I need help choosing a new dog food

[ZEROPILOT]

My dogs have eaten Nutro Ultra dog food for several years.
I started about 6 years ago when my dog developed what we thought was a food allergy. And now that that dog has passed away, our new dog still eats it.
She is a teacup Chihuahua. All of 2.8 pounds. She eats a small scoop of dry ADULT TOY BREED food that she takes all day to eat. And one third of a package of the "wet" Nutro pate. Twice daily. This seems to work because her weight is about perfect.
Recently, Nutro has become harder and harder to find. And when we can find it, it's the wrong size pellet or for senior dogs, etc.
Our primary pet store sells Blue Buffalo and products by Merrik.
I know nothing about these.
Can anyone give me some information on some truly good food for my little friend?
Cost is unimportant. Quality is my concern and since ALL BRANDS claim to be the best....
Thank you.
Ed

 

[Yvonne G]

It's kind of expensive but I've been using Taste of the Wild for Misty ever since I got her. She's about 3 or 4 now and besides she loves it, she seems pretty healthy and has a nice coat. Also, it comes in three different flavors, which satisfies the human about poor dog eating the same thing day in and day out.

 

[wellington]

I feed Blue Buffalo. It's not cheap but you can now find some of its varieties at Menards and grocery stores. Of course not the variety I need.
Any way, look at their site and compare it to some of the other brands.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I'll be comparing ingredients I suppose and not trusting flashy labels.

 

[daniellenc]

Taste of the wild here and amazon has great prices.

 

[daniellenc]

It's kind of expensive but I've been using Taste of the Wild for Misty ever since I got her. She's about 3 or 4 now and besides she loves it, she seems pretty healthy and has a nice coat. Also, it comes in three different flavors, which satisfies the human about poor dog eating the same thing day in and day out.

It comes in more than three now and my dog loves all. Grain free and cheaper than most with similar ingredients plus free shipping on Amazon!

 

[lisa127]

The taste of the wild food has a much better reputation than blue buffalo, though I have no personal experience with either.

I have a chihuahua and a chihuahua mix. They are now on home cooked food. Mostly because my other dog requires it so I make it for them too. When I did feed them dog food I fed them pro plan.

Is your chi picky?

 

[katieandiggy]

I am in the U.K. and I feed James Wellbeloved. I checked on amazon and I think it’s available in the US although I’m not sure how the price compares to others.
All of my family feed it, and we have several breeds of dog, mainly Toy breeds and all have lived long healthy lives.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

The taste of the wild food has a much better reputation than blue buffalo, though I have no personal experience with either.

I have a chihuahua and a chihuahua mix. They are now on home cooked food. Mostly because my other dog requires it so I make it for them too. When I did feed them dog food I fed them pro plan.

Is your chi picky?

No.
She's not picky at all.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

If I had to feed kibble, TOTW (taste of the wild) would be my choice. I have friends that feed it and love it.

Ever looked into a raw diet? Not everyone is up for it, I get that. But it's still an option you could consider. At only 2.8lbs, those would be such cute little meals to prepare

 

[Tom]

The dog food industry is more full of BS and non-sense than any other industry I know of. For decades the marketers have been lying, exaggerating and trying to confuse buyers into buying their product. There has been a campaign of misinformation that rivals American politics. One company used to offer us $5 for every bag we sold. What brand do you think was suddenly the best brand out there and top seller at our store?

All of the premium kibbles are good, and much like Mazuri tortoise chow, reading the label and studying the ingredients will lead most people to the wrong conclusion. Who here feeds Mazuri tortoise chow? If I handed you a new product that you'd never heard of with that ingredient list, would you feed it to your tortoise? Yet we all know its a good food that produces great results.

After decades of side by side feeding trials in a kennel with 30 dogs, I found Purina Pro-Plan to deliver the best results and fewest problems. Results will vary by dog. Every food we've ever offered was a problem for some percentage of the dogs and they needed something different. Pro-Plan was fine for all but two of the dogs. In the past, a third to half the dogs had to be on special foods because the main food didn't agree with them.

Buyer beware. Its a confusing mess and a pack of lies out there. Look for a company that has done AAFCO approved feeding trials. Blue Buffalo and Taste of the wild have not. Their foods sound good on paper and they pay me a lot of money to do really nice looking commercials for them, but they have done no feeding trials to see how their foods actually perform in the real world with real dogs over the long term.

This was my wife's industry for nearly 30 years. 13 years as a vet tech and then 15 years as a veterinary sales consultant for Purina. She is the one who drove around educating the doctors about nutrition. She hasn't worked for Purina for over a year now and we still feed Pro-Plan to our dogs by choice because I believe it to be the best food for my dogs.

 

[lisa127]

The dog food industry is more full of BS and non-sense than any other industry I know of. For decades the marketers have been lying, exaggerating and trying to confuse buyers into buying their product. There has been a campaign of misinformation that rivals American politics. One company used to offer us $5 for every bag we sold. What brand do you think was suddenly the best brand out there and top seller at our store?

