Well, my dogs always eat Iams and I see it only got a One Star, and I can't afford to buy organic foods or yuppy brands for my own food, so I guess we're all gonna die-but at least we may go together. My neighbor feeds his dogs Old Roy, so he may end up in jail or something? His 4 dogs all seem to be in relative good health, but maybe that's because he supplements their dog food with things like hot dogs, bologna, ham ,etc?
Dog Food Information Sites
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I feed a good quality food, much better then IAMS and much cheapher then IAMS. I also feed less food to my 2 dogs (one 35lbs very lean very active beagle and one 60lbs, very lean and acive rouch collie) and a 40lbs bag lasts me almost 6 weeks between them, at less then 40 buck for grain free, soy free, real meat ect dog food.
sure a dog can live on ol roy, but give them a decent food and watch them thrive.
Until I notice some health issues, I'm sticking with Iams. Right now corn seems to be a big bad demon, but it is just a filler, and unless the dog has an alllergy I don't believe it's all that bad. In some human societies, corn is actually the mainstay of their diet. When I had breast cancer in the 90s everyone was pushing, soy, soy, soy, as the miracle food. Recently I've been reading where studies have shown that soy is not all that great and can actually be harmful. In the wild state, dogs ate a much diffeent diet than we feed them, but they also have a much different lifestyle. "By-products" were eaten on a regular basis by wild dogs. If all things were equal and I had a decent income, I would feed the Wellness brand to my dogs- mainly because it smells like I would be able to eat it and the ingredients look like a human could eat it! But I am poor and I believe that Iams is not a bad dog food, even if it only got a One star on someone's assessment site. My dogs are the correct weight and have a good coat and their stools are fine and they seem to be doing ok. And Iams is all they've ever been fed.
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Iams is owned by proctor and gamble which does needless animal testing. That is one of the reason many are against it.
What makes me mad is when companies dope people into buying their products and present it as good and then charging an outragous amount for it.
If a bag of popcorn is 20$ a bag but toted as healthy and complete would people buy it? Yea some would. Even though the exact same bag of popcorn is being sold at 2$ a bag without all the hoopla.
I think what lad was really trying to tell you is if your were concered about cost, there is healthier more affordable food availble. But if your happy then your happy.
I feed raw. I spend around 70$ a month for (cough) 6 cats and 2 dogs. Sometime smore sometimes less depedning on sales and such.
What makes me mad is when companies dope people into buying their products and present it as good and then charging an outragous amount for it.
If a bag of popcorn is 20$ a bag but toted as healthy and complete would people buy it? Yea some would. Even though the exact same bag of popcorn is being sold at 2$ a bag without all the hoopla.
I think what lad was really trying to tell you is if your were concered about cost, there is healthier more affordable food availble. But if your happy then your happy.
I feed raw. I spend around 70$ a month for (cough) 6 cats and 2 dogs. Sometime smore sometimes less depedning on sales and such.
I pay $36 for a 40 lb of Iams. What brand is comparable in price but better for the dogs? I would be willing to try it. I know the Wellness brand costs way more than that . Years ago I tried the Enova brand on my other dog and it gave her loose stools. All the gourmet brands are at least twice the price of Iams. But as I said if there's a better one for the price let me know. And it's my neighbor who feed his dogs Old Roy not me. PETA is the group who made all those cruelty accusations against Iams. In my opinion they are a radical group, and it has been proved that those accusations were not factual. Every dog food company, whether they ar owned by a human food chain or not are businesses trying to make money. But as I said if there's a better food in the price range I'm paying I will glady try it.
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Well its a know fact the PG does needless aniaml testing across the board, and they ae not the only ones. I am not against animal testing. I am against needless animal testing and cruel conditions.
And I will agree that sometimes if it aint broke dot fix it. But to avoid allergies and possible health effects late in life it's best to use a rotation diet as well. Even if it's just a finding another food that compliments Iams and feeding both at differnt times through the year.
The Evo brands ect- yes they will give loose stools. Going from a junk type food to a premiun high food can be rough. I fed my last dog innova a while before going raw. The first time I switch it was a mess. then about a year after that i tried again. I used digetive enzymes first then switched her over a 2 months time frame. After that she only ate 1/4 cup eachmeal to main tain weight and health.
