What food do you feed your dog.

I would love to know what food you feed your dog and why you have chosen that food. There is so much information but I am not sure what is fact and what is fiction. My dog appears to have allergies.

I am feeding Flint River Ranch dry Kibble food after i did weeks of research what's good and bad form my dog. They have dry food for dogs with allergies as well. You can order that food only online but the shipping is free, it's not available in stores.

If you want to take a look  www.frrco.com/index.php.

 

Merry Christmas!

 

Sonja

Thanks Sonja I am going to check it out. There will probably a shipping fee for me as I do not live in the US.

Even if they do not ship outside of the US if I can find out the ingredients and look for something similar that would be available to me that would help.

 

Here is a dog food review site.

 

I am not in a rush I just want something that is nutritious.

 

Well I am now looking at two possible foods Acana and Orijen. Does anyone have any thoughts about these foods or experience. I would love to hear from you.

We fed our three dogs Orijen for a year or so. It is a great food. I belive both of the ones you mention are made by the same company. The only reason we stopped feeding it is because we now feed them a home-cooked diet. If you are going to go with a commercial dog food Orijen is great!

I am thinking about homemade food but I am very busy and thought it would be good to checkout ready made food too. Thanks for your input.

 

Merry Christmas!

Hi,

 

We feed both of our dogs Orijen puppy.  We get the 5 lb bag and it lasts for a month for both dogs. lol  They're teeny tiny little tots, and don't eat much. :)   They're on a free-feed routine (we don't have specific mealtimes for them).  They do very well on their own, at knowing when to eat and how much is sufficient for their little bodies.

 

...it is amazing food.  Their stools don't have much of a smell, and neither one of them *ever* passes gas on this food (at least nothing noticeable).  They love it.  Their stools are very well formed, too.

 

Orijen Puppy Food Ingredients:

 

 

Thank you for your input. My dog is very, very important to me. Even if it is a little pricey I want what is best for her and what will keep her healthy, strong and well.  I have never heard of the other brand you mentioned. I am going to see if it is available here in my country. I must confess I am really leaning to the Orijen Food.

I understand vets do very little if any education on nutrition. My aim is for a healthy animal starting with good quality food so this would be prevention. Vets do mainly intervention or help fix a sick dog. I do not want a sick dog I want to prevent this from happening.

I think I am going to take this into my vet and see what she has to say. Thanks for the idea. She is a very open mined vet and it is not all about money for her. She has a true an sincere love for animal and I see it in how she talks to and treat my dog.

Thank you I really appreciate and need this kind of support.

Orijen is a great food!  I am glad to hear your vet is stocking their shelves with it! Many bags of foods on the shelves of vet's offices are anything but good for our pets. It is very discouraging :(

 

We have been feeding our three dogs a mixture of mostly homemade food, with kibble (origin, wellness, etc) a few meals a week and some freeze-dried raw 3-4 meals a week. Their coats are great. The vet always comments on how healthly they are!

 

I have to recommend Doggy GOO if your dog is suffering from allergies. One of my dogs has seasonal allergies. Last fall he licked his feet raw. This year I started him on Doggy Goo during the summer and he barely licked his paws this fall. It was a HUGE improvement. Here is their website www.doggygoo.com.

 

I rarely get into a dogfood conversation but will this one. 

 

I use 4health from tractorsupply. It contains no soy, wheat or corn. This is very important.  Price is good too. 

If you suspect food allergies find a food that does not contain those three items. 

 

Read the ingredients also. There are several websites rating the various foods.  Do comparisons with these sites instead of the manufacturer site.  Adive from people is fine but it's best if you do the research yourself.  I know people who will argue to the death over dogfood and I can't stand it.  Some people think the most expensive is always the best, that's not always true, again, read the ingredients. 

 

Make sure it fits your dogs need too.  Are they very active, are working dogs?  I have found vets don't usually know as much about food choices as you would think.  Unless your dog needs a prescription diet, then always use a vet to get that.

