I didn't put a whole lot of thought into food for my puppy until lawyer friend told me about a dog food suit he was working on. I was so disgusted. I immediately started researching good brands, and settled on Halo's wholesome chicken.
I like it because 1. it's healthy, no byproducts, renderings, etc.. and 2. easily accessible - I can get it at Whole Foods.
Sometimes I mix in chopped up hard boiled egg, a dollop of plain yogurt for good bacteria, blueberries or shredded chicken. Yes my dog is spoiled :)
jj your dog is spoiled! LOL! I love it! Taste of the Wild is grain free and doesn't have corn, soy, or by-products - has anyone tried it? I like that their site lists out the benefits of what is in the food!
OMG, if they sold Taste of the Wild at a store near me, I would get it - I just read the benefits and it sounds amazing. I forgot about sweet potatoes! I need to add them to my rotating list of mix-in's.
I feed my dog Wellness Super5 mix Lamb. I've gone throught just about every higher end dry food there is and wellness is the one that works best for us.
We tried Taste of the Wild and I had the hardest time getting my dog to eat it!
We do Blue Buffalo, like ILoveChoo. Our dog seems to like it, and because she's a light eater I like that she doesn't have to eat as much of it as some other foods to get enough calories and nutrients. The company seems really great, and I like that the food has the cold-pressed vitamins and no corn/soy/gluten.
FWIW, Science Diet gets lumped in with higher-end foods quite often, but it's really not that great for dogs (or cats). I know you said you're just using it as a mix-in Gingembre, but I'd consider switching to a higher quality brand. I've found that it ends up being about the same cost, because they don't need to eat as much of the quality foods .
__________________
To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment ~ {Ralph Waldo Emerson}
I'm glad someone started this thread. We've been looking for new, natural (preferably organic) dog food. Our dogs are so picky, though. We give them rice or eggs once in a while mixed with their food. I'm going to have to try some of the brands you all mentioned. My dogs seriously hate everything. And they don't even get people food that often. They're just prissy, picky little things.
OMG, if they sold Taste of the Wild at a store near me, I would get it - I just read the benefits and it sounds amazing. I forgot about sweet potatoes! I need to add them to my rotating list of mix-in's.
You can find a store that sells Taste of the Wild with the store locator on the site: http://www.tasteofthewildpetfood.com/dealer_locator/ or you can buy it online, the site recommends a few online retailers: http://www.tasteofthewildpetfood.com/buy_now/ What other mix-in's are on your rotating list??
My mix-ins depend on what my DH and I are having for the week, and I make sure that my dog's food is cooked without any seasonings. He usually has shredded chicken a few days a week because one chicken breast goes a long way with my little guy, brown rice, hardboiled eggs, salmon, plain yogurt, blueberries and strawberries. I also made some sweet potato the weekend and he loved it!
Aww, he gets good meals!! I saw on Petfooddirect.com that you can get 5% off with your order and they sell Taste of the Wild! Good deal - I love savings!
We just tried a bag of Taste of the Wild for my dog. We are experimenting with grain free. She can't eat chicken (allergic) so we used the blue bag of TOTW. She liked it okay. It was comparably prices to what we were feeding before, which was Prarie dry food and Instinct wet food (both nature's varierty brand) which I would recommend as well. It was working fabulously for us, we just decided to try grain free dry food and try to get away from wet food. But, we have found wet food really helps her coat and skin. FYI, with grain free you can supposedly feed them less because of the higher protein content. I have been finding that she eats less.
She is currently trying Wellness Core. We are just experimenting, it's not that we had any problems with TOTW. My dog isn't particularly picky with food though so it wasn't that she wouldn't eat it or anything. The Core is going well too, but she hasn't been on it long enough to recommend it, but the literature is impressive too.
We shop at a locally owned pet store, and the owner is so super helpful. I swear he is a pet food wizard. He only carries premium brand food, and has been really helpful in helping us find hte best brands for our pets. We have a dog and 2 cats, so we've tried a lot of the products and followed his advice. I'm going to post the link to the store because I wouldn't hesitate asking them any questions, even though you would have to find the food locally, since it doesn't appear that they fill internet orders. There is a contact us link and the phone number listed for anyone who doesn't mind dialing long distance. FYI the site is newer, it doesn't look all finished.
Thanks for the link! It is so nice that you found someone locally to help you decide what to feed your pets! What does he highly recommend? Was he the one that recommended Taste of the Wild to you? I like the site too! The store pictures are adorable and products are helpful!
He did recommend the Taste of the Wild to us. However, he hasn't tried to talk us out of any foods either. All the stuff they carry is good stuff, so we have just been trying different things to see what suits our pets best. As he gets new lines of food in we try them.
FYI - Switching to better brands of food has helped the coats of our pets too. With amazing results. The oldest cat had a skin problem and now he has the most beautiful shiny black coat I've ever seen.
I read that on the Taste of the Wild site - some of customer testimonals mentioned their pet having skin problems and the food helping! I think the ingredients and the food being grain free helps! I know when I eat healthier, my hair and nails are better, so I imagine it is the same for an animal!