in Texas. No racism intended, in fact, my daughter is Mexican. Merrick is in Amarillo. They run in the same social circles. I would not buy Merrick food, and I would not feed stray animals Merrick food.

Diamond is not in any way associated with Merrick or my dad.



She was answering a question I asked. I think my question was disjointed but she was answering what I typed. Her father was trying to ask if the euthanized animals were used in Merrick food but the truck drivers didn't speak English. At least that's how I was reading it. The Diamond issue was a separate issue. They've had tons of recalls but separate from the Merrick recall.

I've always thought Merrick was good as well. The only recalls I've ever seen were for treats. I was surprise about her observations so that's why I questioned it further.

Yes, you understood what I was trying to say. Thank you.

[arivecchi]

So Nature's Domain did not help her allergies at all. Trying Fromm's duck next. Has anyone used Fromm's with an allergic dog?

[StantonHyde]

Who knew there was all this food??? I fed my Golden Iams for years and he did great till we had to switch to KD for his kidneys. The new King Charles Spaniel has skin issues so I think I am going to try some grain free weight reduction food. Thanks for the link to dog food advisor--very helpful!!!

[hillview]

we rotate different earthborne varities.

[twowhat?]

Ours have done well on Canidae and on California Natural (we don't buy grain-free).

They do digest these foods differently and 1 cup of Canidae wasn't equivalent to 1 cup of California Natural, as evidenced by their weight gain when we switched to CN:) We resolved this easily but cutting down on the amount of CN. So, even though it's a more expensive food, they eat less and costwise it comes out about the same.

If your dog is gaining weight on a food but otherwise doing well, I would just cut down on the amount of food, as cruel as it sounds:D Just like with humans, it's either eat less or exercise more!

[arivecchi]

The Nature's Domain food was good weight-wise because she did not like it as much so she was eating less. :tongue5: However, she is still getting ear infections and allergies, so it did not help in that regard. On to the next food! We are looking into doing allergy testing too and will probably try a LID diet if the Fromm's duck does not work out. She's such a high mantenance girl! :)

[twowhat?]

The Nature's Domain food was good weight-wise because she did not like it as much so she was eating less. :tongue5:

LOL!! Good luck finding one that works! At least you have a ton of choices:)

[specialp]

Very small dog here, but Wellness Core Grain Free for small breeds

[Twins2000]

We feed our 60 pound English Shepherd Blue Buffalo Large Breed Chicken and Brown Rice Formula.

[KLD313]

The Nature's Domain food was good weight-wise because she did not like it as much so she was eating less. :tongue5: However, she is still getting ear infections and allergies, so it did not help in that regard. On to the next food! We are looking into doing allergy testing too and will probably try a LID diet if the Fromm's duck does not work out. She's such a high mantenance girl! :)

What kind of allergies does she have? Are you sure it's not some kind of contact allergy as opposed to food?

[arivecchi]

What kind of allergies does she have? Are you sure it's not some kind of contact allergy as opposed to food? We don't know yet. That is why we are looking into allergy testing, but food trials are the first step.

[KLD313]

We don't know yet. That is why we are looking into allergy testing, but food trials are the first step.

Oh, OK. Duck is a good place to start. My friend has a highly allergic dog and potatoes are something he's allergic to of all things. It took her awhile to find a food that would work for him.

[sophiesmom03]

Oh, OK. Duck is a good place to start. My friend has a highly allergic dog and potatoes are something he's allergic to of all things. It took her awhile to find a food that would work for him.

We had one of my dogs on holistic select duck and oatmeal and it was the only thing he tolerated for 2 years. Then we neutered him, and moved, and somehow his sensitive tummy went away!

Mine love natures domain salmon but they are newfies, I expect them l
To love fish. ;)

Gl finding the right food!

[Nooknookmom]

Just curious about which dog foods people like here -particularly if you have large dogs. I had my great dane on nutri source grain free chicken and just switched her to nature's domain grain free salmon because the nutri source food was so calorie heavy and she has gained some weight. Many dane owners recommend the nature's domain food in the dane forum, so I hope it works out!

Nevermind! Was going to say Nurtisource...lamb meal and rice. DDbugl hasn't gained an excess amout of weight. He is right on target and the reason I do like I is that every other brand we tried gave him the runs, or he refused to eat it and was losing weight!

It's vey hard to find in my area though.

[arivecchi]

We had one of my dogs on holistic select duck and oatmeal and it was the only thing he tolerated for 2 years. Then we neutered him, and moved, and somehow his sensitive tummy went away!

Mine love natures domain salmon but they are newfies, I expect them l
To love fish. ;)

Gl finding the right food!Thanks. Turns out she is so darn picky. She will starve if she does not like a food. She started out liking the salmon one and then decided she was done. She'd eat the turkey version but got her allergies again while being on it. I am bummed though. The ND food is very high quality and such a great price!

I'm hoping the duck one will work.

[arivecchi]

Oh, OK. Duck is a good place to start. My friend has a highly allergic dog and potatoes are something he's allergic to of all things. It took her awhile to find a food that would work for him. Thanks. The vet thought duck would be the least offensive protein to try at this point. I know this is going to be such a long process, but I am still hoping we will luck out and find the right food soon!

[bluestar2]

If her allergies didn't flare up with the ND salmon, but she just wasn't eating it, you might try to sprinkle some chicken broth, gravy... anything really, on her food to get her started. Works for my picky dane. Once she gets going, she'll usually finish the whole bowl.