what is better for a puppy (1yr old), i always gave him pedigree but i switch it up with dry and wet food but wwhats better for a pup, wet or dry food?
Pedigree is an awful diet for any dog. Dry food is always more nutritious by volume than wet. I prefer to use dry dog food with occasional canned for boredome busting, but I would never use a generic or commercial brand of it, like Pedigree, because it's not very nutritious, loaded with fillers, and just an all-around poor diet. As far as canned food goes, canned sometimes has a lot of crud in it, but again it depends on brands. Dry will generally have more preservatives than canned. Also, in case anyone brings it up, dry dog food does NOT clean dogs' teeth! That's like saying that cookies and crackers clean my teeth. Brushing their teeth and regular vet check ups is how to keep a dog's teeth healthy. One thing you should know; grain causes tooth problems in dogs. It mixes with their saliva and forms a disgusting plaque from the ingredients they weren't designed to break down in their bodies.
If you don't want to go through the research and hassle of a properly balanced raw diet, then I would recommend you look up some healthy brands of dog food: Evo, Natural Balance, Solid Gold, Taste Of The Wild, Wellness Core, Before Grain (B.G.), and Instinct are all good brands. If you can find it in your grocery, it is not healthy pet food. If you can find it in Petsmart or Petco, it's not the best and it may be garbage as well. Petco has started carrying Wellness, (or so I've heard, I do not shop there) so you may be able to find it there now or sometime in the new future. I heard that information by word-of-mouth and didn't look into it, so you'll have to search around or call a Petco if you want to go there.
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I'm concerned maybe it's time to change his food. I've been feedling him PEDIGREE dry with some packets of wet mixed in. Comment by KEVIN on Jul 28,
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You can also order these foods online or support your local small business by letting them order it for you (if they don't already stock it). Please don't feed your pet an awful food like Pedigree, Purina, or any of that trash. I mean, you spend so much on vet bills and stuff and then you sabotage yourself with poor nutrition? Waste of money!
Best of health to you and your pet!
Dry food is much safer, but to a dog, I think that the wet food tastes better. You must be very careful about what brand of wet food you buy because it might have rat droppings, (don't buy food from China). The pedigree brand is fine. My dogs will eat anything, (including staples and rocks), so I can't really tell you about which they like better...
I hope this helps!
Nicole
Agreed. Pedigree is not a good quality food. Try an all natural dog food, it is much better for their health. Their fur will be soft and shinny, eat less, and poop less :)
Neither. Pedigree is low-quality food.
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Read the ingredients before you buy.
Here is my "short list" of rules when I am looking at dog food ingredients:
1) When I chose a dog food, I chose one high meat content. I want to see preferably at least 2-3 out of the top 5 ingredients be meat or meat meal (first ingredient must be!). Meal is simply the meat with the moisture removed.
2) I want to see higher quality grains, such as barley, brown rice, and oatmeal, instead of seeing wheat and corn. Or an alternative starch/carbohydrate such as potatoes or sweet potatoes.
3) I don't want to see any byproducts.
4) I don't want to see a lot of fillers (brewers rice, beet pulp, etc).
5) I don't want to see preservatives that are believed to be carcinogens (BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin).
6) I don't want to see artificial colorings such as the Red, Blue, and Yellow dyes.
7) I don't want to see added sugars (sugar, corn syrup).
8) I don't want to see mystery meats (meats identified only as "meat" or "poultry".)
Here is an article about byproducts:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?...
And an article on what ingredients to avoid:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?...
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There is no food that is the *best*, different individual dog may thrive on different foods. What you want to find is the HIGH-QUALITY food that *your dog* does best on.
Here are some examples of GOOD dog foods:
* Artemis Fresh Mix
* Blue Buffalo
* California Natural
* Canidae
* Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul
* Eagle Pack Holistic Selects
* EVO
* Fromm Four Star
* Innova
* Merrick
* Nature's Variety
* Orijen
* Solid Gold
* Taste of the Wild
* Wellness
* ZiwiPeak
Or check this website; the 4, 5, or 6 star rated foods are all good foods. http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_...
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Higher quality food may seem more expensive at first, but it evens out. The higher quality the food, the less fillers eaten (and therefore the less poop comes out the other end). Your dog eats more of a low-quality food to try to get the nutrition it needs, and most of the food just passes right on through. Also, higher-quality food will make your animals healthier, so you save money on vet bills in the long run.
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What *NOT* to buy:
Stay away from grocery stores brands. They are low-quality foods chalk full of fillers, preservatives, dyes, etc.. (Grocery store foods are those like Beneful, Old Roy, Alpo, Pedigree, Purina, etc.)
Beware "premium" foods. "Premium" does not always mean good nutritionally, and is not a nutritionally high quality food. Most of these foods have the same types of ingredients as grocery store foods, just a bit better quality of those not-so-good ingredients. (Premium foods are those like Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Bil-Jac, Royal Canin, etc..)
Another thing to be wary of: A lot of vets will recommend what they sell in their office. They get profit from the brands they keep on their shelves, that's why they push it. Truth is, vet schools don't focus a lot on nutrition. It's not saying that a vet is a bad vet because he recommends those foods, a lot of vets just are told "this is good food", so they pass the message along without proper nutrition knowledge. Also, some dog food brands (like Hills) support vet schools, so vets have heard of it from the time they start college, which makes them think it's good as well.
