Been feeding Nutrisource Performance and Super Performance during hunting season for a couple of years now and my dogs do very well on it. I fed Diamond Naturals for a while previously, but stools were inconsistent and coats were always dry and bland. It can be tough to find a dog food that agrees with both your dog and your wallet.
Really for the 40#er? That's a great price at $28. JRSDWS good call on the wallet/ dog/ food triangle. My black lab had plenty of problems at first, I was changing foods every month including the weening period. The lamb & rice works for her; the brown guy couldn't care less he eats it all plus some.
Mostly purina products and table scraps. Deer,beaver and muskrat meat/fat this time of year. Fattens her up good for winter. Next weekend will be the start to her fattening !!
Thank you for sharing, and this is nothing personal against you savemoney - this is directed 100% towards the the video. Very good information and something I'll be thinking about moving forward in terms of dog nutrition. However, it's incredibly disappointing to hear her say it's "not biologically necessary" to feed organic food to dogs because they aren't vegetarian?! Those two things have nothing to do with each other. Why would it be a good thing to remove the chemicals/pesticides/insecticides from food for my horse or rabbit, but not my dog? Does that mean she's saying organic food is a bad choice for humans since as a species they are not vegetarian? She may be a brilliant veterinarian, but she needs to educate herself a bit on organic food and avoid misleading trusting pet owners. It's imperative for everyone to do their own research. This is a prime example; just because someone on the internet tells you something that does not always mean it's true...
I'd be concerned with the quality and safety of the cheaper stuff. The safety for obvious reasons. The quality because the less you have to feed the better. Bloat is a big concern of mine.
I worried about bloat with Maple since she inhales her food. I found this at TSC and it has slowed her down a little bit.
Larger stools means the dog is eating more to get the nutrition it needs. Corn, gluten are not dog food and many dogs develop allergies to it. Meat by products are the beaks, feet, oink, the floor sweepings in a slaughter house. One of my kids feeds his dogs grocery store dog food. Those dogs have dry hair, smell, and have itching skin. My dogs have silky smooth hair and their skin is not dry or itching. I can't say how large their stools are because they always go in the bushes on the edge of the lawn. I also give my dogs table food. But nothing I wouldn't be willing to eat. Like me, they get a lot of chicken. I bought a dehydrator. Cut the chicken up thin, then dehydrate it. I keep it in the refrigerator and give it out as a snack.
We have always fed our dogs and cats by free choice. My older lab is overweight, but not the female. I tried the scheduled feeding thing for about 6 months. My big boy didn't loose any weight, and it increased his desire to dominate at feeding time. With the grand kids living here now, the dogs are doing a lot more running and playing so no more weight gain. We feed the 4heatlh grain free from TSC. Also use the 4heath grain free cat food for our six cats.
This is something I would like to do. I have always left food out until Maple. I suspect I would need to keep a close watch at first to prevent what others below said.....
x3 I have caught him with his head buried in the food bag when I first brought him home and left him alone. Now it resides in a container with latching lid. Take THAT billy goat. LMAO.
My dogs would dine on kitty litter poop if I allowed it. I keep the cat boxes and the cat food away from where the dogs go. We have a large bathroom so I keep the litter boxes under a table, I keep a table cloth on the table that hangs down keeping the cat boxes from view. We put a cat door in the bathroom door. That keeps the dogs out of there and out and from drinking out the toilet bowl.
I've always fed Purina ProPlan Performance; which is called "Sport" now. My Labs have always done well on it. It's the 30/20, protein/fat variety.
I fed my golden Blue Buffalo Wilderness for his first year. The costs got too much and I switched to Purina Pro Plan for the next year. Then we got a second large dog and I downgraded to Purina Dog Chow, but I ended up having to feed them a lot more to keep them happy. Now I've been using Luvsome for the past 6 months, and I'm happy with it for the price. My dogs seem to like it and I haven't noticed too much of a coat quality change in the Golden. Plus I get the employee discount on it since it's made by my company!