Vets and Breeders - Here is a poll about Pet Foods...Need your answers.?

I know you are looking for vet's opinions, but I am disabled with a service dog, so it is incredibly important that my dog stays in top condition. So I have done a lot of research myself on dog food. I actually mostly feed raw, but I use dry kibble for training treats and when I run out of the regular raw food. I suggest looking at "Whole Dog Journal" rating of the best kibbles. You have to pay to see the article, but a copy of it is here free- http://www.oes.org/page2/1342~Dog_Food_--_Whole_Do...

My favorite kibbles are Innova Evo, Wellness, and Prarie nature's variety. My criteria for choosing food is similar to WDJ's. I like organic, human-grade, all natural food with a very high protein content. The food should include WHOLE grains and vegetables. Certain grains are not easy for dogs to digest, like corn, and contributes to a larger amount of feces. Rice is one of the best grains for dogs as they can get the most nutrients out of it. The food should not include fillers like beet, soy, corn gluten, brewer's rice, artificial flavors/colors, sugar, animal by-products <shudder> or salt. I also consider it a positive if the food includes viable naturally occurring organisms (the 'good bugs' like found in yogurt), and fish oils for fatty acid supplimentation.

Another useful tool I've found is this comparison engine. It has most of the regular grocery type foods (which are disgusting) and others- http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=comp-wiz

Hope that helps some!

Linda

This is maybe a little bit difficult to answer because unless you've has tried out a lot of the available foods, you don't really know what is the best ... it's only possible to speak from your opinion of the ones that you have sampled.... and then maybe the animal actually eating the food should have the last word.

So, my cats would vote for the Premium Cat food in the green plastic bags sold by Aldi. They prefer it to Iams, James WellBeloved & Advance, the other premium foods that they have sampled.

Recently, I had a cash crisis & had to resort to buying a cheaper dried cat food - although most of the analysis on the back of the packet was similar to that on the Aldi - the cats were not so impressed. I have noticed that their coats are not quite as silky & glossy & that the litter trays seem slightly smellier.

The cats do look okay really & they do shine with good health ... it's more of a subtle change, really. On the occasions that I have treated them to a bag of Aldi, they've got very excited ... if I mix the two, then they will eat more slowly, picking out the smaller Aldi bits.

I will be going back to the Aldi food as soon as my finances have picked up but I've recently heard good opinions of Royal Canin cat food & am considering this as another option - if the cats like it & thrive on it, then I will probably switch as I can buy this online & order larger quantities at a time.... Aldi food is only available in 500g bags.

Though I must admit they were very partial to the James WellBeloved with Lamb & Rice that I had for the dog ... no I didn't feed it to them ... caught them attempting to steal it from the bag at every opportunity!

Oh, should also say that the cheaper cat food is uniformly brown in colour - & though I know that all dried food probably contains food colourings, I don't really like feeding the cats multi coloured food ... my son was affected by food colourings when he was younger & I have this, probably irrational, belief that it is better for the cats to avoid artificial colours.

I have two kittens, one of which I just adopted and I was given a free bag of Science Diet, which I have been feeding my other kitten for as long as I've had her (just a month) because I didn't know any better. I don't have as much money as I'd like, so I'm going to finish the food I have and the food that they've given me before making an immediate switch to Innova, as I understand it, their food is the healthiest and best quality on the market and I've mangaged to track down a store close to me that sells it.

My vet pushes Science Diet and IAMS, I've learned to tune him out, I don't have a degree so I don't feel that I'm in a position to counter him, but at the same time I'd really like for him to do a bit more research into what those foods contain.

I've been doing a ton of research since I adopted my 4 yr old cat this summer. I started her on Nutrience, premium food found at Pets Unlimited (which is like the cheapest premium food, so there are corn fillers in it), then bought Nutro Natural Choice which she loves (which also has corn fillers in it). She is on crappy Hills S/D food right now to treat urine struvite crystals (I believe she had them when I adopted her, previous owners must have been feeding her cheap grocery store food). Would like to put her on Eagle Pack food after her treatment, and would also like to try Innova EVO (Innova is only available at a pet store that is like 25 min away, so it's not very convenient.) She is on canned and dry food. (Mix water with the canned food and heat it a little. She doesn't really like canned, pretty much have to force feed her, so we feed her kibble as well.)

I'd really like to try EVO by Innova. Being a low-carber myself I like the low-carb/grain free aspect of it. I believe that dogs need some plant foods, like veggies, but not grains. However, the price is prohibitive at the moment.

I also think that the best of all would be a balanced homemade diet, but again I'm limited by cost. When you make the food yourself, you can control exactly what goes into it and adjust it for the needs of your dog.

Currently I'm feeding the Kirkland Chicken and Rice. I like that it's corn-free, and I was surprised to see that the ingredient list was pretty decent for the price. My dogs like it and seem to do well on it.

hello there i am a golden retriever breeder and i feed my dogs "chicken soup", the reason why is because it is all natural. it has ingredients that we use on a regular basis. i look at the label of all foods to see which one i will feed my dogs. when i came across the chicken soup brand food it looked like it would be a good, healthy food. i have had my dogs on this food for about 3 yrs and their skin and coat looks great. this food is not that expensive. i sometimes make my dogs some food to go with this dry like (rice, chicken,chicken liver, veggies, eggs and other healthy things that dogs can eat). i have been in the pet business for 25yrs and since then i have always looked at the diffent foods that are out there to determine what one is the better one for my dogs. i don't feed my dogs with anything that has (beef, soy, corn, wheat). i will always feed my dogs a food that is all natural and that will not contain any of these ingredients. i have noticed that if you feed a dog with these ingredients, you will be feeding more, the dog will be going poop more, and you will have to buy the food more often. with the chicken soup my dogs don't go as often and i only feed them once a day. i have 2 females and 1 male. the females weights are (4yr old-55lbs, 6mo-45lbs, and the male 2yrs-66lbs). that is good for this breed, and some people may say that they are to fat but you want females to be between 55lbs- 65lbs, and males to be 65lbs- 75lbs. so all my dogs are at their perfect weight, even with me feeding once a day. they all have maintained this weight since i have had them on this food. so to answer your question about the food, i do look at the ingredients and make sure that i am feeding my dogs the best.

We went to Innova, which was suggested by our vet several years ago for an older dog I had at the time with failing kidneys. He said it was easier to digest and would process thru the system better.

Upon trying this for our older dog, and checking the ingredients, we decided that this was a good food to use for our other dogs as well and then switched to it permenantly. It's important to us that our dogs receive proper nutrition and not all the fillers that come in many dog foods.

George

for cats we have Acana Light for indoor and over weight cats.. Since they are both indoor Cats they are chubby but no where as near as i have seen some.. switched them to this for that reason..

For the dog Acana light for seniors less active, mature dogs dogs he is 12 years old..

Pet store variety.. i know to stay away from cat chow, dog chow and ol' roys. bad for their health

I have two kittens. In the mornings I give them Hill Science Plan dry food - obtainable only for me at the vet and in the evening I give them kitten pouches in gravy/jelly from Whiskas. Occasionally, I buy them raw mackerel or other fish for a treat, and in the afternoons I give them a few dental chews.