Guys help me out. What's the best natural dry dog food.

NotSharknado · September 2014

The dog is sick again and I know wood chips are a factor but I think her food sucks too. She's on iams puppy food.

Monkeybabe · September 2014

I don't know about the best food, but we have a dog with a sensitive stomach and we give her Taste of the Wild high prairie. It's made with bison meat, and it seems to be doing well for her. We recently switched her off Natural Balance duck meat food.

ETA: Taste of the Wild comes in puppy, too.

insertclevername · September 2014

My friends that have dogs which are like their children use Taste of the Wild and Blue Buffalo.

NotSharknado · September 2014

I was thinking this

NotSharknado · September 2014

ScoutNumbers05 said:
Are you a Costco member? We like the Kirkland's Nature Made seafood formula. My dog is gluten intolerant, so we need grain free foods.

We get seafood because she fancy.

We're Sam's club members and they carry Kirkland brand, right?

Unknown · September 2014

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NotSharknado · September 2014

ScoutNumbers05 said:

NotSharknado said:

ScoutNumbers05 said:
Are you a Costco member? We like the Kirkland's Nature Made seafood formula. My dog is gluten intolerant, so we need grain free foods.

We get seafood because she fancy.
We're Sam's club members and they carry Kirkland brand, right?

I thought Kirkland was just Costco.

Blue Buffalo FREEDOM puppy is grain free.

It has an above average ranking, which is good: https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/blue-buffalo-freedom-dry/

The link wouldn't work for me, is it this one?

RayRay007 · September 2014

I use Boka but I think it's Canadian and probably not widely available in the US. My dog has been sick the last few days so I just bought a case of Royal Canin gastro diet (soft). That helps them recover from gastro issues and can help you transition to a new food once you choose one.

skepticals · September 2014

I second Orijen, and the cheaper (but same quality) version Acana. They have never had a recall, and can tell you exactly which area of Canada down to the farm that the ingredients come from. Orijen is pricey, but I've found Acana is just as good and easier on your bank account

Mags748 · September 2014

insertclevername said:
My friends that have dogs which are like their children use Taste of the Wild and Blue Buffalo.

My friend is a vet and we just had the food discussion last night. She mentioned these two by name. I use Canidae and she said that is pretty good too. My other friend uses Iams and my vet friend said it's not the worst but it's not great. I have always been told to make sure that meat is the first ingredient and that corn is just a filler and should be avoided if possible.

Mags748 · September 2014

ScoutNumbers05 said:
Are you a Costco member? We like the Kirkland's Nature Made seafood formula. My dog is gluten intolerant, so we need grain free foods.

We get seafood because she fancy.

My vet friend also mentioned this as a good one

DocMcStuffins2 · September 2014

This is NOTSHARKNADO lemme sign in my sn

NotSharknado · September 2014

cmeon_the_water said:

There are several great brands mentioned here, but, one thing that makes a difference for big (and bigger) puppies is calcium levels. GF formulas make calcium levels surge, for some reason- and while excess calcium (and phosphorous) aren't much of a problem for small-medium breeds, they can be really bad for larger breeds who are still developing.

Give me a few minutes, I'll be back with a link to a spreadsheet with large-giant breed puppy appropriate formulas. We are feeding a white label GF food manufactured by Ohio Pets- a local vet carries it- it's pretty economical and comes in 3 different GF formulas, we rotate them bag by bag.

How much is Daisy weighing these days? We keep the boys on the lean side of healthy, they are about 50 lbs at 5mo (and again, lean- we could easily stack another 10lbs on them without it going into obese territory), which is on track for being 90-120lb dogs, so this is really important for us. If she's on the smaller side, it may not be worth worrying as much about- but, labs are generally included in the discussion as they share some of the same bone growth issues giant breeds are prone to.

She's 30lbs and 5 months in a few days. I'm not sure if she's on the smaller or bigger scale

NotSharknado · September 2014

I put her back on the rice/ground beef for now but I went ahead and had Dh pick up Blue Freedom

NotSharknado · September 2014

cmeon_the_water said:

Okay, I found that quicker than I thought I would, but, here ya' go. It's broken up into grain "inclusive" (does not equal bad food, but, we generally choose GF)/grain free/raw.

The spreadsheet isn't exhaustive, but, it does give you a place to start. We really liked Nature's Variety, we fed it to the dachsies for years and might include it in the rotation soon. Not a fan of Innova foods- their creator/old owner, Naturapet sold out to P&G a few years ago and there have been recalls (and frankly, I don't trust that P&G won't fuck up a good thing).

Darn, it's not coming up for me.

NotSharknado · September 2014

Also? Since I put her back on her bland diet can I just transition her onto the new puppy food from that? Or do I need to transition her from her iams?

Unknown · September 2014

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janda426 · September 2014

MrsGiantPenis said:
@cmeon_the_water‌ can you just tell me what I should feed my giant boxer/American bull dog? I've learned more from this post than the ridiculous amounts of research I've done haha. Obviously I have more reading to do.

