badboyz Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 I agree that it does depend highly on individuals as well. I fed by beagles for years on supermarket brands and they did perfectly well on them. Nice straight bones, healthy coats. Only when I changed to shar pei, I realized that those foods just would not work with this breed. The need much higher quality to do well, and prevent problems. I have experimented with alot of the brands recommended here. The only one thing that really showed me a huge improvement has been switching to a mostly raw diet. The dogs now get about 80% raw bones and mince and 20% kibble, which I have downgraded to a cheaper brand with no adverse affects. I now consider the kibble as a filler and emergency food. They have never been healthier and are always excited by the variety of their meals. I wish I had done the same with my beagles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moggy Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 I had a Chihuahua years ago who ate mainly Goodos and he lived to 15. I am minding my sons Chihuahua at the moment and he is also enjoying a few Goodos as a treat, although my son insists he has the recipe they have been giving him for the last 2 years. Chicken mince, rice, peas and grated carrot made into a stew. He loves this at his meal time, but I can't help thinking he is not getting all his nutrients. I would imagine the dry foods have a balance of the vitamins etc that they need. What do others think? Moggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gomez the Norfolk Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 Now, if you have seen great results with upgrading to Optimum, how do you know you would not see even greater improvement with a brand that has better quality ingredients? Maybe because I have tried most of the "better quality" brands before & have found that the Optimum is actually better for my dogs than the others? Guess that means I "downgraded" to get a better result . And sorry if you get offended, but it is the "same old same old", if only every dog in the world could be fed according to a specific pointscore table published on a website what a wonderful world it would be. Unfortunately, they can't, like I & plenty of others have said so many times before, feed your dog what they do best on, not what everyone else thinks they should be fed on . Blossom, don't be sorry, you are only trying to find out information, try him on other foods & if you get a better result then stick to it, but don't let someone else bully you into changing brands because they say they know what's best for your dog ;) . But that's exactly my point, MrsD!!! We're saying the same thing, you just don't like the way I'm saying it and you think I'm a bully!! (by the way, that's the first time in my life I have been called a bully! ) It's all trial and error, and research, BUT it does help to know what the ingredients are and what the differences are between the foods and the quality of the foods... I don't know what is best for any dog other than my own. What I do know is what brands use better ingredients than others and what I do not want to feed my dog... We tried Gomez on Natural Balance, a food I consider to be superior to Eagle Pack Holistic (better ingredients, no beet pulp, etc..) BUT Gomez had pasty poos on it, so back we went to EPH... If you're happy with what you feed, and your dogs do well on it, then you're done, plain and simple. But when someone comes in and asks questions about dog food, I think it's only fair they get all the information they can, the good and the bad, and some of the means available to decide what you want to feed the dog, and that includes things like the "rating" system on the Dog Food Project... that is just a tool, a guideline, not a bible on how to feed your dog... Unless you don't agree with having as much info as possible? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huski Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 I want to look into getting the ones you and others have suggested though I might need to rethink how I budget first... some of that stuff is really expensive. But I'm sure it's worth it for their health It is expensive but with a high quality brand like Royal Canin or Eagle pack you don't feed as much food as you do with brans like supercoat, optimum etc because it is higher in protein. I feed my dogs and cat on RC, and bones. That's all they get and they do really well on it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsD Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 Now, if you have seen great results with upgrading to Optimum, how do you know you would not see even greater improvement with a brand that has better quality ingredients? Maybe because I have tried most of the "better quality" brands before & have found that the Optimum is actually better for my dogs than the others? Guess that means I "downgraded" to get a better result :rolleyes: . And sorry if you get offended, but it is the "same old same old", if only every dog in the world could be fed according to a specific pointscore table published on a website what a wonderful world it would be. Unfortunately, they can't, like I & plenty of others have said so many times before, feed your dog what they do best on, not what everyone else thinks they should be fed on . Blossom, don't be sorry, you are only trying to find out information, try him on other foods & if you get a better result then stick to it, but don't let someone else bully you into changing brands because they say they know what's best for your dog . But that's exactly my point, MrsD!!! We're saying the same thing, you just don't like the way I'm saying it and you think I'm a bully!! (by the way, that's the first time in my life I have been called a bully! ) It's all trial and error, and research, BUT it does help to know what the ingredients are and what the