another dog food site to see!

http://www.seespotglow.com/

 

flin reiver is supposed to be a really good quality food, is that what you are feeding your pups now?

honeybear

 

Chicken Meal, Whole Wheat Flour, Ground Rice, Lamb Meal, Poultry Fat (preserved only with Tocopherols [source of Vitamin E] and Ascorbic Acid [source of Vitamin C]), Ground Wheat, Dried Whole Egg, Lecithin, Fish Meal, Brewers Dried Yeast, Wheat Germ Meal, Dried Kelp, Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Ferrous Sulfate, DL-Alpha Tocopherol Acetate [source of Vitamin E], Zinc Oxide, Selenium Supplement, Manganous Oxide, Riboflavin Supplement [Vitamin B2], Copper and Cobalt, Niacin, Ascorbic Acid [source of Vitamin C], Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, D-Biotin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride [Vitamin B6], Calcium Iodate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement.

I have heard that meal or by-product is not very good... it should just say... chicken, beef or lamb. Anyone else hear this?

 

MEAL is good.

By-products are what is bad.

 

Laura, is that flint river?? because that does not look good. here is what a sample of a good dry should have
so the ist 2 ingred are whole meats, then a meal and then carbs.

this is how a good dog food should read: this is Innova brand
Turkey
Chicken
Chicken Meal
Ground Barley
Ground Brown Rice

honeybear

 

yeah that is flint river

how much is that a bag? how big is the bag? I am trying to find a quality dog food that doesn't break the bank! :?

 

Laura, here is their web site, they have a store locater on it. as for cost, it works out to be the same as regular store brands . you do pay mroe for a bag, but they eat less, because it does not have all of the filler.


http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=home-tab

honeybear

 

yeah I went there earlier... did the store locator and the closest store is like 3 and a half hours away :cry: I will try the customer service and see what they can do... I guess you can order from the closest store and they will send it ups. I will have to check into that some more I guess. This is the best I have found so far... I just hope the price is right.

 

don't know much about flint river, but i heard it's pretty good. i'm feeding mine Healthwise (made by the same company that makes Innova), and my dog is doing great on it. mine is a small breed, and i was recommended to use Healthwise other than Innova which seems too rich in nutrition for the small breed. this is what i was told.

my dog has been on Healthwise for a month now, and i could tell that his coat is getting healthy and shining.

 

Okay, here's the deal on MEAL. The reason it is good is because the ingredients on the bag are listed by weight - BEFORE processing. "Chicken" is full of a lot of water - so a bag can list "chicken" as the first ingredient, but once in has been dehydrated in the processing, it now accounts for very little of the finished product. MEAL, on the other hand, is already dried - so if CHICKEN MEAL is the first ingredient, you know that chicken is actually the largest ingredient in the food. You do NOT want by-products - this is the bad stuff.

Canidae has some info about this on their web site: http://www.canidae.com/ (click on "Meat vs. Meal" on the nav bar at the left of the page).


And this is from the Innova site (http://www.naturapet.com):

 

all this talk about dog food got me to research what I've been feeding my puppy (Eukanuba small breed puppy food) and realized that it does have the chicken by-product. I would like to switch her to something better like the Innova. Since she was sick to her stomach last Friday, I don't think it's a good idea to start switching her to a new food now...or should I? Her stomach is fine now.

Recommendations?

 

stravieso,
I used to feed mine with Eukanuba Small Breed Puppy Food too, and it didn't take me long to realize that the ingredients were BAD (by-products and a list of unknown preservatives). At the time I was feed Eukanuba, my dog had stomach upset as well. Whenever I put the food in his bowl, he would immediately shake his head (like NO NO NO) and jump away. Well, I thought Eukanuba was supposed to be good since it cost more, but I was wrong.

I called around and started searching for the REAL quality dog food. Finally, I found Innova. I went to their web site and learned that they do make quality dog food! While I was at the local pet store, one staff that knows me and my dog well recommended us Healthwise other than Innova (they are made by the same company, as you can see on their web site www.naturapet.com). The reason is Innova is very rich in nutrition and would be more suitable for larger breed. California Natural is okay, but it's all lamb meals. Chicken is important for puppies, and Healthwise does contain the right types of nutrition that a small breed like mine needs.

If I were you, I would start the food switching slowly. Mix both the Eukanuba and the Innova or the Healthwise till your puppy can adapt well to the new one. Whichever, Innova or Healthwise, you choose, is going to be a smart decision.

Hope this helps!

 

Strav - If her stomach is better now it wouldn't hurt to switch her but switch her over slowly.

Rich foods are not good for large breeds. I feed my puppy Calif Natural and he has no issues with it. It may have only lamb but there is nothing wrong with that - it is nutritionally complete. But if you don't have a large breed dog, and your dog doesn't have food allergies, I don't see why you wouldn't use Innova.

 

I guess everyone has different takes on the best foods but in my experience Innova seems to work really well for small breed dogs because it is so calorie dense and small breeds burn more calories per pound of body weight than larger dogs.
My mothers poodle, her friends yorkie and my grandmothers shih tzu are all doing really well on Innova. I have used it in the past on my toy poodle and my aussie x and was pleased. I just recently bought a bag of Healthwise to try and both of my dogs loved it but it seemed to make Sebastian constipated for some reason....so I went back to their regular food. They acted like the sample bag of California Natural was a wonderful treat too.
Personally, I think all of Natura's products are excellent....any one of their lines is a good choice IMO. :wink:

 

I have a little teacup Maltese. She vomited her food exactly a week ago today and on Friday she was vomiting again (twice). Since I had a puppy die of Parvo, I rushed her to the hospital but thank God she's fine and tested negative for Parvo. I imagine now that is the Eukanuba that's making her sick. She doesn't like it at all. I feed her a/d food on Saturday since she was sick and she loved the change and now hates the Eukanuba even more. I too thought the Eukanuba was one of the best dog foods since breaders feed it and it's so expensive. Good to know it's horrible.

I'm going to try either the Innova or the Healthwise foods. I'll do some research to see which one is best for my puppy. I know I've been saying this a lot but I'll say it again...I'm so glad I found this forum and you all. This has been a blessing and I'm also glad I have found so many friends here.

Thanks!!!
Silvia

 

I found Innova to be too rich for my pup - it gave her HORRIBLE gas!! So we switched to Healthwise and were very pleased. She went from about 5-6 huge squishy poops a day on Science Diet Puppy to about 2-3 smaller, more firm stools on Healthwise. (Of course, now we feed raw with even better results.)

Our shop where we got the specialty dog foods told me that Healthwise was more easily digested, because of ingredients like oatmeal. I can see how Innova would be great for a small breed dog, however, since they do tend to burn a ton of calories!

As everyone else said, choose one and then make the switch slowly. We actually switched cold turkey, but for a lot of dogs this causes problems.

Another food to look into is Canidae. It's a good food and not as pricey as Innova can be.

 

I just called the Natura customer service number and they suggested I put her in the California Natural Puppy food. They said that since she's had stomach issues already, this one is very easy to digest and she should do very well on it. I'm going to start her very slow so her little system doesn't freak out.

I'll keep you all posted! Thanks.