How do you decide which food to feed your dog?

Question

The kind I feed my puppy was voted Editor's Choice by Whole Dog Journal in 2008.

It is a super premium dog food made with REAL CHICKEN!

How do you decide what to feed your dog? Do you just grab what is cheap or do you do your research?

Answer 1

Ask your vet. Plus dry is healthier for them than the tinned, and cheaper too. Never feed them table scraps, and NEVER feed them chocolate--it is extremely bad for their health. A dog or cat, is a living creature you have decided to be responsible for. Yes, do your homework. Read sites and talk to the vet.

Answer 2

I've done so much nutrition research for animals and humans that I actually know what each and every unpronouncable chemical ingredient is actually mad eout of.

I fee Castor and Pollux to my larger dog and the raw diet to my smaller dog. Raw costs a bit too much for me to feed the large dog right now.

Answer 3

my dog is reeeeally picky. ive tried like 10 different kinds of food with him till i found the one he likes, thats the one i buy. haha as for the expensive stuff i tried at first, he didnt like it....

Answer 4

science diet is the best formulated dog food, in both can and dry and you mix both.

Answer 5

When looking at the label on dog food check one thing..

In the ingredients the first item on that list is the main ingredient in the food. Normally pet foods put "Meat and Meat By Products" that means that they've just chucked all the meat parts together to make it first or second on the list (by byproducts I mean things like beaks, hooves, nails etc)

When feeding my dogs I like to do a bit of research before I get it, I'm also a fan of adding some pet mince into their diet every so often, it's cheap, good quality (from the butchers) and they LOVE it.

Answer 6

My dog eats steamed meat and vegetables. At least I don't have to worry about additives and byproducts that comes in commercial dog food. But once in awhile, I would give him dog biscuits.as treats. My dog likes Acana, which is the best holistic brand I can find at the moment in my small town.

Answer 7

well my dog gets really sick if one of the first five ingredients is yellow corn or cornstartch or something so thats what I go by. and I don't change foods often because my other dog doesn't have a strong stomach and he pukes alot when he changes dog food. he kinda has to get used to it. so thats what I go by. I just changed to kibbles n bits thats some kind with barely any corn stuff. so I hope this helps whatever your ? was cause I i kinda don't know what it was

Answer 8

I always do research on dog food, and always try to find something better then what he is eating, I used to work at a pet shop and I would always stress the importance of feeding your dog a proper diet. I would actually get people who would come and say well my dog is itchy and has really dry skin, I would ask them what kind of food they were feeding their dog, and they were like well I don't know I just grab what ever is on sale, I think that is just terrible and irresponsible

I feed my dog Solid Gold Hundenflocken, It has No preservatives, No artificial flavors, No Corn, No Soy, No by-products, No Salt, No sugar, No Wheat, it is a holistic all natural dog food, and he does really really well on it, his fur is so nice, and he does not itch.

It has to be made in the USA

It has to be healthy and not contain fillers and preservatives and has to have real meat in it, I don't want him eating c**p, I want him to have a long and happy healthy life, and a major part in that is feeding him healthy dog food.

Answer 9

I did a lot of research. (I don't just feed 1 thing, I rotate foods, and give a variety of dry, canned, and raw.)

My dog eats healthier than I do! I read the ingredients on everything she gets, both food and treats. I don't do that for myself.

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Answer 10

My dog has stomach issues that I discovered when he was about 3. I tried everything. But all were the same. He had bad gas, etc. I finally tried the Nutro Choice Oatmeal sensitive stomach formula. He loves it and it agrees with him.

Answer 11

I used to feed my dogs Super Premium dog foods.  Then I went to work at a feed store, only to learn that the dog foods being pushed as the best were actually the ones the owner made the biggest profits on.  I guess that made them "the best" in his eyes.  Then an ad by a company called Abady caught my eye.  It explained how you could have the number one ingredient  be real chicken, the number two some grain, number 3 some starch, number 4 some grain..and when you added up all those grains you ended up with waaaay more grain than chicken.  Some companies are now using sweet potatoes instead of grains.  I don't know if that's any better.  I have to ask myself, Did these people in the store or those who give awards in magazines actually go to college to study Canine Nutrition somewhere?  Do any colleges offer Canine Nutrition as a major?  So how do I know that they know what they are talking about?

Answer 12

Lots and lots and lots of research into a species appropriate diet.

The dogs and cats get fed based on what is on sale at the butcher's, what is at the front of the freezer and what they have eaten over the last few days.  I try to average out their food to about 70-80% raw meat, 10-15% edible bone and 10-20% offal/organ per week.

Answer 13

I definitely did my research. I'm still researching.

That's why I make my dog's own food.

When ever looking at commercial food for the pups FIRST thing I look for is absence of dangerous ingredients. I better not see and BHA, BHT, Ethoxyquin, Menadione Sodium Bisulfate, Propyl Gallate, as they all cause horrible health defects - cancer, liver diseases, reneal failure, etc

Next, I look for unnecessary ingredients artificial colourings, sugars, fillers and the like.

Then I look for quality ingredients. I want to see lactobacillus cultures, lots of  antioxidents (blueberries) lots of food that provide natural vitamins and supplements (cartilage, carrots, apples, spinach, etc)

Finally I look for meat content. While meat content is very important in the overall diet it is the LEAST important to me when I am looking at store bought food because it can be easily tweaked. I mean I can always buy extra chicken at the grocery store.

Answer 14

my german shepherds love nutro