I'm looking for a high quality dog food for puppies. More in the meat factor, less on fillers. ?

Question

This is my first dog/puppy in over 25 years and things have changed a lot. I'm looking for a high quality dog food that has a high protein content while being low on filler and additives. Please help!

Answer 1

Not all pet food is made equally. A lot of it is full of corn, by-products, dyes, unhealthy preservatives, filler grains and all sorts of nasty stuff. A lot of pet food companies are perfectly happy to the dump cheap leftovers and things that aren't safe for human consumption (from human food processing plants) into their foods. Will it kill your dog? No, it has to be nutritionally complete and safe to even be marketed. Is it healthy? Not by a long shot.



Corn is a low quality ingredient you never want to see in your pet food. Corn and low quality grains are two of the biggest culprits when it comes to food allergies in our pets.



Thankfully, there are some excellent dog foods being made these days that include organic, human grade ingredients rather than trash not fit for human consumption.



Examples of low quality foods to avoid: Anything you can find in a grocery store will be low end, Purina, Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Royal Canin, Pedigree, Kibbles n' Bits, Beneful, Ol'Roy.



Examples of high quality foods to look for: Innova, Wellness, Solid Gold, Canidae All Life Stages, Fromm Four Star, Merrick, GO Natural, Nature's Variety Prairie, Nature's Logic, Artemis Fresh Mix, Timberwolf Organics.



Although the high quality foods are more expensive, you're getting what you're paying for. Less filler material means more concentrated nutrients... this means you typically need to feed far less of the high quality food than you would of the low quality one. Which also means less poop!



Before following your vet's food recommendation, keep in mind that vets get /very/ little nutritional training during their schooling. Besides that, what training they /do/ get is usually sponsored or taught by the crappy pet food companies! They also often get paid to sell some of their products at their clinics (Science Diet, Royal Canin etc.)



A great option is to go with an entirely grainless diet. Many of the high quality foods now put out grainless formulas. Some good grainless diets include: Innova EVO, Wellness CORE, Blue Wilderness, Nature's Variety Instinct, Orijen, Horizon Legacy, Merrick Before Grain, Canidae Grain Free All Life Stages, Fromm Surf & Turf, Now! and Sold Gold Barking At The Moon, Taste of the Wild.



Some pretty decent foods can even be found in common pet stores. Petsmart carries Blue Buffalo products (such as the excellent grain free diet Blue Wilderness). Petco carries Wellness, Solid Gold, Natural Balance, Eagle Pack Holistic, Blue Buffalo, Castor & Pollux Organix, Pinnacle, and Halo. If you can't find a food, most of the high quality food brands have websites with store locators on them.



Another option, if you can't find anywhere around you that sells good foods, is to order your pet food online. Here's an excellent place to do so: http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/



Remember that foods should be switched gradually (mixing new slowly in with the old over about a two week period), especially when switching to a higher quality one, so as not to upset tummies.





Another option for feeding dogs is to feed raw. This is something that should be thoroughly researched before being attempted:

http://www.barfworld.com/

http://www.rawfed.com/

http://www.rawlearning.com/

http://www.wysong.net/controversies/rawmeat.shtml





More on dog food:

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=main (Learn how to determine the quality of your dog's food.)

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/ (Dog food reviews. Four stars is a decent food, five stars is a great food, and six stars is an excellent food.)

Answer 2

There are quite a few great foods out there, some are Evo, Canidae, Innova and California Natural. Pet stores would be the best place to get higher quality food. You want to look at the ingredients, if it shows meat by products stay away from it and also stay away from foods that have corn a lot of dogs are alergic to corn. The less grains and other ingredients the better. Of course the best diet you can give is a raw diet.

