I'm feeding Purina puppy chow to my puppy and was wondering if Good Life Recipe, or Wellness are any more natural Any advice is wellcome

Purina is bad, and so is Good Life Recipe. Anything you can buy at a big box (Wal Mart, Target, grocery store, etc.) store is going to be bad for your dog.

As a general rule, dog food should have NO corn products in it what so ever, and 2 of the first 5 ingredients should be a whole protein meat source, like chicken, lamb, buffalo, venison etc.

There should be NO animal by products in it either.

Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul is imo the best nutrition and price you can feed your dog.

Ok that is good to know but where can I get it I've never heard of it or seen it before and about how much dose it cost? I'm still in High School and I don't have a lot of money so I have to be carfull how much I spend and on what.
I Love my puppy and would like to feed her the best I can.

Chicken Soup will cost more then Purina, but because it's a higher quality dog food and filled with essential nutrients rather then fillers, you won't have to feed as much as you would with Purina dog food.

Here is a list from their website of where to get it, and the food is about $1 per pound.

http://www.chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com/dealer_locator/

Wellness is good too, but it's more expensive. Neither are really dog foods you can find in Petco or Petsmart. I have to go 30 minutes out of the way to get my dog's food. But the money and the time is well worth it b/c your dog will have a high quality dog food.

I understand your dilemma. I battled with what to feed my dogs when money was tight. I feed my dogs Nutro. You can get it at PetsMart. I feed them the venicen or the lamb which are both really easy on their stomachs. It is more than anything that you will get at Wal-mart but it is not unreasonable. I did Authority, PetsMarts brand for a long time. It is decent and a great price. If your dog does well on that I would say Authority would be a great compromise for you. Good luck!

I feed my older dog Nutro Sensitive Stomache as it is the first and only food I've found that doesn't give her horrible, atomic-bomb-type gas. I did a fair amount of research on dog food because of the issues Nutro is having with production (I used to feed my Border Collie Nutro Lite). Nutro really is a good brand to feed, but I found Blue Buffalo and AvoDerm were also more 'premium'. They have actual ingredients instead of all the stupid by-products of other brands. I feed my Border Collie Blue Buffalo Lite now. It fills her up a lot better than Nutro ever did, meaning I have been able to feed her, at 67 lbs, 2 1/2 cups of food per day and she is satisfied... That is, as long as Tasha (who is on Nutro) doesn't leave any tasty morsels in her dish...

A 15 lb bag of Blue costs around 20 dollars I think and lasts me about a month. I forget how much Nutro costs...

However, there are better foods than these. I would love to be able to feed Ember the top of the line stuff, but that tends to be several dollars per pound, and I simply can't afford that. Dehydrated foods are, from what I understand, the next best thing to homemade (otherwise known as BARF) diets.

Well, hope this helped!

I feed Nutro and I'm looking to switch. My Danes have the most rank gas ever known to man. The only other time they've had gas like this, was when they got rancid pork out of the trash.

I'm looking to change and am seriously considering Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul. If it's more convenient for me, I may go with Blue Buffalo or another "PETSMART premium," or if someone could offer some insight, I'd like to go with raw... as it seems a lot more natural to me.

Raw will be more expensive but is relatively easy to do I just added you on myspace so you can shoot me a message there about raw if you wanna.

I had some stupid lady from an adoption agency tell me it will give my dogs worms. Good to know the human grade fresh chicken I feed apparently contains worms -rolls eyes-

That's what some crazy lady at work tells me...

I told her that the only problem with worms I have is when I go hiking and the dogs come acrossed wild animal or stray cat poop.

She told me I'm a nut.

Oh well. She can shove off.

i would love to know why worms generally larvae of flies and other insects that lay eggs in BAD ROTTING flesh are doing in my fresh human grade meat. Yes there can be a small amount of worms in ANY food product. It is just as likely there is something harmful in kibble because um it's processed and generally not using human grade ingredients.

Apparently common sense doesn't occur to these people.

http://www.howtodothings.com/pets-animals/how-to-try-a-raw-food-diet-for-dogs
http://geocities.com/jeffs_tripe/feeding.htm

I'm bad and occasionally like my beef WAY undercooked. (I love my steak browned, but still mooing.)

I don't have worms. Why would my dogs? (Actually, Gatsby does have worms right now. He's got an appointment to check for those other than Tapes. Moron has been snuffling around the yard and eating stray cat poop again.)

I feed my dogs Solid Gold, and several breeders and rescuers give their dog Solid Gold. It's a holistic dog food, and it is great. My dogs don't eat as much with this one, and they poop much less! They also get some can Wellness. I've heard their dry is good too, but my dogs were fed Solid Gold by the breeder, so I have stuck with it. I have only found it at specialty pet stores, not the big chain ones. you can go to their web site and check them out.
http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/

Solid Gold is good, but it's way overpriced... and I'm finding that I can feed my dog a raw diet, which is actually better, for less.

I like Solid Gold, because the original founder created it and it actually helped extend the life of her Great Danes. She had absolutely beautiful Danes... but again, they charge WAY too much for that stuff.

If you have the money and don't have the time or want to deal with feeding raw, Solid Gold is definately worth it.

You're right, Solid Gold is a little pricie, but I think it is worth it. When you compare how much your dog eats of this food in comparison to the wally world brands, you will find that it really isn't that much more in the long run, as they don't need as much of this one as they do the lower brands. I have priced other higher quality foods too, and they are pretty close in price. Here is a bit of information I got from a rescuer on rating your dog food. It was an eye opener for me. Hopefully ya'll will find it helpful.

How to Rate Your Dog's Food

You will need your kibble's list of ingredients, as found on the bag (or often times their website). Please note, however, this is for ingredients ONLY.... so before feeding a pup be sure to look at the protein and fat and calcium and calories in the Guaranteed Analysis.

