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how much to feed and better dog food brands


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Hi again. I started another post on Logan as this has to do with how much to feed and getting some recommendations.

 

Logan weighs 46 lbs. He is not overweight. When I run my hands on his rib cage, I can feel his ribs very well. Once he is neutered, i expect him to gain weight as that has always been my experience with my dogs. Currently, I feed him 1 1/2 cups of dry mixed with a very small amount of wet. This is fed in the morning, and again at evening for a total of 3 cups of dry and about 1/2 to 1 cup of wet total for the day.

 

He is not as active as dogs herding sheep, etc., but plays soccer and tennis ball in the back yard probably about 1 to 1 1/2 hours a day.

 

I would like some recommendations on better dog food brands. I buy seperate for Logan from my two mini aussies as they are not super active and have weight issues.

 

We are retired and on a fixed budget, so I want a decent dog food, but cannot afford things like Blue Mountain.

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If I you have a Costco near you they have Kirklands brand dog food. They have Nature's Domain that is grain free and I bought a 35lb bag for less than $30. Tess seems to really like it and I researched it and it is a decent dog food from what I could tell, though I don't claim to be an expert in nutrition at all. I wouldn't consider it high-end but I would consider it good and affordable.

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There's no reason why a dog should necessarily gain weight just because it's been neutered if you adjust its food according to it's need. All of my dogs are spayed and neutered, none get the kind of regular high intensity exercise that dogs who work or compete in dog sports regularly get, and all are very lean. Why? Because I feed to keep them that way. If I start to feel a layer of fat developing, I cut back on food. It's as simple as that.
Here's a web site, Dog Food Advisor, that compares dog food brands : http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/
Another site that's a nice complement to the one above allows you to check whether a given commercial food (available from a pull-down list) is free of ingredients from China, meat by-products, specific preservatives (BHA, BHT, and ethoxyquine), and so forth. It also enables a side-by-side comparison of ingredients.

Together they should provide lots of information for you to make an informed decision about brands.

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If I you have a Costco near you they have Kirklands brand dog food. They have Nature's Domain that is grain free and I bought a 35lb bag for less than $30. Tess seems to really like it and I researched it and it is a decent dog food from what I could tell, though I don't claim to be an expert in nutrition at all. I wouldn't consider it high-end but I would consider it good and affordable.

 

Hey, that's what we feed, too! Before purchasing it I looked it up on the dogfoodadvisor website GentleLake linked and it got a pretty good review!

 

I've been told it's not at all uncommon to go through a couple of different brands as you find the right food to feed your dog. We went through several, much more expensive, brands of food (including Blue Buffalo) and we just couldn't get firm stool from any of them. For whatever reason, on the Kirkland Nature's Domain his stool has become more reliably firm and healthy looking. Sorry if that's too much gross info, but just wanted to second the Kirkland for being a decent food at a really unbeatable price.

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Thanks. When I adopted my mini aussies 3 yrs ago, they were on Kirkland. I kept them on it, but feeding two small dogs and buying a huge bag of dog food didn't make sense. I've been told it can go stale, even putting in a sealed container.

 

So, I think I will try Costco food. I said "blue mountain" and I really meant "blue buffalo". It didn't work for me either and was so expensive, even for my small dogs. I tried Wellness and had to take it back twice because it was infested with bugs right in the bag. Another brand "fat dog" put my little male in the hospital with pancreatitis while I was trying to move him into it slowly. The vet said to get rid of it and no more problems after that.

 

thanks for the input.

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Another brand "fat dog" put my little male in the hospital with pancreatitis while I was trying to move him into it slowly. The vet said to get rid of it and no more problems after that.

 

Did the vet's diagnosis of pancreatitis really come down to a (high end)brand of dog food? This is just me but I don't skimp when it comes to what I feed my doggies so I rotate various flavors of Orijen, Fromm, Acana, Taste Of The Wild, Merrick, etc....

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I like to rotate too, because I think they get bored with the same thing. However, this little guy is fat and we have him on a low cal food. I tried the "fat dog" brand because it had more protein in it than the "chicken soup for the soul" low cal that I was/am feeding him.

