What Is More Important - Rating Of Kibble - Or How Your Dogs Do On It?

[cello]

I had been using the Kirkland Chicken and Rice for five years, and everyone did well on it. Gizzy was not overly enthusiastic about it, and often need 'extras' on top to get her to eat. After the last kibble scare with Diamond products I no longer feel confident in using the Kirkland food. Switching kibble is difficult because Riley does not do well on wheat. So I tried multiple different brands over a couple of month period and none of them agreed with all four dogs. (slow switch over three weeks) That is until I tried Purina One Smart Blend - Lamb and Rice. THEY LOVE IT!! I mean they run to their bowls and lick them clean. All four have coats that are shiny and soft, and they have the best poop I have ever seen. I am talking firm, compact, roll down the hill poop! All three girls have lost their 'soft' appearance and look very fit, svelte and trim. Gizzy has suddenly reengaged with the family and is playing and wanting attention. Until the switch she was a very old ten, now she has a bounce in her step.

 

So why am I complaining? Why am I looking a 'poop gift horse' in the mouth? Because it is Purina One that they are doing so well on. I just don't know what to think. I have never been a food snob, and truthfully I feel that some of those extremely overpriced 'specialty' brands are - well, I guess not necessarily as good as their hype. But I worry that Purina One does not get a great rating on some of those online kibble reports. In fact it gets below average. Of course they are comparing it to $3 a pound specialty blends, so really there is no comparison. I just want to have my four on a decent kibble that agrees with Riley's allergy issues. The Purina One is reasonable in price and readily available at multiple sources.

 

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[greg1229]

I look at the ratings but when it all is figured in, I vote for whatever the dogs do best on is the one to us. Each dog is its own and you can spend a boatload of cash for a food and if the dogs do bad on it, you get something else.

[ShebasMom]

I, too, have tried brands with better ingredients and ratings, but Sheba's poops were way too soft. She does best on my mixing of Purina One Smart Balance Chicken and Rice and Beneful Fiesta, so I'm sticking with that mix since her poops are nice and firm and she looks great. It's nice that they work so well for her since those two brands are often on sale at various grocery stores as well as Target and others. I'd stick with what works best.

[PrairieProf]

Rating of kibble means NOTHING in any objective sense. Some individuals (with no formal certification in animal nutrition or whatever) come up with a matrix based on their idea of what constitutes good or bad ingredients or parameters and apply it. It's totally subjective, takes nothing into account but ingredients (not sourcing, not safety standards, not whether a food has ever been tested in a feed trial) and has nothing to do with any actual results in actual dogs. Total ideological garbage on the whole.

[Brindles]

Screw the ratings. A canine nutritionist told me that as long as it has the AAFCO statement on the bag, it's safe to feed. Let your dogs tell you what works for them.

[TheFullHouse]

In my book, feed whatever works! What's your choice, dogs who won't eat or dogs who will eat the food they like.

[MaryJane]

For whatever it's worth - the ingredients and the consistency of the product are important to me. It appears that many of the specialty brands rely on commercial processors to both produce the product and to source the ingredients (think China). The quality control and overall conditions at some of the commercial processors leave much to be desired and if something goes wrong, it's usually the final product that gets the blame and not the "middle man" so that nothing really changes in the procedures.

 

On the other hand, the dog foods that may not get "great reviews" but, that also come from larger manufacturers who both produce the product and source the ingredient may have better "quality control" than the smaller producers. And, more importantly, they have better control from start to finish and they have plants that are making foods for people (not the same plants) and it's likely that the procedures across the plants are similar. Some of these are -- IAMs is a Proctor and Gamble product, Purina is a Nestle, and I think Science Diet is a Colgate Palmolive product (please correct me if I'm wrong). These large public companies have reputations to uphold and they will think twice before resorting to questionable practices in their procedures although, some problems could always slip through. Also, as public companies, if they are doing something questionable and "Wall Street Investors" find out, their stock price will drop and that usually makes any public company sit up and take notice.

 

I feed cooked home-made for my dogs and I recently wanted to get a dog food that my dogs could eat in case of emergencies and I decided to try Anukeet for one of the dogs and it has some great ratings but, after communicating with them over a series of emails, it uses a commercial plant for the processing and they get their ingredients from that plant. To me, that indicates a potential serious problem with quality control. I next tried IAMs in the light blue bag (fish and barley) with one of my dogs - I mixed it in with his home-cooked and he ate it for awhile but, started to turn his nose up at it recently. My point here is that I will probably try the IAMs with my other dogs too (a seizure and a kidney issue dog) and see if they will tolerate it because in my personal opinion, I trust the brand (and the quality control) more than the specialty brands which use commercial processors.

