Help me feed my new dog

kaos16

DH and I just rescued a pretty bad ass dog.  He is some sort of schnauzer/cattledog mutt, and he is awesome.  The rescue group wasn't really clear on what they were feeding him in the three weeks they had him, before that who knows what he was being fed at the kill shelter he was at in Miami!  When we got him we started feeding him Science Diet for sensitive stomachs (he was having some GI issues, and I know it isn't wise to just switch food cold turkey on dogs, but we had no choice)

In any event, he is doing great now.  We have had him for a few weeks and all his GI issues seem to be resolved.  I am now looking for recommendations as to what you feed your dogs.  We are open to any suggestions.  He seems to like the Science Diet brand, but sensitive stomach doesn't seem to be needed anymore.

Thoughts?

southernbelle0915

Growing up, we always fed my dog plain ol' Purina dog chow. I'm pretty sure there are about 20 iterations of that now, but it was in a blue bag if that helps. As long as they don't have special needs, most dogs will eat anything.

monkeysip

We feed our dog Nutro brand (both hard and soft food mixed together), but that's because she has skin allergies and needs to stick to foods with less grain, fewer ingredients, typically lamb or venison.

Good luck with your new dog!  Glad he found a good home!

krizzo17

I was using NutroMax Lamb dry food, but then the Petsmart near us stopped carrying the big bags and it was significantly more expensive to buy the small ones. I happened to compare the label on that one to the label on the Lamb dogfood that Costco sells, and it was identical, so that's what we use now.

PolarBearFitz

I feed my two Science Diet but it's stupid expensive (as you probably know using it yourself). I have heard Blue Buffalo is great.

Just in case you don't know: Make sure you slowly introduce any new food. Just mix a little with his current food and ease him out of that by reducing the amount of his old food in each bowl, each day. Otherwise you may cause stomach issues and be right back where you started.

kaos16

aefitz29 said:

I feed my two Science Diet but it's stupid expensive (as you probably know using it yourself). I have heard Blue Buffalo is great.

Just in case you don't know: Make sure you slowly introduce any new food. Just mix a little with his current food and ease him out of that by reducing the amount of his old food in each bowl, each day. Otherwise you may cause stomach issues and be right back where you started.

Of course. . . . unfortunately we didn't have the luxury of slowly introducing the science diet. . . .the place we saved him from was a bit shady and uninformative.

mommapizano

We started our dog on Blue Buffalo when we first got her and now she is on Wellness Brand Core and LOVES it!

kitty8403

We have two, and I've raised them to sample a variety of food brands since they were puppies. I fully believe this helps avoid boredom and sensitive stomach issues down the road. They like Pedigree, Purina and the Beneful line for dry, Science Diet, Alpo, or whatever is around for wet, but will try almost anything.

I would try offering a small amount of whatever food you want to introduce, but don't take his old food away cold turkey. Some animals have strong preferences (or sensitivities) and you really just have to spend time figuring out what they like and what works with their digestive systems. I will sometimes swap food or treats with neighbors or friends so I can let mine try something new without committing to a huge bag.

PolarBearFitz

kaos16 said:

aefitz29 said:

I feed my two Science Diet but it's stupid expensive (as you probably know using it yourself). I have heard Blue Buffalo is great.

Just in case you don't know: Make sure you slowly introduce any new food. Just mix a little with his current food and ease him out of that by reducing the amount of his old food in each bowl, each day. Otherwise you may cause stomach issues and be right back where you started.

Of course. . . . unfortunately we didn't have the luxury of slowly introducing the science diet. . . .the place we saved him from was a bit shady and uninformative.

I had the same issue with one of mine. No one knew what he had been eating so science diet it was! Science Diet is a great choice when you cannot slowly introduce. So happy for you and your new rescued family member

kaos16

and for anyone that cares. . . .here is Scraggs!!!!

smalfrie19

My dogs and cats get Authority brand foods carried at PetSmart. Its quality ingredients with no grail fillers and significantly cheaper then something like Blue Buffalo which is similar in make up.

climbingsingle

He's adorable!! 

I was feeding my dog Beneful, but I think it was causing a skin allergy. I have her on Pedigree right now and all seems to be good. 

melbelleup

kaos16 said:

DH and I just rescued a pretty bad ass dog.  He is some sort of schnauzer/cattledog mutt, and he is awesome.  The rescue group wasn't really clear on what they were feeding him in the three weeks they had him, before that who knows what he was being fed at the kill shelter he was at in Miami!  When we got him we started feeding him Science Diet for sensitive stomachs (he was having some GI issues, and I know it isn't wise to just switch food cold turkey on dogs, but we had no choice)

In any event, he is doing great now.  We have had him for a few weeks and all his GI issues seem to be resolved.  I am now looking for recommendations as to what you feed your dogs.  We are open to any suggestions.  He seems to like the Science Diet brand, but sensitive stomach doesn't seem to be needed anymore.

