I have two pug puppies what is the best brand of dog food for them ?
Also they are allergic to corn so what are my options.
There is no food that is the *best*, different individual dog may thrive on different foods. What you want to find is the HIGH-QUALITY food that *your dog* does best on.
All ‘good’ dog foods will be corn-free.
Here are some good ones appropriate for puppies:
* Merrick Puppy Plate
* Canidae all-life-stages
* Wellness Just for Puppy
* Artemis Fresh Mix puppy
* Innova puppy
* Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lover’s Soul
(more brands further down in this answer)
=== ===
Read the ingredients before you buy.
Here is my "short list" of rules when I am looking at dog food ingredients:
1) When I chose a dog food, I chose one high meat content. I want to see preferably at least 2-3 out of the top 5 ingredients be meat or meat meal (first ingredient must be!). Meal is simply the meat with the moisture removed.
2) I want to see higher quality grains, such as barley, brown rice, and oatmeal, instead of seeing wheat and corn. Or an alternative starch/carbohydrate such as potatoes or sweet potatoes.
3) I don’t want to see any byproducts.
4) I don’t want to see a lot of fillers (beet pulp, brewers rice, etc).
5) I don’t want to see preservatives that are believed to be carcinogens (BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin).
6) I don’t want to see artificial colorings such as the Red, Blue, and Yellow dyes.
7) I don’t want to see added sugars (sugar, corn syrup).
I don’t want to see mystery meats (meats identified only as "meat" or "poultry".)
Here is an article about byproducts:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=ingrd
And an article on what ingredients to avoid:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=badingredients
—
Here are some examples of GOOD dog foods:
* Artemis Fresh Mix
* Blue Buffalo
* California Natural
* Canidae
* Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul
* Eagle Pack Holistic Selects
* EVO
* Fromm Four Star
* Innova
* Merrick
* Nature’s Variety
* Orijen
* Solid Gold
* Taste of the Wild
* Wellness
* ZiwiPeak
Or check this website; the 4, 5, or 6 star rated foods are all good foods. http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews
—
Higher quality food may seem more expensive at first, but it evens out. The higher quality the food, the less fillers eaten (and therefore the less poop comes out the other end). Your dog eats more of a low-quality food to try to get the nutrition it needs, and most of the food just passes right on through. Also, higher-quality food will make your animals healthier, so you save money on vet bills in the long run.
—
What *NOT* to buy:
Stay away from grocery stores brands. They are low-quality foods chalk full of fillers, preservatives, dyes, etc.. (Grocery store foods are those like Beneful, Kibbles n Bits, Old Roy, Alpo, Pedigree, Purina, etc.)
Beware "premium" foods. "Premium" does not always mean high quality food. Most of these foods have the same types of ingredients as grocery store foods, just a bit better quality of those not-so-good ingredients. (Premium foods are those like Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Bil-Jac, Royal Canin, etc..)
Another thing to be wary of: A lot of vets will recommend what they sell in their office. They get profit from the brands they keep on their shelves, that’s why they push it. Truth is, vet schools don’t focus a lot on nutrition. It’s not saying that a vet is a bad vet because he recommends those foods, a lot of vets just are told "this is good food", so they pass the message along without proper nutrition knowledge. Also, some dog food brands (like Hills) support vet schools, so vets have heard of it from the time they start college, which makes them think it’s good as well.
Hills company, the makers of Science Diet, are heavily involved in vet schools. "Hill’s scientists author more than 50 research papers and textbook chapters each year and teach at leading schools of veterinary medicine" (Source of quoted section: http://www.hillsvet.com/zSkin_2/company_info/company_info_general.jsp?JSESSIONID=HMz2B3Jn3hv0rnSoxCobfbBhOec35ODG7yh5t3P0vcvhOtzRlQ9M!598359213!167846923!7005!8005&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302026072&bmUID=1196192566575 )
—
"Big box" petstores like Petco and Petsmart rarely have quality foods. (There are some higher quality foods at those locations, but most of the foods aren’t.)
Also, grocery stores and Walmart aren’t good places to buy food either.
Your best bets for getting quality dog food are:
- small, locally owned petstores
- dog boutiques
- farm supply stores
—
When switching foods, do it gradually. I do this over about a two week timespan:
1/4 food A, 3/4 food B
1/2 food A, 1/2 food B
3/4 food A, 1/4 food B
all food A
.
Quality dog foods: Innova, California Natural, EVO, Karma, Wellness, Wellness Core, Orijen, Canidae, Merricks, Artemis, Taste of the Wild, Nature’s Variety, Eagle Pack Holistic, Pinnacle, Avoderm, Blue Buffalo, Solid Gold-Barking at the Moon, Go!, Now! and Timberwolf.
Foods to avoid: Pedigree, Beneful, Purina, Iams, Nutro, Alpo, Ol Roy, Mighty Dog, Ceser, Bil-Jac, Diamond, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Purina, Royal Canin, Eagle Pack (not to be confused with Eagle Pack Holistic) and of course all grocery store brands of dog food!
References :
I feed Orijen and all of my dogs love it. http://www.orijen.ca
Canidae All Life Stages
Eagle Pack
Innova
Taste of The Wild (3 or 4 formulas)
References :
I feed a raw diet to one and a homemade diet to my other and supplement both diets with Natures Variety Natural Instinct. I firmly believe if feeding the best food out there so this means no mass marketed slop you find at your grocery store. The first three ingredients should all be meat. Not BY PRODUCT or rice fillers.
