How would you rate these dog foods?
My dog is itching like crazy and I strongly believe she is allergic to her food. I have found four foods that I am considering trying with her. I am not looking for suggestions because I am on a tight budget (college!) and these are all in my price range and are the finalists after an extensive search… I am not giving brand names because I don’t want that to influence decision… here we go. Rate these foods from 1st choice down to 4th choice… Bonus points for reasons why.
Food 1
Lamb Meal, Ground Brown Rice, Oatmeal, Ground Grain Sorghum, Poultry Fat (preserved with natural mixed tocopherols, citric acid, and ascorbyl palmitate – a Vitamin C ester), Ground Flax Seeds, Natural Flavors, Linseed Meal, Dried Beet Pulp, Potassium Chloride, Dried Kelp, Choline Chloride, DL-Methionine,Yucca Schidigera Extract, Natural Antioxidants,Vitamin Supplements (E,A,B2,B12,D3), Niacin, Calcium Ascorbate, Calcium Pantothenate,Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Inositol, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Folic Acid, Biotin, Zinc Proteinate, Zinc Oxide, Ferrous Sulfate, Iron Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Proteinate, Manganous Oxide, Cobalt Proteinate, Potassium Iodide, Sodium Selenite, Rosemary Extract.
Food 2
Chicken, Chicken Meal, Ground Brown Rice, Rice Flour, Chicken Fat (Preserved With Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid), Dried Beet Pulp, Rice Bran, Oatmeal, Natural Flavors, Flaxseed, Dried Egg Product, Fish Meal, Brewers Dried Yeast, Salt, Canola Oil, Potassium Chloride, Dried Cheese Product, Dried Skim Milk, Garlic Powder, Yucca Schidegera, Dried Kelp, Peas, Carrots, Celery, Beets, Parsley, Lettuce, Spinach, Lactobaccillus Casei, Bifidobacterium Thermophilum, Enterococcus Faecium, Vitamins: Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Thiamine Mononitrate (Source of Vitamin B1), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Source of Vitamin B6), Riboflavin Supplement, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Minerals: Zinc Polysaccharide Complex, Iron Polysaccharide Complex, Manganese Polysaccharide Complex and Copper Polysaccharide Complex, Copper Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Cobalt Carbonate, Sodium Selenite.
Food 3
Lamb Meal, Ground Rice, Rice Flour, Rice Bran, Poultry Fat (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Flaxseed, Canola Oil (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Natural Flavors, Dried Egg Product, Dried Beet Pulp, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Chondroitin Sulfate, Vitamins: Choline Chloride, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Ascorbic Acid (Source of Vitamin C), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Thiamin Mononitrate (Source of Vitamin B1), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Source of Vitamin B6), Riboflavin Supplement, Folic Acid, Niacin, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Minerals: Zinc Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Cobalt Carbonate, Sodium Selenite.
Food 4
Chicken, chicken meal, whole grain brown rice, white rice, cracked pearled barley, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), oatmeal, beet pulp, egg product, flaxseed, natural chicken flavor, fish meal, salt, potassium chloride, choline chloride, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, niacin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.
Again I am not looking for suggestions… Just rate these foods please!
Tagged with: beet pulp • calcium pantothenate • cheese product • chicken meal • egg product • grain sorghum • ground flax seeds • ground grain • lamb meal • mixed tocopherols • natural flavors • peas carrots • potassium chloride • potassium iodide • pyridoxine hydrochloride • rice bran • sodium bisulfite • source of vitamin k • vitamin c ester • yucca schidegera
Filed under: Foods With Vitamin D
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Food 2
Food 4
Food 3
Food 1
Food 2 being the best, food 1 being the least.
Personally, if I can’t pronounce it, I’ll try not to eat it.
I cannot recommend feeding any of the commercial varieties of meat-flavored baked paste with chemicals added. Instead, why not feed your dog actual food? The dog’s natural diet is raw meat on the bone. Try it. The dog will love it, the diet will help him teethe properly, satisfy his need to chew, keep his teeth clean and his feces innocuous.
http://www.rawmeatybones.com
http://www.rawfed.com
http://www.rawfeddogs.net
http://www.rawfeeding.net
http://www.barxx.com
http://www.rawlearning.com
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/groups.rawfeeding/
Blue buffalo is by far the best dog food out there…and it’s not too pricey. stay away from anything that has cornmeal in it, that is the worst thing you can give your dog.
