Is Purina One a good food for a 4.5 month only puppy?

I know a lot of people aren't going to agree with me on this post but this is what I do and I haven't had any nutrition issues and my dogs fur looks great. One of my dogs is all white and had skin issues when I had first adopted her almost 2 years ago.
I will go on the books by saying that giving the dogs a quality brand of food is better than giving a food that has tons of fillers (Here is a very interesting link that anyone interested in nutrition will value)http://www.mordanna.com/boards/verifyemail.php?verify=486-gfyyC2T8&Cat=0
I think balance is important and although most people never feed their dogs table foods, I do. ( I don't feed bones or heavy amounts of fat (skin)

Anyway, last year my dog Cairo became sick (he is the one that swallowed a big chunk of a kong toy and needed to be hospitilized)
He lost weight due to being sick and seeing as he was quite overweight before his incident, we decided that we needed to maintain his post-op weight.

I had heard from people I work with that they have had great luck feeding their dogs Iam's weight loss dog food.
I knew first hand what their dogs look like and thought "Hey if their dogs look that healthy and they are only feeding Iam's, I should give it a try". I also realize that Iam's is not on the "Top quality list" I had tried Wellness, Nutro Max and Purina Pro Plan in the past. For the most part however, I kept my dogs on Purina Pro Plan.
Well, now I only feed Iam's.
My vet told me that dogs can have vegetables and carrots and green beans are ok for dogs.
So, for the past year, I have been giving all of my dogs weight loss Iam's mixed with carrots and/or green beans mixed w/ canned salmon for added protein. I have used cod fish oil mixed in their food as well. Sometimes I cut up tomatoes small size and mix that as well.

My white dog Annabelle was at the vets last week for shots and the vet said she was still a bit overweight but looked great!!!
I told her what I was feeding and she approved. She said to cut back still on the portion but said that Iam's was fine overall and to keep it up because it is working well for us.

I also will give my dogs pieces of cooked hamburg, chicken and fish.
If we have vegetables for dinner, I will mix some veggies and scraps of left over meat into their food. I will also mix left over rice or oatmeal into their food too.

Again, I am not posting this to reccomend it to anyone but its what I do and my dogs look great and act extremily healthy.

I also have a foster that had terrible skin when she came out of the shelter. You would not believe the difference in what she looks like now.

So I have to agree, althought all the text books tell us to go with extremily high quality foods, balance is important and if something is working for your particular dog well than keep it up.
But do research and know what you are feeding.

I could almost bet high money that if I cut out the commercial dog food all together, they would still look great because they are getting all of their nutritional needs met through the cuts of meat, veggies and fish and carbs.

Again, not wishing to debate this post with anyone but its just what I do.

Sue

If I had the time daily, I would make my own dog food because no matter what you pay for quality dog foods, I still feel its still not going to be "top quality".

 

I have found that foods like Pedigree are like crack for dogs. Once they have it, that's all they want. My older dog Samantha, now deceased, was fed Pedigree almost her whole life. Before I knew better, b/c I like many people, thought the expensive brands were a waste of $$, etc. etc. Well, when I got Indy I started researching foods b/c 'large breed' dog foods were all the rage and I wanted to make sure he grew right and he was having skin issues so I wanted the best food for him. after a ton of research I started feeding him calif natural and he of course did great. Well, I tried to switch Samantha over. She refused to eat it. I tried different food after different food and she started eating eagle pack for a few weeks and her coat just looked FANTAStic. But she didn't like it. Eventually she refused to eat it and every other thing I gave her until I broke down and gave her her beloved Pedigree can food. She ate that til the day she died at 6 yrs from liver failure. Yeah, she did perfectly fine with Pedigree, was very active as a puppy, etc. right up to that point where one morning she wouldn't get up.

Just b/c your dogs eat it doesn't make it good for them. My dogs eat everything from cat poop to vomit to random pieces of plastic. Doesn't mean I'm going to start feeding them poop b/c they say they like it.

And you shouldn't put all your hopes in what your vets say. They don't know everything. Most aren't really educated about nutrition. The education that they do receive about it is sponsored by science diet, etc.

I'm done arguing this b/c you don't even seem to want to learn. You are arguing against something you haven't even tried. I've seen both sides of the coin and I prefer my dogs healthy. I don't know what the future holds for Indy but like I said, I'm going to give him the best possible shot and have no regrets b/c I was cheap and chose to be ignorant.

 

I agree with you. I think this quote is the key.

There are foods on the market that I wouldnt feed to my pet rock! but Pedigree, Purina and many others are not the list.

When I did the study on APD, the hospital I was working at regularly fed Science Diet to the boarders, diarrhea was a common occurance with most of them for about the first 2 days, we switched to APD and we rarely saw any with 'food change induced diarrhea'.

My dogs have had no problems switching from Pedigree to Purina to APD so I never got the impression that there was anything addictive in them (still not sure about them Greenies though :shock: ).

Im not going to say that I think Pedigree is the most nutritious food on the market but when the dogs are given real meat regularly, a good variety of different foods....like I said, as far back as I remember, we have had plenty of healthy dogs living their lives well into old age. As the saying goes "if it ain't broke....dont fix it".

 

Thats exactly it...

BALANCE is the KEY

Also on the Pedigree.... both girls are doing VERY well on it. However I do have to substitute vitamins, and other suppliments. Without it, they just look crappy.

I've tried SEVERAL brands, switching them too, and they flat our REFUSE to eat if they detect another brand of food in their food. They will pick around it and select all the pedigree and leave the rest.

 

I have 2 dogs on each end of the spectrum. Jake is on premade raw, and is doing wonderful!! I tried so many commerical foods even the good stuff and he was still scratchig, lethargic you name it. So raw it is for him.