Start with a grade of 100:

For every listing of "by-product", subtract 15 points

For every non-specific animal source ("meat" or "poultry", meat, meal or fat) reference, subtract 10 points

If there are no specific meats or meat meals, subtract 25 points

For every grain "mill run" or non-specific grain source, or grain "middlings", subtract 10 points

If the food contains BHA, BHT, or ethoxyquin, subtract 15 points

If the same grain ingredient is used 2 or more times in the first five ingredients (i.e. "ground brown rice", "brewer’s rice", "rice flour" are all the same grain), subtract 5 points for each occurrence

If the protein sources are not (specific) meat meal and there are less than 2 meats in the top 3 ingredients, subtract 3 points

If it contains any artificial colorants, subtract 5 points

If it contains ground corn or whole grain corn, subtract 3 points (subtract 5 if corn is listed in the top 5 ingredients)

If the food contains any animal fat other than fish oil, subtract 3 points

If lamb is the only animal protein source (unless your dog is allergic to other protein sources), subtract 2 points

If it contains soy or soybeans, subtract 5 points

If it contains wheat (unless you know that your dog isn’t allergic to wheat), subtract 2 points

If it contains beef (unless you know that your dog isn’t allergic to beef), subtract 1 point

If it contains salt, subtract 3 points

If it contains corn syrup, molasses, or other added sweetener, subtract 10 points

Extra Credit:

For every different specific animal protein source (other than the first one; count "chicken" and "chicken meal" as only one protein source, but "chicken" and "turkey" as 2 different sources - do not count egg, cheese, or other similar ingredients), add 1 point

If the food contains 3 or less different mentions of grains (or other high-carb plant-based foods like potatoes), add 5 points

If any of the meat sources are organic, add 5 points (if the number 1 ingredient is organic meat, add 10 points)

If the animal sources are hormone-free and antibiotic-free, add 3 points

If the food is baked not extruded, add 5 points

If the food contains probiotics, add 3 points

If the food contains fruit or vegetables (NOT corn or other grains), add 3 points

If the vegetables have been tested for pesticides and are pesticide-free, add 1 point

If the food contains barley or oats or oatmeal, add 1 point

If it contains sunflower, hemp, flaxseed, or other polyunsaturated vegetable oils, add 3 points (add 5 if it is the #1 fat)

If the vitamin and mineral sources are chelated, add 5 points



94-100+ = A

86-93 = B

78-85 = C

70-77 = D

<70 = F

Here's how some major popular foods rated:

Eagle Pack Holistic: 119
Wellness Super5Mix Chicken: 117
Eagle Pack Natural: 94
Eagle Pack Large and Giant Breed Puppy: 94
Flint River Ranch: 92 (non-specific fat source)
Nutro Chicken, Rice, & Oatmeal: 85 (non-specific fat source)
Eukanuba Large Breed Adult: 83
Iams Large Breed: 83
Science Diet Large Breed: 68
Pro Plan All Breed: 68
Pedigree Complete Nutrition: 42

Timberwolf Organics Lamb and Venison-136 points A+
Solid Gold Bison-123 points A+
Innova-117 points A+
Eagle Pack Holistic Chicken-114 points A+
Chicken soup-113 points A+
Iams Lamb Meal and Rice-74 points D
Eukanuba Natural Lamb and Rice-87 points B
Nutro Natural choice Lamb and Rice-85 points C
Science Diet chicken adult maintainance-45 points F
Bil-Jac select-37 points F
Canidae-119 points A+
Natural Balance Duck and Potato-114 points A+

Pedigree Adult Complete-14 points F
Ol Roy-9 points F

I really dont get wat im suppose to buy for my dog.

I have an old english sheepdog thats about 9-10 weeks old.
the breeder used to feed iams to the dog but i heard its not that good for the dog so i dont want to feed it.
im trying to find brand that is really good for the old english sheepdog puppy...!!

HELP..!!

Iams is not a good choice. There are some good options on here. I feed my dogs Wellness and Innova EVO. Some people like Solid Gold or Chicken Noodle Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul. Some are more expensive then others, but it's all great dog food. Of course, feed your dog puppy chow.

Beware when feeding some large and giant breed pups plain puppy chow. Sometimes it's a LOT better to feed them adult kibble. I know that some breeds, like Great Danes and Mastiffs, are affected by the high protein and can develop pano ("wandering lameness"). Just a tip.

The chart above, that I posted earlier, is a great way to see what is best to feed your dog. All of these brands have puppy food. If you look at the last half of the chart, there is a list of already rated foods, just look at the higher scores and choose from there. You'll notice the Solid Gold has a good high rating, and so does the Wellness and Innova. These are excellent food choices. The vet that is on the today show often, Dr Halligan, feeds her dogs Wellness and Innova. If I was choosing again...I would probably go to the Wellness...mainly because it is easier for me to find!! (hey..Talltail....do your dogs poop less on the wellness like mine do on the Solid Gold...just wondering...)
I got this list from a major rescuer up north, and she knows what she talking about, as she has had to nurse many a sick dog back to good health, and the best dog food is the best to feed them.

Yes, but I'm trying to point out... while the foods are good and safe for the dogs, a lot of large and giant breed puppies cannot be fed high protien foods.

It causes pano. This is when the high protein content causes the dog to sprout too quickly.

Large breed puppies can get away on large breed food, but a lot of large and giant breed pups should be fed either CONTROLLED GROWTH dog food, or ADULT LARGE or ADULT GIANT breed food.

I never said that the foods weren't good. I said that puppy food wasn't appropriate for a lot of large and most giant breed puppies.