Thoughts?

Science diet is actually reallllly bad for dogs. I feed blue buffalo. It's semi expensive $55 for a huge bag that lasts my sheltie 3 months. Well, each sheltie three months. I feed them both different kinds. I've fed puppy, adult and senior out of blue buffalo with no issues.

Swazzle

So cute! 

My dog eats Canidae Grain-Free.

Belthil

We feed our pup Costco's brand of dog food. We were told by several people, including the shelter that we got him from that it is comparable in quality to a lot of the higher quality foods and its much cheaper which is really awesome with how quickly he goes through a bag.

IMathlete

Mine is also a cattle dog mix, and she's equally awesome. :-) We feed her Blue Buffalo, whichever flavor is on sale. The salmon smells horrible, though, so I say stay away from that one. I always try to buy it when it's a few bucks off, but sometimes it can't be helped.

Cokezerofreak

My dog has a sensitive stomach and food allergies (so does the FI's dog).  I think I've tried everything out there and it either made her sick on gain weight until I tried Newman's Own Organic Premium Dog food.  It's cheaper than Blue Baffalo and she eats it up: 

http://www.newmansownorganics.com/pet/products/?page=product1

Edit: typo

Cokezerofreak

She also loves it when I bring her home a can of this one to mix in with her food:  http://www.newmansownorganics.com/pet/products/?page=product6

Cokezerofreak

Double post, sorry.

kaos16

melbelleup said:

kaos16 said:

DH and I just rescued a pretty bad ass dog.  He is some sort of schnauzer/cattledog mutt, and he is awesome.  The rescue group wasn't really clear on what they were feeding him in the three weeks they had him, before that who knows what he was being fed at the kill shelter he was at in Miami!  When we got him we started feeding him Science Diet for sensitive stomachs (he was having some GI issues, and I know it isn't wise to just switch food cold turkey on dogs, but we had no choice)

In any event, he is doing great now.  We have had him for a few weeks and all his GI issues seem to be resolved.  I am now looking for recommendations as to what you feed your dogs.  We are open to any suggestions.  He seems to like the Science Diet brand, but sensitive stomach doesn't seem to be needed anymore.

Thoughts?

Science diet is actually reallllly bad for dogs. I feed blue buffalo. It's semi expensive $55 for a huge bag that lasts my sheltie 3 months. Well, each sheltie three months. I feed them both different kinds. I've fed puppy, adult and senior out of blue buffalo with no issues.

Why is it so bad for dogs?

Maggie0829

We feed our yellow lab Purina one with a spoonful of heated up Beneful wet food.  Through trial and error we found out that she hates just dry food so we add in extra flavor and wetness with the Beneful and she loves it.  But then again she is a lab and has a stomach made of steel.

You will find from asking this question that a number of people prefer and praise one brand over another.  You need to pick what will work best for your dog and what your dog likes the most.  What I feed mine may not sit well with your dog and I am sure there are people out there who think that what I feed my pup is horrible but it works for us and our pup.

KeptInStitches

Scraggs is awesome! I don't have a dog, but my cat eats Royal Canin which I know has several dog lines. Just for what it's worth.

PolarBearFitz

@melbelleup My veterinarians have always recommended science diet. Why is it bad for dogs?

mmm4763

Congrats on your new sweet pup!

FWIW, We feed our dogs Purina Pro Plan and/or Purina ONE; they love it and have maintained a healthy weight on this food. (FH does the dog food shopping and always comes home with "new flavors" for them...lol) We've also fed Nutro in the past and I can't remember why we switched but it wasn't because of any GI issues.

SBmini

I strongly believe that pet food should be purchased at pet stores, and people food should be purchased at grocery stores. I feed my dog Natural Balance. It is limited ingredient and doesn't include any fillers like corn. My pup loves the LID (Limited Ingredient Diet) salmon and sweet potato kind. It is excellent for her skin and very healthy. 

Also- stay away from the store bought treats. There have been a lot of tragedies lately around  jerky and what not. Antlers are fine. I freeze cantaloupe and watermelon rinds as snacks. She also gets carrots, the tops of bell peppers and other fresh veggies as treats. 

I think she may eat better than me. Lol. But it's all for less than $2 a day. She's worth it too. 

Aray82

My parents have been told by their vet for their lab, as I've been told by my vet for my cats, that anything with high protein and minimal carbs is good. Animals can't process carbs the way we can, so some of the dry foods with a lot of carb fillers may cause weight gain. While wet foods tend to be higher in protein, you also don't want to completely leave out dry food because the crunch is good for their teeth.

