Dog food

[Lucky Me]

I used to highly reccomend Canidae, but after going through the Canidae formula change & trying other foods, I totally reccomend Natural Balance. There are all kinds of formula's with all kinds of prices,but I have found the "original Ultra" formula the best product for the price.
Like Canidae, it is a puppy to Adult formula. Don't know what to tell you with the growth problem though....I had 11 fat, healthy puppies.
It tends to go that the more puppies you have, the smaller they are at birth. Did you have a small litter?
I also supplement this with a little bit of a rice/chicken mix that I also throw in some peas & grated carrots....to this I add Missing Link.
I give this mix from right before she comes in heat till a bit after delivery...daily.
Since you have to watch with supplimenting with calcium during pregnancy,I am also going to try adding chicken necks this time as it is a natural form of calcium. It should not cause the problems that adding a calcium suppliment does.
Hope this helps!!

[Jac]

Since the melamine scare and the MANY recalls, I am very cautious...I used to use Canidae too...but was searching for something new...I tried Natural Balance and although my dogs seemed to like it for a while, they grew tired of it...and, frankly, I was concerned about all of the hickory smoked flavoring in everything...
I finally went back to Canidae.
If I only had one dog, I would cook for her or, better yet, I would feed raw.
But I have too many dogs to make that feasible so I continue to feed Canidae canned and dry. I was angry about the change in content too, but my dogs still like it and they are healthy...since it doesn't have a puppy formula, I feed the chicken and rice or all life stages.
California Natural is my second choice...

[Lucky Me]

My dogs had a hard time with the California Natural...I gave them 3 large bags to adjust....no luck.
Jac, did your dogs ever have a problem with the new formula of Canidae?
Tuesday just acted "off" when the Canidae change was make & I didn't really realize how bad she felt untll we went through the first bag of Natural Balance. She was like a puppy again.

[Jac]

Well, we feed half canned and half kibble so it may be that ours had/have the old forumla more. Once in a while we get the new canned...I can tell because they have gold caps and smell strongly of sage or something...also the canned food looks gooey...not like ground meat but more like potted meat. We don't get a lot of the new canned. I suspect that we get the newer kibble...I tried the Purina that Annmarie and Tink were talking about...it was pretty good, actually...no reaction and the dogs like it but they really got stinky breath so I worry...I have since started switching back to Canidae on the kibble. The dogs do fine on it. But I really think that a lot of their nutrition comes from the canned.
I supplement my pregnant and nursing mothers with cottage cheese, eggs, yogurt, things like that...and after the pups are born, I give one Tums in the morning and one at night...good source of calcium. (Never give it to a pregnant bitch.)

[MaxandMe]

max is so sensitive to high protein(like lamb) and high protein fillers we went thru 8 different dog foods

personally i say homemade is the best but being able to feed mine Purina and also give partial homemade works best for me
but i will say cooking is alot of work even if for two doodles.......as i cook separate meals for me and then DAVE and my son.
so i do lots of cooking.

some swear by Dick van pattern duck/potato, others by canidae, etc
I say whatever your dog is healthy on and tolerates well is the one to feed regardless as you can always add necessary supplements if needed

[Jac]

Well, let me put it this way...for our first 2 litters we bought (from the vet) Eukunuba (sp?) weaning formula...made just for weaning babies...sort of ground up dry kibble that you mix with water or goats milk...well, they were okay on that for two litters but one litter got really sick...I was afraid of parvo...really bad squirting poop, bad smell, low energy...one (4-5 week old) was playing one morning and by afternoon was listless, I rushed her to the vet and right before our eyes she was failing...the vet paniced and said she had never seen anything like it...they tested her, she was having kidney failure...and had very high bacteria in her blood...they put her on antibiotics and fluids and she got better, thank God...because they were so sick, I fed them boiled chicken and rice...and about then...the melamine dog food recall started...but they SWORE it was ONLY the wet packets of food...my husband, a biologist, said that the chemical reaction of the dry food we were feeding could change when reconstituted.
I called the FDA and they asked me a bunch of questions....take a look at the package, where was the food made? Somewhere in the US...now, look for tiny print, where was it really MADE? In China. They said to stop feeding it immediately.
They never got back to me...but shortly thereafter they began recalling dry foods, Eukunuba was one...no mention of the weaning formula...
I KNOW that we were feeding our babies melamine...after I started feeding good foods, they got better...all of them...when I started the weaning formula again, sick...I figured it out. Melamine!
Sooooo, to me it isn't about brands that are well respected or about vet recommendations...but on my own research and experience...and so I stay with the foods that I know are safe...and Canidae was never recalled, was never made in China...and I won't feed any that are made in China or that are not specifically made in the USA.
Check the FDA recall and it will give you a good idea as to which foods to watch...but be aware of the signs of illness...it is not always parasites. Choose a food made in the USA...and go from there.
My point...I don't put a lot of stock in dog food company claims. I feed a good, all around diet, pups and adults.

