# How do you tell if a food suits your dog?



## adamaki (Apr 8, 2011)

Our yellow lab, Chewbacca, is 3.5 months old now and is on his second bag of kibble. The breeder gave us a bag of Arden Grange puppy, but that finished last week and we got him a bag of Pedigree puppy as it's more readily available. On the Arden Grange his poop was never very solid and he never got through the night without a poop. Since going on the Pedigree he can go all night without a poop and it's nice and solid and easy to pick up.

The question is, is a nice solid poop desirable and does that mean the food suits him? I've had a read of the dogfoodanalysis.com website and it seems Pedigree is only a 1* food and full of undigestible cornmeal, whereas Arden Grange is 4*. I've got a feeling he's not quite as energetic and sleeps more since being on the Pedigree too.

So what signs do I look for to assess whether a particular food suits him, seeing as all dogs are different and prefer different foods?


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## Maggie Girl (Feb 27, 2011)

Yes, a good firm poop is a good thing. IMO, if the stools are "regular", firm (but not hard or constipating), his coat and eyes are shiny, his weight is stable, and he has no side effects like more shedding than normal or skin problems, then the food is working out for him. All dogs have different needs and will react in their own way to foods. Study the reviews to see what ingredients you would like him to eat, compare prices if it matters to you, and then try different brands in small bags until you settle on the one that he does best with.

We just tried a couple different kinds when ours was young (we started on the cheap end of the spectrum hoping the cheaper foods would suffice, luckily for us they did since our budget is tight) and settled on one after seeing how he did w/it. We feed our dog one of the lower rated dog foods (according to reviews like that one) and it's cheap compared to the stuff like Taste of the Wild. His eyes are shiny, coat is glossy, he doesn't shed much at all, his weight/figure is ideal, and he's energetic and healthy so it suits him fine. Personally, though I would like to be able to feed TOTW since I bet it is tastier and is high quality, what he's eating now is good on his system and our budget, too, so unless something changes we're sticking with it.


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## Labmom4 (Feb 1, 2011)

Maggie girl pretty much covered it. I love your dog's name BTW! LOL! 
Problems I've had (or actually, the dog's had) when a food isnt 'working' are a dull, flaky coat, itching, and runny eyes. 
There are other food-related problems of course, but those are the ones that have caused me to change foods. 
Canidae ALS is a good food at a fairly decent price if you do need to switch. It's found at most feed stores and a full grown lab will eat 3-4 cups of it a day, so a big bag (about $40) will last quite awhile. Just a thought. If Pedigree works though, hey, you can save some money


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## Maggie Girl (Feb 27, 2011)

I agree w/Labmom, Chewbacca is an awesome name! If our dog weren't prenamed my son would've wanted that name for him, LOL.


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

http://www.ardengrange.com/pet-food/dog-food.asp?id=1#Ingredients
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=5&cat=7
Sorry about using DFA as a source but the Pedigree page would only show me wet puppy food for some reason!

The Arden Grange has 442 calories per cup and Pedigree has 345 calories per cup. I think that is what is going on, you were giving a little too much of the AG!

Kibbles are specially packed with stool hardeners like beet pulp and even clay. Pedigree does have more fiber than AG even though it doesn't have tomato pomace or cellulose or anything like that. It certainly is nice to have firm poop and mushy poop can be a sign of parasites of some sort but mushy poop is very commonly due to overfeeding. It doesn't even mean too much food overall, just too much food in that meal. Perhaps your pup isn't ready for one less meal a day than he had at the breeder's.


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## adamaki (Apr 8, 2011)

Thanks for all the useful advice. The review of Pedigree on the dogfoodanalysis.com website is pretty awful. I think we'll try him on a few different foods until we find one that suits. I don't think we can get Canidae here (I'm in Scotland!). I haven't seen it in any stores. I was thinking about starting off with Advanced Nutrition Puppy (http://www.petsathome.com/shop/adva...with-chicken-large-breed-2.5kg-and-10kg-51451) seeing as it's got 42% chicken and then potato protein. It's also pretty reasonable as it's the store's own brand.

I didn't realise the diffence in calorie content would make so much difference to his energy! I think we'll have to get more scientific with his nutrition. We just followed the breeder's advice and gave him a handful of Arden Grange with a spoonful of canned meat. He's up to two handfuls for each meal now but I think we'll have a weigh-in tonight and weigh out the recommended quantity of food to make sure we're on the right track.

Esther has wanted a Lab called Chewbacca since she was a girl and we're both big Star Wars fans so it was an easy decision! I'll have to put some photos up of him soon.


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## Maggie Girl (Feb 27, 2011)

If I ever get to have another chow chow I'm saving that name for it


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## adamaki (Apr 8, 2011)

Ok we weighed him last night and he's 13kg, which equates to 400g/day of Advanced Nutrition according to the packet. We'll see how he gets on once we've weaned him onto the new kibble.


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Hope that works. My dogs weren't pups but they needed a lot less than the amount listed on the bag. I imagine this would be difficult to do but it is better to grow pups slow and lean than roly poly and fast. Cut back even more if the poop doesn't get firm.


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## katielou (Apr 29, 2010)

As you are in Scotland. This is the best food you can get in the UK for a great price.

http://www.fish4dogs.com/


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## adamaki (Apr 8, 2011)

Thanks Katie, haven't seen that before but it looks pretty good. Not sure we can afford it though. It's over £20 more than anything else I've considered (per 15kg bag)!


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## palmtree77 (Apr 5, 2011)

The Advanced Nutrition puppy food does not look good:

with Chicken (minimum 42%) Potato Protein, Maize, Brown Rice, Sugar Beet Pulp, Poultry Fat, Minerals, Brewers Yeast, Linseed, Egg Powder, Poultry Digest, Sodium Chloride, Potassium Chloride,Methionine, Yucca Extract, Marigold Meal, L-Carnitine, Beta Carotene.

Beet pulp is a filler and poultry digest is a poor quality ingredient. There are no probiotics, which I always look for in a dog food. It is a step up from Pedigree though.

The Fish4dogs is okay. It's only selling point above the Advanced Nutrition is that it doesn't have poultry digest. I can't believe that's the best dog food in the UK. Wow! Do they not believe in fruits, vegetables or probiotics?


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## adamaki (Apr 8, 2011)

Yes I agree the Advanced Nutrition isn't perfect, but it's better than Pedigree. It's only one of two products I've found available here so far that don't have beet pulp in them. I haven't found any so far that don't have either beet pulp or maize. The thing I like about the Advanced Nutrition is it has a high meat content as the first ingredient and potato protein second, which is a good quality carb. Maybe we'll end up back on the Arden Grange because that seems to be good, although I'd prefer to find a product that I can buy locally and doesn't break the bank.

I agree there doesn't seem to be as many good products available in the UK as you have in the States.


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## bumblegoat (Jun 22, 2009)

Orijen and Acana are avaliable in the UK. You can order it here: http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/dogs/dry_dog_food/acana , http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/dogs/dry_dog_food/orijen

Taste of the Wild is also avaliable on zooplus: http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/dogs/dry_dog_food/taste_of_the_wild

Oliver's is another decent food, you can order it here: http://www.olivers-petfood.eu/


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## adamaki (Apr 8, 2011)

Thanks for the info bumblegoat. I'm thinking about trying him on Orijen when he's an adult, but there seems to be a bit of controversy about the puppy food as it's such a high protein content. Acana and Tast of the Wild don't seem to have a puppy food, so maybe we'll look at those when he's grown up. Olivers looks very good though. I'll definitely consider trying him on that.


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