Tuesday, December 2, 2008

December 2: Dog Food Research

Now that I am the owner of my first puppy, there are a lot of things I find myself thinking of that I haven't been able to have the option of doing with the PITS. One of those is food choice; With GDF we have been feeding the dogs IAMS but are now allowed to use Purina One;

According to the food lady at one of our local pet stores, those are the two WORST brands on earth! Of course the one she was promoting wasn't much better....but I digress.

After some research, I have come to this conclusion; The good stuff is EXPENSIVE!!!!
And here a few tips that I found useful in my search.

CRITERIA #1
Things Your Pet Food Should NOT Contain


1. Chemical Preservatives - BHA, BHT, Ethoxyquin
2. Corn - known allergen, poor source of protein, highly indigestible, recent source of fatal fungal infections caused by Diamond Pet Products.
3. Wheat - same as above, Soy - same as above,
4.By-Products - indigestible beaks, feathers, feet, heads, etc. Does not have to contain meat, 5.Animal Fat (non-specific) or Beef Tallow - hard, indigestible fat source,
6.Flour - of any kind, used as a filler,
7.Pentobarbital - from tainted meat sources. Same chemical used in euthanizing animals

CRITERIA #2
Things Your Pet Food SHOULD Contain:


1. Whole Foods - Apples, carrots, spinach, etc.Live Probiotics - micro encapsulated friendly bacteria, supports intestinal health,Chelated Minerals - scientifically proven to be 40% better absorbed
2. Natural Preservative €œvitamin E, not just“mixed tocopherols- a source of vitamin E
3. Grape Seed Extract - very potent anitoxidant source
4. Hormone and Steroid Free Meat - Your pet is eating the same food day in and day out. A little exposure every day adds up to a lot!
5. Chicken MEAL - not just chicken. Chicken MEAL is the best cut of the meat

Click Here for more information. Further on down the page it gives the list of dog foods and there ingredients

The three that are on the radar screen are: Blue Buffalo, Nutro, , Royal Cain for Dachshunds, Life's Abundance, and Wellness. None of these contain any of the "bad" stuff. So now its research time.

What I personally am looking for is: 1. Price, 2. Ingredients 3. Is it available at a local place

First up is:
Blue Buffalo: Love the website, almost all its ingredients have links to definition so you know exactly what you are giving your pup. They also offer a coupon for $5 off your first purchase so defiantly a plus in my book! Their food includes: Real Meat, Fruits and Veggies, Cold Formed Nutrients and Antioxidents, NO animal by-products, NO artificial coloring and NO corn, wheat or soy. (don't tell them that corn is a veggie..but once again that is O/T)
I"m checking out the:
Ingredient/Nutrient Benefit
High-Quality Protein Muscle Growth
Calcium & Phosphorus Bone Development
DHA Cognitive Development
Vitamins & Chelated Minerals Immune Strength
Omega 3 & 6 Fatty Acids Healthy Skin & Shiny Coat
Fruits & Veggies Free Radical Fighters
Ingredient/Nutrient Benefit
Natural Vegetable Fiber Helps Maintain Ideal Weight
L-Carnitine Lean Muscle Maintenance
Omega 3 & 6 Fatty Acids Healthy Skin & Shiny Coat
Green Tea, Fruits & Veggies Free Radical Fighters
Vitamins & Chelated Minerals Immune Strength
This food is defiantly in the running, on to the next. A+

Royal Cain for Dachshunds: Not much impressed, they don't have a puppy food for the dachshund variety. It does have L-Carnitine in it which helps burn fat, so that is a plus for this food. Also not much information about what the food will do for your dog. B-

Life's Abundance:
First down factor is the price, a 40lbs bag cost almost $60!!!!!! That price is way out of my range so I'm on the next brand.C

Wellness:
I appreciate the sites that are willing to define their ingredients!! They use USDA grade foods that are Fit for Human consumption. They have foods for all steps of life as well.
Their Healthy Weight and Just for Puppy foods are what I'm interested in; A big plus is that their HW food is high in Fiber, which helps the dog feel fuller as well as reduced calorie and fats, Definatly what Bubsy needs;
Just for Puppy food, high amounts of protein and carbohydrates to help that high energy and muscle growth, and Smaller Kibble Size for Smaller Mouths A+

Congrats if you got through all of that!!!!!

