I used to feed my doggy poison. :D

[Lupen]

I personally feed my cats avoderm (wetfood). I don't know if it's the best out there, but it's definetly a wonderful brand with quite a bit of variety (you can even see the actual ingrediants in it, which is a plus, like whole shrimp) and all three of my cats are obsessed with it. It's the only healthy brand they'll eat, aside from a few flavors of Merrick's. I've tried evo, blue buffalo, innova, and wellness so far. They're all much healthier now.

Really anything that has some type of meat as the first ingrediant should be good.

[Jazi]

I feed Saffron EVO dry. I'd like to convert her to wet but she thinks wet food is pure poison! Instead I'm (slowly) converting her to raw.

[gemini_girl]

Someone should start a cat topic. My cat refuses raw I tried.

[Cardinal]

Someone should start a cat topic. My cat refuses raw I tried.

... >_>;

But really the same rules apply to cats, if not even more so because they are strict carnivores. I find Before Grain to be a good food price wise to dip your toes in the water, so to speak. Taste of the Wild isn't awful and Earthborn isn't either. A step up, and more loved I've found with my three, would be Blue Buffalo Wilderness,Wellness CORE, Acana, and Innova Prime. The best out there would probably be Evo, Orijen, and Natures Variety Instinct (all of which my cats go gaga over). If theres the question of cats not liking it find duck. Seriously. I haven't met a cat yet that didn't fawn all over duck. Its strong smelling, oily, and fatty.. Its like cat-crack.

Catinfo.org is a great site to poke around for all things cat diet.

[Jazi]

Cardinal, how to convince Titan's owner that freefeeding him IAMS is a bad idea? Spoilers, he's 120lbs and should probably be closer to 90, he looks like a barrel with legs from above but has a decent tuck-up from the side, and she doesn't think he's fat.

*waves at Cardinal* Kinda got bumped off the last page.

[gemini_girl]

Someone should start a cat topic. My cat refuses raw I tried.

... >_>;

But really the same rules apply to cats, if not even more so because they are strict carnivores. I find Before Grain to be a good food price wise to dip your toes in the water, so to speak. Taste of the Wild isn't awful and Earthborn isn't either. A step up, and more loved I've found with my three, would be Blue Buffalo Wilderness,Wellness CORE, Acana, and Innova Prime. The best out there would probably be Evo, Orijen, and Natures Variety Instinct (all of which my cats go gaga over). If theres the question of cats not liking it find duck. Seriously. I haven't met a cat yet that didn't fawn all over duck. Its strong smelling, oily, and fatty.. Its like cat-crack.

Catinfo.org is a great site to poke around for all things cat diet.

Sorry I just did not want to poof in here with cat questions when this thread is about dogs. Thanks for the site I will check it out.

[Cardinal]

Cardinal, how to convince Titan's owner that freefeeding him IAMS is a bad idea? Spoilers, he's 120lbs and should probably be closer to 90, he looks like a barrel with legs from above but has a decent tuck-up from the side, and she doesn't think he's fat.

*waves at Cardinal* Kinda got bumped off the last page.

I always feel super awkward having the last post on a page. WILL THE NOTICE?!? SHOULD I BRING IT UP IF IT LOOKS UNNOTICED?!? I just get super awkward and weird feeling because I feel intrusive or something by doing it. /end stupid rant

ANYWAYS! I'd try leading by example first and foremost. Getting your dog on a really good diet and watching his changes. I feel its easiest to get compliments for Luckys soft, shiny fur or muscle tone or lack of dog smell or white teeth THEN launching into a "Oh, yeah! Its all about her food.. I feed blah blah blah because those grocery store brands blah blah blah"... and my friends/family stand there bewildered wondering what in the world they got themselves into.

Otherwise approach cautiously "So, I was reading the other day and there were some fascinating articles/new information about 'x' brand of food.. wait.. don't you feed that? Anyways its about how chemical/thing 'y' reacts in the body (lets say yellow dye causing allergic reactions or BHT/BHA promoting tumor growth or how corn is really indigestible)...-.. Here let me send them to you so you can read up on it to!" or something like that...OORRR I heard just a couple days ago that Pet Supplies Plus is doing free consultations with a nutritionist and you get a free 15lb bag of dog food.. Pet Supplies Plus has also promoted pretty decent holistic food. Maybe its worth looking into ;D

-Approach nicely and never ac superior, concerned is much better
- Present fact in a clear and construct way, not blunt presay but don't beat around the bush
-Have several sites they can check out like dog food analyses.
-Show them a healthy weight chart

If this doesn't work I have no idea what to tell you. D: Their dog, their choices as much as it sucks sometimes.

[Banter.]

I just went to PETCO to look at prices for other good dog foods because my JRT has been refusing to eat her Natural Balance lately. The only good foods I could find were Blue Buffalo Grain Free (which was expensive!) and Wellness Core. I was hoping to find Taste of the Wild, but they didn't have it. I'm so glad I decided to stop by the Tractor Supply, where they had a 5 pound of Taste of the Wild for only 12 dollars, compared to 15 dollars for Natural Balance at PETCO!

Anyways, how is Taste of the Wild compared to Natural Balance in the aspect of health and taste?

[Cardinal]

I just went to PETCO to look at prices for other good dog foods because my JRT has been refusing to eat her Natural Balance lately. The only good foods I could find were Blue Buffalo Grain Free (which was expensive!) and Wellness Core. I was hoping to find Taste of the Wild, but they didn't have it. I'm so glad I decided to stop by the Tractor Supply, where they had a 5 pound of Taste of the Wild for only 12 dollars, compared to 15 dollars for Natural Balance at PETCO!

Anyways, how is Taste of the Wild compared to Natural Balance in the aspect of health and taste?

Feed stores are awesome places to find quality foods.

NB is a really good food, but not all of them are grain free and most of them are pretty carb heavy with really low protein.

Taste of the Wild has higher protein which is great for building healthy muscle and coat, you may or may not notice a difference in your dogs appearance given that Natural Balance is by no means a bad food. =) For what it is though, I've always found NB to be a bit overpriced in my opinion, but price varies by region. In closing, Taste of the Wild may be a step up from what you were feeding, but its certainly not a step down. ^^;

[Banter.]

Thank you! I'll have to try it out then!
I'm just hoping that she'll like the taste better than NB. I thought that she might not be hungry since she's on a better food, but she wouldn't touch the NB the other day, yet picked up all the pieces that my other pup dropped (who eats Purina). I also hope that it will help with the shedding. Since switching to NB, I've noticed that her coat is somewhat softer and shinier, but I'm still covered in white hairs ^^'