Background:

I have a 7month old GSP mix.(Deogee)...When we got him from the rescue he was on Iams puppy. After having him a few months I heard that Canidae is a higher quality, healthier food for him so I tried to switch him over (slowly intergrating the new food with the old food) After 2 weeks Deo was still having loose stools. I then switched him to Rice and boiled chicken to make sure it was just a diet issue. After a week his stool was solid on a consistant basis. I was told to retry the Canidae (Lamb,Chicken,Turkey & Fish) I tried to add a little of the Canidae to his rice/boiled chicken and right away he was back to loose stools....

I am now trying Nutro Max puppy.... I heard good things about Nutro products and this one said "Easy to Digest" which is what sold me ... I have been adding it to his boiled chicken and rice .. so far so good.

What do you feed your dogs ?  What are your thoughts on Nutro Max ?

TIA

Our vet recommended Nutro puppy food, but Miley was never really into it and she seemed to be pretty skinny while we were feeding it to her.  We switched to Diamond Puppy and she loved it, looked and felt great, but had horrible gas.

She's on adult Wellness Lamb right now, but she, again, has horrible gas. She loves it though!

Now that she's on adult food, I was thinking about trying a different flavor of Nutro in hopes that she will stop stinking up our house!!

My puppy gets a combination of Innova puppy food (kibble) and either Wellness lamb or venison canned.  When he was really little I fed him three times a day.  In the morning and at noon he got just kibble, and for dinner he got a mix of kibble and canned.  He now eats just twice a day so in the morning he gets the kibble and at night he gets the mix of canned and kibble.

My adults eat twice a day, morning they get kibble and at night they get a mix of canned and kibble.  I feed my adults Innova Chicken for adults large breed and Wellness lamb or venison canned.  My oldest is allergic to beef so I have to be careful with what she eats.

All are doing very good on the the combination and have really nice coats. They also like the food. Of course, having three really improves the appetite as none of them wants to let the other eat their food.

I feed Tessa (6 months old) Innova Puppy. We had some problems with loose stools on both Solid Gold and Innova, and I added canned pumpkin which helped. Then someone here mentioned that when soaking the food before feeding, which I did, will make it go right through. I now still add a little water to the kibble but serve it immediately and since we've been doing this, no more loose stools.

I also supplement with Olewo carrots, comes in the form of pellets, cost is about $ 15 per lb but since you only feed one teaspoon a day it lasts forever. Is supposed to help with loose stools and also fights worms and parasites, improves pigmentation etc.

www.naturmix.com/pages/products/olewo.html

We fed Cocoa Nutra Max puppy before she went to the trainers and she was always a skinny little girl. She dropped a lot of weight at the trainers at first because of the workout she was getting and her picky eating. She finally started to eat and packed on some muscle.

In the mean time our other puppy and two other adult dogs all got something different and that was a pain in the bottom end. We litterally had 3 different types of food. Old overweight food, maintenance and puppy.  All a diamond brand food. So we switched to canaidae all life stages when it was still the old formula. To me that was great food for all our dogs. The puppy ,Snickers, was doing great on it, Lickerish the 3 yr old was eating it up. and our oldest nicki was doing fine on it but we had to put her down back in september from symptoms of old age. 

Then the formula changed. The liver color on Snickers' head and saddle started to fade and Cocoas poop started to get runny.Tried one more canadaie and when tt seemed that this was going to be how it would be from now on we went and tried diamond naturals. Tried 2 bags of this and nothing seemed to change. And Cocoa seemed to be losing too much hair. It wasn't time to start blowing her coat yet but fur was on everything. and only hers. The other two were holding their coat quite well

So what we have now is one dog that doesn't seem to be phased at all. One who coat is fading and one who has runny poop and started to have anal gland issues because of that and is loseing hair.

