Dog Information

Is dry comercial dog food good for dogs or is it better to make your own?

We have a miniature Daschund who is a purebred with papers and is 15 months old, we have only had her for a few weeks and we are new to owning a dog, we feed her pedigree dry food during the day and some fresh mince or a chicken neck at night. The dog food says it has all these nutrients and stuff but is it better to make her food?

Public Comments

1. DRY COMMERCIAL
2. Fresh food is better IMO, but only if you put the time into making sure it is balanced. A lot of people don't have much of an inclination to learn about canine nutrition though, and I think those people are better off feeding a high quality commercial food (btw, Pedigree is not the best brand, some great brands are Innova, Canidae, etc.)
3. Well it depends on the kibble. I feed dry Canidae dog food with some EVO canned Venison mixed in. Both foods are high quality and all natural.
4. Talk to your vet before going to a home made diet. It more than just feeding meat. There are a lot of vitamins and minerals that your dog needs. So if you have time to make your dog it breakfast and dinner everyday!!! go for it. Otherwise talk to your vet for the best diet for your individual dog. Natural diets are a fine line to walk and you have to be so careful follow diets that are already proven that works for dogs. It can be worth it. I don't cuz I can't even make myself dinner everyday! I feed him a premium dog food and he's healthy and not fat.
5. before doing anything with her food, you should consult your vet! Some dog food brands are great! Others aren't. However, if you wanted to switch to something that would be good for finicky eaters and dogs with sensitive stomachs, boiled chicken and white rice is great! But in all diets, you need to make sure that they are getting all their nutrients and if at any time your dog exhibits any signs of sickness with diarrhea or vomit, you should consult your vet. To get the clearest answer, go to your vet!
6. Dry comm. is the best, it is very costly to buy all the fatty acids and vitamins they would need for you to put in their food, not to mention the work involved.
7. pedigree is a BAD food think of it like eating mc donalds and cardboard ground together, theres no real meat in there...just meat byproducts (beaks feet and feathers) and animal fat for flavour...the rest is gorn and grain fillers. a GOOD quality dry food (you cannot buy good quality at your local grocery store and good quality doesnt include science diet, eukanuba or anything similar, these are mc d's and cardboard in fancy packaging) look for a high quality kibble with meat as the first ingredient (either meat meal or meat NOT meat by-products) and NO CORN. these high quality kibbles are BETTER than most general home made dog foods because most people think its as simple as throwing some chicken and vegies in a bowl and tada dog food...not quite so... if your realy interested in feeding a home made or raw diet it involves ALOT of reasech... raw is the best a good homemmade diet and a high quality kibble are the next best... chicken soup for the dog lovers soul timberwolf canidea merrick royal canin eagle pack solid gold nutro and if you have a costco neerby, KIRKLAND dog food is actually a very good food at a great price! and as a side note, papers mean nothing more than you know your dogs mum and dad are both doxies...please dont assume that papers changes its dietary need or makes your dog any more special than a mutt from the shelter...even puppymills provide papers with their puppies... good luck with your new baby.
8. It's best to listen to what to your veterinarian tells you. Ask him or her what they recommend. Typically brands like Iams, Euchanuba and Pedigree are good foods for dogs. Whatever you do, don't feed them people food.
9. I think it is best to feed a high quality kibble ad supplement with home cooked food. It takes a lot of time and effort to make a nutritionally balanced home cooked diet for a dog. Take a look at the ingredients list on Pedigree dog food. The first three ingredients are Ground Yellow Corn, Chicken By-Product (The beaks and feathers, not chicken you would eat) and Ground Wheat. None of these ingredients are good. Another food, such as wellness, has deboned chicken, chicken meal, and oatmeal as first three ingredients.
10. There's more to homecooking your dog's food than just giving it meat. It needs to be nutritionally balanced. Check out Dogster's Homecooked forum: http://www.dogster.com/forums/Home_Prepared_Food_Recipes If you want to stay on commercial kibble, try one of the following: Canidae Innova/EVO Nature's Variety Solid Gold Timberwolf Organics Wellness California Natural Orijen Stay away from Iams, Eukanuba, Pedigree, Purina, Bil Jac, Kibbles & Bits, Ol' Roy, and other cheap grocery brands. These are NOT good quality foods. Your vet will probably recommend Science Diet- this is an awful food as well. Vets aren't knowledgable about dog nutrition.
11. If the choice is between crappy Pedigree food, and a home made diet.. Then I would go with the home made diet.. Pedigree isn't fit for baiting a rat trap.. You should do some research, find out what constitutes a good quality kibble and switch up .. quick!
12. If you are going to go through the trouble to make your dog's diet, I would suggestion going raw instead of cooked. Or, if you want to stick with kibble, you can find a MUCH higher-quality food than Pedigree. === === === DRY KIBBLE: Read the ingredients on the food you buy. Go with a high quality dog food. Here is my "short list" of rules when I am looking at dog ingredients: 1) When I chose a dog food, I chose one high meat content. I want to see preferably at least 2-3 out of the top 5 ingredients be meat or meat meal (first ingredient must be!). 2) I want to see higher quality grains, such as barley, brown rice, and oatmeal, instead of seeing wheat and corn. Or an alternative starch/carbohydrate such as potatoes or sweet potatoes. 3) I don't want to see any byproducts. 4) I don't want to see a lot of fillers. 5) I don't want to see preservatives that are believed to be carcinogens (BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin). 6) I don't want to see artificial colorings such as the Red, Blue, and Yellow dyes. 7) I don't want to see added sugars (sugar, corn syrup). 