Dog Food: What brand do you use (terriers, diet, costs)
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veggie...you might ant to take a gander at the ingrediets lable on that RC...most of their ines are just expensive chicken scratch...corn, wheet and soy being 3 of their MAIN ingredients and 3 ingredients that CARNIVORES don't need in their diet (and while dogs are not OBLIGATE carnivores like cats are they are still carnvores...a LITTLE grain wont hurt them, but it shouldn't be the builk of their food and RC snt eactly cheap, heck for the qulity of ingredients in most of tier lines its high pricd junk food and youd be better feeding a mid range grocery brand and saving the cash
heres the first 5 ingredients for:
royal Canin Mini Adult at 10.99 for a 2.5lb bag (or 4.39 per lb)
Chicken, brewers rice, chicken meal, brown rice, corn gluten meal
and Tractor supplies 4-health chicken and rice, 5lb bag for 6.99 (or .72c per lb)
Chicken, chicken meal, cracked pearled barley, millet, brewers rice
more real meat, no corn...even without the HUGE price difference...I think I know which id choose...
I know we have a "Tractor Supply" place but it is very far from where I live. I may check our locally owned pet store this weekend. When he had allergy testing, he came up positive for brewers yeast and barley. Not a big number on the allergy chart, maybe mild. Another reason I was going to switch. And when I had him on Acana last year, he had bloody stools from the start. Vet said it was too rich for him and I should choose a food and stick to it. They recommended Science Diet, Iams and Royal Canine, of which they have but I didn't get it from them since it's prescription. I also questioned her how all I read on the internet and she told me you can't believe everything you read on the internet. Anyways, I've switched so much in the past six years of his life and I thought I'd try Royal Canine again. He's hungry now so I need to feed him. Funny thing tho, lately I have to feed him more. Seems like he's hungry and wants more kibble. Instead of a 1/4 cup, I gave him 3/8s this am. What do you say about that him wanting more~?
wanting more could be anything, genrally with cheap food full of fuillers you have to feed more to keep them feling full (kinda like when we eat junk, its good ate timebutyour hungry 5 mins later...
vats have NO nutritional training...they are given a 1-2 hour "nutrition" course that's presented by dog food company reps (not nutritionallist) they promote the brands they sell plain and simple because that elps pay the bills and because they don't know any better...
brewers yeast is completely different form brewers rice....
if barley is an issue honestly id go grain free or go for a potato formular (ie duck and sweet potato), generally 1 grain allergymeans they'll usually have others,
definatly avoid anything that says corn, soy or wheat, and anything that says "byproduct"
I mean in the end we have to feed what works ofr our pets...my parents had a cocker spaniel who could only eat pedigree (everything else made him violently ill) yes its a junk food but if its the only coice you gowiht what works...
Howver when your feeding something as pricey as royal canin you can easily find an equivalent formular (heck even an identical one) for a fraction of the price if you just spend some time comparing ingredients bag to bag.
wanting more could be anything, genrally with cheap food full of fuillers you have to feed more to keep them feling full (kinda like when we eat junk, its good ate timebutyour hungry 5 mins later...
vats have NO nutritional training...they are given a 1-2 hour "nutrition" course that's presented by dog food company reps (not nutritionallist) they promote the brands they sell plain and simple because that elps pay the bills and because they don't know any better...
brewers yeast is completely different form brewers rice....
if barley is an issue honestly id go grain free or go for a potato formular (ie duck and sweet potato), generally 1 grain allergymeans they'll usually have others,
definatly avoid anything that says corn, soy or wheat, and anything that says "byproduct"
I mean in the end we have to feed what works ofr our pets...my parents had a cocker spaniel who could only eat pedigree (everything else made him violently ill) yes its a junk food but if its the only coice you gowiht what works...
Howver when your feeding something as pricey as royal canin you can easily find an equivalent formular (heck even an identical one) for a fraction of the price if you just spend some time comparing ingredients bag to bag.
You must be from the south since you say "Vats" The Vet told me that the reason they have the foods they do is because those companies have been in business longer than the numerous of companies out. I had looked at Petsmart and so many that were grain free had potato at the top of the ingredients or maybe it was #2. I put some frozen spinach (cooked in micro) with only a 1/4 of his food and he ate maybe half. He's wanting to play to get treats, and I've cut them down to out. I use to treat TOO much. Hardly anymore. But that is the only way I can get him to eat is to play ball and give him treats while his food bowl is in front of him~!
I have some samples of Natural Balance but they are old. He didn't like the duck/potato, so I gave him the lamb. That lamb has to be special ordered cause he was on that for a while. I forgot what happened, but I had to switch him from that. I only gave him a 1/4 of a pill pocket with his benedryl and a fish capsule to get him to eat the rest of his dinner....oh and a few cheerios.
