# Dog food brands



## jkh (Apr 15, 2013)

What dog food brands do you feed your dog?


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## BernerMax (Mar 15, 2013)

Solid Gold Wolf cub, but have a bag of Natures Domain (its a COstco) brand beef grain free-- not so happy with grain free as there are alot of nonmeat fillers in it.... and am having a really hard time deciding what to switch to--- (solid gold has done us well for almost 20 yrs but its getting pricey as we have alot of dog to feed)-- was looking at the Diamond Natural extreme athlete (5 star) s the Fromm classic (still cheaper by about 10-15 dollars per 30 lbs) but really the info around Diamond not using human grade ingredients and all the recalls, really threw me...Fromms is only 3.5 stars though lower than the Costco brand.... so I just dont know.... Maybe stick to SOlid Gold.... Also I dont really want to have chicken or beef as the mainstay in their diets-- so many hormones and antibiotics used in their production, human grade or not so am stuck.....(the Solid Gold I use is Bison formula, and its JUST Bison not bison lamb and chicken, I dont really count the fish meal, but I dont want too many meat sources thrown in there at once...)....


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## jkh (Apr 15, 2013)

Do you know if the brand Oven-baked tradition is any good? I started off feeding my eskimo that brand (fish flavoured) as a treat to see if she liked it and she seems to love it.. every time I pour food in her bowl she just devours the food within seconds! I'm not sure if that's supposed to be good? I mean I know she's not hungry but she eats it anyway and never leaves a single thing in the bowl!


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## SydTheSpaniel (Feb 12, 2011)

I feed Taste of the Wild, my dog does very well on it and she loves it.


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## BernerMax (Mar 15, 2013)

Never heard of it and alotta times dogs just scarf down what ever is not their regular food (like if you switched to Oven baked, she might lose interest)... check out dogfoodadvisor.com you dont want anything that is one or two stars if you can help it!!!!! Have fun there are alotta choices out there...


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## packetsmom (Mar 21, 2013)

We're starting out with Canidae all stages, recommended by our breeder. We may switch down the road as the pup gets bigger, though. For now, I'm sticking with what they recommend for their pups, even though this is pup of a different color.


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## Dog Person (Sep 14, 2012)

I tried Wellness Core Puppy the first couple of days when we originally got Zoey and she didn't eat it so she went onto Orijen. I felt so bad because she seemed not to have any energy, we would take her outside and she would flop onto the ground. She did perk up on Orijen after a couple of days. Then at 6 months old I switched her to Pinnacle Grain Free and she seemed to like that but I recently switched her to 4Health which seems about as good as the Pinnacle except it's grain inclusive and it's about 1/2 the price. It's still up in the air if she likes it or not, she stopped eating the chicken and rice flavor so I ended up buying 2 small bags of other flavors to mix with it to finish the bag.


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## georgiapeach (Mar 17, 2012)

Orijen, Acana grain free, Fromm grain free, Earthborn grain free, Hi-Tek Naturals grain free, Evo, Wellness Core, Victor grain free


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## Flaming (Feb 2, 2013)

Origen and Acana grain free rotated


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## AlbertaLab (Feb 13, 2013)

Canadian Naturals Lg Breed and Acana Singles rotated.


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## voodookitten (Nov 25, 2012)

We feed Royal Canin in the morning and raw at night - the raw is a mix of chicken wings, mince, liver, egg, sardines and VAN. Sometimes I buy turkey necks as a treat. Also they get bones once or twice a week to replace their night meal.

In saying that we are changing from Royal Canin to Black Hawk as I like the sound of BH more. Bought our first bag today and will see how it goes


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## Kayla_Nicole (Dec 19, 2012)

Fromm. We rotate through all of the grain-free varieties so she gets the benefit of different protein sources.


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## taquitos (Oct 18, 2012)

jkh said:


> Do you know if the brand Oven-baked tradition is any good? I started off feeding my eskimo that brand (fish flavoured) as a treat to see if she liked it and she seems to love it.. every time I pour food in her bowl she just devours the food within seconds! I'm not sure if that's supposed to be good? I mean I know she's not hungry but she eats it anyway and never leaves a single thing in the bowl!


