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RussOSU87

RussOSU87

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Sep 2, 2001
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I'm sure this has been discussed a dozen times but I couldn't find any past threads. We have two rescue dogs that we started out on Science Diet but read an article that it really isn't a healthy dog food. We switched to Earthborn Holistic (expensive) and the girls ate it at first but they just stopped. My wife got worried and went and bought a small bag Purina Complete Adult and they ate it up. However I read a lot of bad ratings of Purina.

I doubt we would worry about it as much as we do but a couple years ago we had a German Shepard that was a wonderful pet. One day I was playing with her around 2:30 in the afternoon and when I went back out at 6:00 to feed her she was dead. She was only two years old and extremely healthy, we thought. We have no idea what happened and never saw signs of poison. A vet told us it was possible that it was twisted gut but he also said she would have been in a lot of pain prior and we never saw signs of her being in pain.

I don't know if the dog food (Science Diet) had anything to do with her death but after reading a bad review I got worried and took our current girls off of SD. I might have overreacted but losing Tesla, our German Shepard, is still really tough on my wife.

What brands do the vets on here recommend?

Thanks
 
Switched to Earthborn Holistic a year ago after trying Orijen. They liked Orijen but it makes Earthborn Holistic seem cheap .. so far no issues of them getting tired of it like they did with Blue Buffalo.
 
Its been a while since I have shopped dog foods. Our dogs have passed and there towards the end they ate vet prescribed type foods for joints and such. When they did eat regular dog foods though I found three really good brands and then I would switch every time we bought between these foods. This really help with them not turning up their nose at the food. I wish I could remember some of the brands because I did a lot of research and compared the food quality with pricing. There is a site out there that does a review for almost every brand out there. Might try google to see if you can find it. Also though read the comments sections as you can learn a lot there compared to a review done by one person.
 
There is a whole lot out there on dog foods. Most of it is crap. I despise SD and Blue Buffalo, but not because they are bad or unsafe. They are just the biggest peddlers of bs. In general, most of the dog foods out there are fine. I always tell people, feed what the dog likes, you like buying, and you can find it easily if you run out of it. My dogs are on Prina ONE chicken and rice. More $$$ does not mean safer or better. Grain free does not mean free of grain, either.
 
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Have had labs for years (certified therapy dogs). Always have gone Purina One. My 14-week old has the one for large breed puppies. My 8-year old has the one for sensitive systems (haven't switched to senior yet).
 
Our parti poodle gets what her home breeder was feeding her: one part Orijen/four parts Acana Grasslands, and a daily NuVet Vitamin. Bitch is worth every penny.:D
 
I feed Fresh Pet and re
RussOSU87 said:
I'm sure this has been discussed a dozen times but I couldn't find any past threads. We have two rescue dogs that we started out on Science Diet but read an article that it really isn't a healthy dog food. We switched to Earthborn Holistic (expensive) and the girls ate it at first but they just stopped. My wife got worried and went and bought a small bag Purina Complete Adult and they ate it up. However I read a lot of bad ratings of Purina.

I doubt we would worry about it as much as we do but a couple years ago we had a German Shepard that was a wonderful pet. One day I was playing with her around 2:30 in the afternoon and when I went back out at 6:00 to feed her she was dead. She was only two years old and extremely healthy, we thought. We have no idea what happened and never saw signs of poison. A vet told us it was possible that it was twisted gut but he also said she would have been in a lot of pain prior and we never saw signs of her being in pain.

I don't know if the dog food (Science Diet) had anything to do with her death but after reading a bad review I got worried and took our current girls off of SD. I might have overreacted but losing Tesla, our German Shepard, is still really tough on my wife.

What brands do the vets on here recommend?

Thanks
Click to expand...
I feed Fresh Pet and recommend it highly.
 
We started feeding our dogs Purina Pro Plan Bright Mind 2-3 years back when it first came out. Our Blue Heeler/Dalmatian was 9-10 then and, though she seemed to be in good overall health she didn't seem to have an optimum energy level. She is 12 now and the Bright Minds food really seems to have made a difference with her. She runs and plays with our Jack Russell in the yard at a much greater level than she did a couple of years ago.
 
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Marshal Jim Duncan said:
We started feeding our dogs Purina Pro Plan Bright Mind 2-3 years back when it first came out. Our Blue Heeler/Dalmatian was 9-10 then and, though she seemed to be in good overall health she didn't seem to have an optimum energy level. She is 12 now and the Bright Minds food really seems to have made a difference with her. She runs and plays with our Jack Russell in the yard at a much greater level than she did a couple of years ago.
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Same experience with Purina Pro Plan. @Been Jammin - thoughts? Our dogs seem to do well thus far. Local Vet had a handful that he recommended (this made the list).
 
blbronco said:
There is a whole lot out there on dog foods. Most of it is crap. I despise SD and Blue Buffalo, but not because they are bad or unsafe. They are just the biggest peddlers of bs. In general, most of the dog foods out there are fine. I always tell people, feed what the dog likes, you like buying, and you can find it easily if you run out of it. My dogs are on Prina ONE chicken and rice. More $$$ does not mean safer or better. Grain free does not mean free of grain, either.
Click to expand...

