GSD Dog Food

[ChristenHolden]

Can yu find some of these foods at attwoods or tractor supply? I want only the best I thight K and B was name brand our dogs LOVE the steak and veggie flavor. Ill have to do some shopping.

[sagelfn]

Originally Posted by ChristenHolden

Can yu find some of these foods at attwoods or tractor supply? I want only the best I thight K and B was name brand our dogs LOVE the steak and veggie flavor. Ill have to do some shopping.

Your dog may love the taste of its Alpo/kibbles/pedigree etc.. just like you may love a double cheeseburger from mcdonalds but its terrible for you, you have to eat more of it to be full (doing so getting fat) and in the long run you are going to run into health issues.

There are a few websites dedicated to dog food but I really like this one Dog Food Reviews - Main Index - Powered by ReviewPost I wouldn't go with anything lower than 3 stars (C grade).

If you are looking for foods at Tractor supply they usually list them online and then you can get an idea of prices

basically what you want to be looking for in the ingredients (please correct me if I am wrong)

Meat as the 1st ingredient, No by products, no corn in any form, no wheat, NO ethoxyquin, No BHA or BHT, no Brewers rice, no artificial flavoring and coloring, No beef and bone meal (it can consist of bone,blood,hair,hoofs,horns,hide trimmings,manure, and stomach contents so its really not beef), no soy, no corn syrup (sugar), no listings like animal fat or poultry it should be specific as to what type of animal it came from like chicken or beef, salmon not fish etc..

ingredients should read like food and not a chemical

[Catherine Thompson]

Hi! I've just changed back to the Solid Gold Hundenflocken. I tried the Wolf King and my GSD started getting that junk in her eyes (mostly one) looking all irritated. She's fine now. I have a Choc. Lab that could eat ground up tires...Did ALOT of research when buying this GSD and she is not the picture of health though not nearly as bad as I've seen. I wish people would not line breed. I think the gene pool is already limited enough.......My GSD also serverely dysplastic in one hip. Lifetime guarantee...Lotta good that does my girl.

[roxy84]

Originally Posted by sagelfn

basically what you want to be looking for in the ingredients (please correct me if I am wrong)

Meat as the 1st ingredient

a word of caution here. if there is only a named meat (ie chicken, turkey, etc...), but no named meat meals (chicken meal, turkey meal, etc....) before any non meat ingredients, then it is highly likely there is little meat in the food.

many of the grocery store brands will claim "chicken as the first ingredient". what they dont have to disclose is that it was the first ingredient, by weight, before cooking due to most of its weight coming from water.

anyway, a named meat is fine as long as it is accompanies by a named meat meal before any non meat items.

chicken, brown rice, oatmeal, barley, chicken fat...this is a grain based food and has very little meat

chicken meal, brown rice, oatmeal, barley, chicken fat....certainly more meat in this food.

[GSDBESTK9]

Nutro is ok food but not the best. There are many great foods out there, you just have to find the right one for your dog as not all dogs do as well on any particular brand. I am currently feeding Canidae Grain Free and my dogs are doing well on it. Evo and Orijen are probably 2 of the best out there, but of course, they are not cheap.

[roxy84]

Originally Posted by ChristenHolden

Can yu find some of these foods at attwoods or tractor supply? I want only the best I thight K and B was name brand our dogs LOVE the steak and veggie flavor. Ill have to do some shopping.

if you stay out of the grocery stores, thats always a good step, as they do not sell any dog food containing any significant amount of meat (not to mention the generally poor ingredients in those foods)

all the manufacturers will have store locators on their website. depending on where you live, there may be several feed stores/independent shops that sell some of the better foods.

as far as Tractor Supply, many of them carry Taste of the Wild, which is grain free and a fine food for adult dogs. it would be a HUGE step up from anything sold at the grocery stores.

Petco carries Wellness and Solid Gold brands and Petsmart carries Blue Buffalo brand. those are what i would consider the better foods at those locations.

Innova is commonly carried in many areas and is highly regarded.

[LaRen616]

Ya they say if you feed your dog food from the same grocery store you shop at chances are that you are not feeding your dog good food.

[rjvamp]

Originally Posted by sagelfn

Your dog may love the taste of its Alpo/kibbles/pedigree etc.. just like you may love a double cheeseburger from mcdonalds but its terrible for you, you have to eat more of it to be full (doing so getting fat) and in the long run you are going to run into health issues.

