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Best dog food and why:

12K views 160 replies 42 participants last post by  ridgerunrbunny 
#1 ·
#46 · (Edited)
HAHAHAHA. Actually, they don't 'need' meat, they need the high grade protein and then some core vitamins. Hmm, cant remember them now, and those vitamins are mostly found in meat. There is one vegan form that, if iirc, comes from shrooms.

Cats should never have dry, females can eat it safely, but males no. And most canned is so poorly made, well, no. The best canned is too expensive for me to feed to 5 cats. I tried the homemade raw, and only two like that, lol. I feed them canned and mix it up a lot, with human tuna, and chicken thigh/raw hearts & liver and I toss in some squash for hairballs! =)

Those cats loved the vegan food better than mouse, or canned foods. I really thought it would take me forever to swap them over, and keep them healthy. Noooo, one bite of the new food and that was it.

The dogs were harder to swap over. They looked at it, tasted it, and snubbed it, lol.

The one cat died at 18, and the other was 21 when she passed. My sweet babies.

They say vegan for cat is better than any purchased canned, i dont know. I just did it because i was vegan then. But making all the dogs food and hanging it all over the house to dry, then baking it.. ack what a pain.

I stopped making it that way and made waffles with it. Much easier, but then more teeth cleanings are needed.

The place i purchased my vitamins at used to be called harbinjersofanewage. Oh i just searced it, its vegepet now. Nice to see its still there.
 
#47 ·
HAHAHAHA. Actually, they don't 'need' meat, they need the high grade protein and then some core vitamins. Hmm, cant remember them now, and those vitamins are mostly found in meat. There is one vegan form that, if iirc, comes from shrooms.

Those cats loved the vegan food better than mouse, or canned foods. I really thought it would take me forever to swap them over, and keep them healthy. Noooo, one bite of the new food and that was it.

The dogs were harder to swap over. They looked at it, tasted it, and snubbed it, lol.

The one cat died at 18, and the other was 21 when she passed. My sweet babies.

They say vegan for cat is better than any purchased canned, i dont know. I just did it because i was vegan then. But making all the dogs food and hanging it all over the house to dry, then baking it.. ack what a pain.

I stopped making it that way and made waffles with it. Much easier, but then more teeth cleanings are needed.

The place i purchased my vitamins at used to be called harbinjersofanewage. Oh i just searced it, its vegepet now. Nice to see its still there.
Oh! :) That I interesting :-D
 
#51 · (Edited)
I said what I meant and I meant what I said.




I am just speaking from my years of wisdom and my associates words of wisdom. She founded the non profit animal adoption organization I foster under and she and I are both in agreement with the fact that grains have no use in canine or feline diet other than to cause hot spots and allergies.

 
#59 ·
Thank you, Laki and Teeney. I saw an episode of Animal Cops on Animal Planet where this woman was feeding her cats nothing but rice. They got sick and suffered from vitamin deficiency. I have heard more people tell me that their vets told them they should feed their dogs veggies like carrots, sweet potatoes, asparagus and green beans. I don't think it would be good to strictly feed nothing but vegetables. Just like bettas can't, or shouldn't live solely on bloodworms. I also petsat for a dog that was put on a chicken, rice and vegetable diet recommended by their vet.
 
#64 ·
I feed my dog, who is 16 going on 17, Innova Senior Blend, Innova Low Fat Adult, and AvoDerm wet food.

He used to be on a diet of Beneful and would shed like crazy, but a month after switching him to Innova, barely any hair comes off of him and he's a corgi mix. His coat is also a lot softer and less oily. He's looking better and acting like he feels better for his age and advanced arthritis.

I like the Innova Senior for him, not only since it's a reduced ingredients formula, but the kibbles are very thin and easier for him to chew since he still does enjoy the crunch.

For treats, I feed him either Greenies pill pockets (He's on Tramadol for pain) or Blue Buffalo, which he seems to really like as well.


On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd put Innova at 9 or 10. the cost is a bit high, but you get a 6 pound bag cheaper than Blue Buffalo while not really sacrificing much or any quality.
 
#67 ·
+1 BLUE is what I feed my cats and dog. Wow you got a good vet! Most vets recommend the crappy brands like PURINA veterinary diets or science diet just because they are paid to endorse those. :roll:
 
#69 ·
I just ordered some Wellness Core for my cat. :) I intend to make my own food for him when I can afford the start up costs, as it is cheaper in the long run, but not initially. I'd have to buy a meat grinder and supplements to mix in with the meat to start. This website has a lot of good information about cat nutrition and homemade diet and a cost analysis. http://www.catinfo.org/

I don't remember if it was on that site or another (and don't feel like re-reading now, haha), but I read a very good explanation of why dogs are somewhat of omnivores, even though in nature they are/were carnivores. Dogs have been domesticated and fed by humans for thousands of years and as such have adapted to a human diet of meat and vegetables. Cats, on the other hand, have not been fed by humans for nearly as long (when domesticated, until the recent past few hundred years, they fed themselves on mice/etc.), and as such, they're still carnivores because they haven't had that adaptation time.