[CurlyTopLabradoodles]

I know this is a pretty old post, but since I'm new and reading the old postings, I thought that I would ad my thoughts.

I also started out using Canidea for my dogs. I liked it, but I was paying about $50 including tax for a 40lb bag. Then as you all know the formula changed and the size of the bag shrunk down to 35lb at the same price. So I searched around the net and found this rating system for dog food, link below. At the time I didn't even have a membership to Costco. My sister was the one who saw the Kirkland food on the list and started using it with her dogs. She had issues with the formula change, her dog's stool change from nice firm, to runny yellow. My sister's dogs did so much better on the Kirkland food, so I started using it too. About the same time the economy went into it's downward spiral, and every thing cost more. The Kirland brand is $23 for a 40lb bag. I don't use the puppy formula, we tried it once and the puppies had runny stools from it. We mix the canned and dry and ad an egg for expecting/nursing moms. We add warm water to canned mixed dry for the puppies. Everyone also gets yogurt for good digestion and grated carrots for a natural wormer. (we do also use safe guard for worming)

Thanks for the welcome, by the way.

http://www.the-puppy-dog-place.com/dog- ... tings.html

[Lucky Me]

Wow! This is a flashback....and a couple of brands/formula's ago.......
Janice.... we were just "enlightened" a short while back on a new discovery.....ethoxyquin.
post177165.html?hilit=scary!#p177165
I remember Kirkland being mentioned but I don't remember the out come on it... this subject caused me alot of stress as I was using Taste of the Wild (and LOVED it!)
I made a decision for the time being...Dog Lovers Gold $36 for 33lbs.
http://www.dogloversgold.eu/usa/index.html
along with some Evo mixed in and I suppliment this with raw & home made.
I'm sure this will change at some point too...... "sigh"
Never heard of carrots as a natural wormer.....but I give my pups big, fat carrots as a chew toys, does that work too?

Okay....went online and found this
http://dogfoodchat.com/kirkland-signatu ... t-formula/
This still does answer the ethoxyquin question however....

[Jac]

I couldn't remember if Kirkland was a problem or not, but when I checked the link at the bottom of Judi's post, I read two things that sent off warning bells...Manufactured by Diamond...and "fish meal" in the ingredients.
Diamond DOES use fish meal preserved with ethoxyquin. They claim that it is safe levels. But the research I have done says that ethox does not break down and is not flushed from the body so it builds up.
I won't feed ANY food with fish meal...none. I don't trust anyone, especially not dog food manufacturers.

[SamsonsMom]

UGH why is there so many issues with dog food? I don't have the time to homecook every meal - but I am certainly going to start supplementing to make sure the boys get everything they need.

I'm thinking that dinner every night will be homecooked. I've narrowed my list to alternating between cooked salmon, lean ground beef, and lean ground turkey. With a veggie. Samson seems to love carrots.

[CurlyTopLabradoodles]

Thanks for posting those links Luckyme. Very helpful.

As a side thought, does anyone ever wonder why the mice/rat population doesn't completely die out since they get cancer from everything?

Janice

[Lucky Me]

Found this today...... more on the dog food we feed! Sheesh!
http://www.drkarenbecker.com/nav_sets_04/set04.htm

Great site to navigate around....

[deepnite10]

Toby has a soft bite that he really has a problem with the large dog
kibbles..as a result i just get the adult small kibbles ..

He s also very picky about his food..The size of course..He like s the flat
one s too..And just when i think he s settled on one kibble he ll start
sticking up his nose to it..

It s gotten to the point that if he eats it..I ll get it, regardless of cost..It could be a cheappy from Wally or the Evo from the feed store..But, because he eats small partion s of high quality kibble..along with baked chicken..I ll cut each meal with a couple of those Kirkland dog bisquits..

[lindamarie]

Oh TOBY AND BOGIE! Our little "snob" doodles!
They think that just because they have to WORK, they're entitled to snub their nose at their food and me finnicky, picky!
Speaking of WORK...........does Toby ever back away from his working vest? There are days Bogart looks at me like "HEY! I am not working today!"
Now bring me another martini before my filet mignon and arugula!

[deepnite10]

Toby heats up too fast and the rest home enviorment is too warm for my liking..So he just wears his service scarf ..He acts just like a dog without it..but, when i say *time to work* and i bring out the vest you can really see his human qualities come out and he calms down awaiting the next command..

previously we were in the rest home 4 day s a week, and 1 day in a memory lost center..quite alot for a therapy dog..and you can tell when he starts to tire..

more recently i ve cut back the weekly visits down to 3 days a week and extending our stays..this seems to be working out better for both of us..

tonight i made up some rice and baked chicken, beef and gravy with some
egg noodles..and he stuck his nose up to it.

*I know* is should just pick it up and let him go hungry..But NOOOOO,
i put out some cheapo kibbles from Wally and milk bones from Costco and he ate it all up....im just glad he does nt have any food allergies..