differences are between the foods and the quality of the foods... I don't know what is best for any dog other than my own. What I do know is what brands use better ingredients than others and what I do not want to feed my dog... We tried Gomez on Natural Balance, a food I consider to be superior to Eagle Pack Holistic (better ingredients, no beet pulp, etc..) BUT Gomez had pasty poos on it, so back we went to EPH... If you're happy with what you feed, and your dogs do well on it, then you're done, plain and simple. But when someone comes in and asks questions about dog food, I think it's only fair they get all the information they can, the good and the bad, and some of the means available to decide what you want to feed the dog, and that includes things like the "rating" system on the Dog Food Project... that is just a tool, a guideline, not a bible on how to feed your dog... Unless you don't agree with having as much info as possible? Info is fine, but what it comes down to is how the dog does on the food - I've tried lots of different brands, I don't care if it has corn in it (which seems to be most peoples pet gripe), if my dogs do better on it than other brands then that is what Im going to feed. You've made your choice based on what you think your dog should eat, taken the only 2 or 3 brands that fit your criteria & have chosen the best one for your dog out of those. To me that isnt the same thing, but hey, who am I to argue . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gomez the Norfolk Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 It's only 2-3 brands because that is what is available here - in the US or UK, the choice could be between 10 or 12!! And yes, I do eliminate the brands with ingredients I don't want Gomez eating, just like if I had kids I would not feed them McDonald's every day, even if they were super healthy on it... It's the same thing in that we have both made a conscious decision as to what our dogs eat, knowing full well what the ingredients are and the potential benefits/hazards - someone who feeds x-brand because they don't know better, can learn both from what you are saying and what I am saying... So same old same old is not so bad, I think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsD Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 It is expensive but with a high quality brand like Royal Canin or Eagle pack you don't feed as much food as you do with brans like supercoat, optimum etc because it is higher in protein. Husky, just out of curiosity, can you tell me what the protein & fat levels are for the RC you feed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baby Dragon Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 (edited) gosh i really don't have a clue.. i have been feeding 1 cup of kibble a day, nomatter what brand he's on. (he gets chicken mince and pasta, plus dog roll and bones as well.) but i haven't altered how much i feed depending on the brand.... i dont even know how to calculate it. i've seen the info on the back of the packs, but it hasn't applied to my dog because i feed him extra stuff... he is right in the middle of the healthy weight range for him though. Edited October 2, 2007 by Blossom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
higgo Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 Hi, Is there anything wrong with supercoat puppy mix we decieded to feed our staffy pup dry mix only diet after much research and advice. we lost our previous staffy 6 months ago we had him for 12 years and he manly had table scraps and he was a healthy happy pooch I just feel guilty giving him the same thing day in day out.he eats dead birds when he finds them bugs moths all sorts which I believe upsets his stomach and gives him the runs.our first staffy when he was a pup was never interested in those sorts of oppotunistic meals. Any advice would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badboyz Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 Just to confuse everyone further - there are some dieticians who advocate changing dry food brands with every bag purchased. The idea being the variety will prevent allergic reactions as the dog is not getting time to react to the same food, and also they will get different different benefits from each and every brand! I do change, maybe every 2nd bag, as I think there is some merit to this. But usually only between a couple of brands, and as said earlier, my dogs only get about 20% dry so it does not affect their diet overly anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chloebear Posted October 3, 2007 Share Posted October 3, 2007 My vet has advised to use Purina - if buying from the supermarket, and it can be used as a dry only diet. I was using PAL - puppy which she suggested changing from. The vets first choice was the biscuit that they sell but I wasn't prepared to pay that much as both my daughter and husband will over feed dog. So I have changed to Purina and having no trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poppy's mum Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 Yep, gotta love the Optimum since they have had that free trial cashback offer on!!! I have had 3 free 4 kilo bags so far and the dogs are loving it!! Have been using the Science Diet teeth cleaning for the greyhound but I think I will switch her to Mature large breeds science diet. They get chicken wings, brisket bones, chicken, rice, some veg, Pal (eeek! you say) and Natures Gift as well and are all in great good health. Tielle ate mum's banana laden toast the other day, so, yes, sometimes they get fruit, too. They have a definite weakness for apples. Use what they seem to do well on. Use commonsense BTW - Optimum offer still current on optimumphd.com.au or see the "Freebies Blog" I just stumbled onto. Saved me $50. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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