 

You may have to try a few brands first.  dogfoodadvisor and dogfoodanaylsis are both good sites to get some info. 

Thank you for your input. I have not heard of the food you mentioned but will also check it out.  One of the problems I run into is I am not in the US an sometimes a certain food is not available in my country.Yes I am starting to learn allot about reading the ingredients on the dog food. It has taken me a while to figure it all out. There are so many dog foods and so many unproven claims about this food and that food. I did know that grain free is the best choice. I did not know about the soy. My dog is an agility dog and she competes so I know a high protein diet is very important. My dog was put on a prescription  diet for her allergies but it is very very expensive and it does  not seem to be making any difference. As I started to read the label I realized there is almost no meat of any kind in the food. I continued to check out information and realized the allergies could very well be because she needs a high level of protein which she is not getting. I am not going to jump at the first thing I want to make a very informed choice. I am glad you decided to post your thoughts it is very helpful.

i feed my pinneranian and chiranian Natures Variety Instinct Raw and the Natures Variety Instinct Kibble and it has been absolutely AMAZING!!!! they even have a facebook page where you can get coupons ask them questions talk to people who have been on it and also get feeding guides that are super helpful! My dogs have extremely white teeth, healthy stools, shiney coats and lots of energy! fantastic for dogs who have allergies!

I have thought about raw but I have heard allot of people say your dog would be at a higher risk of picking up some food illness. I have no idea if this is true of not. I did check out the raw varieties you suggested. It is very important that my dog's food be grain free which this would be. The ingredients were all things that I really knew what they were. There is a store very near to me that carries this very brand. My dog trainer last Saturday also suggested I consider going to raw route. You also mentioned that there is a kibble variety, but I was much more impressed with the raw ingredients. I have not made a final decision but I sure am receiving allot of wonderful information, support and education on dog food. My dog is a very healthy busy female but she does has a delicate stomach, however I am not so sure it is a delicate stomach it just maybe poor quality food. Thank you very much for your thoughts as I continue this very important learning curve.

i havnt heard of anyone having their dog get sick from the raw diet. i would make a raw diet myself but i just do not have the time for it. my buster always had the runs when i had him on kibble and when i put him on raw with just a tad of the kibble for night time he has been doing much better. his dry skin went away, he has a hard stool and everyone compliments him on his shiney soft coat. the kibble is amazing too because it has a raw coating that you can see on it which is fantastic. they have different varieties from lamb, rabbit, bison, beef chicken, organic chicken which is great too. my little dogs just scarf down the duck and turkey kibble which is grain free :D

I am glad you replied. I am going to give raw food a good consideration. I have heard all the positive you have mentioned. Did you have to introduce it very slowly as it would be much richer in protein than what is in kibble.  I really did like the look of the ingredients. I do know that for agility dogs they require a higher level of protein. You have certainly made a great case and a good argument for raw food.

yes as with any new food you should always introduce it slowly. i started by mixing one medallion in with his kibble (you can do it that way or feed it seperately) and slowly started adding more. I never had a problem with him getting sick when i introduced the raw. the company also makes grain free dog biscuits and also doggie ice cream which my two dogs just adore during the summer time! buster eats about 4 raw medallions (each medallion weighs 1 ounce) and then for kibble he gets 3/4 of a cup. he is still a puppy so he has to eat quite a bit. i was always afraid to feed raw but did TONS and TONS of reseach and now i wouldnt change anything about his food. i love it and will stick with it always. you can go to natures variety's website and see all the great testimonials that people have entered so you can see first hand all the amazing effects it has had on dogs. i read a few myself and could not believe what good it has done for people struggling with health issues with their dogs. deffinately amazing stuff. :D

I have never heard of dog ice cream but it sounds interesting. When it is summer again I am going to check out the dog ice cream. I know in the summer it is very important to watch your dog for heat related problems and to make sure they are getting lots and lots of water. This maybe a new fun way to help with both of these things.

