# Food Advice



## Scott's Sabre (May 4, 2006)

I have been feeding Sabre on Innova Puppy food for about 11 month now. She is just about a year and I am going to be moving her to adult food and two feedings a day instead of two. I found a food that I want to get some of your input on. Its called Great Plains Active Diet. I'll list the first handful of ingredients. 

Hydrolyzed Whole Poultry, Poultry Meal, Extrude whole corn, Ground whole brown rice, Whole wheat, Poultry fat, fish meal, corn gluten meal, oat meal, flax seed, beet pulp, dried whoe eggs, poultry digest, starch, Lecithin oil, nutri binder, sodium Bentonite, salt ....... And a whole bunch of other stuff. Any thoughts??? Or any other adult food you would reccomend that you think is good and wont cost an arm and a leg like innova. Thanks for your input.


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## Maggies mom (Jan 6, 2006)

I dont know anything about the new food you talking about.... But I have Maggie and Houdini on the innova food.... They both have done very well on it..... When i got Houdini hes coat was course and very dull looking and since hes been eating innova it is becoming softer and it now hows a shine to it...


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## gold4me (Mar 12, 2006)

I would be concerned about the corn and wheat in that food. I have never heard of that food. Some of the foods I think are good are Natural Balance, Wellness fish and sweet potatoes or chicken, and California Natural. I do not feed kibble anymore(I used to feed Natural Balance). My kids are on a raw diet and I love the way they look and they love the food.


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## Lucky's mom (Nov 4, 2005)

My personal opinion is that corn and wheat is fine for a dog unless they have an allergy. Most all dog foods have corn or and wheat as they work fine for most dogs. My past dogs were healthy and long-lived and looked good...and they ate corn.

Of course...Lucky is not like my past dogs. He's mister itchy and scratchy when he eats corn...or thats the conclusion I've come to so far.

My thoughts from looking at zillions of ingredient labels lately, is that those ingredients look pretty wholesome. Now I looked up Innova to see how they compared....and wow. Their is a difference. Difference in price too I bet? 

The advice here is going to be diverse . 

When Lucky was on Purina he looked good but scratched a lot. When we upgraded to Nutro Lamb and Rice...he looked good, the scratching eased but he pooped alot more. Other then that.....I didn't notice a difference except he liked the Purina better. 

The ingredients you have there....look better then the Nutro which is supposed to be a decent food. I'd say give it a try and see what you think.


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## Lucky's mom (Nov 4, 2005)

Gold4me...do you mind letting me know what the costs is to feed a raw diet?? I'm having trouble figuring it out. Is it much more then kibble? Lucky would probably love something like that.


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## vrocco1 (Feb 25, 2006)

Dog food is a very individual decision. Some dogs do well on a food, while others don't do well on the same food. You need to try it, and keep an eye out for soft stools, too much stool or almost no stool at all. That is some of the problems I've run into with different foods. If the digestion works out OK, the next think to watch is the dog's coat. If they start to scratch, loose coat etc., then that food is not working out for you. 
Try to stay with a food that has as little corn and wheat as possible. They are generally the higher quality foods.


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## davebeech (Feb 11, 2006)

I'd be interested in Gold4me's raw diet too, sounds like a natural food.

I'd also be interested in Gold4me's avatar, I know somebody mentioned it before, but every time I see it want to see more of it.


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## golddogz (Apr 27, 2006)

I have my Goldens on Prairie Nature's Variety. After having them on several other premium foods, I have to say with this brand we have had wonderful results. I rotate them on the kibble and also the raw patties and medallions. In my opinion it's an excellent food. Of course, each dog is different. JMO


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## schleng (Feb 2, 2006)

I came across this site a short while ago. It's pretty detailed regarding info about the ingredients in dog food.
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=labelinfo101


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## monomer (Apr 21, 2005)

Scott's Sabre said:


> ...Hydrolyzed Whole Poultry, Poultry Meal, Extrude whole corn, Ground whole brown rice, Whole wheat, Poultry fat, fish meal, corn gluten meal, oat meal, flax seed, beet pulp, dried whoe eggs, poultry digest, starch, Lecithin oil, nutri binder, sodium Bentonite, salt....


Hydrolyze means its had the 'snot' boiled out of it (which can be a good thing for dogs who have difficulty digesting proteins and dogs with allergies to poultry except that adding that second ingredient negates this). The use of the word "poultry" signifies the possible use of multiple bird species... either to allow the company to make purchases depending upon what's available/what's on-sale or to move meat to the number one spot on the list (listing order is always by weight before processing... and this includes the water content which favors raw meat over any meat meals). Corn is split in two which means it could actually be the number one ingredient... using the whole kernels (corn, rice, wheat) is a good thing in that all the vitamins (B-complex) and fiber is kept. Poultry digest is bird parts broken down with acid and added for platability... whole eggs, eggs are always excellent. Poultry fat appears to be the main energy source with flax seed added for the Omega oils source (and some fiber).

