Good dog food brands?

Question

I currently have 2 dogs, a 3 year old miniature poodle and a 2 year old pomeranian, I just read that excersize and food affects a dog's life alot.

So I was feeding them beneful, and found out that everything that is in it is junk, so I'm deciding to switch, is blue buffalo good? and is walking them both 4 times a day enough excersize?? The poodle is 7 pounds and the pomeranian is about 4.5 if that affects anything... I really love them and the are family to me...And i want to make their life as good as possible.

Thank you for your time!<3

Answer 1

Blue buffalo is a high quality brand of dog food. They also have a grain free option, blue wilderness.

For dog food in general:

avoid anything with corn, soy, wheat, colors, bht, bha, ethoxyquin, euthanasia drugs(website in sources), salt, brewers yeast, by-products, Menadione(RUN from any food containing this as ingredient)

Look for a food that has a specified meat source as its first ingredient. It is better if the second ingredient is also a meat. (Artemis is a great food to compare other foods with grains in them if you dont know what to look for)

Avoid too many grains.

High quality dog foods:

Evo(grain free)

Artemis-fresh mix and natural 6 mix

Merrick

Orijen(grain free)

Innova

Wellness core(grain free formula)

Timberwolf organics

Taste of the wild

Blue Buffalo

Foundations

Solid gold(Mmillennia and other varieties)

PHD Viand

Firstmate dog food

Chicken soup for the pet lovers soul(dont feed the light formula)For large breeds stick with the adult. made by diamond, a well known low quality company.

Canidae(new formula has more grains in it, non-specific sources and is produced by a well known low quality company, diamond)

Wellness adult formula(a lot of grains)

Fromm

Eagle pack holistic(not to be confused with reg. eagle pack)

Bench and field holistic natural canine

Nature brightlife and nature Organics

California natural(if you can afford it, go for the innova instead)

Canine caviar

Life 4k9

Natural balance Organic(A lot of carbs)

Natural balance ultra premium(better than organic version)

Low grade foods/Foods to avoid:

Petguard organic

Nutrisource(another version of nutro)

Lifespan(full of corn)

l**k your chops

Karma(Way too many grains even if it is organic)

Evolve

Drs. foster and smith

Addiction foods-wild kangaroo and apples(flaxseed too high on list, look for something else if possible)

Della Natura - Wenaewe Adult(&quot;birdseed&quot;)

Purina

Science diet

Beneful

Pro plan

Iams

Eukanuba

Cesar

Nutro(involved in recall although if this is what you can afford, it is better than beneful)

Mighty Dog

Pedigree

Burns

Back to basics(corn)

Azmira

Anything found in a grocery store or vet recommended.

With richer foods, you have to feed less. If your pup starts having loose stool, try lowering the food and mixing in plain mashed pumpkin(not the pie filling).

Dogs are supposed to have meat, bones, and organs, preferably fresh, wholesome, and unprocessed. This is why many feed a homemade raw diet.

ww.rawfed.com/myths

www.rawmeatybones.com

www.rawlearning.com

A raw diet is typically cheaper than kibble worth buying.

For a dog fed raw, it is typically 2 to 3 percent of the dogs ideal body weight. If the dog is a pup(under 18 months for most dogs) it can be around 10% of the dogs current body weight(which sounds like a lot but it is around the same amount you will feed when she/he is an adult. Most raw feeders start at one percentage and adjust it as needed.

This site can tell you some great info about dogs and their diets. it is meant for the big dogs, but the forum welcomes dog owners in general.

http://www.bigdogsporch.com/index.php

Beryl J: Vets recommend foods for kickbacks, not for good nutrition. They recieve very little nutritional education in school and what little they do recieve is taught by a representative from a pet food company. Purina, Iams and hills science diet are they most common foods seen in vets offices, yet they are all c**p.

Tweekerkitty: The foods you listed are no where near high quality, although they are way better than beneful.

Chicken meal is actually better than just chicken in dog food/cat food. All it means is that the chicken was dehydrated before being mixed in, which means you get more chicken in the dog food.

With dog foods, a brand you have not heard of is typically better than a common high demand brand that you see in every petstore across the country. For example taste of the wild is uncommon, but it is one of the highest quality dog foods on the market today.

Answer 2

This website can help you choose the right food for your dog and budget http://www.ask.com/bar?q=how+to+grade+do... It has brands graded based on their ingredients.

I feed my puppy Wellness. There&#039;s no by-products, no rendered animal fats, no corn, no dairy, no soy, no artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, or dyes, no wheat and no sugar. My puppy loves this food and dances on his hind legs when I put it in his dish!

Answer 3

I&#039;ve never heard of Blue Buffalo.....I have two dogs one does really well on Iams dry mixed with a little water, he has been on Iams since he was eight wks. old he is now eight yrs. old and he has great skin and coat.  My other dog is on dry science diet and canned science diet.  Most dry dog foods make a smaller bite size for small dogs....I think any of the premium foods are probably pretty good, most certainly better than grocery store foods...the better quality food they get the less clean up you have to do after them too....You can always ask your vet for his recommendations of food.  The exercise sounds good to me...Sounds to me like you take wonderful care of your little ones.....

Answer 4

blue buffalo is much better than beneful...

Answer 5

Blue Buffalo is a great food and I feel like it&#039;s one of the better brands of food available in regular pet stores. I really like the lamb and rice and the pup seems to like it even better! She&#039;s about 4 months and jumps up and down when the food comes out. My cat also gets this brand and is super picky. Hope your dog enjoys it!