Thank you sharing how you introduced the raw food to your dogs. I know I have to go very very slow because my girl does react to food change. When I make a food change I need to do it over a month or two.

yea Buster is the same way. he had diarhea for quite some time until i put him on natures variety kibble and raw. now he has perfect stools everytime, unless i introduce a new kind of treat or biscut....i really have to watch what i give him. but lately he has been getting his normal food the raw and kibble and i found a salmon, cod, and sweet potatoe treat that he really likes and doesnt upset his stomach plus its healthy :D

Yes Buster sounds allot like Khia. I know to be very careful with her when it comes to food and treats. The last time she got diarrhea from something she ate at a dog Halloween Party that she should not have had and it caused a flora problem and we have had to rebuild her flora in order to stop the diarrhea. She is fine now so I want to be very careful in what I do.

yea its so difficult having a dog with a sensitive stomach, Spackle can eat anything under the sun and never even be phased by it. I have to watch him carefully. a neighbor gave him a bad brand of dog biscuts and it gave buster the runs badly. it was one of those treats that was filled with nothing but garbage.

I totally understand what you are saying. So many kind people want to offer your dog a treat but you have no idea what is in the treat. What I have started to do is carry around my own treats and when someone asks if they can give Khia a treat I say yes but explain she requires special food so I give them one of my treats that they can give to her. With Khia in dog Agility and Superdog she needs to be friendly with all people so this has addressed the problem with treats.

Here is an update on how things are going with my food search. I have tried Acana Wild Prairie for 2 weeks now. I am not happy with this food. Khia is not even totally transfered over to the Acana. American Eskimos, one the breeds used to make up my designer mix are known to have Epiphora. Well this showed up and yes lots of eye staining. So I am now on the search to find a quality food but something that does not flare up Epiphora.  We did not have this problem until I started to introduce Acana. So I have now caused another problem besides the allergies that my dog has. Wild Prairie has chicken in the food so it has been suggested to go to a grain free, chicken free food so now what? I know it is going to be a long slow process. Does anyone have a suggestion?

I have recently learned on my quest to find dog food that fits my dog who has allergies that not only is grain free important but I should consider starch free and chicken free. I did not know that chicken can cause allergies. So much to learn to be a good owner.

well natural balance is a good grain free formula that is formulated specifically for dogs with allergies. they do mostly sweet potato and venison and duck and potatoe stuff they stay away from the chicken and beef that most dogs tend to be allergic too. also the natures variety INSTINCT that i feed my dogs is grain free but the natures variety PRAIRIE is not.

Thank you for your reply. It is interesting that your mentioned Instinct, I  purchased Instinct Salmon 2 days ago, it is grain free, starch free, potato free, and the protein is from salmon not chicken, turkey, duck or beef. Now in just two days of partial introduction of this food the Epiphora had greatly slowed down and with gentle washing of the hair around the eyes it has started to fade. I am not going to give up I will find something that works for her and meets her nutrition needs.

 

thats great news! yea i feed buster the Instinct Salmon formula! not only is it great for the grain free but it is great for their heart health and their skin and coat! plus he also gets the raw diet on top of that so he is in super good shape. keep trying with the Instinct Salmon, it is good stuff! glad to hear things are getting under control now.

My plan is probably similar to what you are doing, I am thinking about using raw to augment the Instinct my girl is on once she gets used to this new food. I have just heard about a new dehydrated raw that is coming out. You do not need to keep it in the freezer and you just need to add water before serving. It is available in the salmon. I am still checking everything out so I can make an informed decision.

i have tried a dehydrated food called "the honest kitchen" and i was not very impressed with it. When i added water it was like i couldnt get it to be the right consistancy no matter what i tried and it always came out soupy looking. i wasnt a big fan of it and neither were my dogs.

