Natural Balance, Nutro Ultra, NB Eatables... analyze my puppy's diet?

[Shahrazade]

Ok. The pup is a 3/4 Corgi and 1/4 Border Collie. He is eighteen weeks old right now. I am an animal services professional, but only somewhat knowledgeable about the specifics of nutrition for dogs- horses I am much better with. I know enough not to feed corn or wheat, to rotate proteins to prevent development of skin allergies (on the advice of a canine nutritionist after I found out that my mother's dog had become allergic to his food), and I certainly know that anything made by grocery store brands is junk. I can read a label and tell the difference between great, good, and no good, but between the brands that seem good I could use a little guidance on an ideal diet for my puppy.

When my puppy was weaned, he started on Nutro Max Puppy. I switched him to Nutro Natural Choice because it was a better quality at about ten weeks, and then up to Ultra at about twelve weeks because I wanted the salmon for his skin and coat. I briefly tried a sensitive stomach formula from Nutro Natural Choice, but it didn't agree with him. He is eighteen weeks now (as I believe I mentioned) and I have switched him over to Natural Balance Venison and Rice. I would like to keep him on the Natural Balance brand because it offers several different formulas so I can switch his protein sources each bag. I tried a sample of Innova EVO, but it is not only too expensive :yikes: for someone still in college and working a job that's more for love than money, it also didn't really agree with him. I feed Natural Balance canned and occasionally Canidae, California Naturals, Addiction, or Merrick's canned. I do give him Natural Balance Eatables sometimes because he likes it so much, but I know that is lower in protein.

I am willing to do some home cooking to supplement his dry food, but raw and the more super-premium boutique brands are out of my price range right now. I probably need to stick with a Petco brand because I'm able to get the associate discount there because I work part time as a CEI (teach training classes) for them for a little steady income to help support me as I try to start my own business. My boy has always had excellent skin and coat, passed his vet checkup with flying colors except a late blooming testicle that the vet is giving some more time to make an appearance before neutering. His fur is very soft and shiny except where he wears his coat down sleeping in his water dish (???? weird dog ????). I would like to stick mostly with dry and canned, but could supplement with home cooking.

So for the experts out there- if this was your puppy, with those restrictions, what would you feed him, what would you cook for him (I do brown rice and ground beef once in a while already), etc.?

 

[Zoom]

If you're going to stick with something found at Petco, I'd stay with the Natural Balance. If you can afford to rotate in a bag of Canidae often, that would be ideal as well. I like Canidae better that NB for overall quality, but NB has a wider range of protien sources, versus the multiple protien sources in Canidae.

 

[Herschel]

Canidae is probably cheaper than Natural Balance and definitely cheaper than Nutro.

The Canidae All Life Stages has 4 different animal based protein sources.

 

[Shahrazade]

Not where I live and with the discount- even without, Canidae is more expensive where I have looked.

 

[ihartgonzo]

I think NB is a good quality kibble, definitely better than any Nutro foods. I fed it to Fozzie when we first adopted him because his foster mom fed him NB, and he was very healthy.

If you want to add good stuff to his diet, plain chicken/ground beef, canned salmon, sardines, whole raw eggs, fish oil, yogurt, & cottage cheese are all healthy things to add to kibble.

I feed Raw, and I know plenty of people who have had great results just feed Raw once a week, or feeding RMB's occasionally for teeth cleaning & to satisfy chewing urges. There are lots of really helpful Raw threads here! =)

most importantly, we NEED pics of your adorable little guy! I have a Corgi mix puppy, too. He's the sweetest boy.

 

[Bobsk8]

I have fed Smokey three different NB kibbles and she liked them all. The ingredients seem to be top rate.

 

[ToscasMom]

Tosca eats Natural Balance Ultra Premium dry.

She also gets raw meat bones and I have recently added raw egg to her diet.

 

[Shahrazade]

Doing raw meat bones once in a while sounds like a good addition- it could probably replace some of his chew treats so I wouldn't be spending anything more to give him better nutrition. I hadn't thought of adding yogurt to dry food because I associate that with Purina's 'with yogurt' formulas, but it does make sense now that I think about it. I do cook him a little if I make a recipe with turkey, chicken, beef, etc- buy 1/4 pound extra or so and cook some without spices for the puppy- is whole wheat pasta a good idea also? And is it safe to feed raw eggs? What about salmonella?

 

[ToscasMom]

Hi, I asked the question in another thread about salmonella and raw eggs and dogs. I was concerned about the protein content of NB and raw eggs were suggested to me as a protein boost. As I understand it, dogs are not senstive to salmonella as humans are. Some folks on this board even feed their dogs raw poultry. So I have been giving her raw scrambled up egg ever since. She loves the meaty bones. She eats raw pork neck bones, beef bones and ox tails. It was also suggested that I freeze the pork bones for three weeks before feeding as this kills a specific bacteria that is rare but dangerous to the dog's health. She loves these bones and they give her a good chew as well. Since they are raw, they are not dangerous to her like cooked bones would be (splintering). I try to adjust her dry food intake according so she doesn't gain weight.

Warning: you need a good place for her to eat these things or she will trot around the house with it, looking for the "right spot" and make a mess, leaving behind a raw meat mess you will need to clean.

So I give them to her in her crate for easily identified cleanup--or outside in the yard.

You also might want to check out some of the other threads regarding Raw Feeding and bones on this forum. I learned a lot from them.

 

[ihartgonzo]

I wouldn't feed whole wheat pasta. You should minimize intake of starches/carbs/etc as much as possible, because the digestive system of dogs just isn't suited for grains.

yeah... the 'with yogurt' Purina stuff is crap. the good thing about yogurt is the live cultures, and you don't get that in processed cooked kibble, anyway. =P not to mention, just a poor brand in general.

good RMB's for chewing are pretty much endless. chicken quarters, turkey drumsticks/wings, turkey necks, beef soup bones (fed with caution, because if dogs chew way vigorously for long periods of time, teeth can be fractured), pork ribs, beef ribs, etc, etc. And all of these are WAY cheaper & healthier than greenies and most other dog chews for sale.