What Dry Food Would You Recommend?

[rusty&biscuit]

Hey everyone! I have a question, which is actually the title :laugh:

Well I am currently feeding my 3 on Eukanuba, but after reading through the forums and google, the corn filler used it in makes it not-so-good quality. The 2 boys each poo 2-3 times within the first half hour of the walk, and have difficulty passing. I don't know if this is due to the food maybe they're just not getting enough fluid. But they do drink a fairly average amount. I have used Advance before, and didn't like it. Pooed wayyy more and made their teeth yuck. For the old girl, she is going excellent on Eukanuba and always has. I do however as a special treat mix in Advance canned food, and very rarly, BARF. BARF is just a bit too expensive to feed often, and I am not able to make raw myself at the moment, hopefully in the near future though.

But for now, what would you suggest? I've looked in ProPlan, Nutro, and Holistic Select. These are foods that I have access to locally as well. However maybe you could tell me about other foods, or maybe even tell me that Eukanuba is, in fact, an amazing product? Any input appreciated :D

Edited August 14, 2012 by rusty&biscuit

[sheena]

Have you given any thought to Black Hawk Holistic. It may not be available locally as it is generally not sold in shops, but there would be a distributor not far from you that could send it by courier. Even with freight it still is a very competitive price compared to the other premium foods.

[Chequeredblackdog]

I personally feed a combination of raw and Holistic select. So I don't go through an awful lot of kibble.

HS is my choice for kibble as far as access is concerned. It is available locally for me, I don't like buying food etc off the internet. (Plus I live in rural nsw, so postage can be HORRENDOUS!) HS has less fillers than Science Diet, Eukanuba, Advance etc. no corn only rice, and the added bonus that my dogs love it!

My dogs don't have any special needs (eg. allergies etc) but HS does have the option of a purely fish based product (no chicken/beef etc) if that is a factor.

I have tried most of the brands available to me. I work in a pet supplies, so can afford to experiment. Some I've not been overly impressed with. SD in particular, though my Kelpie boy did well on it (He does well on almost anything!)

Nutro is also pretty good, I use that if I can't get HS, or in combo with it for my fatty-boom-ba old boy. HS doesn't seem to make a 'light' version. Which is one of the only complaints I have with it.

Also remember that different dogs do better on different products ;)

[rusty&biscuit]

Please tell me mre about BH :) I didn't think there'd be any suppliers so far up.

Thanks CBD :) It's a hastle that every dog is different, otherwise they'd all be right on the one food :laugh: But I am hoping to experiment with some foods, just want to know what are the best, so to speak ;)

Thank you both for your input so far :D

[Remarkabull]

I have fed many different foods over the years but have recently started feeding a combination of Holistic Select and home made raw. It works well for my dogs and it doesn't work out to be overly expensive for me and I have 4 dogs!

[Guest Panzer Attack!]

Holistic Select does do a senior food which i have fed to a fat dog in the past.

Out of the many foods i've used (years in pet retail/grooming), i would recommend the following in no particular order:

Easy to find:

- Royal Canin

- Holistic Select

- Nutro

My personal faves:

- Artemis

- Canidae

- Earthborn Holistic

i do find the Euk light amazing for dropping weight tho!

i've tried everything except Taste of the Wild at various times.

Also a huge fan of raw here, i sub VAN and BARF patties with chicken necks and bones and it's cheap as chips for my two. My old dog could not stomach raw, and i'm a huge believer in feeding whatever suits your dog, be it raw or dry.

~E.

[Guest lavendergirl]

Researching dry food will do your head in :) Eukanuba has too much filler and Pro Plan has Menadione. I like this website - www.dogfoodanalysis.com.

Good ones include:

Holistic Select

Canidae

Taste of the Wild

Artemis

I prefer no corn, low/no wheat and no beet pulp. I think Taste of the Wild and Canidae are a reasonable price. You will find plenty of threads on this topic also.

[sheena]

Please tell me mre about BH :) I didn't think there'd be any suppliers so far up.

Thanks CBD :) It's a hastle that every dog is different, otherwise they'd all be right on the one food :laugh: But I am hoping to experiment with some foods, just want to know what are the best, so to speak ;)

Thank you both for your input so far :D

There is couple at Townsville & Mckay....here is the list Retailers

[halfthewords]

I feed 80% RAW and a little bit of kibble daily. I've tried Nutro but greatly prefer Eagle Pack.

