Quality Dog Food

Ganderite

Ganderite

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Farm south of North Bay
My spaniel was getting ear infections. After the third different vet said “It could be a food allergy” I decided to research dog food a bit.

It was not pretty. There are chemicals allowed in commercial dog food and other stuff I will not mention. “No preservatives” means the dog food manufacturer did not add any, but does not mean that the stuff they buy to put in the food does not have preservatives. It is the chemicals that cause cancer and infections.

As it happens, the web sites that conduct analysis of dog food and make recommendations are mostly American. I have made a point of buying a couple big bags of top-rated American dog food any time I happen to cross the border. A good pet food store has several of the top-rated brands.

I am providing two web sites. One explains how bad the food can be, and why. The other is a site that lists dog food as 3 star, 4 star, 5, star and now a few are 6 star. I have been buying 5 star and today found 6 star at Global Pet Foods near Toronto.


http://www.dog-breeds-explained.com/dog-food-secrets.html


http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/
 
I've been making my own dog food for the last month, or so. 600 gm lean ground beef, a cup or so of barley (cooked= much more), a couple of carrots, low sodium chicken or beef broth, and some flour to thicken it. This goes on top of his Nutram kibble. He's crazy for it. It lasts about 3-4 days. I've got to check and make sure that it's nutritionally adequate, but he's lovin' it! Sometimes a hard boiled, or scrambled egg on top.
 
been feeding my pups Orijen Adult since we brought them home. 4+ years for the big guy on this stuff.

very few vet bills, still get mild ear infections, hard to say if the 6 star food makes a difference but the logic makes sense. dogs are not grain eaters so why feed it too them?


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choices

I find out the hard way that our lab has an allergy to Chicken. So I did the online research and went with a brand called Natural Balance and the flavour I went with is venison and sweet potato.
He now has a very shiny coat and good firm stool. Stuff is about $65.00 a bag, but worth it in my opinion. FS
 
It's amazing how quick people are to judge that I spend $100 on dog food every 5 weeks for our golden retriever who is allergic to "chicken". I could buy a $20 bag of food and have him take liquid "Keta poops" all over the lawn. I then can take him to the vet for antibiotic pills and a shot worth $130 every couple of weeks. Finally, I then get to listen to him lick the rash on his crotch till his meds kick in...

Or, I buy a $100 bag of grub that he loves; pick up solid, gargantuan Keta loafs on the lawn; and not see the vet unless its for his shots. With the money I save, I can afford to buy him wheelbarrow tires to chew on and cantaloupe for treats.

We wound up finding Royal Canin Medi-Cal Hypoallergenic Lamb and Rice Formula to work the best for him so far. When he was a puppy, Science Diet worked great and we even had a special blend from Eukanuba; however, it's really hard to find in this neck of the woods. I don't pamper my dog; however, for all the joy he brings into our home - he is worth every penny spent.
 
We feed our Golden Retriever Shepard cross Mountain Dog Food chicken (http ://mountaindogfood.com/) in the morning and Orijen fish blend (http ://www.orijen.ca/orijen/about/) at night.

It has reduced her hot spots and dandruff.
 
Do you guys that have dogs that get ear infections clean your dogs ears especially after they get wet if you don't that maybe more of a problem then the food.

Go to your vet buy a liquid ear cleaner (fairly inexpensive & it lasts a long time) wipe the ear out with a Kleenex put a few drops of cleaner into the ear rub it in for a few seconds wait a few more then dry the ear...

Doing this will cut down on ear infections.
 
Camp Cook said:
Do you guys that have dogs that get ear infections clean your dogs ears especially after they get wet if you don't that maybe more of a problem then the food.

Go to your vet buy a liquid ear cleaner (fairly inexpensive & it lasts a long time) wipe the ear out with a Kleenex put a few drops of cleaner into the ear rub it in for a few seconds wait a few more then dry the ear...

Doing this will cut down on ear infections.
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We use Epi-Otic ear cleaner. Only 1ml per ear administered by syringe, and only when his ears get a "funky" smell, sorta like a musty smell... Oh ya, and I pull the ear hair out of his ear canal, gently mind you, it sure helps with his ears considering he swims every day, sometimes twice.

Cheers
Jay
 
Jay said:
We use Epi-Otic ear cleaner. Only 1ml per ear administered by syringe, and only when his ears get a "funky" smell, sorta like a musty smell... Oh ya, and I pull the ear hair out of his ear canal, gently mind you, it sure helps with his ears considering he swims every day, sometimes twice.

Cheers
Jay
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Ditto. Our Lab loves the water in the summer, so this winds up being an almost weekly exercise if not more.

