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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
  
| mruggles - 2015-05-13 12:22 PM
quikchik - 2015-05-14 11:13 AM
mruggles - 2015-05-13 12:07 PM
Thats what i feed and it ranges in price from 95 (locally) to 65..to get the 65 price i have to drive 3hours to the city......its very disapointing to read this stuff as i try to research the products i use and do the best i can for all my animals......m
Me too, and I had been feeding the Blue Wilderness puppy food, as it seemed decent and was less expensive & easier to find than some others.
So what IS good to feed??
Your guess is as good as mine are on that......m
Misty, I was speaking with the buckeye equine nutritionist, buckeye primary concern is quality, as it is a family owned and run company who feed their own products to their animals.
Anyway they bought IAMS and have changed quality controls, and ingredients,
I would have a look at IAMS since it is available up here. |
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 Good Grief!
Posts: 6343
Location: Cap'n Joan Rotgut.....alberta | Will look into it..thanks..:)........m |
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Holy Fruit Loops!
Posts: 1708
Location: Colorado | I am sure to miss some important points along the way. There is a whole lot of bad information on this thread. Let me attempt to clear up that and then I will gladly give you all some information on what to look for in a good dog food.
Bare with me as I do some quick responses to several earlier posts.
karen |
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Holy Fruit Loops!
Posts: 1708
Location: Colorado | cheryl makofka - 2015-05-13 5:01 PM mruggles - 2015-05-13 12:22 PM quikchik - 2015-05-14 11:13 AM mruggles - 2015-05-13 12:07 PM Thats what i feed and it ranges in price from 95 (locally) to 65..to get the 65 price i have to drive 3hours to the city......its very disapointing to read this stuff as i try to research the products i use and do the best i can for all my animals......m Me too, and I had been feeding the Blue Wilderness puppy food, as it seemed decent and was less expensive & easier to find than some others. So what IS good to feed?? Your guess is as good as mine are on that......m Misty, I was speaking with t he buckeye equine nutritionist, buckeye primary concern is quality, as it is a family owned and run company who feed their own products to their animals. Anyway they bought IAMS and have changed quality controls, and ingredients, I would have a look at IAMS since it is available up here.
Nope! Someone is confusing Buckeye's corp. name "Mars horsecare" with Mars PET. Mars Pet is a large corp. which owns 41 brands, including Banfield, Candy, and several pet foods.
The purchase of Iams, Eukanuba and California Natural was a multiple billion dollar deal last year.
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Holy Fruit Loops!
Posts: 1708
Location: Colorado | arion - 2015-05-13 3:58 PM Three 4 Luck - 2015-05-13 12:31 PM I alternate between taste of the wild and diamond naturals _____ and rice. My dog holds her weight better with TOTW, but it's a lot more money too. There are probably better foods out there, but we don't have them around here. I supplement with some scraps as well. My dogs don't believe that theory about feeding them the same thing all the time to avoid upset tummies. LOL Used to feed metric f tons of Diamond when I had FT dogs. They have fallen way off on QT and customer service over the years. I now feed TOTW with zero problems even from the Boston with kidney issues.
TOTW is owned by the same Family as Diamond. So QT and Customer Service are one and the same.
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Holy Fruit Loops!
Posts: 1708
Location: Colorado | Nevertooold - 2015-05-13 2:18 PM Blue Buffalo was once a great food and then they sold the company. Same thing happened to California Naturals. Fed it for years and then Colgate Palmolive bought it and they have had at least 2 recalls.
Blue has never sold. They have been for sale since virtually the day they started.
California Nautral was originally purchsed by Proctor & Gamble, and they sold the Mars PET.
Colgate owns Science Diet.
Yes, it gets fun trying to keep up with the players.
karen |
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Holy Fruit Loops!
Posts: 1708
Location: Colorado | star1218 - 2015-05-13 2:00 PM I didn't take the time to read the article, but dang this upsets me. Our vet has a list tacked to the wall with 5-Star, 4-Star, so on and so forth categorizing dog foods. We WERE feeding Purina Lamb and Rice (something I'd consider to be quality..not cheap by any means, dog food.) Well it barely made the 3-star category. So we switched the dogs to Blue Wilderness EXPENSIVE as crap but we love our dogs and want to give them the best quality. That is at the tip top of my vet's list.
