I started my dogs on chicken & rice when my first shih tzu tested positive for a beef allergy. As you all say, it is hard to feed everyone different foods!

When we first got Tibby she was so malnourished. The vet recommended a lamb-based food that was from some New Zealand lamb (or some such foolishness). I bought it and Tibby has doubled her weight (not good!) and although she still doesn't have the full, thick coat that a Cavalier should have her's is much better.

I've had good luck with my dogs on ProPlan, too.

Right now everyone is on diet food. I'm trying to keep Sasha at 10 pounds or so, but the other two definitely need to shed some pounds. The thing to do is to just give the ones that don't need to diet more of the food! I had my group on such a low amount at one time that they were losing weight but were also going after each other over everything - like a bird feather on the floor!

I was taught that the bigger breeds do better with the lowest protein level you can find. I found it to be true with the Golden and my friends' big dogs. The more protein the more hot spots for some reason.

My one and only cat eats CMN/UR, which I get from the vet clinic. (The dogs right now are on the OM - also from the vet.) I used to argue frequently with the Science Diet people that my cats would all get urinary tract infections when I fed their foods but they told me I was wrong. I finally left it alone - no sense beating a dead horse and I lived with the cats, not them!

Wouldn't it be great for a lot of us if we spent as much time and effort on our own diets as we do our pets? I'm sure I could drop a pound or two if I didn't hear chocolate ice cream calling me right now!!

BTW, Rav, I read something like that a long time ago - but I think it was to advertise some food. I remeber specifically that it mentioned fish for my shih tzu because that is what they would be eating if they were still in China. Don't people realize that most of these animals have been bred and lived here for an awful long time and I would think that a lot of those qualities would be out of them by now???

I'm glad you brought that up again(I think it was you critter) about low protein for large dogs. I was looking at all the different brands nutrition level (high qaulity food) and I noticed that the lowest protein level I could find was 18% in the Nutro Natural Diet food. All the other brands were higher. I remember you saying that can cause itching and they don't need so much protein. I just stuck with the Nutro diet because I couldn't find anything lower.
If you know of a really good food that's lower in protein , let me know. My one golden has itchy feet inside the pad area, and sometimes other parts of his body too.But he is doing a little better now, it seems worse in the winter.

I have seen 15% and 16% but don't remember what they were and it seems they were undesirable for some other reason. Ol' Roy, foods for "working dogs" (how many of our dogs REALLY work?), etc., usually pump up the protein to improve the taste.

(Another useless, trivial comment - the reason dogs like cat food and the resulting excrement is because it is so high in protein. YUCK!!)

This is a subject that I feel very passionately about. Having said that, I feed McKenzy Solid Gold (Hund-N-Flocken) that is soaked in water, and I also offer dry Innova food.

I am thinking about switching her to a better food than Solid Gold though. I have not yet made a decision on if I really want to do this or not, as she has been eating the Solid Gold since she was about 9 months old.

I'm pretty sure I've heard of that solid gold food, in fact I think I bought the can kind to mix with the dry. I always mix a little bit of high quality can food with the dry to give their food more flavor.
What is the protein level of the solid gold dry? Would you be able to list the first few ingrediants here?
I use California Natural can, but I would love to use their dry also but it's really expensive and never on sale.

I have'nt used the Hund N Flocken but have had good results with the Mmellenia and the canned SG.
The website is www.solidgoldhealth.com

Hund N Flocken: 22% protein/ 8% fat
Lamb meal, ground millet, ground brown rice, ground barley, amaranth, rice bran oil, canola oil, flaxseed oil, rice bran, fish meal, garlic, blueberries, yucca schidigera extract, taurine, carotene, choline chloride, calcium carbonate, Vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, Vitamin A supplement, zinc proteinate, niacin supplement, folic acid, thiamine, pyridoxine hydrochloride, manganese proteinate, menadione, copper proteinate, ethylenediamine dihydriodide.

