Hey Food Gurus, Need Some Guidance

[Otto'sMom]

Can any of you tell me if there is anything wrong with Natural Way Dog food? (http://www.lassie.com/naturalway/natural-way-flash.htm) They did a voluntary recall on their treats, but the dog food contains no wheat gluten or corn meal and it sounds pretty good. If it's so good, why do I see it in just grocery stores? Have any of you seen it somewhere a little more pet reputable?
Had a dog food emergency here tonight, meaning I ran out of food this morning and didn't get anywhere to get the Royal Canidae that I was planning on feeding the palz. I mixed the tuna in with it as usual and they inhaled it faster than Nutro they'd been eating.

So, any of you food natzis (and I mean that in the most respectful way) know anything shady about this company? I googled it and came up with nada.:dunno:

[Courtney]

I haven't heard of it. the food looks OK, but not great. First ingredient is lamb, but next three are all a variation of rice, meaning the food is mostly rice. Not exactly a great diet for a dog. Of course that would be the lamb & rice kind. It also has egg, which can be an allergen, and beet pulp, which they add to firm stool. Blech. So, it's not the worst food you can feed, but not the best. It's probably comparable to the Nutro Natural Choice stuff.

[Otto'sMom]

But their company didn't feed contaminated pet food to cats to see if it'd kill them so that's putting them above Nutro in my book.

Like I said, I wanted to go with Canidae, but this hillbilly town only has one pet food place/aquarium store and they were closed. I was torn between the dog food and getting 10lbs of chicken hind quarters...

The testimony online sounded good for dogs with allergies and sensitive tummies, but it was the company website so I've got to take that with a grain of salt.

Thanks for your input. I just don't know if I should stay with this brand, which is kinda affordable and evidently highly nummy, according to the palz.

[Red Haired Girl]

See how they do. You are adding tuna to the food anyway, so it isn't as if they get no meat protien. Sometimes you have to compromise. I don't think they'll suffer unduly.

[akiss]

hopefully this will help

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=844&cat=all

compared to

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=528&cat=all

[Otto'sMom]

Akiss, you get a :hug99: from me, which is rare since I am rarely moved to display that towards humans.
That's exactly what I needed to see. I will be getting Canidae when I get near civilization this Friday. In the meantime, I can rest easy knowing that the other won't kill them for 4 days. :relieved:

[akiss]

You are more than welcome ( puppers need good food). It is a good web site along with www.dogaware.com


And the all life stages scored a 5 but the Lamb/Rice only scored a 4

[oceangirls]

hopefully this will help

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com



This site is pretty cool! I use dogaware (and the reviews in Whole Dog Journal) but hadn't seen this site before. Thanks for sharing!

[akiss]

Anything to help out the weins!! and other dogs. Especally in this time of all the problems with pet food!!!

and I even got a friend to get there weins off of Beniful ( I call it cra*iful) and over to Innova!!!!


This site is pretty cool! I use dogaware (and the reviews in Whole Dog Journal) but hadn't seen this site before. Thanks for sharing!

[Red Haired Girl]

That is a great site. Wonder if it can be Stickied under Got Food?

[catstamm]

Helga here, co-founder of the Dog Nazi Assoc.
I think they will be fine for 4 days.....emergencies happen....
However, it is considered low grade in my Adolf's guide to Dachshund Care, it's right there next to Royal Canin dachshund formula. But CANIDAE is in the TOP 5!!!!Rest well ...they will be fine until you get into civilization :duh:
Of course who could resist TUNA!!!!

[Tex]

This will attest to how tired I am right now.....

I went to the linked site, and started reading the food ratings. Innova Evo is under the 6 star........I click through all the other stars, and can't find the Innova that we feed :shocked: . Then my tired little azz realizes that there is more than one page of 5 star foods!!! (and mutiple pages for the other stars too :rolleyes: ). I found our Innova on the 5 star list, and I think we're doin' pretty good! Thank you so much for this link!!!! It is really helpful!!!!!:appl:

[oceangirls]

That is a great site. Wonder if it can be Stickied under Got Food?

Good idea. I added it to the Sticky that Courtney already had on how to choose a commercial dog food (which had the dogaware link).

[Courtney]

Hey while we are on the Food Nazi topic. I wouldn't feed your dogs tuna on a regular basis. It's on the Oceans Alive "worst" list - meaning you shouldn't eat it a lot and neither should the pets. Follow the consumption guidelines on the site....

http://www.oceansalive.org/eat.cfm?subnav=fishpage&group=Tuna

The albacore tuna, which is the canned stuff, says women can eat it 3x a month, children 1x a month. So you make the call. If you want to add some good stuff to your dogs' meals, I'd add canned jack mackerel or sardines. Those are GREAT for em, cheap, and much much healthier!!