This.

If a client asks me, I generally recommend Eukanuba or Royal Canin diets. There are so many new companies out there, all trying to make a $ on people being prone to extrapolating to their dogs. You into a carb free diet? Then you need to buy this awesome grain free diet for your dog. Do you believe in holistic medicine? Then, you need to feed your dog this new "holistic" diet.

The problem is that a lot of these diets are made by companies that are new to the field. I'm not a fan of recommending diets made by companies that don't have a track record and don't have the capital to conduct extensive research.

@WCPoke
As far as Purina Pro Plan goes, I like it. If my client wants something that is easy to find, I recommend PPP. I don't love all of the Purina diets, but PPP is their high end diet, and I think it is very good.
 
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Been Jammin said:
This.

If a client asks me, I generally recommend Eukanuba or Royal Canin diets. There are so many new companies out there, all trying to make a $ on people being prone to extrapolating to their dogs. You into a carb free diet? Then you need to buy this awesome grain free diet for your dog. Do you believe in holistic medicine? Then, you need to feed your dog this new "holistic" diet.

The problem is that a lot of these diets are made by companies that are new to the field. I'm not a fan of recommending diets made by companies that don't have a track record and don't have the capital to conduct extensive research.

@WCPoke
As far as Purina Pro Plan goes, I like it. If my client wants something that is easy to find, I recommend PPP. I don't love all of the Purina diets, but PPP is their high end diet, and I think it is very good.
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Would you eat it?
 
Check out dogfoodadvisor.com. We buy Diamond Naturals because it has a decent rating (3.5 stars) and you can get a 40 pound bag for $32 on Amazon. But as long as you're not buying Old Roy and Kibbels and Bits from Wal Mart, you're probably doing better than most people.
 
I fed co-op bought Diamond for years. Cheap and kept pup in good shape for many hunts. I lol'd at blue buffalo and the guys who spent a fortune on champagne canine taste.
 
RussOSU87 said:
I'm sure this has been discussed a dozen times but I couldn't find any past threads. We have two rescue dogs that we started out on Science Diet but read an article that it really isn't a healthy dog food. We switched to Earthborn Holistic (expensive) and the girls ate it at first but they just stopped. My wife got worried and went and bought a small bag Purina Complete Adult and they ate it up. However I read a lot of bad ratings of Purina.

I doubt we would worry about it as much as we do but a couple years ago we had a German Shepard that was a wonderful pet. One day I was playing with her around 2:30 in the afternoon and when I went back out at 6:00 to feed her she was dead. She was only two years old and extremely healthy, we thought. We have no idea what happened and never saw signs of poison. A vet told us it was possible that it was twisted gut but he also said she would have been in a lot of pain prior and we never saw signs of her being in pain.

I don't know if the dog food (Science Diet) had anything to do with her death but after reading a bad review I got worried and took our current girls off of SD. I might have overreacted but losing Tesla, our German Shepard, is still really tough on my wife.

What brands do the vets on here recommend?

Thanks
Click to expand...
At one time, I used Ken-L Ration. Not sure if still available?
 
All I know is that since I stopped buying any dog food that contained corn grain or wheat, my little guy has stopped itching and scratching. He got so bad three years ago I was thinking I may have to put him down, even though he was only 4 at the time. I mean he was scratching himself until he was bleeding and actually sort of moaning/yelping with pain (and he's not that type.)

I was trying everything, from itch relief shampoos and topical ointments and even bought some "clothes" for him so he couldn't scratch his skin directly even though he ended up tearing through them in time. Someone suggested going with a corn and wheat free diet and within a month, he wasn't itching/scratching, his skin healed and his fur grew back. I haven't had that problem with him or his sister (border collie) since. She was actually losing a significant amount of hair in patches on her lower back and hind legs as well, just not scratching so much. The switch in diet and slathering her bare patches daily with coconut oil, her fur was back as thick and shiny as ever. (Only had to use the oil a couple of weeks.)

I vary them up, but I have used the Evolve brand, Aldi's line of grain free food and a couple of times when it was on sale - Rachel Rays brand. (BTW, brown rice/rice bran does not seem to kick off his allergic reactions.)
 
Our 14 year old Yorke gets Fresh Pet mixed with Pure Balance dry. He really likes it.

You can also set you clocks by when he eats and poops. Dog is a machine.
 
