Looking For A Good Food For Greyhounds

[Guest DragonGrey84]

my husband and I are looking into adopting a greyhound and are looking for a good dog food that is not too costly?

[Brindles]

What's your price range?

[OwnedBySummer]

I feed a grain-free kibble: Taste Of The Wild -- High Prairie flavor (bison and venison). I don't know if this is beyond your budget but it is a more premium food. You'll find quite a lot of greyhound people feed this brand. It's available in various flavors.

[tydyelady]

Kirkland brand food sold by Costco. It is a very good food, LOTS of people on this board feed it to their dogs, including us. It is sold in a Chicken & Rice and a Lamb & Rice formula, depending on what protein source your hound does better on. And you won't know that until you get the dog. Our Opie does not do well on a chicken based diet, gives him mooshy poos, but does great on lamb.

AND, you can't beat the price - $23-25 (depending where you live) for 40 lbs!

[PrairieProf]

Since you don't have a greyhound yet, you should know that all you'd be doing at this point is choosing the first food you're going to try . . . not all greyhounds (or all dogs of any kind) do well on all foods, so what a "good food" for your dog is will depend entirely on your dog. It's trial and error unless you're really lucky the first time out, or have a very cast-iron-gut sort of hound. (Many newly adopted greyhounds tend to have loose stool problems.) At this point you might do best learning about what makes a food good or poor quality in a general way. You can also learn a ton reading the archives of this section of the forum.

 

Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream (fish based) has worked well for me and lots of others here.

[inugrey]

The important thing is to pay attention to the protein percentages. Greyhounds for Dummies recommends somewhere in the higher 20s. There are options from Pro Plan to the higher priced foods like EVO or Taste of the Wild.

 

I've been through many foods with my sensitive tummy guy so like others have said pick one now but be prepared to work with your dog's digestion.

 

I also like Taste of the Wild fish.

[Guest PhillyPups]

I have always been lucky to have "iron-gut" hounds that do well on Kirkland.

 

Good luck and enjoy your hound.

[Guest KennelMom]

If you need a less expensive food, Kirkland or Diamond Naturals (not regualar Diamond, Diamond Naturals!) is inexpensive and readily available. We've fed both and had decent results. It's definitely variable by hound though...some did well on each, some did worse (loose poops that never firmed, gas, dandruff, things like that). Most were somewhere in the middle at "acceptable."

 

We've had the best results across the board with Taste of the Wild High Prairie. It's the only food that every dog in the pack does really well on and produces firm poops and no gas. I suspect it's because it's grain free and a novel protein for all of them. Around here its $42/bag and we feed a range of 2.5 cups for small 50lb dogs up to 4 cups for our large 75+ lb males. Most of our pack is in the middle range at 3cups/day. TOTW is the most wallet friendly, grain free food.

Edited November 10, 2010 by KennelMom

[FountainLady]

If you have a Tractor Supply store near you - check out their 4Health dog foods. They are grain free and manufactured just for them by Diamond. They are a true premium dog kibble, at an affordable price.

 

Their Chicken and Rice formula runs about $30.00 for a 35# bag, the Lamb & Rice blend runs about $35.00 for the big bag. One of these large 35# bags last me about 3 weeks with two Greyhounds.

[Guest KennelMom]

If you have a Tractor Supply store near you - check out their 4Health dog foods. They are grain free and manufactured just for them by Diamond. They are a true premium dog kibble, at an affordable price.

 

Their Chicken and Rice formula runs about $30.00 for a 35# bag, the Lamb & Rice blend runs about $35.00 for the big bag. One of these large 35# bags last me about 3 weeks with two Greyhounds.

 

um...rice is a grain. as is barley. it looks like it's corn/wheat free, which is good. I'm guessing it's a similar formula to Diamond Naturals which is Diamond's line of corn/wheat free kibbles.

[FountainLady]

If you have a Tractor Supply store near you - check out their 4Health dog foods. They are grain free and manufactured just for them by Diamond. They are a true premium dog kibble, at an affordable price.

