Do you know this dry food?

[Loulou]

Hello, I would like to have your opinion about following food:

Crude Protein, min 23 %
Crude Fat,min 14 %
Crude Fiber, max 2.9 %
Moisture, max 10%
Omega 6, Fatty Acid, min 3.05 %
Omega 3, Fatty Acid, min o,5 &
Does not contain any chemicals, preservatives, artificial additives, or by products. It also does not contain any soy, corn or wheat.

Ingredient Listing
Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal, Brown Rice, Brwers Rice, Lamb Meal, Oatmeal, Chicken fat (preserved with Vitamin E, C & Rosemary Extract) Dried Beet Pulp, Dried Eggs, Fish Meal, Natural Flavoring, Canola Oil, Flaxseed, Fresh Patatoes, Fresh Carrots, Fresh Peas, Whole Fresh Apples, Cranberries, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Lecithin, Garlic, DL-Methionine, vitamin A Acetate, D-Activated Animal Sterol (Source of Vitamin D-3), vitamin E Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B-12-Supplement, Choline Chloride, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Monoitrate, Folic Acid, Asorbic Acid, Biotin, Inositol, Dehydrated Kelp, Chelates of Zinc, Iron, Manganese, Copper and Cobalt, Potassium iodate, Sodium Selenite, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Sage Extract, Aspergillus Oryzae Fermantation Solubles (Digestive Enzyme) Enterococcus Faecium and Lactobacillus Acidophilus (Probiotics)

This dry food will soon be available in my country (Switzerland).
I must feed Mistral dry food because we traval a lot with the dog. But, generally, at home, he has a small fresh lunch :eating: most every day but for dinner he has to eat the dry food ... :grab: he does't like it very much! :evil:

I would like to find "the best" dry food I can for my dog. The one I feed actually doesn't contain too much meal, that's why I'm looking for a second dry food to mix. The actual one has no carrots and is very low in Vit. A and copper. This is important for my white dog, no let's say he is "ivory", because the brand (ProPlan Adult Chicken&Rice) I feed before caused a red shimmer on his paws. And with the new food this red shimmer has disappeard within a month!

The USA dry foods I could by here are: Innova, Canidae, Pinnacle and Solid Gold and the new one I listed above, it's called Artemis.

I already tryed Solid Gold MMillennia. In my country it's considered as THE BEST available dry food actually on the market, but recently I read following about this food [i]"Maker does not add preservatives of any kind, but does not disclose preservatives added to fat sources before manufacturing, either."[/i] Do you know anything about that?

Perhaps you can help me in my choice?

Sorry about my English, hope you understand ... :confused1:
Thanks and Good Night! :sleeping:
Oups .. this is quiet a long topic for the first time ... :roll:

[Guest Anonymous]

Your english is fine! Better than mine some days and I'm an American. I only wish I could help you out with the food. I'm sure that there are much smarter people here than me that can help you out. :D

[TDG]

loulou, if you want to learn about dry dog food products, [url=http://home.comcast.net/~Mordanna/dog/this[/url] is a good place to start. you will find explanations of the items you see on the labels, and what to be wary of.

there is no such thing as a "best" dog food, because just like people, different dogs have different requirements. those individual requirements have to be taken into consideration when choosing a food. but even then you could pick a product that sounds really great to you but your dog doesn't like the taste of it, or can't tolerate it.

the food you listed sounds like it could be the artemis "natural 6 mix", which is definitely a quality product.

as for [i]"Maker does not add preservatives of any kind, but does not disclose preservatives added to fat sources before manufacturing, either."[/i] - this is just how the pet food industry is regulated in the US. it means that a company does not have to list any ingredients that they didn't add to a food ingredient during the manufacturing process (this applies to [b]all[/b] pet food manufacturers btw.). so if something they buy from a supplier already has some additives or preservatives in it, these do not have to be mentioned on the ingredient list.

an example:
a pet food label tells you the chicken fat it contains has been preserved with mixed tocopherols (that's vitamin E), but the manufacturer could have bought it from a supplier who added for example BHA in order to prevent spoilage. since the BHA was not added by the manufacturer of the pet food, it doesn't have to be declared on the ingredient label.

this is why it is so important to ask questions and educate yourself on the topic. those companies who produce quality products will proudly inform you that their ingredients, regardless if they are fats, grains, meat or other things, have been tested, and with what results.

i do [b]not[/b] recommend mixing two different commercial food products, since each product is formulated differently. if you mix them, your dog might get too much of some nutrients and not enough of others. if you want to give your dog some variety, it's better to rotate between several good quality brands every few months. of course the best thing to do is to supplement with fresh, "live" foods that don't already have most of their natural nutritional value processed out of them.

if you want my personal opinion, the company i trust most is natura pet products (the manufacturer of innova, california natural, healthwise and karma). they provide extensive information about every single ingredient they use, and if you email them, they will even send you a complete analysis of their products.

[drjeffrock]

Out of the brands you mentioned I would go with Innova or Canidae. Keep in mind different dogs have different needs, but I probably would not go w/ the Solid Gold. A bit too grainy, imo. Thats just for my dogs though, the Solid Gold did not sit too well with them. Good luck!

[DogPaddle]

The food you described sounds very good as are the other brands you listed. I would suggest that as they are all the same class of food find the one that your dog like's best or compare costs. Keep in mind when you compare costs that even if a food is cheaper by the pound it is not nec. cheaper - check how much you have to feed your dog per day. My boys liked Canidae and it does work out to be comparatively inexpensive so that is how we chose their kibble (from amongst the higher classes of dog kibbles.)

