what kind of dog food

Okay done and done so back to the topic of kinds of dog foods....

What do people think of INNOVA? I havent noticed anyone feeding this often, but very curious on if anyone has tried it as I learn from ya'lls experiences as well as the research that shows this stuff is pretty good food.

LuLu is such a kibble diva. I just need to try and try and try until I find something to get her off Science Diet yuckies.

LuLu_Cooking_Monstor wrote:Okay done and done so back to the topic of kinds of dog foods....

What do people think of INNOVA? I havent noticed anyone feeding this often, but very curious on if anyone has tried it as I learn from ya'lls experiences as well as the research that shows this stuff is pretty good food.

LuLu is such a kibble diva. I just need to try and try and try until I find something to get her off Science Diet yuckies.

They make good stuff. The only Innova products that I've tried are their grain-free EVO version. The chicken/turkey one did great for Sammy, but the red meat version made him super-gassy. After a few bags of the poultry one, he started getting gassy again, and that's when I tried Natural Balance, which he's also done very well on. A lot of it is trial and error for your particular dog, though. Pick a good brand that you like the ingredients of, buy the smallest bag possible and give it a shot.

Yes, Innova makes good stuff. They have a few varieties. I found for my girls (and I've heard from some others as well) that the EVO was too rich. Plenty of dogs do great on it though.

Like Blanche, food is a very important subject for me when it comes to dogs because we are the providers for them. They can not researching all the foods out there that are good/bad for them. That being said, I also feed my pugs a Raw diet. My vet office strongly ENCOURAGES the raw diet. In fact, they are against Science Diet (except the RX kinds), Iams, Eukaneuba, etc. When I got my first pug, I didn't know anything about dog food. Then I began my research and learned how bad corn, wheat, soy, etc was for them. I also learned about the low fat diets as well. If you'll look at the first 4 ingredients on a low fat dog food, you will NOT see a form of meat in those first 4 ingredients. Dogs need meat, they are carnivores. A low fat diet is not providing them the amount of meat that they need in their daily consumption. If you don't want your pugs to get overweight, feed them less. All I can say to anyone looking in to dog food is really do your research on the ingredients of the dog food. Educate yourself on what by-products are, what corn and wheat can do to their skin, what BHA and BHT are, etc. And the last thing I want to say is that when vets go to vet school, they receive a VERY LIMITED amount of education on dog nutrition. The reason that most vets push Science Diet is because Science Diet "sponsors" vets while they are in vet school and offer free dog food for vets going through school. I know this because my sister is a vet tech at a vet clinic.

LuLu_Cooking_Monstor wrote:What do people think of INNOVA? I havent noticed anyone feeding this often, but very curious on if anyone has tried it as I learn from ya'lls experiences as well as the research that shows this stuff is pretty good food.

I feed Bella Innova adult canned & she has done fantastic on it. Their kibble is very good too but she gets canned because she has very few teeth left (puppymill survivor).

Buster & Bud get Merrick's senior medley kibble. Duke is on Natural Balance sweet potato & fish because we were afraid that he had allergies, but now we've found that his itching was actually a reaction to a medication that he was on (Proin), so I will probably be switching him back to the Merrick soon. Mainly for the convenience of feeding him the same food as some of the others - Natural Balance is a perfectly good kibble. Yoda is on prescription s/o food for bladder/crystal issues. Pugsy gets Nature's Variety frozen raw.

That being said - this is what they are all on right now. I do like to rotate for variety. Sometimes I home cook for them & we've also used the Honest Kitchen dehydrated raw. I also mix in fresh foods on a regular basis when I'm feeding kibble - yogurt, pumpkin, eggs, cottage cheese, fruit, veggies, etc.

I am very impressed by everyone who feeds raw food. It won't ever happen here, as I don't even cook for myself, but I am certainly impressed by you all!

lawpug wrote:I am very impressed by everyone who feeds raw food. It won't ever happen here, as I don't even cook for myself, but I am certainly impressed by you all!

But you don't have to cook - it's raw!

lawpug wrote:I am very impressed by everyone who feeds raw food. It won't ever happen here, as I don't even cook for myself, but I am certainly impressed by you all!

