Food?

[megancollie]

So I've recently been doing much research on dog diets...and I've come to the conclusion that I need to switch to a new food.

 

I have a few questions, though.

 

Does anyone feed Honest Kitchen food? If so, which kind? Do you add anything to it (besides the meat for Preference)?

Any other tips on this food?

 

Or, has anyone been feeding Halo to their pets?

 

Another thing. My Border, Motley, is 7 months old. I'm always training her something new, and she's highly motivated by food. So, she gets many different treats (though I try to throw in some tug games as a reinforcer, too). But most of the time it's food.

I'm worried that by feeding her her proper amount of regular dog food AND treats from training sessions will get her fat? I've heard that I should lessen her regular dog food so that it balances with the treats, but is that healthy?

[Izzysdad]

I haven't heard of those foods, but I stick to grain free foods that are as natural as possible.

 

Treat wise, for training you can use her kibble, and subtract what you used for training from her meal. There's also the low calorie training treats, but I just use Mother Hubbard treats and break them up tiny so for a 10-15 minute session they've probably only had two-three treats total.

 

Tim

[Maralynn]

I've heard good things about THK, but it is prohibitively expensive for me to feed. The ingredients are all human grade I believe. You can do raw for your dog much cheaper than THK. Halo is also a good brand. But it will come down to what works good for your dog as different dogs do well on different foods. If you're considering those, I'd just get a small package and see if your dog likes it and how they do on it.

 

Ditto on kibble for training treat! Mine will work for kibble around home with no problem. I also use cooked bits of meat. If you chop up some meat and mix it 50/50 in a baggie with kibble you'll have both the meat treats and the meat flavored kibble to use! I'd say as a rule of thumb you're fine replacing about 10% of your dogs food with treats on a daily basis.

[geonni banner]

I feel like a piker whenever I read a thread about dog food here. I feed my dog Nutro Natural Choice Lamb & Rice in the morning and a smaller amount of same with raw beef or chicken added in the evening. Her weight is good, her coat is great, she has plenty of energy and small, firm stools. I looked at some of the brands I've heard mentioned here and had a nasty case of sticker shock. Keeping Sugarfoot in beef and bully sticks is expensive enough. I can't swing fifty bucks for a little bag of kibble.

 

So tell me... Are there any other closet feeders of less-than-ruinously-expensive kibble out there? And is my dog likely to go "tits up" on account of what I feed her?

[Maralynn]

I feel like a piker whenever I read a thread about dog food here. I feed my dog Nutro Natural Choice Lamb & Rice in the morning and a smaller amount of same with raw beef or chicken added in the evening. Her weight is good, her coat is great, she has plenty of energy and small, firm stools. I looked at some of the brands I've heard mentioned here and had a nasty case of sticker shock. Keeping Sugarfoot in beef and bully sticks is expensive enough. I can't swing fifty bucks for a little bag of kibble.

 

So tell me... Are there any other closet feeders of less-than-ruinously-expensive kibble out there? And is my dog likely to go "tits up" on account of what I feed her?

 

Kipp and Kenzi get Diamond Naturals. It works fine for them. My only issue with Nutro foods is I feel they are a bit overpriced for the ingredients used and they break down the ingredients so they can move meat higher on the list - they use rice flour, rice bran and rice so they can put chicken (or whatever) first when the rice is really the #1 ingredient. But other than that I see no issue with the food itself. IMO the DN had similar or better ingredients and the cost is $5-$10 less a bag so that's what I feed. But if the nutro works for you and your dog, don't feel guilty about feeding it.

 

ETA- The most I've spent on a bag of kibble was close to $60 for a bag of Natures Variety for Missy. Yup, I gulped hard when I bought it. But it did last for two months so the cost per meal wasn't too bad. She does significantly better on grain free or raw so that's what she gets. Course I just got a great deal on a variety of meats so now I've got 2.5 months worth of raw meals in the freezer for Missy at a cost of about 60 cents a meal.

[rushdoggie]

I got sticker shock at the more expensive foods as well, that's partly why I feed raw. With some creative shopping and a freezer its pretty cheap. IMO, if your dog is doing well go with what you're doing.

 

As for the original poster, I have never had a fat Border Collie. I do have a fat Papillon. When we train a lot I use cooked chicken and veggies as treats and feed her less at meals. She is a dog who porks up on grainy foodstuffs, so I avoid floury treats when training. I also minimize the cheese (which is a pain as those little string cheese singles are handy as heck for dog training treats) as it seems to cause weight gain.

 

My other Pap and Border Collie do well and don't seem to ever gain weight (in fact my old man Pap can never seem to gain any) regardless of the training treats.

[njnovice]

My other Pap and Border Collie do well and don't seem to ever gain weight (in fact my old man Pap can never seem to gain any) regardless of the training treats.

 

Mick's like that. Regardless of how much I feed him (or however many treats he gets)...he's always at around the same weight. He'll put on winter weight, then shed it as soon as it warms up. Even at his winter weight, the vet says he's in perfect shape, so I'm not concerned. Come July, I'll probably see the ribs poking through a bit.