For food, he gets Royal Canin Lab blend. It's about $80 for a 30 lb bag, but when we dole it out properly, a bag lasts a long time. The kids were overfeeding him, and he put on 30 lbs over the winter. We just cut back on his food and made the kids take him for extra walks each day. He's slowly slimming down.
 
the vets three favorite words"it could be" ...- i've been through 3 shepards, they ALL had ear problems - aural hemotomas- 600 bucks an ear- and it was just SHAKING OF THE HEAD- broke the blood vessels in the ears- it could be means your "guess" is as good as his- i've been feeding alpo, of all things, and intend to keep doing so
 
I grew up having Springer Spaniels, any long floppy eared dog is prone to ear infections. I don't believe it has anything to do with food, but rather from dirt. Use warm water and vinegar to flush the ear and then swap out with a handful of cotton balls. You can tell when your dog needs it cuz their ears get stinky, dirty or they start scratching.

Spaniels with eat and drink anything and will swim through the worlds dirtiest water as a treat. Just thank God that he made them with self cleaning fur.

As for food, stay with a good quality food where the dog poop stays solid and dries up quick. Don't give your dog people food no matter how much they pester you or beg. Salt is a dogs worst enemy.
 
I read somewhere... Okay fine. So, I was watching Oprah one day and she was ambling & drooling over the food she feeds her dogs. She has these football dogs and she has her chef make them rice and some vegetable. She then adds pork or beef or even chicken that has been cooked and feeds that to the dogs in a slop pail lined with gold.

Either way, my retriever goes mental for venison - even more so than popcorn or cantaloupe. My vet was saying stay away, stay away - but I think that's just a ploy to test my ability to resist those big brown eyes of his (plus I wasn't going to mention what the vet on Oprah said :redface:). Am I not correct in saying that dogs, by nature, are carnivores? Therefore, what could be the harm in giving stupid a little, and a mean just a little raw deer meat once in a while?

That meat at the very bottom of a deer leg that is loaded with tendons and is next to impossible to grind - it often winds up being cubed and placed in my dogs bowl. No rashes so far.
 
In the long ago days when the majority of Canadians lived a rural life, virtually every farm or homestead family, had a dog. Generations of those dogs never had commercial dog food. In fact, in BC, I think the first dog food available, came on the market about 1948. It was canned, lots of meat in it and the name was Dr. Ballard, named after the vet that created it. If you went to a store and asked for dog food, it was cans of Dr. Ballard they gave you.
All those generations of dogs on the farms lived basically, on what was left over from the families meals. I can remember my Mother fixing a huge plate of left over meat scraps, potaoes, a veggie and covering the whole thing in gravy, for the dog.
My memories are of very healthy, happy dogs that lived at least as long, as do modern dogs. Some families often fed them boiled grain. They never saw a vet, because if there was a vet in the country, they worked on livestock, not dogs.
If a dog got constipated, the standard cure was to feed the dog beef fat. Worked every time.
 
Dog foods have evolved in two directions. Some commercial food has great adverising while they figure out how to use the cheapest possible crap (peanut shells) as ingredients.

The other direction uses food ingredients you could eat yourself. If a dog has alergies or food problems, eliminating grains is a good place to start. Probably has no place in his diet anyway. Some of the top quality food is grain-free, like EVO.

The proliferation of dog cancers is directly related to crap food. I have switched from Iams to EVO. Costs about 50% more, but the ingredient list difference is impressive. Also tried a bowl to bowl comparison. The Iams bowl is still full....

If you love your dog as a loyal family member, please watch this video.


http://www.dog-breeds-explained.com/...d-secrets.html


The other web site I posted (the one that compares different foods) will then make more sense.
 
holdingfast said:
Am I not correct in saying that dogs, by nature, are carnivores?
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Incorrect. Dog are omnivores. They will eat anything and everything. I've always stayed away from venison for my dogs. It always gave them the splats, or equally as bad, nasty nasty dog farts.
 
fiddler said:
Incorrect. Dog are omnivores. They will eat anything and everything. I've always stayed away from venison for my dogs. It always gave them the splats, or equally as bad, nasty nasty dog farts.
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Sorry Fiddler, omnivore isn't in my vocabulary - but you are right now that I pondered that for a second. I think meat and the word potatoes just slides in with it. My dog doesn't get the runs from the small amount of deer meat he receives a couple time a year. As for the farts, lets just say even he leaves the room after he cuts one. cp:

I tried to post a picture of my dog (technology and I are not friends today). He's standing with his ball in his mouth next to one of my wife's clients who has Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy and is confined to a wheel chair. The client is laughing and smiling and Keta is just being... well, a golden retriever. It's one of those pictures that tugs at the heart strings and shows that dogs are truly a man's best friends and don't judge anybody.

“Here, Gentlemen, a dog teaches us a lesson in humanity.” - Napoleon Bonaparte
 
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