I follow a Facebook page called "Lone Star Dog Ranch". Along with their own very endearing pack of dogs, they run a dog boarding place as well as do rescues. Any dog would be a lucky pup to get to go spend some time there. Heck, I'd enjoy spending a day there! Recently the owner wrote a post about dog foods and how healthy (or unhealthy) they are for dogs. I have read articles online before, but there always seems to be so many opinions it just gets confusing on what you should feed your dogs.
She feeds her own dogs a raw diet of food. While most people (like me) don't have taking care of dogs their daily business and this just isn't practical. So, she wrote a very informative post about what are good dog foods to feed your dog with a link to some helpful info and ratings of dog foods.
Our older dog (and our dog of 14 year before him) has always eaten Purina One. Well, that food is pretty much crap, apparently. 2 stars out of 5. (though I will say he has always had the softest coat, whether that's from the food I have no idea). Our younger dog eats Blue Buffalo - put on when he was a puppy and we were trying to cure his itchiness. Better, at least and has 3 stars, but nothing great. She said she feeds the boarding dogs (when their owners prefer her to feed them while boarding and not bring their own food) Diamond Naturals. It has a 4 star rating. She also listed a couple others in the 4 and 5 star range that she would feed dogs.
I've decided I'm going to try out the Diamond Naturals dog food for our dogs. I was expecting that I would have to increase my dog food budget, but it would be worth it to know I am feeding them much higher quality (especially older dog) food. I was pleasantly surprised to find out this particular brand of food is actually cheaper than what I am currently spending. It is only found at feed stores in my area, but the price listed there is $32 for a 40lb bag! Online it was in the $40 range. It is higher in protein and lower in fat, which hopefully will be good for our older dog, who could stand to lose a few pounds and hates exercise.
I stopped by the feed store in my town on the way home and got a bag. Apparently they have baby chicks for sale.....it was a really big store and they must have been in the back as I didn't see them. I warned DH I might come home with baby chicks, too - haha!
I hope you have better luck than we did I. My cats ate this brand of dry cat food( which I thought was good) and one ended up with urine problems from it and has to be on a special food for the rest of his life. It has been a very costly mistake for our household buying this brand. Our poor cats health really suffered too. It was heart breaking to say the least. I felt so bad because all my cats hated the food and would hardly eat it, but I kept feeding it to them anyway thinking it was good for them. Then the one became really sick and I felt even worse. Hopefully your fur baby fairs better On it than mine did. Best wishes.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry for your kitties! That's what I really dislike about all this food comparisons - you read the reviews on a particular food and some love it and others say it made their pets sick. Like I said, we have had 2 dogs (one for 14 years) on Purina One with no problems, but then some other person will make a comment that it killed their dog and it's the worst food ever!
DeleteI know exactly what you are saying, there are good and bad reviews about every pet food it seems. I just wanted to share what my experience was. I've had pets many years and tried all kinds of foods and this was my first really bad experience. Guess I should have taken the hint when none of them wanted to eat it. Heck even my dog ( who loves to eat the cat food when he gets a chance to) wouldn't even eat it. Well he did eat it but didn't gobble it up like normal. Best wishes to you.
ReplyDeleteI did read that there are 2 different kinds of Diamond Dog foods. One is just "Diamond" and one is "Diamond Naturals". The first one only has a 2 start rating, while the Naturals has a 4 star. I am just starting to transition our younger dog. I've replaced 1/4 cup with the new food for the last 4 feedings now. No problems so far. Next I'll bump it up to a 1/2 cup.
ReplyDeletePurina ONE isn't crap. Better to feed a product with real meat as the # 1 ingredient from a company that actually does feeding trials before your dog gets it. Otherwise, your dog is the guinea pig. And then the formula has to be tweaked when owners complain because dogs aren't doing well on it. Diamond has had multiple recalls and don't even make their own dog food. People make me laugh.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's crap, either. Like I said we've fed it to 2 dogs for years. But, I have read several different articles on rating dog foods and it always rates very low on the scale in every article, so I'm sure there is better food we could be feeding our dog. So far our younger dog seems to really like the new food (I'm up to 2/3 old and 1/3 new). He is breaking the rules and coming into the kitchen as I am bringing the food bowls out to their feeding area, he wants his food so bad ;)
Delete