So now we have started on Exceed from Sams club to see how it works. The coat on Snickers has not gotten any worse. By that I mean the fadeing has stopped expanding. But I am not positive that the faded hair is being replaced yet. The fading started on the outside edges of the liver spots and worked inward. Like I said I don't know that it has started to receed yet. Lickerish is still the same. Acts like the food change didn't affect him at all. Cocoas poop is finally firmed up, her anal gland issues seemed to go away and I don't notice her coat falling off before my eyes but she is still shedding too much,not as much as before, and her fur is very thin. We have to put a sweater on her some days when it gets cold outside. So with 3 dogs we have 3 different reactions. I think I will go through this 44 lb bag of exceed and the other one  I bought to see if there are any benifitial changes. I hope the exceed works. It is a really good value even though we have to drive out of town and we buy 2 bags at a time. Hope you find something that works for your pup and I hope I find something that i can use on all 3 of my dogs.

P.S. In My opinion at 7 months he is ready to move up to an adult blend food anyway.

I feed purina pro plan performance formula.  It is a chicken based all life stages food (puppy to adult to senior).

I think we'll give Pro Plan a try. 

Someone recommended Blue Buffalo to my husband, but it's over TWICE the price of what we feed now (almost 3 times the price)!

I feed my dogs Science Diet.  I trust SD.  I know that there are foods out there that claim they can help with energy etc.  We have clients who also feed raw diets (too much for me)  My dogs coats look good and I also add some t/d (Science Diet teeth diet) in to the bowls to keep thier teeth healthy.  3 out of our 4 Doctors are parial to SD and one likes Eukanuba.  I guess it is all about preferance and mainly what is the best for your dog.

I posted this in another thread, but since this discussion has come up again and we have allot of new members I thought it worthwhile to post again.

Start with a grade of 100:
1) For every listing of "by-product", subtract 10 points

2) For every non-specific animal source ("meat" or "poultry", meat, meal or fat) reference, subtract 10 points

3) If the food contains BHA, BHT, or ethoxyquin, subtract 10 points

4) For every grain "mill run" or non-specific grain source,subtract 5 points

5) If the same grain ingredient is used 2 or more times in the first five ingredients (i.e. "ground brown rice", "brewerâ?Ts rice", "rice flour" are all the same grain), subtract 5 points

6) If the protein sources are not meat meal and there are less than 2 meats in the top 3 ingredients, subtract 3 points

7) If it contains any artificial colorants, subtract 3 points

8 ) If it contains ground corn or whole grain corn, subtract 3points

9) If corn is listed in the top 5 ingredients, subtract 2 morepoints

10) If the food contains any animal fat other than fish oil,subtract 2 points

11) If lamb is the only animal protein source (unless your dog is allergic to other protein sources), subtract 2 points

12) If it contains soy or soybeans, subtract 2 points

13) If it contains wheat (unless you know that your dog isnâ?Tt allergic to wheat), subtract 2 points

14) If it contains beef (unless you know that your dog isnâ?Tt allergic to beef), subtract 1 point

15) If it contains salt, subtract 1 point

Extra Credit:

1) If any of the meat sources are organic, add 5 points

2) If the food is endorsed by any major breed group or
nutritionist, add 5 points

3) If the food is baked not extruded, add 5 points

4) If the food contains probiotics, add 3 points

5) If the food contains fruit, add 3 points

6) If the food contains vegetables (NOT corn or other grains), add 3 points

7) If the animal sources are hormone-free and antibiotic-free, add 2 points

8 ) If the food contains barley, add 2 points

9) If the food contains flax seed oil (not just the seeds), add 2 points

10) If the food contains oats or oatmeal, add 1 point

11) If the food contains sunflower oil, add 1 point

12) For every different specific animal protein source (other than
the first one; count "chicken" and "chicken meal" as only one protein source, but "chicken" and "" as 2 different sources), add 1 point

13) If it contains glucosamine and chondroitin, add 1 point

14) If the vegetables have been tested for pesticides and are pesticide-free, add 1 point

94-100+ = A
86-93 = B
78-85 = C
70-77 = D

69 = F

Here are some foods that have already been scored. If you don't
see your dog's food here, ask and someone will score it for you.
Dog Food scores:

