Pets
HisChamaoleGirl
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Changing dog food
in Pets
Our rescue is now nine months and has always eaten science diet food. The pet store employee said the best dog food is in the front of the store and it gets worse towards the back. My husband wants to change to blue based on the commercials. Is blue really better than science diet?
BFP #1 11/07/2012 EDD 07/09/2013 M/C 11/22/2012
BFP #2 02/05/2013 EDD 09/19/2013
Re: Changing dog food
I'm with PP on this one, I'm not a huge fan of Blue. I have my dogs on Royal Canin, which is very similar to science diet and couldn't be happier. Their coats are shinier, they're keeping weight on and just seem healthier than on previous foods.
Your vet would probably be the best to speak to as well, have them help you understand the ingredients in your dogs food, and why it's important. Unfortunately the sales associate in a pet store may not be as well informed. Dr. Google can be very misleading
Every vet I've seen that studied nutrition ( outside of that sponsored by science diet) recommends foods like natures variety, innova, and blue. Try the switch, and make your own decision. I like the facts that less in-->less out. Their coats looked better, and Coral's energy level skyrocketed.
P.s. Canidae, Innova, and Eagle pack have been around for about 20 years.
Have you seen my monkey?
Never had any experience with Blue before but my husky did not do well with Science Diet. Our vet recommended it and I always see them on commercials as being highly recommended by vets (of course you should take commercials with a grain of salt), so we decided to give it a try because the first dog food we started feeding him was not sitting well with his stomach. SD did not make it any better. We switched to Taste of the Wild, which is highly rated, and his stomach issues went away. Well, turns out our poor husky can only eat grain-free. Unfortunately, TOTW is pretty pricey, so we decided to try out the Nature's Domain brand that is sold at Costco (the blue one with the husky on the front)....it's grain free and he loves it.
We used this website to compare dog food. SD isn't actually very good. They fill it with a bunch of cheap stuff.
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/hills-science-diet-dog-food-adult-dry/
Blue looks to be higher rated. If your dog has sensitive stomach issues or any food allergies, I would highly recommend staying away from SD.
That site is an absolute crock! He advertises it as fact but it is base SOLELY on an opinion. There is ZERO nutritional science that goes into his ratings. ZERO!
I am going to reiterate :If your dog is doing well don't change him.
and FWIW as much as people think I learned animal nutrition from Hill's- I didn't and I don't think their foods are the pinnacle of animal nutrition.
Nutrition classes aside.
when my dog was on crappy food his fur stank no he felt nasty. Grain free and its the total opposite. I can see the difference in friends dogs who eat crappy food.
honestly and truly you look at the ingredients of SD and you really, truly believe that it's better for them than Innova? Orijen, TOTW, wellness? I don't have a fancy vet degree nor have a studied nutrition but it seems painfully obvious which is better.
Its like saying McDonalds chicken nuggets are much healthier than the ones I make at home.
Well I'm not saying take the ratings at face value and that this is the end all, be all of all dog food ratings. You can just look at the ingredients themselves and do comparisons. The ingredients aren't based on opinions.
But yes, I agree if your dog is doing fine on his current food, I don't see any reason to change his diet. Some dogs don't do well with changing their food.
Best thing I ever did was get my dogs off of Science Diet. One does best on Wellness Core Ocean (no more manual anal gland expression, no more ear infections, softer coat, more energy), the other two do best on Taste of the Wild or Fromm.
The ONLY thing I'll agree with aggie on is that there's no one food that's best for every dog. Innova is highly recommend by the long-time regulars on this board, but it gave my dogs horrible gas.
Since everyone here is an animal nutrition expert, anyone care to explain why science diet isn't a good food? Or why Blue is so wonderful?
Yes, some dogs don't do well with grains. However, most dogs need grains in their diet just as people do. Same goes for corn, corn is so widely used because it's such a rare allergy.
I hear people preach blue buffalo all the time, and I'd like to know why.
Dogs don't need grains. They don't need carbs. They are carnivores and scavengers. Their teeth are sharp and pointy, designed to eat meat. They do not have flat, cud chewing molars like herbivores or omnivores. Their digestive tracts are short and do not handle the cellulose in veggie matter well, which is why whole veggies come out looking exactly the same as they did going in. (give your dogs some whole veggies, and you get colorful poop.). They're scavengers and will certainly eat anything and everything available, but so will my husband, but that doesn't mean the chips and fries and burgers are good for him.
Grains and carbs are an essential part of the kibble making process. Dogs and cats do just fine on a fruit, veggie, and carb free raw diet.
I try to feed my family healthy, minimally processed food as much as possible. Carbs and veggies have to be overly processed in order for dogs to digest them, so I feed high meat content. That excludes foods like science diet whose first ingredient is often corn. I also want to know exactly what is in their food, and avoid mystery meat that might come from sketchy sources. So no "byproducts" ( named byproducts, like if chicken liver is listed) is fine. And no random "animal fat."
Have you seen my monkey?
Actually, my dogs do have molars. They don't look like mine, but they aren't canine teeth either. Dogs and wolves in the wild eat veggies, ever seen your dog eat grass? Yeah, very carnivorous huh. Dogs don't need nearly as much protein and meat as people think, please speak to a veterinarian instead of Dr. Google.
Have you ever watched a documentary on wolves? Well if you have I'm sure you've seen them make a kill, and when they do what do they eat? They eat the guts of the animal, leaving the "good parts", the parts that we eat. They eat the guts of herbivores, which contain veggies also. They also eat berries, grass etc, they aren't picky. Your dog doesn't care where it's meat is coming from, they will digest it the same. And my dogs eat veggies daily, and their poop is always the same color.
