Globalpaw.com Dog Forum » General Dog Concerns & Questions » Dog Nutrition and Dog Food Forum

[Jamila]

Im looking to change my kids food. I was thinking Nature's Choice. I didnt find it on the recall list. I want to get something that Petsmart carries since I work there and can get a discount.

Any advice?

[Sheltiemama]

With all of the recalls that have happened in the last few years I'd check not only the ingredients but also who MAKES the food.
There have been several discussions about this on other boards where it has been stated that they don't clean the machines between processing one grade of dog food and changing to another higher grade of dog food.

I'm not an alarmist but I don't trust those big conglomerate pet food manufacturers to have sufficient safety proceedures in place to prevent another big mistake...

[Doglover1988]

I have recently started feeding Nature's recipe which my dogs do great on and it is at petsmart and affordable.

[IceyBlueSibes]

I've been thinking about switching my dogs to the Nature's Recipe... haven't fully decided though because I don't want to throw my guys back into the state they were in with the other foods. But I don't feel its a "down grade".

I was reading a lot of things online the other day about Canidae "outsourcing" their production to Diamond's factories. They have also "improved" their formula, but I don't think I've come across the new bag yet. I'm just not really sure...

I did find out that Diamond manufactures a lot of the higher end foods as well like Solid Gold, Chicken Soup, Natural balance, etc.

Many people are worried because of "quality control", and that they were involved in a recall two years ago. I guess they had many recalls under the MENU foods list. But none last year? I don't know I haven't found out a lot about that yet.

But I don't want to throw my guys for a loop. I DID feed it a few years ago and my dogs liked it. We just switched back to something else and found out about Canidae.

Wow, sorry for hijacking this thread lol

[Doglover1988]

My dogs LOVE natures recipe and have done very well on it. No loose stools at all. Lucy also had what I think were allergy problems from the previous food she was very itchy. Now not at all. They also have very small firm poops, soft fur, and less shedding. I would really recommend this food.

[Jamila]

shoot I meant to put Nature's Recipe. ugh!

[Doglover1988]

hehe well if you do decide to feed Nature's recipe that is a good choice I think. It is a good food for the price. The flavor you get is up to you. I get the lamb and rice formula in the 40 lb back since I have 4 dogs. I was feeding nutro which had corn gluten and chicken and I believe Lucy was allergic to it. It caused her to itch constantly till the point that she had sores. Now she doesn't itch at all, it has no wheat or corn in it which can be harmful to some dogs. This food was recommended to me from someone on another forum who has 8 dogs who all do well on this food.

[Shmee]

We are currently using Merrick's Campfire Trout Feast. It's quite the expensive food in my opinion, ($45.00 for a 30lb bag of the stuff) but my JRT's seem to do well on it. I have also tried Blue Buffalo. The dogs seem to like the flavor of the Blue alittle bit more than the Merrick. Blue even smells better (to me anyway). I also liked the Dick Van Patten's All Natural variety, but the local store was out of it last time I looked. Blue and the All Natural will probably be my next choices. Regarding the Merrick.. It seems the dogs will only eat it if they know they really wont be getting anything else for the day. (They get scraps from time to time). I do leave their bowls out most of the day as they are not committed eaters with any dry food i've ever given them.

[Dangels]

I currently feed my babies Science Diet Large Breed Adult. That's the type of food that my vet suggested I give them, and all of my dogs have done very well on it. Seems to keep them at a good weight (can be hard to find a food that does that with Great Danes which tend to be lanky), and it keeps their coats looking nice. I used to feed Diamond High Energy Adult, and my dogs did well on that also. I had tried Canidae several years ago because another breeder I know had told me that her Great Danes did very well on it, however I didn't think that my dogs did very good on it, so I switched back to what I was feeding them.

Another food that my vet talks very highly of, is Bil-Jac. I've never tried that food because I can only get really small bags around here, and my dogs are so large.

[IceyBlueSibes]

Well, I'm not sure if we are going to continue to feed the Nature's Recipe. We did a very slow switch with all of them. Stools are solid, but a couple of them have been throwing up, and for no apparent reason. Most of them seem to have quite a bit of undigested food when they throw up.

SO, I'm going to keep an eye out and see if it continues. If it does, then we will go back to Canidae.