I don't eat grains, so I don't intend to feed them to my animals. And I most especially won't feed them any vegetable oils. I prefer a natural approach, closer to what they'd eat in the wild. Until last week, I had no control over what my cat ate as he was in my parents' care (he's been eating Iams dry food and Friskies wet food for the past 12 years... I suppose it could be worse...) but now he's at college with me! So he's going to get Wellness. :) I still don't think Wellness is nearly as good as what I could make on my own, because it contains unnecessary vegetables/fruits that cats shouldn't ingest, but it's FAR BETTER than most, so I'm okay with it for now.

Cats have a very short digestive path, and as such, they can't digest fiber (more info on that: http://www.catinfo.org/#Cats_Need_Animal-Based_Protein_). It's much like feeding a betta only peas...
 
#70 ·
I made my cats a DIY water fountain, it encourages them to drink more.

http://www.tntpuff.com/cat_water_fountain.htm

It cost me about $25 for everything, which is the cost of one of the cheapest cat fountains available and also if the filter breaks, I just have to buy another $10 filter. But if you have a real cat fountain and it breaks you have to replace the entire thing which would cost anywhere from $25-$50.

Sorry I hope you don't mind me posting this... It's not about dogs but it is about animal nutrition since cats have a low thirst drive, and need extra water especially when fed dry food. xD
 
#71 ·
I made my cats a DIY water fountain, it encourages them to drink more.

http://www.tntpuff.com/cat_water_fountain.htm

It cost me about $25 for everything, which is the cost of one of the cheapest cat fountains available and also if the filter breaks, I just have to buy another $10 filter. But if you have a real cat fountain and it breaks you have to replace the entire thing which would cost anywhere from $25-$50.

Sorry I hope you don't mind me posting this... It's not about dogs but it is about animal nutrition since cats have a low thirst drive, and need extra water especially when fed dry food. xD
That's awesome! My mother bought one of the cheaper fountains for my sister's cat because she would jump in the kitchen sink and beg for water until you turned the faucet on because she likes to drink from a stream, lol.

My cat never cared if he drank out of the fountain or the dog bowl. If you set water in front of him, he'll immediately drink at least a few tongue-fulls, haha. He's always been a big drinker, thankfully. But I still kind of want to make one just because it's cool!
 
#74 ·
My cat loooves raw chicken or cooked chicken or just ANY chicken, lol. I feed him the raw chicken scraps when I trim chicken. For the grinding, I'm going to cook the outside a bit just to make sure there's no surface bacteria and that way he'll still get a raw inside. I'm excited to start it. He's healthy as is, but I know he could be healthier!

Interesting that older cats can have problems with tiny bones. I'll be grinding the chicken thighs bones and all, so I'll have to make sure it's finely done.
 
#76 ·
High quality raw food diet! Usually can be obtained from specialty pet supply stores, and sometimes dog trainers. I feed my dog a combination of raw food, and blue buffalo grain free food. And canned pumpkin, because before we adopted him he had a horrible parasite load that left an impact on his gastro-intestinal system. It wasn't until we started feeding raw, grain-free, and pumpkin that his poop even resembled a solid!
 
#77 ·
This thread is a few weeks old, but I thought I'd add my $0.02, since I have spent many an hour looking in to this topic.

I feed my dog Wellness, and have for years. At this point, he can only eat the Simple Wellness line, because he's developed food allergies. The ingredients in Wellness are high quality, and nutritionally appropriate for a dog. They have multiple lines of dog foods to meet the needs of different dogs (like the allergy dogs, for example).

It's been a while since I've updated myself on brands, but I know that Merrick was considered a good one. Solid Gold was considered one of the top foods, but a year or two ago, I tried it and it upset Toad's stomach; when I looked into this, I found other people complaining of the same thing with their dogs. Innova was another one that everyone loved.

I don't know if anyone has posted this link already, so I'll throw it in here:
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/
 
#79 ·
Wellness is definitely a quality food. Generally the top brands are pretty similar I think, but within the top brands I highly recommend going grain-free!
 
#81 ·
Today we FINALLY bought Blue buffalo wilderness for my grain-allergic dog.
I mixed it with his old food... So he took a mouthful, spit it on the floor and ate the blue, leaving the yucky pedigree behind.

What a turd :roll: xD
 
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