Authority Harvest Baked / Score 116 A+

Bil-Jac Select / Score 68 F

Canidae / Score 112 A+

Chicken Soup Senior / Score 115 A+

Diamond Maintenance / Score 64 F

Diamond Lamb Meal & Rice / Score 92 B

Diamond Large Breed 60+ Formula / Score 99 A

**** Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra Premium / Score 122 A+

**** Van Patten's Duck and Potato / Score 106 A+

Foundations / Score 106 A+

Hund-n-Flocken Adult Dog (lamb) by Solid Gold / Score 93 D

Iams Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Premium / Score 73 D

Innova Dog / Score 114 A+

Innova Evo / Score 114 A+

Kirkland Signature Chicken, Rice, and Vegetables / Score 110

A+

Nutrisource Lamb and Rice / Score 87 B

Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy / Score 87 B

Pet Gold Adult with Lamb & Rice / Score 23 F

ProPlan Natural Turkey & Barley / Score 103 A+

Purina Benful / Score 17 F

Purina Dog / Score 62 F

Purina Come-n-Get It / Score 16 F

Royal Canin Bulldog / Score 100 A+

Royal Canin Natural Blend Adult / Score 106 A+

Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice / Score 97 A

Science Diet Advanced Protein Senior 7+ / Score 63 F

Science Diet for Large Breed Puppies / Score 69 F

Wellness Super5 Mix Chicken / Score 110 A+

Wolfking Adult Dog (bison) by Solid Gold / Score 97 A

Raw beef (often mixed with a little beef heart)

cooked vegetables (sweet potato, carrots, kale, okra, celery, turnip, squash)

bran flakes

sometimes they get yogurt and fruit.

We switched from cooked meat to raw a few months ago with really great results. I've not smelled a dog fart in ages.

Bev- that's not a bad way to compare some feeds, but the problem is that evaluating ingredients is actually MUCH more complicated than the label alone indicates. Joe Runyan noted years ago that there were multiple grades of by-products, meats, etc., and the results they were getting in feed trials in his sled dog kennel  measurably varied even when they changed suppliers of the same listed ingredient.

Given the nearly impossible kalidascope of dog-food variables, I gave up long ago and just keep my ear to the ground on what top mushers are using successfully. It's interesting to see how food at that level has progressed even over the last few years. Names that come to mind right now are Eagle, Blackwood, Red Paw, Dr Tim, Caribou Creek Gold, & Annamaet (I'm sure I've forgotton at least another half dozen). These foods have met the challenge of the ultimate reality-based testing in both sprint and distance racing- definately nothing to sneeze at. If I were in the midwest, for the price I'd be getting my hands on some Red Paw to try straight away (it's not readily vailable on the left coast).

Interestingly, some of the foods you'd *think* would do very well based on the ingredient list have caused mushers some problems. Nutro is a brand I in particular wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole after seeing 2 of my sister's dogs on a couple varieties of it have non-stop foot problems... I can't prove the food is the problem because my sister won't try anything else, but I've got my suspicions given that the dogs were totally different breeds and had more than enough time for their feet to toughen up one summer at my parent's house next door. Obviously not everyone's dog is going to have foot problems on Nutro... I'd just like to try sister's dog on something else that might have a totally different fatty acid profile and see what happens (and I'd be loading him up w/ zinc regardless).

Meg -  I agree a 100% on evaluating food.  I have spent more time than I want to think about looking at ingredients and trying to figure out what is best.  So, I start with the simple evaluation and then add in what some of the breeders down here are feeding their shorthairs and then mix in a little of what seems to work best with my crew.  In the end there is a little of science and for me allot of magic.  So far I have had good luck with the Innova and Wellness.  I did have to make a change about 2 months ago with Belle.  She kept getting red welps on her face and ears and her mouth would get inflamed.  Turned out she was allergic to beef.  Took me a while to figure it out.  It even had the vet stumped.  Once I put her on chicken, turkey, lamb or venison the problem went away.  I gave her a bone the other day without really thinking (she loves to chew on bones) and her mouth got red.  So now she gets bleached bones that I stuff with peanut butter.  I have just ordered deer antlers to see if those will work for her to chew on.