Best Possible Premium Dry food for my new baby.
 

Hi guys. Nice to be aboard. Im bringing my baby boy home tomrrow.
Ive got his little world set up and ready for him, but I now have a serious question concerning his diet. I purchased Nutro Ultra puppy from Petsmart because they told me it was the best premium food out there.
Ive been reading on the boards and im SHOCKED to find out it may be horrible, if not fatal.

Thank God I havnt feed him anything yet. Im going to take it back and exchange it for a better food.

I heard Canidae, Innova, and Orijen are good quality foods.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. :)

My very best recommendation would be Ziwi Peak. It is essentially dried meat is a jerky-like form. However, it's extremely extremely expensive.

As far as just regular kibble goes, we need Wellness Core and are extremely happy with that. I will never feed anything but grain-free kibble. Some other good ones are Orijen, Nature's Variety Instinct, Taste of the Wild, and Natural Balance, and Innova EVO.

Some people have had problems with Innova so I tend to stay away from it, although we used to feed California Natural (which is made by the same company) and my dogs did fine on it. There has been some controversy about the contents of their kibble and I know that EVO is too rich for some Yorkies.

Or you could look into raw or homecooking, which are both wonderful alternatives.

The foods mentioned are great but IMO the best kibble is Instinct by Natures Variety. There 3 different formulas to rotate through. Gives him more varied nutrition and cuts down on the chances he will develop food allergies. It is for all life stages.

Have you considered real food instead? Much healthier. The reasons our companion animals are dieing in epedimic porportions for serious illnesses and cancers is due to commercial foods and snacks, over inoculating and insect repellents.

The most important book on feeding pets is by Ann N. Martin and I would highly recommend you buy and read it before you feed any type of kibble.
Amazon.com: Protect Your Pet: More Shocking...
More reading:

Food Pets Die For; a Book Excerpt

food even a dog shouldn't eat

Rendering: the "Invisible Industry" Gets a Green Facelift | Center for Media and Democracy

Welcome to Born Free USA united with Animal Protection Institute

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/front/1377004

Holistic Animal Medicines :: Natural animal health products supplier

Hi, Thanks.

Yes I have actually thought about real whole foods as opposed to commercial foods. The only problem is I really dont have the time to invest. I just want the best premium dog food I can find.
Reading the reviews on Ultra Holisitic from Nutro, I thought Id found it.

Everyone seems to have their own opinions on what is the best food for thier dog, and maybe thats just the case. Maybe every premium food works different for different dogs. Maybe you just have to play with different brands until you find one that works best for your pooch.

I worked at Petco back when I was in Highschool 1989 1990, and we used to have vendors come in and give us workshops on their dogfoods.
Let me tell ya, the Nutro people really had us sold. Their presentations made everyone else look pretty bad. They made you feel like if you werent feeding your dog Nutro, you were taking a horrible chance with your dogs health.

Ive been out of the game for several years now, but since I adopted my new yorkie, Ive been trying to find the best food offered on the market today. From what im hearing Nutro is not it.

So the search continues.........

I really appreciate hearing what works best for all you guys. Its helping me determine what direction to go in.

Thanks

Paul

According to the reports on Consumer Affairs, Nutro may be connected to lots of illnesses and deaths. If that's the case, it is probably one of the most dangerous foods out there.

I feed Natures Variety or Primal or Suzy's pre-made raw food.

However, if I had to feed kibble - I'd choose Orijen first, hands down. From there, Natures Variety and then a few others. :)

I guess you could ask 20 different YT members, and you'd get 20 different opinions. My opinion is Artemis Fresh Mix, or Timberwolf Organics. For additional info, check out this website.

Dog Food Reviews - Main Index - Powered by ReviewPost

Good Luck!

Like all the others have said, everyone has their own opinions. I used to feed Sasha Nutro until I joined YT and started doing research on it. Found out it wasn't as good as I thought it was. I now feed Sasha Solid Gold and she loves it! It's not super expensive, but is more than most other brands. I've had great results with it. Good luck on your search!

I worked as a nutrition consulatant and was not paid by any dog food companies. The foods I had the best results with were (in no particular order) Wellness Core, Ziwi Peak, Orijen, Timberwolf and my FAVORITE is The Honest Kitchen.

Organic, Holistic Pet Food, Premium Pet Food - The Honest Kitchen

I think you will like Honest Kitchen because you can add fresh meats if you desire to mix things up, but on its own it is balanced.

as other's have said, there are so many different opinions - I would start with those listed on this thread and do your own research.

Good luck!!!

And good for you for not feeding Nutro!!!