Oven Baked is a big bag of potatoes. Go with a better brand. All the foods the other posters have mentioned are very good  My personal favorites are Acana GF and Orijen


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## reynosa_k9's (Dec 14, 2007)

After switching from raw to kibble I'm feeding 4health (from Tractor Supply) and so far am quite happy with it. We started out on the regular but am now using mostly the grain free. My gang still gets raw once a week though.
The only reason I'm not feeding an all raw diet is because I'm feeding 10 large to giant breeds dogs and the cost of meat has gone up so bloody high I simply can't afford it any more. We were going through nearly 30lbs daily.


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## DaisyDC (Feb 24, 2013)

Fromm's Grain Free. She's actually their pet of the week on Facebook this week! We're rotating through all the flavors, and she seems to love them all, and she looks and feels great.


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## Abbylynn (Jul 7, 2011)

4Health is my staple dog food ... 4Health Grain Free, TOTW, Wellness 5 Super Mix, BB, have been in my rotation ... and Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lovers Soul. Sometimes I try something new in cans as toppers to see if the dogs like it before I buy the dry. I like my dogs to have a variety.


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## AlbertaLab (Feb 13, 2013)

My dogs really liked Fromm, but it's just so darn $$ here.


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## Nelly (Feb 3, 2013)

After having faced a great amount of dog food complaints I just began to feed my dog with home made food. and he looks to be pretty good)))


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## Abbylynn (Jul 7, 2011)

I just started to switch over the "Chicken Soup For The Puppy Lover's Soul" for leah Lu to "Earthborn Holistic Small Breed" yesterday. She seems to not be getting something from it anymore ... almost as if she is still hungry after eating it. Time to start rotation for her too.


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## luvmyfurballs (Mar 5, 2012)

I am presently feeding Fromm, but I am switching to Annamaet Lean. Its higher protein and lower fat, which I think will work well with all of my dogs. It will keep them lean and healthy.


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## meggels (Mar 8, 2010)

My frenchie is eating Annamaet Aqualuk for a few weeks now. I switched him off of premade raw onto Canine Caviar for a few weeks, but it wasn't sitting well with his stomach. He's doing so much better on the Annamaet now.

My hound mix usually gets something new every bag. Right now she's finishing up a 12lb bag of Now! and then she's going to do a 15lb bag of Dr. Tim's Kinesis.


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## BlueDiamond (Mar 18, 2013)

1st Grandma Maes Country Naturals puppy, and then their grain free, and now Acana pacifica


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## StellaLucyDesi (Jun 19, 2008)

Was using Fromm and like the food and company, but I thought the dogs just did okay on it and also I think they only liked it okay. Then I switched to Merrick (grain inclusive and grain free) and was quite happy until I found some inconsistencies in kibble pieces in small bags of grain free pork. I might give them another change in the future, though, because Lucy does love the food. So...I put the dogs on Acana Duck & Pear. Now I do "top" the dogs' kibble with canned foods and also was using freeze dried raw rehydrated (Primal, Stella & Chewy's, Vital Essentials). After about 2 months on Acana mixed with freeze dried raw Lucy started to do poorly. She started throwing up occasionally and becoming constipated. The other dogs were just doing okay. Actually I'm not sure what was causing Lucy's issues, the Acana or freeze dried raw or the mixture of both, but I went ahead and switched them all to Wellness Small Breed (grain inclusive and Core) mixed again with canned food and Lucy was doing better, however, Laverne didn't do so well. We're finally on Natural Balance. I went on a boycott of NB after the Diamond recall last year, but I decided to give them a try again. They are eating NB LID Sweet Pot. & Fish, but I plan on rotating through the Pot. & Duck and the Lamb & Rice to see how it all goes. I'm topping with canned foods: Natural Balance LIDs, Wellness Stews, Merrick, Fromm, etc. They finally seem to be doing well as a group! Everyone eats great, has great "output", no stomach or gland issues at all. It's been about a month now. I plan on staying with this regimen if it keeps working.


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## BernerMax (Mar 15, 2013)

Actually the more I read about all the other foods, I think we are sticking to Solid Gold for now (Wolf king- the Bison blend, it has good meat content and just brown rice and barley) and this will be our 18th year with Solid Gold, why mess with something thats not broke..... (I might still mix with Natures Domain beef grain free occasionally to keep the costs down its half price)....


