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Dog Food
I now have a love/hate relationship with PetSmart. On one hand, they do have a lot of dog products and services. I love that I can pay PetSmart to clip Shelby's nails. She squirms and whines when we try to do it, so it's worth the 8 bucks. On the other hand, whenever I bring Shelby with me, I am always approached by people selling their brand of dog food, or puppy classes, or whatever. It gets tiresome. We don't bring Shelby with us to PetSmart anymore because we're sick of people hawking their product on us. The last time we went, dog food reps approached us, and we conversed about how terribly Steven and I are feeding Shelby. Ugh.
But this did get me thinking. I should pay more attention to what Shelby eats. So I did some research on the Web. By and large, there seem to be an awful lot of sites that push one brand of dog food over another. I was looking for a non-partial view when I found this site. http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/dogfoods.html
I like that the site does not recommend one food over another, but rather it provides resources so that you can decipher dog food ingredients, and decide for yourself. I now choose Shelby's food with more confidence, since I am better informed on what is good for her. Shelby gets a mixture of wet and dry food twice a day. I was pleased with her dry food ingredients, but I switched to a higher quality wet food.
And of course, Shelby won't eat it. She seemed to really like it for about a week. Now she won't touch it.
This is the same puppy who loves eating the stuffing inside her toys, chewing dog litter, and enthusiastically tasted horse poop. Go figure.
May 31, 2004 | Permalink
Comments
My take on dog food is very simple: for thousands of years, dogs ate scraps. In many, if not most, countries of the world TODAY, dogs continue to eat scraps. Feeding a dog scraps and whatever kibble is affordable and edible is therefore perfectly acceptable. The rest is just yuppie nonsense designed to sell more products.
Posted by: James | Jun 5, 2004 5:54:26 AM
For your information, these are other high-quality-dog foods that I know, Eagle Pack (my choice, go to http://www.eaglepack.com/ for more information on this brand) and Solid Gold Health (go to http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/ for more information on this brand). Anyway, it is pretty odd for a breed with big appetite to become bored with her meal :-)
Posted by: Fari Nasution | Jun 5, 2004 11:07:13 PM
Wow, that surprises me. No one has ever approached me and Griffin at PetSmart.
Course, now that I think about it, I guess there aren't many people that want to approach a 130 pound dog. (Even though he's a big ole' sweet baby).
As far as food goes, there is a difference. There have been studies that show that dog foods made from sick animals can in fact make your dog sick. Cheap dogfoods are usually cheap for a reason. The ingredients are either inferior or are processed in an inferior manner. Some dogfoods that you buy at the grocery store have absolutely no nutritional value whatsoever.
I like Pro Plan. Griffin has a slight allergy to corn and Pro Plan is one of the few dog foods that doesn't have corn as a primary ingredient. I also like that they design very specific diets, such as in Griffin's case (large breed formulas contain supplements for joints, etc).
Posted by: Sabine | Jun 23, 2004 11:12:18 AM
Interesting. I always get approached at PetSmart. I wonder if they profile small dog owners. Maybe we tend to be more doting? Or maybe I just look like an easy sale :P
Posted by: Winnie Wong | Jun 23, 2004 5:55:52 PM
My family just brought home a pug puppy and I am a little worried since she has had about 6 bm's already today. I am feeding her about a tbsp of wet and small handful of dry food 3x a day. It seems to be going right through her. Any ideas? Am I feeding her too much? Should I switch to dry food only? Thanks!
Posted by: Susan | Jul 6, 2004 11:55:31 AM
Congrats on your new puppy!
Sometimes Shelby poops 6 times a day too. We have found 3 causes for a 6 stinker day.
1. We switch foods
2. She is getting a lot of exercise. Back when Shelby was jogging with Steven, there were about 6 poops a day.
3. We leave her alone. This seems to always trigger a poop. I don't know why.
I haven't really been concerned since the poops are all healthy, so we never took her to the vet over it. Maybe your pup's system is a bit jostled from moving to a new home. Another potential cause is inefficient food. Meaning, there may be a lot of filler in the food. Less efficiency = more poop.
I have heard that puppies should get a mix of wet and dry. I'm not sure if this is because of their digestive system, or if it's because they still have their milk teeth. Mostly I notice that wet food = gas, so it's probably a good thing that there's only one tbs of wet in the mix :)
But I'm no vet, and this is just personal experience, so if you're worried about it, maybe ask your vet about it when your pup gets his/her next shots.
