What brand dog food?

I have an 11 year old springer and up until the last handful of months had always fed him purine pro plan sport 30/20. Switched to a grain free salmon that is Kirkland brand from Costo, belive it is made by Diamond. Switched since he has having a bunch of mysterious skin issues. Food didn’t seem to change it, but we now have him on a supplement that has taken care of he skin issue with success (Dr Oakley’s better wild bindi bites). After switching the amount of poop that he produced has tripled so I am assuming the kirkland brand is a lot lesser of a food than the Purina.

He is a lot less active than he used to be so don’t really want to go back to the pro plan sport 30/20. What are you guys feeding your dogs and roughly what is the price per pound?

Others will comment that you should talk to your vet about this. I feed my dog Life’s Abundance All Stages dog food. Its on the spendy side at 50 bucks for a 20 pound bag. I have a Golden Retriever and get lots of comments on her coat so assuming the food has something to do with it.

I have had good luck with Diamond Premium chicken and rice. The amount of crapping is far less than other foods I have used but each dog is different. The last 3 have been good with it however.

CaptainMusky wrote:

ith Diamond Premium chicken and rice.

I second this. We’ve had good experience feeding two Springers and a Field Bred Cocker this food. Our vet warned us against going grain free with dog food, said it’s hard on the heart.

My boys are fed NutriSource Adult Chicken and Rice brand, which is made locally here in MN. It’s about $65 for a 30-lb bag and only sold at authorized retailers. The ones most convenient are Pet Evolution, Chuck and Don’s, Menards, and a couple metro hardware stores. I love that they are made in MN and they haven’t had any of the worrisome recalls that plague many brands of pet food.

https://nutrisourcepetfoods.com/our-food/nutrisource/adult-chicken-rice/

do some research on grain free dog food. lots of opinions out there but the general consensus is that it is not good for your dog.

also, the dog food advisor website is a great resource.

if you’re having skin issues, the best thing to do is try different types of food until it goes away and compare the ingredient differences between the final food and what you’ve been feeding.

I still feed my lab Purina Pro Plan but not Sport.

Vet suggested Complete Essentials which is less protein. 1 cup in the AM and 1 in the PM. Plus some dog treats.

She was around 98 lbs and it helped cut her back closer to 90. Some more exercise would help her too.

Brad Dimond wrote:

Our vet warned us against going grain free with dog food, said it’s hard on the heart.

There have been some associated cardiac problems in dogs with a grain free diet. The issue is what the company replaces the grain ingredients with, generally. People see the words “grain free” and they think its healthy to avoid common grains in dog food, but they don’t check the label to see what the grains were replaced with.

I’ve tried a few with my labs. Purina Pro Plan, Eukanuba, Diamond. Can’t remember for sure why I switched off PPP, I think it got expensive and hard to find during covid. Switched to Victor Hi-Pro Plus about 18 months ago and have been pretty happy with it. They did have a recall this spring so I did diamond for a couple months and thought the doodoo was quite a bit more. Back to victor and has been good.

My breeder/trainer recommended Purina Pro Plan All Ages Sport Performance 30/20 Chicken & Rice Formula and that’s what my lab has been on since a pup (turned 5 in May). Will talk to the vet at his annual check up in August to see when to go to a different protein/fat ratio.
My previous lab was on NutriSource for her life with changing protein/fat ratios and calorie density as she got older.
My breeder/trainer now uses Eukanuba. Probably got a better deal/sponsorship.

My dog developed Dilated Cardiomyopathy from feeding him grain free dog food (Blue Widerness). switched back to regular food and after six months his heart was back in the normal range.

the breeder i got my big lupus from suggested Diamond dog food. his stool was always soft and runny. i switched to the basic purina and be way happy. a 44 lb bag runs about 28 bucks at the house of the 11% rebate.

there are 2 different blends to that and i switch it around so he’s got different flavor!