Overall this kibble looks okay to me, however as vrocco1 has already stated... its what your dog looks and feels like that counts. Feed it for awhile (at least 3-months) and then judge the food by your dog's energy level, coat and skin condition, overall feel of your dog's muscular-skeletal structure, bright eyes, firm poops, etc. And as Lucky's mom has said there is nothing to be afraid of with corn or wheat if your dog is not allergic to them. Sidney has no problem with either one however he has an allergy to fish proteins... so he'd have problems with the fish meal rather than any grains in that food. My only reservation with that particular food is the large variety of protein sources... poultry (chicken, turkey, ?), corn, wheat, oats, fish, and egg... if your dog ever does develop a food allergy(ies) it will be more difficult for you to find a suitable hypo-allergenic food (either to use for a food trial or just for feeding)... I believe its always best to limit the number of protein sources you expose your dog to... this allows you many options IF later in life your dog does start developing food allergies. Keep in mind how many sources of protein your dog as already been exposed to with the Innova puppy food... so I might suggest you seek a food that is limited to only proteins that Sabre has already had a previous exposed to.


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## vrocco1 (Feb 25, 2006)

monomer... You ever think about writing a book? I'd be your first customer!


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## monomer (Apr 21, 2005)

Nice thought but I'm sure I'd get sued for plagiarism. Most of what I know about nutrition comes from years of reading everyone else's books... with an open-mind (and a little from experience with our dogs).


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## greg bell (May 24, 2005)

I agree.. Monomer knows this nutrition stuff.. the more I read the more confused I get.. 
I feen Purina Pro mixed with a little cottage cheese and yogart.. but I cant defend it, except my dog seems fine..


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## Goldndust (Jul 30, 2005)

Ok, since your looking into moving her over now and this is the exact same time I moved mine over was at a 11 months to an adult kibble have you checked out Exclusive? It's a lot of bang for the buck and Kodes done very well on it. There are others out there as well, but this is the one I myself have been the happiest with for Kode.

Personally i'm not crazy over the one you listed, I personally wouldn't feed it that product since it may be cheaper, but your not getting alot for your money as well as there are some things i'm not liking about it.

Here's the ingredients to what I feed: I pay 23 something plus tax for this and its 30 some pounds. I'm not crazy about the fish meal in the product, but it's way to the back so had to forgive it's use when looking at the over all product. There is no perfect one out there, all we can do find the one that works for our dogs for the amount that is in ones budget and try to get the best bang for the buck.

*NGREDIENTS:* Chicken, chicken meal, rice flour, oatmeal, whole grain brown rice, chicken fat
(preserved with mixed tocopherols, a source of vitamin E), corn gluten meal, dried beet pulp,
flaxseed, dried egg product, natural chicken flavor, fish meal, brewers dried yeast, potassium 
chloride, salt, choline chloride, glucosamine hydrochloride, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, 
zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese 
proteinate, chondroitin sulfate, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium 
pantothenate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6),vitamin B12 
supplement, menadione dimethylpyrimidinol bisulfite (source of vitamin K activity), 
riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.


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## RickGibbs (Dec 16, 2005)

greg bell said:


> I agree.. Monomer knows this nutrition stuff.. the more I read the more confused I get..
> I feen Purina Pro mixed with a little cottage cheese and yogart.. but I cant defend it, except my dog seems fine..


We also use Purina Pro.....never thought to add anything to it, though... I'm sure Samson would love the cottage cheese/yogart addition, though. Do you use flavored yogart?


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## Maggies mom (Jan 6, 2006)

Never thought about Cottage cheese...They do eat yogurt.....Strawberry banana everynight....but they wont eat it mixed with there food..


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## RickGibbs (Dec 16, 2005)

Maggies mom said:


> Never thought about Cottage cheese...They do eat yogurt.....Strawberry banana everynight....but they wont eat it mixed with there food..


But I like Strawberry banana....that would be hard to share....


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## greg bell (May 24, 2005)

RickGibbs said:


> We also use Purina Pro.....never thought to add anything to it, though... I'm sure Samson would love the cottage cheese/yogart addition, though. Do you use flavored yogart?


no..just plain... just a spoonful of each stirred in with the food... and now i dont remember what it does for them...but they do like it..


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## Maggies mom (Jan 6, 2006)

RickGibbs said:


> But I like Strawberry banana....that would be hard to share....


I like it to....so when I go to the store every week I buy 3 6 packs to make sure we dont run out...:


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## davebeech (Feb 11, 2006)

I used to use cottage cheese for Fred, I would mix about half a tub ( depends on how big the tub is ) with boiled rice, not tried it with Tom yet but I'm sure he'll love it


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