Hills company, the makers of Science Diet, are heavily involved in vet schools. "Hill's scientists author more than 50 research papers and textbook chapters each year and teach at leading schools of veterinary medicine" (Source of quoted section: http://www.hillsvet.com/hillsvet/ourComp... )
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"Big box" petstores like Petco and Petsmart rarely have quality foods. (There are some higher quality foods at those locations, but most of the foods aren't.)
* Blue Buffalo
* Castor & Pollux
* Eagle Pack Holistic Selects
* Natural Balance
* Solid Gold
* Wellness
Also, grocery stores and Walmart aren't good places to buy food either.
Your best bets for getting quality dog food are:
- small, locally owned petstores
- dog boutiques
- farm supply stores
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When switching foods, do it gradually. I do this over about a two week timespan:
25% food A, 75% food B
50% food A, 50% food B
75% food A, 25% food B
100% food A
.
a full meal, should both.
How about neither?
Here is a great guide to dog food by Darksong:
Not all pet food is made equally. A lot of it is full of corn, by-products, dyes, unhealthy preservatives, filler grains and all sorts of nasty stuff. A lot of pet food companies are perfectly happy to the dump cheap leftovers and things that aren't safe for human consumption (from human food processing plants) into their foods. Will it kill your dog? No, it has to be nutritionally complete and safe to even be marketed. Is it healthy? Not by a long shot.
Corn is a low quality ingredient you never want to see in your pet food. Corn and low quality grains are two of the biggest culprits when it comes to food allergies in our pets.
Thankfully, there are some excellent dog foods being made these days that include organic, human grade ingredients rather than trash not fit for human consumption.
Examples of low quality foods to avoid: Anything you can find in a grocery store will be low end, Purina, Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Nutro, Royal Canin, Pedigree, Kibbles n' Bits, Beneful, Ol'Roy.
Examples of high quality foods to look for: Innova, Wellness, Solid Gold, Canidae All Life Stages, Fromm Four Star, Merrick, GO Natural, Nature's Variety Prairie, Nature's Logic, Artemis Fresh Mix, Timberwolf Organics.
Although the high quality foods are more expensive, you're getting what you're paying for. Less filler material means more concentrated nutrients... this means you typically need to feed far less of the high quality food than you would of the low quality one. Which also means less poop!
Before following your vet's food recommendation, keep in mind that vets get /very/ little nutritional training during their schooling. Besides that, what training they /do/ get is usually sponsored or taught by the crappy pet food companies! They also often get paid to sell some of their products at their clinics (Science Diet, Royal Canin etc.)
A great option is to go with an entirely grainless diet. Many of the high quality foods now put out grainless formulas. Some good grainless diets include: Innova EVO, Wellness CORE, Blue Wilderness, Nature's Variety Instinct, Orijen, Horizon Legacy, Merrick Before Grain, Canidae Grain Free All Life Stages, Fromm Surf & Turf, Now! and Sold Gold Barking At The Moon, Taste of the Wild.
Some pretty decent foods can even be found in common pet stores. Petsmart carries Blue Buffalo products (such as the excellent grain free diet Blue Wilderness). Petco carries Wellness, Solid Gold, Natural Balance, Eagle Pack Holistic, Blue Buffalo, Castor & Pollux Organix, Pinnacle, and Halo. If you can't find a food, most of the high quality food brands have websites with store locators on them.
Another option, if you can't find anywhere around you that sells good foods, is to order your pet food online. Here's an excellent place to do so: http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/
Remember that foods should be switched gradually (mixing new slowly in with the old over about a two week period), especially when switching to a higher quality one, so as not to upset tummies.
Another option for feeding dogs is to feed raw. This is something that should be thoroughly researched before being attempted:
http://www.barfworld.com/
http://www.rawfed.com/
http://www.rawlearning.com/
http://www.wysong.net/controversies/rawm...
More on dog food:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?... (Learn how to determine the quality of your dog's food.)
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_... (Dog food reviews. Four stars is a decent food, five stars is a great food, and six stars is an excellent food.)
Hope I helped!
Dry food is better, better for their teeth. If you feed wet they don't like dry as well. Look for a better dry food, Taste of the Wild, Canidae, Evo, California Naturals, Diamond Naturals are a few to check into.
Dry food is better for your puppy. Find a healthier dog food then pedigree.
Dry food is always better.
ADD: Wasn't going to brow beat for choice of brands. I knew there'd be enough of that.
Dry kibble is always better. They eat slower and it helps clean their teeth. An occasional wet food added to their dry kibble is ok, but would keep it limited.
Dry food, because, I would sometimes give my cat some wet food and it smelt bad. The food smelt bad and my cat kept on farting, so I don't think so.
personaly dry food is good for dogs and makes them stronger so i mic up wet food and dry food mostly trying ot put the dry food on top and wet food on bottom so they have to get to the dry food first to get to the wet food
wow, that other post is REALLY long.
anyway, it really just depends on the kind of dog you have.
If your dog is big, dry food would be better
if your dog is small, wet food is good.
although, if your big dog has a sensitive stomach, you should definately use wet food.
i guess it doesn't really depend on the size of the dog, it really depends on how tough or sensitive their stomach is...
Pedigree is one of the lowest quality pet foods.
Do a little research on this and find something a little healthier.
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