I don't make the raw myself. I would never have the time to do that. But, the raw-frozen nuggets (I currently use Nature's Variety) are easy to do.

I feed a variety of foods for my pugs and non pugs. I, like many others started out feeding my pugs the foods that contained corn, soy, wheat and other fillers. The first food was Pro Plan which is what the breeder was feeding. I then switched to Science Diet because they made a small bites kibble, and one of my pug boys would not eat the larger kibble. For almost 3 years, he would vomit several times a week and not eat about 6-8 of his meals a week. It was after reading on one of the forums about food allergies that I sought to find a food that did not contain corn, soy or wheat. I found Natural Balance which also came in small bites. Taz loved it and never threw up again. I then got involved with rescue and started fostering. I would get pugs that were eating Kibbles n Bits, Iams, Science Diet and others. Their coats were usually on the dry side with lots of shedding and dander. I would immediately switch them to the Natural Balance and within a week, there was much less shedding and no visible dander problems. I know tons of other breeds who eat all kinds of foods and do fairly well. The Science Diet and Iams plus many others are not the best of foods but seem to have most of the nutrition that a normal dog needs. What you might find down the road is that a food that has less fillers and the first ingredients are not corn, or some kind of by product will be much better in the long run. Due to allergy problems, one of my pugs now eats a dehydrated raw food that I just add water. I personally could not do the real raw diet, but I think it is great for those doing it and having great results. Cooking for my gang is also something I prefer to not do since we travel a lot, and it is just harder to try and store food when you are on the road. I now feed my brussels griffon and pug/brussels griffon mix Natures Variety Venison. From what I have seen in rescue, I just will not feed any of my animals foods that have corn, soy and wheat in them. The pugs just seem to do better in the long run by avoiding those ingredients.

I feed the Natural Balance fish and potato. You can get it a Petco. I don't have lots of choices where I live. It has done wonders for Bella's itching. She has been on Temaril P for years and I have not have to give her any for weeks. She was loosing her hair on the prescription dogs food and it just got worse over time.

I don't have time to feed raw, but also admire those who do feed it. The doggie bakery in town sells the Origen and I thought about feeding the fish formula, but they want $90 for 40 lbs....yikes! I can get Origen at Petco too, but not the fish and that was want I wanted to try due to Bella's allergies. The NB isn't cheap, but at least it's a little more reasonable.

Don't feel attacked. Listen to people who know more than we do. It's how we learn. It took getting into my late 30's to realize I really didn't know everything!

Marci, if you have trouble getting any food, try www.k9cuisine.com There is one local place where I can buy the food I am feeding, but sometimes they are out of the kind I feed. I never try to get that low where I can't wait, but since the place is on the other side of town it is often hard for me to get there. This place offers free shipping on orders over $50 plus no sales tax. So, I actually save money by ordering from them instead of driving across town then paying the almost 10% sales tax.

I also finally found out that Tinker and Ruffy eat 15lbs of dry kibble a month. So, the last time I ordered the dog food, I got the 30lb bag so it would last two months.



quote="TNPUGMOMOF3"]I feed the Natural Balance fish and potato. You can get it a Petco. I don't have lots of choices where I live. It has done wonders for Bella's itching. She has been on Temaril P for years and I have not have to give her any for weeks. She was loosing her hair on the prescription dogs food and it just got worse over time.

I don't have time to feed raw, but also admire those who do feed it. The doggie bakery in town sells the Origen and I thought about feeding the fish formula, but they want $90 for 40 lbs....yikes! I can get Origen at Petco too, but not the fish and that was want I wanted to try due to Bella's allergies. The NB isn't cheap, but at least it's a little more reasonable.

Don't feel attacked. Listen to people who know more than we do. It's how we learn. It took getting into my late 30's to realize I really didn't know everything![/quote]

Finding the right food is about research, trial and error and doing what's best for that individual dog. And like Leslye, I've seen borderline miraculous changes in my foster dogs when I take them off of grain based foods. I do prefer grain free foods, personally, and my own dogs do best on raw--although Lola is no longer eating raw due to some health condition she has that make raw not the best option for her. She's on one of the Natural Balance LID kibbles and loves it.
My shih tzu foster is on Orijen fish and does really well on it. It is expensive, however, I agree with you Marci.

