Dog foods and treats...What have you tried?

Neeya

Neeya

O.G.
Jan 2, 2007
1,677
1,606
#1
I'm curious as to what type of food everyone has tried for their dog, good and bad :yes:


When I first got Faye, my eldest Chi, I was miffed as to what the best food was that I should feed her (though I finally figured out what worked best as of a few months ago).

When I first started out, I was clueless; there are no really good websites that discuss the quality of brands. So I essentially just tried every brand/method I could over two years until I found what worked.

Mayhaps if everyone shares what type of food (kibble or otherwise) they feed their pup and if the diet did or did not work, whether or not the food was good, etc., new pup owners might be able to gather a number of ideas as to what they could feed their dog. This includes treats too! :smile:

Here's what I've tried, plus what it was like and if it was successful or not:

1. Bil-Jac: bleh!!!! bad stuff!! :yucky: I regret ever giving this to my pup, though she wasn't on it long at all. I was new and naive :sad: Too much grain product, too soft for their teeth, just not good ingredients.

2. Eagle Pack Holistic: made one of my Chi's sick, so I dumped this food.

3. Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul: Pretty good food, but my eldest was not eating as much as she should. It's full of good ingredients.

4. Wellness: Made my youngest sick for some reason. I gave them the lamb kibble, and it didn't work out.

5. Wellness 95% Beef/Chicken/Venison (canned): I always keep this on hand! It's 95% meat, and I use it to mix their vitamins and pro-biotics in. They like all of the flavors except for Venison, for some reason. It's pretty good stuff in terms of canned food.

6. Fromme's canned food: This stuff is gross. It's essentially liquid with a few pieces of carrot and a couple tiny pieces of meat in it. Totally not worth the price and just not good, hell it's all liquid!!

7. Artemis: Best kibble for my babies so far! It has a great ingredient list, it hasn't hurt my babies bellies, and they really seem to like the taste!

8. The Honest Kitchen Dehydrated Raw Pet Food: OMG this stuff is scary. It's green and looks like ground alfalfa in the bag. You rehydrate it in warm water...to make liquidy green mush that smells like grass. My dogs would NOT TOUCH THIS. Hell I was afraid to touch it!! The store owner went on and on about how great it was, but if you can get a dog to eat it...congratulations.

9. Whole Life dehydrated 100% meat treats in Beef, Chicken, Turkey, Liver, Salmon: My dogs looove these! They aren't too keen on Salmon or Turkey, but they love Chicken and Beef.

10. Daily Dream Treats, All Chicken: Another treat my babies love, and another healthy treat.

11. Greenies: are bad!! If you don't know it yet, don't feed your dogs these, because they are not good for them.

12. N-bones: What I replaced Greenies with! These are great, good for the pups and fully digestible. They love all the flavors (I believe there is regular, bbq, and mint). Unless you like bbq dog breath, I'd avoid that one :Push:

13. Wildside Salmon treats for dogs: My dogs hated them, though it's just freeze dried salmon. I just think they don't care for salmon.

14. Dr. Harvey's Veg-to-Bowl: I just bought this and haven't tried it yet. I make my baby's food now, and have to dice up and cook veggies constantly to mix with their meat. This is supposed to save time, as it is a huge mix of veggies and herbs, chopped up, that just have to be steeped back to life. I'll post later as to how it turns out.

15. Cooked food diet: This is what works best for my babies, in combination with their Artemis kibble. I use organic ground Turkey, Chicken, Beef, Lamb, and Veal or cut-up versions of those, cooked, and combined with a veggie combination of carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, zucchini, etc. Veggies are pre-boiled a bit after they are chopped to soften them, then combined with the meat once it is close to be finished cooking. Sometimes I'll make a gravy with a lil bit of organic flour and beef or chicken stock. Sometimes I'll add brown rice or barley, but not much. They love it, and they are happy and healthy on this diet :yes:

16. Animal Essentials Plant Enzymes and Pro-biotics: It has really helped my babies and their bellies! Aids digestion, and I use it in their food everyday. Haven't had a throw up incident in a long time!

17. Babara's Canine Cafe Treats: My dogs have never eaten these, and I absolutely have no clue why. I do know that they have shortening in them, which I don't think is too good for them, so I just stopped buying from this brand. They are actually local to me, in Charlotte NC, so they are in an abundance here.

18. Gourmutt's Bakery: They love these! I've gotten them both carob frosted cookies and their absolute favorite treat, the Peanut Butter cups!! They go crazy for these things!!

19. Kool Dog Kafe treats: My babies love the brownies and the donuts, but not the pretzels.

20. Beggin' Strips: Not good for your dog, but Faye loved them. I stopped giving them to her after a few weeks and just cooked small bits of bacon and gave her pieces instead. At least I know the bacon is just bacon!



That's it for me for now, but we're always trying new treats and such, plus I switch their kibble flavors out from time to time. What about you guys?
 
#2
Wow, you tried a lot... Remember that dogs need meat in their diet... (Taxonomy - Order Carnivora), so I would not go 100% vegetarian for dogs...even though there are vegeterian diets out there...

