Why is grain-free bad? |
The other types of food they choose to put in (particularly peas and lentils), has been linked to heart failure. It's not the grain-free part so much, at least they don't think so, but the peas/lentils. https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/outbreaks-and-advisories/fda-investigation-potential-link-between-certain-diets-and-canine-dilated-cardiomyopathy It's all still being studied, though. |
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My vet recommended Purina Pro Plan, Hills Science Diet, and Royal Canin. They are large companies with regular feeding trials that consistently show good results. The vet distinguished between Purina and its Pro Plan line, FWIW.
My picky dog prefers Pro Plan, even though I wanted him to eat Royal Canin. I have tried some of the boutique foods, but feel more comfortable with a larger company that has proven experience behind their product. Orijen and Wellness do this. I'm sure some others do, but those are the ones I researched. My dog does like some Wellness products. |
| Stella and Chewys |
Well, crap. |
| Well, we are on on our eleventh dog, all greyhounds except for a saluki in there. I grew up with Standard poodles and Newfies and Great Pyrenees. Clean water and food bowls are the most important. I'm shocked at how dirty people keep their pets' bowls. We use Nature's Domain from Costco but we have four greyhounds. We also use both canned foods from Costco. When we had only one dog, we used Blue Buffalo, but you have to watch the servings as it has many calories. |
This is why I think rotation diets are important. No food is perfect and would humans do well eating the same exact thing day after day? Just get a few smaller bags of well researched brands with high quality ingredients and feed one for each meal. I usually have at least 3 different foods at a time. Right now I am feeding Honest Kitchen beef dehydrated, Honest Kitchen chicken kibble, and Farmina Lamb kibble. I also like to rotate a freeze dried food in occasionally like Primal or Stella and Chewy, but it's pretty expensive for a big dog. This type of feeding reduces your risk of allergies and health issues caused by a particular food, reduces your risk of negative effects from a recall, and makes your dog less likely to get diarrhea from changing foods. |
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PP adding, we supplement for variety Freshpet and bone broth, plus some premium canned food.
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I'm the poster with all the greys and. posting about supplementing. Don't worry about grain free hurting your dogs. I honestly don't worry about that as that is a new complaint. My dog kibble is grain free but their supplements, canned food and treats is not grain free, I guess. My dogs have never had heart problems and I don't know anyone whose dogs have died from it. |
My family raised show dogs and agility dogs and were big fans of Costco’s nature’s domain food! Our dogs were the longest lived dogs of their breed our vet had ever seen. |
I assume OP would prefer something with more scientific evidence to support its benefits. OP, does your dog dislike all Purina, or have you only tried Purina One? My dog loves Pro Plan -- when he had some GI issues, he was on boiled chicken and rice for a while, and when I started reintroducing his regular food, he picked out the Pro Plan and left the chicken and rice. He's not a picky eater, though. Usually, if it's on the floor, he's happy to clean up. |
Just out of curiosity, have you actually looked at the ingredients in Purina's kibbles? There is a reason why it's cheap. |
| Royal Canin and sometimes boiled chicken breast and rice. |
DP. Expensive isn’t necessarily better. I’ve had more than one vet recommend Purina Pro Plan, and strongly advise against anything with “Blue” in the name. |
My Vet also recommends Purina Pro Plan. Unfortunately, I have a food driven Golden who rejects this outright (what?! New thing.) We are using some toppers from Portland Pet Co. to get him to eat the food and I have purchased basically every food recommended here to try. He's such a food hound in every other way, I hate that he won't eat normal food. |