I used to feed my doggy poison. :D

[IAmLink]

I almost missed that part Jazi, lol XD

I would never feed my dog any sort of food that I have heard any negative reviews about. Especially when those are professional reviews.

[Junsui]

I almost missed that part Jazi, lol XD

I would never feed my dog any sort of food that I have heard any negative reviews about. Especially when those are professional reviews.

You can have your opinion and I can have mine. No amount of showing me I'm such a bad owner and my dog is going to lay down and die and I should change my food is going to make me change it, sorry.

I value personal expierience more than reviews and the Internet, actually.

[IAmLink]

Not directed at you Junsui

Feel free to leave if you don't want to learn more about dog food.

[Lupen]

You're just getting way too defensive over this. No one said you were a bad owner, we're just saying the food you're choosing could be better. And sure, we're just people on the internet, but we're giving you cold, hard facts, and we're not trying to insult you, but help you.

Just look on the back of science diet... You said you already did, but how come you're still defending the brand? Just because you haven't had any serious problems YET, doesn't mean you won't ever, and even if your dog is healthy now, he or she could be healthier. I don't see why its so wrong to get a different, better brand, just in case, for your dog(s) sake.

By-products are beaks, hooves, and other leftovers from the meat industry. Corn isn't good for dogs, nor is any grain. As everyone else has already told you. Look up on any website that allows customer reviews. Which ARE personal experiences. Maybe not yours, but if other people are having problems whos to say you won't in the future? I gave you my experiences with a similar brand too.

If you are really set on ignoring everything we say, then theres nothing I can say to persuade you. If you're stuck on Science diet, fine. Your animals are your business and my animals are my own, but I love all animals and wish them the best, so I couldn't help to try and inform you like everyone else here, especially after switching from Pedigree to Blue buffalo with authority wet food, and seeing such a change in my dogs within a week.

[Imzadi83]

I almost missed that part Jazi, lol XD

I would never feed my dog any sort of food that I have heard any negative reviews about. Especially when those are professional reviews.

You can have your opinion and I can have mine. No amount of showing me I'm such a bad owner and my dog is going to lay down and die and I should change my food is going to make me change it, sorry.

I value personal expierience more than reviews and the Internet, actually.

How much persoanl experience could you have have with this food? One dog? Two? Ten? A hundred? I don't which is why I appericiated hearing the opnions of other dog owners and educating myself as to the truth about dog foods. This information was sadly not available when my late dog was alive.

And no one had used theterm "bad owner" here that I have seen except for you. No one has said your dog was going to lay down and die. We're here to find out the science behind dog foods based on dog nutrition, which has come a long way. Science Diet does not appear to be a nutritious dog food based on facts. If you feel your dog does fine on it and you want to feed it fine, do that.

You too are a review on the internet. While I take into account your opnion and I too, make up my mind through a more complicated process such as education on foods, dog nutritionl requirements, reviews, ect, ect. Everyone here as been really respectful, offering you facts and personal experenices just as you've offered us yours. If you wish to feed your dogs Science Diet fine, do so. But my personal experience as well as evidence tells me it is not a good food and I will never feed it to another dog.

[GrumpyCinnamonster]

My dogs are now getting cooked meals of rice, chicken, and veggies, because they were on Kirkland brand dog food, but there is a recall going on right now due to salmonella contamination. Prior to the recall they got cooked meals 2-3 times a week, and Kirkland adult kibble. Does anyone know a similar quality dog food for a similar price? I'm fine cooking for a month or two(hopefully it's resolved by then), but I can't afford to cook for them everyday. I'm hesitant to go out and buy an expensive quality brand as well, because I don't want them to get hooked on it if I can't afford it long term. Kirkland was a good food, for a very reasonable price. Prior to buying Kirkland we fed them really crappy food like Iams and Science Diet, but then we switched to a mix of Kirkland and fresh made and saw HUGE improvements. Prince had been overweight for a good year prior to switching. I don't want to go back to crappy food, especially because of him(he's old now).
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/kirkland-signature-dog-food/

Also, since I don't know if it has been mentioned here, please check to make sure your dog food isn't recalled. A lot of brands have been, and a lot of dogs and people have become sick.

[HeartOfCoal]

So, I'm getting a new puppy (so excited!) but I'm not sure if her immune system is polarly different than my other dog's. She's a Chihuahua mix, and not expected to reach over five pounds. Our other dog is a fifty pound GSD mix. My questions:

Her foster mom is feeding her Pedigree. Is that a good brand? Should we continue with that, or switch her to Iams like my other dog? (Don't worry, Scout gets so much human food that it balances out for the crappy brand.) We're not exactly rich (I paid for the puppy's adoption fee), and I honestly find it a waste of money to spend it on expensive food, so please don't suggest a "better brand." I don't want to sound rude, but what money we have I would rather have go to vet bills rather than expensive food.

[Cardinal]

My dogs are now getting cooked meals of rice, chicken, and veggies, because they were on Kirkland brand dog food, but there is a recall going on right now due to salmonella contamination. Prior to the recall they got cooked meals 2-3 times a week, and Kirkland adult kibble. Does anyone know a similar quality dog food for a similar price? I'm fine cooking for a month or two(hopefully it's resolved by then), but I can't afford to cook for them everyday. I'm hesitant to go out and buy an expensive quality brand as well, because I don't want them to get hooked on it if I can't afford it long term. Kirkland was a good food, for a very reasonable price. Prior to buying Kirkland we fed them really crappy food like Iams and Science Diet, but then we switched to a mix of Kirkland and fresh made and saw HUGE improvements. Prince had been overweight for a good year prior to switching. I don't want to go back to crappy food, especially because of him(he's old now).
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/kirkland-signature-dog-food/

Also, since I don't know if it has been mentioned here, please check to make sure your dog food isn't recalled. A lot of brands have been, and a lot of dogs and people have become sick.

