Marley_and_Chris

Well a few days ago I took Marley to the vet because he had loose stool. The vet gave him a shot and some pills for 10 days. I will get exact names of the meds when I get home. Also the vet told me to feed him the Hills Prescription Diet G/I health (i/d). Well is been afew days and his stool got better. So yesterday I began to mix in the food he was on originally EVO weight management and today his stool was runny again. I began to read the ingredients of the food and they are not all that good.

I went to my local pet store and was told about the California Naturals food. The lady told me they have 2 grain free foods. 1 is a venison meal formula and the other Lamb meal formula both grain free. I was wondering if anyone had fed any of thsese foods to their hound.

Sory for the long story, any input is greatly appreciated, thanks on advance!

Mr. Woofus

Woofus gets a mix of home cooked diet with a little kibble (to keep him acclimated). The kibble we use is California Natural. But unfortunately Proctor and Gamble bought them out (they now own EVO, Innova, California Natural, Healthwise, MotherNature, and Karma). I refuse to buy from them, so I'm going to switch. They've bought out other pet foods and completely changed the formula. I am now switching to Lotus duck formula. Whatever you choose, I would keep the protein levels down to about 25%-27%. I think EVO is too high for protein. Good luck on the hunt

Marley_and_Chris

Thank you. I was not aware that Proctor and gamble bought those foods. I will definitely look for other food. I tried looking online for the Lotus duck formula vut did not find much. Can you please send me a link where I could find it? Thanks in advance!

Marley_and_Chris

Actually I just found it, seems to be very good food, like the ingredients in it!

Mr. Woofus

I believe it is, as well that they bake their food which to me is healthier. I know others use Taste of the Wild as well. I'm sure others will chime in on their opinions. Also it's up to Marley on if he even likes it

Mikey T

Based on what? FWIW in an adult I personally would not feed a dog food that was less than 30% protein or less than 20% fat. But I have perfromance dogs. Higher protein levels have been shown to reduce soft tissue injuries and Fat is a much better energy source for dogs than carbs. It is vertually impossible to find a high fat lower protein diet so I would opt for high fat and go with whatever the protein level is.

Personally I would avoid just about every weight management food on the market. The only one I have ever fould close to acceptable is Royal canine as it is a high protein diet. Again studies show a high protein low calorie diet far better for weight control in dogs than the typical high carb diets of pet food manufactures use in weight management diets. A high protein high fibre diet improves weight loss in obese dogs


Should we decrease the protein level in the diet of an ageing dog?
Mythology of Protein Restriction for Dogs with Reduced Renal Function

FEEDING THE HIGH PERFORMANCE BIRD DOG
After explaining what and why I feed what I do it should have relatively little effect on what you feed. It is quite simple. What works for one dog under a specific set of circumstance will not work for another under the same or different circustances. You need to find what works for your dog. When Changing food buy the smallest bag possible and see how the dog does. Keep in mind if there is a big change in the ingredients and the percentage of the ingredients with a dog that has been fed a single food for a prolonged period if time it is going to cause GI distress if not slowly introduce. If the dog is fed a highly varried diet it can ajust to change more easily. I would caution about getting to caught up in ingredient list etc most of it is more marketing than having any nutritional basis, once you get past the first few ingredients the amount actual in the back ars so small as to have zero to negligable impact and most of what you read on the net about the danger of grain etc is just that myth with no bais in fact.

the best single article on dog nutrition on the webDog Foods
Help in making the choice easier

Mikey T

Too each their own but I personally would prefer to buy from a dog food manufacture that 1. actual owns ther own production facilities than subs out that basic function.

2. actual test and conducts basic research on dog nutrition rather than simply adds another marketing guy to the staff.


I feed P&G products on occasion in additon to high end dog food that are sold by companies that do not actual produce it. I think one of the biggest fallicies promoted almost univerally by the entire industry is "complete and balanced" There is simply not enough know about dog nutrition to make such a claim based on a six month feeding trial I much prefer to switch up brands, manufacture and ingredients to get a more diverse diet as is general recommend by human nutritionest to compensate for a lack of knowledge and to make sure nothing get to out of wack.

If you are more interestent in the marketing games and boogie man ingredients in the dog food marketing game see Learn check out all the articles in pet food myths and controversies

Marley_and_Chris

Thanks so much for this valuable info. I will deffinetly take a closer look at all the different foods and see what works for Marley.

fred'smom

we use infinia grain free turkey and sweet potato. This seems to sit well with Fred. She was on diamond puppy when we got her and we switched her to burns puppy which she loved, but did not love her back. We tried TOTW but it was too far to drive and often didn't have her flavor in stock, or had it in a bag much larger than I needed.

Infinia works great for Fred no more itching, EVERYONE comments on how soft she is, her poop is considerably better (only has the runs when we go to the dog park for some reason). We're going to stick with this unless we're forced to change. I go by what my dog does good on, you can buy the most expensive food on the market but what good does it do if your dog doesn't do well on it?

adiposestem

I'd tried it before and it was good. My dog's condition is just normal.