I do not like any of these ingrediants.
* Chicken is one of the most common source of allergic reactions from dogs
* In any ingredient, meats should be the 1st and 2nd on the list (The most quantity ends up first)
* TOO MUCH GRAINS! Dogs are CARNIVORES!
I recommend the BARF diet for allergy prone dogs + vegetables.
http://www.gopetsamerica.com/dog-health/barf-faq.aspx
http://www.wellvet.com/feedingdogs.html
If you cannot afford quality dog food, I don’t think you should own a dog.
The ingredients you listed sound pretty poor.
I don’t care, I’m listing my choices for you and your dog’s benefit.
* Holistic dog food brands are VERY recommended for lower grains and more QUALITY meats
* Brands : Solid Gold, Orijen, and Blue Buffalo are VERY good.
If I had to choose one to feed my dog it would be the 2nd one!
But once you can afford it you could switch to Nutro, EVO, Innova, Blue Buffalo, or Orijen:)
Lets go with brands Iams number one. Had goldens and it was a good food highly recommended by my vet
Science diet good pricey as iams basically the same but Iams was good enough and other breeders recommended the iams but science diet is good too
And purina They really put a lot of research in there foods and think they do a pretty good job.
Those are the top three in my book. raw foods in meat can give your dog the famous salmonella bacteria and that coli. So i don’t recommend raw meat hope that helps dave. P/s. to not upset your dog digestive system it best to change foods slowly.
Realistically most dogs are allergic to: Beef, chicken, lamb, dairy, other poultry.
Food 4 or food 1 wouldn’t be bad for a non-allergic dog, however, it contains chicken/lamb a common allergen. Are there any fish, venison, or rabbit based foods available in your price range.
Food 3 contains vitamin c– dogs synthesize their own so this is a questionable ingredient to add.
Food 2 adds brewers yeast which is not nutritionally warranted
To my friend above: dogs are OMNIVORES, like people meaning they can eat a bit of everything without it hurthing them. CATS are obligate carnivores.
Grains are not bad for animals. An all meat diet isn’t actually a natural diet for a canine at all.
2 or 4! Because of the fat, 2 & 4 use chicken fat, the others are poultry fat, which leaves a HUGE window as to what poultry they are referring to!! Plus both 2 & 4 have two meats in the beginning ingredients, and since they go by weight, you will be (your dog) getting a food with more meat then the others. Also, chicken is easier to digest! Good Luck, hope I helped!! I just read 2 & 4 again, I would choose 4!!!! I think I know what brand it is, because I’m forever researching and reading dog food label’s.
4 best
2
1
3
Out of those choices I would suggest 2 it has real meat and seems to have less preservatives than number 4. But half of that stuff I have no idea what it is.
I know you don’t want suggestions but you can waste allot of money trying to find cures when the vet could tell you a cure.
I have always heard that lamb (not lamb meal) is a better base for allergies in dogs
I would rate the 4th food as the best because the first two ingredients are chicken and chicken meal. That is very good unless your dog is allergic to chicken. There is no corn, which is also good because it is hard to digest and could cause the allergy problem.
I would look for something with less items in them, as most of those have things that the dog could be reacting to. If I had to pick it would be 2 or 4 but I know that flex and beet is in both so I would have to pass on those also. In those the first 2 in both are a meat protein. followed by grains.
How queer – the people recommending good foods get a thumbs down and the one answer recommending a crap commercial dog food gets a thumbs up. Are the pet food reps lurking tonight? This is the second question this has happened on tonight.
Anyway, I try and stay away from foods that have "meal" as the first ingredient, and definitely stay away from beet pulp. It’s a cheap, high-sugar filler. I mean, I’m looking at all four of your ingredient lists and they all look like garbage foods to me. The one saving grace is that I’m not seeing any corn here. If I had to rate a best one I’d go with the second or fourth ones as the best, because they don’t contain citric acid (which can cause gas in dogs) and they list chicken and not "meal" or "by-product" as the main ingredient.
You couldn’t pay me to feed any of my dogs any of these foods.