All this to say, I'd recommend a mix of both wet and dry food, whichever brands you end up with. As Maggie said, every dog is different and may require different brands.

melbelleup

aefitz29 said:

@melbelleup My veterinarians have always recommended science diet. Why is it bad for dogs?

http://bluebuffalo.com/dog-food-comparison/test-results

Look at the difference in food. Science diet is decent, but it's not the best for your dogs. Take it with a grain of salt though because this is from blue buffalo's website. I belong to the sheltienation.com and we often discuss dog food.. I'm trying to find the other link that shows what is all in dog foods, but can't find it at this moment (not biased)


http://www.petfoodratings.org/dry-dog-food/science-diet/ Here's a non-biased one about Science diet. The same product but blue buffalo: http://bluebuffalo.com/dog-food/lp-lamb?pf=1&lifestage=adult&type=dry&animal=dog

Just compare ingredients alone.

ETA: Finally after hunting a little I found the website I wanted:
Science diet: http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/hills-science-diet-dog-food-adult-dry/

blue buffalo: http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/blue-buffalo-dog-food-life-protection-dry/

Note: there are others out there than just blue buffalo, but it's the only one I have experience with. If you use dogfoodadvisor.com it will show you a bunch of brands and you can even pick based on ratings.

PolarBearFitz

@melbelleup thank you for the info! I've just always been told it is the best one by a few vets...so confused!

melbelleup

aefitz29 said:

@melbelleup thank you for the info! I've just always been told it is the best one by a few vets...so confused!

Vets love it because you buy it through them. It's not terrible, but it's not great either. My vet is actually the one that mentioned Blue Buffalo to my mom a few years ago. However, my pup (now 10 months old) came from a vet who also breeds and shows with me. She does Purina Pro Plan, but even that isn't the best.. that being said, she has 14 dogs, a chinchilla, a mini horse, cats.. it's good for it's buck.

PolarBearFitz

melbelleup said:

aefitz29 said:

@melbelleup thank you for the info! I've just always been told it is the best one by a few vets...so confused!

Vets love it because you buy it through them. It's not terrible, but it's not great either. My vet is actually the one that mentioned Blue Buffalo to my mom a few years ago. However, my pup (now 10 months old) came from a vet who also breeds and shows with me. She does Purina Pro Plan, but even that isn't the best.. that being said, she has 14 dogs, a chinchilla, a mini horse, cats.. it's good for it's buck.

Well that's really good to know. I've been told about blue buffalo a couple of times so I may make a switch myself. That's a lot of animals but really awesome!!!

My yorkie is a rescue from a show family that abused and neglected her She had a ton of stomach problems due to worms and mal-nourishment when I got her so I just fed her science diet (at the recommendation of the vet after chicken and rice). My second dog was rescued from a highway and no one ever claimed him. No one knew what he was eating and he also had stomach issues. They are both over their stomach issues so switching shouldn't be too hard.

melbelleup

aefitz29 said:

melbelleup said:

aefitz29 said:

@melbelleup thank you for the info! I've just always been told it is the best one by a few vets...so confused!

Vets love it because you buy it through them. It's not terrible, but it's not great either. My vet is actually the one that mentioned Blue Buffalo to my mom a few years ago. However, my pup (now 10 months old) came from a vet who also breeds and shows with me. She does Purina Pro Plan, but even that isn't the best.. that being said, she has 14 dogs, a chinchilla, a mini horse, cats.. it's good for it's buck.

Well that's really good to know. I've been told about blue buffalo a couple of times so I may make a switch myself. That's a lot of animals but really awesome!!!

My yorkie is a rescue from a show family that abused and neglected her She had a ton of stomach problems due to worms and mal-nourishment when I got her so I just fed her science diet (at the recommendation of the vet after chicken and rice). My second dog was rescued from a highway and no one ever claimed him. No one knew what he was eating and he also had stomach issues. They are both over their stomach issues so switching shouldn't be too hard.

Just remember when you switch to do it VERY gradual. It can mess up their stomachs by switching it. At first week do just a little of the new food. Next week do a 1/4th new then the week after that 1/3 then 1/2 then 3/4th then all of it. I would definitely recommend doing it very slowly since they have both had stomach issues.

Sadly, the bad show people give others a bad name. I'm glad you have rescued your kiddos and nursing them back to health . I don't do confirmation, but I do Agility. My dogs are "imperfection" for showing. Ruutu (my black boy, and the pup) is 19" and sheltie's can't be above 16". Gotta love beauty pageants

On a side note about the vet/breeder/shower: She rescues a lot. Some of her dogs are ones she bred, bought others are ones she rescued. She actually just took in a golden. Her mini horse came from rescuing. It had an eye that needed to be removed, but it was expensive and the owner wanted to just shoot it and call it a day. She said gimme it and i'll do the surgery and you won't see it again. He's an awesome mini horse. She had to build him a barn and a fence etc but they love each other.