All of the premium kibbles are good, and much like Mazuri tortoise chow, reading the label and studying the ingredients will lead most people to the wrong conclusion. Who here feeds Mazuri tortoise chow? If I handed you a new product that you'd never heard of with that ingredient list, would you feed it to your tortoise? Yet we all know its a good food that produces great results.

After decades of side by side feeding trials in a kennel with 30 dogs, I found Purina Pro-Plan to deliver the best results and fewest problems. Results will vary by dog. Every food we've ever offered was a problem for some percentage of the dogs and they needed something different. Pro-Plan was fine for all but two of the dogs. In the past, a third to half the dogs had to be on special foods because the main food didn't agree with them.

Buyer beware. Its a confusing mess and a pack of lies out there. Look for a company that has done AAFCO approved feeding trials. Blue Buffalo and Taste of the wild have not. Their foods sound good on paper and they pay me a lot of money to do really nice looking commercials for them, but they have done no feeding trials to see how their foods actually perform in the real world with real dogs over the long term.

This was my wife's industry for nearly 30 years. 13 years as a vet tech and then 15 years as a veterinary sales consultant for Purina. She is the one who drove around educating the doctors about nutrition. She hasn't worked for Purina for over a year now and we still feed Pro-Plan to our dogs by choice because I believe it to be the best food for my dogs.

Agree!

 

[lisa127]

No.
She's not picky at all.

That makes it easy! My vets are wonderful vets that practice holistic care combined with conventional. And even with their holistic approach they feel much the same way that tom expressed. If feeding commercial food they recommend a mid level food as opposed to these supposed high end foods. Those high end foods I found to be too rich for a few of my animals anyway when I tried them. With my chi's the biggest issue was always if I fed dry and they ate too fast they would kind of choke and do that 'reverse sneezing thing. I had to moisten everything. Obviously with home cooked that's not an issue.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

The dog food industry is more full of BS and non-sense than any other industry I know of. For decades the marketers have been lying, exaggerating and trying to confuse buyers into buying their product. There has been a campaign of misinformation that rivals American politics. One company used to offer us $5 for every bag we sold. What brand do you think was suddenly the best brand out there and top seller at our store?

All of the premium kibbles are good, and much like Mazuri tortoise chow, reading the label and studying the ingredients will lead most people to the wrong conclusion. Who here feeds Mazuri tortoise chow? If I handed you a new product that you'd never heard of with that ingredient list, would you feed it to your tortoise? Yet we all know its a good food that produces great results.

After decades of side by side feeding trials in a kennel with 30 dogs, I found Purina Pro-Plan to deliver the best results and fewest problems. Results will vary by dog. Every food we've ever offered was a problem for some percentage of the dogs and they needed something different. Pro-Plan was fine for all but two of the dogs. In the past, a third to half the dogs had to be on special foods because the main food didn't agree with them.

Buyer beware. Its a confusing mess and a pack of lies out there. Look for a company that has done AAFCO approved feeding trials. Blue Buffalo and Taste of the wild have not. Their foods sound good on paper and they pay me a lot of money to do really nice looking commercials for them, but they have done no feeding trials to see how their foods actually perform in the real world with real dogs over the long term.

This was my wife's industry for nearly 30 years. 13 years as a vet tech and then 15 years as a veterinary sales consultant for Purina. She is the one who drove around educating the doctors about nutrition. She hasn't worked for Purina for over a year now and we still feed Pro-Plan to our dogs by choice because I believe it to be the best food for my dogs.

Thank you.
And it IS TRUE about Mazuri.
I know it to be a safe and good food. Even though it wouldn't seem to be on paper.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

That makes it easy! My vets are wonderful vets that practice holistic care combined with conventional. And even with their holistic approach they feel much the same way that tom expressed. If feeding commercial food they recommend a mid level food as opposed to these supposed high end foods. Those high end foods I found to be too rich for a few of my animals anyway when I tried them. With my chi's the biggest issue was always if I fed dry and they ate too fast they would kind of choke and do that 'reverse sneezing thing. I had to moisten everything. Obviously with home cooked that's not an issue.

Suki usually scarfs down her maybe 2 or 3 tablespoons of moist food twice a day as soon as I put it down.
The dry I also place down first thing in the morning and she picks at it during the day. Usually finishing it by the evening.

 

[ColleenT]

https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com

 

[Jay Bagley]

Reading and over-analyzing the ingredients in Mazuri is what almost stopped me from buying it. Glad I did my research here, and purchased some.

 

[daniellenc]

Reading and over-analyzing the ingredients in Mazuri is what almost stopped me from buying it. Glad I did my research here, and purchased some.

God here I am the purist trying to cut it out lol.

 

[Jay Bagley]

God here I am the purist trying to cut it out lol.

It's all good. Not me lol, I think it's a healthy addition.

 

[daniellenc]

It's all good. Not me lol, I think it's a healthy addition.

Molasses and corn. It puts on weight but not the healthy kind and for non fruit eating species especially must be not nice to the kidneys. I am on strike for now cause mine eats fruit and is being picky. He’s in tort jail.