Can we talk dogs?

[Cody]

I go back and forth between the Earthborn holistic food that the lady at the little pet store recommended and Costco Kirkland
https://www.chewy.com/earthborn-hol...9LtzjoZ6CBcCmEo6cdB8DDpY1QsNNmDUaAt7NEALw_wcB

He seems to like them both similarly. The Earthborn is more expensive but he only needs about 2.5 cups per day. The cheaper costco is 4 cups per day (60 lb dog). I think the costco is still slightly cheaper per serving, but I haven't done the math and it's pretty close. I will say his poops are proportionally larger on the Costco food, so I try to get the other stuff when I can so I don't have to pick up so many gigantic poops. It's just hard for me to make it to that shop (I prefer to shop local when I can) during business hours. I also have to switch flavors up every time because my dog is an elitist asshole and needs variety or he will just turn his nose up at it.

 

[Caleb]

I was once told to look at the crude protein in the food. The higher that number, the better the food and the less filler there will be which results in fewer yard bombs.

 

[Pile of parts]

There was a pretty good story on KSL.com yesterday about this. they had four or five Brands tested at an independent lab and listed the results.

 

[Homefryy]

We feed our mastiff/lab mix Wellness Core and Acana Heritage food. Its not cheap and she eats a lot...

If you want to go for a deep dive into dog food brands and analysis check out https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/

 

[SAMI]

I've fed our dogs Taste of the Wild for 8 years or so. It's a top tier food, so it does carry a higher price than many other brands out there. I've seen too many overweight dogs with tumors/cancer and dying early who were fed the cheap corn stuff.... which is why I went for proven healthy food that I can trust.

Which is ironic because I enjoy eating rotten ronnie's more than I should.

 

[nnnnnate]

All we've ever fed our dogs is Kirkland.

 

[Houndoc]

Don't buy into the "grain free" marketing going on now days. Unless a dog has a specific allergy, the grains are beneficial (just remind yourself wild carnivores don't just go for the roasts and steaks). I have seen patients do well, and some poorly, on most any food. But in general, those with more research and facts behind their products (not just hype) are Science Diet, Royal Canin, and the higher quality Prurina products.

If you are feeding a quality diet, then vitamin supplements are not needed.

 

[Tebbsjeep]

So @Houndoc, in your professional opinion, are there any "big box store" brand foods that are worth using? I have looked on dogfoodadvisor.com, and found the food I use only gets a 3.5 out of 5 rating. Do you agree with their assessments on the different foods? My dogs seem to have plenty of energy and they don't ever seem "sick" from the food we get. The reason we went with the grain free stuff is that my boxer mix really didn't do well with the Science Diet, so we tried the 4Health brand and it helped immensely. The same thing goes for our two cats, so we just stayed with it. I just think our one dog seems to have to go out more than I think she should. Both of our dogs are fit and not overweight, even with just getting moderate exercise.
These are my pups.

 

[BlueWolfFab]

Beer has been on Beneful Healthy Weight his whole life. 6 years and I have no complaints whatsoever. He seems to love it.

 

[Houndoc]

In general, I say if a food is working (meaning the pet is healthy), stay with it. View in that regard to grain free may change as we are starting to see more reports of dogs developing heart disease on grain free diets that may be related to an amino-acid deficiency. Watching that carefully.

Most dogs I have seen do well on Science Diet, Kirkland, Beneful, Iams and Royal Canin products and most on Blue Buffalo (although I think it is overhyped by PetSmart ands isn't as good as they like to believe.) Just about any food out there certain individuals won't thrive on for some reason.

 

[mbryson]

We have an interesting thing going with our almost 4 yr old Golden Retriever. He's about 70-75 lbs and not overweight at all. We've been using Purina Pro Plan Savor---he does better on the Lamb/Rice formula. He's always scratching and shedding something fierce. I realize he's a hair factory just by breed but we're trying a different food to see if he works a little better with that.

We have had people suggest adding a small amount of olive oil or coconut oil to his dry food. Not sure how I feel about that?

He's in good health overall. We keep an eye on any ear infections (that seem to arise from any contact with water).

 

[Jesser04]

My wife and kid suckered me into another dog (golden doodle) we pick him up middle of August.

 

[mbryson]

He doesn't look excited at all

 

[Kevin B.]

Yeah, that kid clearly hates that dog.

 

[Kevin B.]

We have an interesting thing going with our almost 4 yr old Golden Retriever. He's about 70-75 lbs and not overweight at all. We've been using Purina Pro Plan Savor---he does better on the Lamb/Rice formula. He's always scratching and shedding something fierce. I realize he's a hair factory just by breed but we're trying a different food to see if he works a little better with that.

We have had people suggest adding a small amount of olive oil or coconut oil to his dry food. Not sure how I feel about that?

He's in good health overall. We keep an eye on any ear infections (that seem to arise from any contact with water).

Our lab does the same thing, we're pretty sure he has allergies. My wife gives him a Claritin hidden in a snack and washes him in some hypoallergenic shampoo she got at Petsmart, it seems to help.

 

[jeeper]

We have been very happy overall with our pup. She’s just shy of 1 year now, and has been holding steady at 38lbs for a few months.
I’ve been a bit sad that I have to lift her onto the bed of my truck, as she is not big enough to even attemp to jump up onto the flatbed. I call her a ‘broken’ dog, as she can’t even do a simple ‘real’ dog thing. I was blown away tonight when the kids were all on the bed, and the dog used the trailer hitch as a rear leg support and jumped onto the bed! She did it about 5 more times when enticed by a treat. Needless to say, I don’t feel like i have a ‘broken’ dog anymore.

We took her through a slot canyon a couple months ago, and she did great.

 

[dutchman]

This is an awesome thread! I hate to bring the mood down, but we got bad news yesterday about our beloved mastiff, Bear. Vet says he has several tumors and doesn't think he'll be around much longer. It'll be a few rough days/weeks, especially for my wife and daughter.

 

[mbryson]

Tough to let a dog go but such is life. Rough days ahead and I wish your family the best

 

[moab_cj5]

Tough to let a dog go but such is life. Rough days ahead and I wish your family the best

^This^, @dutchman , sorry for the bad news.

 

[Houndoc]

Sorry about Bear.


Both food environmental (think hay fever) allergies in dogs generally show up as skin problems. Of course other things can factor in as well.

If they are year-round, more likely to be food but there are exceptions. Lots of treatment options, from OTC anti-histamines (limited effectiveness but can help) to either prescription medications, injections and special diets.