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## StellaLucyDesi (Jun 19, 2008)

I agree BernerMax. Natural Balance has always worked well for my dogs and ever since I boycotted them, I've been searching for a replacement. I know they had a recall....but any company could fall victim at any time these days. I know they use Diamond (I will be vigilant). However, I never had any issue with them when I used them. With all the other foods I've tried (and believe me, there have been many!) I've had to constantly use Probiotics or add more fiber due to Laverne's mild allergies. So far, with NB LIDs I've not had to do that. I'm satisfied right now with the food. I've always liked Solid Gold products, too.


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

My staples are Wellness Core kibble and Merrick Before the Grain canned.

But I keep a box of grain free samples on hand and mix things up on a fairly regular basis.


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## Damon'sMom (Aug 2, 2011)

Jasper only gets Professional. He cannot eat anything else. He eats the Lamb and rice. I also add fruits, eggs, veggies, yogurt, Solid Gold Berry Blend Supplement, and SG Multi-vitamin, as well as fish oil to his food. 

The other dogs get a rotation diet of:
Taste of the wild
Canidae
Wellness Core
Acana
Earthborn
4health
Professional
Natural Balance
Orijen

It just depends on what I pick up and whats on sale at the time.  And since I have to buy 3 big bags at a time I usually buy different brands as well as proteins. 

As for wet food (all the dogs get a little with each meal). Again it just depends on whats on sale. I buy 3 cases at a time.

BB
Evo
Fromm
Wellness
4 health
Eagle Pack
Nutro
Taste of the Wild

The other dogs get extras added to their food too. Such as eggs, veggies, SG supplements, fish oil, fruit, etc.


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## Maddy_Buddy (Sep 4, 2012)

Holistic Blend. The chicken, rice, and veggies formula. 

Though, I've been thinking of switching over either to the grainfree one or another brand. 

Buddy used to get the Rotations branch which she loved and I really liked the results it was giving her. But the company unfortunately spiked the price to almost double of what we were buying, so I stopped buying it.


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## Jacksons Mom (Mar 12, 2010)

StellaLucyDesi said:


> I agree BernerMax. Natural Balance has always worked well for my dogs and ever since I boycotted them, I've been searching for a replacement. I know they had a recall....but any company could fall victim at any time these days. I know they use Diamond (I will be vigilant). However, I never had any issue with them when I used them. With all the other foods I've tried (and believe me, there have been many!) I've had to constantly use Probiotics or add more fiber due to Laverne's mild allergies. So far, with NB LIDs I've not had to do that. I'm satisfied right now with the food. I've always liked Solid Gold products, too.


You sound like me! I'm about to just go back to feeding Acana. He always did the best on the Duck & Pear... He ate Acana grain-frees for probably about 2 years (a few other bags of other stuff in between, but 90% Acana throughout the 2 years) then when the Singles line came out, we fed that and he did even better IMO. I started reading some questionable things about Champion, and was also miffed at their decision to up prices, decrease bag size, and add so many lentils. So on the food search we went... did Fromm for about 6 months (tried 4star, Gold, both GF and grain inclusive) and he gained a bit of weight and poop never was 'GREAT'.

So to present day, we're doing samples right now and trying to find 'the one' .... He's eating the small 1lb sample bags of Acana at the moment and loving them, poops have been great, and he suddenly seems to have more energy. This was always the food he did best on and I'm started to wonder why I ever stopped and thinking I probably read too much online. I have some Natural Balance Synergy as well. I also am getting samples of Dr. Tims Kinesis (GF and Grain Inclusive), Annamaet Aqualuk and Manitok so we'll see. I am really loving what I'm hearing about Annamaet at the moment.

I also feed a bit of canned (mostly Weruva).


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## taquitos (Oct 18, 2012)

Jacksons Mom said:


> I started reading some questionable things about Champion, and was also miffed at their decision to up prices, decrease bag size, and add so many lentils. So on the food search we went... did Fromm for about 6 months (tried 4star, Gold, both GF and grain inclusive) and he gained a bit of weight and poop never was 'GREAT'.


They increased the amount of meat, and switched in potatoes for lentils because they have a lower glycemic index, from what I know (which is why it costs more; because of the meat).... But I could be wrong. I am 100% that is what happened with Orijen, not sure about Acana though (since it was a while back)


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## BernerMax (Mar 15, 2013)

yeah I am starting to think, find a food that works for your dogs.... and stick with it.... dogs do great on different foods (but I would stick with 4 star and above if you can afford it)...