My dog has molars. They're just pointy molars. One of my dog does eat grass. To make herself puke.
And feel free to speak with Dr. cooper, DMV. She is the vet that worked with the rescue I used to work with. http://www.cooperanimalclinic.com/
Have you seen my monkey?
Please look at a cat's teeth and then compare them to your dogs teeth. A cat is a carnivore. They have extremely sharp, pointed teeth throughout their entire mouth. They can process carbohydrates(which in normal conditions they would only get from the gut of animals they kill) but they don't need large amounts and must have high levels of protein. A dog, contrary to what you believe, has flatter grinding surfaces on their molars which are towards the back of their mouths. This is because dogs are omnivores and can process a diet very similar to ours. In the past many foods did have too many carbs for dogs but they do not need any where near the amount of protein foods like Blue claim they do. Both cats and dogs do have shorter GI tracts than herbivores, but so do we. The gut to body length ratio of a cat is about 3:1 where as dogs and humans is closer to 9:1 and herbivores come in at >18:1. The 9:1 ratio is very common among omnivores, like humans, pigs, and dogs.
Dogs are very specifically adapted to eat a diet consisting of both plant and animal material. Your argument that dogs are scavengers and will eat anything is true but they still aren't carnivores just because they would prefer to eat meat. Just because they would prefer to eat a nice juicy steak doesn't make them a carnivore. I love to eat meat too, but that doesn't mean I don't need to eat veggies and fruits too.
You are encouraging people not to listen to anyone who has been trained in nutrition or has a veterinary degree that may have gotten support from Hill's. I agree, it is always good to check your facts and make sure your sources aren't biased. However, to back up your information you use a resource of one individual vet without telling us where he/she was trained, when he/she was trained, and whether or not he/she keeps up on CURRENT nutritional research from respected, peer-reviewed, scientific journals. Despite what you may think, our understanding of nutrition is always changing slightly and if your vet, that you are so sure is the be all and end all fount of factual information, doesn't keep up on the CURRENT guidelines and information then her opinion is garbage. There are many vets out that claim all sorts of things about nutrition for dogs and cats who haven't looked at any current research since they graduated. I suggest you check your facts as much as you cry for everyone else to. Testimonials are not facts by the way.
When my dogs were on SD, they fur was dull, teeth were horrid, they had yeasty ears, itchy skin and they sh*t STUNK.
Now that I feed a grain-free diet (different proteins, different brands) I have had SO many compliments on how shiny their fur is and their teeth. My dog (that recently passed) no longer had yeasty ears and Raven no longer had itchy skin.
SD is FULL of crap fillers, they can't digest corn and that's what SD likes to put in their food.
Aggie, why are you so adamant about giving crappy advice to people??
They see us rollin'...they be hatin'.
The vet Nital posted definitely keeps up with the latest research. If she hadn't been so diligent with it, I would have lost 2 resident dogs and 1 foster to renal failure back in 2007 due to the dog food recalls.
Once they went into renal failure, my vet immediately tried to put them on a Hills Prescription diet (low protein, high corn fillers). Thank GOD, I didn't listen to him and I used the advice of Dr. Cooper. She explained to me that renal dogs do NOT need a low protein food, which is what a lot of conventional vets think they need, they need a high good QUALITY protein, not quantity of protein with no corn, no fillers, no crap ingredients (which is what Hills food is).
My dogs were the closest to death that my vet has ever seen without actually dying. My vet even called A&M Vet school and told them that Duke's creatinine was at a 31 and that they needed to know what to do, all they could tell them was that the machine was broken because a dog would not be able to survive a creatinine that high. Raven's was at a 21. Duke went into seizures and everyone was in the hospital for almost a month.
After bringing them home, against my vet's wishes, I switched them to a high quality protein, grain-free, low PHOS level food; and their kidneys started to improve.
Dr. Cooper explained to me that when you put a dog on a low protein food, with crappy fillers when they are so sick like that, it can be fatal as it can cause more stress on the body because it is trying to regulate everything and it doesn't have the protein level to support it.
My vet later told me that he is glad I listened to Dr. Cooper's advice and not his, because he and the Professionals at A&M have never in their lives see ALL THREE dogs come back like that, especially when many other dogs were dying. Coincidence that all three of mine just happened to survive?! HAH. Doubt it. Even my vet agrees.
I can personally attest to the fact that Dr. Cooper keeps up with her research and I am SO glad she does. I am also glad that I did my own research which coincided with Dr. Cooper's research, so I could make my own educated decisions. In the end, these decisions saved their lives.
THAT's why I take whatever Aggiebug and people that suggest SH*TTY_ASS food like that with a grain of salt, because had I listened, and fed my dog Hills, they would have been dead back in 2007.
P.S. DOGS DON'T NEED CORN! DO NOT FEED YOUR PETS CORN!
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=badingredients
They see us rollin'...they be hatin'.
Pet nutrition aside, you need to grow up. Learn how to come into a conversation like a respectful adult, and turn your caps lock off - nobody is impressed or intimidated.
Do you enjoy trolling this site just to "call someone out" on everything they post on?
Well be more specific next time then. If you wanted a list of vets and their credentials, don't ask me to "speak to a veterinarian." Pat is a Texas A&M DMV grad, practicing for 30ish years. She does keep up with new research, but you'll just have to take our word for it unless you want to call her and talk shop.
I'm aware testimonials aren't facts. I was simply answering your question about if I'd seen my dogs eat grass.
And if we can at least agree that cats are carnivores, why are there veggies and grains in cat food?
Have you seen my monkey?