I will check out the brand name and let you know. The person I was talking with was going to try it and I will see what she thinks. Once I get Khia going well on kibble food I am going to introduce some type of raw. I will find out the brand name at our Global Pet Food Store and run it by you to see if you have any experience with that brand. I really appreciate your help with this very important issue.

no problem! always willing to help when it comes to a dogs health :D i have tried many different food brands and i research a lot of them that way i can help customers find the right food for their dogs. but as you know what works for one dog might not work for another. they are all different. :D

Your comment is so right on the mark. I am also learning this first hand. What works for one dog does not work for another. My vet has said on a number of occasions that little white dogs often respond very differently to food and medications than other dogs. I have a friend tell me it took her 2 years to find food that work for her cat. So the search goes on and all support and suggestions are welcome.

Update on the food. Khia is doing well on the Instinct but I have not totally moved her over yet. I am going very slowly because if I go to fast I end up with big problems. I still plan to introduce some raw but I just want to get this one right first. No more tear staining or eye watering. No scratching or feet licking. At this point it is going good.

that's fantastic! good to hear. yea it is such a great food and my dogs love them. glad to hear it is going good so far. i just gave some to my neighbors dog (4 pound chihauhau) because he wasnt eating ANYTHING she gave him so i gave him a bit of my salmon formula and he scarfed it down! its been 2 days since then so i am going to have to call her up and see if he is still eating it. hopefully the food worked for her little dog.

I am now at about 50% her new food (Instinct) and 50% her old food. It takes a very long time to switch her over with out having diarrhea. Hopefully this will address her allergy problems.

I just got a bully today for her and instead of her chewing it on the end she started to pull strips off of it so I have taken it away for her. The last two she did just fine with. Dogs are cute they always keep you on your toes.

yea that is how Buster chews on his lol. he will hold it to the ground with both paws and start tearing apart the middle lol. he hasnt quite learned how to hold onto it with his feet and chew on the ends like spackle does. yea it can take 2 weeks or more to properly switch a dogs food

I wish it was only 2 weeks. My Vet has suggested I take 2 months because my girl just does not do well with food changes.

It is going great with the new food. I have again increased the amount Khia is getting and all is well so far. Once she is totally on the new food I am going to introduce a bit of raw as well.

that's fantastic! of if you go to the Natures Variety website and sign up for their emails you get a 3$ off coupon for any bag of food dry or raw! i believe it is just naturesvariety.com they email you coupons all the time which is nice :D

Nice thanks for the tip. Any saving is appreciated. I am going to go and sign up now.

Another update. Well Khia is now totally on her new food and is doing great. The allergy symptoms are gone and her digestive track is doing well. So it is no grain, no potato, no starch, no chicken and no gluten. She loves her new food. I also have to say my dogs energy level is at an all time high. Which is go great for her and her agility competing.

great news!! it is an amazing food and keeps my dogs energy level up as well :D which keeps me on my toes hahaha. im glad she is doing so well on the food.

Now our next step with food is going to be introducing some raw. I am thinking about trying the Instinct frozen medallions.

that is what i feed buster. although he only seems to like the venison formula of the raw. i tried all the other meats and he just does not like them. but the venison is great :D

Thanks for the tip, maybe this is were I will start. I know what signs to watch for if it is going to bother her. I am trying the Instinct Lamb dog treats now and they are going very well and she just loves them.

my buster loves those as well :D this company makes some great healthy products :D

I am so glad you introduced me to this line of food. It is doing wonders for Khia and her digestive system. It is especially great that they make a line of raw. My dog trainer swears by raw.

so do i. only thing about raw is it could take up to 6 months to start seeing the great effects it has on your animal. you wont see super immediate results but you know it is building up in their system :D im starting to see the results in buster now that he is 7 months old.