 

I migrate the food in slowly when I change, and within a few days he was very ill and had to go to hospital. We tossed the food, put him on a very bland diet for 2 months. After that we moved him slowly back to his "chicken soup for the soul". I now mix in another brand to get some flavor, and give him oatmeal mixed in sometimes, or yogurt, or cottage cheese. Is "fat dog" a high end food? I have no idea. It was expensive. The vet said two things common in bringing on pancreatitis is too much protein and fat. That food had more protein than what he was on. Interesting as we all look for good protein as the first ingredient.

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Is "fat dog" a high end food?

 

 

Is that Natural Balance Fat Dogs? I couldn't find any brand that was just "fat dog".

 

If so, according to the link I provided so you can check such things for yourself, it's a mid-level quality food. http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/natural-balance-fat-dogs/

 

As far as rotating foods, I think it's generally accepted now that it's best to rotate protein sources, not so much because a dog would get bored with it, though they probably would, but because different protein sources have slightly different nutrient profiles.

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As far as rotating foods, I think it's generally accepted now that it's best to rotate protein sources, not so much because a dog would get bored with it, though they probably would, but because different protein sources have slightly different nutrient profiles.

 

I had never heard this before! I love this forum :wub:

 

OK, not trying to hijack the thread, but how often do they suggest rotating food? By different protein sources do you mean getting kibble with different meat bases? IOW we feed a salmon based kibble right now, so if we rotated kibble we should go to a chicken, beef or otherwise? Kirkland makes the Nature's Domain with several different kinds of meat... would simply switching between the different "flavors" still be useful?

 

Sorry for the onslaught of questions, I'm just very curious as this practice of rotating food is not something I'd ever heard of.

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OK, not trying to hijack the thread, but how often do they suggest rotating food? By different protein sources do you mean getting kibble with different meat bases? IOW we feed a salmon based kibble right now, so if we rotated kibble we should go to a chicken, beef or otherwise? Kirkland makes the Nature's Domain with several different kinds of meat... would simply switching between the different "flavors" still be useful?

 

 

I'm really not sure how often (I feed raw, so switch protein sources regularly and often combine protein sources in the same meal), but I think as often as you'd buy a new bag of dog food would be fine.

 

As for the other questions, yes, yes, and yes. ;) And the more species of meat in the rotation, the better, I'd think. IOW, if you can switch among 3 or 4 meats it would be better than just between 2 flavors. Variety in protein sources is a good thing.

 

For the last one, though, I guess there could be a caveat . . . make sure the named flavor is the primary meat source. Seems to me I recall sometime looking at some dog foods that had different flavors but they were still primarily chicken based, with the other meat added. It may have been the other meat listed first then chicken, but theoretically they could have been present in equal amounts. I couldn't swear to that, but it would definitely be something to look into.

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I won't even pretend to be knowledgeable in this area. First, yes it it the Natural Balance Fat Dogs that I tried.

 

Rotating - as long as my dogs are eating the food with a bit of added in flavor here and there (oatmeal, yogurt, cottage cheese, wet dog food), I stay with the same food. However, they finally start refusing to eat the kibble even with enticements. That is when I look for another food. I even mix 2 dog foods together as long as I have made sure they are compatible with the dogs stomach. I don't know if this is good, so I'm not giving any advice. I only know that every dog I have had in the last 30 years has eventually gotten tired of their kibble and I move on. (Before the 30 years, I think we fed a lot of table scraps. old farm girl mentality ).

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Oh, also, I was told by FROMM dog food that I could rotate between all of their food without worry, but to test first. They said it was a good way to give the dogs variety. However, my dog at the time would not eat the salmon, or the duck. I don't buy Fromm anymore because I can't find it as much, especially when we travel. But it seemed to be a good food.

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By different protein sources do you mean getting kibble with different meat bases? IOW we feed a salmon based kibble right now, so if we rotated kibble we should go to a chicken, beef or otherwise? Kirkland makes the Nature's Domain with several different kinds of meat... would simply switching between the different "flavors" still be useful?

 

Yes, this is what I meant when I said I like to switch up their kibble. I also like to switch brands as well as the protein component just to keep it interesting for my boys. I have two average size dogs so I'll typically buy around a 12 - 15lb sack. Anything larger and I worry it might get a bit stale towards the end.

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Rotating - as long as my dogs are eating the food with a bit of added in flavor here and there (oatmeal, yogurt, cottage cheese, wet dog food), I stay with the same food. However, they finally start refusing to eat the kibble even with enticements. That is when I look for another food.