[silhouettestable]

I feel like a piker whenever I read a thread about dog food here. I feed my dog Nutro Natural Choice Lamb & Rice in the morning and a smaller amount of same with raw beef or chicken added in the evening. Her weight is good, her coat is great, she has plenty of energy and small, firm stools. I looked at some of the brands I've heard mentioned here and had a nasty case of sticker shock. Keeping Sugarfoot in beef and bully sticks is expensive enough. I can't swing fifty bucks for a little bag of kibble.

 

So tell me... Are there any other closet feeders of less-than-ruinously-expensive kibble out there? And is my dog likely to go "tits up" on account of what I feed her?

 

I used to feed Nutro Natural Choice Chicken & Rice to my dogs and they did great on it. However, I was paying $52.99 for a 17kg bag of the large breed formula, and $59.99/bag for the High Energy formula. Feeding 9 dogs it was just getting too costly so I decided to try the Kirkland Signature brand from Costco since I'd heard a lot of good things about it. Seems a lot of people felt it was one of the better lower cost foods available. My guys have been on it for a year now and are doing fantastic and it only costs $25.99 for an 18kg bag. Most of mine are working sled dogs and whatever kind of kibble they're eating I do also supplement with extras (meat/fat etc) when they're in training and racing. Most often the extra meat is chicken since I raise my own poultry. Sometimes I cook some just for them, other times they get soups and broth made from leftovers when we have roast chicken for dinner. Any kind of meat scraps, gravy, fat trimmings etc. go into a "dog" bucket in my fridge to be used as toppings for their kibble. On this kind of diet and with their training they are hard-muscled, have beautiful gleaming coats, good teeth, firm stools and boundless energy. Oh, and I've also started giving them raw marrow bones as a treat occasionally too.

[alligande]

I feel like a piker whenever I read a thread about dog food here. I feed my dog Nutro Natural Choice Lamb & Rice in the morning and a smaller amount of same with raw beef or chicken added in the evening. Her weight is good, her coat is great, she has plenty of energy and small, firm stools. I looked at some of the brands I've heard mentioned here and had a nasty case of sticker shock. Keeping Sugarfoot in beef and bully sticks is expensive enough. I can't swing fifty bucks for a little bag of kibble.

 

So tell me... Are there any other closet feeders of less-than-ruinously-expensive kibble out there? And is my dog likely to go "tits up" on account of what I feed her?

 

Thanks for making me laugh this morning, this is how I feel as well. I fed my last 2 dogs nutro and they both lived passed fourteen. I feed Canidae at the moment as I felt Nutro was getting expensive. Someone kindly posted a great link (which I cant find at the moment) that reviewed dog food. Canidae was cheaper, better quality and I use less.

[JimB]

THK and Halo both look good; I considered them both. I wanted to feed raw, but didn't have the time, so after long deliberation I went with Evo. It's a little pricey, but if you shop wisely and keep your ear to the ground you can find it substantially cheaper than the $60 retail.

 

I feed a little less kibble to balance out the treats used for training and the occasional treats given 'cuz he's such a great dog.

 

HTH,

 

Jim

[JimB]

I feel like a piker whenever I read a thread about dog food here. I feed my dog Nutro Natural Choice Lamb & Rice in the morning and a smaller amount of same with raw beef or chicken added in the evening. Her weight is good, her coat is great, she has plenty of energy and small, firm stools. I looked at some of the brands I've heard mentioned here and had a nasty case of sticker shock. Keeping Sugarfoot in beef and bully sticks is expensive enough. I can't swing fifty bucks for a little bag of kibble.

 

So tell me... Are there any other closet feeders of less-than-ruinously-expensive kibble out there? And is my dog likely to go "tits up" on account of what I feed her?

 

That's funny!

 

Ya do what you can afford. There was a time when my dogs ate Ol' Roy with whatever scraps we had leftover from the table. Today, my wife says the dog eats better than we do.

 

Chamberlain will eat anything--and I do mean anything. However, he can't seem to stomach much change without giving him the runs (even treats will do this!) So, after pulling a few all-nighters, I keep him on a pretty strict diet of Evo and a small amount of treats.

 

Jim

[border_collie_crazy]

lol, I feed raw so I also gulp when I see some of the dog food prices..if I fed kibble, I could NOT afford to feed something like Orijen, with 1 dog sure, but not with 7, at $80 a bag thats a bit pricy! since my shift changed at work, meaning whoever I have with me needs to eat at work, I started keeping kibble at work for them..so I do search them and buy various kibbles..currently I very much like a brand made by Merrick called Whole Earth Farms, its about $50 for a 40lbs bag, ingredients are good:

 

Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal, Oat Meal, Pearled Barly, Ground rice, Ground Millet, Ground Barely, Chicken Fat, Duck, Buffalo, White Fish, Salmon Oil.......

 

if REALLY pressed for money, I would be quiet willing to feet PC Nutrition first..for a grocery store brand its really good, no corn, no wheat, no soy, no artifictial colours or flavours, specified meat it the first ingredient etc.. about $40 for 40lbs.

