Good quality food from Petsmart
 

There may be a thread for this already but I couldn't find one. I am making a trip to Petsmart tomorrow and was wondering what are the best foods they carry for a 7 month old. She is eating Artemis samples right now and I saw on Petsmart's website that they don't carry that brand. Also, when would be a good age to start her on adult food? She will be 7 months on the 19th. Should I try some canned food as well as dry?

dog
 

I like Wellness. That food is high quality and was recommended to me from my friend who breeds and shows poodles. I give it to my Yorkies and their stools are normal, not runny.

Most people are probably going to say Blue Buffalo, etc. But honestly as far as Petsmart goes, if you're wanting to be a bit more "holistic", I'd probably say Wellness. Otherwise probably Royal Canin or SD Ideal Balance. Purina Beyond is pretty decent too if you're comfortable with them. Petco seems to have better options IME.

Kibble-wise, our dogs have done well on various Blue Buffalo lines and also Wellness (I particularly like the Wellness Core). We also feed a lot of canned foods...some of the ones we get from Petsmart are Hill's Ideal Balance (some of the Science Diet formulas are pretty much the same but available in smaller cans which I also like), Simply Nourish, Nature's Recipe tubs, BB Divine Delights, and Wellness. Depends on what deals they have going at the time.

I bought the Wellness Core for puppies. I gave her a little bit when I got home to see if she would eat it and she ate just about all of it. So hopefully she will continue to eat it! Thank you all for letting me know :)

I would not buy any Purina because they are the makers of the waggin train chicken jerky that is said to have killed hundreds of dogs and said to have made thousands sick and it took them years to pull it not caring so why would you want to support a company like that would be beyond me god only knows what could be bad in there food. I think the hills idea balance is a really good food from a very trust worthy company.

Thats what I get my baby and she does really well on it, wellness core for puppies. Personally I would not recommend any of the science diet food, which would include the Hills Ideal Balance. They are mostly vegi based made and dogs need meat based. I have heard Royal Cain is good to, but I havnt tried it yet. I get mine from petsmart to.

They have a vet nutritionist on staff and do feeding trials can you say that for all these "holistic" company's? As far as safety goes there A+ and there is nothing wrong with there ingredients it's not just veggies actually look at the ingredients of the hills ideal balance grain free. Heck wellness had three or four recalls last year that's why I pulled my dog off of it didn't feel safe. To high of protein can cause problems in some dogs and they need the other things too.

Wellness Small Breed Turkey & Oatmeal is what my boys are currently eating :aimeeyork:aimeeyork
I like that Wellness is a big company and I will hear about recalls quickly.
They have Puppy varieties

SD Ideal Balance Grain Free is just kind of 'meh'. While I think they do a fine job with research, and quality control, I'd choose the grain inclusive foods over the GF. Too pea/potato heavy (just like a bagillion other GF foods out there). Potato is 2nd ingredient after chicken (which is 90% water as it is). Yellow peas are 3rd ingredient and Pea protein is the 4th ingredient, followed by potato starch. "pea protein" is pretty much "corn gluten" in prettier words. It's just not a very well put together GF food IMO and it's more than likely just them trying to appeal to the masses.

Chickpeas, Red Lentils, Green Lentils, Green Peas, potato, etc are used as the "carbohydrate" which is needed and necessary to make kibble bind together.

Chickpeas contain around 18% protein, lentils contain around 28% protein. Whole ground corn is only 9% protein, for example (a lot of folks think corn is used as a source of protein more so than the meat). Rice, peas, oats, etc are similar numbers if I remember correctly. High protein itself isn't the problem, it's really where the protein is coming from.

So basically, I don't see anything wrong with corn, peas, or rice, etc. It's really a matter of how they're used in the overall formula. If you see a food with 3 different legumes or pea-type ingredients in the first 10 ingredients, and if the food has high ash levels, then I'd be questioning how much protein is actually coming from meat.

For instance... something like Purina Dog Chow or Kibbles & Bits and has corn in it is very different from a food like Pro Plan, Annamaet or Royal Canin including corn in the diet.

But a food being "grain-free" or "wheat, corn, soy free" etc is not always going to be superior.

Btw, this post isn't aimed directly at you, just so others can also read and learn and research. :)

This is a good point as well. Wellness also got away from Diamond facilities (as they were the varieties recalled last yr).

wellness would be the best, usually puppy food until 10 months or so, or whatever your vet says

Well the poster was looking for grain free and I can't feed Callie anything other then grain free because some grain makes her break out and get skin infections.

I didn't see where the OP was looking for GF, just best foods at Petsmart. I tend to find that Jackson does the best on GF as well, or at least minimal grain. It sucks because ever since it became a 'thing' to feed GF, sooo many companies came out with GF formulas that just... aren't that good lol. Earthborn, for example, is chock full of peas. And the one formula that's not is so ridiculously high in ash, I wouldn't touch it. And Fromm is pretty pea-heavy, as well, I feel that Fromm's grain formulas are much better than their GFs.

Sorry got the threads mixed up. Unless I do an elimination diet with Callie which I fear she just won't eat if I do because she is so picky I won't know which grain it is so I just decided to stay away from them all. I think it's oats but I can't be positive.