I feed my pack Nutro Natural Choice - either Lamb and Rice or Chicken, Rice and Oatmeal (I switch around). I live in a very small town - there are no pet stores here, and the local Grange does carry Nutro products. Mine have all done very well on the Natural Choice, shiny, soft coats, clear eyes and they've all been healthy. When I first got Romeo his breeder was feeding Purina Pro Plan, so I kept him on that for a while - he had constant ear infections - then the vet said that most ear infections now are caused by food allergies - so I immediately switched him to the Nutro - corn and wheat are major allegens for many dogs. It is the best I can get for them locally. When I can get to a Costco store (the closest is over 60 miles from here), I buy Kirkland, it has a good rating and it's about 1/2 the price of the Nutro. You will find that feeding a good quality food it will take less (my kids get 1 cup a day or less - depending on their size), split into two meals. There's also less clean up. You might want to check into a food with NO grains - by the way, if you notice, IAMS does not have a very good rating, and Science Diet gets an F. I have boycotted IAMS for years because of their research practices. If you consider Nutro, make sure you don't go for the Nutro Max, which does contain wheat. There are several very good foods that don't have grains at all - I just can't get them here. The Nutro is roughly $43 for a 40# bag, and they go through about 2 bags a month. Of course, if I'd let them, they'd eat a bag a week and still tell me they're starved - but there's not a skinny beagle in the pack.
IF you use dog biscuits, you might want to make sure they don't contain wheat, too. Wheat is usually the first ingredient in most dog biscuits. It might <span style="text-decoration: underline">not be the cause, but it's worth a try</span>. I've completely stopped giving dog biscuits to the kids, and have switched to saving a little of their kibble out as treats, or for special treats, I slice hot dogs VERY thin and dole out slices of hot dogs. With the kids, it's not the size of the treat, but the idea of the treat! Cheerios makes a good training treat, too. One of my clients gets commodity deliveries and she often gives me 2 lb boxes of cheese, which I cut into TINY cubes for treats too. Good luck! Don't they LOOK undernourished???
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IF you use dog biscuits, you might want to make sure they don't contain wheat, too. Wheat is usually the first ingredient in most dog biscuits. It might <span style="text-decoration: underline">not be the cause, but it's worth a try</span>. I've completely stopped giving dog biscuits to the kids, and have switched to saving a little of their kibble out as treats, or for special treats, I slice hot dogs VERY thin and dole out slices of hot dogs. With the kids, it's not the size of the treat, but the idea of the treat! Cheerios makes a good training treat, too. One of my clients gets commodity deliveries and she often gives me 2 lb boxes of cheese, which I cut into TINY cubes for treats too. Good luck! Don't they LOOK undernourished???