References :
There is no magic food that is the best for any dog. Here are some good ones, however:
Merrick
Orijen
Blue Buffalo
Canidae
Wellness
Innova (Innova EVO is also very good)
Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s soul
My friend’s Cairn Terrier used to have a lot of allergies and skin problems. She started feeding him the raw diet, which cleared them up almost immediately. You might like to try that, too.
References :
I feed my toy poodle Royal Canin Adult 21. Has no corn in it.
References :
There is no food that is the *best*, different individual dog may thrive on different foods. What you want to find is the HIGH-QUALITY food that *your dog* does best on.
All ‘good’ dog foods will be corn-free.
Here are some good ones appropriate for puppies:
* Merrick Puppy Plate
* Canidae all-life-stages
* Wellness Just for Puppy
* Artemis Fresh Mix puppy
* Innova puppy
* Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lover’s Soul
(more brands further down in this answer)
=== ===
Read the ingredients before you buy.
Here is my "short list" of rules when I am looking at dog food ingredients:
I don’t want to see mystery meats (meats identified only as "meat" or "poultry".)
1) When I chose a dog food, I chose one high meat content. I want to see preferably at least 2-3 out of the top 5 ingredients be meat or meat meal (first ingredient must be!). Meal is simply the meat with the moisture removed.
2) I want to see higher quality grains, such as barley, brown rice, and oatmeal, instead of seeing wheat and corn. Or an alternative starch/carbohydrate such as potatoes or sweet potatoes.
3) I don’t want to see any byproducts.
4) I don’t want to see a lot of fillers (beet pulp, brewers rice, etc).
5) I don’t want to see preservatives that are believed to be carcinogens (BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin).
6) I don’t want to see artificial colorings such as the Red, Blue, and Yellow dyes.
7) I don’t want to see added sugars (sugar, corn syrup).
Here is an article about byproducts:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=ingrd
And an article on what ingredients to avoid:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=badingredients
—
Here are some examples of GOOD dog foods:
* Artemis Fresh Mix
* Blue Buffalo
* California Natural
* Canidae
* Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul
* Eagle Pack Holistic Selects
* EVO
* Fromm Four Star
* Innova
* Merrick
* Nature’s Variety
* Orijen
* Solid Gold
* Taste of the Wild
* Wellness
* ZiwiPeak
Or check this website; the 4, 5, or 6 star rated foods are all good foods. http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews
—
Higher quality food may seem more expensive at first, but it evens out. The higher quality the food, the less fillers eaten (and therefore the less poop comes out the other end). Your dog eats more of a low-quality food to try to get the nutrition it needs, and most of the food just passes right on through. Also, higher-quality food will make your animals healthier, so you save money on vet bills in the long run.
—
What *NOT* to buy:
Stay away from grocery stores brands. They are low-quality foods chalk full of fillers, preservatives, dyes, etc.. (Grocery store foods are those like Beneful, Kibbles n Bits, Old Roy, Alpo, Pedigree, Purina, etc.)
Beware "premium" foods. "Premium" does not always mean high quality food. Most of these foods have the same types of ingredients as grocery store foods, just a bit better quality of those not-so-good ingredients. (Premium foods are those like Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Bil-Jac, Royal Canin, etc..)
Another thing to be wary of: A lot of vets will recommend what they sell in their office. They get profit from the brands they keep on their shelves, that’s why they push it. Truth is, vet schools don’t focus a lot on nutrition. It’s not saying that a vet is a bad vet because he recommends those foods, a lot of vets just are told "this is good food", so they pass the message along without proper nutrition knowledge. Also, some dog food brands (like Hills) support vet schools, so vets have heard of it from the time they start college, which makes them think it’s good as well.
Hills company, the makers of Science Diet, are heavily involved in vet schools. "Hill’s scientists author more than 50 research papers and textbook chapters each year and teach at leading schools of veterinary medicine" (Source of quoted section: http://www.hillsvet.com/zSkin_2/company_info/company_info_general.jsp?JSESSIONID=HMz2B3Jn3hv0rnSoxCobfbBhOec35ODG7yh5t3P0vcvhOtzRlQ9M!598359213!167846923!7005!8005&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302026072&bmUID=1196192566575 )
—
"Big box" petstores like Petco and Petsmart rarely have quality foods. (There are some higher quality foods at those locations, but most of the foods aren’t.)
Also, grocery stores and Walmart aren’t good places to buy food either.
Your best bets for getting quality dog food are:
- small, locally owned petstores
- dog boutiques
- farm supply stores
—
When switching foods, do it gradually. I do this over about a two week timespan:
1/4 food A, 3/4 food B
1/2 food A, 1/2 food B
3/4 food A, 1/4 food B
all food A
.
References :
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/
Fetch told you right.
A raw diet is another option, if allergies are a problem with your dogs, it is worth a look into.
Dogs are supposed to have meat, bones, and organs, preferably fresh, wholesome, and unprocessed. This is why many feed a homemade raw diet.
ww.rawfed.com/myths
http://www.rawmeatybones.com
http://www.rawlearning.com
A raw diet is typically cheaper than kibble worth buying.
For a dog fed raw, it is typically 2 to 3 percent of the dogs ideal body weight. If the dog is a pup(under 18 months for most dogs) it can be around 10% of the dogs body weight. Most raw feeders start at one percentage and adjust it as needed.
This site can tell you some great info about dogs and their diets.
http://www.bigdogsporch.com/index.php
References :
Owner of three raw fed dogs.
Try a free sample of Purina ONE Pet Food
http://wherecanigetfreethings.blogspot.com/2008/09/free-purina-one-pet-food-sample.html
References :
http://wherecanigetfreethings.blogspot.com/search/label/Pets
I wish I had a a pug.
References :
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