Best grain free food currently available???
I've been feeding my pup blue buffalo wilderness puppy chicken recipe for the last few months and it seems every time I tell someone what she eats they keep talking about issues people have had and recalls etc.
So my question is what is the best grain free food out there for a 4 month old pup ( I feed her kibble with some wet can food mixed in)?
Thanks,
Comments
For a healthy dog with no limitations (yeast overgrowth, kidney problems etc.) that require limited ingredient diets there's a number of different good quality kibble brands on the market. Most of them also produce canned food. I am no expert in terms of canned food, because I am using fresh meats, fish, innards, eggs and veggies instead to mix with the kibble I feed.
There are also freeze dried fresh dog foods available, which I would feed rather than canned either, if I would want to switch from fresh meats. Many of them are really good.
The following brands offer grain-free varieties and are worth taking a closer look at, because they are all good quality: Orjien, Merrick, Victor, Canidae, Performatrin, Dr. Tim's Kinesis.
They all offer grain-free, puppy and/ or "all stages" formulas.
The good brands are all located in the upper price range though. There are some less expensive, yet still good brands/ products around. In terms of kibble I've learned this rule of thumb: The cheaper the product, the less meat content. It's not a general rule for EVERY brand. But there's a pattern showing when comparing products. When it gets really cheap you will also encounter a lot of fillers, by-products and all the things you don't want your dog to eat.
The good ones among the less expensive brands are often plant-based, while the brands mentioned above (often also besides plant-based varieties) offer meat-based varieties.
Dogfoodadvisor holds a lot of information ready on dog foods. I post the link to their "best of" list - so you can comb through that. The entire site is very informative. But once I decide to look deeper into a product, I often double check by looking at customer reviews on Amazon, for example, or just digging around on Google.
Blue Buffalo is off my list since I've read about things like this (only one of many different sources):
http://poisonedpets.com/blue-buffalo-gets-slammed-by-a-shit-storm-of-consumer-lawsuits-based-on-deceptive-advertising-claims/
I am afraid they are not the only brand using mislabeling and misleading advertising. But they are one manufacturer that got caught doing it (not that the competitor Purina who dragged it all into daylight would be much of a better choice regarding the quality of their products).
It's funny though that you never see one of the real good-quality brands advertising on TV promising your dog will grow wings after eating their food. Ok, I don't watch a lot of TV. But it strikes me.
Besides the food itself there are supplements to consider. Reasonable add-ons to consider are: salmon oil, Nuvet or Nupro, virgin ACV, virgin coconut oil, certain herbs and probiotics.
I hope the input helps a litte. I'm sure others will weigh in with other suggestions.
"It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
www.bulliesofnc.com
It's expensive, but on the other hand very close to what we are paying in our area for raw meats etc. And absolutely worth it, if you want fresh food delivered frozen directly to your door step without the hassles that come along when preparing fresh food yourself!
I think I remember that we switched Djamila to adult dog food somewhere between nine to twelve months of age and also did not feed raw before that.
"It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
www.bulliesofnc.com
"It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
www.bulliesofnc.com
"It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
www.bulliesofnc.com
So far it’s not due to the quality.
But I just learned that of all possible companies one of THE most highly disputed one did take over Merrick last year - Nestle.
How could I miss that for so long?
http://www.merrickpetcare.com/news-center/news-releases/merrick-pet-care-announces-purchase-agreement-by-nestle-purina-petcare-company
The one I am feeding now will be the last bag of Merrick I buy for the forseeable future. With Nestle behind this dog food now (and brands such as Purina in their portfolio and an inhuman water policy …), I just don't trust in the future of the quality of this product and I am trying not to support inhuman and price-oriented manufacturing philosophies.
Why do small enterprises whose original goal obviously was to specifically design BETTER products than giants such as Nestle eventually sell themselves out to exactly those giants just for a bag of money.
Did they really not make enough money back when Merrick was an independent brand?
With all the things I find out day by day I really wonder when I will have to start thinking REALLY hard about my options and what’s being left that I can still eat myself and feed my dog any longer, if I want to continue stop supporting inhuman manufacturing practices and use of unhealthy food ingredients for the sake of the bargain.
It’s so frustrating.
In general it is more of a gut feeling and possibly also irrational that feeding meat based kibble to me feels closer to a "natural" nutrition than feeding plant based.
Probably no kibble is really comparable to or can really replace a raw, “prey-model” diet.
But what I know at least for sure is that there are significant differences between proteins regarding digestion, quality, value for the body etc. Also I know that plant sourced protein is just not the same as animal sourced protein.
Most meat based kibbles are high protein diets at the same time. But funny enough though: at least initially not every dog tolerates that well (no speaking about dogs with kidney problems as a special case). I was not able to figure out the reason so far. Are dogs already that domesticated and used to highly processed foods full of grains, fillers and all of those other “unnatural” ingredients that their stomachs are no longer ready to deal with high amounts of protein? Wouldn’t one assume that high protein is the closest option to “natural” eating for a dog?
That of course does not matter, if the dog simply does not WANT the food you are offering. Sad to hear that your dog did not want Victor.
When I browse through reviews I sometimes feel like the better dry foods sometimes seem to have a harder time to be accepted by dogs, compared to cheap foods that are rich in fillers, fats and flavor enhancers.
Fat and flavor enhancers make the food more attractive to the dog, no matter if they are healthy or not.
Anyway, all thoughts aside, there are a lot of plant based kibbles that are also considered high quality. TOTW to my knowledge is one of them. And if your dog likes and tolerates Taste of the wild, I am happy for you that you found it as your option to go with.
"It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
www.bulliesofnc.com
I was thinking about the joint formula for active dogs. But I read that in order to be effective the dosage of the Gluco*samine (sorry for the way I spell it, but the forum does not allow me to write this word in whole, just doesn't let me save my comment then ???) in the food would have to be much higher than it actually is.
Therefore it is recommended to use Gluco*samine supplements instead.
Any thoughts on that?
That's very weird that the site wouldn't let you spell it properly... Must be a communist intelligence plot.... Have you thought of Pure Vita? Djammy/ Steve?... I love that stuff almost as much as the kids do.