 

I am all for feeding the best you can afford.

[Root Beer]

Another thing. My Border, Motley, is 7 months old. I'm always training her something new, and she's highly motivated by food. So, she gets many different treats (though I try to throw in some tug games as a reinforcer, too). But most of the time it's food.

 

I'm worried that by feeding her her proper amount of regular dog food AND treats from training sessions will get her fat? I've heard that I should lessen her regular dog food so that it balances with the treats, but is that healthy?

 

I let my dog's weight be my guide on this. If my dog is maintaining the proper weight, I don't reduce meal size. If my dog seems to be gaining, then I cut the meal size a bit.

 

Since I keep daily training sessions short, and I chop up treats into very tiny pieces, I would not have to decrease the amount of food that my dog gets by a significant amount if I were to reduce the meal size, so I don't worry about the overall effect of the reduction on the balance of the diet.

[BustopherJones]

This site may be of interest: Dog Food Reviews

[bcnewe2]

I've fed so many different kinds of foods. What I've found that works for us is Taste of The Wild wetlands, which is the salmon one.

I'd much rather feed raw but the dog food is cheaper out here than meat or at least I haven't found a good place to get meat.

 

I've fed from Diamond to the expensive TOTW, and for once I do notice a difference in the food. I'd switch back to a cheaper food in a heartbeat but Micks anal glands are doing good, the seniors are looking trim and healthy so I don't want to switch to anything that might upset the balance. I never noticed much dif. in diamond and the less expensive foods like Canadie, or Nutro etc. But I really see a dif. with this food.

 

I worked a short stint at PetCo and noticed allot of returns on Halo dog food with loose stools being the #1 reason for the return. Plus with that food I could afford to buy raw at that price.

Currently TTOW is running me about 44 bucks for 30 lbs but I feed way less than anyother food I've ever fed.

 

I noticed back in MO is was about 5 bucks cheaper. Everything out here costs more.

 

I say you have to experiement on foods till you find the right one for your guys. If it's in the cheaper catagory then you win the double prize!

[SecretBC]

I feed grain-free as a rule, but can't afford to feed three dogs on the more expensive brands like Orijen (would if I could!). They do very well rotating through the different flavors of Taste of the Wild and Natural Balance's Limited Ingredient Diet flavors. Right now they're on NB LID Chicken & Sweet Potato.

 

I buy the NB from Petco for @ $50/bag and I have a friend who gets the TOTW wholesale and sells it to me for $38. I only see her at agility trials, though, so when we are in a lull between trials, that's when I feed the NB.

[megancollie]

Wow! Thanks for all the great advice, everyone!

[gator96]

We had a hard time finding food which would work for our BC Jake. At about 6 months old, he stopped digesting his normal food and we were battling constant digestive issues. We decided to try Halo and it has been a lifesaver. We were very picky in choosing foods and did a lot of research before settling on Halo. It has a good reputation and is good quality food. Another plus is that they just donated 1 million meals to animal shelters. So at least they are doing good things with their money.

[Brad]

Although I feed raw, if I need to go with kibble (travel, etc) then I use Orijen. Yes, it's $80/bag, but my dogs are my kids, and if money's tight, I can cut down on my Starbucks budget

[geonni banner]

Although I feed raw, if I need to go with kibble (travel, etc) then I use Orijen. Yes, it's $80/bag, but my dogs are my kids, and if money's tight, I can cut down on my Starbucks budget

 

Not to be testy or judgmental here Brad, but some of us don't have a Starbucks budget. Some of us feed (and otherwise care for a dog, a cat, and ourselves) on $929.00 a month. Do the math... after rent it doesn't leave much. I love my kids too. But reality has away of rearing its ugly head when faced with $80.00 bags of dog kibble.

[Brad]

Not to be testy or judgmental here Brad, but some of us don't have a Starbucks budget. Some of us feed (and otherwise care for a dog, a cat, and ourselves) on $929.00 a month. Do the math... after rent it doesn't leave much. I love my kids too. But reality has away of rearing its ugly head when faced with $80.00 bags of dog kibble.

 

I suppose I don't see that side of things sometimes, didnt mean to suggest anyone doesn't love their dogs as much as me! I just have lots of friends that have more than enough surplus income, and whine about my dog kibble being 20 bucks more than the crap they use (grocery store no-name stuff). To these people, I do get a bit testy AND judgemental, as they can more than afford good food. But yes, painting everyone with the same brush doesn't work. My apologies if I've offended.

[geonni banner]

I suppose I don't see that side of things sometimes, didnt mean to suggest anyone doesn't love their dogs as much as me! I just have lots of friends that have more than enough surplus income, and whine about my dog kibble being 20 bucks more than the crap they use (grocery store no-name stuff). To these people, I do get a bit testy AND judgemental, as they can more than afford good food. But yes, painting everyone with the same brush doesn't work. My apologies if I've offended.

 

I'm not offended, I'm just cranky cuz I need a nap!