So from my search, its seems that for what I'm looking for, Wellness and Blue Buffalo are coming out on top; we'll see what the prices run locally and go from there!

8 comments:

Carrie and Waffle said...

Hey Erin,
i know exactly waht you mean with the whole food issue. GDB feeds Science Diet (as our jackets proudly announce) but their cost vs nutrition is ridiculous. Over the summer the price soared 12 buck a bag to over 50 (40lb bag) in just one month. At that price I started looking else where for food for my CC-Waffle. I like dick van patten food Natural Balance, they use real meat not by products and have Limited ingredient foods for sensitive stomaches. Sadly I still have to feed SD, not that it is a bad food, but for the price I'd rather buy royal cain or natural balance.
Carrie and a hungry Lani

The Musketeers said...

wow great research , but we do not have some of it here ! BOL ! But we are using the Eagle
pack Holistic ones . not bad. but different dog can accept different type of diets ,

xoxo,
Four Musketeers

Raising Addie said...

WOW, you sure were busy!

Before we found our wonderful vet about 8 years ago, we were using Eukanuba. But once our vet showed us the benefits of Royal Canin we switched.

We use Royal Canin for both Zoe and Addie. Due to her health problems, Zoe is on the Renal formula which has helped her. Addie is on the large breed puppy to give her the best start possible. I'm surprised that they don't have a good small breed puppy food.

Good luck with your purchase!
Staci

Eduardo said...

My vet told my Mommy to stop buying me Purina & to get Nature's Recipe Farm Stand Selects(It's sort of like the off brand of Blue Buffalo), & once I started eating it I stopped eating my poo(I know that sounds odd, but I stopped because this food was better for my tummy & when it came out it didn't smell just like my food. I love it!)good luck finding the right food!
Hugs & Snugs
Eduardo the Snuggle Puggle
p.s. Thanks for visiting my blog I hope we can be friends! I'll add you to my snuggle buddies list so I can visit you more often!

Samantha ~ Holly and Zac ~ said...

We feed James Wellbeloved Lamb & Rice for our two. They do well on it. They both have delicate tummys and that flavour seems to suit them.


Congratulations on adopting Texas! :-)

SewCrazyDogLady said...

Good job researching foods... I've always told people very simply: of the first 5 ingredients, two should be a NAMED meat protein, unless one of the first three is a named meat meal. (then one is ok)

Avoid fillers.. I was bummed to see that Rachael Ray's Nutrish has fillers in the first 5 ingredients.. one being soy.. not good. OH well

We are raw feeders here. Oma's pride ground meats. Easy Squeezee

Sarah and the Pack. said...

Wow, awesome research! I had the same problem as you awhile back, and I have been through more foods with my dogs than I can count.

Currently Dante, my small dog, gets Inova Evo, but we are in the process of switching to The Honest Kitchen.

Marley, my big, expensive (lol) dog, gets Solid Gold Wolf King.

I have tried Blue Buffalo and Wellness CORE, and my dogs both did better on Wellness. Especially Dante, he lost a little extra poundage, and his coat was nice and shiny and his eye drainage went away! Only reason I stopped feeding it was because he stopped wanting to eat it.

Some other awesome foods are...
Orijen, Nature's Variety, Eagle Pack Holistic, Timberwolf Organics, Innova, ect. If you can find a store that sells any of those, you are at the right place.

And with the small dogs, the good food goes a LONG way. We have two mini dachshunds, and on Wellness they eat 1/2 cup each per day. Dante only eats 2 TBS of food a day. So even if a bag looks like it will cost more initally, it is actually less in the long run because they do not have to eat so much!

Good luck!

The FOUR Musketeers said...

wow great research , but we do not have some of it here ! BOL ! But we are using the Eagle
pack Holistic ones . not bad. but different dog can accept different type of diets ,

xoxo,
Four Musketeers