Mmellenia Beef & Barley: 22% protein/ 12% fat
Beef Meal, Ground Barley, Ground Brown Rice, Menhaden Fish Meal, Flax Seed Oil, Salmon Oil, Rice Bran Oil, Garlic, Parsley, Thyme, Seaweed Meal, Cranberries, Sweet Potatoes, Apples, Carrots & the same vitamin/mineral pack as our other formulas.

I am copying and pasting from their web site below:

http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/

Hund-n-Flocken Adult Dog Food Flakes

Ingredients

Lamb meal, ground millet, ground brown rice, ground barley, amaranth, rice bran oil, canola oil, flaxseed oil, rice bran, fish meal, garlic, blueberries, yucca schidigera extract, taurine, carotene, choline chloride, calcium carbonate, Vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, Vitamin A supplement, zinc proteinate, niacin supplement, folic acid, thiamine, pyridoxine hydrochloride, manganese proteinate, menadione, copper proteinate, ethylenediamine dihydriodide.

Guaranteed Analysis
Protein Min 22%
Fat Min 8%
Fiber Max 5%
Moisture Max 10%
Caloriesperlb 1741

Other Information
Hund and Hundchen are available in 4, 15 and 33 pounds.

The first thing that strikes me is the ground millet as the second ingredient......my dogs get plenty of the "grind your own" variety by searching around the bird cages!

You know, this could go on forever - everybody has their own favorites (or their dog's own favorite!) and as long as everyone in the house who dishes it out then cleans it up is satisfied I guess that's all that matters.

Not trying to put you down, Kristy. Please don't take it that way. I find the fish flakes interesting since as I said earlier my shih tzu should be fed fish.

Thanks for sharing the info!

Crittercall, I totally did not take it as a put down. I said that I was thinking about placing her on a better quality food, but I really do not know enough to know what IS better. I am certainly open to any suggestions.

I think California Natural dosen't have any thing called "Meal" or "by product". So first ingred. is Lamb, springwater,brown rice, sunflower oil, flaxseed,ect... now that's the can food , but I'm pretty sure the dry is the same way.I'll look when I'm at Pet shop.

I know when I use to put a little can pedigree in their food , it turned their teeth brown and gross, but with this Cal. natural the teeth stay clean.

My schip gets the runs from any canned food, he can eat people food all day and be fine but any canned dog food and he gets ill.

He has really liked Iams and I have been feeding it to him for 6 months now. It has done a great job of keeping his teeth clean. I hear that One has a good formula for keeping their teeth clean as well.

I give Moose scrambled eggs once every could of weeks and he gets other things from the boys (I do not approve of this) but he has a varied diet with kibble as the primary source. I think this is a good plan for him. His stomach is so touchy that I don't mess with what works for him unless his vet makes the call.

I have the whole ingredient list from the Nutro Natural Choice Lamb & Rice if anyone is interested.

I use only 1/4 the can per feeding of each of my dogs. It dosen't cause any problem. But in the past I think Ive used certain can foods that were way to rich and caused indigestion and some dierreah- I believe my 1 dog had trouble with can Iams being too rich for him.

Sure Becky, why not list list ingrediants- it's fun to make the comparisons. In fact I think I'm going to buy that dry california Natural very soon - and I'll list the ingrediants here too.

They say the bigger the nugget also helps teeth stay clean, because they have to really chew it instead of gulping it down. That's what ticks me off about a lot of foods, the nuggets are too darn small.

How about Dena's "Greenies"? She got my dogs hooked on them! Good for the teeth and the dogs like 'em too.

Those greenies are great! And very safe too. Too bad we can't get a 30 pound bag for $20.00- wouldn't that be great. Those dental chews that pedegree make are just like greenies, but they arn't green. My dogs love both kinds. I don't buy raw hide or anything like rawhide because my dogs swallow huge peices and thay barf it up later. I worry about it getting stuck in their gut. I have enough problems with them.
The pig ears they enjoy too, I get the puff kind- I believe they're much safer than raw hides. Does anyone know anything bad about pig ears? I know your suppose to make sure they make them in USA.