# 12 Worst Dog Foods



## Tayla's Mom (Apr 20, 2012)

More than 12 on that list and some foods I've never heard of before. People just need to research what ingredients are good and what are not. No one dog food, commercially made, is perfect, but you need to have a list of what is acceptable to you and what isn't. It's important to find quality ingredients SOURCED IN THE USA or a country like Canada or New Zealand and not China, etc. It's also important to know who manufactures the food and check to see if the plant has had recalls. To do it right it's a lot of work and something that you need to continue to check on at least once a year as companies change ingredients, etc.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

I hate to call baloney on this because I've not personally fed any of the foods listed... BUT.... I know of dogs who have lived 13-15 years eating some of the food on this list. Actually, majority of people out where I live feed stuff like Pedigree and Dog Chow.... and their dogs live just as long, if not longer than dogs eating the most specialized "approved" food. 

The golden in my neighborhood who lived nearly 18 years? She ate dog chow.


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## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

One of my friends feeds the Muenster Mills food mentioned in this article to her 14 year old Golden who is more active than an average 2 year old Golden. While I don't feed the foods listed, I think you should go with what works best for your individual dog.


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## Anon-2130948gsoni (Apr 12, 2014)

I started to raise an eyebrow at, "Dry Food Has No Nutritional Value," and that you should change your dog's food every three months. 

Everybody has to do what's right for their pet, but when I find a food that everyone will eat, stay lean on, and not get diarrhea with, I stick with it. I have tried everything from the fanciest no-grain food I could find (which my dogs hated) to alternative ingredients from trout to venison to peas to potatoes (cooked/raw potatoes actually make my dogs throw up, no idea why) to what I have finally settled on--a supermarket-available food that has meat as the first ingredient. 

I also wonder about "road kill" being used by pet food manufacturers...it makes no financial sense to have an ingredient that is only randomly available and may have to be transported long distances. So once they start in with claims like that, my skepticism kicks in.

Please don't misunderstand, JeanieBeth--you're very conscientious to bring things like this to the discussion. It's just the curmudgeon/scientist/LVT in me that insists on evaluating claims like theirs somewhat cynically. I hope I'm not hurting your feelings?

ETA: The article actually lists 50 different dog foods.


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## Swampcollie (Sep 6, 2007)

There is just a little bit of bias built into the reviewers list don't you think? Consider the source and take the results with a grain of salt. That's all they're worth.


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## cgriffin (Nov 30, 2011)

I also think people need to feed their dogs whatever works for them. I used to be a dog food snob and would not have touched a Purina product ever - my 9 months old pup who I love and treasure is on Pro Plan Focus Large Breed Puppy. 

Also, there are so many so called experts out there - like somebody said: take it with a grain of salt, use common sense and realize that some people favor and are biased to certain brands of food regardless. 

Dog food advisor - human dentist - do I need to say more?


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## Rob S. (Feb 2, 2014)

Tayla's Mom said:


> More than 12 on that list and some foods I've never heard of before. People just need to research what ingredients are good and what are not. No one dog food, commercially made, is perfect, but you need to have a list of what is acceptable to you and what isn't. It's important to find quality ingredients SOURCED IN THE USA or a country like Canada or New Zealand and not China, etc. It's also important to know who manufactures the food and check to see if the plant has had recalls. To do it right it's a lot of work and something that you need to continue to check on at least once a year as companies change ingredients, etc.


I will grant you New Zealand, but not the US or Canada, not in general. Both the US and Canada have polluted food supplies. Trust me when I tell you, that the highest standards for food quality are Japan, Italy and France. The US and Canada would not even rank, especially when it comes to things that go into pet food. Canada has no regulations whatsoever for pet food ingredients, doesn't even require plant inspections and doesn't even have a number to call to report a problem or illness from pet food. Canada is more overrun with GMO ingredients than the US if you can believe it.

I am a patriot through and through but we (and Canada) have crappy food standards.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

This is just an advertisement for the Holistic pet food company that owns the website. It's nothing more. Buy their food because it's better than these listed below. So to me this link is nothing but an advertisement.


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## ggdenny (Nov 2, 2008)

We've been feeding our boys Eukanuba Adult Maintenance for years and they are doing great. This article and opinions expressed are interesting, but it paints with a very broad brush that doesn't really speak to individual experiences.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Actually, it's promoting raw feeding, so of course no dry kibble will be good to them. The first paragraph makes the rest of it worthless information, that statement about road kill and shelter animals being in dog food has been proven incorrect many years ago. But then when they list veterinarian prescription diets they just killed any believability for me. To be fair those foods have some poor ingredients, but they are formulated to assist in treating specific medical conditions and don't belong on a list of dog foods available in retail stores.

I've seen this before, it was bunk then and it still is.


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## murphy1 (Jun 21, 2012)

Ingredients says it all...Why pay for corn as a top ingredient just because the dog down the road lived a long time.


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## EChoe88 (Jun 1, 2014)

I think it basically boils down to what works best for you and your animal. 
Each animal reacts differently to food than others. What works for one may not work for another.
I don't have a dog right now (will be getting on at the end of the year), but I do have three cats. My two DSH were on Hill's Prescription Diet w/d for a long time. They did extremely well on it. 
My Maine **** kitty, I had a hard time finding him the right food. A lot of them caused diarrhea. 
They are all finally on Fromm dry and Wellness canned and seem to be doing very well on it so far. That being said, I wouldn't hesitate to switch them to another food, corn or not if it was needed.