[Red Haired Girl]

I will second the sardines. Low-la and Mitch loooove sardines. They had them this weekend as part of thier Easter Dinner. Big Lots has good prices on them. I buy the ones in water. Yes - they stink - but no worse than tuna.

I have never fed Mackeral; there is just too much in a can for 2 dogs. With your herd, it might be worth considering

[Otto'sMom]

I will look for the holy mackeral. I am giving the dogs about less than a tablespoon for big dogs/teaspoon for the littler fellers in their food daily. Those little cans just don't go that far between 8 dogs, and Grrrrt and Otto only get the smallest bit to cover up the joint supplement and Austin gets to lick out the can. It's a very small amount. I'm not dumping whole cans in each bowl. I think we're safe there.

Catt, you picked the wrong name. Everyone knows Adolph's girl was Eva:nana1:

I appreciate the knowledge passed on, and will ignore whatever doesn't agree with what I want to hear:duh:


P.S. I can't find Dexter and Darwin's food choice on the lists: Seedlings in peat pellets and an e-collar. Also Grrrrt licks drrrrrt. Otto eats turds. Buddy eats his fur. I only love Dolly and 4 cats tonight. :mad:

[Courtney]

Sure, sounds OK on the tuna, but if you are going to the trouble to open a can of something, might as well go for the mackerel or sardines!! Will be great for their coats and they will go crazy for it.

[catstamm]

I will look for the holy mackeral. I am giving the dogs about less than a tablespoon for big dogs/teaspoon for the littler fellers in their food daily. Those little cans just don't go that far between 8 dogs, and Grrrrt and Otto only get the smallest bit to cover up the joint supplement and Austin gets to lick out the can. It's a very small amount. I'm not dumping whole cans in each bowl. I think we're safe there.

Catt, you picked the wrong name. Everyone knows Adolph's girl was Eva:nana1:

I appreciate the knowledge passed on, and will ignore whatever doesn't agree with what I want to hear:duh:


P.S. I can't find Dexter and Darwin's food choice on the lists: Seedlings in peat pellets and an e-collar. Also Grrrrt licks drrrrrt. Otto eats turds. Buddy eats his fur. I only love Dolly and 4 cats tonight. :mad:

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: Sounds like all the food groups are covered in your house:rotfl: :rotfl:

EVA???? Adolf's girl???? wasn't ADOLF GAY????

EVA of the Dachshund SS it is.... thanks for the clearification Andrea MMMMAAAAWWWWHHHHAAAA

[Otto'sMom]

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: Mebbe he was teh ghey-not that there's anything wrong with that- (it's that whole genocide, eugenics and CRAZY in the head thing that made him the arsehole), but he married Eva before they did their murder suicide whatnot nonsense.

[lotsadox]

He sure did. Right there in the bunker. Can't remember off hand who married them, but it happened. Then they killed themselves. I wonder if that was a comment on marriage :scratch:

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

[Jacqueline]

Anything to help out the weins!! and other dogs. Especally in this time of all the problems with pet food!!!

and I even got a friend to get there weins off of Beniful ( I call it cra*iful) and over to Innova!!!!


I have friends who are now calling me up to find out if it is okay to feed their dogs brands of food. At this point, meaning right now, at this time, not at any other time when we know it is okay, etc.....I am clearing any food that 1)will not kill them 2)will sustain them with at least a minumum of what they need.

Yeah, I know it is not the best, but again....WILL NOT KILL THEM.....

I am pushing my own homemade cookies as treats, tho. I am willing to make them for a couple of people who either can't (blind friend) or just don't seem willing to make the time (dumb friend). I asked first if their dogs were allergic to any of the ingredients and then handed them over. One asked for the recipe to make them because his puppers went as nuts as I knew they would. GOOD OWNER! GOOD BOY! GOOD BOY!! :banana: :banana: :banana:

I just reminded the dh tonight that we need to go into town and get food. We only have one container left (I buy big bags and split them up into the 5 lb containers from the bird food I buy). I am going to get Merrick's kibble, and probably pick them up a few cans of wet, while I am there. I already know they like it, and don't think I will have any problem with switching over in a short time period.

I hope all these companies get their acts together soon. I know that all the shelters don't feed the more expensive brands, so I have to wonder what they are doing now. It scares me to think.

[Frzframe]

I hope all these companies get their acts together soon. I know that all the shelters don't feed the more expensive brands, so I have to wonder what they are doing now. It scares me to think.

I know our shelter has a deal with SD to purchase it for 25 cents a pound. Not a great dog food and the director knows that some dogs can't handle it so they get something else but it's such a great deal for us we can't pass it up. :)

[Frzframe]

hopefully this will help

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=844&cat=all

compared to

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=528&cat=all

I don't know if I agree with this site. It only give Natural Balance a 4 star :scratch: while I've seen another site give it one of the highest ratings it could A+.