 

I think it was the dog food manufacturers who started the whole your-dog-should-eat-the-same-thing (i.e. our product) mantra that arose as a marketing tool rather than anything based on science. It's only been recently that manufacturers even offered foods made from different proteins, and that most likely was because nutritionists were recognizing the benefits of varied sources.

 

So, you can stay with the old way of doing things (based on marketing rather than science) if you like, or you can incorporate newer nutritional insight into your feeding plan. It's your choice. But it seems to me that your dogs have been trying to tell you something all along. -_-

 

ETA: Obviously if you have dogs who have digestive or other medical issues that require limiting fats, proteins or certain protein sources you have to take that into consideration when choosing your dog food. I'm speaking in generalities, not to the specific needs of individual dogs.

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For the last one, though, I guess there could be a caveat . . . make sure the named flavor is the primary meat source. Seems to me I recall sometime looking at some dog foods that had different flavors but they were still primarily chicken based, with the other meat added. It may have been the other meat listed first then chicken, but theoretically they could have been present in equal amounts. I couldn't swear to that, but it would definitely be something to look into.

 

Doing a quick bit of legwork it looks like Kirkland Nature's Domain essentially has two protein bases (fish and what I'm assuming is chicken). I'll check the bags the next time I'm at the store and take a closer look at the list of ingredients.

 

The food is incredibly inexpensive compared to many other brands out there, but that's really not the reason why we buy it (although it is a nice perk). We tried 3-4 other highly recommended and very expensive brands but not one of them firmed up his stool. Finally we decided to give the Kirkland brand a shot... our reasoning was that the 35lb bag was so cheap we might as well give it a try. To our surprise, his stool firmed up and has stayed that way! I'd almost rather stick with the brand that works for him as switching entirely might land us back where we started (regarding his "poop problem", as we lovingly called it). ;)

 

At the very least I will pick up the bag with the chicken protein base on my next trip, since he's currently on the fish protein based food and has been for a long time now.

 

BTW thanks for the info, sorry to change the topic of the OP, I'll stop the hijacking of the thread now. :ph34r:

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I rotate foods, proteins and brands. Since I'm on a budget I mostly feed the Kirkland. Otherwise, Nutrisource and Fromm are my favorites, but they are kind of hard to find sometimes. The first couple of times I switched with Tess her stomach got a little upset but now it doesn't. Bully sticks also used to give her bad stools, but I gave her one the other day and it didn't so I hoping her gut has become a little healthy.

 

As for the canned food, since it's a smaller part of her diet I just buy what's on sell and give it to her as I get it. I try not to switch a brand of canned and a brand of kibble at the same time. I think she would do fine on just kibble but she seems to eat the canned food with a little more gusto and that makes me happy. I think it's better for digestion too (though that's just my opinion, I don't have anything to back that up).

 

I switch bags over the course of about a week and at first her stools would get a little loose but now she does fine.

 

I've not tried Blue Buffalo with her, but the only thing that didn't really agree with her was a seafood bag of Wellness.

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Like alligande, I have a very pick dog. I change kibbles weekly and I also feed half raw, which I change every meal. I don't transition either, but I did when I started feeding this way. It's been over 2 years since Gideon has left anything in his bowl, so I don't know if I should still call him picky or not.

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Yes, this is what I meant when I said I like to switch up their kibble. I also like to switch brands as well as the protein component just to keep it interesting for my boys. I have two average size dogs so I'll typically buy around a 12 - 15lb sack. Anything larger and I worry it might get a bit stale towards the end.

I always get 30-40# bags for my two. That size will last 4-6 weeks, I keep it in an airtight container and have never had an issue with it going stale. I can't imagine getting a smaller amount for both dogs - I'd be buying dog food every other week.
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Bailey, our border collie, had some trouble keeping weight on, so we went with Red Paw Perform. He does really well on it. Bonus that the small kibble works nicely in food puzzles.

 

Our other dogs (Brittany and lab mix) have done well on Blue Buffalo senior and Fromm senior. Sadly, our Brittany is in need of a prescription kidney health diet, so now we're stuck with three different foods, which is sometimes a pain to manage.

 

But the worst was when we had an older dog who could only tolerate a bland diet, which I made from scratch. That was a bit tedious at times...

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