Having said that, I feed my dogs: Innova Senior; Wellness - Fish and Potato; and frozen raw food from Nature's Variety. As for treats, I give them Wellness Wellbars; Old Mother Hubbard's rawhide; and/or Dogswell Happy Heart
 
#3
Omg, I didnt know that greenies are bad. Do you have any article decribing how bad they are? or maybe you can describe it to me :yes: . My dog doesnt really like it but sometimes he eats it. Should i stop giving him?

I feed my dog Innova Evo (he only eats innova dry food), flossies and Waggin' Train Chicken Jerky Tenders Dog Treats, he loves the jerky.

Anyone knows whether these are good/bad. TIA
 
#4
tiramisu: check #15, I feed them plenty of meat! :yes:

Azumie: I go off of what I've heard from other people; greenies made my sister's dogs horribly ill (she has two Chi's), resulting in a very expensive vet trip. A friend of mine had one of her dogs nearly choke on one. The formula has apparently changed since they originally came out, so they are probably fine now, but I avoid them out of habit :Push:
 
#5
I fee both of my dogs Fromm's 4 Star dry dog food. My trainer recommended it, and they both snarf it down, but they will both eat pretty much anything, anyway. They have really soft and shiny coats since I have been feeding it to them, so I will continue.

I give them all kinds of treats; Mother Nature biscuits, Dogswell dried chicken strips, locally made rawhide chews, knuckle bones, pig ears, whatever. I picked up a bag of Dr. Beckers Bison Bites recently, and they just loved them.
 
#8
I feed my dog Life's Abundance from Healthypetnet.com..

Life’s Abundance® Premium Health Food for Dogs is always made with the freshest, human-quality ingredients, which gives your dog the best quality possible! It is a dry dog food that contains all natural chicken and top quality catfish with the best fresh fruit, vegetables and select farm foods. Life’s Abundance® also contains a superior blend of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants important for healthy dogs. Contains no artificial flavors, colors, sugars, or chemical preservatives.
 
#9
My dog has a sensitive stomach, so she doesn't get variety.

She eats Innova brand dry kibble, and for occasional treats it's chicken flavored Lean Treats. On really hot days in the summer, she gets Frosty Paws (doggy ice-cream-like treat) after her evening walk.
 
#10
Both my dogs get Solid Gold dry food, but different blends for their different needs (the older one gets the Holistique blend, the younger gets the Mmillennia). For treats we feed them biscuits from Innova and California Natural.

Their diet is a bit pricey, but so worth it! They love all of it and it is so good for them (no yeast, no dyes, no by-products, etc). They also both get flaxseed oil, and the older one gets a joint supplement (Next Level).

The best "treats" we ever bought them were their Kongs. It entertains them and makes them work for their treats, which is great for when we leave because they focus on that instead of us leaving them.

Other than that, we keep it simple. Just their dry food twice a day and their supplements in the evening, and their biscuits. We don't feed them people food, unless it's something that will benefit them (like carrot sticks). No wet food, either. We're quite anal about their diets; my family knows to ask us before they give them anything, unless they know it's something they can have.

We've been feeding this way for a long time, and I met with an alternative pet care woman who helped me find the best foods for my dogs right from the start, so we haven't had to try a bunch of different things.
 
#12
Neeya said:
tiramisu: check #15, I feed them plenty of meat! :yes:

Azumie: I go off of what I've heard from other people; greenies made my sister's dogs horribly ill (she has two Chi's), resulting in a very expensive vet trip. A friend of mine had one of her dogs nearly choke on one. The formula has apparently changed since they originally came out, so they are probably fine now, but I avoid them out of habit :Push:
Click to expand...

The recipe for greenies has changed. They made them softer because dogs would get them stuck in the throat. You also have to be sure you give the proper size to your dog.

As far as food is concerned, I use Solid Gold food.
 
#14
Mine gets a bone every couple of days and organic raw food (either from the meat dept or pre-packaged Primal lamb mix w/organ meats, veggies, fruits & grains or Raw Advantage at health food & natural pet stores) and she always has a bowl of usda certified Karma Organic canine dry when she feels like munching, but that takes her like a month to eat a cup, if that. She won't touch anything that isn't meat, except cheese, so I try to mix chopped fine raw fruits & veggies if I don't think the raw food mixes aren't enough.

I've fed Wysong to my previous dogs, which i think is great also. So, if she (and previous generations of her for like 10 years)hadn't been on a raw diet I may go back to that but so far she's been very healthy on what she's eating and has been raised on.
 
#15
My 3 pugs eat Wellness. I buy two different kibble flavors and mix them together. My pugs seem to like it. I have one pug that is an extremely picky eater but she does okay with Wellness. All the other brand kibbles we have tried in the past she wouldn’t eat, so we had to mix it with chicken or cheese. Of course sometimes they still will get chicken and cheese mixed in as a treat.

As for treats they love Solid Gold’s Turkey Jerky and Pupperonis.
 
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