The first 3 ingredients should be real meat, not meat meals or by-products. The main meats should be fish, beef, or lamb. Chicken can cause allergies in dogs. Rice is a filler! And rice is used for dogs who have loose stools or upset stomach, too much rice (which these have) will cause hard stools in your dog. Beet pulp is also a filler. You have two fillers! With two fillers within the main ingredients all you’re getting is fillers. You’re not going to fill your dog up, therefore you are going to pay MORE in the long run by how much your dog will eat of it compared to a wholesome protein filled food, or your dog will starve.
These are just terrible foods. Well better than a lot… But still I’d find a different food.
I would chose either 1 or 3. Anything that lists multiple forms of the same ingredient (ex: Ground Rice, Rice Flour, Rice Bran like #3) is just another way of saying that there is a lot of that ingredient in it. I like #1 the best because it is made with brown rice (whole grain, more fiber than white rice) and has flax seed in it, which is good for the skin and coat because it contains omega 3′s. Food #3 does have glucosamine and chondroitin in it which is good for the joints.. especially good if your dog is a breed that is prone to hip/joint problems, like larger breeds are.
To get the largest amount of protein you want to go with a food that lists the protein in a meal form (such as lamb meal) as the FIRST ingredient. Mealed protein is ground dehydrated meat, which since the ingredients are listed by weight means that the meat itself (not water in the meat, which adds to the weight) is the #1 ingredient prior to cooking. If the protein source is just listed as, lets say chicken, it may weigh more before cooking, but once that meat is cooked and the water is mostly gone it may very well weigh out to be the 2nd ingredient by weight.
I wouldn’t choose #2 or #4, because chicken is another form of protein that is not well tolerated by a lot of dogs. I just did a bunch of research for my own dog on this because she has the same issues: very itchy but also lots of gas and loose stools on occasion. I was feeding her food from the grocery stores, brands that I thought were good because I saw commercials for them and whatnot – like Iams (which used to actually be a quality food, not now) and Purina (which tends to have some scary ingredients, like "meat and bone meal" — no thanks, you can keep your mystery meat). Until I did my research and weeks of debating what to do finally decided on not buying brands that I was familiar with. They advertise, which means they are spending money on putting themselves out there and printing colorful bags for their food instead of spending it on putting quality ingredients in their food. I decided to buy from a farm/home store or a pet store.
I know you explicitly said no suggestions, but I am in your same situation. I am also a full time student who lives on their own and works a full time job. Money is tight, believe me…lol. I switched my dogs to Diamond Naturals, lamb meal and rice formula. 40# for around $30, which is around 75 cents per lb, which is actually cheaper than the grocery store brands which come in at around $1 per lb (which is probably partly to due to the advertising or flashy packaging costs) . Total turnaround – my dog seemed less itchy, and the digestive issues stopped.
Anyways, I hoped this helped. Those above clearly haven’t researched this topic. Meal does sound sketchy until you know what it really is. Just make sure when you switch them over, do it very gradually – over at least a month of mixing the 2 foods together.
**Rice is not going to make your dog constipated unless your dog is afraid of drinking water. It is fiber, which keeps everything moving in a regular manner. Unlike corn, dogs can tolerate rice. Dogs are not carnivores, they are omnivores. Even if you were to cook your dog’s food yourself, it is recommended that you add a bit of "roughage" like SOME raw veggies, to keep the digestive tract moving. Everything in moderation.
**MAIN ingredients are what is listed before the fat source…. ingredients like died beet pulp and the vitamins and minerals (that some uneducated people may not be able to pronounce, which does not make them bad for you or your pet) that are listed after the fat source are not main ingredients. They make up a tiny portion of the food…. aka they are not fillers.
Well if your dog is suffering from allergies i would not feed him any food with grains. Try either "Orijen", "Acana", "Taste of the Wild", "Evo", or "Wellness Core". I do know that Flax, Rice, and Yeast can cause allergies in some dogs and noticed that all those foods you listed has either Flax, rice, and yeast in it. And of the foods i recommended, "Taste of the Wild" is the least expensive.
Sound like a good food but it is never enough. I have a puppy myself and a vet told me that the best thing you can ever do to your puppy or adult dog is to get multi-vitamin supplements. I am currently using Pet Bounce, since my dog is taking Pet Bounce I have seen a great improvement in his energy and he look very healthy. Here is the link to their website. CHECK IT OUT TODAY.
the dog foods that we use are certified organic as we do not want to use those dog foods contaminated with chemicals`.*
i always look for those calcium fortified dog foods because they make my dog healther ,’-