[brandimom]

I go with what works for my pups. For years I have been feeding Acana Ranchlands from Canada. They have roll down the hill poops

[cleptogrey]

Screw the ratings. A canine nutritionist told me that as long as it has the AAFCO statement on the bag, it's safe to feed. Let your dogs tell you what works for them.

ditto

In my book, feed whatever works! What's your choice, dogs who won't eat or dogs who will eat the food they like.

ditto

[Guest cristaron]

There are so many different opinions on dog food. Over the years we've tried just about every kibble known to man

for our male. From the ridiculously expensive to the lower end ones. For now we've settled on NB potato and duck.

This has been the best one yet for him. So far it's been 3 months with no problems. Usually when we hit that 3 month

mark, things start going down hill so we will see.

I've known quite a few people that have used the Purina One for their agility and show dogs and swear by it. It works for

them. They're healthy and happy and are doing well.

You go with what your pup is doing good on. That's all that counts.

[Guest FastDogsOwnMe]

Your dogs are thriving- don't argue!

[NeylasMom]

I feed raw and believe that's ideal, but I certainly understand that not everyone is up for taking that on although there are pre-made options if you can afford them. My second choice would be home cooked, but again, not everyone wants to take that on. That leaves you with kibble. I think MaryJane made some good points regarding kibble - the ingredient list is more important to me than it being a "high end" kibble and knowing where the food comes from is incredibly important to me. If the food can be locally sourced or at least locally made, those are very important to me. Organic is nice, but honestly with the organic industry going the way it is right now, I'm not sure I'd pay a premium for that, and I certainly wouldn't feed an organic food that didn't sit well with my dogs over a non-organic one that did.

 

Everybody's criteria are going to be different - I think the production issue that MaryJane brought up is an important one for safety and shooting for higher quality ingredients (plain meat rather than meat meal or by product) is a no brainer to me so I would work to find a food that met my criteria that sat well with my dogs and move down from there, if that makes sense.

 

Skye (my foster) had some issues on the Costco grain free kibble and she's now on Iam's. I never thought I'd feed that food, but I was willing to sacrifice on ingredient quality somewhat to get her on something that sat well and wouldn't lead to poop in the crate while I'm at work, at least short term. If I adopted her, she'd be switched to raw, or if the fostering situation were going to be much longer term, I might consider trying a different food that better met my standards again and seeing what happened.

 

Bottom line - you have to decide what's important to you and decide accordingly.

[Guest kirstenbergren]

If they are happy with what you are feeding them I wouldn't worry about the rating. Feed what they do well on.

[jshell]

If you're really concerned, ask your vet if he has any concerns about the ingredients. Betty developed intestinal issues and I went through a few things before landing on Pedigree+ "Healthy Digestion". The ratings sites like Dog Food Advisor can help you understand the ingredients and their significance in their place in the ingredient list - if they happen to have a review for the food you're checking (the 'pedigree+' that DogFoodAdvisor reviews is a much more complex product than the 'healthy digestion' variety) - but it does come down to the dog.

 

When we were making the switch and I noticed Betty was doing better on that than things like California Natural that seemed to have similar ingredients, I showed a can to my vet and asked if it seemed like a good food for Betty's condition. He looked and said "I see nothing wrong with that."

 

Recently, I was concerned about not being able to find 'Healthy Digestion' and started looking for alternatives in case it was being discontinued. As I started to look at a lot of the 'fancier' products, I noticed that they all seemed to be using the same basic formula, whether it was Blue Buffalo or California Natural or some of the others. And knowing that Betty didn't do well on the California Natural, I started to realize that she wouldn't do well on a lot of these brands. Which I'm starting to suspect may have the same parent company. In any case, it seems to be the same formula packaged in different labels. Meanwhile, I haven't found a formula like the Pedigree Healthy Digestion.

[BellaBean]

I'm new to this forum, but we just adopted our first greyhound through Shamrock Greyhound Placement in Louisville, KY so I've been stalking this forum for awhile. Anyway, I have a lab mix that has extreme food allergies and we finally found that the Acana Pacifica works best for him. I know its a pricey food, but they really do eat less of it since it's a higher quality and so the price really evens out to some of the other brands. In my opinion it is a great food and is made in Canada. It has great ingredients and my dogs love it. Our greyhound Good Girl really seems to be enjoying it too!

[RedHead]

Personally, for how I feed both things are important. Not so much the food's "rating" as this can be subjective but for me my dog has to do well on a food and it has to have quality ingredients. If one of these is missing I personally just do not feed it. I feed almost solely homemade, as I have tried a lot of "better" end foods and they don't agree so well (from what I think is the higher amounts of processed fats). There are so many food philosophies, just look at all the ways humans feed themselves. It is up to you to pick the one you are most comfortable with that your dog does well on.

