Best quality & safest dog foods?

[Kelly]

We have a dog that got really sick in December from dog food. I have been looking for a top quality food with NO junk or unsafe ingredients put in as fillers.... I was buying expensive food at the time and all natural but had to try to encourage him to eat with a little canned food mixed into it.( Many of them recalled) He had had a lot of vomiting occasionally for months. Since I have been making my own feed he has been a different dog & has not vomited at all.

I am looking for a very good quality and safe feed that I can mix into his homemade feed so I do not have to cook as many meals of dog food each week. Also , to help with giving him a harder feed to clean his teeth & for healthy gums.

With the recalls still coming out on some products I have not wanted to buy any until the products are known to be safe.

 

[ETF]

Kelly:

I've always used Purina Dog Chow and haven't had any problems. There's no way to get an absolute guarantee that anything is safe these days, unfortunately.

 

[msscamp]

You might want to check into Iam's Eukanuba - it is not on the tainted food list, I've fed it for probably 10 years and had excellent results, and they have a variety of different formulations to choose from - including sensitive stomach. I've also fed regular Iam's and had no problems with it, either.

 

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

I have fed all my dogs/cats Iams dry food for at least 10 years also. No problems so far and they like it.

 

[msscamp]

Added bonus - less cleanup if they are in a pen or you live in an area where you have to walk them, and/or clean up after them!

 

[Kelly]

I had my dogs on the Eukanuba Natural Lamb & Rice for a long time & Iams Lamb & Rice before that, Iams Mini nuggets before that.... I could not get them to "Like" the food & he would vomit at least a few times a week. The last food I was feeding was the Nutro Natural Lamb & Rice.
They clean their whole dish of homemade food without a second thought.
I have tried adding some kibbles of the Nutro I have left and the one dog eats around the few kibbles and leaves them in the dish.
He is older so I really don't want him to go on a hunger strike....he will go a couple days at a time if he doesn't like his food.

Thanks for your reply's

 

[Frankie]

We have fed Purina Dog Chow for years and years to different breeds/types of dogs. They weren't included in the recall. We feed it free choice. It's always available for the dog. Since it's dry, they don't seem to overeat.

 

[Kelly]

I think my biggest problem is that this dog is used to free feed & is always a social eater ( likes to eat around us) He wants to eat in his own time - not ours. But, the last 5 or so years we have had to switch him to 2 meal times a day because my other dog is very possesive over any food. She doesn't even like flys to be around her food! We have to seperate them to feed. I do not need any more emergency vet bills.....

 

[Dusty Britches]

I've spent more nights worried about my dog's food lately - since those recalls. Now I'm really concerned about what I feed them. I switched to Diamond brand with the Omega 6 and 3 fatty acids, but the dog's seem to itch a whole lot more.

I cannot bring my self to feed $50 bags of food, but I don't mind spending $20-$25. The problem there is I can't find anything in that range that the dogs do well on.

I'm more confused and perplexed than ever before. I have lots of venison, but I don't have the time to make my own quality dog food.

 

[Kelly]

My dogs love the venison feed I make. I wish I had some more....I only have a couple packages left. I have been using Flax meal added for the Omega's & my Aussie has not itched as bad lately.

The vets just want me to buy their food that they sell but some of that has also been recalled. The problem is so many feeds have been recalled that I don't know if there is a safe feed. It is very frustrating. I don't think they have even recalled all of the products off of the market yet that have bad ingredients in them. Just lately they have found feeds with Acetaminphen in them....I am sure there is also a lot of "ingredients " in the feed that have absolutley no reason to be in the food.

When I make their food I switch off from Beef, Chicken, Venison, Turkey, Pork & Salmon.(Lamb is too expensive!) I like to include at least 2 or 3 meats. I try to make enough to freeze so I can just grab a container out if I run low but I still have to make a batch 2 times a week.

 

[Bez>]

Knock a cull cow down and make your own - we have been doing this for about 4 years now - cheaper by far. And, I believe it is probably better than store bought.

Bez>

 

[alabama]

I buy 2, 50pound bags of River Run in the purple bag about every 3 weeks. It has worked well for me and it ain't but about $12 a bag. The dogs seem to like it. But then my dogs will eat most anyting. I have one dog that just loves road kill. She will take a dead Armodilo that had baked on the hot asphalt for about 3 days and snack on it for 3 or 4 more days. Dang those things stink but she gards it from the other dogs and just loves it.

When she catches a rabbit she gards it for 3 or 4 days untill it gets ripe to eat. Then makes a meal of it.

 

[Kelly]

Bez - I always use some of our beef. How do you make your feed?

 

[Dusty Britches]

How do you make your own dog food? Do you cook it? Let's see some "recipes".

 

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

I've spent more nights worried about my dog's food lately - since those recalls. Now I'm really concerned about what I feed them. I switched to Diamond brand with the Omega 6 and 3 fatty acids, but the dog's seem to itch a whole lot more.

I cannot bring my self to feed $50 bags of food, but I don't mind spending $20-$25. The problem there is I can't find anything in that range that the dogs do well on.

I'm more confused and perplexed than ever before. I have lots of venison, but I don't have the time to make my own quality dog food.

Diamond brand dog food was recalled some time within the last year or so. I don't recall why but thought I would pass this info on.

 

[mdmdogs3]

I've fed Diamond feed for about 8 years -
I remember the recall but don't remember the reason either
if I'm right it was some localized thing in one batch of feed (something contaminated)
we also feed our cull chickens - fresh from the chicken house - the dogs consume everything except the tough wing feathers

I have friends that have fed "raw diets" to their dogs for years - the dogs eat pretty much chicken wings and vegies - you can find recipes on the internet -

as for safe - my opinion of the safest diet would be one that you put all of the ingredients together yourself - although you'd better raise those ingredients - remember the peanut butter and spinich with the ecoli contamination

 

[Dusty Britches]

Diamond brand dog food was recalled some time within the last year or so. I don't recall why but thought I would pass this info on.

Aflotoxin in the corn they bought from Louisiana in 2006.

The recent corn and wheat gluton recalls did not affect Diamond.

 

[Colorado2008]

We used to feed Diamond, but it really started to make the dogs fat so we switched to Canidae. It is pricey, but well worth it. We feed them the recommended amount (4 dogs) and a 40 lb bag lasts us almost a month. We had an older dog that we had to recently put down, and I think had we switched to this food sooner, he still might be alive. The Canidae is much healthier than the Diamond. It was not recalled.

 

[Victoria]

My dog is not a healthy animal. She has elbow dysplacia which is very affected by weight and God didn't make her an easy to trim down dog! Add on to that skin problems caused by the medication for her elbow...
I feed her Nutro Ultra Weight Management dog food. It's the only diet dog food she likes. They had a recall in cans but not in bags. I don't think any bought food is without some risk. I would kill a cow for her but beef is one of the hardest foods on skin problems.

 

[dieselbeef]

read the labels.
first ingredient is the biggest part of the food. purina one is chicken or lamb first.
most dogfoods are corn or fillers and then the meat ingredients.
i dont know bout yalls dogs but mine dont care much for corn on the cob....or rice in tier bowl...