Innova, Chicken Soup, or Canidae??

[Piccolo's mom]

Canidae is my choice, actually not mine but my babies. I feed them all life stage and add some Missing Link Plus. They looove it !

[BlondieGirl87]

I feed Canidae and both of mine (4 month old and 2 year old) LOVE it! I rotate between adding missing link and salmon oil on top and they will eat this food plain with nothing else added to it!

[mikie1977]

thanks for all the responses! what do you also think about Nutro? Someone else recommended that to me. (it also happens to be sold at places like petco!).

question - I know that when changing food it needs to be done gradually. But how do you recommend I start off with some of the samples I am getting? Does using a sample truly provide enough time / food to determine which one I should go with? Or should I simply go by his first reaction. So I mix in a little of the sample with the SD stuff I feed him now and see which he goes for the most?

thanks!

[CH2iS*]

Heres a couple of excerpts from another site I am on talking about quality kibble. Very interesting reading and ever since..., I've switched over to Canidae from Eukanuba and plan to move onto Natures Variety, Timberwolf or RAW for all my dogs during their adult years.

DRY FOOD DO?S AND DON?TS

The basics for dry food are fairly simple. This article will include ingredients to avoid and what to look for in a decent quality food. This is an adjunct piece to ?Food basics?.

The hard and fast rule is avoid foods that are available in the grocery store. They are the lowest grade and offer some of the worst examples of what NOT to feed your pet. Atta Boy comes to mind right off. There is no meat in the food at all. It?s all grain by-product and grease. The ?meat? source is beef tallow. It?s cheap though, 50# for about $12 dollars. That 50# will feed a 50# dog for about 3 weeks. They will be eating 4-6 cups a day, and eliminating about 4 cups. It?s a waste of hard earned money and ends up creating a very unhealthy animal. The savings today are spent tomorrow in vet bills. There are grades of ?better quality? in the grocery store. Purina is better than Kibbles and Bits, but not by much. And certainly not worth the considerably higher price. Here?s a list of ingredients to avoid.

ANY grain fractions, this includes flours, brans, glutens, proteins, and anything hydrolized. An example of an ingredient list:

Meat and bone meal, wheat, cooked yellow corn, corn gluten meal, wheat mill run, beef tallow(preserved with mixed tocopherols), soybean meal, brewers rice, digest of poultry by-products, brewers dried yeast, salt????. (thank you Tankers12 for this list). This is a very low grade food.

An example of a ?big? name food that is just as bad looks something like this:

Chicken, corn meal, ground grain sorghum, ground wheat, chicken by-product meal, soybean meal, animal fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), corn gluten meal, brewers rice, chicken liver flavor, vegetable oil, dried egg product, flaxseed.

Sure they start with meat but there is also a ton of grain, by-products, unspecified fat and oil, and flavorings. This is another product offered by this company, a ?better? formula:

Brewers rice, ground wheat, chicken meal, corn gluten meal, soybean meal, animal fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), chicken, vegetable oil, peas, carrots, chicken liver flavor, dried beet pulp, flaxseed, dried egg product.

It starts off with 2 grain sources, one meat source and two more grains. Again it has unspecified fats, oils and uses flavorings. Both of these ingredient lists are from Science Diet.

Here?s a mid-grade food, again, a big name brand. It?s better than the Science Diet but it still has bad ingredients.

Chicken Meal, Brown Rice, Ground Rice, Lamb Meal, Rice Bran, Sunflower Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols, source of Linoleic Acid), Poultry Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols, source of Linoleic Acid), Salmon Meal (natural source of DHA), Flaxseed (natural source of Alpha-Linolenic Acid), Natural Flavors, Oatmeal, Alfalfa (natural source of Chlorophyll), Beet Pulp, Tomato Pomace (natural source of Lycopene), Cranberry, Fish Oil (natural source of DHA), Dried Egg Product.

