My breeder and vet recommended Purina Pro Plan. I usually mix the Chicken/Rice with Lamb/Rice dry foods for daily meals. Little Penguin is not quick to start eating; I measure her food so I know the total amount she's eating in the day. I'll mix in the canned food as a treat or if I'm in hurry and need her to eat now! The only other treats I regularly feed her are the Pro Plan Biscuits, Kong Ziggies, Train-Me treats, or a treat-filled hoof. I wanted to stay with Purina Pro Plan because it's available at the large pet retailers, and if I'm traveling or have an emergency, I know that Purina brand products are always available. She gets absolutely no table scraps and I only feed her food or treats in her bowls. She's 8mos now and about 20lbs. I know I'm very strict, but she's healthy and very happy, has a super soft coat and is always full of energy and ready to play.
I also feed Lola Science diet & she seems to like it :) She doesn't usually eat until it's our lunch hour and then when we eat dinner at night (she's crated all day except for lunch hour when we come home, so she doesn't have access to food all day).
I actually am going to the pet store today to get her a new bag, and I was thinking about switching it up... I'll have to try some of the other suggestions!!
Ginny has been on Purina Puppy Chow since I got her. It was what the breeder was feeding her. She's done fine on it as far as I can tell (nice coat, bright eyes, lots of energy) but I wanted to switch her to something more natural and with less fillers in it. I was going to try Canidae, but after talking to the woman at the pet store, we brought home a bag of Orijen. I have been feeding my cats Evo Innova for quite a while now because I like that it is grain-free. This seems to be a similar type of food. It says it is 70% meat and 30% fruits and veggies and no grains. It's made in Canada. Has anyone heard of it and what do you think? I started to mix it into her food tonight and she seemed to like it.
Orijen has really high quality ingredients. It is one of those foods which has extremely high levels of protein, which I think may be too rich for puppies and for dogs with an average or below-average amount of exercise. Much, much better quality though than Purina Puppy Chow.
I would watch for soft poops or runny poops with it. That would indicate that the food is too rich, and you would want to consider a lower protein food (like Canidae ALS).
That's good advice. I've been wanting to get her off the Purina for a while, but couldn't justify throwing out the whole bag. I just bought a small bag of the Orijen (5 lbs) to mix with what was left of the puppy chow. I will watch her poops for any sign of change. She is pretty active and spends her days playing at my dad's house with his golden retriever and we go on a 30 minute walk every day (unless there's a lot of snow.) The ingredients list certainly seems to be healthier. Wish there was a food that could make them live forever and never get sick, but until that day comes....
BTW, has anyone heard about putting tomato juice on dog food? My dad insists that I pour a little on her breakfast every day (he does it with his dog) because he doesn't want her urine to burn his lawn. I figure it doesn't hurt, so I do it, but just was wondering if there's any truth to this.
Just know that usually when you switch food its normal to have runny, or loose stool for a while.
My mochi has a Iron stomach when we switched her to Evo, he poops were a lot harder and firmer which i think is a good sign. She's been doing great on the Evo, which is i think the same level as the Orijen. (grain free)
putting additives in a dogs food to change the pH of the urine leads to UTI's. A dog's urine is formulated to be a certain pH and by changing that you are changing the natural body chemistry and it often leds to urinary tract issues.....plus it doesn't work anyway.
you could also try feeding Acana, which is made by the same company as Orijen, and has nearly the same ingredients (the pacifica vs. 6 fish that is), but has much lower protein content. That's what I've got my kiddos on right now.
My vet suggested lamb and rice. Dry being the better. Look at labels, see what the first ingredients are. Should be meat not cereal. I also give my dogs carrots/apples (believe it or not) for snacks.
Just a side note, when Hills Science diet decided to enter into the supermarkets( fred meyers, etc) they changed their formula. It used to be better around two years ago but the fillers are not good, ie: corn, wheat gluton. The vets still recommend it, but it isn't the "best" food I don't think. There are so many healthy choices out there, Canidae, Nutro, California Natural (one of my favs) and raw diet which can be time consuming.
Be careful of the ph levels in Nutro. One of my corgi's had to have emergency surgery to have stones removed from her bladder, and according to the vet it was caused by the ph level in the food. She had always only eaten Nutro. Now I feed Science Diet, and haven't had any issues with any of my dogs.