Dangels - Did you know that most of the reason Vets recommend/push Science Diet is because they make profit from it? Most vets have little knowledge about dog nutrition. Most danes I have come across at doggie day care are fed Innova and Solid Gold. They do very well on it.

I will never feed my dogs Science Diet. I did once in the past many years ago, and a couple months ago I tried it because I had gotten a bag for free and we had just moved. First time I had no knowledge of why my vet consistantly pushed the SD. Never ever again... my dogs coats became very thin, they were throwing up nearly every day, they weren't eating (for some that is a very big red flag), diarrhea and itch itch itch. I felt terrible for doing it.

Not trying to bash you for feeding, just telling my experience with SD. I don't care for it at all. I've come to a point where I won't even feed our fosters the SD. We just give them what our dogs are eating.

[Doglover1988]

sorry about the throwing up. Mine don't ever throw up unless they get into something. Hope it works out for you.

[Dangels]

Dangels - Did you know that most of the reason Vets recommend/push Science Diet is because they make profit from it? Most vets have little knowledge about dog nutrition. Most danes I have come across at doggie day care are fed Innova and Solid Gold. They do very well on it.

I will never feed my dogs Science Diet. I did once in the past many years ago, and a couple months ago I tried it because I had gotten a bag for free and we had just moved. First time I had no knowledge of why my vet consistantly pushed the SD. Never ever again... my dogs coats became very thin, they were throwing up nearly every day, they weren't eating (for some that is a very big red flag), diarrhea and itch itch itch. I felt terrible for doing it.

Not trying to bash you for feeding, just telling my experience with SD. I don't care for it at all. I've come to a point where I won't even feed our fosters the SD. We just give them what our dogs are eating.

Hmm, i've never heard of anyone having such a bad reaction to Science Diet before. I don't purchase any of my dog's food from my vet directly, as she only sells Iams, which I will not feed my dogs.... guess i've just heard a little too much about the testing that Iams does on dogs. One of the main reasons that I switched from Diamond to Science Diet, was because I heard it was a good quality dog food, and it has the proper amount of Protein for Great Danes. Diamond also has the proper amount of Protein, and my dogs did good on that, but I was told by my vet, and several other breeders that Science Diet was a lot better quality, so I switched. My dogs seemed to do a lot better on it, and it seems to keep their coats nice with a lot of shine. However, I am always trying to improve things for my dogs, so I will look into the brands that you mentioned. The main thing that I have to watch for with having Great Danes is the Protein level. They must be provided a food that has 24% or less Protein, feeding an amount any higher than that puts them at a high risk for getting Wobblers Syndrome. But, I will definately be looking into some other brands, as the experience that you described with feeding Science Diet to your dogs, sounds pretty darn scary....

Thanks for the information!

[Doglover1988]

What type of Science diet do you feed? Some are better than others. Some of it has Corn as the number one ingredient and some has Lamb meal as the number one ingredient. There are far better foods out there then SD though. I wouldn't feed it to my dogs.

[IceyBlueSibes]

I know all dogs are different as far as how well they do on foods. I've seen some dogs on the SD that are gorgeous (soft shiny coats, good build, etc) and I've seen some that do terrible on it (dry, flaky skin, dry fur). I guess it just all depends on the dog.

Lindsey - that's interesting that you bring that up. I don't always pay attention to the first ingredient alone... I look at the first 4. That usually tells you what the food is mostly composed of. The first ingredient is normally what the food is mainly made of. I avoid anything with corn (in any form), and by products.

The way I look at it, is like your human child eating McDonals for the rest of their life, or a good quality meal.

[Jamila]

Yeah I also look at the first four or five ingredients in my food, my dogs, my cats and even my rats food. I have also heard of vets pushing SD or what ever brand they sell cause they do get money from it. But I know a dog who has been on Iams all her life and she is around 15 years old and still kickin'.

I have made the switch to Nature's Recipe and all has been going well so far. I have them on the senior formula because Fallon is older and Lucky needs the amino acids from gelatin that promote healthy joints.
Talena was a bad farter on the other food and that has seem to calm down A LOT! All their stools look fantastic. It was funny the other day my friends and I were eating out and had this great conversation on our dogs stools and the food they eat LOL I'm sure the people around us loved to hear all about it.