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## 3 goldens (Sep 30, 2005)

There are foods on there I have never heard of, and some foods I would never feed. That said, I have used Taste of the Wild and 4 Health for a good while, mostly becuae I wanted grain free .

That said, our hunting dogs were on Purina Dog Chow their entire lives when I was growing up and my my first dogs were all on it and for the most part, lived to ripe old ages. We did get hit with a couple of distemper, no food could have prevented that.

I know many many breeders swear by pro Plan and their dogs thrive. What I do know is not all dogs bad on any one food and not all dogs do great on any one food. My vet feeds his English Setter Science Diet, always has. She will be 15 in a week. I am not a fan of SD, but it has come in useful a couple of times when one of mine had kidney infection, and when one needed to drop some poundage. 

Always go with what works for you dog be it the most expensive, biggest name, or the cheapest "L'il Abner Dogpatch kibble, ' LOL


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## msdogs1976 (Dec 21, 2007)

murphy1 said:


> Ingredients says it all...Why pay for corn as a top ingredient just because the dog down the road lived a long time.


I would say dogs living a long time(results) says it all. Of course the dentist who rates dog foods would say otherwise.


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## murphy1 (Jun 21, 2012)

My fathers dog,back in the 1920's, lived until the age of 19. He got nothing but scraps from the table, which is probably alot healthier than many of the dogs foods out there today!
I just don't understand paying alot of money for CORN as a main ingredient.


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## Melfice (Aug 4, 2012)

murphy1 said:


> My fathers dog,back in the 1920's, lived until the age of 19. He got nothing but scraps from the table, which is probably alot healthier than many of the dogs foods out there today!
> I just don't understand paying alot of money for CORN as a main ingredient.


Was your Father's dog a golden btw? Because 19 years is amazing for a dog that's for sure!


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## murphy1 (Jun 21, 2012)

No, Jimmy was a Maltese.


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## Melfice (Aug 4, 2012)

murphy1 said:


> No, Jimmy was a Maltese.


Oh a toy breed...I wish the large breed dogs lived as long as the smaller ones do.


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## johnluce (Sep 7, 2014)

I'm about sick of trying to figure out dog food...I fed Pedigree to my first golden and she had a great thriving life. I started getting crazy with the food with my second golden, with RAW and super premium kibbles and I don't see any difference in coat, immune system or anything else except for price. I think feeding a variety of foods including raw and vegetables with a good kibble is all that may be needed, I don't even worry about my diet as much as my dogs, maybe its getting a little out of hand.


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## Willsmum (Aug 12, 2014)

I've been fighting my way through the dog food mega-conundrum for years. My experience has been that my healthiest dogs in terms of skin, coat, teeth and digestion have been raw fed with complete raw diets, mixing meat, bone, offal and vegetables. I've also had good tummies and coats on cold pressed. I'm hesitant to feed dry extruded because cooking food does remove a lot of the nutritional content-same with human food tbh. 

Of course, convenience and access are important. I switched to a cold pressed food recently as my health has been bad and managing the freezer, lifting and time in the kitchen was draining on my depleted energy. But I still have some rules there. I'd never buy a food with anything other than meat as the top ingredient, will never buy a food that contains E numbers or artificial preservatives, and only use food that has whole named sources - meat and animal derivatives is a blaring sign to stay away. 

As large breed owners though, doesn't anyone worry about the relationship between dry food and bloat? It worries me a lot


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## Melfice (Aug 4, 2012)

Willsmum said:


> I've been fighting my way through the dog food mega-conundrum for years. My experience has been that my healthiest dogs in terms of skin, coat, teeth and digestion have been raw fed with complete raw diets, mixing meat, bone, offal and vegetables. I've also had good tummies and coats on cold pressed. I'm hesitant to feed dry extruded because cooking food does remove a lot of the nutritional content-same with human food tbh.
> 
> Of course, convenience and access are important. I switched to a cold pressed food recently as my health has been bad and managing the freezer, lifting and time in the kitchen was draining on my depleted energy. But I still have some rules there. I'd never buy a food with anything other than meat as the top ingredient, will never buy a food that contains E numbers or artificial preservatives, and only use food that has whole named sources - meat and animal derivatives is a blaring sign to stay away.
> 
> As large breed owners though, doesn't anyone worry about the relationship between dry food and bloat? It worries me a lot


Where do they sell cold pressed dog food btw?


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## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

If I ever win powerball ( which will be hard bc I dont play it, lol) I will feed my dogs ZiwiPeak Fish & Venison, but I cant afford it for five or six goldens. The bag for 179$ lasts only one full day. My golden who lived to be almost 16 ate Eukanuba Premium Performance for all those years. I mainly feed Fromm and Honest Kitchen now, with a variety of fresh toppings, but I miss the days when Eukanuba was the best food in my mind, and I had no doubts.


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## Melfice (Aug 4, 2012)

Ljilly28 said:


> If I ever win powerball ( which will be hard bc I dont play it, lol) I will feed my dogs ZiwiPeak Fish & Venison, but I cant afford it for five or six goldens. The bag for 179$ lasts only one full day. My golden who lived to be almost 16 ate Eukanuba Premium Performance for all those years. I mainly feed Fromm and Honest Kitchen now, with a variety of fresh toppings, but I miss the days when Eukanuba was the best food in my mind, and I had no doubts.


Yes I would feed ZiwiPeak as well! But the cost is too high for me, and I want to feed more wet food too. If I did not have three dogs maybe, but the cost is still way too high for ZiwiPeak. Wow and 5 to 6 goldens haha that's awesome but it must be a lot of work but well worth it


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