This. I have a 60 pound staffordshire terrier and can never seem to find a conclusive answer on what to feed her. She's overweight and we don't give her that much food, take her on a walk every day idk what to do. If it's the food we're giving her or what..

Yeah I know, ask the vet. But I don't wanna pay for a vet visit just to ask him how to get her to lose weight

Unknown · September 2014

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nanabanana06 · September 2014

I really like www.dogfoodadvisor.com it's really nice and user friendly. I've bounced around a bit due to Ein's bladder issue's, but my favorite kibble brands have always been Orijen, Acana, Evangers, and Fromms. I try to steer clear of anything made by Diamond food company. They typically have some of the worst meat handling facilities and their brands have a ton of recalls. Corgis get fed like large breed dogs as puppies due to their bone growth. Regular puppy food is generally loaded with calcium and phosphorus. This isn't great for large breed growth. So, there are large breed formulas or just do an All Life Stages food. We do an ALS food. Anyways, now we're back to feeding raw (which I love and highly suggest). Elsa didn't tolerate Honest Kitchen. Too veggie heavy and it made her poop a ton. So, we're back on raw and feeding K9Naturals. Which is fabulous and from New Zealand. I try to go with either New Zealand or Canadian dog food companies. They have far better standards than our own.

My cats though do eat Orijen and love it. :P

NotSharknado · September 2014

I've learned to take what my vet says with a grain of salt. He's the one that told us Iams was good.

nanabanana06 · September 2014

Most vets get paid to sell certain foods too. You gotta just do your own research or find a vet with similar views. Like, my vet and I are completely on the same page when it comes to diet. We've done pretty much everything to keep Ein off one of those crappy prescription diets. She advocates feeding raw and hollistic brands. However, it really comes down to doing your own research. It does help if you have a hollistic pet store though. Maybe look one up.

Unknown · September 2014

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pinkoptimist · September 2014

We used to feed our dog Blue Bufallo, but switched to Natural Choice.

Unknown · September 2014

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nanabanana06 · September 2014

MrsGiantPenis said:

Most vets get paid to sell certain foods too. You gotta just do your own research or find a vet with similar views. Like, my vet and I are completely on the same page when it comes to diet. We've done pretty much everything to keep Ein off one of those crappy prescription diets. She advocates feeding raw and hollistic brands. However, it really comes down to doing your own research. It does help if you have a hollistic pet store though. Maybe look one up.
Am I crazy for remembering you live in WA? Did I make that up? @nanabanana06‌

Yup, I do live in WA!

Unknown · September 2014

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NotSharknado · September 2014

Okay, so this is probably a weird question, but if I wanted her on the more muscular side, what would I need to do?

nanabanana06 · September 2014

Feed her the appropriate amount of food and exercise her often.

NotSharknado · September 2014

cmeon_the_water said:
As opposed to chubby or as opposed to skinny?

Unfortunately, it's the same old crappy answer to human body condition- exercise and a properly maintained diet. Yay! LOL

Now, too skinny is just not a lab issue (of course, she's going through some belly stuff and might be a little underweight now- but, she'll bounce back quickly). It is really, really easy for labs to get plump, especially spayed females, if they are fed too many calories in a day and aren't getting regular exercise. But, you do have to watch your exercise, especially if her hips are in question at all (you don't know her parent's hip rating), you don't want to do a lot of long walks or jogging. I know she wasn't doing great at the walking thing the last time we "talked" about it, but, how is she doing now?

Swimming is still great, as long as the weather permits, and just running around in the backyard (grass is better than concrete/asphalt on joints) is great- I let my 7yo get them going, they love to chase him.

I have certainly kept the hip dysplasia in mind. As of right now I know what her limits are as far as walking/jogging. For example, I knew I over did it one time when she started limping after a very long walk. Right now I try to keep it at about 20 mins. She gets 2-3 walks a day and we play retrieve a couple times a day. Our yard is huge so she's probably running a few acres during retrieve. So excercise isn't lacking, lol.

Behavior during walks is a toss up. Sometimes she's great and others she's a maniac. However, I see little signs that gives me hope. Like stopping and sitting instantly when I stop. After a little sniffing I'll say "okay, c'mon" and mostly comes. She knows she has to sit before we cross the street too.

NotSharknado · September 2014

I only ask because I mostly see overweight labs and I'd like to avoid that at all costs. I saw one (male) at the park and I was impressed with his physical appearance.

argonne · September 2014

My 9yo Weim and 8yo German Wirehair thrive on Canidae Pure lamb. We were on Canidae all life stages, but grain free works better for our pups. They both still run 20+ miles per week with me and are still going strong.

nanabanana06 · September 2014

Many overweight labs are due to the fact that many dog owners have a tendency to free feed as well as feed a very low grade food. So, it would end up being like sticking a kid in a buffet that only served ice cream and McDonalds all the time. Your going to have fat dogs that way. No matter what the breed. Add in inactivity and your just asking for obesity and hip/knee issues.

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Guys help me out. What's the best natural dry dog food.

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