For the past few months, I obsessed over dog food research. I want to switch the boys to a high-quality kibble because I want to ensure we’re doing everything we can to keep Emmett healthy and cancer-free. Let me tell you… the research available on dog food is pitiful, at best. Plus, the more I learned, the more distressed I was about the options. However, after weighing it all out, I (think) we’re switching to Wellness, though I haven’t yet committed enough to purchase a bag. (I keep going between that and Innova or Blue Buffalo… any opinions/ideas/benefits/drawbacks to either??)
Over my search, I encountered several useful sites and wanted to share them here because I know how frustrating and overwhelming it can be to research dog food:
- Dog Food Analysis: Rankings and reviews that include the product labels. Very helpful.
- FDA’s explanation of pet food labels: Dense, but useful. I learned a lot about what terms mean and it helped me to eliminate some options.
- The Dog Food Project: Detailed information on labels, how to read labels, and brand comparisons.
I know this is a highly contentious topic, especially with the movement for home-cooked and raw diets – neither of which are possible in our case for a variety of reasons, though we currently and will continue to supplement their kibble with meat and fresh fruits and vegetables.
What do you think? Any experience with the foods I mentioned? Or any research recommendations? I want to make this decision within the next couple of days so that I can purchase the new food while I still have some old food left to transition!!
I’m sure you’ve seen this, but I found the information helpful. http://www.thatmutt.com/2009/10/13/natural-dog-food/
We feed Moxie one of the adult-dog formulations of Nutro – I forget the exact name. It’s at least mostly natural and was the sweet spot between highest recommended, fairly priced, and easily available when we started him on it a few years ago. I’ve been too busy to really worry about his diet much and for that matter, don’t have any “reason” to, you know? Squeaky wheel gets the oil sort of thing. He’s happy and healthy, so why mess with a good thing?
Good luck in your search!
We use Eukanuba for the Evil Beagle, because that’s what Jeree recommended.
I don’t think you can go wrong with any of the foods you mentioned from what I know and have heard about them. I just switched my animals to Nature’s Variety because it has a raw option. I plan to feed them the kibble most of the time but to mix it up for them somewhat. Did you come across anything negative about Nature’s Variety? I’ve been feeding it for about six weeks so far, and it’s a success.
I’ve only read good things about Nature’s Variety, except I did see on http://www.dogforums.com that some people were having difficulty calculating amounts to feed? It looks like a great option, though! We’re in a really small town and have a pretty limited selection… I ended up picking the Wellness Super5Mix for Large Breed Adults. I’m going to continue supplementing with canned and with veggies, though! Definitely let me know how the transition is going for you!