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haven't heard a lot of good things about purina of any kind. I think my 2 dogs would eat shit on stick but we feed them that science diet stuff. We have a vet my wife listens to and he is anti the purina stuff. Doubt I could change her mind. I guess with that purina factory to the north the occasional smell also triggers some opposition.
 
I also buy Purina One Smart Blend. I grab two of the 40 lb bags at CostCo each trip. Lamb and Rice or Chicken and Rice, whatever they've got.

I've looked at Kirkland (CostCo's brand) and it's actually more expensive. Anyone know much about Kirkland's dog food? I assume it's good quality, Kirkland hasn't disappointed me yet.
 
nathajw said:
I also buy Purina One Smart Blend. I grab two of the 40 lb bags at CostCo each trip. Lamb and Rice or Chicken and Rice, whatever they've got.

I've looked at Kirkland (CostCo's brand) and it's actually more expensive. Anyone know much about Kirkland's dog food? I assume it's good quality, Kirkland hasn't disappointed me yet.
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Purina Smart Blend and Purina Pro Plan aren't the same thing (I'm not saying there is anything wrong with Smart Blend, just that the two are different).
 
nathajw said:
I also buy Purina One Smart Blend. I grab two of the 40 lb bags at CostCo each trip. Lamb and Rice or Chicken and Rice, whatever they've got.

I've looked at Kirkland (CostCo's brand) and it's actually more expensive. Anyone know much about Kirkland's dog food? I assume it's good quality, Kirkland hasn't disappointed me yet.
Click to expand...

Kirkland is a 4 star dog food and Purina Smart Blend has offers from Arkansas State and UTSA.
 
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BixbyPoke said:
Kirkland is a 4 star dog food and Purina Smart Blend has offers from Arkansas State and UTSA.
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Yah, just checked out that site. Crazy thing is Kirkland is practically the same price (from memory). I just assumed that it was cheaper quality stuff since it wasn't "name brand", what I get for not doing research.

The vet always asks what we feed them and they've never said anything but that "it's fine" when asked. Assholes.
 
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We fed both of or dogs beneful and they lived for a long ass time....way longer than life expectancy....we never had to take them to the vet.
All brands of dog food are lips and assholes, and I see a lot of suckers in this thread.
 
Dally1up said:
I fed co-op bought Diamond for years. Cheap and kept pup in good shape for many hunts. I lol'd at blue buffalo and the guys who spent a fortune on champagne canine taste.
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fec77f7268a77d7d43e06f558a7c4bb2--eat.jpg
 
We feed our mastiff Taste of the Wild. It's a pretty high quality food, has plenty of novelty protein options, and is really inexpensive for what you get. I also use Taste of the Wild's cat food and my felines love it.
 
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Football_Goddess said:
We feed our mastiff Taste of the Wild. It's a pretty high quality food, has plenty of novelty protein options, and is really inexpensive for what you get. I also use Taste of the Wild's cat food and my felines love it.
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What type of mastiff? Bull? I'm not looking at adding 140 pounds of dog to feed at the moment but I've always been interested in them. Once my 90 pound lab/GS mix goes to doggy heaven I may look into bullmastiffs.
 
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Football_Goddess said:
We feed our mastiff Taste of the Wild. It's a pretty high quality food, has plenty of novelty protein options, and is really inexpensive for what you get. I also use Taste of the Wild's cat food and my felines love it.
Click to expand...


We also buy Taste of the Wild for our 2 pugs.
 
nathajw said:
What type of mastiff? Bull? I'm not looking at adding 140 pounds of dog to feed at the moment but I've always been interested in them. Once my 90 pound lab/GS mix goes to doggy heaven I may look into bullmastiffs.
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We had to put ours down earlier this year. He was 180lbs and lived a long time.

Loved him dearly. Would never get another one in a zillion lifetimes
 
OSUIvan said:
We also buy Taste of the Wild for our 2 pugs.
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Taste of the Wild here as well. Our dog loves it. Order it on Chewy.com and I don't have to drive to pick it up at a higher price as only a few places carry it.
 
Nutro Max canned dinner meals for dogs.

Basically avoid byproduct meats IMO and you don't want a ton of grain filler in the food food.

I order on amazon and pay about $1/can which is just a little more than the el cheapo stuff at Walmart but much better quality.

You don't need to buy the super expensive stuff to pay for dog food marketing to get a quality food. The site posted above is a great resource. Aim for something 3.5+ and in your budget.
 
OSUIvan said:
Amazon prime for our dog food!
Click to expand...

I have mine set up the same way. We use Simple wellness due to our schnauzer having a sensitive stomach. Been or any other vets on here... Do you recommend switching to a senior food when the dog is 8 or so years old?
 
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