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Question by Bandit.: How many people actually research what their dog is eating?
http://www.maineberners.com/personalized.html
“We recommend Iams Pup Chow in the yellow bag…for your Berners or some other high top quality pet dog food. Bernese Mountain Pups increase extremely quickly and you want to make confident they have a great harmony of protien and other health supplements. ”
…higher good quality?! Now I know this is a normal BYB [offering on a breed agreement to Any person?!] But they say a expanding Berner requirements good diet and reccommend Iams?!
… -_-
My query is – how several folks do really investigation with regard to what their dog eats?
I took excellent delight in talking loudly to my brother about a inexpensive crappy grocery store meals and pointing out that the “Lamb and Chicken” can contained 4% lamb and chicken whilst in a store today. 
There is nothing mistaken with purchasing in your cost range, Julie. When we had a whole lot of cats it was difficult to get the harmony. But by providing him things that you know is excellent (fresh meat or fish) it’s a good thing. No need for the TD so have a TU from me! 
Rayven – I was just searching different breeders for the BMD and I found this website.. I would love to see what these pups flip out like. They politely ask for that you get their elbows checked… o.0
Best answer:
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Answer by Dont Litter! Spay or Neuter
I do
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I have read the list of ingredients on the back. The brands I use are not the worst but they’re by no means the best either.
I can’t afford £20 bags of food. It’s as simple as that. Not many people can. I’d be spending over £50 a week. I live on a student budget.
My dog does get plenty of fresh/tinned meat/fish though and is generally very healthy, so I’m not too concerned.
ADD: Yep TD me for doing my best why don’t you. Idiot.
I’ve done a ton of dog food research. My dogs now eat Innova. It’s an extremely high quality food and their manufacturing plant is very “green”.
Well, I for one did. I feed our dog Natural Balance Small Bites. No (or maybe just very few) corn, fillers, or by products. And not too high in protein. He has arthritis, so he can’t gain weight, and he can only tolerate two 30 min walks a day.
ETA: geez the TD fairies are out today, aren’t they?
I didn’t until this week when my vet suggested that my dog go on a diet because his knees are going bad. The vet did the work for me and suggested I put him on Iams weight control in the blue bag. After spending $ 440 in vet bills in 3 weeks I’m taking the advice and doing what’s best for him I want him to be around for a long time to come.
ADD:for all the ones that gave the TD I’m doing what I feel is right for my dog and trying to help him have a happy and long life if you don’t like it well then so be it. Until you get a degree in vet medicine don’t condeem others.
I have done thorough research on what diet is best for my dog. I know that feeding her a natural “raw” diet is best but is normally time consuming and expensive. She has food allergies so I had to find a food that didn’t aggravate her skin, ears, and feet. I feed her Blue Buffalo Fish and potato.
ADD: I can’t believe someone would TD me for my answer!?! I do the best I can with the money I have believe me I would buy her better if I could afford it!
I have spent ages researching my dog’s food. Always used IAM’s Lamb and Rice until I move to France where it is not available. Now I use Purina Pro-Plan Salmon and Rice. (I don’t have much choice over here)
We feed our black labrabor California Natural dog Food: it has human grade ingredients, no added chemicals, no fillers, no animal by-products, no fats or any other kind of additives.
His coat is beautiful and shiny! He is lean and trim (we feed him the low-fat version), and happy!
You can see him on the link below…
http://www.whineranddiner.net/aboutus.aspx
I have done a ton. My dogs eat Taste of the wild. I am doing research into raw and will be switched soon. I had a thorough conversation with someone who got a Shih Tzu from a backyard breeder and the byb said he has done a ton of research and that O’l Roy is the best food.
The people that research what they eat themselves seems to be a minority, let alone people that research what their pets should eat.
We’ve become to reliant on people telling us what to do instead of finding answers for ourselves. Sad really.
My SO runs away from me when I head toward the pet section in a store. He knows that if anyone else is in that pet section I’ll go on and on rather loudly about why this or that food sucks, or why this or that product is a joke.
I was half interested in these people for all of five seconds since they happen to be up here in Maine as I am, but then looking closely at the site and the Iams recommendation was enough to be like nope not happening. I used to live down the block from a woman who had purchased from them, hence how I found them in the first place.
But no most people don’t do any real research beyond maybe asking their vet or coming on here. They simply ask for a good food, but not always asking WHY someone recommends that brand.
Oooh, Ooooh, pick me, pick me!!!
Probably 100+ hours spent doing online and text book research!
Email corrospondence with several canine nutritionists AND wolf experts!
And numerous school thesis papers on the subject!!