It has 3 rice sources, for allergy dogs that is VERY bad, and one is bran. They use an unspecified fat source, poultry yes but what KIND of poultry?? Natural flavors(sprayed on flavor enhancers), oatmeal is not a good thing, very refined and heavy in sugar. Beet pulp is a stool ?conditioner? and that means tootsie roll poops, not good for the colon. Tomato pomace is ground stalks and leaves of the plant, toxic. This is from Nutro?s Ultra adult formula.
This is another mid-grade food:

Chicken Meal, Ground Brown Rice, Whole Ground Barley, Anchovy & Sardine Meal, Chicken, Chicken Fat (Preserved with Natural Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid), Pork Meal, Dried Beet Pulp, Amaranth, Oatmeal, Tomato Pomace, Dried Egg Product, Flaxseed, Canola Oil, Dehydrated Apples, Cheese Meal, Ground Carrot Cubes, Air Dried Peas, Sun-cured Alfalfa Meal, Salt.

The ingredients are looking better, but there are still some undesirables. Pork, beet pulp, oatmeal, tomato pomace, dried egg product. This list is from Eagles Holistic formula.

These next two ingredients panels are from two of the best available:

Chicken, Brown Rice, Barley, Oatmeal, Chicken Fat (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid), Flaxseed, Chicken Liver, Menhaden Fish, Suncured Alfalfa Meal, Montmorillonite, Flaxseed Oil, Freeze Dried Chicken, Freeze Dried Chicken Liver, Freeze Dried Salmon Oil, Sweet Potatoes, Cottage Cheese, Apples, Carrots, Peas, Whole Eggs, Kelp, Parsley, Artichoke, Inulin, Rosemary, Sage, Clove
I would prefer to see oats as opposed to oatmeal in this one but the freeze dried raw food on the outside of the kibble makes up for that one cut corner. This food is Nature?s Variety.


Fresh Elk, Salmon Meal, Millet, Sweet Potatoes, Oats, Flaxseed, Carrot, Watercress, Spinach, Celery, Parsley, Fennel seed, Wild Salmon Oil, Kelp, Amaranth, Currants, Cranberries, Pears, Figs, Thyme, Anise Seed, Ground Cinnamon Bark, Fenugreek, Garlic Pieces, Lecithin, Sunflower Seeds, Sesame Seeds, Apples, Chicory Root, Taurine, Spirulina.

More meal would be good in this one but it has the most meat per pound of any food available at this time. This food is Timberwolf.

This should help you read an ingredient list and know what is what and whether or not you should buy the food.

__________________________________________________ _____________

Sorry I didn't go top 10. The foods after 5 are pretty much the same and they all pretty much fall into the catagory of "old school" formulations.

Pet Food Ratings


I have been asked to rate both dry and raw foods. The dry foods will be listed in order of quality with an explanation of why it rates where it does.

At the top of my list with 4 stars is raw or BARF. It?s the most appropriate for dogs to eat, easiest for them to digest, and though there are inherent risks, the safest as well.

For dry foods the first at 3 stars would be Timberwolf:
With a very high percentage of meat based protein it is quite expensive. But since the dogs don?t eat as much of it, it really ends up being a good buy. They also, as a general rule, don?t develop a lot of the usual issues they deal with when lower quality foods are fed. Their lowest protein formula starts with 50% meat based protein, their highest has 90% meat based protein. The more meat protein the less grain they use. There is a wide variety of formulas and 3 are true allergy formulas since they don?t use any form of rice, corn, wheat, or soy.

Number two with 2 1/2 stars would be Nature?s Variety:
They use a standard kibble but when it?s cooled from the extrusion process they coat it in dehydrated raw food. They call this ?Bio-coating?. It ups the meat percentage quite a bit, though pound for pound it?s still less than the Timberwolf. They have recently added an allergy formula, Venison with pumpkin seed and sweet potato. The dogs do well with it.

Number 3 with 2 1/4 stars would be Merrick:
Merrick also coats the kibble in dehydrated meat. They have added freeze dried vegetables and chunks of dehydrated meat in with the kibble. It has an added component of making gravy when warm water is added with the kibble. It takes a couple of minutes for it to thicken up but the dogs love it.

Number 4 with 1 3/4 stars would be Wellness. The biggest thing with this food that made it stand out is it is baked. It crumbles very easily, and is suppose to be easily digested. They were one of the first to come out with an alternative allergy formula with something other than lamb and rice.

Number 5 with 1 1/2 stars would be Canidae:
This is a decent food, much better than a lot of the big names out there. My main complaint is that they use sunflower oil and, eventually, most dogs will have trouble with it. It?s a good middle of the road food for a lot of people coming off grocery store or big name foods. It shows them the benefits of feeding better quality.