Why bother cooking the chicken? ;D

I think I'm at the point of swearing off of Diamond brand. To many re-calls for my taste. :l

You can look into Earthborn Holistic Naturals, I like the primitive myself. Now, this IS a jump in price. It really is. I'll be completely straight forward with you. -However- I've found personally that its the cheapest grain free to feed. They've had no recalls that I've seen and its very meat-heavy for the price. ;D I was feeding TOTW which is considered the 'cheapest' grain free out there and I made the switch to Earthborn.. Did a bit of math ad was pretty astonished. TOTW was costing me $1.12 a day to feed whereas the Earthborn came out to be.. 75ish cents a day. We have a winner~

Also, I understand worrying about money, God I do. Any money I have goes towards the care of my daughter or my pets. I rarely have money to eat out, buy new clothes, ect. x.x I don't spend very much on myself.

The cheapest, and best route I have honestly found is raw. I get the most bang for my buck going down that road. I've gotten 50lbs for free before just asking around and I was offered atleast another 50lbs for free once again. Other than that, butchers will normally give you their perfectly good cast offs for really cheap if not free. If you happen to have to buy at say.. Walmart.. Chicken leg quarters make a good staple and are normally around 68-78 cents per pound. Whole chickens normally go on sale around here for 68 cents per pound. Do you guys have an Aldi? They have great deals. As stated before.. TOTW ws 1.12 for me. Feeding raw? I think it averaged out to be right around 66 cents a day. ;D I just don't have the time to actually put it into practice just yet beside a few meals a week. http://www.saddogsushi.com/ Has a raw calculator somewhere on their site. My 46lb muttface averaged out to need around 13-14oz a day of raw. Thats not even a whole pound. o.o;

So, I'm getting a new puppy (so excited!) but I'm not sure if her immune system is polarly different than my other dog's. She's a Chihuahua mix, and not expected to reach over five pounds. Our other dog is a fifty pound GSD mix. My questions:

Her foster mom is feeding her Pedigree. Is that a good brand? Should we continue with that, or switch her to Iams like my other dog? (Don't worry, Scout gets so much human food that it balances out for the crappy brand.) We're not exactly rich (I paid for the puppy's adoption fee), and I honestly find it a waste of money to spend it on expensive food, so please don't suggest a "better brand." I don't want to sound rude, but what money we have I would rather have go to vet bills rather than expensive food.

They are both equally terrible so feed whatever you please. I'm not going to be mean, but I believe tat animals should get the best of the best care including a high quality diet before another pet is even thought of being added to the mix. It shouldn't be "Well, this dog is getting mediocre care, so another one would be fine being added to the mix" thus stretching out the money even tighter and possibly resulting in both dogs getting poorer care. Not saying its the case here. As stated before.. All of my money goes to my animals and my daughter. I'm a dirt poor 'single' mother and about to be college student.. Doesn't get much worse. ;D However I've been able to fork up the cash for high quality diets AND vet bills. Expensive 500 dollar vet bills. xD

Also.. Dogs on high quality diets have -less- vet bills in general.

[GrumpyCinnamonster]

I like to give my animals actual meat, but I just don't trust raw chicken. Way to many salmonella scares with chicken products in general. I never buy pork or cow, and fresh turkey, game fowl, and lamb aren't always easy to find at reasonable prices. I personally hardly eat meat. I was on a vegan diet for a year, and when I gave it up I never really regained the desire to consume much meat(I eat fish or turkey maybe twice a month, but other than that my protein comes from pasteurized eggs and plant sources). I don't know if I completely agree with raw either. I know the benefits that raw can have(I myself went raw for some time), but I don't feel a diet needs to be 100% raw. You can still get all your nutrients from a diet that contains some cooked foods. Same thing with organic. I choose organic where I feel it makes the most difference. Oats, as an example, I eat just regular ol' Quaker. Fruit and veg on the other hand, I choose the organic that is on sale for the week at my local market, which actually saves me money(or comes out to the same price as non-organic) and forces me to buy a variety. To be honest though, I still have to make some exceptions on non-organic veg(no one seems to grow organic greens in my area! D:<), but I try my hardest to get the best I can afford and justify. Feeding cooked meat is just a preference of mine, and not something I'm interested in changing at this time.

Anyway, Earthborn is somewhat reasonable(more reasonable that most quality brands it seems...the ones not made by Diamond as least), and will probably stretch far with my homemade meals, so I may just go ahead and order it. I probably won't get the primitive one though, since my dogs aren't use to that kind of diet at this time. The small breed one looks similar to the Kirkland food in ingredients. I'll have to take a close look at it tomorrow. Thank you for the recommendation.

[flutterby.]

We feed our dogs raw food. Chicken wings, liver, vegetables, you know, that sort of thing. Well, I say we... My mum does; I'm half-vegetarian (yes, I know eating chicken isn't vegetarian, but htat's the only meat I do eat) and I can't stand the blood. We've found that our dogs are healthier, my older dog (12 years old) has got down to his healthy weight and my puppy (well, 10 month old) is equally healthy.