We feed the recommended amounts and admittedly we do feed less and they look great and love the taste. Switching foods constantly isn't good for them either, so screw it!
Not true. There is a movement to feed a differant food every bag. Theory is anything missing from one is included in the next. I have a new rescue who has been on four foods in three months. Cold turkey, no mixing, etc. Not a single problem. She does get a quality pre biotic every days.
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Holy Fruit Loops!
Posts: 1708
Location: Colorado | astreakinchic - 2015-05-13 12:39 PM Dog food prices make me soooooo angry. I wish some new company would come in and re-define good food and price standards.
What do you believe dog food should cost? Serious question.
Factor in the initial science and research to bring a new product to market. Sourcing good quality ingredients. Where and who will be making the kibble. New plants are running 50 mil minimum to build. Bags, transportation, etc..
There are some great companies out there with great foods. Why do we need to re define that?
I am seriously interested. Spending 24/7 in the industry it is refreashing to here a consumers point of view.
karen |
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Holy Fruit Loops!
Posts: 1708
Location: Colorado | I will admit that BLue has Never been a favorite of mine. For numerous reasons. A couple of recalls early on that were sloppy. The "Life Source Bits" are never consistant. Blue does not make their own food. They shop the recipes out and lowest cost wins. Thus the problem with consistancy.
Customer service has always been an issue. Starting with the stores and distributors not getting information when needed.
For the industry this law suit has been the gift that just keeps on giving. There has been a lot of great information come out about both sides.
Someone asked if Blue was safe to feed. Who knows. They obviously are not monitoring what is going into the bags. At the end of the day Blue is charging insane amounts for less than stellar foods. Hopefully this will also force Blue to admit how many differant places are making their food. Something they have not wanted to talk about for years.
I am not a Purina fan either. Purina is not an Amerian company and that keeps it from coming into myhouse.
karen |
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 Expert
Posts: 3782
Location: Gainesville, TX | If you really want them on a main source protein and cost is not at issue, have your own beef processed locally where you can monitor it and feed them hamburger. Buy a vitamin supplement. Worm them regularly. walaa. |
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Holy Fruit Loops!
Posts: 1708
Location: Colorado | There are several independant, privately owned food companies. Many have their own facilities. These are the foods I look at. The owners entire income depends on their food. A recall can break them.
Canidae - All Life Stages is made in Brownwood TX at a company owned facility.
Hi-Tek - The owner has been in dog food for 40 plus years. Owns his own plant and evan grows a good portion of the barley they use.
Breakaway - Very limited distribution at this point. Owned by the same Vet who owns Great Life. They recently purchased their own plant.
Tuffy's - Pure Vita and Nutri Source. Family owned. Have their own plant.
Fromm - Fifth generation family owned and operated. Have their own plant.
Victor - TX company that is starting to gain distribution outside of the TX, LS area. Family owned and have their own plant.
Starting to see a trend here??
Please think twice about ordering from Chewy or any of the other automatic ship programs. Who owns these companies? Where is the food stored? How long does it sit in a hot UPS truck, etc., while making its way to your house.
Go to an independant store. They know their foods, they care about their customers and most of all they are on top of recalls and lawsuits all the time. Not to mention they are your friends and neighbors and the money you spend with them stays in the community. Want to fix the economy? Shop LOCAL!
Keep in mind you do not have to spend the most to get a good quality food that works for your dog.
As always guestions and comments are welcome. YOu may need to PM me as my schedule is a bit beyond crazy these days.
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Holy Fruit Loops!
Posts: 1708
Location: Colorado | oija - 2015-05-13 9:23 PM If you really want them on a main source protein and cost is not at issue, have your own beef processed locally where you can monitor it and feed them hamburger. Buy a vitamin supplement. Worm them regularly. walaa.
A dog needs more than hamburger and a vitamin for a balanced diet. This is really not a great idea.
karen |
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Expert
Posts: 3782
Location: Gainesville, TX | You could add some rice for carbs but so long as qualities are controlled and its fresh and handled in a sanitary way I think it is an excellent diet. Wild dogs and wolves survive on this kind of diet. It would be similar to a paleo diet for people. As fresh and unprocessed as possible. |
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Location: midwest mama | Check out www.dogfoodadvisor.com
This is a non-biased neutral website that rates all dogs foods. Also has a detailed list of "suspicious" ingredients.......and almost all dog foods (wet or dry) have at least one or two of those. You just have to make a personal decision as to what are the lesser of the evils you can live with.
