Does it *really* matter what brand of food you feed your dog

I am getting a puppy soon and trying to decide what type of food to feed her. The breeder feeds her Ol' Roy from Walmart. I have heard that this is good food, and I have heard it is a bad food. Within reason, does it *significantly* matter what brand of food you feed your dog. I do not want my dog to get sick, die early, be unhealthy, etc. I don't plan on feeding her the dollar store brand or table food, but I want to be realistic about it. Any opinions would be helpful. Thanks

 

There is a HUGE diffrence in the foods you feed your puppy!!! Its like you eating Mc Donalds bigmac every day or your balanced home cooked meal....big diffrences...there are several past posts about this issue....

Chicken Soup is a good one to feed.

 

Diamond is a good middle to upper brand food to feed and affordable,

Nutro is a GREAT brand

Propac I've heard

Severaly good brands... But to keep your dog in optimal health etc...as you mentioned...you should really look into feeding raw... Can be good or bad depending on how the dog does... for the best health it's the only way to go.

 

Please don't get offended, but in my opinion, Ol' Roy is not exactly what i would call a high quality food. Its sold cheap for a reason-the ingredients are cheap and low quality. You can't expect a pet food company to sell super high quality food made with expensive ingredients and then turn around and sell it cheap or they wouldn't be making a profit. You get what you pay for definitely applies here. I'm a firm believer that your pet's overall health and quality of life has loads to do with what is put into their body over time and that applies to humans too. Here's an article on pet food ingredients:

http://www.api4animals.org/79.htm

A lot of the best quality foods are expensive, but consider the fact that you can have peace of mind knowing that you are giving your pup the very best you can and that you aren't feeding him things that could cause him to develop cancers and abnormal tumors later in life, thereby shortening his lifespan.
Some good brands are:

Wysong
Solid Gold
Life's Abundance
Innova
Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul
Wellness

To name a few. Hope that helps!

P.S. I also agree that feeding fresh raw foods is absolutely best if done properly, but like in my situation as well as most pet owners, it simply isn't practical for everyone. I've also read that it's a good idea to pick a couple different high quality brands and rotate them every few months just in case one brand is somehow deficient in their ingredients such as their protien source. Also just because there is a guaranteed Min-Max analysis on the bag, doesn't mean it totally absorbable to your dog depending on what was used to get those numbers. So it could something in your dog's diet could be lacking and you wouldn't even know it.

 

Thanks everyone! I will look into those brands mentioned here.

 

it does make a difference, please do not feed your dog ol roy, everyone posted very good recommendatins on good foods.


fairiedust,, g reat link on on the food

honeybear

 

I will let you guys in a little secret I dont like to share, I used to feed Ol Roy before I knew any better, I switched to Innova shortly after joining this board and became much more educated about food. I have noticed a HUGE diffrence in my dogs and feel much better about what I am feeding them and the knowledge that I do have now to make the right decisions for my dogs. It is very important to know what is in your dogs food. Education is the key. Read up there is tons of information out there, pick the food that you feel is best for your dog. There is a wide variety of food that we all feed on this board so feel free to ask questions about any type of food you are looking at I am sure someone here uses it!

 

There are differnt theories on this, one being a dogs health is predtermined and nothing you can do can help it. 2 being a dogs health may be predetermined, but you can help it to be healthier. 3 dogs don't matter they live short lives anyway, so what does it matter, there have been many happy and healthy dogs fed on each type of food (old roy included)
I personally believe that my dog seems healthier, his teeth are cleaner his coat shines better he poops less often with RAW diet. I have had difficulties finding a "normal" brand of food over here and stuff looked like corn flakes and made his breath stink and he had to poop about 58 times a day before.
My parents dogs were fed whatever was on sale their whole lives or table scraps (chocolate included) they died when they were 16 and 17, I think.
My dog died, who only ever ate Dog Chow little bites, of organ failure, but I don't think it was the food.
I think it ultimately depends on what you think you dog does best on. My dog does best on RAW, I think it is really good for him, but other dogs, may get sick from it or may be allergic to Ol Roy, whatever food, you need to try it out and see.

 

I believe Duke and Freckles would prefer a diet of sticks, rocks, socks, paper, and cat poop but I offer them the premium Eukanuba Lamb and Rice with real lamb meat instead of lamb meal.
One good guide to tell the quality of a food is to look at the recommended feeding amounts. Say for a sixty pound dog one brand recommends three cups a day and another only two cups. It's a good bet there is better nutritional value in the two cup brand. Point here is that some food may seem more expensive but you actually have to feed a lesser quantity.

 

I had my dogs on Euk first... I actually got better results when they were on Nutro and it's cheaper and you feed about the same ammount...better coats, attitude and even eyes... I didn't think it could get better but truly it did...

 

You are what you eat......
Would you raise a baby on candy and pop ?
Think of your pup as your child and how you would take care of it.
Some swear by there food and others by natural, it kind of comes down to a lot of reading and investigation on your behalf and even then in the end you go with what you feel is best and wait to see how your pup handles the food. Talking to your vet and breeders well be a big help.

2pyrs

 

Talk to your vet, everyone's opinions here are great, but ultimatly it's oyur dog, so your vet is teh best bet. according to my vet ol' roy causes stones and stuff.

 

Actually, most vets have very little nutritional training. You are better off doing your own research or finding an animal nutritionist.

 

Vets are probably not the best way to go. My vet told me to feed Purina. Or they'll be happy to recommend what they sell in their office.

But yes it really matters what dog food you feed your dogs. I feed my dog California Natural which is the top of the line. He always gets compliments on his coat. His teeth look great, he is always energetic, etc. I don't know how many times a day he poops but it is not that often. And he doesn' thave that doggy smell.

My other dog would only eat pedigree. she had a smell and ended up dying of liver disease. i don't know if the two are related but it certainly makes me think. SHe also didn't have the gleaming coat indy has.

Bottomline, the food is not that much more expensive, considering you feed a lot less of it. If you don't want to spend an extra $10 or whatever a month, maybe you shouldn't have a dog.

 

I think good quality food and genetics has a lot to say how healthy a dog can be.

My Mom had a Cocker Spaniel whom ate fair to good quality of food. But she ate a lot of spaghetti, pizza, Little Debbie Cup cakes, chile, and anything my Mom could sneak in her purse from an All you can eat buffet. Mini lived to be 18 yrs. and was healthy up until the last year when she developed heart failure.

Mom said I was a dog food, vitamin fanatic.

 

I was just reading over this thread again and i got to thinking.....why would a breeder be so cheap as to feed Ol' Roy anyway? You'd tend to think a good breeder would be more concerned about things like that. Hmm....makes me wonder.

 

I feed Purina Kibbles and CHunks. (is that bad?)

 

Here's a good way to go about looking for a decent food...check the ingredients. Particularly looking at the first 3-5 on the list. If there's a lot of corn in it, that not a good thing. Also try to stay away from any non-specific meats such as "animal by products" or "meat and bone meal". Then check towards the bottom of the ingredient list and if you see things like ethoxyquin, BHT, BHA...then its not a good quality food. For more info on pet food labeling you can read the info on the link towards the top of this thread. A lot of people assume that because the label say 100% complete nutrition that it's just as good as the premium brands. Not so. There are also specific wording tricks in regards to labeling pet food that allows them to get away with tricking you into thinking the food is better than it really is. Just do your research, check labels, and make your best judgement.