Dog food...

[Angelnstuff]

Allie had been on science diet since she was born, cuz of the extra DHA? The vet said it may help with her development issues.
When allie turned a year old we were about out of food so we went ahead and got her some adult science diet. which shes been on for about 5 months now. i dont think she likes it as much, and, not to be gross or anything, but her poops are, irregular, for lack of a better word. sometimes her seem really small, and hard.
do you think we should put her back on the puppy formula? or try a different recipe maybe?

[Chrisanne]

I wouldn't feed my dog ANY variation of science diet.

However, if it causes problems i'd talk to the vet about it and maybe try another formula.

[pitbullforever]

i would call your vet and ask them what they think.

[Sasami]

Quote: Originally Posted by Chrisanne I wouldn't feed my dog ANY variation of science diet. However, if it causes problems i'd talk to the vet about it and maybe try another formula.

I second that .

[Elvis Lee Mommy]

I'd certainly call & ask the vet, however, the vet may recommend something that they sell, rather than what is best for your dog. Has your dog lost weight on the new food?

I would not go back to Any puppy formula because that kind of food has more protein for growing dogs, which would be too much for an adult dog.

I am careful about what I feed my Elvis Lee. I will not give him dog food or treats that have byproducts, fillers or preservatives. He was eating Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lovers Soul dry food, & vet suggested switching him to the adult formula at this age, which we did. It's holistic dog food & he really likes it.

There are several brands out there with no byproducts, fillers or preservatives so you may want to look into those as a new food. Many of these holistic dog foods have small one or two pound bags you can buy to try to see if your dog likes it.

Remember when switching foods, mix the old formula with the new and whean the dog off the old food over a period of about a week.

[christine]

I like Purina One. My old dog lived on Science Diet and did well but I don't knwo that I like it any more. I now like Purina One or Iams. We also use Nature's Diet...or something like that

[Denise]

Vets don't know jack about nutrition. Nutrition studies make up a very small portion of their education. Purina, Iams, Science Diet, are not adequate foods for a dog. Any dog food that lists corn as the first ingredient is bad. Corn is basically nothing but a cheap filler. And ingredients that have by-products in it are suspicious at best. There are so many high quality foods on the market these days. Nature's Variety, Timberwolf, Wellness, Canidae, Solid Gold, etc.

[corgimom]

I agree with avoided Science Diet/ food with alot of fillers. We used to use Nutro Max and Nutro Natural Choice when Ein was a puppy, but he is lazy and gained alot of weight. Tucker has a sensitive stomach and brittle nails, so we use Pro Plan for Sensitive Skin and Stomach now.

There are tons of good foods out there. In addition to the ones Denise listed, there are some other choices that are a little easier to find in pet stores (in my town, a few of the ones listed above can be found, but are hard to track down. Some of them, I've never seen). Any "premium" dog food would be an improvement. (I know Science Diet claims to be premium, but it isn't much better than grocery brands). Some examples of foods easy to find here at places like PetSmart and Petco:
ProPlan, Eukeneuba, Nutro Max, Nutro Natural Choice, there's one other Nutro line that I can't remember the name of, Natural Balance (at Petco, but not PetSmart).

I know there are others, but that's all I can think of at the moment.

[Puttin510]

Natural Balance is a good kibble, and is all life stages, puppys, adult and senior. Its a worthy kibble. Science diet has corn and wheat I believe, Alot of dogs are allergic to those items. Plus they are cheap fillers. Plus they add bht, a possible cancer causing preservative.

[Puttin510]

Heres a great site for checking food in greediants, and comparing foods,
www.naturapet.com

[Sasami]

Quote: Originally Posted by Denise Vets don't know jack about nutrition. Nutrition studies make up a very small portion of their education. Purina, Iams, Science Diet, are not adequate foods for a dog. Any dog food that lists corn as the first ingredient is bad. Corn is basically nothing but a cheap filler. And ingredients that have by-products in it are suspicious at best. There are so many high quality foods on the market these days. Nature's Variety, Timberwolf, Wellness, Canidae, Solid Gold, etc.

I completely agree .

I feed Innova and in the past fed Wellness until it got too tricky to find.

[christine]

I use purina one for my cats and corn is not the first ingredient nor in the top five.

[pitbullforever]

Quote: Originally Posted by christine I like Purina One. My old dog lived on Science Diet and did well but I don't knwo that I like it any more. I now like Purina One or Iams. We also use Nature's Diet...or something like that

i use purina one too i use it for the dog i have now and the dog i used to have i also feed my cats purina one too. it makes their coat shiney and there teeth are white they are very heatly on it and they love it. the vet that i work at suggests it very stronly.

[Sasami]

Quote: Originally Posted by christine I use purina one for my cats and corn is not the first ingredient nor in the top five.

After you said that I was curious so I went and looked at the ingredients and I'm afraid you must've mis-read.

The third ingredient is corn gluten meal and then later down the list corn is listed again...as "whole grain corn". Corn is a filler and isn't very good for cats (they can't even digest it) so I don't like the fact it's in there twice. It seems that the food is mostly made out of corn and rice! Cats are carnivores so they need a food that is mostly meat.

I wasn't impressed with the dog food either...it was mostly the same.

It's not a horrible food or anything...it's just that there are so many better ones out there. It's great if your cats do well on it...I just would never feed it to my animals. Of course, I'm a health nut and I always have to check the ingredients of anything I eat or am feeding to my pets .

[Puttin510]

I feed Innova to my terrier mix Rufus. It saved him from the itchy skin. And when Sasha my poodle was on it she digested her food better, she used to have the gurling stomach on euk, science diet, that stuff. She would burp hours later and it smelled like she just ate, but did not.
Right now, I have my poodles on a Holistic food called Artemis-small breed.
I read cat can have the same allergies to wheat and corn. They are the same as dogs carnivores. One reason why you see so many cats in the vet with liver failure is not enough water in their diet. The ideal food for them is the canned wet food. Alot of cats don't drink enough water.