That is interesting that it take so long to see any effects. If I start introducing raw soon I should see some of the effects in the middle of the competing season. That would be great because it maybe the extra edge Khia will need to get her Agility Gaming Title this year.

it does give more energy and a healthier body :D i am sure she will do fantastic this year! i hope she gets that title :D :D

I actually went to the Instinct web site and got the coupon as you suggested. I read that the raw actually stops the staining on your dog whether it is eyes, ears or around the mouth. This is good news I sure do not want to have to deal with this problem if  it is preventable.

i give my dog whatever we make for lunch ,i stopped buying dog food 6 years ago ,he is now 9 years old , he gets diarea from some dog foods , never had any problems

Interesting denis. Thank you for posting. I guess you are lucky that your dog has one of those systems that will process anything. My dog has food allergies so there are a number of things that she cannot have. It took my Vet and myself more than a year just to figure out what her allergies are. Since we have identified her allergies and eliminated those food from her diet she is having no problems. She is also is an agility competitive dog so she needs a very high protein diet in order to have the high energy level to be able to compete. It is not any more expensive it is just higher in protein. I guess dogs are just like people each one is different.

Denis, you wont see immediate problems with feeding your dog "scraps" but if you were to take your dog to a vet and have a full on checkup for it, problems would arise. if you were to go on google and see what kind of effect people food has on dogs you would probably feel bad about it. im not bashing on you or anything, just saying my mom fed her dog everything she ate from spaghetti to taco bell even and her dog go super fat and now has diabetes and kidney problems and the dog is only 4 years old. dog never had diarrhea from eating any of the foods either, just cuz it doesnt have diarrhea doesnt mean the dog is doing ok on people food. Feeding your dog table scraps can not only breed bad behaviors but is also harmful to your dog's health. Human foods are not properly balanced to meet a dog's nutritional requirements, and feeding large amounts of fat, sugar or refined carbohydrates can cause health problems such as pancreatitis, gastrointestinal upset and obesity.

I know food does make a big difference in a dogs health but I never really thought about it in the terms you presented. Thank you for making me really think about my dog's food choice and being totally sure on why I am making these choices..

Would you believe I am back at the drawing board. All the allergy symptoms are back. Scratching, watering eyes, rubbing eyes, biting at her feet and sneezing. So I continue my hunt for the appropriate food to address these allergies. I am thinking about changing from the salmon formula. I was reading on the American Eskimo web site and saw that some Eskies do have allergies to salmon. I was also talking with my sister and she did say it took her 2 years to find the right formula for her dog.

yea my white doberman couldnt have salmon either. they do make other flavors that you can try. i know it sucks that some dogs dont show symptoms right away to food allergies but that sucks! she was doing so well!

I am not giving up. I just have to be careful changing food because it does disturb her flora. I am now going to try lamb as she has had lamb treats without any problems. Yes my Vet did tell us it can take up to 6 weeks before you truly know if your dog will react.

Well the search goes on. I have done more reading about dogs and their genetics. Some people believe they are carnivores and other believe they are omnivores. I just wish I knew which was accurate, because this makes a huge difference on what to feed my dog.

they are omnivors but mainly carnivor. their diet should be 95% meat and 5% veggies

Courtney I am going crazy just trying to figure this allergy thing out. My Vet thinks she is one of these dog who has very unique allergies and not the regular ones you see. 

This is what I have been told:

As a general rule, food allergens are proteins. When an offending protein triggers the pet's immune response, histamine and other compounds are released causing the signs associated with food allergies.
Many people think that dogs are carnivores and they are not. Dogs are omnivores and need a mix of meat and vegetable protein because if a food has a high meat content then it will have higher amounts of minerals which could lead to many medical issues. For an adult dog it is important that you have the protein content of the food they are eating around 20%.  If an older dog is getting too much protein then they will have issues with kidney health and other problems in the future.
Some of the most common food allergens are: Beef, Dairy, Wheat, Lamb, Chicken, Chicken egg, and soy. As you can see there aren't too many other options out there since many regular protein sources can cause an allergic reaction in your dog's system. Foods that are carefully balanced to deliver appropriate levels of specific nutrients will improve health, while avoiding excessive levels of nutrients thought to have detrimental effects on health over the course of a pet's life.

I am so confused, there are so many different thoughts on this whole food issue. I just want my girl to be healthy happy and full of energy which she is and without allergy symptoms.
 

you want meat to be the very first ingredient.  dogs need way more than 20% meat. everywhere i have looked they all say 95% meat with 5% of veggies. which is also what Natures Variety offers. Have you tried their rabbit formula? it is not a common meat in animal food and might be what your khia needs to knock out her allergies.