I use PPP lamb and rice. I’ve used a lamb and rice blend dog food of different companies for 28 years with great success. Switched to PPP about 8 years ago on our Vet’s dieticians recommendation. Thought it was odd because the Vet office sells Hills Science Diet.???

My son feeds his Goldendoodle Fromme dog food. Local WI product. Has had very good luck with it.

I’ll second NutriSource.

Our Springers are active and hunted often in the fall, so we run the high protein Performance blend. An average house pup would do fine on the regular NutriSource. Quality stuff, usually bought at Menards with their 11% rebate.

Ive tried the grain free dog food for my lab who was always getting ear infections and it was a big waste of money. She got really skinny and didn’t help with ear infections. Nutrisource has been good. Luckily a local seed house has that pretty cheap.

Personally, I would recommend checking google for any lawsuits against the brand of food you plan on using. Won’t say which but one of the brands mentioned we stopped feeding our labs because it has been sued due to metal contaminants in the food.

Also a $20-$30 bag of grain free dog food is obviously going to cheap out on what they replace grain with. If you go with a high quality grain free food, less worry. Think of your dogs ancestry? I don’t believe I’ve seen a wolf eat many grains.

We feed our labs the Honest Kitchen. Not cheap but have noticed an improvement in coat and appetite.

Nodakk wrote:

Also a $20-$30 bag of grain free dog food is obviously going to cheap out on what they replace grain with. If you go with a high quality grain free food, less worry. Think of your dogs ancestry? I don’t believe I’ve seen a wolf eat many grains.

Haven’t seen a wolf eat potatoes and peas either which is what most grain free foods use, they’re just a less nutritious version of the grains they’re replacing.

Science Diet perfect weight for my terrorist.I have been using there product for 25yrs. and three dogs and no complaints.

snelson223 wrote:

Ive tried the grain free dog food for my lab who was always getting ear infections and it was a big waste of money. She got really skinny and didn’t help with ear infections. Nutrisource has been good. Luckily a local seed house has that pretty cheap.

We have to avoid dog food with corn. Our cocker’s ears swell up and stink if we feed him anything with corn in it.

Reef W wrote:

Haven’t seen a wolf eat potatoes and peas either which is what most grain free foods use, they’re just a less nutritious version of the grains they’re replacing.

Exactly. Read the label before you buy it. Don’t just assume “grain free” means the grain has been replaced with something better.

I have been feeding 3-4 hunting dogs for the last 20 plus years, switched to kirkland (purple bag) chicken, rice and vegetable, about 10 years ago, $37 ish bag- (40lbs I think)… there are certainly better foods out there but Im very happy with it from a cost/benefit standpoint.

I was using Nutrisource for years, great food but it is now more than double what it was pre covid. I switched to diamond naturals and it has been fine for half the cost.

Thanks for all the recommendations guys. Happy to say his poop is finally back to normal after trying a few Kirkland brand foods without success. The purple Kirkland bag did not sit well with his stomach. We ended up going with Purina One.

Make sure you are slowly transitioning dog food when switching. Not like humans that can just go and eat something completely different at our next meal.
Vet told us to take at least a week of transitioning over, slowly change the ratio each day to the new food vs old.

Vet advised us to put a couple tablespoons of canned pumpkin on top of the kibble (pumpkin only, no spices). Seems to keep stool firm and the pup loves it, first thing he eats.

We give our dog 2-3 table spoons of pumpkin every day as treat.

Ya we feed him pumpkin as well, he really likes it! We did a supper slow transition between foods, but there must just be something in the Kirkland brand that doesn’t agree with his stomach.

I’ve been feeding my last few dogs this with good success.

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I noticed when we got our mutt his poops were horrific smelling. We switched to a chicken based food and he wasn’t near as nasty as with a beef based food.

Has anyone used ruff greens or similar supplement?

I feed a supplement called Fido Vite Flexx. It is blended in Sauk City, WI. A couple of dog breeders/trainers I talked to years ago recommended/use it. I tried it with good results so add it to our dogs food everytime along with some flax meal.