What Garbage Kibble Should I Buy?

[September]

I was shocked to see that Tops Supermarket actually sells holistic dog/cat food. I realize there might not be a Tops in your area, but this thread made me think about that.

I was looking at Walmart and they had a new brand of Purina (One Beyond?) or something like that. I think it was supposed to be their version of holistic food.

 

My dogs do really well on Wellness- I finally switched back to it after Tractor Supply started carrying it. I don't consider it a "cheap food", but I think my dogs do great on it. I've tried just about every high end food with less than stellar results.

My one dachshund is on Science Diet. He's been on that since a health scare he had a year ago or so. He got really sick, had diarrhea in his kennel and everything. He was on Taste of the Wild at the time. I'd like to put him on Wellness but I don't dare.

 

Good luck with your search- I would definitely take a look at Walmart if you can. I think they might have something that would work.

[Guest sirsmom]

Purina One or Iams lamb are not bad pricewise and the dogs like and do well on them and easy to buy at BJ's or Walmart.

[Guest BrianRke]

Our local Pet-Smart is a rip-off when it comes to cheap kibble... selling 35 pound bags for the same price that Wal-Mart and Tractor Supply sells 44 and 50 pound bags for. The basic kibble that has given us the best results is basic green bag Purina Dog Chow. $21.95 for 46 pounds from Wal-Mart. Bouncy poo. Decent coats. Our greys do fantastic on it straight. But we have been mixing it with some better stuff, not because of results, but because of ingredient lists. If money gets tight, the Purina is fine. Our last non grey foster thrived on it.

Ack, I don't know if I'm going to be able to do it. Looked at ingredients - corn, meat meal, corn meal, soybean meal, meat by product in that order. This isn't food imho. I have heard decent things about Blue Buffalo stuff, and I like Wellness. I wonder if either of those would meet my smaller stool volume/not super expensive criteria? The one good thing is that my foster is only 30 lbs so she eats 2-3 cups of food per day rather than 4-5.

 

I agree....YUCK

[Pippin]

My dogs get Purina One Healthy Weight, or something like that. It's $30 for 34lbs at my PetSmart, and one big bag lasts me 2 weeks for my 2 greys. We used to do sensitive stomach, until I bought the wrong bag one time by mistake,a nd they scarfed it up

[silverfish]

We had occasional issues with Jeffie and his gut since we took him on about a year ago up till recently. We had him on some good quality kibbles like JWB, and those for sensitive dogs, with home-cooked add-ins and only really high-quality tinned food (including reindeer, if you please). Nothing really helped and he wouldn't gain weight.

 

In desperation I thought I'd try a high protein kibble (he's ten and it's not normally what I'd do with a senior) and because his system is so touchy, I decided to go for the racing kibble he'd always been fed at the kennel.

 

So now Jeffie is fed 'Odds On' greyhound 'active dog' kibble. It costs £10 per sack, he loves it, and he's put on a decent amount of weight. I doubt he'll ever be fat, but he's active, happy, and has a super shiny coat.

 

The downside is that although his poop is fairly solid and pick-up-able (and often bounces - always a good thing! ), there is a lot of it, because this is NOT a low-residue food. Small price to pay, though, IMHO.

 

Sorry - that was a very roundabout way to say 'why not try whatever he was fed as a racer?' I don't know about the US, but here in England, greyhound 'track' food is tax-free which makes it a LOT cheaper. Odds On is literally a quarter of the price of James Wellbeloved.

[Guest june]

Have a friend who feeds Pedigree and her dogs are among the healthiest and happiest I know.

[JohnF]

Sorry - that was a very roundabout way to say 'why not try whatever he was fed as a racer?' I don't know about the US, but here in England, greyhound 'track' food is tax-free which makes it a LOT cheaper. Odds On is literally a quarter of the price of James Wellbeloved.

 

I changed Peggy away from JWB too because poops were never well formed and she doesn't tolerate greasy food. Swapped from Lamb and Rice to Turkey and rice without any real difference. Then tried the Green Bag of Iams which worked. Then found a hypoallergic kibble of similar recipe for working dogs from Gelert 'Country Choice' which is £26 a 15 kilo bag as opposed to £40, and this is almost as good in the poop department as Iams.

 

When I tried gold greyhound food there was so much extra poop, the gas was dire (made somewhat better by feeding yoghurt), and her teeth were messy.

[Guest Houndie]

Well I ended up with something that wasn't discussed at all. Petsmart apparently makes their own food marketed to be healthy and "natural" called Simply Nourish. No corn or by-products - first 4 ingredients in order are chicken, chicken meal, brown rice, & oatmeal. It's a little more expensive than Iams, but the 7 lb bag happened to be on sale, putting in back in the same ballpark so I figured I'll give it a shot.

 

Of course, it was only once I was back in the car that I thought I could have bought the Iam's and tried going 50/50 with the Kirkland grain-free she's already on, but I think I'll try that with the Simply Nourish and see how that goes. I'd love to use up the stuff that I have and I couldn't decide whether to transition her or just switch her cold turkey so this will work.

 

If this food doesn't work at all, the Iam's green bag will definitely be next. Thanks for all of the input everyone and aside from the last pointless comment, keeping it light.

 

I will be interested to see how things go with the Simply Nourish. We got caught in the Diamond dog food issues, and decided to give the Simply Nourish a try. From a taste standpoint, our grey loves it. However, from an output standpoint, the consistency is good, but he is pooping 4-5 times a day. And, not small amounts! The ingredients look good, so I don't know what the issue is. We tried the salmon variety, as he seems to do best on that. So, it is back to the drawing board for us.