I would look at Chicken soup brand, Costo brand, Diamond naturals to name a few off the top of my head. Decent cost effective foods.
And I will agree that sometimes if it aint broke dot fix it. But to avoid allergies and possible health effects late in life it's best to use a rotation diet as well. Even if it's just a finding another food that compliments Iams and feeding both at differnt times through the year.
The Evo brands ect- yes they will give loose stools. Going from a junk type food to a premiun high food can be rough. I fed my last dog innova a while before going raw. The first time I switch it was a mess. then about a year after that i tried again. I used digetive enzymes first then switched her over a 2 months time frame. After that she only ate 1/4 cup eachmeal to main tain weight and health.
I would look at Chicken soup brand, Costo brand, Diamond naturals to name a few off the top of my head. Decent cost effective foods.
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HI I have a Question about corn in dog food,
when I picked up our Beagle from the Breeder, she said, that Beagles sometimes
have allergies to Corn, my question is , how do you know?
and should I be buying food without corn, just because he is a beagle?
Also, He is 10 months old, he had been on the puppy formula that the breeders
recommended. Now he is gaining weight, my husband wants to get the store brand
regular food, I am willing to spend more, but need to be able to show him, the reason
why. My previous dog, was a mixed bread, he lived 15 healthy years, he weighed between
60-70.. most his life, at 11 years old I took him the the vet, and she looked
at his teeth, and said she thought by how good his teeth were, that she thought
he was around 3 years old, saying he had Great teeth, other than old age, he never had
health problems, we fed him purina one, and now because of this, Leo my husband wants
to get this for our Beagle. I am concerned because he is a different breed, and so much more
food motivated, than my previous dog.
Thanks for any suggestions and help, I have been doing some research, but am
lost still..
Marcia
when I picked up our Beagle from the Breeder, she said, that Beagles sometimes
have allergies to Corn, my question is , how do you know?
and should I be buying food without corn, just because he is a beagle?
Also, He is 10 months old, he had been on the puppy formula that the breeders
recommended. Now he is gaining weight, my husband wants to get the store brand
regular food, I am willing to spend more, but need to be able to show him, the reason
why. My previous dog, was a mixed bread, he lived 15 healthy years, he weighed between
60-70.. most his life, at 11 years old I took him the the vet, and she looked
at his teeth, and said she thought by how good his teeth were, that she thought
he was around 3 years old, saying he had Great teeth, other than old age, he never had
health problems, we fed him purina one, and now because of this, Leo my husband wants
to get this for our Beagle. I am concerned because he is a different breed, and so much more
food motivated, than my previous dog.
Thanks for any suggestions and help, I have been doing some research, but am
lost still..
Marcia
I feed a food from costco, its essentially pretty much the same as taste of the wild (I feed nautres domain I believe thats what its called)
If i was to feed iams, id surely go through atleast 60lbs a month, since it says I would need to feed about 3 cups to my collie a day. the beagle eats alot for his size (2 cups) but he is a growing boy, and ill start to lower the amount to about a cup eventually. my collie eats about 1.5-2 cups a day.
a better quality food, means feeding less food. less dog smell, less shedding, less farts, better teeth, better over all health.
Im by no means made of money at all. But I make sure to feed good quality, so I dont have vet bills for dentals, or have bad smelling dogs who shed a ton every where. plus like I said I feed less food this way as well
Thanks,Lad. My dogs eat about a cup and a quarter of Iams each a day. They both weigh around 16 pounds, although being different breeds, they have entirely different body builds. Each one is a perfect weigh for their build. The vet always remarks about their good, size weight ratio and defined, hour glass waists. Neither one sheds excessively, and neither has a strong body odor. They are both young-9 months and 6 months respectively. Their teeth are good, but they get rawhide chews regularly. I will check into this Costco stuff and compare ingredients. So far Iams is the only food they've ever been given. They also have nice formed stools and I haven't noticed much gas issues. The 40 pound bags of food last several months.
Well I did some checking of the Costco/Kirkland food on the internet. I found the ingredients for their chicken and rice and then I ran in the room and checked my 40 lb Iams bag. It's a full bag and was too heavy to drag into the computer room, but from what I can see the ingrdients were very similar except that Iams has corn meal and I know everyone thinks corn products are like rat poison. Anyway, most of the ingredients were the same. Also I looked on a couple of sites where people rated the foods and there was everything from people praising the food, to others blaming it for all the bad things you mentioned-hair loss, shedding, gas, etc and even some people said it was responsible for their dogs' near deaths! Same kind and amount of comments that you will see for every brand. It does seem like it is way cheaper than Iams, though. But I really think quality wise, it's very similar. I will find out where the nearest Costco is, how much I have to pay for membership fees, and then see if it would be any savings. If it is a significant savings I'll try it, but as I said I believe it's probably very comparable to what I'm now using-which I don't think is a bad thing at all.
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The best thing is to learn the ingredients and what they mean and find the best solution for your needs and pet. Here is a link.
DogAware.com: Commercial Dog Foods
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Started feeding my dog with the new Evo food products which are really good and nutritious for dogs.
I've been reading some of the back posts and I saw one that says dogs are carnivores. Dogs are actually omnivores as are humans. It is cats who are carnivores and they actually require more protein than dogs. It's true that vets and stores often push a certain pet food brand. For decades it was all Science Diet. But I have found several vets in the last few years who are the opposite. In fact they've all told me that Purina was just fine. Then someone said they don't study nutrition in vet school, which if it's true, is kind of weird! I even had to study nutrition in nursing school! The by-product thing doesn't disturb me too much because dogs in the wild will eat anything! I once had a dog that ate an entire rodent! As long as it's not the dead carcasses of euthanized pets (and that rumor circulates too.)
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this is a tricky one. Scientificly dogs are carnivours. They have onivore tendancies. Although they can eat other stuff they are classified scentificly as carnivores.
Canis familiaris - modern dog,
Canis familiaris, is a direct descendent of the gray wolf, Canis lupus.
Conservation status
Domesticated
Scientific classificationKingdom:AnimaliaPhylum:ChordataClass:MammaliaOrder:CarnivoraFamily:CanidaeGenus:CanisSpecies:C. lupusSubspecies:C. l. familiaris and C. l. dingo.[1][2]Trinomial nameCanis lupus familiaris and Canis lupus dingo[1][2]Synonyms
- Canis familiaris
- Canis familiaris domesticus
Carnivore vs. Omnivore
Carnivore vs. Omnivore (Protein or Carbohydrate)
All dog families as well as the cat are members of the Order Carnivora meaning they evolved as carnivores described in the scientific literature as a flesh eating predatory member of the animal kingdom. Has the dog diet changed that much throughout the years? Let’s take a closer look.
Wild dogs prefer to hunt in packs seeking a dog diet rich in meat sources in the form of small or large animal prey and occasionally are seen including berries, fruit and some plant parts in their diet. This behavior poses some ethical questions - are a few berries and plant parts enough to justify calling our canine friends quasi-omnivores and consequently justify the large amount of carbohydrate we find in almost every commercially prepared diet today?
The answer is No! Anatomically the dog is still a carnivore requiring a hight protein dog food. No one disputes this fact. Scientists also agree that physiologically the dog does not require any carbohydrate at all in its diet, as they are able to sustain normal blood glucose levels by metabolizing fat and protein into energy. Metabolically, the dog has a few characteristics of omnivores such as the conversion of carotene to Vitamin A, Tryptophan to Niacin, Cysteine to Taurine and Linoleic acid to Arachidonic acid. These are four out of the thousands of metabolic decisions made daily in the dog.
Are Dogs Carnivores… or Omnivores?
Myths About Raw: Are dogs omnivores?
Learn More About Dog: Carnivore or Omnivore & Dog Terminology
The Evolutionary Basis for the Feeding Behavior of Domestic Dogs (Canis familiaris) and Cats (Felis catus)
Both the domestic dog Canis familiaris and the domestic cat Felis catus are members of the order Carnivora
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I'm a former dog food salesman with 13 years in the business. I've seen fads come and go, visited untold dog food factories (not pretty), and listened to every sales pitch there is. My opinion is that almost all commercial dog foods contain ingredients your dog would never eat in the wild. It comes down to common sense sometimes. What I feed is a raw diet. Watch the video on this page.
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From my experience I understood that dogs delight to eat bully sticks (it's a sort of a Dog Treats) But I'm not sure about Homemade treats, Does anyone knows about this?
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