I just want to say all you guys are AWESOME.
Its great a community of people who love these little bundles of joy can come together and unite to help other members of the community reach a common goal.................The health and well being of our Yorkies!:)

Im going to take these choices youve given me to heart and experiment some. I now im on the right path.

You are DEFINITELY on the right path! Welcome to YT and we cannot wait to see pictures of your little one!!!

i would recommend any variant of go! natural, it's the best food i have fed my yorkies :)

My puppy loves Wellness Super5Mix Just For Puppy. :)

First off, I would not recommend an immediate switch after you bring your little one home. Switching food cold turkey can often cause digestive upset and your little one will already be adjusting to his new home as it is. Continue to feed what he is accustomed to now and then gradually switch over.

As far as finding the 'best food possible', you will just have to try out different things and see what is the best match for YOUR little one. All dogs are different and what may work for one many not be the best for yours.

Research brands now, gather info on pet nutrition and decide which brands you think would be worth a try. dogfoodanalysis.com is a great source for info regarding ingredients in commercial foods, but keep in mind it and the ratings system were written based solely on the opinion of the site editor(s), not long term professional research. You have already been given some great resources to help you out, but here are a few more that will compare brands, home cooking, supplementing and that will give you some pretty in depth info on nutrition.

Dog Food Review Ratings

The Dog Food Project - How does your Dog Food Brand compare?

(I personally LOVE the second site...it examines some of the commonly preached inaccuracies regarding "taboo" ingredients.)

Good luck and congrats.

Welcome and congrats on the new baby.

Food can be SO overwhelming! There is so much out there and every company is telling you that theirs is the best and full of good things for your dog. I'm glad that you see that Nutro is not the way to go!

Canidae, Innova and Orijen are all great foods. When it comes to buying a new food- some things you want to look for- whole ingredients (chicken, potato, fish...veggies). You want to stay clear of ANY bi products, corn, wheat. But if you go to the websites of those foods you'll notice how common the ingredients are- and you'll start to get good at reading labels :) A protein source shoudl ALWAYS be #1 and #2.

There are tons of great foods out there to choose from- but make the transition slowly- your baby has to get used to being "home" for a while before you transition food.

My little guy has been on Innova EVO Chicken and Turkey Small Bites since he was 12 weeks old. He is now 10 months old.
He still loves it.
I heard some people have problems with garlic in the EVO. The newest packaging I saw for them says the garlic is now gone.
I have also heard good things about Orijen .

Im thinking hard about trying several.
The Orijen sounds very good. I went on their website and did some research as well.

Ive got several people sending some samples Orijen included.
Im picking him up today after work, so Ill find out what she''s been feeding her puppies and just keep him on it until I can ween him off.

Who know........she may already have them on good food:)

I just wish my local Petsmart and Petco carried the good premium brands so I didnt have to order throgh the mail.

Thanks again guys!

Ask for it every time you visit them. Our PetSmart carries several of the higher end foods. They told me that not all stores are stocked with the same products and they base alot of what goes into each store on what requests they are getting from customers. It's certainly not going to hurt!

Congrats again and have fun with your new furry one. Post up pics of the little fluff butt when you can.

I feed my Pup Solid Gold, Nature's Variety Instinct, and raw organic chicken. :)

1st day home!
 

Just brougth little Ari home today.
Trashed my unopened bag of Nutro Ultra, and bought a bag of Wellness Puppy today at Petco. This will hold me over until I can get something else. Who know the Wellness may even work out. He seems to like it ok!

Does anyone have any expierence feeding the Wellness?

Thanks again

Chester has done well on solid gold and their puppy food is rated 5 stars on dog food analysis

I feed mine Innova Evo small bites and they are doing great on it. Nutro made them both sick so I had to change,. I dont trust wellness since they have made some changes.I have heard good things about Evo,Solid Gold, and Orijen. Also when you do a change remember to do it gradually. If you dont your pup will prob get diarreah and digestive distress. :animal-pa

I fed Wellness Just for Puppy and now feed Wellness Core. My babies love it and they seem to thrive on it. Their coats are beautiful!

I want to thank you guys for all your input on feeding and variations of food, and diet. After long delieberation, and trial, Ive decided on EVO small bites. Partially due to the fact that a pet store down my road is an EVO distributor. Lil' Ari has been on the EVO small bites for 3 weeks now with no problems. At first his stools were a little hard and compact. I thought he might be constipated, but after a few days that went away and now hes fine! Havnt had any problems to date and his coat is starting to really shine!~

Thank yall for the insight

Chester has done very well on solid gold, I try other foods and we always go back to the solid gold. Im now feeding him the wee bits. The puppy food from solid gold is rated 5 star on dogfoodanalysis.com