The best choice

I know everyone has different opinions of what the best choice of dog food is...but can anyone tell me what *generally* is the best to feed? What dog food is the best of the best, in your opinion? There are so many brands out there and I'm at a lost of what to feed once I get my dog.

I'd say a raw diet is optimum but if you are going to go with Kibble I'd go with Innova EVO.

Evo is a very good food but I have seen (online) many dogs that have stomach issues with it.

You will find that MANY people recommend Canidae All Life Stages. A good food, and reasonably priced. The thing to keep in mind is that what one dog does great on may not work for your dog, so you may have to take note of a few choices and try them out.

I tried Evo, and it wreeked havoc on my dogs tummies. They are thriving on Canidae ALS. Like ACooper said though, one food may work wonders for one dog and but isn't so good for another.

My one dog can ONLY handle Evo (without puking) or raw. Another looses weight on anything other than the 2 above. I also like orijin. But while dekka doesn't puke much on it, Zo looses too much weight. All five did poorly on Canidae, in comparison. (not as shiny, more flakes on the skin, worse breath and gas.)

My personal list of the best are:

www.canidae.com
www.naturapet.com (any foods made by this company, there are many)
www.eaglepack.com (holistic line)
www.championpetfoods.com (Orijen)
www.timberwolforganics.com
www.natureslogic.com

Timberwolf all the way.

Showpug gave a great list of ones to try. I agree, not everything works for every dog. I've never had any issues with EVO, but have heard a lot of people say they weren't happy with it; not just stomach issues, but active sport dogs who did not thrive on it. Some people love California Natural (Natura), but a friend's dogs all looked terrible after a few months on it.

Meg's on mostly raw anyway. The kibbles I've used are adult Innova, EVO, EVO RM, Timberwolf, and Orijen. Meg has been fine on all, and I think all are great foods. For now I am sticking with our 75% raw/25% Orijen.

The best? RAW. If you can stomach it and your dog does well. I have heard of a few dogs not doing well (losing weight/puking) on raw, though, but the vast majority of dog I have heard of do very well on it.

The best kibble I have heard would be EVO, Canidae, or Orijen.

Worst? Diamond, Ol Roy, Science Diet, Eukanuba, Iams, Beneful, etc. Anything Wal-mart carries should be avoided at all costs.. and I haven't seen a good pet food sold at chain stores like pet co/smart yet. Except for the timothy hay they sell for Rabbits.

My crew is currently on Canidae...

Pepe was on raw before I got him, and he wasn't doing well on it - but he had quite a few health problems at that time too, which could have caused the stomach issues, not the raw. Flicka's never been tried on it - but she does so awesome on Canidae - I don't want to mess with a good thing.

Pepe was on Karma for about a year, maybe a little more, and then we got Flicka, who was also placed on Karma. At first Pepe couldn't stomach it, and Flicka never did good on it to begin with.

So we switched...

Both did horribly on Innova - Flicka did a bit better then Pepe, but not much.

So we switched again to Canidae - and both of them are doing awesome on it. All my fosters get fed on Canidae, and the majority (I'd say 75%) do well on it - others don't. I find that the dogs that are generally healthier do better on Canidae then the ones that may have other medical issues.

If I do switch again (which I'll only do if they start having issues), I'll try either Solid Gold, or RAW.

-Rosefern

My dogs are fed a grain free diet... they are on Orijen.

Both of my dogs are on Canidae...

I feed Innova Adult and my dog does awesome on it.

Curious as to how Diamond got lumped in with Purina and Iams? They had the recall for the aflatoxic last year, but since then it's been ok.

Seriously! Diamond is a family owned feed company that a lot of people have trusted for years. They did have an aflatoxin recall but I know people that still trust them.

Their ingredients aren't always the best but their Diamond Naturals line is OK. A lot of people (including rescues) appreciate the price:quality ratio.

hmmm I feed solid gold barking at the moon... i thought that was a pretty good
food until now that is lol cause someone said that they havent seen anything good from petco and thats where i buy it from..

I would say Canidee or Evo. There both good.

Matrix........Solid Gold brand is still a very good food.

They were never involved in the recall, they don't add corn or wheat (that I remember) and when my dogs were on it they did just fine.
My dogs ate Hundnflochen (sp?) for awhile. I switched because one of my dogs (shall remain nameless) didn't like the taste or something and started baulking about eating. I switched to Canidae and then the other didn't really like it...........I couldn't win!

They are now both on homecooked and doing great. (at least they both eat it!)

And yes, I agree that Diamond is nowhere near in the same catagory with ole roy or brands walmart sells. They make Chicken soup, and that has a very nice ingredient list........no corn, lots of fruits & veggies, and the first FOUR ingredients are MEAT. Chicken soup is on the whole dog journal list of foods for 2007, and if I remember correctly, a couple other of Diamond foods are too.

Solid Gold is a good food... Barking at the Moon is grainfree.

Petco does have a few good brands... Castor & Pollox, Natural Balance, and Solid Gold are all sold at Petco.

I think showpug put out a great list of foods. I'd like to add raw to it and I've also heard many rave about Honest Kitchen although we've not tried it yet.