 

Their Chicken and Rice formula runs about $30.00 for a 35# bag, the Lamb & Rice blend runs about $35.00 for the big bag. One of these large 35# bags last me about 3 weeks with two Greyhounds.

 

um...rice is a grain. as is barley. it looks like it's corn/wheat free, which is good. I'm guessing it's a similar formula to Diamond Naturals which is Diamond's line of corn/wheat free kibbles.

 

Sorry - I meant to type it is "junk" grain free ... Just lost my mother-in-law to cancer yesterday, my mind is in a fog .....

[racindog]

IMHO a greyhound is a Ferrari and requires premium fuel. Most other dogs are like chevrolets and can use regular. Eventually though substandard nutrition in greyts will manifest itself in expensive possibly painful problems. I feed raw meat and Solid Gold to mine. It is around $50 for a 33# bag. The raw is usually a little over $2/lb because I only feed raw beef, not chicken. That's just a personal thing. vAll very reasonable and they need the quality nutrition-just like us- to stay healthy. I don't have skin and coat problems etc. It keeps them healthy because it is quality food.

[Guest Energy11]

Kirkland brand food sold by Costco. It is a very good food, LOTS of people on this board feed it to their dogs, including us. It is sold in a Chicken & Rice and a Lamb & Rice formula, depending on what protein source your hound does better on. And you won't know that until you get the dog. Our Opie does not do well on a chicken based diet, gives him mooshy poos, but does great on lamb.

AND, you can't beat the price - $23-25 (depending where you live) for 40 lbs!

 

 

I second this recommendation! Even though I have NO Costco near me :-( , friend brought some of the Chicken Rice and veggies kibble to Mt. Hounds for me. Mine LOVED it, and it is an EXCELLENT food.

 

If you have no Costo near you, I feed Chicken Soup. Good Luck!

[cleptogrey]

start off with what ever your adoption group had the pup on, it takes a while for them to settle into your house. be slow and deliberate in your change unless you can keep the pup on the original food. they seem to need at least 24%protien and 14% fat content in their food to maintain healthy skin and coat. there is an excellent list and grades of food on greytalk at the begining of the food section. always do some price checking both online and locally. i stick w/ hollistic select large breed for my female and hollistic seclect duck and oatmeal for my sesitive male pup.

 

the type of food will depend upon activity, sensitivity, size and nature of your pup. best of luck!

Edited November 10, 2010 by cleptogrey

[seeh2o]

I'm really happy w/Kirkland (Costco) Lamb & Veggies, both dogs do well on it and I love the price. The price of Costco membership is erased after the purchase of two bags, so it's a real bargain. Carl did not do well on their chicken. It really depends on the dog, you'll see others who have done well on the chicken and had loose poo and horrid gas on the lamb.

[Guest Sunset123]

Another vote for Kirkland. The price of Costco membership is worth the savings on dogfood alone.

 

We use Lamb and Veggies because my dog doesn't digest poultry well.

Edited November 11, 2010 by Sunset123

[Guest lasharp1209]

The short answer is "whatever works for your dog."

 

Of course you will want to start off with whatever the dog has been eating before... and then try the best food you can afford (you've gotten some good recommendations here already so I won't repeat them). HOWEVER, it is possible that after trying 3 or 4 wonderful foods, you just can't get that elusive firm poop

 

This is why Blade now eats IAMS (green bag). I'd love for him to be on a grain-free, premium food, and I'm even willing to pay for it, but we just haven't found any his system tolerates well. We tried at least 5 different "good" foods. On IAMS, he has nice firm poops for the first time in 8-9 months, and if that's the way it is for him, so be it.

 

We may end up trying a better food later on down the road, but for now I'm sticking with what works. Poor guy's system needs a break

Edited November 11, 2010 by lasharp1209

[Guest sirsmom]

We've tried all the foods out there. For economy, ours did not do well on Costco or Diamond Naturals but did do well on Authority (Petsmart's brand) As one of the posters mentioned, you may have to try out some different brands before you settle on one, as each dog is different. I also wanted to add that Iams Healthy Naturals (found in grocery stores) is very good also.