[Rebanne]

Hey everyone! I have a question, which is actually the title :laugh:

Well I am currently feeding my 3 on Eukanuba, but after reading through the forums and google, the corn filler used it in makes it not-so-good quality.

but do your dogs do well on it? No need to change it just because some people on a forum say it's not top notch quality. The best food for your dog is the one it does best on, whatever that may be.

[rusty&biscuit]

Thank you very much everyone, I really appreciate it :)

I am looking a bit more into Canidae, it sounds fairly good...haven't check the price yet though :laugh:

Rebanne, thank you :) I just want to experiment with some different foods. Cherry, the old girl, does just fantastic on Eukanuba, however I'd like to see how the other 2 do on different foods...I just don't know that their "excretment" is normal...how often they pass, and the difficulty they have passing. Plus Rusty is quite a smelly boy too, so not sure if part of that is diet related

[tlc]

Ah Dry food, there is so many different ones you can try. I'm my experience I have one dog who prefers dry to anything else, but some he didn't like and some didn't agree with him, so after trying Proplan, eagle pack, science diet, advance, and the cheaper dog pro and supercoat. , we finally settled on Nutro and I decided to put mine all onto dry. It was good but pricey at $115 for 15 kilos which is fine but with 4 dogs that's a fair whack. I had heard of Black Hawk and looked into that and decided to try it and we haven't looked back. It agrees with all 4, great coats, great enery, great muscle tone, regular toileting (good consistency) and even better for a great food it's a great price. I'm not a distributer justa very happy customer! Good luck with whatever you choose for your pups.

We tried Canidae once when we were away and ran out of black hawk and the dogs loved it as well, but it's a lot more expensive.

[Lemonlime]

We werent happy with our dogs coats after trying many things so switched them to a diet of Holistic Select Anchovy, human grade turkey mince and Vets All Natural Omega Blend about 6 weeks ago. They have come leaps and bounds and their coats are stunning, thick, intense colour and shine. This combination is working very well

[Guest lavendergirl]

Not a dry food - but I just bought a couple of cans of Holistic Select Salmon because it was on special to mix with the kibble and I am impressed with the quality. My little fellow loves it and it is good for filling the kong as well!

[pixie_meg]

Theres a new dry food out now by 'sentient'. You get it at pet stock. My dogs are really enjoying it and the ingredients read well.

We've also liked Royal Canin.

[rusty&biscuit]

Thank you all very much!

BlackHawk sounds alright, considering it's a good food and a good price! I might do some 'experimenting' with different foods and see how we go :)

Also, it it normal for an Aussie, on 2 cups of food a day, to poo TWICE on every walk within the first half hour?? Then sometimes again at night? It can just be a bit inconvinient when I'm trying to go for a run, to be stopped a couple of times then running with a poo bag...but hey, maybe that's just me, I do get annoyed very easily :laugh:

[Remarkabull]

2 cups of dry for an Aussie sounds like a lot. My 40kg, 2 year old Dobermann gets 2 and a half cups of dry (when he gets dry) or half to 3/4kg of whatever raw mix I've made that day and he poos twice a day, total. He is very active and lean but very muscular.

[BC Crazy]

I thought that sounds alot too. My BC male is on the top end of the breed scale, hes a big boy. He has 3/4 cup BH & 125g of roo meat for dinner & a half a small chic frame in the morning. He is a very fit 24kg boy.

Edited April 1, 2012 by BC Crazy

[rusty&biscuit]

Oh wow, ok. Wow, your BC only gets 3/2 of a cup? I'm not critisising, I'm just shocked at how much I'm feeding :laugh: I give my staffy mix who's 15 kilos a full cup a day and she is very lean...my 7 kilo schip gets 3/4 cup and he's a good weight and aussie gets 2 cups he's 25kg and he's still very skinny but he's muscular too. I just worry if I drop it that he will lose too much weight But I guess they are not getting that extra food in the morning or extra meat, just dry once a day. Could the Eukanuba just be going in one end then straight out the other? Because for a 40kg dog getting almost the same amount as my boy who's almost half the size, I don't understand how he's so lean thin. They all get a 2km hike a day, and the schip and staffy mix are perfect weight and don't poo nearly as often. Could it just be Eukanuba doesn't agree with Rusty?

Sorry, having a bit of an epiphany, never thought of it this way before :laugh:

[Clyde]

I think I've tried every premium kibble on the market. I'm now fluctuation between Taste of the Wild and the fish Holistic Select. I've used Holistic Select on and off for many years and find it to be the best.