Actually Khia is slowly going on a totally unprocessed foods which means I will be making her food but I am okay as long as it addresses her allergies. We are going through a process with very special and expensive medicated foods just to get everything back under control including her flora and then it will be a totally unprocessed diet. Once we know for sure what she is allergic to and it is looking like it is the way food is processed so she will be on fresh raw meat plus allot of other stuff. My vet is very involved with performance dogs and their diets.

It appears that Khia's dietary needs are unique so to meet her nutritional needs and address her allergies so we are going to see a Dog Dietitian. I will finally get answers for what is best for Khia. I really want to address her needs through food and not medication. I am really happy about this.

Well I am excited to report that Khia has had her first raw meal. It was like she knew sometime was happening. When I came in from work, I had purchased the venison on my way home and she could smell it and she keep dancing around in the kitchen trying to see or get what was in the bag. She absolutely loved it. She will only be getting raw every other day for now to monitor how she does.

haha that is fantastic! yes every morning at 7am my dogs run to the kitchen and sit there waiting for me to bring out their raw meal. they just LOVE it! i think soon i will just get rid of the kibble altogether and feed them strickly the raw now that i am getting more hours and can afford to do so. glad she liked it! venisen is busters fave!

We are going slow with the transition. I really hope this answers all her needs without allergy reactions. So far so good. Allergy reactions are all gone. She is happy, full of energy and on top of the world. I really want this to work for her.

Thank you for your support. I too am hoping for the same thing. No more allergy symptoms, and a very happy healthy dog. I can already see her tail wagging and her bouncing around the room with energy to spare.

Khia is doing great with the raw venison. She really loves this food. No allergy signs as of yet. I know it is early but I am staying totally hopeful that this is the best choice for Khia.

thats good that things are going good on the raw food. how long has she been on it now? hope this works out for you guys!

Khia has now been on partial raw for 6 days. All is going well. I know the true test takes about 6 weeks but the results as on now are good.

I am giving Khia the raw food at her night feeding and she truly does enjoy the venison. Things are going good right now as far as the allergies go. Her enthusiasm about being fed at night time is wonderful. She will not touch her food until she is given the okay by me but she does a beautiful hind leg dance for me and then sits and waits for the go ahead. I am positive she is telling me I have made the right choice.   So many people on this web site have helped me to make this choice for her and I sincerely thank you.

haha buster does a hind leg dance and spackle spins in a bunch of circles lol. so glad she is loving the venison! i really do hope this food works out for her. did you sign up at natrues varieties website so you can get your coupons emailed to you?? it also tells you how much to feed your dog.

Yes, I have. I already have received a coupon and read how much I need to feed Khia. This was a great resource you provided.

Update on Khia and her food. We still continue to feed raw at night and prescription in the morning. She is doing just wonderful. Khia will be going for her yearly healthy dog check up and I am going to talk with our Vet about adding more raw and reducing the prescription food.

that is great news! yea Sookie quit eating the frozen raw diet so i switched her over to ZiwiPeak (air dryed food) "raw without the thaw" lol. comes from New Zealand and it is venison flavor and OMG she LOVES this stuff! I give her the raw in the morning and kibble at night. you can feed it as a food or as yummy treats (and i do both) when she hears me open the bag she comes running and gets all wide eyed and crazy LOL. but unfortunately Sookie is suffering from a luxating patella in BOTH of her hind legs. some days are bad and some days are good so we are working with her now. she cant be on any furniture and cant to strenuous activity. and surgery MIGHT be required, will find out more on thursday. i feel so bad for my poor little girl. she has been very depressed lately whenever her legs act up.

Interesting I am going to check out this new food you have found, that is if it is available in Canada. My heart goes out to Sookie, being so young and having health problems and being in pain. I know you will do everything possible to help.