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dog question, re: food
What kind of food do you feed your dog(s)?
We have an almost 7 month old lab/boxer mix and he's always been somewhat of a picky eater. A few months ago we finally found a food he doesn't fight us on eating, BUT it... doesn't come out very nicely on the other end. Not to get overly graphic or TMI with you all, so I hope you get my point. Right now he is eating puppy lamb & rice formula.
I don't know what to do. A lot of people are saying to switch his food, but then others are saying to absolutely NOT switch his food because switching around too much can make him an even pickier eater (can't imagine that!)
The thing is I don't think it's healthy for his stools to be like that all the time, and plus he gets really bad gas. I mean - run from the room & open every single window bad!
So now I don't know what to do... switch, or stay & hope he grows out of it? I honestly wouldn't mind switching because his food right now is expensive... but I also don't want to feed him really poor quality food just because it's cheap.
Re: dog question, re: food
We feed our 3 1/2 month old puppy Pedigree or Beneful food and she does great on both. However, she's not a picky eater. Our 4 year old has had some food allergies and we've gone though a bunch of foods w/ her. Our last 2 were Purina One Sensitive systems (which you might want to try if he's having digestive issues) now she eats Nutra Nuggets and is doing great.
I love my pets like kids, but I am not one of those people who think it's necessary to buy expensive food for them. I like the middle of the road food. And honestly if the dog doesn't like it I'm not throwing out the whole bag. If they get hungry enough they'll eat it (at least in my experience). GL I hope he starts feeling better.
ETA: the puppy eats the puppy food version of those two brands
I can give you tons of advice and some you can take with a grain of salt and realize i'm a crazy dog person. Personally, I think what you feed your dog is super important. I equate it yourself. Would you want to eat fast food mcd's crap everyday or would you want to eat quality food that is good for you... obviously quality. Now does this mean you go spend $60 a bag? You can, and that would be the top of the line dog food, and you would be able to feed less.
Now, we go middle of the road because we have 4 dogs and we have to feed 3 different kinds. There could be a lot of things that are causing the bad ending. It could be a mild allergy to say lamb or maybe even grain. Maybe you should try grain free food and see what happens. I definately reccomend you feed atleast a 3-4 star food. Check out dogfoodanalysis.com.
Get what i'm saying about being a crazy dog person? Is there anything wrong with dog chow or puppy chow? Millions of dogs have survived and been fine, but it's not the best or even the greatest you can feed your dog. It's the least expensive or one of the lesser expensive.
You could also try to add a little canned pumpkin to firm him up.
What are you feeding him now? Could you switch within the brand to maybe a different variety?
I have a picky eater too. He's been picky since he was a puppy, so I know it's not just our doing. I'm not sure if picky is even the right word. This dog is so weird about eating. When our other dog got bladder stones she was put on a special diet for life. At first we tried to just give her the special food because it was pretty expensive, but our other dog refused to eat at all until we gave him her food. Go figure, all of his weird eating habits disappeared with the expensive food. It's the only food he's ever eaten like a normal dog. Things don't come out as nicely on the other end for our dogs either and our female has really bad gas too! Although she had bad gas before the food too, lol. To me the good outweighs the bad so I don't mind paying extra.
Whatever you decide to do, I encourage you to make sure the first ingredient listed is NOT corn.
ETA: We started our dogs on Eagle Holistic Select (4 star rating) before DH decided it was getting too expensive. Then we used Purina Naturals until female got bladder stones. Now we use Royal Canin Urinary SO. I liked the Holistic Select, but DH did not like paying $26 for a 13lb bag of food! Female showed him who's boss though, now it's about $40 for a 16 lb. bag of the Royal Canin!
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We don't feed him table scraps, DH is seriously against that so even though he's sooo adorable & I know he would love some grilled chicken, or french fries... no, he doesn't get any. LOL. I know it's for his own good.
Right now he's eating Blue Buffalo.
It's so friggin expensive, I'm embarrassed to admit we buy it for him. The thing is he was eating Pedigree and he wouldn't eat it... well, he would otherwise he would be dead now (because I refused to throw it all away). But he just wasn't excited to eat at all and you could just tell he hated it, plus he would skip eating until he just had to. So we tried BB at DH's request, and at first he was all excited by it, but that ended after a week.
I think I am going to look into some of the foods you ladies suggested.
We feed our chihuahua Royal Canine, which is also on the pricey side, but we only have to buy her a bag ever 4-5 months so it's not really a big deal. Nova, on the other hand, is a bigger dog so he goes through food a lot faster. He always seems interested in the Royal Canine, I wonder if we should try feeding him that?? Hmm...
Could you mix the more expensive food together with the less expensive? Maybe that way he wouldl eat it, it would help his poop and it would save you money?
One of the benefits of feeding a better (usually more expensive) food is that you don't need to feed as much as you would say of a generic dog chow. For instance we were feeding the dogs science diet, but it was full of dyes and what not, so we switched to Nature's recipe it's a 3 star, and because it has better ingriedents, and isn't full of filler, the dogs need less.
I would reccomend staying away from Nutro, there have so many recalls. Also, maybe look into ordering food online. We order through ebates.com and order from petfooddirect.com and so we get money back so it's not soo bad. Besides, feeding better food has shown a HUGE difference in our dogs, better coats, more energy and not as many issues (ie: we had a major issue with blockage).
Tracy - that could be an option if he doesn't get his proverbial sh*t together. I don't know if that's the best option though, since so many people seem to think that will make him even pickier. Whatever... he's a dog, it will be fine. I was getting so frustrated with him I seriously had to like, detach myself from him, and remind myself that he's a dog. I love my dogs... but they're dogs.
Cristina - I will look into ordering food online, thanks for the info!
::Coming out of hiding for this one::
Hi ladies!! Where did everyone go?
I also am a crazy dog lady and believe that it is very important to feed them a quality food. We have both of our dogs on Innova Evo and have had great results. Our pug/beagle mix was a super picky eater to the point where I had 3 bags of food I would rotate through. I would do anything I could to get her to eat. After talking to our vet she told us that we can't let her train us and to just get her on one quality food and stick with it. The thing she said that stuck with me was that a dog won't starve itself and will eat when it is hungry so if she snubs her food fine, feed her the same thing at the next feeding and she will learn. She used to snub her food when she wanted something different but now has learned she isn't getting anything else. We really have no problems getting her to eat the Evo now.
When we adopted our Jack Russell he had lost hair all down his back from being eaten by fleas at the shelter. As soon as we started him on the Evo his fur started to grow in and his skin started to heal more quickly. It was a big difference from when we were still feeding him Iams from the shelter before we integrated in the Evo. I also second dogfoodanalysis.com. It is a great resource and has taught me so much. The Evo is pricey, about $60 for the large bag but it lasts the 2 of them 6 weeks, and we do feed them less than we did of the cheap food.
Sorry so long, back into hiding I go!