[lotsadox]

You have to remember, Shonda, that each site has it's own criteria for what rating foods. Depending on the criteria, food can be rated differently. Different people will think that different things are important in a good. Even though they try to get it down to numbers, it's still somewhat subjective. You need to find out what the criteria is that they based their findings on and then you'll know how applicable it is to you.

Personally, I like food with very little artificial ingredients. Some people don't mind the artificial ingredients so they would rate foods differently than I would. I don't think that it means that Natural Balance isn't good just because one site ranks it lower than another. For you, NB could be the perfect food, but for someone else (and for their dog) it might not be. IMHO

[Jen]

Great website and I'm pleased to see Evo in the 6 star category.

Highly agree that sardines are great for the puppers if you can get over the :vomit: factor. I have a can waiting for Tasha but need to brace myself.

So raw frozen diets weren't reviewed by that site. Are they all good? :scratch:

And Andrea, I'd have LOVED to see video of your crew all noshing on raw chicken!

[quavec]

I don't think that it means that Natural Balance isn't good just because one site ranks it lower than another. For you, NB could be the perfect food, but for someone else (and for their dog) it might not be. IMHO

:ditto:

I finally found food that was great for Cricket and not only is it cheaper than alot of others, it's right down the road :cheer2: and it's Natural Balance. The only thing is they don't carry the low cal formula (the store I use) and when they order it for me, it comes in the really big bags!

[Otto'sMom]

And Andrea, I'd have LOVED to see video of your crew all noshing on raw chicken!

Sounds like a video assignment for me!

[Jen]

Pretty please!! Your videos are always such good fun!

Just no goat's heads like Court does. :faint: The crunching from raw chicken bones is bad enough.

[Otto'sMom]

At least that video would be under a minute, it won't last long.

[Courtney]

I could take some videos of dinnertime at my house - of my fingers almost getting bitten off.... :D :shark: :shark: After all we do have raw every night!

[lotsadox]

At our house, we call them the "piranha dogs" :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

[Otto'sMom]

I picked up a 4 star bag of Wellness Duck Simple Solutions for Pearl/Daisy and Buddy, it was all the stupid Pet Pantry had. The woman had never heard of Canidae brand and had a lot of Nutro on hand. Told her why I couldn't support them any longer, and she told me that she was getting Merrick type food in as well, so maybe I can give the other Anipals that. I'll have to head to Petsmart up in Gulfport and see what they've got for the Non Buddy/Pearl sized dogs.

[Frzframe]

I picked up a 4 star bag of Wellness Duck Simple Solutions for Pearl/Daisy and Buddy, it was all the stupid Pet Pantry had. The woman had never heard of Canidae brand and had a lot of Nutro on hand. Told her why I couldn't support them any longer, and she told me that she was getting Merrick type food in as well, so maybe I can give the other Anipals that. I'll have to head to Petsmart up in Gulfport and see what they've got for the Non Buddy/Pearl sized dogs.

See this is the problem I run into. I can't find good dog food around here and I can't be running to Kansas City all the time so I get what I can in Lawrence which is only 30 mins away.

[Patt]

I guess I must have missed something here. I've used Wellness Simple Solutions (Duck or Venison) and the dogs did very well on it. It's good food.

[Otto'sMom]

Not at all Patt! I was trying to get a higher rated food. Four stars out of 6 is good, but I had made the decision to go with Canidae and was bitter that the owner acted like she'd never heard of it. I wanted the first 3 ingredients to be meat, and it wasn't. Rice, duck and more rice, but it's simple and Wellness Simple Plan for Buddy and Pearl might just be what puts an end to all the licking and nibbling those two do...without fleas on them:rolleyes:

[Otto'sMom]

Damn DAMN DAMN!!!! I went to Petsmart, expecting to find a wide variety of brands. Not wide enough. I selected Nature's Recipe Farmstand Select based on the first 2 ingredients being meats and no wheat and corn. It's made by DelMonte. I hope I didn't eff this up. It's going to be for the smaller dogs in the house. They had 100 different varieties of Nutro, Science Diet, Iams, and Purina, but only a few very small and expensive bags of Blue Buffalo and NO Canidae or Wellness. The bag I bought looks nothing like the bags on the food comparison website.:dunno:
This is getting too complicated.

Come on Catt, tell me how I'm going to kill my dogs by feeding them Nature's Recipe Farmstand Select :rolleyes:

Ingredients are listed as follows:

Turkey, turkey meal, ground rice, barley, chicken fat(preserved with mixed tocopherols), oatmeal, potato protein, cranberries, apples, peas, carrots, animal digest...uh oh.WTF is ANIMAL DIGEST??....tomato pomace, sodium tripolyphosphate, flax seed, potassium choride, salt, vitamins, minerals, yucca schidigera, choline chloride, rosemary extract.