I'm NOT anti-kibble. I just feel that given pugs track records with allergies, a no grain or at least no corn, wheat or soy, diet is best. And most dogs don't start to show allergies/intolerances/sensitivities until they are around 2 years of age.

And I'm not anti-prescription diets necessarily. There are dogs that simply need special formulas due to health issues like urinary uroliths, liver/kidney conditions, etc.

And there are so many great kibbles out there now. AND so many pre-prepared raw foods that you don't have to "make your own". It really is dangerous to make your own if you don't know what you're doing. You CAN hurt a dog if you don't know what needs to be added and how much and how often to balance vitamins, minerals and needed nutrition.

Because none of my dogs are young or completely healthy, I have to do what I can to enhance their immune systems and nutritional requirements. For me, that has meant that diet plays a huge part in their overall well being.

I've been reading a lot about allergies lately, as these seem to be very common in certain breeds. I recently read a statistic that something like 80% of dogs are allergic to corn or wheat. They may not show specific allergy responses immediately but, over time, their response to corn and wheat becomes severe and manifests as skin problems. Allergies are an auto-immune response to the body not liking a substance much like cancer (only not quite as severe). But, allergies do weaken the immune system overall which opens up the body to other illnesses.

Interesting fact....Allergies were almost unknown until the advent of commercial dog food in the early 1900's.

^ Thanks for the stats Lisa. I always was really curious on some more stat numbers as it seems very high in the dogs that I encounter that are 3 years and up that I will see dull coats, massive shedding, thinning, dandruff flakes, and such. I freaked out last time- I pet a dog and got a BIG handful of long fur and saw the dog was thinning. I read a few websites that said it only accounted for 20% of dog allergies and the rest were insect bites and environmental but I run into a whole lot more skin allergies than any other irritation.

Question, what is peoples take on beet pulp in dog foods?

I have heard that using beet pulp in dog foods is also one to avoid that it can cause allergies and infections and was added to stabilize rancid fats/meats placed in mainstream commercial foods. Yet I've read some sources that say it's not bad that it is a easily digestible fiber for them that is beneficial to their tract. Confused, curious.

I think though whatever the answer, the best choice is whole ingredients, simple ingredients in the end, just in case I'm the one with a dog allergic to beets.

I have to say that I found this thread very interesting - conflict is interesting - because it brings change. Personally, for me, as a new dog owner, I knew NOTHING about the food issue until Juneau was about a month old and finishing his first bag of IAMS puppy food - and I found a random pet food store and wandered in - and got the EDUCATION OF A LIFETIME!!! I walked out with samples and learned how to read a label! I am a smart chick, but I had no idea that there is so much information on a bag of dog food! I also learned...there is a lot more to learn!!! Way more!

I can honestly say that since I've been on PA I have learned more about pugs than I thought possible. I'm here to stay - but my opinions are checked at the door, to prevent me from making an ass out of myself in front of these brilliant pug owners.

juneau hunter wrote:I have to say that I found this thread very interesting - conflict is interesting - because it brings change. Personally, for me, as a new dog owner, I knew NOTHING about the food issue until Juneau was about a month old and finishing his first bag of IAMS puppy food - and I found a random pet food store and wandered in - and got the EDUCATION OF A LIFETIME!!! I walked out with samples and learned how to read a label! I am a smart chick, but I had no idea that there is so much information on a bag of dog food! I also learned...there is a lot more to learn!!! Way more!

I can honestly say that since I've been on PA I have learned more about pugs than I thought possible. I'm here to stay - but my opinions are checked at the door, to prevent me from making an ass out of myself in front of these brilliant pug owners.

LOL, Tarrington. None of us started out knowing all this stuff. Believe me, every time I have a foster dog with some new health issue, I learn a whole new skill set.
When I first starting training dogs--30 years ago--I had border collies and the "rule" of training was a canine version of bondage and discipline. Choke/prong collars, pinning dogs to the ground for disobedience, yelling, forcing, suspending dogs in the air from their collars, leash popping and snapping. Fear and intimidation. We were taught that if you didn't dominate your dog they'd kill you in your sleep (I'm exaggerating a bit--but not by much). I was once told by a trainer that allowing my dogs on the furniture would result in me being bitten and possibly killed by my border collies.

