What do I feed my dog? Natural pet food better?
Sunday, May 16th, 2010 at
5:37 pm
I am scared out of my minds. I know I keep posting questions but I am terrified I might lose my little dog. She is my life.
I feed my animals IAMS and after research today I am thinking that’s not the best. I keep hearing natural foods….what do you suggest and why?
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You should definately feed your dog natural dog food. The additives in Iams and other brands you can purchase at a grocery store are very harmful to dogs and can cause cancer and lots of other problems. Most of them have lots of fillers like corn and wheat which are harmful to your dogs digestive tract and can cause ear infections and overgrowth of digestive yeasts. The only thing about natural dog food is it can be pricey. But it is worth it. If your Broke try Nutro brand dog food. It is all natural, dogs love it and it isn’t too expensive. you can buy it at pet stores everywhere (just not at the supermarket). I have also heard that in grocery store dog foods that are nat all natural, are made from uthanized dogs and cats!!!! go for NATURAL!!!
feed them with dog food, it has nutrients your dog needs. in my country feeding dogs with leftovers is okay but makes dog malnourish. my pit bull is fed with dog food and is muscular and healthy
I feed dick van pattens natural balance. it’s available at petco and has all natural healthy ingredients. take a look at the bag and see what the FIRST ingredient is on a kibble. if it is anything other than meat (not meat product or meal or anything like that) Here are the first four ingredients of my dogs food: Venison, Venison Meal, Brown Rice, Ground Rice. take a look at your dogs food and see what the difference is.
At our vet practice we recommend Timberwolf Organics. They are as close to human-grade food as it gets. The food does not contain any phenobabital levels at all like Iams. http://www.timberwolforganics.com
In the news it is said to try organic dog foods that contain no whey or flour that is imported from China. that should guarantee the dog should be safe. good luck. Check the labels carefully!
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com lists all the foods and rates them. It includes ingredients and explains why some foods are better than others.
The recall is effecting foods that contain wheat. The last recall a few months back (of Diamond brand food) was because of corn.
The foods I feed have no wheat or corn, so none of them have ever been recalled. I feed Wellness, Canidae, Merrick’s, Natural Balance, Nature’s Variety, California Natural, among others.
this food scare has everyone freaking out and i’m not saying that’s a bad thing. the food affected was wet food. for good oral health dogs should be on dry food. wet food should be a treat. if you have a very active dog then make sure the food you choose is for active dogs and has a high fat content 15-18%. dogs are carnivores they need meat, so i’d stay away from vegetables as much as possible because veggies are only filler. We have 2 beagles and a black lab they are all on Nutru High Energy Kibble and do wonderfully.
Go for natural foods, it’s better for her digestive track,
anyways.
In light of the recall, choose a dry food that contains no wheat products whatsoever. Wheat gluten is the suspect ingredient so if you avoid it, things should be fine. There are lots of brands that don’t have it – just read the labels.
Natura foods which makes California Naturals, Healthwise and Innova brands only purchases their ingredients from US suppliers, so no ingredients from China.
dog food is TERRIBLE, they dont even take time to pull flea collars off of dead animals. raw feeding is the way to go.
http://www.naturalrearing.com/J_In_Learning/Diet/Food/InTheBag.htm
chk that out… disgusting!! feed raw meats (not ground) according to its size and for mine i take romaine lettuce, carrots, apples, strawberries, a banana, ACV, honey, bone meal and flax seed oil. she tears it up!! she gets mostly meat in the morning, and mostly that ver/fruit mix at night. also RAW poultry bones are ok. do not feed poultry bones if they are cooked. i give mine a raw turkey neck each day. sometimes trade that out with other bones like beef rib or pork rib (also raw)
Look into Wellness , Chicken soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul , Royal Canin , and there are others. I always wanted to give my pets the "best." Iams was the lowest quality that I would feed them. I have fed all four that I listed. I fed Chicken soup for the Puppy Lover’s Soul when they were pups, Wellness fish and sweet potato for my dog with severe allergies (did wonders for my dog!) and Royal Canin GSD for my GSD (the only food my GSD will eat and won’t make him throw up).
FYI: Wag P brings up some very important points to consider! Study the ingredients and do lots of research. You want to avoid all those artificial flavors and perservatives. I specifically looked for pet foods that did NOT have the types of things that Wag P discusses.
I am trying to find a good food also, do not buy Iams, go to http://www.Iamscruelty.com to see why
I think Natural food is better.
"Natural" isn’t enough to look for – that’s just a marketing term. Read the ingredient panels and eliminate any food that contains corn, anything labeled "by-product," gluten, BHA, BHT, Ethoxyquin, anything labeled as a "flavor" and chemicals.
"Human-grade" is really the term to look for. Some good examples are California Natural, Innova, Pinnacle, Canidae, Avoderm, Solid Gold.
Pam Guthrie
Owner, Wag Pet Boutique
you should feed your dog natural purina
I would do some research on the following foods:
Wellness (what I feed my dog)
Solid Gold
Innova
California Natural
Merrick Pet Foods
All high quality ingredients are used in making these dog food products. Good Luck
you should feed your dog a HOLISTIC PREMIUM DRY DOG brand food. most dog foods at grocery stores & some pet stores sell dog food with many fillers like corn/corn meal/sucrose those are unhealthy for dogs and plus those cheap brands can make your dog use the restroom 2x more. please do not feed your dog iams, science diet, beneful…look at the ingredients, they’re horrible.
These brands are excellent:
Natural Balance (what i feed my dogs)
Solid Gold
Eagle Pack-make sure the one you buy says holistic
you can find those at petco
Other brands you could find at local Wild Oats/Whole Foods/ or Health Markets:
Wellness
Candice
Merrick
Timberwolf