[Kela]

Yes! I liked it actually. I got it one day when my store ran out of Innova Evo. I did switch back to Evo once they restocked but I would consider feeding this again if necessary. I did feel that it was slightly greasy feeling and my dogs poop wasn't quite as firm and he was a tad more gassy with this than the Evo.

The only downside I've read is the people who make the food aren't always the most forthcoming with information. I'd still go with Evo or Orijen if those are options for you but its a worthy backup imo.

 

[Kela]

I personally wouldn't recommend Iams or Pedigree. You can find some higher quality foods for the same price roughly and a good food can really do wonders for a dogs health, energy, coat and more.

When I go shopping for food, I flip the bag over and look at ingredients. I avoid anything that has animal by-products on the label or has a lot of corn or other cereal grain in it. You also want to see a good strong meat as the first ingredient, and preferably a few meats in the first 4 or 5 ingredients listed. The ingredients are roughly listed in order of how much they are in the product. Why do I avoid by products? These are meats that are considered too low grade for human consumption. This means taco bell makes these look good!

Here is a pretty neat website that reviews almost all dog foods out there and tells you why they like or don't like all of them: http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/

Todd - You definitely want to regulate the food in my opinion. Tribble will eat everything in front of him at all times...he would quickly become a big fattie if I let him eat as he wanted!

 

[Kela]

You know what your dog acts like, what his poop looks like, and what his coat feels like from feeding Iams. Have you given a premium dog food a try just to compare? Even if you think he is at the peak of health 100% I think it still is worth a try. If you see no results and no change in anything after a few weeks to a month, I really would be very surprised. Worst case scenario, you just go back to Iams after the trial, no harm done.

I really hope I'm not sounding pushy or anything of that nature, I would hate to think that I've upset someone or anything like that. This is just one of those subjects that I'm truly passionate about. I've "converted" quite a few friends and coworkers over to high quality foods for their pets and I've honestly had nothing but surprise at how much better the switch was. They didn't even expect to see results at all, but I haven't met a single person who was disappointed with a premium food who went back to another brand.

Anyone reading though should keep in mind that it is best to do food changes of ANY kind slowly. Immediate changes to most animals diets will likely cause diarrhea for a few days.

*Edit* Here is a good website about ingredients - http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=badingredients

While this list is LONG and you may have a hard time finding a food that doesn't contain any of them, it is still an interesting read (in my opinion..but I'm a nerd!)

 

[Kela]

I noticed that a lot of people feed Evo. Right now Max is on Veterinarian Formula Holistic and I'm still searching for what might be best. What I don't like about this one is that it isn't listed on the ratings sites that I've seen.

Is that the full name of it? Veterinarian Formula Holistic? I haven't heard of that one either. Do you know who manufactures it?

 

[Kela]

Looks like pretty good stuff!

 

[Kela]

My dogs are healthy also - and full of energy. My vet told me to use Eukabana or Iams and Iams is what the local store carries so that's what we use. The Pedigree is just to wet the dry becuase, unfortunately, ginger could see that is what the minis eat and wouldn't eat dry alone. The minis wouldn't eat the dry alone either - they were actually given cat food by their breeder - weird huh?

Eukanuba has a new food out that (while it isn't the best) is far better than the regular stuff. It comes in three flavors and it is pretty cheap at PetsMart while they are trying to get the word out about it. I think it is called Naturally something. It was 6.99 for the little bag.

Something to remember is that many vets are paid to endorse certain products. This doesn't mean that your dog won't be fine eating those products, but they may not be optimal. Some of these companies also fund research and other ventures with veterinary schools, so these are the only products that some of them might know about. In my pre-veterinary program, we had a nutrition course that covered nothing more than the basics. It was about how to formulate food and how much % protein a food should have, but nothing about what individual ingredients might be optimum or not.

 

[Kela]

I want to give Orijen a try even though I'm happy with what we're on now. Maybe I should do a taste test to make the ultimate decision...let the pups choose!