Well, I know there are more threads here about feeding dogs than Carter has pills, but after the debacle during the AKC show at Madison Square Garden, I was shocked to say the least to find out about the dog food the top people feed. When you guys here after all the nattering about what is best for the dog, and yada, yada, yada, Ihave settled on Health 4 Life. It is top rated, and reasonably priced. The TC store isn’t too far away either. But the dogs HATE it. :no: So after hearing about how the TOP people feed Purina, I went back and looked again. TWO STARS. SECOND LOWEST RATING.:eek: And yet, this is acceptable to show people who want their dogs to look and feel great. I looked at the price of Purina Pro, almost TWICE what I am payinfg for Health 4 Life. I really don’t know what to do. They will as others have said eat it, but they aren’t happy and are ALWAYS looking for something else.
The local Tractor Supply is a sort of small one, as we are in town, and they don’t have a large variety of dog food. TOTW is out of the question for price reasons. I have cut back serving size to make them more eager. Nothing really works. One more thing, my one dog occasionally has BAD gas, which is allieviated with what she is eating now. When she was on Chef Michael, WOW! A room clearer if ever there was one.
Try Taste of the wild High prairie. Good quality, grain free and not too expensive.
Or Kirklands grain free.
Or Chicken Soup for teh dog lover-not grain free but good quality.
If they aren’t loving the dry food, try making a little “gravy” with a high quality canned (I use Wellness 95% meat) by adding a tablespoon or so of the canned and a little warm water. Mix it in til the canned makes a gravy with the water.
This worked like a charm for my dog, who was less than enthusiastic about his food (and he’s limited in foods not only by my budget but by multiple allergies: no wheat, no corn, no chicken, no beef, preferably no soy). He’d pick at it and eat it eventually, but the problem with that was my diabetic cat would help himself to (the very high carb) leftovers. Now the dog wolfs it down and loves it.
I fed 4Health lamb and rice…didn’t work for the Shepherd because of gassy reasons but he loved it. The JRT had to be coaxed to eat it- was never enthused. I switched because of the GSD over to Blue Buffalo Fish and Sweet Potato, BOTH dogs love,love,love it and it works really well for both of them.
I missed the foo fa rool about food at the madison square garden show. So what food do the top guns feed?
I have been feeding 4 health for several months and am going back to diamond naturals because dogs that weren’t previously gassy are HORRIBLE on 4 health. one dog (who likes to sleep in my arms), just emanates constantly. UGH.
Thanks
I have one more question, and it may tie in to the first: How to keep dry food fresh. I buy it in 20 pound bags and put it in an air tight container. Are they really airtight? They do seem to like the food better the first week than the second. I have this week put some bread in there-I figure if it works for the brown sugar, it will work for the dog food?
And can you make ‘gravy’ with non gravy train stuff like TOTW or F4H?
I feed the 4Health and what I do is I buy a box of the Honest Kitchen dehydrated dog food. 2 Tablespoons per dog with about 1/3 cup warm water to make a gravy. Mix the dry dog food and voila!
I started using the honest kitchen after my old girl lost several teeth at her last dentistry and I didn’t want to feed strictly canned. I found that she eats the small bites food soaked in the honest kitchen gravy very well. The other dogs refused to eat plain dry kibble when she was getting the fancy stuff so I just broke down and gave it to all three.
A 10lb box of the honest kitchen food is about $60, but it lasts a long time.
Arabiansrock: There was a thread on AKC show at MSG
and in that thread, I innocently mentioned the commercial that the top show dogs for the last 5 years were fed Purina Pro and I disbelieved it. I was told HERE on COTH, by People. Who. Know these things, it is a fine food and easy for them to find when on the road. I wanted to throw my hands in the air and go back to Alpo. It is ridiculous. That thread was well established before the question of food came up. It should only be about 2-3 pages back.
4Health just released a salmon and potato formula.
Thanks Larksmom. I have a hard time believing that too, I have never much cared for purina products.
just went back and checked,
It is about 5 pages back, at the bottom of the page, last post date was Feb 16. Didn’t see any reason to re-post, but my first question about the food was at 108. Then it began to pick up a bit. I was just shocked at how many people seem to think that is ok when it is filled with corn and crud. I am TRYING just to feed them something I can afford, that they will eat, and will not give Toffee gas!:yes::eek:
You do realize that top show people are often compensated financially for endorsing products, right?
no, I didn’t realize that
But if it isn’t GOOD for them, I mean lots of people just feed Ol Roy, and their dogs do fine. Not sayin’ I would but criminy.
