We use Taste of the Wild. Happy to see it's 4.5 stars on that site. You can get it on amazon, which is awesome. 2-day shipping my 30-40 pound bag of dog food for free!
Purina 1 large breed formula. I've heard mixed things, but my family and myself have owned several rotties with all going 12+ years. No intestinal issues or allergies.
"Purina One Dog Food gets the Advisor’s second-lowest tier rating of 2 stars."
both of my dogs have eaten only dry Kirkland lamb and rice for their entire lives, 6 years now. The vet said not to use it and go with a major national brand, yet he says they are the most healthy animals in his client list.
They get scraps (small amounts) of meat, eggs, cheese, sausage, etc. which is the same stuff I eat. They go crazy for elk meat.
For a poker forum you'd think that people would know how to avoid confirmation bias but you'd be surprised.
Have you ever heard a person ever say that before? We clearly know what foods are healthy and which ones aren't. And for some people, sure, no matter what food you eat sometimes you aren't going to just die. But some foods are better than others no matter what. And that's our choice to eat what we want because we understand the risks involved typically and it's our body. But dogs eat what you put in front of them, you kinda owe it to them to feed them something based on a standard that is not entirely made up of:
For a poker forum you'd think that people would know how to avoid confirmation bias but you'd be surprised.
Have you ever heard a person ever say that before? We clearly know what foods are healthy and which ones aren't. And for some people, sure, no matter what food you eat sometimes you aren't going to just die. But some foods are better than others no matter what. And that's our choice to eat what we want because we understand the risks involved typically and it's our body. But dogs eat what you put in front of them, you kinda owe it to them to feed them something based on a standard that is not entirely made up of:
1) Does it literally kill them?
2) THERE IS NO 2.
+1
Not to mention the little money you're saving buying stuff like Purina is likely outweighed by future health issues and a reduced lifespan/general health.
"They seem fine" doesn't = more expensive food isn't worth it. It may just be slowly degrading their health in ways that aren't readily apparent. Your 6 yr old dog who seems "fine" may actually be as healthy as the average 8 yr old, etc.
I will say that I use the Buffalo flavor and when I switched to the duck, Oscar's poop smelled noticeably stronger. I'm not sure if it was because his digestion wasn't used to it or if the buffalo is just 'better' in that regard but figured I'd tell you.
We went with the Buffalo, and Mud Bay gladly took our TOTW from Amazon in exchange. They are the Nordstrom of pet stores, they'll take anything back, even an old toy you bought that eventually broke or a harness your pet outgrew.
somewhat disappointed to see that the blue buffalo i'm burning cash on is a full 1/2 star better than the old authority brand (petsmart in house brand) i fed my dog- iirc it's 240%ish more expensive.
Gobbo, do you have studies showing the health effects of better dog food?
I'm totally with you that there's a lot of confirmation bias when it comes to this stuff, but when I was looking into what to feed my dog almost everything I read on all sides was pseudo-science.
Edit: Just as an example. dogfoodadvisor has:
Quote:
We recognize that protein fed in excess of the minimum nutritional requirement of an animal is simply burned as energy.
However, we also believe in the commonsense logic of mimicking a dog’s natural ancestral diet — in modeling a dog food after what an animal would naturally consume in the wild.
So, we shamelessly favor dog foods rich in meat.
This sounds like pseudo science to me. It sounds plausible but isn't really scientifically meaningful in judging if food is good for dogs.
Read the ingredient list on your store bought brand dog food. It's not just the lack of protein but the list of chemicals. Some dogs are having kidney failure later in life due to years of their kidneys being over worked by processing the poison in their food.
I totally believe there are ****ty dog foods out there and I'm sure some of them have poor health effects. But where is the science behind the ratings dogfoodadvisor is giving? What are the expected health benefits of going from a 3 star food to a 4.5 star food?
A lot of food ratings online are based largely on quantity and quality of protein.
I totally believe there are ****ty dog foods out there and I'm sure some of them have poor health effects. But where is the science behind the ratings dogfoodadvisor is giving? What are the expected health benefits of going from a 3 star food to a 4.5 star food?