Now Wylie is on purina pro plan This is the first one that she likes and will eat on a regualr basis. To me there are a lot better dry foods out there, and I have tried many, but they would just upset her stomach so pro-plan it is. I do give supplements and enyzymes in her food.

and htey do get a few table scraps like left over chicken or eggs or a piece of cheese when I make my lunch, but thats about it.

The funny thing is Wylie ended up in the hispital a few year ago and they thought it was pancreattits, (that part is not funny) well she is so picky, she doesnt get into anything it turned out it wasnt pancreatitis, they never found out what was the cause, but my husband would give her a piece of ham when he made his lunch, so he swears that was why she got sick and he wont eat ham anymore either

 

But doesn't Pedigree have a high content of yellow corn? Ok I just looked and yes it is the predominant INGREDIENT in almost all the Pedigree products.

I have always felt yellow corn is one of the most indidestable allergy causing fillers you can give a dog. YOu really should look for something with little or no corn in it. If corn is the first item in the INGREDIENT list then I will not buy it.

Take a look at the chart here and see what I mean.
http://www.feedmypet.com/dog-food-comparison.html

 

yes, I'm aware of that....

I've tried Diamond, Calif Nut., Mazimum nutr, Scie, diet.. you name it, I've tried it. I've even tried raw. THey won't have anytihng to do with it. Both are soooo picky it's not even funny.

I can mix just a handful of another brand in with their Pedigree, and they will eat the Pedigree and leave the other brand. YES their THAT picky. they do not eat table scraps. Even offered to them.

I have found that they do like smoked ham hocks, and pig ears. They don't really care for anything else. They occasionally will eat a natural raw hide toy, but thats not often...

 

I just don't give them a choice. Remove whatever it is they think they need and give them only what you want to feed them. They will not starve themselves if there is food available.

 

I recently switched my dogs to Purina One Healthy Weight formula and they have actually slimmed down. I switched them because my vet suggested it and I decided to finally listen to him. The only problem is that their stools are real loose and Brie is itching up a storm. I switched them back (today) to Natural Balance. I think she still scratched when they were on this, but not as bad. Back then it was the reduced calorie formula. But I agree about the "no corn". That's why I put them back on NB. My dogs, however, will eat ANYTHING. Which is why Zoey has had the trots this week...she found Leroy's cat's poo.

 

D Mike... yeah, Precious will. I tried that. She didn't eat for 3 days, the fourth day, I freeked out and fed her.... she lost a ton of weight Kabuki ate a little and it upset her stomache and she ended up with diareha and vomiting from the sudden change. She didnt eat it though till the second day....

My dogs aren't fed junk and table scraps. If someone offers it to them like a child or someone who doesn't know better, they won't take it. They might sniff it but thats it. It amazes my friends. They think I've trained them to do it or something. But I didn't, the're just like that.

It took me 7 months just to get them to eat raw eggs... Precious still won't unless i crack it and mix it very well with the pedigree and let it dry a little bit. Buki eats shell and all, and likes it whole so she ccan bite it and 'pop' it in her mouth...

I'm going to try it again with Maxim Nutrition.... but just do it VERY slowly... I bought a 5lb bag this morning. Any bigger and it'll go bad before I switch them..

 

Good luck on getting them to a better food, I know it can be hard sometimes to force the babies to do something we know is better for them. But once they are switched you will love the effects of a shinier coat and less stool to clean up.
I give my dogs everything I eat, even Mac and Cheese. If I make a box I eat a few scoops and split the rest to the dogs. One of the favorites is Table Queen Acorn Squash. They eat the top raw when I trim it then after it is cooked I give them all whatever I can scrape out of the rind. I can not see how "specialists" can say human foods are bad for dogs when we constantly strive to feed them the same foods humans eat in kibble form.
Also Dowser will take snacks from people (bad dog) but Duncan actually pees on the fence near whoever tries to give him a snack and wont take it.

 

Pee's on the fence!!! Thats too funny!!!!

They do look great. Shiny coats, their stool isn't bad at all.... but it's all because of the suppliments and extras they get.

I get "Smart Packs" That way every day I just pick two of them up, (ones specailly made for Precious and the other for Bukers) and then there's no measuring, counting or anything. Just open up the smart pack and pour it in with their food! Their now offering it with the kibble in it as well, so you don't have to weigh it out or measure the kibble too!!!! I'm looking it to it, but with my two girls, the suppliment smart packs are already $28 for a 30 day supply, with the ammount of kibble they eat, it would be lie $50 per dog for a 30 day supply.

I'm looking into it though. We're fixing to start doing alot of work with the girls, going places for shows, vet stays ect.... So It'll be easier on me and the people helping me. I'm also going to be gone for a few days, So I KNOW It'll be done correctly when I'm gone, All Granvel has to do is open up one of Precious' packs and one of Kabuki's... thats it...well, he's gotta feed it to them. LOL...

 

Thats toooo funny :lol:

 

Molly has suddenly turned into the world's pickiest eater. She'd eat her food fine, but in the past week she lets it sit to the point where I end up tossing it.
the only way to get her to eat is to exercise her. And that's not always possible (she does get exericise just about daily but this time of year weather is a huge factor).
She's supposed to be going to play with her friend, Beau, this moring (rain threatening to cancel it though) and I know she'll come home and eat.
I did try switching (slowly) to different foods but this dog's stomach is so sensitive if I even put 5 pieces of a different kibble mixed in it goes out so quickly.
I'm at a loss. She is now 8 months old and has gained only 4 pounds in 2 months.
I know she loves Innova (what she was brought up on) and I can get it only one place around here. The cost is astronomical...I know it's important to feed what they'll eat and thrive on but justifying the cost for that stuff is tough.
She's been eating Nutro Natural and doing fine...just can't get her to eat it.