And basic chemistry simply tells me that dogs can NOT digest grains and most vegetations like the dog companies think (Royal Canin put out a pamphlet saying wheat is 99% digestible. But seeing as how all cells in vegetation are covered in cellulose, and dogs can not break down and digest cellulose… RIGHT…)
Plus, I’ve been feeding a prey model raw diet for over a year now. Are you idiots really going to tell me that raw will lack nutrition and cause my dog to die of salmonella poisoning?
I think I am one of only a select few on here who can accurately say ANYTHING about dog food or otherwise.
ALL dog food is potentially harmful in the long run. It doesn’t even have anything to do with the ingredients. Dog food is cooked, hard vegetation with a little bit of crunchy meat throwen in. Not easily accepted by the body, VERY hard on the pancreas and liver, NO water content which is very hard on a kidney and body that is meant to get 75% of it’s water intake from the food it eats… The list goes on and on
I have to do tons of research and reading up on foods because my dog is allergic to everything. So we are now on a strict diet using one of the limited ingredient foods and not feeding anything outside of that food so we can find out of the protein/starch source are safe for him. Process of elimination, and HOPING that we find the magic combination this time! =)
That said, I will offer my opinion to others when asked. I don’t find it particularly nice to put down the food others are feeding because I wouldn’t feed it myself. Especially in these times, when people are forced to cut back and might be feeding a lower quality food out of necessity or because their dog might actually do just fine on that food. Its none of my business to tell them what they should or should not be feeding unless they ask my opinion on the subject.
I did a lot of research before settling on a quality dog food. For the most part, any dog food you can buy in a grocery store, Iams, Pedigree, Purina, etc. is crap! Sorry, but that’s the facts. They’re full of fillers, corn, wheat, etc. Things your dog doesn’t need and the culprits for most food allergies in dogs.
And, I really haven’t found the vets to be too helpful. Seems to me they recommend the food they carry at their clinics (usually Science Diet), and are paid and given kick backs by the food companies to push their products.
Personally, I feed Wellness. But other good brands are Innova, Halo, Canidae, Blue Buffalo, Evo, Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul and Taste of the Wild which isn’t very expensive.
There are other quality foods is you really do the research and not all are costly. But, I would rather spend a little more for foods with quality ingredients than cereal. In the long run you actually save money because your dog receives more nutritional value from a good quality food.
I feed Merrick, I actually stumbled upon it. I saw it in my local feed store and thought that seems good. So I came on here and posted a question with a link to their website, a few people said they don’t even have to click the link, they could tell by the address it was a good food. So I did somemore research and decided it would be good for my Maltese.
For sure. I fed both our dogs eukanuba, one on puppy food for $ 15 per 6lb. bag and one on senior food for the same price.
I always thought it was a good quality, because, well, the price!! Then, I did research. Corn was within the first 3 ingredients! Insane!
So, I researched for a while and now they’re eating Taste of the Wild for about $ 12 for a 6.5 bag, they both eat it and they eat less.
Love it.
Feeding dogs quality dog food isn’t always expensive.
You so sound much like me. I have spent the last two years researching dog food. I have gone to courses throughout the country that were for food and general nutrition and reading, buying evaluations for an independent review of dog foods etc. I can understand some buying foods they can afford especially if they are on a budget but they also have to understand you get what you pay for. The cheaper the food the cheaper the ingredients. Most all of major commerical foods are made by big companies like Protor and Gamble or Neslte that have bigger interest else where but they can make big money by cheap means. Producing cheap and poor dog foods. Most companies like Iams Eukanuba and Science Diet ( Science Fiction) all have been involved in scandals, Eukanuba/Iams horrible animal testing/abuse. But they still make a low poor grade food. I think it is easy for most Americans to buy into what they read on the label and still have no idea what are the meanings behind the ingredients. My general rule of thumb is if I can not eat it or if it is not a human grade my dog can not have it. He is on a Raw Diet but all the ingredients are the same level as I eat and actually better.
I know exactly what my dog eats because I buy it at the meat market!
My husband and i researched and tried several different foods because we had heard about how difficult it can be to get a good food for an English Bullie. We wanted a good quality food that was a reasonable price. We finally settled on Blue Buffalo Wilderness because it has a lot more protein which is an ideal diet for dogs anyways, and because my bullie doesn’t have a problem with corn so the small amount of corn in it doesn’t cause any problems. It is a little pricey but i get so many compliments on my bullies coat and skin which for a bullie is a small feat in its own. We looked at http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com and a few other websites for reviews of food. I would love to feed raw but i just can’t afford it at this time.