A lot of food ratings online are based largely on quantity and quality of protein.
Another report I found is from 2011 and issued by the European Pet Food Industry Federation. That one is available online:
Now, that last one may be biased because it's issued by the pet industry federation, but still it may contain the information needed to correlate quality of ingredients with higher ratings.
Most of my google searches for "dog food science" resulted on stuff that is pseudo-science as you call it, but honestly I only looked at the first page of google results (because who looks at the second page of results anymore anyways?)
We were using Natural Balance ultra which I believe is a 3.5 star rating on that site. I am currently switching him over to blue buffalo grain free duck recipe. His coat on the natural balance does not look great honestly and he has some allergy issues mostly on his paws. Blue buffalo is a 5 star rating, I am hoping that will be an improvement. I know with the high protein food I will have to be extra vigilant about walking him regularly, anything else I should know about this food and do you guys think its a good choice?
We were using Natural Balance ultra which I believe is a 3.5 star rating on that site. I am currently switching him over to blue buffalo grain free duck recipe. His coat on the natural balance does not look great honestly and he has some allergy issues mostly on his paws. Blue buffalo is a 5 star rating, I am hoping that will be an improvement. I know with the high protein food I will have to be extra vigilant about walking him regularly, anything else I should know about this food and do you guys think its a good choice?
I looked for a while and decided the Merrick was the best option.
I started with Blue Buffalo (can't remember the specific kind) and switched off because my dog didn't love the food and it caused her to have extremely loose stool.
The vet and a friend who owns a pet supply store both mentioned that for some dogs Blue Buffalo is too rich. YMMV.
Confirmation bias aside, there are so many more important things to a dogs overall health then nutrition.
1. Daily exercise
3. Not overfeeding
2. Good genetics
3. Creating a home environment where the dog feels safe.
I see so many people that feed their dogs top-tier dog foods only to have an overweight dog. And they wonder why their dog begins to have joint problems at 6 years old.
Also each individual dog is different. If I had a dog that exhibited diarrhea, vomiting, or a dull coat I would look into something different. My dogs have done fine on Purina One, other dogs have done well on the food, but some don't. Some dog's don't do well on a holistic diet, or top-tier dog food. Just find what works for your dog and move on.
I started with Blue Buffalo (can't remember the specific kind) and switched off because my dog didn't love the food and it caused her to have extremely loose stool.
The vet and a friend who owns a pet supply store both mentioned that for some dogs Blue Buffalo is too rich. YMMV.
We had the same issue previously with TOTW, then we tried adding in a dollop of pumpkin puree or non-fat plain greek yogurt once or twice a day and it stabilized after a few days. Like anything, this is also dog specific, but it helps a lot of dogs.
Gobbo, do you have studies showing the health effects of better dog food?
I'm totally with you that there's a lot of confirmation bias when it comes to this stuff, but when I was looking into what to feed my dog almost everything I read on all sides was pseudo-science.
Edit: Just as an example. dogfoodadvisor has:
This sounds like pseudo science to me. It sounds plausible but isn't really scientifically meaningful in judging if food is good for dogs.
I'm totally with you and hate that the dog 'industry' as it were is full of such nonsense but since the two options are ones that have a HUGE amount of protein and ones that have a lot of ****ty grains, I don't think it's a particularly close choice. The price difference is nearly negligible and there is usually not much of an 'in the middle' choice.
I wish there were more studies done on proper nutrition for dogs but there's barely enough out there for humans. The 'natural diet' is near as much bull**** as is the pack dominance bull**** that Cesar Milan has made so mindbogglingly popular, but when the choice is usually filler found on the ground of a factory full of garbage or dehydrated meat made by people who generally care about the health of a dog, you go with the latter even though they may not know 100% what they're doing.
take about a half cup of the dry food and let it sit in a quart jar of water overnight. next day shake it up, If you see a bunch of hair floating about that is what the maker is calling 'protein'