check your expiration dates on foods!!

[kys24]

I bought Eukanuba(dry food) for Hershey from petco and fed him that since we brought him home three weeks ago... until recently i looked carefully around the bag and realized it was expired a month ago! i can't believe they are selling expired items. so I quickly changed to Purina proplan dry food that we received from the vet.. and he seemed to have a little trouble digesting it but now he loves it more than eunkanuba.

anyway i had a question along with this story.. is purina a reliable company? I just want best for hershey and I wasn't sure.
and why does Eukanuba have different dry foods for different sized puppies.. while purina only has one "puppy food"?

[frankiesmommy]

Thanks for the heads-up. I use Eukanaba, too. I will definitely check it out.

[Breeze]

kys24-
Do a search on the forum for "best foods" there is a post "Is Science Diet ok? or something like that. It talks a lot about what food is best for dogs.

Purina is not a good food either is Science diet. Canidae, Wellness, Chicken soup for the pet lover's soul, Soild gold, Innova, Cailfornia Natural, Nuera, Wysong are really good human grade foods (I'm sure I forgot a few). And you will find more brands that are recommended when you do a search on this site.

It is best to stay away from anything that has corn or by-products in it. You can do a search on the net to find out where you can buy the foods I mentioned above. Some of the human grade better quality foods may seem expensive but it is better for your dog and you feed less of it at each meal than the cheaper filler stuff so it works out to cost the same or sometimes cheaper to use the better foods.

Im sure you will get lots of great advice but I just wanted to start you off with some quick info.

[kys24]

thank you i found the thread. i read into it.. but i dont understand why the dog foods out on market (like purina) would put corn in it if they know its bad? i dont udnerstnad that at all.
and if your dog seems to like it and if his stool is fine, then should i still feed it to him?

[Breeze]

Originally Posted by kys24

thank you i found the thread. i read into it.. but i dont understand why the dog foods out on market (like purina) would put corn in it if they know its bad? i dont udnerstnad that at all.
and if your dog seems to like it and if his stool is fine, then should i still feed it to him?

It is like this Purina makes the dog food to make profits, they put out advertising saying how great their dog food is and put it in every grocery and chain store so it is easy to buy. If they make it must be safe and healthy.

People are trusting and think that companies like Purina and Iams would never make a food that is bad for your dog. They are out to make money and the way they do that is by filling their foods with cheap fillers like corn and by-products and spraying on grease. The grease they use is from resturants and fast food chains, they buy it and spray it on their foods so dogs will eat it. Just because a dog will eat it does not mean it is good for them. Sometimes when you switch to the healthier foods with no grease sprayed on it the dogs will still prefer the cheaper food. It is kinda like this a child would prefer to eat McDonalds every night instead of healthy foods but would you let them? No.

Dog food get labels on their foods like from AAFCO when the dog food company chemically analyses their food, and it conforms to the AAFCO nutritional standards, then they can label their product "formulated to meet AAFCO's nutrient requirement which makes people think that if the food has this label it must be good.


These are the requirements set out by AAFCO for feeding trials:
A) A minimum of 8 dogs (the average number), over one year of age B) All dogs must be of normal, healthy weight at the onset of test.
C) All dogs must be fed the diet in question for six-months, and cannot be fed any other diet.
D) The dogs must not lose 15% of their original body weight at the end of the test.
E) 6 of 8 dogs must survive.

That is it.

Pretty pathetic, if you ask me.

Hope this helps

[StewiesMom]

I'm sorry, but I have to put my two cents in. I feed my baby Eukanuba dry food, but when I had my black Lab (we had to put her down in August), we fed her nothing but Purina for fourteen years. She was very healthy -- no problems whatsoever until her hips started to give out from old age around age thirteen. I prefer the smell/texture of Eukanuba, but I have a hard time knocking Purina because I believe it contributed to my happy, healthy dog who lived much longer than her life expectancy.

[Breeze]

I also had dogs and a cat when I was growing up that ate Purina food. The cat lived to be 17 and the dogs to about 10 and they seemed really healthy.

But could they of been healthier? Maybe, they had gas, eye boogies, constant dandruff and strong doggy odor that we thought was normal. Maybe with a better food could of it all could of been avoided. But back then we did not have the information or the choice of the foods we have now.

I recently had my dog on Purina Pro Plan and found when I switched to a human-grade food the eye boogies, gas, dandruff and greasy smelly coat all went away. I thought my dogs coat was nice before but after switching foods it made a big difference, it was so silky and shiny and healthy.

[TinkerToy]

My rule on dog food is if it commerialized then I will not feed it to my dog. It seems all those that are commerialized are cheaply made, and full of all those things that are not good for our little ones. My mom just told me she read an article that said that Eukanuba and Iams have used rancid meat to make the food. They also use several types of meat. I remember when I fed my yorkie Eukanuba I noticed a fishy smell to is, which now I think is because of the horrible stuff they put in it. I don't know much about Purina, but I definitely stand behing ID.

[kys24]

thanks breeze and others for sucha thorough reply. after i read the other food thread, im deciding on getting solid gold or neuro because both seem like a brand that everyone seems to agree upon. which one should i buy? here are the ingredients:

----------------------------------------------
Hundchen Flocken Puppy (lamb) by solid gold

Product Description
Dry food formula made with Lamb, Millet, Amaranth, Barley and Brown Rice. Ideal for growing puppies, to maintain total health.

Protein, Min 28%
Fat, Min 14%
Fiber, Max 5%
Moisture, Max 10%
Calories per cup, 410


Ingredients
Lamb Meal | Ground Millet | Ground Brown Rice | Canola Oil | Flaxseed Oil | Menhaden Fish Meal | Ground Barley | Rice Bran | Amaranth | Garlic | Blueberries | Yucca Schidigera Extract | Taurine | Carotene | Choline Chloride | Calcium Carbonate | Vitamin E Supplement | Iron Proteinate | Vitamin A Supplement | Zinc Proteinate | Niacin Supplement | Folic Acid | Thiamine | Pyridoxine Hydrochloride | Manganese Proteinate | Menadione Sodium Bisulfate Complex | Copper Proteinate | Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide |

and

super5mix puppy by wellness

Product Ingredients

Deboned Chicken, Salmon Meal, Menhaden Fish Meal, Oatmeal, Barley Flour, Ground Brown Rice, Canola Oil (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Tomatoes, Flaxseed, Peas, Carrots, Whole Sweet Potatoes, Bananas, Whole Apples, Whole Pears, Garlic, Beta-Carotene, Potassium Chloride, Zinc Proteinate (a chelated source of Zinc), Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Vitamin E Supplement, Copper Proteinate (a chelated source of Copper), Copper Sulfate, Niacin Supplement, Manganese Sulfate, Manganese Proteinate ( a chelated source of Manganese), Sodium Selenite, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Acetate, Riboflavin Supplement, Calcium Iodate, Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid.