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dog food

12K views 44 replies 30 participants last post by  Swack 
#1 ·
I am wondering what everyone thanks is the best high end dog food? I going to switch foods and was wondering not getting the results I want out of my food! Thanks Dusty
 
#2 ·
I've fed my dogs Purina ProPlan Perfromance for about 6-7 years with nothing but great results. However, I recently switched to Loyall Professional mostly because where I buy it, they quit carrying the performance formula. I'm only half way through the first bag, so far I've seen no ill side effects.
 
#5 ·
i just switched from proplan 30/20 to loyall 31/20 and am getting the same results as with the proplan but with less coming out the rear. i also feed 3.5 cups instead of the 4 cups of food but the waste is significantly smaller than with the proplan. also $4 a bag cheaper (not alot but adds up) also has less corn products. have gone through about half a bag now.
 
#6 ·
Dusty,

I'm curious about what you have been feeding and why you and not satisfied? What "results" are you not getting?

Also, I wonder what you consider "High End Dog Food". The foods mentioned so far are very popular, but not what I'd consider "High End".

IMHO, the best dry dog food on the market is Orijen. However, the price just went up and the size of the bag went down half a kg. I only use it for my brood bitch and with puppies for the first year or so, because I think during those times in a dog's life (growing up and reproduction) only the best will do!

Swack
 
#9 ·
I like to feed a proplan 30/20 during winter/hunting season's, then fall off to a 26/16 during the summer/off months. Keeps the weight off of them since training drops due to the hot weather. But still a good high quality food to meet the high nutritional needs our dogs demand.
 
#10 ·
I am feeding a 24/20 sport mix I have been feeding it for several years but here lately I'm not getting as good of a coat coat on my dogs and after working a dog hard for few days in a row there not bouncing back as good as I like. And the third thing is I feed twice what most people feed and dog still acts like it starving when I feed her around 6 cups a day!
 
#11 ·
Dusty,

IMHO, the entire line of "Sportmix" dog food is made of low quality ingredients. Don't just look at the percentages of Protein and Fat list on the Guaranteed Analysis when you compare dog foods. Also look at the ingredients they use to make the food. You should concentrate on the ingredients up to and including the first fat source.

Your Sport Mix Energy Plus Adult Mini Chunk (24/20) lists these ingredients: Meat Meal, Ground Yellow Corn, Chicken Fat. What kind of "Meal Meal"? Could be any animal's remains after rendering out the fat, including dead, diseased, road kill, and some have even suggested euthanized pets (traces of phenolbarbital, the drug used to "put animals to sleep", have reportedly been found in samples of "Meat Meal").

At the other end of the quality spectrum you can compare to Orijen Regional Red which lists the following ingredients: Fresh deboned wild boar*, fresh deboned lamb*, fresh beef liver*, fresh deboned pork*, lamb meal, peas, salmon meal, russet potato, herring meal, fresh whole eggs*, fresh deboned bison*, potato starch, fresh deboned salmon*, pacific whitefish meal, fresh deboned walleye*, salmon oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols). No mystery meats. All fresh, never frozen, no preservatives. You get the idea; just top notch ingredients. Yes, there is a top notch price tag to go with it; about $90 for a 28.6 lbs bag. Not all of Orijen's products are this high, but none are cheap.

I'm not saying you have to go to this extreme to get good dog food. I'm just using Orijen to contrast with Sportmix.

Brad B's advice is good; "feed what your dogs do best on that you can afford". Instead of what you can afford, maybe what you are comfortable paying for. Probably isn't "comfortable" going from paying around $30 for a 50 lbs bag to $90 for a 28 lbs bag, but there are a lot of decent quality foods in between.

Your dog(s) will thank you for feeding them better quality food. Good Luck!

Swack
 
#13 ·
Jeff, I'm with you on the quality of the Orijen. The main reason I don't feed it is that one of my dogs is a total chow hound. No joke, if she only got 2.5 cups of food daily I think she would be in a frenzy, LOL. I stick to foods that let me give her 3.5 cups a day just to satisfy her appetite. Currently she's on Merrick.
 
#14 ·
I'm on my 3rd bag of Origen regional red. I am very happy with the results so far. He has way less waste in the yard and his coat is very noticeably softer from the nutrisource I was feeding. I'm not rich by any means but how much is having a happy, healthy dog worth to you. Yes the price is outrageous but only feeding one dog I figure why not give him the absolute best food possible.
 
#31 ·
Would some of you who are nutritionists take a look at the ingredient list of the ProPlan Salmon food and give me your opinion.

http://www.proplan.com/dry-dog-food/select-adult-sensitive-skin-stomach-formula/

It's called "Sensitive Skin & Stomach" and though I don't have a sensitivity concern with any of mine, I chose the food based on what I thought were pretty good ingredients. But what do I know?

Been feeding it for 10+ years and all have done well on it.

JS
 
#32 · (Edited)
Would some of you who are nutritionists take a look at the ingredient list of the ProPlan Salmon food and give me your opinion.

http://www.proplan.com/dry-dog-food/select-adult-sensitive-skin-stomach-formula/

It's called "Sensitive Skin & Stomach" and though I don't have a sensitivity concern with any of mine, I chose the food based on what I thought were pretty good ingredients. But what do I know?

Been feeding it for 10+ years and all have done well on it.

JS
It is pretty low in animal protein, with quite a bit coming from vegetable sources. Canola Meal is very high in protein like Corn Gluten, as is Oatmeal but not near Canola Meal.

The first ingredient is Salmon but more than likely it is just skin and salmon guts. Fish and mammals do not have to be labelled to distinguish by-products from meat like chicken does. Also, it is first in the list because it contains water. It would be better if the first ingredient was "Salmon Meal" because that is dried and concentrated.

All of Purina's fish meals are preserved with ethoxyquin which can cause cancer.

I hate to tell you all that but you asked. If the dogs do Ok on it that's all that matters. That said, Victor makes two fish-based foods with much better ingredients that probably cost less than that one. Pro Plan is by no means an inexpensive food.

Relatively speaking, fish-based foods are much more expensive than other animal proteins. You can get much better quality chicken-based foods for the same or less.
 
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