Answer 6

i have not heard of blue buffalo...but premium foods such as nutro, natural choice, avoderm, and natural balance (among others) are the best for your dog. look at the ingredients list - the first item listed is the item that is the most abundant in the food - avoid ones that start with corn! purina and most grocery store foods are full of extra fillers that your dog doesn&#039;t need. go with an all natural food, and look for real ingredients like chicken, lamb, or fish (not chicken MEAL), and veggies and fruits like cranberries and blueberries. the natural foods will give your dog the full range of ingredients needed to ensure proper health, and because there are little to no fillers, your dog will actually eat less b/c they are digesting more. which also means less doggie poo that you have to scoop! when you pick a food, go with an adult small breed formula to provide what your specific dogs need.  

Answer 7

Blue Buffalo is 100 times better than Beneful!

Kudos to you for caring about your dog&#039;s nutrition. :)

Below the double line is my general advice for choosing a good dog food:

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Read the ingredients before you buy.

Here is my &quot;short list&quot; of rules when I am looking at dog food ingredients:

1) When I chose a dog food, I chose one high meat content. I want to see preferably at least 2-3 out of the top 5 ingredients be meat or meat meal (first ingredient must be!). Meal is simply the meat with the moisture removed.

2) I want to see higher quality grains, such as barley, brown rice, and oatmeal, instead of seeing wheat and corn. Or an alternative starch/carbohydrate such as potatoes or sweet potatoes.

3) I don&#039;t want to see any byproducts.

4) I don&#039;t want to see a lot of fillers.

5) I don&#039;t want to see preservatives that are believed to be carcinogens (BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin).

6) I don&#039;t want to see artificial colorings such as the Red, Blue, and Yellow dyes.

7) I don&#039;t want to see added sugars (sugar, corn syrup).

8) I don&#039;t want to see mystery meats (meats identified only as &quot;meat&quot; or &quot;poultry&quot;.)

Here is an article about byproducts:

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?...

And an article on what ingredients to avoid:

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?...

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There is no food that is the *best*, different individual dog may thrive on different foods. What is best for one may not be the best for the next. And just because a food is good quality, it doesn&#039;t mean it will jive the best for your dog.

What you want to find is the HIGH-QUALITY food that *your dog* does best on.

Here are some examples of GOOD dog foods:

* Artemis Fresh Mix

* Blue Buffalo

* California Natural

* Canidae

* Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover&#039;s Soul

* Eagle Pack Holistic Selects

* EVO

* Fromm Four Star

* Innova

* Merrick

* Nature&#039;s Variety

* Orijen

* Solid Gold

* Taste of the Wild

* Wellness

* ZiwiPeak

Or check this website; the 4, 5, or 6 star rated foods are all good foods. http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_...

(For a puppy, go with a 4 or 5 star food, the 6 star foods are high-protein, which I feel is better suited for adult dogs.)

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Higher quality food may seem more expensive at first, but it evens out. The higher quality the food, the less fillers eaten (and therefore the less p**p comes out the other end). Your dog eats more of a low-quality food to try to get the nutrition it needs, and most of the food just passes right on through. Also, higher-quality food will make your animals healthier, so you save money on vet bills in the long run.

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What *NOT* to buy:

Stay away from grocery stores brands. They are low-quality foods chalk full of fillers, preservatives, dyes, etc.. (Grocery store foods are those like Beneful, Old Roy, Alpo, Pedigree, Purina, etc.)

Beware &quot;premium&quot; foods. &quot;Premium&quot; does not always mean good nutritionally, and is not a nutritionally high quality food. Most of these foods have the same types of ingredients as grocery store foods, just a bit better quality of those not-so-good ingredients. (Premium foods are those like Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Bil-Jac, Royal Canin, etc..)

Another thing to be wary of: A lot of vets will recommend what they sell in their office. They get profit from the brands they keep on their shelves, that&#039;s why they push it. Truth is, vet schools don&#039;t focus a lot on nutrition. It&#039;s not saying that a vet is a bad vet because he recommends those foods, a lot of vets just are told &quot;this is good food&quot;, so they pass the message along without proper nutrition knowledge. Also, some dog food brands (like Hills) support vet schools, so vets have heard of it from the time they start college, which makes them think it&#039;s good as well.

Hills company, the makers of Science Diet, are heavily involved in vet schools. &quot;Hill&#039;s scientists author more than 50 research papers and textbook chapters each year and teach at leading schools of veterinary medicine&quot; (Source of quoted section: http://www.hillsvet.com/zSkin_2/company_... )

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&quot;Big box&quot; petstores like Petco and Petsmart rarely have quality foods. (There are some higher quality foods at those locations, but most of the foods aren&#039;t.)

* Blue Buffalo

* Castor &amp; Pollux

* Eagle Pack Holistic Selects

* Natural Balance

* Solid Gold

* Wellness

Also, grocery stores and Walmart aren&#039;t good places to buy food either.

Your best bets for getting quality dog food are:

- small, locally owned petstores

- holistic pet food stores

- dog boutiques

- farm supply stores

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When switching foods, do it gradually. I do this over about a two week timespan:

1/4 food A, 3/4 food B

1/2 food A, 1/2 food B

3/4 food A, 1/4 food B

all food A

.