Recommended dog food/ingredients?

[vanillalove]

Hi everyone. I couldn't decide if I should put this topic here, but I went for it anyways!

 

I have always fed my dogs Dock's pet food, as my family has always been in the thinking that it is a really good company. I'm not sure if any of you have ever heard of it, but here is the link.. (they changed their name recently)

 

http://www.paw4mance.ca/about-paw4mance.php

 

I was wondering if it looked decent!

 

Also, I was wondering what to look for, ingredient wise, in a dog food. I've heard things about looking for foods that don't have a lot of grains in them, but I'm not very educated on the subject. What sort of dog foods do you guys feed your dogs and why?

 

Thanks!

Kayla

[Chesney's Girl]

That actually looks like a pretty good food. Lots of people here feed Canidae and it is considered a premium food. I'm sure if you do a search there is a decent amount of information on food. Good luck

[vanillalove]

I've heard of Canidae, I might consider switching over if I were to get another dog. Petey is getting older and he loves the stuff, so I will leave it for him.

 

Thanks!

[kelpiegirl]

Looks okay, but there is only one meat source (although that can be good for dogs who are sensitive to some proteins), and it has lots of rice, etc. I wouldn't rank it up there with Canidae. The other thing to look closely at is ME (metabolizable energy). This is basically the bang for your buck- what your dog gets out of the food once you subtract excretion, etc.

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

I like the information collected at The Dog Food Project. I don't completely agree with all of it, but I find it to be sensible and usable from the standpoint of making one's own mind up.

[vanillalove]

Yeah I noticed there were a lot of fillers, like rice and wheat, etc. I figure I will probably switch to another higher quality brand with a new dog. Petey seems to enjoy this and as he's getting older, I'll just let him continue on this.

 

Thanks!

[CCecil]

I've used Canidae for the past several years and I must say, the dogs' coats, gums, and nails never looked better, except when I used a raw food diet, but that got too expensive.

[BustopherJones]

This is how Merck graded dog foods:

 

Start with a grade of 100:

1) For every listing of "by-product", subtract 10 points

2) For every non-specific animal source ("meat" or "poultry", meat, meal or fat) reference, subtract 10 points

3) If the food contains BHA, BHT, or ethoxyquin, subtract 10 points

4) For every grain "mill run" or non-specific grain source, subtract 5 points

5) If the same grain ingredient is used 2 or more times in the first five ingredients ( i.e. "ground brown rice", "brewer’s rice", "rice flour" are all the same grain), subtract 5 points

6) If the protein sources are not meat meal and there are less than 2 meats in the top 3 ingredients, subtract 3 points

7) If it contains any artificial colorants, subtract 3 points

8 ) If it contains ground corn or whole grain corn, subtract 3 points

9) If corn is listed in the top 5 ingredients, subtract 2 more points

10) If the food contains any animal fat other than fish oil, subtract 2 points

11) If lamb is the only animal protein source (unless your dog is allergic to other protein sources), subtract 2 points

12) If it contains soy or soybeans, subtract 2 points

13) If it contains wheat (unless you know that your dog isn’t allergic to wheat), subtract 2 points

14) If it contains beef (unless you know that your dog isn’t allergic to beef), subtract 1 point

15) If it contains salt, subtract 1 point

 

Extra Credit:

1) If any of the meat sources are organic, add 5 points

2) If the food is endorsed by any major breed group or nutritionist, add 5 points

3) If the food is baked not extruded, add 5 points

4) If the food contains probiotics, add 3 points

5) If the food contains fruit, add 3 points

6) If the food contains vegetables (NOT corn or other grains), add 3 points

7) If the animal sources are hormone-free and antibiotic-free, add 2 points

8 ) If the food contains barley, add 2 points

9) If the food contains flax seed oil (not just the seeds), add 2 points

10) If the food contains oats or oatmeal, add 1 point

11) If the food contains sunflower oil, add 1 point

12) For every different specific animal protein source in addition to the first one, add 1 point

13) If it contains glucosamine and chondroitin, add 1 point

14) If the vegetables have been tested for pesticides and are pesticide-free, add 1 point

 

94-100+ = A; 86-93 = B; 78-85 = C; 70-77 = D; <70 = F

[Bo Peep]

Thanks for posting that Buster. I had to take that test during a class with Bailey and her food got a 99. Dummy me didn't know if beets were a fruit or a vegetable. I feed nutro max natural choice lamb & rice. I also add salmon oil because of Bailey's poor coat when she arrived here. She is now fluffy and soft, so I continue with that on both of the dogs.

[Alaska]

This is how Merck graded dog foods:

You might be interested in what The DogFoodProject has to say about this scoring system

[vanillalove]

Oh thanks for the scoring system and thanks for the alternate view of it. I think that it all depends on what individual dogs do best on, I know that people often debate about whether or not to feed veggies or fruit. I think it just depends on your individual idea of what a dog "should" or "would" eat in the wild. (Just an example from the alternate views of the scoring system)

 

I feel like I could research this subject a lot more and still come up with no real "answer" to what I should feed because I'll always hear the opposite.

 

But thanks a lot, I'm going to continue to research this!

[Laurelin]

The dog food project is really helpful imo.

 

My general rule of thumb is to see what my dogs do well on. I wish I could afford raw. Beau did best on raw. He had much better coat and was just a solid little guy.

 

But it's just not practical right now.

 

We fed Canidae a while. I'd definitely recommend it. Now we're feeding California Natural (less ingredients for sensitive guy) and Innova EVO.

[vanillalove]

Thanks Laurelin, Petey does well on the food I am giving him. I remember seeing a difference in his coat, nails and gums, etc when he first started it and he's getting older so I'm going to leave it for him.

 

I would love to feed the next dog raw, or at the least a half raw/half kibble or something.