What, in your opinion, has been the best dog food and the worst dog food that you have given to your dogs
The best for Finn has been Millieswolfheart. He is looking good, still quite trim and his blood tests in November were perfect so it can't be doing him any harm. Can't think of the worst as I have always been fussy about diet. So would be ones with very little meat.
The best food you can give a Shar-Pei is either "home cooked" .... meat or fish mixed with vegetables ... or raw. The worst is any commercial food which contains grains as they can cause serious skin problems
I am currently feeding my dogs Simpsons sensitive grain-free range and they are doing really well on it. They also have one meal of raw or Natures Harvest.
With my current dog I haven't given a 'worst' food. For me there is no one best food because I feed a mixed diet consisting of some fresh food and a small amount of 'bought' food. A good food for me is one contanining high quality ingredients and a minimum of additives. Chloe will eat absolutely anything Of the kibble I would say Eden/Simpsons 80/20 and Millies which Carol mentioned. I have used them all and they are quite similar in content. Eden and Millies don't do small bags and as I only feel it occasionally and like the food fresh this is a problem for me. I find all three of these foods should have the daily amount carefully weighed and split into the number of meals, feed too much and you are likely to get a runny tummy.
I do not think I have ever fed any of my dogs on "not so good" food as I have always given them the best there was at the time - very important when I was breeding. Pereg was started on raw around July/August 2011 and has been fully on raw since September that year, but I do occasionally give her kibble with her vegetables [Canine Caviar Holistic Chicken and Millet] or high quality tinned food in case she has to go to the Pension for boarding in an emergency. I do give her various whole grains, which I cook in a rice cooker [a couple of heaped tsp with her wet raw meat or fish and vegetables meal] , but never processed grains, and she has no problem in digesting them. Her second meal is always a bone one, either a chicken back or turkey neck. According to Ram, our Vet, she is 100% healthy on this diet!
Feeding 5 of my JRT's on Laughing dog natural Terrier orginal dry food, plus their Chicken & Lamb favours too. K9 is on Laughing dog Salmon, plus the original Terrier food, I am giving Laughing dog wheat free meal as a treat to all 6 of them. Its free of addictive all natural ingredients, oven baked plus all the different shapes are cleaning the plaque off my dogs teeth. They also get fresh chicken/beef (fish for K9) every other day Talking of which a big notice as gone up in my vets saying don't give your dogs turkey over the Easter holiday ? Will have to see if I can down load poster off their web site.
I wonder why that is? Pereg does not get any cooked meat [or fish] but she does have turkey in the form of turkey gizzards, hearts, liver, minced, and necks. All raw of course. I prefer to get turkey rather than chicken as the gizzards and liver are the perfect size cut in half for a meal [when mixed with all her veggies and whole grains] and the hearts are usual either just the right size or she will get maybe ¾ of one, the remaining ¼ being mixed with either 1% fat cottage cheese or ½% fat soft "cream" cheese. It is also easier to freeze the halves [or whole heart] individually knowing that each is sufficient for one meal, then I just have to take a little bag out of the freezer the evening before for the next day's wet meal.
Never fed a worse dog food,as i've always fed twice a day, breakfast is tripe and I add veg, evenings they have supadog sensitive and it obviously suits them.
This is the poster that's my vets have put up, it says can have lean meat but no bones or turkey Still not sure why no turkey, specially when butchers dog food does turkey flavour
Foods high in fat content such as turkey skin/ dark turkey meat are difficult to digest Turkey skin is thought to cause acute pancreatis in dogs, partly due to it's high fat content I believe the same applies to pork, but think you’d need to feed an awful lot for it to become a problem.
There is no skin or fat on the raw turkey I feed Pereg - although there is a bit on the chicken backs/carcasses. If there is a lot then I trim it off but dogs do need some fat, as do humans.
Been on my vets web site again about why we can't give dogs turkey & its comes up with diarrhea, pancreatitis & high levels of something called Tryptophan, which seem to be main reason why we can't give dogs turkey.
I am sorry that cannot give you a link/links as the following information has been gathered from various sites and information posted on the epi List. - - - Tryptophan is an essential amino acid which, if given in moderation, is not harmful to dogs. The body [human and in animals] uses tryptophan to help make niacin and serotonin, and serotonin is thought to produce healthy sleep and a stable mood, which is why turkey tends to make some people feel sleepy after eating a lot of it. The isolated form [L-Tryptophan] is in many calming agents for anxiety disorders used for animals, including dogs, as it is supposed to make extra seratonin in the central nervous system. Tryptophan is found in the following: Cheese Chicken Eggs Fish Milk Nuts Peanut butter Peanuts Pumpkin seeds Sesame seeds Soy Tofu Turkey
I would say I've always fed quality foods and Raw is probably the best and the worst was James Wellbeloved which I know many people think is a good food and although mine ate it, what came out the other end was massive, poor consistency and stinky.
I say if you can only afford the cheaper brands & your dogs love the food & is looking good on the food you're feeding them on then continue, there is not a good or worst commercial dog food, just peoples opinions which sometimes causes panic, specially when the media gets involved, all dog food will have good/bad ingredients in them so as long as your dogs is in good health & as solid poo's then don't worry about what you are feeding them on.
For us its skinners large bite. its not hypo-allergenic or grain free but for some odd reason its one of the only foods ive been able to afford that doesnt set of her skin and ears. Although we are starting wainwrights grain free next week. worst was jwbl. I paid about £50 for 10kg of salmon and veg grain free food thinking this would be the best thing for her and within days she had poorly ears and her whole body was covered in hives. she looked like she had chicken pots. It was her worst allergic reaction to date. another worst was pedigree. she looked good on it but it made her poop weird. really weird. it was like grey chalk you couldnt even clean it up as it crumbled soon as you touched it. was very strange
As a youngster Tyler was fed Beta & Eukanuba, and then I switched both dogs to Bakers! I really had no knowledge of good quality foods back then. My dogs were doing ok, or I thought they was doing ok, and that's all that mattered. The Beta was probably the worst. It caused Ty to have terrible dandruff and I feel his coat moulted more then usual. As I clued myself up more, I switched the dogs through various higher quality foods including JWB & The Natural Dog Food Company. But then Missy started throwing up bile regularly and after lots of investigating and no real answers I came to the conclusion she was grain intolerant. So we switched to grain free. Both dogs are now on Simpsons grain free range and have been for the past few years. They do fantastic on it! I also mix in some good quality tinned meat daily, to add variety. However, I am of the belief, that as long as a dog is healthy and doing well on a particular food, there is no wrong or right food to feed.