[Guest jbox]

Couldn't get the green bag of Iams to work for mine but I have been using Iams Lamb & Rice for about 3 years now with excellent results!

[Guest sirsmom]

Couldn't get the green bag of Iams to work for mine but I have been using Iams Lamb & Rice for about 3 years now with excellent results!

 

The lamb has lower fat and one of mine does best on it too.

[Hubcitypam]

Couldn't get the green bag of Iams to work for mine but I have been using Iams Lamb & Rice for about 3 years now with excellent results!

 

The lamb has lower fat and one of mine does best on it too.

just depends if your dog likes lamb. All of mine have never really liked it. We used to go back and forth between Iams chicken and lamb with no problem, but my guys only grudginly (sp) ate the lamb.

[NeylasMom]

Sorry - that was a very roundabout way to say 'why not try whatever he was fed as a racer?' I don't know about the US, but here in England, greyhound 'track' food is tax-free which makes it a LOT cheaper. Odds On is literally a quarter of the price of James Wellbeloved.

She's not a greyhound. This is for my mixed breed foster - the group is calling her a whippet mix, but who knows what she really is. She was found as a stray so aside from the kennel mix, I have no knowledge of what she was previously fed.

 

I will be interested to see how things go with the Simply Nourish. We got caught in the Diamond dog food issues, and decided to give the Simply Nourish a try. From a taste standpoint, our grey loves it. However, from an output standpoint, the consistency is good, but he is pooping 4-5 times a day. And, not small amounts! The ingredients look good, so I don't know what the issue is. We tried the salmon variety, as he seems to do best on that. So, it is back to the drawing board for us.

So far not so good. She was on about 2/3 Simply Nourish and 1/3 the old food and yesterday we had more accidents in the crate. This is what kills me though - I fasted her for dinner (she just got a metamucil wafer) but first thing out this morning she had a GIANT poop. So this morning she just got cooked chicken breast mixed with pumpkin. I was going to start mixing in a little of the Simply Nourish for dinner, but I have to run some errands and I think maybe I just need to buy the Iams.

 

I keep wondering if I'm overfeeding her - again, I have no reference point. But she's incredibly active and not in any way overweight so far. Or maybe it's the PB? She gets a large kong layered with PB and kibble and frozen overnight to help keep her occupied during the day while I'm at work. I wasn't thinking and grabbed Jif at Costco last time rather than the Kirkland brand so there is added crap in the PB.

 

The only other thought I've had is that she has something sitting in her stomach. It's entirely possible. She vomited a little watery stomach juice Saturday morning and then the crate accidents have happened since. She was having some soft serve style finishes to her poops before that, but not this. It's possible she's got a bit of toy sitting in there. I've been watching her like a hawk, but I am pretty sure she managed to get a piece or two of one particular toy down before I could stop her. It's a ball made of a material that feels like a cross between a tennis ball surface and yarn and it has all of these "tendrils" sticking out and I think she ate a tendril or two. I figured it would pass right through, but I haven't seen any.

Edited June 29, 2012 by NeylasMom

[Houndtime]

Why not try a little cooked oatmeal to help her stomach? Quaker Oats costs about $2.50 a container and takes 5 minutes to make. Oatmeal is an ingredient in most sensitive stomach kibbles. I have done it and it worked.

[Fruitycake]

Have you tried cutting her food intake? I read 30 lbs and 2-3 cups of food per day? We have Allie the Insane Keeshond and she gets slightly less than 1.5 cups per day (Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream). And I know for a fact that adding more food to her intake does really bad things to her output (lots more, way too often, and horrible consistency...and she has long fur and it's a nightmare). When we increase Monty's intake from slightly over 3 cups to 3.75 cups to try to get him to gain weight he has the same issues and doesn't seem to gain much weight. I swear we increase his intake by 1/2 cup per day and he poops 3 cups more.

[MerlinsMum]

If she is still having diarrhea, I'd lose the PB for the time being.

[Guest june]

I'd cut the PB and add some bulk/fiber (pumpkin?) to her food and decrease the size of her meals for a couple days.

[NeylasMom]

I'd cut the PB and add some bulk/fiber (pumpkin?) to her food and decrease the size of her meals for a couple days.

I like the way you think since that's exactly what I'm doing. I was also able to return the Simply Nourish and I picked up the green Iam's.

 

I won't be able to keep up with the reduced amount of food though. I noticed yesterday that Skye's actually lost weight. She still looks okay, but will not be healthy if she loses any more weight.

 

ETA: I also added a daily probiotic.

Edited June 30, 2012 by NeylasMom

[Guest LindsaySF]

I'd cut the PB and deworm her again. Not to be all food nazi on you or anything, but sometimes dogs that eat "garbage" food () have to poop more. Maybe add some more potty breaks for her to prevent crate accidents?

 

Keep an eye on those toys. The power chewers often swallow pieces of rubber or plastic.... I wouldn't leave any of those in her crate with her when you're gone.

 

Iams seems to give good poop. I think it's the beet pulp.

[a_daerr]

I'm another green bag convert. We've tried everything from Science Diet to TOTW to Diamond Naturals. My boys gobble up green bag like there's no tomorrow. And the poops went from barely ever solid to perfect within a day (no transition). I never thought I'd feed grocery store food, but this is the only thing that has worked.