Is that bad, or what~? What's wrong with Del Monte. He was on Natural Balance, but he had stool issues or something with that too.
They had voluntarily recalled some of their pet treat products for possible melamine contamination back in 07 plus had a recent recall of pet treats in 2013 due to another contamination issue from China.
Where they source their ingredients is concerning given the prior problems.
They had voluntarily recalled some of their pet treat products for possible melamine contamination back in 07 plus had a recent recall of pet treats in 2013 due to another contamination issue from China.
Where they source their ingredients is concerning given the prior problems.
Last year he was on Acana like I said and when you said the above, that triggered my mind to remember he was on Natural Balance Lamb. I had trouble to get it and the store told me about the recall, so I ordered it online.
as a vet tech I can tell you your vets not being completly truthfull, they carry those brands because they offer veterinary kickbacks, every bag thye sell they not only get their markup but they also get a bonus form the company and they get additional bonuses when they reach a certain number of bags ect....
cant blame them, one of royalcanins corporate ickbacs for vets is ultrasound machiens, science diet are known for new xray equiptment and autoclaves.
and wile I live in the south im origionally from England, I type the way I do due to a traumatic brain injury ustained when working as a zoo keeper.
as a vet tech I can tell you your vets not being completly truthfull, they carry those brands because they offer veterinary kickbacks, every bag thye sell they not only get their markup but they also get a bonus form the company and they get additional bonuses when they reach a certain number of bags ect....
cant blame them, one of royalcanins corporate ickbacs for vets is ultrasound machiens, science diet are known for new xray equiptment and autoclaves.
and wile I live in the south im origionally from England, I type the way I do due to a traumatic brain injury ustained when working as a zoo keeper.
I'm so sorry, Foxywrench. I just thought it was a typo. What kind of animals did you work with at the zoo~? I don't buy any of the dry Vet food that they recommended because I didn't want him on prescription. I have bought the wet Royal Canine to add to his dry or the Science Diet wet, but no more. I've always heard about the Vets and what you have said about their kickbacks. But I threw every topic at a Vet regarding pet food and one of them told me that "you can't believe all your read on the internet and anyone can say anything and you don't know if it is true". I kind of agree with those statement. You don't know what people say and if it is the real deal....on some issues. But I've tried expensive to cheap food and it doesn't matter what I use for my Yorkie whose been a picky eater since a pup, he won't eat when you sit the bowl down. I have to play ball with him to get him to eat or add something in it. And he has gone like 3 days without eating much to none cause I thought he didn't like the food.
lol, gotta love those picky eaters. I free fed my cresties when they were on dry food sply because they preferred to eat a few bites her and a few bites there..."grazing" is actually a more natural eating habit for dogs, in nature dogs will only eat/hunt when they need food...(and even then not always catch it when hunting) they don't hunt or feed on a set schedual and ive found small dogs seem to prefer this option, id put down 1 days worth of dry food and leav it out, anything they didn't eat by the end of the day got tossed...
however once I started feeding raw...no more picky dogs, they LOVE their food now
since I cant free feed on raw I maintain the more natural "no schedual" by changing what time I give them their meals, or giving them 2 small meals a day for a few days then 1 big meal a day for a few days ect...but there always xcited to chow down now lol.
at the zoo I was primarily a large carnivore and ape keeper...it wasn't a huge zoo, so we all did a bit of everything, but my specialty were the apes (gorilla and orangutan), wild caninds (we had hyena, fennec, red, and swift fox, painted dogs, dingo, I also worked with cheetah Girraffe and binterong
the only animal didn't like working with was the gelding zebra we had...he was unusually aggressive even for a zebra!
working at the zoois what made the raw diet thing realy click, id been reading it seeing it pop up and interested in it for years but it was so complicated and precise, you needed a math degree just to get started...
howve rnutrition at the zoo was whole prey whenever possible, so it wast unusual to drag in a whole deer hide and all and toss it into the pen, or a couple rats or a rabbit for the foxes ect...
e were a learning zoo, and a private facility so no worries about pre cut meats and not letting visitors see blood and guts that most zoos have restrictions on.
seeing it whole and watching in person the animals eating ust helped things click in terms of diet and nutrition.
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The Vet told me that the reason they have the foods they do is because those companies have been in business longer than the numerous of companies out. I had looked at Petsmart and so many that were grain free had potato at the top of the ingredients or maybe it was #2. I put some frozen spinach (cooked in micro) with only a 1/4 of his food and he ate maybe half. He's wanting to play to get treats, and I've cut them down to out. I use to treat TOO much. Hardly anymore. But that is the only way I can get him to eat is to play ball and give him treats while his food bowl is in front of him~!