[Hubcitypam]

screw the ratings

 

Rating of kibble means NOTHING in any objective sense. Some individuals (with no formal certification in animal nutrition or whatever) come up with a matrix based on their idea of what constitutes good or bad ingredients or parameters and apply it. It's totally subjective, takes nothing into account but ingredients (not sourcing, not safety standards, not whether a food has ever been tested in a feed trial) and has nothing to do with any actual results in actual dogs. Total ideological garbage on the whole.

You both said it so much better than I ever could.

 

We are currently eating Purina One Smartblend weight management as that is what Buddy came with. It is low enough in fat that Poodle can eat it and it's nice to feed all three the same thing. As I've said before most of the true dog men and women of the world seem to feed Purina. They don't give a rats rear about star ratings, they care about their dogs.

 

Speaking of things I've said before...if I knew how to set up a poll I'd do one to see how many people have successfully switched to Iams by reading somewhat repetitive posts on GT.

For whatever it's worth - the ingredients and the consistency of the product are important to me. It appears that many of the specialty brands rely on commercial processors to both produce the product and to source the ingredients (think China). The quality control and overall conditions at some of the commercial processors leave much to be desired and if something goes wrong, it's usually the final product that gets the blame and not the "middle man" so that nothing really changes in the procedures.

 

On the other hand, the dog foods that may not get "great reviews" but, that also come from larger manufacturers who both produce the product and source the ingredient may have better "quality control" than the smaller producers. And, more importantly, they have better control from start to finish and they have plants that are making foods for people (not the same plants) and it's likely that the procedures across the plants are similar. Some of these are -- IAMs is a Proctor and Gamble product, Purina is a Nestle, and I think Science Diet is a Colgate Palmolive product (please correct me if I'm wrong).

Excellent point.

Edited July 20, 2012 by Hubcitypam

[NeylasMom]

 

Speaking of things I've said before...if I knew how to set up a poll I'd do one to see how many people have successfully switched to Iams by reading somewhat repetitive posts on GT.

If you ever do, let me know and I'll start the same one replacing Iam's with raw.

[Guest june]

I've been feeding Iams green bag for years and my girls do well on it, but I decided to change. Mistake. Everything was fine for about a month and all of a sudden we have soft stools, one of my girls is picky (never has been in the past), one is putting on weight while the other two are losing weight and one got a UTI. Now I know those things may not all be connected but we just switched back to Iams green bag and things are back to normal. Lesson learned: If it works don't fix it!

Edited July 20, 2012 by june

[Hubcitypam]

Speaking of things I've said before...if I knew how to set up a poll I'd do one to see how many people have successfully switched to Iams by reading somewhat repetitive posts on GT.

If you ever do, let me know and I'll start the same one replacing Iam's with raw.

I believe that this thread is about various kinds of kibble. Can't remember anyone asking for any advice about raw.

[NeylasMom]

Speaking of things I've said before...if I knew how to set up a poll I'd do one to see how many people have successfully switched to Iams by reading somewhat repetitive posts on GT.

If you ever do, let me know and I'll start the same one replacing Iam's with raw.

I believe that this thread is about various kinds of kibble. Can't remember anyone asking for any advice about raw.

Yikes! In a bad mood today?

[JJNg]

Like most of the other replies here already, I also believe in feeding based on what your dogs do well on, not ratings or ingredients. However, I do have some minimum standards and wouldn't recommend low end grocery store foods like Ol' Roy, Alpo, or Kibbles N Bits. I think Iams and Purina ONE are fine foods, and I find it interesting that so many people have found that their dogs do well on these foods despite what the ratings and ingredient analyses say. Maybe there really is something to the vet nutritionists who teach that it's about the nutrients, not the ingredients.

[Greydawg]

 

My vet is brand neutral - as long as it is a balanced food the dogs will eat, thrive on, and maintain a healthy weight.

 

It sounds to me like what you are doing now, OP, is spot-on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JohnF]

Whatever works, though I do need to be able to trust the manufacturer not to add poisoned food from China or other places selling it off cheap. Sweet potato worries me as any mold in it is not easily seen and is a serious thing. I feed Iams Green Proactive for as long as the bag lasts when there are poop issues (she will eventually go off it), otherwise a similar recipe made locally and available at a considerable saving. Top end kibbles don't really work for Peggy.

The healthiest hounds I see are the foxhounds and they get their traditional diet supplemented from the local slaugherhouse; but I'm not thinking of that for my Greyhound.

[Batmom]

Ratings are garbage, as stated several times above. One person's opinion, internet hype, stealth marketing ..... In other words, garbage. Feed what your dog does well on.