[CH2iS*]

Originally Posted by mikie1977

thanks for all the responses! what do you also think about Nutro? Someone else recommended that to me. (it also happens to be sold at places like petco!).

question - I know that when changing food it needs to be done gradually. But how do you recommend I start off with some of the samples I am getting? Does using a sample truly provide enough time / food to determine which one I should go with? Or should I simply go by his first reaction. So I mix in a little of the sample with the SD stuff I feed him now and see which he goes for the most?

thanks!

For Bailey I just switched out his Eukanuba for Canidae in one day and he took to it faster then I could put down the bowl. He seems to enjoy eating dry food much more now ever since I switched. Gidget, our new puppy was fed Royal Canine and we were told to feed her that and she would not eat anything else took to it right away when she took a wiff from Baileys bowl within minutes of entering our door. Guess it depends on the dog?

[SweetCuteness]

I just switched Ferdinand to Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lover's Soul... one thing I like about Chicken Soup is their meat is never frozen - it goes straight from the slaughter house and is processed/dehydrated, whatever they do within 48 hours. Also, Chicken Soup makes all their own food... Canidae purchases part of their food from someone else. He prefers the Chicken Soup over Canidae also (which is what I was originally going to switch him to).

[Zoey's Momma]

Zoey was eating Royal Canin at first until her poop started tog et runny, and her coat was dull and dry. I started mixing in Canidae, and she went straight for Canidae. She loved it so much she begged me for more. It also helped her coat which i'm very excited about. The vet even says she looks fantastic! SHe's been happier ever since. Canidae has my vote, plus if you e-mail them about samples, they are willing and happy enough to send you some.

[Gizmo's Mom]

Gizmo is prone to digestive problems and has done very well and loves Chicken Soup. We've found a winner!

[LuvMyChloe]

Chloe eats Chicken Soup, she loves it. I haven't had any of the runny poop issues mentioned above.

[2dogs4me]

I was just reading a couple threads, and I'm glad I did. My yorkie rescue, Tinker, has been having runny poopies for a while and I changed his food to Boiled chicken and rice to try to help it. Now I think I will keep his food away for a good 12 hours to calm his tummy, then I might try a new food, maybe Canidae - seems like it's pretty popular.

The only problem is that I have two maltese and have to watch what I give them for tear staining reasons.

Does anyone know if there is any artificial color or indegridient to enhance the color? If so, I can't use it.

[RLC12345678]

Originally Posted by 2dogs4me

I was just reading a couple threads, and I'm glad I did. My yorkie rescue, Tinker, has been having runny poopies for a while and I changed his food to Boiled chicken and rice to try to help it. Now I think I will keep his food away for a good 12 hours to calm his tummy, then I might try a new food, maybe Canidae - seems like it's pretty popular.

The only problem is that I have two maltese and have to watch what I give them for tear staining reasons.

Does anyone know if there is any artificial color or indegridient to enhance the color? If so, I can't use it.

Canidae is 100% all natural ingredients. Absolutely NO artificial colors, flavors, fillers or preservatives. IMO, it's the best dog food on the market.

[chattiesmom]

I have fed Canidae All Life stages for almost a year now and I am very pleased with the results. Before that I fed Innova EVO. I changed because I was concerned about the protein level in the EVO. I have never fed Chicken Soup and won't because I won't feed Diamond products.

[CollegeCutieUSF]

I just started feeding Mr. Biggs Diamond small breed formula. I thought it was a good brand, but you won't feed it to your dogs.. It's the only food that Mr. Biggs will eat (I've tried tons and tons of different samples), should I stop giving it to him?

I've recently heard about what had happened a while ago with diamond, but I thought they had fixed everything and it was safe now.

**I hate having a picky dog**

[journey826]

QUESTION! isn't chicken soup made by the diamond company,who makes diamond food at a much cheaper price with substandard ingredients? and if a company makes a lesser quality food would you not be suspicious of any supposedly good quality food comming from them? Also anyone heard of california natural? supposed to be exceptional.

[woofshepherd]

I have a question about natural balance dog food, is 23% protein too low?? all my dogs love this food, just wondering if it has enough protein for them??