[Greg Leavitt]

I am currently looking for a new food to feed all my dogs. I am not interested at this point in doing a raw diet, it just wont work. I have gotten samples of different foods available and am wondering if those much more experienced in such matters can steer me in the right direction. I have samples of;

Nutro Natural Choice Lamb Meal and Rice
Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Adult
Nutro Max Natural
Nutro Max Mini Chunk
Purina Pro Plan selects Natural Turkey and Barley
Diamond naturals lamb and rice
Diamond naturals beef and rice
Diamond naturals chicken and rice
Diamond naturals 60+
Diamond Hi energy
Diamond Performance

Thanks for all input on these and any other good foods that are available.

 

[steve gossmeyer]

PMI really good food i use it. and love it keeps the wieght on working dogs. http://www.pminutrition.com/

 

[Connie Sutherland]

PMI really good food i use it. and love it keeps the wieght on working dogs. http://www.pminutrition.com/

Here are some of the "Exclusive" line from them:
Chicken, chicken meal, rice flour, oatmeal, whole grain brown rice, chicken fat, corn gluten meal, dried beet pulp, flaxseed, etc.


But when I clicked on the ingredients of the Red Flannel Select line:
Ground yellow corn, meat and bone meal, soybean meal, wheat middlings, etc.

Here's Red Flannel Hi-Protein:
Meat and bone meal, ground wheat, ground yellow corn, corn gluten meal, etc.

Here's Large Breed:
Chicken by-product meal, ground wheat, ground yellow corn, brewers rice, etc.

So they have one line (PMI Nutrition, Red Flannel) that's junk, with more grain than meat and loads of corn, so you want to be careful and read the ingredients .... and look for the "Exclusive" line.

 

[steve gossmeyer]

i dont know what that red flanel stuff is i feed the exsclusive

 

[steve gossmeyer]

it looks like they are changing things cause the food i feed i dont even see on there anymore.

 

[Jeff Oehlsen]

Production had to stop after a cokeandmentos bottle scare.

 

[Sam Trinh]

i thought you were on raw now?

 

[steve gossmeyer]

lol jeff jeff jeff. ill give that one to ya that was funny.

 

[Connie Sutherland]

Hi, Greg,

The ingredients list is all that matters after you check for the “AAFCO guarantee.”

The first 4 or 5 in the list are what matter most.


“By-product meal” or “meat and bone meal” are rendered, and the lowest-quality and cheapest sources of animal protein. They also can't be standardized (so you can't know the profile from batch to batch).

I'd skip by-products as a chief ingredient. Of course, by-products are something the animal would eat.... but not as the basic ingredient.

You want a named meat or meal (“lamb” or “chicken meal,” for example, instead of the generic term “meat”) as the first ingredient.

If corn is at or near the top of the list, I'd skip the food. It's used to boost protein cheaply (instead of meat), and it does contain protein, but not protein that dogs can use well.

Without looking them up, so this is memory only, I'd take Nutro Natural Choice over those others, and Nutro Ultra over that.

If you want a list of "better kibbles," I can send you one.

 

[steve gossmeyer]

i thought you were on raw now?

i was but braxton didn't keep weight on and he was getting obsessed with the fridge. lol and i have been to busy to get it all and make it up. im lazy id rather spend my free time training than gettin food ready.

 

[Connie Sutherland]

it looks like they are changing things cause the food i feed i dont even see on there anymore.

Yeah, they split into two lines, looks like.

 

[steve gossmeyer]

well they always were the had the exclusive and then the prime formula like the pics i posted. i dont know what this red flannel shit is. guess once the feed store runs out gotta find a new food

 

[Connie Sutherland]

well they always were the had the exclusive and then the prime formula like the pics i posted. i dont know what this red flannel shit is. guess once the feed store runs out gotta find a new food

Well, the Exclusive looks OK.

The other line is grain-heavy.

 

[steve gossmeyer]

ill figure something out

 

[Greg Leavitt]

Connie thats what I really liked about the Diamond naturals lamb and rice. No corn wheat or soy here is the ingredients list
Lamb meal, whole grain brown rice, white rice, cracked pearled barley, fish meal, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), egg product, beet pulp, flaxseed, natural flavor, brewers dried yeast, potassium chloride, salt, choline chloride, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.
and a link
http://www.diamondpet.com/products/...ry_food/lamb_meal_and_rice_adult_dog_formula/

 

[Sam Trinh]

http://timberwolforganics.com/pet-foods

i do 1/2 and 1/2 and have liked the ocean blue and lamb and apples formulas.

 

[steve gossmeyer]

timberwolf is real good food. diamond is another issue. i had two dogs get bad crystals in there urine from it

 

[Connie Sutherland]

http://timberwolforganics.com/pet-foods

i do 1/2 and 1/2 and have liked the ocean blue and lamb and apples formulas.

I like that ingredient list too. (I looked at the lamb ingredients.)


I guess I still have an aversion to Diamond since their own recall, way before the current one.

But now so many are tainted that it's hard to maintain a list of companies who don't contract out the actual manufacture and then later say "We didn't know about this!"

 

[Greg Leavitt]

Tell me more about this diamond recall I had never heard of the food prior to about a week ago.

 

[Connie Sutherland]

Tell me more about this diamond recall I had never heard of the food prior to about a week ago.

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Jan06/dogs.dying.ssl.html

Yes, they have the dubious distinction of being the recall forerunner (late 2005).

Many dogs died from aflatoxin poisoning.