which dog food is best?

[Red_ACD_for_me]

Originally Posted by Justdogs

Thanks all you guys helped alot!

I think i wanna try Natural Balance

Good for you ! I'm glad to see you doing your homework on better nutrition for you fur kid! Beneful, pedigree, dog chow by purina or anything at a grocery store or walmart is CRAP ! Natural Balance is a great food but there is still better. A better quality food is going to run you more money but you get what you pay for and your dog will benefit healthwise in the long run. Good luck !

[bumhouse]

Yes, Mordy, so helpful and knowledgeable. There are others too - they debate all of the time I'm just having a senior moment....

[hanslynch]

We use Pinnacle's Trout and Sweet Potato for the kibble and then we mix in a can of Pinnacle's can food shared between the two dogs for every meal.

Within a few weeks of being on the food, both dog's eyes cleared up. No more excessive drainage. Their coats got quite a bit shinier and their energy levels has gone up, way up. We were fedding them Nutro Lamb and Rice Meal before, which is not too bad, but the difference has been remarkable.

Hans

[Buddy'sParents]

There is no "best" food.

Now.. beneful, purina, iams.. those are NOT good.

But, really, do the searching yourself, go to dogfoodproject.com and read around a little.

As far as good foods are, I think the foods by Natura are quite good (Innova, California Natural) and Canidae.

Mordy's site is very helpful also and will tell you why foods such as Beneful and Purina are not healthy.

[Herschel]

Originally Posted by Laurelin

I've tried quite a few foods, and I really like Canidae. Many people won't say it's the best, but it's cheaper than other foods and my dogs do really well on it. It seems to be easier on their stomachs. I've tried Innova Evo and some others with no success.

I've had great results with Canidae, as well. I've also noticed that people don't consider it "the best" by any means. Do you know why it has such a mediocre reputation?

[~Jessie~]

There is no "best" dog food. It really all comes down to what works best for your dog.

Now, Beneful, Iams, Pedigree, Purina, etc... these are all horrible foods. Dogs are carnivores, and these foods contain mostly corn and bone meal. They are worse than eating McDonald's everyday, by comparison =/

Some good foods are Timberwolf Organics, Canidae and Innova to name just a few. I always recommend a high quality holistic food.

Oh yeah, and by the way- the initial cost for a high quality food will be more... but you feed a lot less of it than you do with a low quality food. In the long run, you will save money.

Good luck

[Sunnierhawk0]

I swear by Nutro Ultra ( a upgrade of the Nutro Natural choice). All the dogs do great on it, and beleive me, thru the years we have tried alot of different brands.

[Tex]

Go to www.naturapet.com and go to their COMPARE FOODS section. You can see the ingredients of alot of different foods.

Beneful is one of the worst foods out there. Here are the first few ingredients: Ground yellow corn, chicken by product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour etc. Do you see any REAL animal protein in there....I see alot of corn and one by product meal. Beef is listed as number 7...a little to far down there to count for much.

A good food should have at least 2 or more animal proteins in the first 3 ingredients. The more animal proteins in the first 3 the better. This is the first 3 ingredients of a GREAT food... Turkey, chicken, chicken meal,....

A great information newsletter on all dog related things is called the WHOLE DOG JOURNAL.

[ToscasMom]

Ok I'll be honest with you. It's probably great food to feed chickens. They love corn and grains and things. Dogs prefer meat. Corn and grains are often a source of allergies besides. The word "by product" can mean anything. Guts, digest, whatever. Beneful doesn't even identify what "poultry" byproducts they are encouraging your dog to eat. I don't know. Road killed pigeons? Do you see how high up on the list of their ingredients all those grains are? There's also sugar in this food. There's a thread in this board section about dogs becoming gravely ill on Beneful. Please seek it out.

There are some real experts on this board who will go into detail about the ingredients on the bag of this food way beyond what I am saying here. I'm just a lay person who is telling you I would never feed my dog this food no matter what cute PR commercials they show on TV. I think they should be indicted for tricking people into feeding this food. But like I said, I'm just a lay person. But let's try and experiment ok?:

Since dogs are carnivores, if you asked your dog which food he really would prefer to eat, which would he choose. Pay particular attention to the first five or six ingredients, although Beneful's questionable ingredients seem to go even beyond that.

1.
Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, beef tallow preserved with mixed-tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), rice flour, beef, soy flour, sugar, sorbitol, tricalcium phosphate, water, animal digest, salt, phosphoric acid, potassium chloride, dicalcium phosphate, sorbic acid (a preservative), L-Lysine monohydrochloride, dried peas, dried carrots, calcium carbonate, calcium propionate (a preservative), choline chloride, vitamin supplements (E, A, B-12, D-3), added color (Yellow 5, Red 40, Yellow 6, Blue 2), DL-Methionine, zinc sulfate, glyceryl monostearate, ferrous sulfate, niacin, manganese sulfate, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin supplement, biotin, thiamine mononitrate, garlic oil, copper sulfate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, sodium selenite.
F-4090

OR
2.
Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal, Brown Rice, White Rice, Lamb Meal, Chicken Fat, (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Ascorbic Acid), Menhaden Fish Meal, Flax Seed, Sun Cured Alfalfa Meal, Sunflower Oil, Lecithin, Brewers Yeast, Natural Flavors, Monosodium Phosphate, Choline, Linoleic Acid, Rosemary Extract, Sage Extract, Ferrous Sulfate, Mixed Tocopherols (Source of Vitamin E) Zinc Oxide, Sodium Selenite, Manganous Oxide, Riboflavin Supplement (Source of B2), Yeast Culture, Dried Aspergillus Niger Fermentation Extract, Dried Aspergillus Oryzae Fermentation Extract, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Streptococcus Faecium Fermentation product, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Cobalt Amino Acid Chelate, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Niacin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, D- Biotin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Calcium, Iodate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Papain, Bacillus Subtilis, Aspergillus Niger, Yucca Schidigera Extract.

[lovelymonster]

Timberwolf - Lamb and apple is very good product and my dog enjoy eating it.