[Loulou]

[u]@ BentleysMom[/u]
Thanks for the compliment! :D

[u]@ TDG[/u]
Thanks for the link. Together with my English dictionary I hope I'll understand the main point!
And also a BIG thank for all detailed infos and your precious remarks. What do you exactly mean by [i]"...to rotate between several good quality brands every few month"?[/i] I mean: how many brands 2, 3 or even more? And feed it for 2 or 3 month or longer?

Here I can buy Innova and Canidae, only. I will contact the importer.

[u]@ DogPaddle[/u]
[i]..."your dog likes best" ... [/i]that will be the question!!! He does't like kibbles at all, but this is my error, because - years ago - I started to ameliorate kibbles with cheese, with ham ... ect. and I "created" the dog I have now ... :evil: He doesn't eat kibbels without mixing something GOOD!!! He just fix at his bowl and then he goes away ... :D I tried it several times, but he is abel to refuse his dinner! :evil: So ... guess what I do again ... exactly ... I mix ... and he's the Winner ... once again!!!

Thanks again to all of you and have a nice after-noon

[DogPaddle]

Kavik, who doesn't like eating much in the first place, was just like your dog Loulou. I found it very difficult to get him to eat unless I added something to his bowl. Fortunately for me he doesn't seem to do this with Canidae, our current kibble. If your dog won't eat any kibble unless its mixed with other foods maybe you could just mix it with vegatables and maybe a small amount of fruit. Canidae doesn't have many fruits or vegatables so I often choose to add some myself anyway.

[Loulou]

Canidae Switzerland will send me a sample in the next few days. I'll see how Mistral will love this kibbles. You know, we travel quiet a lot with the dog, so I cannot start to mix too much with the kibbles, because, it's too complicated when we are away from home. As he is an intelligent dog :lol: , he just tries ... but he knows that I'm the BOSS regarding his bowl ... :evilbat:
He has a "kibbles-less" meal at lunch, so I think it's OK! You know he's a Gourmet ... he has 50% French blood from his mother ... that must be the reason why he doesn't like kibbles ... :D Dont' you think so???

[DogPaddle]

:lol: That must be it. :wink:

[TDG]

loulou, you are quite welcome. :)

[quote name='Loulou']What do you exactly mean by [i]"...to rotate between several good quality brands every few month"?[/i] I mean: how many brands 2, 3 or even more? And feed it for 2 or 3 month or longer?[/quote]

yes, that's exactly what i mean. :) pick two or more brands you are comfortable with and feed them for several months, then switch to another. i have a 22 pound (~10 kg) dog and usually don't buy anything bigger than the 7.5-9 kg bags of food. once one is empty, i switch brands.

innova is my favorite, with canidae a close second.

while there [i]are[/i] commercial foods i turst, i find myself going more and more off commercial food. over the last 3 months or so i progressed from about 2/3 kibble and 1/3 fresh food to 2/3 fresh and 1/3 kibble. i don't want to wean my dog off the kibble completely in case he has to be boarded somewhere for some reason, but overall i prefer fresh foods.

[Loulou]

@ TDG
Hello and thanks for answering. I think it's a good solution to have a choice between 2 or 3 different dry foods.
What do you think about that: A friend of mine suggested me to rotate between 2-3 brands and to feed for example one for two days, the other one for one day etc.
But I'm afraid to make my dog with this system more and more a "bad kibbles eater" :evil:
I like the feeding solution you found for your dog, but I cannot do it the same, as I already told you, we travel a lot with the dog and kibbles are just the simplest way for me to feed my dog.

[drjeffrock]

I would not alternate between different kibbles every few days. Perhaps every couple months, but not every other day.

[Black GSD]

[quote name='Loulou']
What do you think about that: A friend of mine suggested me to rotate between 2-3 brands and to feed for example one for two days, the other one for one day etc.
But I'm afraid to make my dog with this system more and more a "bad kibbles eater" :evil:
[/quote] :x

I too think this is a BAD idea. Not only could it very well make him a picky eater,(If he likes one of the foods better than the other, he could just not eat for a day or 2 until you give him the other kind.) IMO, it could also be hard on his stomach.

I think changing every couple of months is MORE than often enough.

[TDG]

[quote name='Loulou']I think it's a good solution to have a choice between 2 or 3 different dry foods.
What do you think about that: A friend of mine suggested me to rotate between 2-3 brands and to feed for example one for two days, the other one for one day etc.
But I'm afraid to make my dog with this system more and more a "bad kibbles eater" :evil:
I like the feeding solution you found for your dog, but I cannot do it the same, as I already told you, we travel a lot with the dog and kibbles are just the simplest way for me to feed my dog.[/quote]

i would not recommend feeding different dry food on different days. you might indeed be creating a very difficult to feed dog and overall i really don't see any benefits that you wouldn't get if you just rotate foods every 3 or 4 months.

i don't feed my dog exactly the same way as at home when travelling, since kibble is definitely more convenient "on the road". but with a little organizing you can also include fresh things in your dog's diet when you aren't home. little baby food glasses of pureed veggies or small cans of sardines in water for example work well and don't need to be refrigerated.

one thing i really like for road trips, especially short weekend camping trips or day trips (hiking etc.) are the innova health bars (dog biscuits). they are formulated to be suitable as "replacement meals" and can even be fed exclusively if desired. very handy whenever you don't want to lug a bag or container of kibble around, and my dog really goes crazy for them.

[Loulou]

Thanks to everybody for answering.
What a great idea: SARDINES! My dog loves fish!!!Never thought about baby food ... will try once. I'll check if I can get the Innova Health Bar here too.