The only way to stay totally away from bad things is to make your own food.
Edited by OldSchoolCowgirl 2015-05-14 1:47 AM
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 501
Location: Oklahoma | I have a blue heeler (8 months old now) I tried feeding the Blue Buffalo. It made him horribly sick. I had to take him to the vet and the vet indicated to me that as a Vet they were not a big supported of it. This was the 4th dog in 2 months- same issues.
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What Name?
Posts: 1994
| Anyone know anything about the 4HEALTH line of dog and cat food? Thats what I use. My dog seems to be gradually getting healthier ( hes on the overweight edition, my cats on the normal version) But honestly. I never researched much dog/cat food ... I always just checked out the ingredients and if I didnt like what was in it, I didn't buy it.
ETA: well I looked up the rating. It's 4stars... not sure how happy I am that the one I have my older boy on is a 3 star rating though. Gonna switch dog food. Its worth another 5 bucks if he's healthy.
Edited by americanpride08 2015-05-14 6:51 AM
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Expert
Posts: 1611
| Stitch4k9 - 2015-05-13 10:03 PM
astreakinchic - 2015-05-13 12:39 PM Dog food prices make me soooooo angry. I wish some new company would come in and re-define good food and price standards.
 What do you believe dog food should cost?  Serious question.
Factor in the initial science and research to bring a new product to market. Â Sourcing good quality ingredients. Â Where and who will be making the kibble. Â New plants are running 50 mil minimum to build. Â Bags, transportation, etc..
There are some great companies out there with great foods. Â Why do we need to re define that?
I am seriously interested. Â Spending 24/7 in the industry it is refreashing to here a consumers point of view.
karen
I want quality feed for less than my horse feed. Sorry I love my dog but I'm not spending more on her dog food than I pay for my horses or myself in a month.
I'd like a middles of the road quality feed with a decent price that the average person can afford.
I'd never let my dog touch alpo. I make sure the first ingredient on what she gets isn't corn. Hopefully no corn at all. But more often than not she gets pedigree because its quick and easy to pick up. *sigh* I'll admit most of the time she eats mcDs with me headed to ride. Shame shame I know...
I've had a lab who lived to be 14yrs old, a hound/heeler mix that we had to put down at 15yrs old. I just feel like these are average life expectancies and they were fed the cheapest thing at the feed store. No aliments and no issues with their cheap feed. It may have contributed to their arthritis though.
I now try to buy better feed for my aussie but that doesn't happen it always happens. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1079
| Guess I was mistaken. I will say though that I stand by this statement for my boxer. I wouldn't just give him a new kind of food every time I felt like it. Now my parents Heeler eats trees, rocks, rubber, animals, etc. etc. etc...whatever she can find. She's a dog I wouldn't probably think twice about dog food switch ups. |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | star1218 - 2015-05-14 8:25 AM Guess I was mistaken. I will say though that I stand by this statement for my boxer. I wouldn't just give him a new kind of food every time I felt like it. Now my parents Heeler eats trees, rocks, rubber, animals, etc. etc. etc...whatever she can find. She's a dog I wouldn't probably think twice about dog food switch ups.
There are dogs with sensitive systems for sure (my sister's border terrier has a meat protein allergy, of all things), but I would venture to say most can swap around cold turkey and never bat an eye. Or poop a juicy turd. |
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Expert
Posts: 3782
Location: Gainesville, TX | Three 4 Luck - 2015-05-14 8:47 AM
star1218 - 2015-05-14 8:25 AM Guess I was mistaken. I will say though that I stand by this statement for my boxer. I wouldn't just give him a new kind of food every time I felt like it. Now my parents Heeler eats trees, rocks, rubber, animals, etc. etc. etc...whatever she can find. She's a dog I wouldn't probably think twice about dog food switch ups. Â
 There are dogs with sensitive systems for sure (my sister's border terrier has a meat protein allergy, of all things), but I would venture to say most can swap around cold turkey and never bat an eye.  Or poop a juicy turd.
And then turn around eat the juicy turd and want to lick your face. |
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