Let's talk about Dog food

[Papi]

It's taken a long time, and a lot of abuse, but I'm becoming a true believer in you are what you eat. My own personal battles with food, emotional eating, blah blah blah...

Anyway, I have two Weimaraner's, one AKC purebred (dog), and the other is a puppy milled runt rescue (bitch). Almost all the health issues are with the Purebred. He's 10 now, and we've seen it all. He has a lifelong auto immune disorder ( sebaceous adenitis ) which prevent his oil from secreting from his glands, causing dry skin and losing coat. There is no cure for this, and that led me on a research quest.

Like my personal food statement above, I'm becoming a huge believer that what we feed our 4 legged kids is key to their health and well being. I don't think I've ever given my hounds shit food, in fact, they get a lot fish and cooked/raw mixed in the grain free kibble. But a recent experience that turned ugly and my dog getting sick from some holistic no grain feed has me concerned that pet food quality isn't that great at all, regardless of how much you spend.

I'm now trying as a supplement Orijen 6 Fish kibble, and after just a few meals added with sardines, my boys coat is more oily than it's been in years. He's also digestively happier.

I'm curious how many of you supplement (or just feed) with Orijen kibble, and what's the best feed you have given your dogs?

Also, based strictly on diet, what have you noticed in changes with your dog(s).
I'm really hoping to find a good balance for my pups, but especially one that can reverse the damage of SA on my boys coat.

 

[aszrael1266]

One thing I have always tried to not cheap out on is dog food. I've been feeding our dogs natures select dog food for a while now. They offer free home delivery when you order and have the lowest food recall rate of all the other dog foods. Plus its very high quality food.

 

[Nahullo]

We are due to receive our Irish Wolfhound pup in a month or so and I'm very interested in feeding options. Aside from bulk the purchases I'm sure we will need :wtf

 

[weasel]

Avoid any dry food with "Grains"

My dog has allergies to some food. I made the mistake of buying Iams one because it was on sale and I was on a budget. She scratched like crazy and I wound up throwing it out.

She seem to do well with Eukanuba senior and it's not too over priced.

11 Y/O 90lb healthy lab

 

[Nucking Futs]

Google BARF. Not this one, the other one: bones and raw food. You'd never guess how I stumbled upon that site, , but lots of good info there!

 

[ThumperX]

I make the Bossdog's food and supplement with Costco's brand grain free kibble. This stopped a lot of his itching and believe it or not costs a lot less than feeding him an entire diet of processed food.

 

[Nahullo]

Google BARF. Not this one, the other one: bones and raw food. You'd never guess how I stumbled upon that site, , but lots of good info there!

About $130 a week once the beast-dog is full grown... I might consider using this raw food as a part of the weekly diet.

 

[Zerox]

I'm curious how many of you supplement (or just feed) with Orijen kibble, and what's the best feed you have given your dogs?

You already have a top-notch food with Orijen, good shizz.

I've used Grizzly's Salmon Oil, and also their Pollock Oil for my two big dogs with success. My black Lab gets a little bit dandruffy in winter, squirting some oil on their dry food helps. Typical kibble I buy them is usually Taste of Wild salmon flavor so already there is some fish oil, but more is better.

 

[Honey Badger]

Honestly the Costco foods are pretty good - dogfoodadvisor.com gives unbiased reviews and rankings.

That being said, allergies to certain foods aside, I've learned a hard lesson with my pets - feed them what they like and do best on. My dog has done well on the Costco foods, so she is staying on them. My cat on the other hand has been a very difficult animal to feed. Being a Bengal, all my research pointed to natural, raw, grain free foods. He would enjoy it for about a week, then turn his nose up. I tried all the top end brands, even just feeding him off my plate - generally stayed skinny. My vet then told me to feed him Friskies Turkey and Giblets. I balked - Friskies?!?

Guess what? The little shit loves the Friskies SauceSations, eats it, and has put on more weight than he's had for a very long time. He doesn't puke it up, and his fur is nice and soft, and he seems happy.

Growing up, my dogs were fed cheap-ish foods. The youngest of my big dogs to die was 14 - the oldest lived to 18. We had a small dog live to 22. Our pet cats (as opposed to barn cats) lived to 18, 24, 19....and not a single one of them was fed top shelf pet food. ALL of them were active, involved in the family, and either worked, hunted, or ran around the farm.

So while I do try to get my pets the best I can afford, I've also learned that giving them what they do best on and enjoy is more important than some expensive food with lots of cool labels. My damn cat wants Friskies and does best on it, that's what he gets. My current dog (14 y/o GSD, who other than having Degenerative Myelopathy is very healthy and happy) has historically been on grain free, limited ingredient foods due to skin allergies - mostly fleas that she's allergic to, but she does better on some foods than others.