8) I don't want to see mystery meats (meats identified only as "meat" or "poultry".) Here is an article about byproducts: http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=ingrd And an article on what ingredients to avoid: http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=badingredients --- There is no single food that is "best". For example, some dogs thrive on grain-free foods, while grain-free is too rich for other dogs. What you want to find is the high-quality food that *your dog* does best on. Some GOOD foods are : * Artemis - http://www.artemiscompany.com/ * California Natural - http://www.naturapet.com/brands/california-natural.asp * Canidae - http://www.canidae.com/ * Chicken Soup - http://www.chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com/ * EVO - http://www.naturapet.com/brands/evo.asp * Fromm - http://www.frommfamily.com/ * Innova - http://www.naturapet.com/brands/innova.asp * Merrick - http://www.merrickpetcare.com/ * Nature's Variety - http://www.naturesvariety.com/ * Orijen - http://www.championpetfoods.com/orijen/orijen/ * Solid Gold - http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/ * Taste of the Wild - http://www.tasteofthewildpetfood.com/ * Timberwolf Organics - http://timberwolforganics.com/ * Wellness - http://www.omhpet.com/wellness/ Or check this website for good foods: http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/ (I recommend only feeding foods rated 4, 5, or 6 stars. Anything 3 stars or less, I would stay away from.) --- Stay away from grocery stores brands. They are low-quality foods chalk full of fillers, preservatives, dyes, etc.. (Grocery store foods are those like Beneful, Old Roy, Alpo, Pedigree, etc.) Beware "premium" foods. "Premium" does not mean good nutritionally, and is not a nutritionally high quality food. It has the same types of ingredients as grocery store foods, just a bit better quality of those not-so-good ingredients. (Premium foods are those like Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, etc..) Another thing to be wary of: A lot of vets will recommend what they sell in their office. They get profit from the brands they keep on their shelves, that's why they push it. Truth is, vet schools don't focus a lot on nutrition. It's not saying that a vet is a bad vet because he recommends those foods, a lot of vets just are told "this is good food", so they pass the message along without proper nutrition knowledge. Also, some dog food brands (like Hills) support vet schools, so vets have heard of it from the time they start college, which makes them think it's good as well. --- Higher quality food may seem more expensive at first, but it evens out. The higher quality the food, the less fillers eaten (and therefore the less poop comes out the other end). Your dog eats more to try to get the nutrition it needs, and most of the food just passes right on through. Also, it will make your animals healthier, so you save money on vet bills in the long run. --- "Big box" petstores like Petco and Petsmart rarely have quality foods. (I do believe that PetCo sells "Solid Gold" and "Natural Balance" brands and Petsmart sells "Blue Buffallo", which are all quality foods, but most of the foods aren't.) Also, grocery stores and Walmart aren't good places to buy food either. Your best bets for getting quality dog food are: - small, locally owned petstores - dog boutiques - farm supply stores --- When switching foods, do it gradually. I do this over about a two week timespan: 25% food A, 75% food B 50% food A, 50% food B 75% food A, 25% food B 100% food A === === === RAW: I don't have experience feeding an all-raw diet from scratch. (I personally "cheat" and use the premade frozen raw from Nature's Variety, but there are some benefits of doing raw 'from scratch'.) There are some raw feeders here on Y!A that can elaborate further about raw diets. If you decide to do raw, you need to do research to determine what amounts (based on the weight of your dog) of what things (meat, organ, bone) you need to feed your dog. It is **imperative** that you do the research so your dog gets proper nutrition on this diet. Here's a place to start your research: http://www.dogster.com/forums/Raw_Food_Diet/thread/431875 .
13. Your dog will do just fine & be a less picky eater if you feed it NOTHING but a high quality dry or canned dog food. That way they are getting ALL of the nutrients they require. I know I will get the thumbs down on this, but when you make your own dog food there are nutrients that are left out that a dog requires, I don't care what people say. There are a lot of "complete" high quality foods out there & Pedigree is NOT one of them. We feed Canidae All Life Stages. It is made without any grains or fillers which can cause allergies & are NOT nutritious. We have (8) dogs of various sizes & I cannot imagine trying to cook enough food for them because we also have (8) horses, (3) kids & a house. Besides, what if we needed to leave them in the care of a friend while we are out of town & I sure as heck would NOT expect them to have to spend that much time feeding our dogs.
14. Premium food is better for dogs. The best brands are in particular order... Nutro, Royal Canin, Nature's Recipe, Natural Balance, and Solid Gold. All the others have by products and can hurt your dogs stomach. As a pet nutrition specialist.. I dont recommend you make your dogs food. It starves them of necessary nutrients that only a good pet food company can acquire.. such as extra linoleic acid and chicory root.
15. Good idea but make sure you research! read this. http://www.kidsandtheirpets.blogspot.com
16. In my opinion the best thing you could feed your dog is a raw diet of meaty bones and offal. She is used to crunching through necks so it is only a small transition for both of you! I can highly recommend "Work Wonders" and "Raw Meaty Bones" by Dr Tom Lonsdale as a starting point for your raw research. There are several raw feeding groups on yahoo as well. We raw feed one dog, three cats and three turtles!! Feel free to contact me if you want some more links. EDIT - raw feeding this way is not difficult. The approximate ratio of 80:10:10 (meat:bone:offal) is averaged over a week or two, not every meal, so is not hard at all. This way your dog will have access to every nutrient it needs.