Now I know better. My poor early dogs paid dearly for my education. But I learned and gained confidence enough to say "you know, this form of training makes me REALLY uncomfortable. I wouldn't respond positively to it so am not sure that it's good for my dogs either". It's easy to think "They are the experts so I should listen even though what they are saying goes against what my gut is telling me". I'm no expert but I have learned some things and I will question a vet, a trainer or another person about what they say and do or say I should do with my dogs. But I research it. I research alot as I'm not just going to say "no" without some ideas behind it.

And I'm opinionated as hell. I don't deny that.

When I got Thurston, I knew next to nothing about dog food. I have experience with different types of feeding methods and choices and lots of experience with sick animals due to my pet sitting, but the cause and effect part was not very clear to me. I knew a LOT more about cat care and FIV+ cats in particular. I learned a lot from all of you and them when I started working with Pussy and Pooch, I got a major education. That education is actively continuing 24/7. I swear, I dream about dog food! I've reached a point where all of the strings of information have started to gel and I can see the big picture a lot better. My bedtime reading has been all about pet nutrition and I glean as much as possible from every source I can. It sure is time consuming, but interesting. I have a big brood to take care of and I can't afford sick animals that got that way due to poor nutrition. It is in my best interest to learn this stuff!

^ Tarrigton were both newbies, but we arent asses because you and I chose to be open minded and learn about pugs needs and we ask when we dont know. Here there arent stupid questions, everyone helps everyone out for the better of all our pugs and at one point all the people who are giving us sound advice was in our shoes. Probably worse off since it's only now that more information and resources and communities like this popped up to help one another, before that I'm sure some people were on their own listening to their gut and gumption to snoop around answers where there arent much.

I feel like everyone here is passionate and genuinely caring about my pug because I've never gotten as much thorough and thoughtful answers and offers to help teach me different ways. It's hard to decide on whats best if you just go by one thing. It makes me feel loved in a way cuz all you dont have to give a crap about me or my dog, but you all do and I also in turn do care of yours. It's missing else where I've looked online.

After having different breeds, I see how a pug is no joke. There are many unique qualities that make me love my LuLu far beyond any animal I've ever had, but that comes with unique issues too. I've had "sturdier" dog breeds in the past that you can throw anything at them and really not bother with them any they're fine but I certainly see that would damage a pug. They were bred as indoor companions unlike some of our dogs that were bred to be outside, herding and hunting dogs so naturally theres a lot more to be concerned about and a big difference in care and manner of handling.

But I wish I knew nutrition more for every animal we had in the past. I believe a few of them would have been healthier if this information was available to my family when I was too young to learn it myself.

Tarrington, hows Juneau doing on his Acana Grasslands food?

I know this is hard to believe but my Franklin is a FOOD SNOB.
I've tried the Science diet/Iams/beneful, and LOADS more that I think I spent way too much money on...there are even TREATS he won't eat. and he's allergic to Pumpkin (which sucks in case of squirts).

I can't get him to eat anything but the Nutro small chunks kibble, not the BEST stuff out there, but its not Ol' Roy. My vet would LOVE for me to feed him Purina Pro, but his poop REEKS on that crap and I can't handle the farts either.

As far as Raw goes, I'm in the boat with Lawpug, god bless you all that do. and I LOVE to cook, but I handling raw meat just grosses me out... LOL.

destanie101 wrote:I know this is hard to believe but my Franklin is a FOOD SNOB.
I've tried the Science diet/Iams/beneful, and LOADS more that I think I spent way too much money on...there are even TREATS he won't eat. and he's allergic to Pumpkin (which sucks in case of squirts).

I can't get him to eat anything but the Nutro small chunks kibble, not the BEST stuff out there, but its not Ol' Roy. My vet would LOVE for me to feed him Purina Pro, but his poop REEKS on that crap and I can't handle the farts either.

As far as Raw goes, I'm in the boat with Lawpug, god bless you all that do. and I LOVE to cook, but I handling raw meat just grosses me out... LOL.

Destanie--I've had a couple of dogs that had reactions to pumpkin and to sweet potatoes. Weird as you think of them as a couple of the allergy safe foods.