Answer 3

Yes I feed my dog overpriced high quality foods. I try my hardest to eat healthy, I'm only fifteen but I have a history of heart disease in my family, don't get my wrong I still eat crappy foods lol. But my dogs are my biggest motivators. We go for 2 walks a day lasting 30 mins and a stop at the old baseball field during our walks to play a 20 minute game of off leash fetch. Well that's about over 3 hours of exercise for me lol. If I didn't have my three dogs I would probably eat like a pig. lol

Answer 4

I own a 9 month old puppy...i moved the puppy from eukanuba puppy chow when she was like 5 months old- i was speaking to a woman more knowlegeable about catahoula leopards than i and she told me that current puppy chow contain a lot of unnecessary growth hormones and the fillers you mentioned. At first i was worried about her growth but honestly moving her onto adult chow didn't stop her. We feed our dogs nutrasource- the sold me on it cause it is made from wholesome ingredients that i know and understand on the label and it comes from a known, traceable distributor which made me feel better, but the sealing deal was the results- my dogs have beautiful coats, smaller waste, no smelly gas, and they seem to love the taste



I also am able to feed them less because they seem to be absorbing more nutrients. i've looked at the other premium brands and for both my large breed dogs it was alittle too pricey for me right now, this brand was at a point where i can afford since a large bag lasts me about 3 weeks



Good luck

Answer 5

If you're looking for that type of food have you considered going holistic? Pinnacle makes a great holistic dog food that contains no fillers and comes in a variety of flavors Trout and Sweet Potato, Duck and Potato, chicken and Oats etc. It's 100% allergen free and contains no corn or wheat. It's reasonably priced a 30lb bag will run you $45. Timberwolf is another holistic brand that our foster dog is on. My Weimaraner has a sensitive stomach so I put her on Pinnacle because it's designed for dogs with sensitive stomachs, she loves it and she's doing so well on it, her coat is fantastic I couldn't be happier on this brand of food. I've tried so many and she always ends up with one problem or another, not this time.



The rescue organization I volunteer for feeds all their rescues holistic or raw diets, they make the people who adopt their dogs purchase a high quality dog food when they adopt from the rescue. So many dogs come in with problems from former owners who've kept them on poor low quality food and they look terrible and scratch constantly and their coat is in poor condition. After being on good nutritious food the dogs are looking much healthier.



Be careful with Canidae, they've changed their formula and not all dogs do well on it, mine didn't.

Answer 6

My favorite brand of food is Eagle Pack http://www.eaglepack.com/Pages/HS_Dog.html, but I'm also very fond of Blue Buffalo http://www.bluebuff.com/products/dogs/index.shtml, Newman's Own http://www.newmansownorganics.com/pet/what/, Diamond http://www.diamondpet.com/, Natura foods (which includes Innova, California Natural, and Evo) http://www.naturapet.com/, and Canidae http://www.canidae.com/, but there are quite a few other foods out there as well.



Just do your research, remember that nearly 90% of the food is made of the first 8-15 ingredients, and remember too that corn/animal digest/dyes/abbreviated preservatives like BHT have NO function in your food, and will only make your pup sick.



Good luck! Post a pic of your beagle : )

Answer 7

We had very good results feeding our Beagle puppy Performatrin Ultra Puppy - the top ingredients are meats and whole grains. We had trouble putting weight on her with some of the other medium quality foods - this got her to a very good weight and really made her coat look nice. I've included the link to the ingredients in the sources.

Answer 8

Here are some good ones appropriate for puppies:

* Merrick Puppy Plate, Turducken, Wilderness Blend

* Canidae all-life-stages

* Wellness Just for Puppy

* Artemis Fresh Mix puppy

* Innova puppy

* Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lover's Soul

(more brands further down in this answer)



Many of the higher quality food now days are "all-life-stages", so they work for both puppies and adults, you just vary the amount you feed by age, size, and activity level.



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Read the ingredients before you buy.



Here is my "short list" of rules when I am looking at dog food ingredients:

1) When I chose a dog food, I chose one high meat content. I want to see preferably at least 2-3 out of the top 5 ingredients be meat or meat meal (first ingredient must be!). Meal is simply the meat with the moisture removed.

2) I want to see higher quality grains, such as barley, brown rice, and oatmeal, instead of seeing wheat and corn. Or an alternative starch/carbohydrate such as potatoes or sweet potatoes.

3) I don't want to see any byproducts.

4) I don't want to see a lot of fillers (beet pulp, brewers rice, etc).

