I need help choosing a new dog food

Jay Bagley

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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.
Like I said it's all good. I've read a lot of your post, you seem to really know what you're doing and you take great care of your tortoise. Since this is a dog food thread, we can pick this up the next time a Mazuri debate comes up lol.
 

daniellenc

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Like I said it's all good. I've read a lot of your post, you seem to really know what you're doing and you take great care of your tortoise. Since this is a dog food thread, we can pick this up the next time a Mazuri debate comes up lol.
Yeah he’s on Mazuri strike until he embraces all my fresh weeds. I gardened and he’s eating it!
 

Redfool

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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.

In the town next to me is the 108,000 sqft American Muscle Car Museum which is owned by Mark Pielock. He has over 250 muscle cars that have to be worth many millions. He made his fortune not by making dog food but as a chemist who developed just dog food flavoring. I for one am not a dog owner but I am old, retired and on a small fixed income. Hopefully will never have to refer back to this thread.
 

daniellenc

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It depends on the dog. My lab who died at 17 had to be grain free as well as my current Pitt bull who has super skin allergies. However, my GSD who did schutzhund would have suffered without grains because she burned a lot more energy and needed the extra fluff. @Tom is correct on many levels. The grain free craze has its merit in some ways. Raw and grain free which my Pitt gets is great for allergies. Corn which is the #1 filler in dog food is a GMO nightmare for humans and animals. But corn non GMO is a great source of glucose and energy. In a young growing dog who is active or working energy is needed. Injuries, lethargy, problems keeping on weight, and lower performance will occur. Look for foods where protein is #1 on your ingredient list and then look for grains and if they’re organic. We don’t feed our torts pesticides right? We’re an organic household here and also do little cow dairy. Working in healthcare and coming from a farming family I’m comfortable with my stance. Agriculture has gone to a hot place. It’s all about volume and you need chemicals to produce what us and our animals consume. Do you have a Costco there? Kirkland actually makes a solid dog food on the cheap!
 

Melis

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I feed Purina pro plan for my 3 chihuahuas. They all have access to dry during the day and then my 3.5 pound little one gets canned twice a day with her medications. Her cardiologist recommended it. She has heart disease but has also had pancreatitis in the past. We have found this to be a good balance of protein, sodium and fat.
 

lisa127

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I feed Purina pro plan for my 3 chihuahuas. They all have access to dry during the day and then my 3.5 pound little one gets canned twice a day with her medications. Her cardiologist recommended it. She has heart disease but has also had pancreatitis in the past. We have found this to be a good balance of protein, sodium and fat.
Pro plan is what I fed my Chihuahuas as well when they were on dog food. I couldn't leave it out though. They are pigs and don't know anything about portion control!
 

ZEROPILOT

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In the town next to me is the 108,000 sqft American Muscle Car Museum which is owned by Mark Pielock. He has over 250 muscle cars that have to be worth many millions. He made his fortune not by making dog food but as a chemist who developed just dog food flavoring. I for one am not a dog owner but I am old, retired and on a small fixed income. Hopefully will never have to refer back to this thread.
I think I'd be afraid to know what a dogs REAL favorite flavor is.
 

Oahu’sHuman

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I have two dogs, Victoria (6 years old, Yorkie mix) and Aurelia (Almost 6 years old, Maltese mix) and they both eat a prescription diet from the veterinarian because of a surgery to remove bladder stones but it’s safe for both of my dogs.
I previously fed them Blue Buffalo and it almost killed my healthy puppy Victoria a few years ago. It was a terrible experience. I know a lot of people have no problems with it but for us, it was a nightmare. Victoria became so lethargic after eating it for a while. It can cause severe diarrhea which leads to dehydration and lethargy. My little dog was laying on the floor, unable to move and urinating all over herself. After taking her to the vet and changing to another food, she made a full recovery! The veterinarian also told me that any chicken products not made in the US (for example Milos Kitchen treats) are a danger to dogs and to always avoid them.
I hope this helps!!!
 

CarolM

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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.
We get Purina here in the SA and I will need to look and see if we get the pro-plan one as well. My cat prefers the purina brand to any other brand. My female dog is sensitive to what food she eats. She starts scratching if the food is the wrong type. So as a consequence we have been feeding her "Vets choice sensitive" but this is only available at specialised pet stores or the vet and is pricy.
 

Briannesmith1

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It looks like I'll try out the Pro Plan.
I still have enough Nutro Ultra that I can wean her off of it and do a transition over.

I use Pro Plan for my Rottweiler, if she has developed an allergy they have a sensitive skin kind or even a weight watchers (which I use haha) I think you will be please with them.
 

Tom

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We get Purina here in the SA and I will need to look and see if we get the pro-plan one as well. My cat prefers the purina brand to any other brand. My female dog is sensitive to what food she eats. She starts scratching if the food is the wrong type. So as a consequence we have been feeding her "Vets choice sensitive" but this is only available at specialised pet stores or the vet and is pricy.
One of the reasons we went with ProPlan is because it is available world wide. I can get it it anywhere. When I was in Cape Town for 4 months in 2005 they delivered about 10 bags of ProPlan to my Inn for me on two occasions. You should be able to get it there.

I use the chicken, but they also have a beef and a lamb and rice version. Hopefully one will work for you.
 

CarolM

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One of the reasons we went with ProPlan is because it is available world wide. I can get it it anywhere. When I was in Cape Town for 4 months in 2005 they delivered about 10 bags of ProPlan to my Inn for me on two occasions. You should be able to get it there.

I use the chicken, but they also have a beef and a lamb and rice version. Hopefully one will work for you.
Great Thank you.
 

ZEROPILOT

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Suki started eating the Pro Plan canned food last week. She loves it.
I also have the toy breed hard food, but I'm weaning her off of the Nutro little by little. (Until I'm out of it.)
 

harris

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Good choice! I would not even think of ever feeding anything other than Pro Plan.
 
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