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## Jacksons Mom (Mar 12, 2010)

taquitos said:


> They increased the amount of meat, and switched in potatoes for lentils because they have a lower glycemic index, from what I know (which is why it costs more; because of the meat).... But I could be wrong. I am 100% that is what happened with Orijen, not sure about Acana though (since it was a while back)


Not really, they do a lot of ingredient splitting to make it seem like there is still a ton of meat. Legumes are grown extensively in Canada and are quite inexpensive. They also use lakefish by-products (which doesn't really bother me, but they're not exactly forthcoming about it). Their dry legumes have somewhere around 25% protein or more and the fresh meat is about 90% water. But I
am still not even saying it's a "bad food" (heck I'm feeding it as we speak, lol) and well, my dog does best on it as of yet. If I can find Annamaet to work just as good or better, I will probably choose to feed that as a I prefer the company.


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## taquitos (Oct 18, 2012)

Jacksons Mom said:


> Not really, they do a lot of ingredient splitting to make it seem like there is still a ton of meat. Legumes are grown extensively in Canada and are quite inexpensive. They also use lakefish by-products (which doesn't really bother me, but they're not exactly forthcoming about it). Their dry legumes have somewhere around 25% protein or more and the fresh meat is about 90% water. But I
> am still not even saying it's a "bad food" (heck I'm feeding it as we speak, lol) and well, my dog does best on it as of yet. If I can find Annamaet to work just as good or better, I will probably choose to feed that as a I prefer the company.


I didn't know they used lakefish by-products? Shouldn't they have to list that in the ingredients? :| Where did you read that?

Considering chicken meal, turkey meal, herring meal, salmon meal, are STILL above the lentils, I would think that there would be more meat (even with the fresh meats moving 7 down the list).

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/orijen-dog-food-adult/

I also live in Canada, so not as many available dog food brands available. Orijen is basically the best you can get here. Lots of meat and organs.


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## Flaming (Feb 2, 2013)

taquitos said:


> I didn't know they used lakefish by-products? Shouldn't they have to list that in the ingredients? :| Where did you read that?
> 
> Considering chicken meal, turkey meal, herring meal, salmon meal, are STILL above the lentils, I would think that there would be more meat (even with the fresh meats moving 7 down the list).
> 
> ...


Canadian law is they have to label bi-products


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## Jacksons Mom (Mar 12, 2010)

http://www.freshwaterfish.com/system/files/L2PNewsletter Winter 2011.pdf



> It appears as though the Freshwater Fish Company used to have their "waste" (minced fish by-products) trucked to a rendering facility. Now they and Champion have an agreement that Champion gets all of it for a large yearly sum.
> 
> It appears that Champion has somehow gotten around using the term "by-products" (maybe because the fish is fresh?).
> 
> ...





> Freshwater Fish is always looking to expand its market
> reach and to strengthen existing markets – even non-human
> ones!
> We recently signed an exclusive arrangement with Albertabased Champion Petfoods, whereby we sell all minced
> ...


http://www.freshwaterfish.com/system/files/L2PNewsletter Winter 2011.pdf


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## Flaming (Feb 2, 2013)

well that's odd...
I'm going to look into that further.
I feed Champion products after all and I want to know more about what's in it.
Thanks for the heads up.



Edit: I used wiki and the Champion page. Basically, from what I understand, what it comes down too is if the fish by-product is fresh and falls under certain nutritional values it can be mixed with fish meal and called fish meal (which is listed) and technically it's still able to be labelled good for human consumption as well.
Sounds tricky to me


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## dogspot (Jan 2, 2013)

jkh said:


> What dog food brands do you feed your dog?


:wave:Are you concerned about the dry food your dog is eating? Looking for detailed information about certain food ingredients? Confused about inconsistent information about dogfood from pet food manufacturers? Need help comparing dog food brands and finding a better one?:clap2:


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## taquitos (Oct 18, 2012)

Jacksons Mom said:


> http://www.freshwaterfish.com/system/files/L2PNewsletter Winter 2011.pdf
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Oyyyy well that's a little worrisome! Is it just strips of fillet that were left over, though?

Good thing I don't feed kibble lol!


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