There are a few websites dedicated to dog food but I really like this one Dog Food Reviews - Main Index - Powered by ReviewPost I wouldn't go with anything lower than 3 stars (C grade).

If you are looking for foods at Tractor supply they usually list them online and then you can get an idea of prices

basically what you want to be looking for in the ingredients (please correct me if I am wrong)

Meat as the 1st ingredient, No by products, no corn in any form, no wheat, NO ethoxyquin, No BHA or BHT, no Brewers rice, no artificial flavoring and coloring, No beef and bone meal (it can consist of bone,blood,hair,hoofs,horns,hide trimmings,manure, and stomach contents so its really not beef), no soy, no corn syrup (sugar), no listings like animal fat or poultry it should be specific as to what type of animal it came from like chicken or beef, salmon not fish etc..

ingredients should read like food and not a chemical

I love this post be Selzer: Royal Canin Dog Food?

She took a chance on a food that had corn in it and all 10 of her dogs are doing great. So when people say "no corn in any form" can really be giving bad advice especially when they haven't tried the product. I think 10 dogs that did a good turn around is an excellent example of how corn isn't killing her dog....but taken as a whole diet, it provides the benefit the nutritionist felt it would provide.

By the way - here is a link to the ingredients and their purpose in the Kumpi brand of food that Selzer tried after I recommended it to her: http://www.kumpi.com/ingredient.pdf

Each dog is different and we all know that. But when 10 dogs do well, are able to maintain weight (and put it on to begin with - one of the major issues Selzer had) and stop the bloody stools and liquid poop, then I perk up my ears and my head starts thinking that those dog food reviews sites really have no clue. They are not testing the food in real world situations. They are only nit picking at ingredients they personally feel are bad. And even the whole "ingredients should read like food and not a chemical" - we are made up of minerals, vitamins and amino acids....if we looked at our own food and how the food is made up then we would also see funny names....but it doesn't mean the funny name is unsafe.

And yes we did go raw but not 100% anymore. When we do feed kibble we add some freeze dried raw on top. I did an experiment after we went raw and when I kept them on kibble more over a two week period than feeding raw they continue to look great, fur feels great, teeth look good (we are still giving some raw meaty bones). And while I do believe there is something to the raw meaty bones diet (being close to natural - but natural doesn't necessarily mean better - we assume that is what it means) I do feel there is something also to good, quality kibble. We have a little bit of Eukanuba GSD left and plan to make a comparison with the raw back to the Kumpi since the raw comparison we did starting back in December was with the Purina Pro Plan (long story - I had switched and was trying to save money).

So in conclusion to my long post (sorry about that), people should feed what works best and that might include trying grain-free kibble, kibble that has grains, raw (do it yourself), pre-made raw, dehydrated or mix thereof. But life with my dogs has to be more than what I feed and more about how I spend quality time with my companions. I've not posted as much as I have in the past recently for that reason alone. I've spent way too much time dissecting things and what I came to realize is there is way too much bad information out there coupled with confusing and well as "scare tactic" information and quite frankly it just makes my head spin. So I'm going back to trusting what worked great for my senior shepherd (RIP) - I watched his video again the other day and I'm like "how can I forget how the Kumpi helped him out so much?" And why did I try the raw to begin with? I saw a picture of a dog that looked like night and day - but my dogs didn't have an issue absorbing their food to begin with - so I really wasn't comparing apples to apples. Will I stop raw meaty bones? nope. My dogs love them but they will probably only get them a couple of times a week now - mainly for teeth cleaning (but it will def. be a meal for them). And they still like Green Tripe. I'm not going to stop giving them stuff they like and I know is good for them regardless of what a website says or how it rates an ingredient.

Best to all in search of what works best for you and your dog(s).

[Rerun]

Originally Posted by ChristenHolden

Can yu find some of these foods at attwoods or tractor supply? I want only the best I thight K and B was name brand our dogs LOVE the steak and veggie flavor. Ill have to do some shopping.

Look at the ingredients, not the label on the front of the bag. Just because something has pictures of meat and veggies on it, or says it's "steak flavored" does not mean much. I've never even heard of K & B, and considering the price of steak, I highly doubt there's any steak in that food at all.

[doggiedad]

probiotics are good and that was good advice from your friend.
you can get probiotics without giving your dog sugar.
you could use organic yogurt (plain).

Originally Posted by rjvamp

The spot on advice is about probiotics...and yes she is "spot on".