[QUOTE=Larksmom;6213540]
And can you make ‘gravy’ with non gravy train stuff like TOTW or F4H?[/QUOTE]
Yes. I do it all the time. That spoonful of canned and a little warm water gravies it right up!
Larksmom- my dogs will only eat the salmon and sweet potato 4health. I tried all of the other flavors and what other flavors I could convince them to eat made them extremely gassy, but the salmon one does not and they seem to like it very much.
I have fed this for years to all of my BC’s (probably for 15 years???).
http://www.holisticselect.com/dry-dog-food-chicken-meal-and-rice
It used to come in a gold bag and then they changed the entire packaging years ago but still the same stuff. I have gotten many compliments on how shiny and nice my dogs look. And that’s with only bathing them 2-3 times a year! All of them have eaten it w/o an issue.
Enter the spaniel mix rescue… the pickiest dog I have ever seen! You would think she would eat anything since she was so skinny when I got her. Nope. I didn’t want to have to switch food completely as the others were doing so well on it and I like to stick to one kind of food instead of multiple bags. So I tried mixing it with yogurt and other things to “tempt” her. She’d eat if for a little bit and then stop again.
After fighting with her on it and trying 4 other kinds of food, I found this at the pet store:
http://www.dog.com/item/iams-savory-sauce-for-dogs/494283/
Iams Savory Sauce:
Crude protein (min): 1.5%
Crude fat (min): 3.0%
Crude fiber (max): 6.0%
Moisture (max): 90%
Mostly water and some flavoring. 
So tried it and she’s finally eating the food. I really didn’t want to have to deal with canned food if I didn’t have to. I only give her a few drops on her food to just give it a little umph. The bottle suggests 1 tbsp per 1/2 cup food. But I feel she doesn’t need that much and it would be alot of topping!
Doesn’t seem to have any ill affect on her either.
Try Nutrisca. I switched mine over from Taste of the Wild and have been VERY pleased. Noooo gas issues :winkgrin: I get it at my local Pet Supermarket, but they have a Dealer Locator on their webpage for you.
I just switched mine from 4Health Large Breed to the 4Health Salmon and Potato. My picky collie gets a topping of very small (1T) serving of cooked hamburger…I add some water for gravy. I just cook extra hamburger and freeze in packets.
My Boston Terrier’s litter mate was at Westminster for the last two years. When we bought our puppy I asked the breeder what she fed and she sheepishly said Purina…and said she realized it wasn’t a high rated food but that she had tried to change several times to better rated foods and had nothing but trouble with her dogs. So, she changed back. She has been breeding for over 30 years…maybe her dogs have just “evolved” to survive on corn? Didn’t seem to be any problems in her kennel with allergies. So perhaps the show people just figure “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. I feed all my dogs Origen, costs a lot more than Purina, but I’ve got healthy dogs, so I’m not complaining either.
[QUOTE=jetsmom;6213590]
You do realize that top show people are often compensated financially for endorsing products, right?[/QUOTE]
Do you know anyone who is actually sponsored by Purina? I don’t. And I sure know some people who would love to get a corporate sponsor to subsidize their dog’s campaign…but I don’t think corporate sponsors are very common. Maybe a handful of show owners/handlers have some sort of income from Purina, but the vast majority do not.
I feed Eukanuba Lamb & Rice to my show dog. I cannot imagine a scenario where you could convince me to switch his food because he is in absolutely perfect condition…why would I change it? I’m with the “if it ain’t broke” crowd.
I don’t know where Purina Pro Plan rates, but it’s not the only Purina dog food. That was the dog food that was discussed in the Westminster thread, if I recall correctly.
Not that it really matters…but most of us don’t eat 5 star diets either. And probably not 4 or 3 star diets either.
ETA: I use a plastic container with a screw on lid. I believe it is airtight, but to be honest, whatever doesn’t fit in the container stays in the bag, and my dogs eat it just as well. Then again, they would eat wood chips, so they may not be a good comparison.