Edited November 11, 2010 by sirsmom

[Guest Profgumby]

If you have a Tractor Supply store near you - check out their 4Health dog foods. They are grain free and manufactured just for them by Diamond. They are a true premium dog kibble, at an affordable price.

 

Their Chicken and Rice formula runs about $30.00 for a 35# bag, the Lamb & Rice blend runs about $35.00 for the big bag. One of these large 35# bags last me about 3 weeks with two Greyhounds.

 

That is good to know! I never would have thought of looking at TS for dog food. Just another option available. But I have to wonder just how much the 4Health food varies from the Diamond Naturals or the Kirkland stuff. Or the Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul we feed out girls. They are all premium foods from Diamond. They are all priced relatively the same as well. They can't be that different, can they?

[greg1229]

If you are lucky enough to live near a Costco it may be one of the few that carry it's Nature's Domain grain-free salmon and sweet potato food. It's something like $30 for a 35lb bag. Just the price of the big dog beds makes the membership worth it.

[Guest greytgravy]

We've tried all the foods out there. For economy, ours did not do well on Costco or Diamond Naturals but did do well on Authority (Petsmart's brand) As one of the posters mentioned, you may have to try out some different brands before you settle on one, as each dog is different. I also wanted to add that Iams Healthy Naturals (found in grocery stores) is very good also.

 

 

Cam uses a mix of Authority Lamb and Wellness Small Breed Super5 Mix Adult. He can't tolerate the high protein foods (his stool was beyond mushy and into runny) so I mix it up. He did well on Authority, but after like 3 or 4 UTIs this year, I'm transitioning him from Authority to Wellness to see if it helps. He might just have a jacked up system, which wouldn't surprise me. He's not a full-sized greyhound, but an Italian Greyhound. However he thinks he's a big one.

 

I definitely second the trying different kinds. When you transition, try both ends of the spectrum. If yours can't handle Beneful (cheaper) or Blue Buffalo quality, look for middle of the road and go from there. I had to try that and landed on Authority. His stomach is settling down, as he ages, and it's easier to try foods. You may have to mix the foods, too. To find the perfect balance. Every dog's system is individual. My mom's dog, a JRT/daschsund/min pin mix, can eat Beneful but recently we switched her over to Authority because she refused her food but ate my dog's (I have a small bag at mom's for when I'm gone at dinner).

 

And you may have to change the amount of food. My dog eats about 4 cups a day and hasn't gained any weight cause he never stops moving except to sleep.

[Guest Tokolos]

Sprinkles eats Taste of the Wild High Prairie. It was the only food out of all the ones we tried that he liked and completely eliminated the diarrhea. We also supplement his diet with raw chicken feet.

[brandimom]

The important thing is to pay attention to the protein percentages. Greyhounds for Dummies recommends somewhere in the higher 20s. There are options from Pro Plan to the higher priced foods like EVO or Taste of the Wild.

 

I've been through many foods with my sensitive tummy guy so like others have said pick one now but be prepared to work with your dog's digestion.

 

I also like Taste of the Wild fish.

You like Taste of the Wild but does your grey:lol

[Guest TexasGreytMom]

I agree that it's a good idea to at first feed whatever the adoption group is feeding your pup. That will make the transition much easier (and less messy) on you and your pup. We've fed many different dry foods over the years and have switched when one pup or the other developed a sensitive stomach or seemed to be less tolerant (gas, loud tummy, the big D, etc.) of a certain food.

 

We're now feeding our girls Diamond Naturals Lamb Meal & Rice that we buy at Tractor Supply. We were thrilled to find a food that the girls like, that has a protein count of 23%, and is available locally for us. Prior to finding it at Tractor Supply, we drove 1-1/2 hours to the city to Petsmart to buy their food. The last time we bought it it was 40# for $29.99.

Edited November 14, 2010 by TexasGreytMom

[Guest alf7199]

I currently feed Kirkland with great results. No tummy troubles for my boy on it, lamb bothers him BIG time, so Kirkland Chicken & Rice... he was on Purina ProPlan when he came off-track, no problem with that either. Just now it is more convinient (and cheaper) to get Kirkland.