I didn't copy all the vitamins cause I'm lazy. There you go. How badly am I going to make my dogs suffer by feeding them this. It really seemed like a good idea when I compared it to the other bags of food. It says PREMIUM QUALITY and has pictures of food I'd eat (except for the peas. Yuck)

[catstamm]

That is Cat w/ one "T"..... thank you...
The only thing petco sells out here is Natural Balance and Solid Gold.....
I never said you would kill your dog ....so stand back.....
I know nothing about this food but, from what you wrote it doesn't look bad at all....Use the rate your dog food thingy on it.....
Now a diet of easy cheese...could eventually kill your dog...:rotfl: :rotfl:

[Otto'sMom]

That is Cat w/ one "T"..... thank you...
The only thing petco sells out here is Natural Balance and Solid Gold.....
I never said you would kill your dog ....so stand back.....


Sure....you don't have to say it, but it's always implied:duh: I thought you'd be able to recognize that I was being a tad bit over dramatic.

The extra T comes with belonging to the Doxie SS. I'm not sure what that means, but I don't make the rules, and I'd like to avoid being on the "list".:tinfoilhat:

I did use the rate your dog food thingie with it and it wasn't even on there so I thought that couldn't be good. I looked up the ingredients I didn't know and they sounded good. I'm just hoping to do better than Nutro.:pray: I looked up the Nutro I was giving to the dogs before and it was NOT recommended! Looks like it's a good thing I switched.

[Courtney]

Animal digest = feces.

http://www.negativespace.net/shots/archives/000499.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_digest

http://www.mindspring.com/~kerspin/LowQualityIngred.htm

[Otto'sMom]

Animal digest = feces.

Well, since Otto and rest of the dogs eating the food REGULARLY dine on their own feces and the feces of others, they should really enjoy it.:banana:

Why is it when I look this stuff up, I can't find anything bad? I'm such a noob.

OK, just looked all those up, and only one person, whom I suspect to be a loony, ='d it to poo. Otto will be disappointed.

[areese]

THAT'S what my dogs want!!! Food made outa POO. Like a trail mix....rabbit PO mixed with some cat poo and some raccoon poo with some goose poop just to round it out. Add a little miscellaneous vomit, a few dried up worms, and they'd be SO happy.
Laika is evil. She's been itching a lot so I've fed her mackerel and brown rice for days trying to see if its her food..and she SNUCK out the cat door into the garage and ate cat food TWICE. NOt to mention she prob. snacked in the litter box while she was out there.

[Otto'sMom]

THAT'S what my dogs want!!! Food made outa POO. Like a trail mix....rabbit PO mixed with some cat poo and some raccoon poo with some goose poop just to round it out. Add a little miscellaneous vomit, a few dried up worms, and they'd be SO happy.
Laika is evil. She's been itching a lot so I've fed her mackerel and brown rice for days trying to see if its her food..and she SNUCK out the cat door into the garage and ate cat food TWICE. NOt to mention she prob. snacked in the litter box while she was out there.


:rotfl: at the Agility Diva eating poo:rotfl:

[areese]

She loves poo. AND worm jerky. She's a disgusting little dog. Good thing I love her more than anything....

[catstamm]

Sure....you don't have to say it, but it's always implied:duh: I thought you'd be able to recognize that I was being a tad bit over dramatic.

The extra T comes with belonging to the Doxie SS. I'm not sure what that means, but I don't make the rules, and I'd like to avoid being on the "list".:tinfoilhat:

I did use the rate your dog food thingie with it and it wasn't even on there so I thought that couldn't be good. I looked up the ingredients I didn't know and they sounded good. I'm just hoping to do better than Nutro.:pray: I looked up the Nutro I was giving to the dogs before and it was NOT recommended! Looks like it's a good thing I switched.

Crap....I forgot for a minute....of course there should be 2 "T"'s .... please forgive me :rotfl: :rotfl:
Actually now I'm confused about the whole food thing so ....I'm off to get sardines.
How many sardines can or should they eat? or should I just give them as snacks......
Sardines stink but so does Poo and thats Carlee's favorite snack!

[Otto'sMom]

I'd never even looked at sardines before, and I was expecting whole little fishes packed tightly in the tin. Not so. It was just the middle section of the fish, probably about 4 or 5 pieces, but I managed to make that for 8 dogs. I wouldn't think that one fishie per doggie would be too much.

[Red Haired Girl]

I give one fish per dog per meal. The cans from Big Lots are cheap but the sardines are kind of like stems and pieces - know what I mean? So I give them a good fork full when I buy those.