5) I don't want to see preservatives that are believed to be carcinogens (BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin).

6) I don't want to see artificial colorings such as the Red, Blue, and Yellow dyes.

7) I don't want to see added sugars (sugar, corn syrup).

8) I don't want to see mystery meats (meats identified only as "meat" or "poultry".)



Here is an article about byproducts:

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=ingrd



And an article on what ingredients to avoid:

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=badingredients



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Here are some examples of GOOD dog foods:

* Artemis Fresh Mix

* Blue Buffalo

* California Natural

* Canidae

* Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul

* Eagle Pack Holistic Selects

* EVO

* Fromm Four Star

* Innova

* Merrick

* Nature's Variety

* Orijen

* Solid Gold

* Taste of the Wild

* Wellness

* ZiwiPeak



Or check this website; the 4, 5, or 6 star rated foods are all good foods. http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews



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Higher quality food may seem more expensive at first, but it evens out. The higher quality the food, the less fillers eaten (and therefore the less poop comes out the other end). Your dog eats more of a low-quality food to try to get the nutrition it needs, and most of the food just passes right on through. Also, higher-quality food will make your animals healthier, so you save money on vet bills in the long run.



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What *NOT* to buy:



Stay away from grocery stores brands. They are low-quality foods chalk full of fillers, preservatives, dyes, etc.. (Grocery store foods are those like Beneful, Kibbles n Bits, Old Roy, Alpo, Pedigree, Purina, etc.)



Beware "premium" foods. "Premium" does not always mean high quality food. Most of these foods have the same types of ingredients as grocery store foods, just a bit better quality of those not-so-good ingredients. (Premium foods are those like Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Bil-Jac, Royal Canin, etc..)



Another thing to be wary of: A lot of vets will recommend what they sell in their office. They get profit from the brands they keep on their shelves, that's why they push it. Truth is, vet schools don't focus a lot on nutrition. It's not saying that a vet is a bad vet because he recommends those foods, a lot of vets just are told "this is good food", so they pass the message along without proper nutrition knowledge. Also, some dog food brands (like Hills) support vet schools, so vets have heard of it from the time they start college, which makes them think it's good as well.



Hills company, the makers of Science Diet, are heavily involved in vet schools. "Hill's scientists author more than 50 research papers and textbook chapters each year and teach at leading schools of veterinary medicine" (Source of quoted section: http://www.hillsvet.com/zSkin_2/company_info/company_info_general.jsp?JSESSIONID=HMz2B3Jn3hv0rnSoxCobfbBhOec35ODG7yh5t3P0vcvhOtzRlQ9M!598359213!167846923!7005!8005&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302026072&bmUID=1196192566575 )



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"Big box" petstores like Petco and Petsmart rarely have quality foods. (There are some higher quality foods at those locations, but most of the foods aren't.)



Also, grocery stores and Walmart aren't good places to buy food either.



Your best bets for getting quality dog food are:

- small, locally owned petstores

- dog boutiques

- farm supply stores



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When switching foods, do it gradually. I do this over about a two week timespan:

1/4 food A, 3/4 food B

1/2 food A, 1/2 food B

3/4 food A, 1/4 food B

all food A

.

Answer 9

I feed my 11 week old puppy Nutro Natural Choice dry food. The breeder recommended it.



Also, the same food was given to us when we purchased our other dog a few years from a different breeder, so I would say it comes highly recommended.

Answer 10

I don't know what breed of puppy you have, but if it is a large breed, you really don't want a really high protein; Anyway, how about checking out Merrick Puppy Plate.

Answer 11

i feed my dog natures variety raw. it comes in liver, chicken, beef and lamb. it is a raw all natural holistic diet. when i first adopted my dog her hair was patchy, her skin was dry and flaky and she was a rack of bones. i started on a dry food but it wasn't really showing a difference. i started her on raw and after a month she started to look a little more filled out. now she is beautiful she is her ideal weight, her coat is shiny and silky and she loves to play.

Answer 12

What is the breed, age and activity level? I would suggest Evo, but not for a puppy.