Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Boo Buchheit on July 28, 2009 at 6:10am

I feed Blue Buffalo. The boys like it and I feel it has good ingredients. It is not as highly rated as some on that food site but is working real well for us. I don't know if it is the "best" just the right one for us. There are so many opinions on this. Researching it all is exhausting...but there is lots of good info out there.

Permalink Reply by Melissa S. on July 28, 2009 at 10:13am

aww thank you! and yes it is exhausting!!! :(

Permalink Reply by Caroline & Merriam on July 28, 2009 at 2:36pm

Out of those options, I would definitely go with Blue Buffalo. They're a high quality food, but not as expensive as some others. Eukanuba has a lot of "filler" items in it that really add nothing to the nutrition at all. My favorite is actually Wellness, though, which is made out of human grade ingredients, none of the fillers that usually go into other foods. They also add a lot of good antioxidants and vitamins, so it really is the best food that I have seen out there. Although Blue Buffalo is definitely good too. Innova, I don't know as much about. I worked at Petco (which is where I learned a lot about the other products we carried, through my own personal research as well as what we were taught), which is why I know more about Blue and Wellness.

Permalink Reply by Melissa S. on July 28, 2009 at 8:23pm

I will have to look into Wellness! I once worked at PetCo, but it has been sooooo long I have forgoten most :(

Permalink Reply by Caroline & Merriam on July 28, 2009 at 8:38pm

Wellness is pretty new at Petco, within the last year, but it is definitely an excellent food from everything that I have seen and heard. Merriam loves it, and switched over really easily from Science Diet, which is what her breeder was feeding her. Good luck picking a food! Glad to hear that Purina and IAMS weren't up there on the list. ;)

Permalink Reply by Doug & Sarah Haag on August 1, 2009 at 12:09pm

I can help with the best of the best. I don't want to advertise the brand, so send me a message directly if you're interested in it (it's a private brand I sell, but I don't want to come across sales-man-like so I won't give the name out here). I can also send you the list of ingredients.

Anyway, regardless of what you go with, here's a few things to consider:
- Meat by-product: by-product basically means ANY AND ALL parts of the animal including beaks, feat, head, bones, etc. NOT good for your dog.
- Corn & wheat: these products are used as fillers and your dog cannot digest them. If a dog food uses either of these, don't buy it, you're basically starving your dog!

The poop test:

Here's what to do (and I know it sounds gross)...Collect your dog's poop for one week using whatever you feed him now. Seal it up and weigh it at the end of the week. Now, gradually switch the dog food to the new one you want to test. Allow one week for this transition. After that, again collect the poo for one week. Weigh it. If the dog food is quality, your dog won't poop as much because he's digesting more!

My email is sarahhaag642@yahoo.com if you want to know what I use.