As for longevity, my own experience leads me to believe that animals being able to be active in a natural way does a lot more for extending their life than any food will.

 

[afm199]

Homie and Streak get different food, high or medium end, and Salmon oil daily. Their coats are beautiful.

 

[Dubbington]

Nature's Domain at Costco is supposedly rebranded Taste of The Wild, which is pricey stuff.

I switch between the Salmon or Lamb, red and blue bags. When mine were puppies they got Costco brand adult food. Breeder said the puppy specific had too much fat or something. Said the costco adult food is good for them as puppies.

 

[RightCoastBias]

I fed my dog Wellness Core for a while, but at $60 a bag I searched for a cheaper option.

Can't recall the name of the food I use now, but it's almost as good. When I first got my pup I was told about this website http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/ and use it to vet foods.

Edit; here's what I use now http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=1285&cat=8

It's about $35-$40 at Pet Club and just as good as Wellness Core.

 

[Papi]

I've used Grizzly's Salmon Oil

Yeah, we tried that for a while to. The challenge with a dog that has SA is just keeping the coat oily. I use to "bathe" him once a month in Mineral oil, just to keep his coat from falling out, as no lipids got there at all. The bitch who was puppy milled has no issues at all. Her coat is Weim perfect, and so was Otis until the SA kicked in.

I was told about this website http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/ and use it to vet foods.
.

Yeah, good site, some reviews are really old though. Orijen is in their 6 Star Category though, so woohoo!

dogfoodadvisor.com gives unbiased reviews and rankings.
As for longevity, my own experience leads me to believe that animals being able to be active in a natural way does a lot more for extending their life than any food will.

Yes, a decent site also. Orijen is on there to as a Top Dry Food. But I agree with your last statement. Keeping dogs active is one of the best things you can do to promote a long life.

We are mixing the kibble with fish and sometimes a "salad". Also my wife makes a pot of brown rice so we add a small bit of that to.

 

[jafo]

Orijen is about as good as it gets, anamaet makes a good grain free. I like to give my animals a choice of 3-4 mid to high end store bought dry foods. if one food is deficient in some way, hopefully the others make up for it.

They also get beef/chicken/pork/fish whenever I eat it. I don't season theirs and feed raw/barely cooked

 

[fast4d]

my dog lived 16.5 years.

nutral for first 10 years. iams for the rest.

always dry food.

just like humans, exercise is key.

 

[Papi]

They also get beef/chicken/pork/fish whenever I eat it. I don't season theirs and feed raw/barely cooked

Yep, always good for them. I think fish and bird is the best, Otis loves Pheasant, but who doesn't?

 

[Yakoo752]

I feed Blue Salmon regularly

I'll substitute with our leftover bland grains (brown rice, quinoa, oatmeal) and unseasoned meats.

When I fire the BBQ up, Delilah knows she's in for an awesome dinner
When I cook salmon, she lays in the dining room drooling - she LOVES salmon skin

 

[Shaggy]

My wife works at Pet Food Express so she know a lot about dog food. We feed FirstMate Pacific Ocean Fresh and supplement with Sound Dog Viscosity glucosamine chews. We also give them a raw patty every now and then.

 

[Papi]

My wife works at Pet Food Express so she know a lot about dog food. We feed FirstMate Pacific Ocean Fresh and supplement with Sound Dog Viscosity glucosamine chews. We also give them a raw patty every now and then.

Hey, can you ask her why they wont 4th bag free on Champion Foods?
Orijen doesn't qualify for their discount they post on the website. Also, I used to get California Naturals by the Pallet from them, but the pricing went to shit.

If Pet Food Express will let me "will call" 4 to 8 big bags of Orijen 6 Fish, and give a decent price, I would be happy to buy from them again. Let us know.

 

[DReg350]

When we got our doggy his coat was dry, wiry and he had allergies. We suspect he'd been an outdoor dog and fed crap food. After some experimentation we discovered that he definitely doesn't tolerate grains... at all. We tried allot of different grain free kibbles, but he seems to prefer Blue Wilderness both digestively and taste wise. We change up the flavor regularly to keep him interested. We also mix it with a bit of Blue wet, or add beef, chicken or other protein. Anyway, his coat is fantastic now and the allergies are distant memory. We constantly get comments from people about what a great looking dog he is. Still, his is the most finicky stomach of any dog I've ever had.