Posted by: Winnie Wong | Jul 6, 2004 12:16:08 PM
I just got my pug puppy less than a week ago and was wondering how much wet food i should feed her? i can't find it anywhere on the internet thanks!!!
Posted by: Brenda | Dec 27, 2005 9:01:41 PM
We live in Omaha, NE and I go with our Shelby to local PetSmart about once every two weeks. It's a great place to walk and socialize when the weather is so nasty :-) But nobody ever approached us about anything...
Posted by: Daiva | Mar 19, 2006 2:11:15 AM
Can someone Please help me to determine how much food daily should I feed my three pugs? I have one overweight pug and have cut her food down to 1 cup per day, mostly dry mixed with 1 T wet and she still does not loose any weight. I have started walking daily, but now she seems even more hungry. HELP!
Posted by: Kathy | Oct 30, 2006 4:34:38 PM
hi all
i hav 2 pugs.. my pug is pregnant again but last time she ate her 1 pup n didnt feed the rest. i tried feending them puppy lack but they all died. pls can anyone giv me advise about wat to do
thanks nilesh
Posted by: nilesh | Jun 23, 2008 11:33:28 PM
You say about Shelby wont eat the new food it is proberly a simple reson you feed her too much this can be if she is fat or not could not realy c from pic. but the old food u gave you proberly had too feed more cas it is lower qulity with a good qulity food u feed less my dog is about the same size as yours and gets a hanfull of burns biscuite withe either quater can burns or same with nater diet food. these are the webs if you are interested pls dont think i am trying to pressure you to buy www.burns-petnutrition.co.uk naturediet.co.uk i was told this about feeding too much by burns is nutritonal advisor
Posted by: Toni | Jul 2, 2008 5:16:00 AM
also i am not sure if they sell in the u.s or not but the important thing is the qulity and amount e.g no animal by products presvatives (vitamine e and rosmary oil are good prevatives too) no colours or wheat soya and corndervatives these are ones too look out for hope this helps xx
Posted by: Toni | Jul 2, 2008 5:23:48 AM
Also to the person with the overwegight pug i would feed it i hanfull biscuits and quater of a small bean sived tin. walk twice a day. and you could feed one or two times it dose not realy matter about stomac upsets if it is high qulity food e.g am hanfull bics pm qulter tin or once a day hanfull bics plus quater tin. my dog which is a chi cross jack and is the same sive as a pug gets this much and she is fed some days once some day twice it makes no difference to her digestion and she has never been sick or anything eg when i am at wrk she gets two meals when i am not she gets one
Posted by: Toni | Jul 3, 2008 11:44:32 AM
Friendship is in my life a lamp which lights up my soul.
Posted by: Retro Air Jordans | Dec 8, 2010 11:00:44 PM
if you love your dog--- i mean, want to give that little living thing all youve got because lifes too short and giving is recieving-- then lets break this down:
commercial dog food is made to rip off the consumer. when it comes to pets, its a sure fire way to make a handsome profit. Pets cant talk. They cant tell you eating the same dried bits of barf everyday SUCKS. and if you dont really care anyway... then the chrap price of petfood is appealing to you.
BUT
if you were to be bought just after birth, forced to eat meat rendered insufficient for human consumtion by the leniant standards of the FDA, corn byproducts (what the hells that!? powdered corn swept off the floors from other food production facilities-mmmm.), etc etc etc YUCK...
well, life would be less vibrant.
I love my pug. sorry to those bitter and intolerant types, but shes my baby. i have an expansive and eternal appriciation for living beings and dogs bring lots of joy into the world.
so, in conclusion, whats good? protein-meat, carbs- WHOLE GRAINS, vitamins and minerals FROM THE EARTH (veggies anyone?)
yeah its cheaper. the vet bills are few and far between. and... ITS WORTH IT.
Posted by: meg | Jan 24, 2011 3:41:55 PM
Definitely! The cheaper the better.
Posted by: insurance web design | Mar 21, 2011 3:47:11 AM
Is it safe to my pug icecream
Posted by: Tara | Apr 24, 2011 3:38:20 AM
Well, it should be, although, it's no healthier than people eating ice cream.
Posted by: Winnie | Apr 24, 2011 5:06:13 PM
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