What's the Difference?

[bobbaganoosh]

Im a newbie to owning a gundog and wanted to give it some good quality food. Gave it Nutro when I first got it at 10wks and fed a 50lb bag of it until it ran out. At that point I switched to Beneful bc it seemed to have the same fat/protein ratio as Nutro and was a little cheaper, plus the bag seemed to me that it was made of healthy ingredients. My pup has done well on both. The breeder actually used Diamond brand and he was healthy and fine on that brand also.

So my question, and excuse it bc Im new to this, is whats the difference between the high quality foods? What should I be watching out for? All brands seem to provide my pup with good nutrition...all Im really using to distinguish now is price.
Thanks for the help.

-Bob-

[mcbosco]

the answer depends on what fits your budget and how much work you want to put into it, it also depends on how much reliance you put on the commercial industry...if you read through the threads on food on this forum you will find a general view with some but not enough dissent, perhaps because its a bird dog forum. there is much more support for other diets in other sectors of the dog owning world, like sight-hounds, herding, protection-oriented dogs, etc.

there are plenty of resources here even if the tone gets a little out of hand, but its all for the good of the dogs no matter what the tone or opinion is.

sal

[BigShooter]

I would encourage you to use the advanced search feature. Use keywords like food or kibble or Exceed or Purina and you will find lots of threads with many opinions. Also go to the "Board index" and select the health & nutrition category, scroll down and select a couple of the food threads to look through. Lately we've had some pretty heated discussions between what I might (incorrectly) label natural foods oriented folks and commercial foods oriented folks. Many of us are tired of the debates and don't want to se another one real soon. After reading through a few old threads if still have questions try narrowing down your question. Otherwise this may just end up as another flaming food debate through no fault of yours.

[ezzy333]

There really is little difference in the quality feeds. The ingredients are pretty much the same as most buy from the same places. There will be some differences in the additives and the formulas will be a little different as some use more animal sources and some use more vegetable sources. Dog food is much like automobiles. The biggest difference is what the owner likes. If one was really better than the others it would be the only one used. The important thing is to find one the dog likes and is doing well on, is easily advailable, and it is one you can afford to feed. All of the dog foods on the market will provide the necessary nutrition to a dog so it is pretty much up to you to choose. You can look at the list of ingredients printed on the bag and it will give you the ingredients used and a very general idea of how much in comparison to the other ingredients but it is much more important to look at the guaranteed analysis as that is what you really need to know. Feeding directions will give you a rough idea of how much to feed but that again is something the dog has to tell you.

You will find people who feed practically every feed on the market and love it. And you will find people who will tell you that any particular feed is really bad. So just watch your dog and if it is doing well stick with what you are feeding and don't let everyone convince you that some other feed is better. Your dog will appreciate it.

Ezzy

[Sharon]

There are LOTS of posts here on that subject. Look through the Health and Nutrition threads.

[BigShooter]

P.S. I feed Nutro and the dogs do well on it. I recently sent a one year old dog to a pro for 12 weeks and he feeds the dogs in his care Purina Pro Plan Performance. The dog came back more fit & looking as great as when she left. It is easily debated whether other feeds or ingredients fed are better or worse. My own personal yardstick is how the dog looks to me & whether it performs up to my expectations.

[ezzy333]

P.S. I feed Nutro and the dogs do well on it. I recently sent a one year old dog to a pro for 12 weeks and he feeds the dogs in his care Purina Pro Plan Performance. The dog came back more fit & looking as great as when she left. It is easily debated whether other feeds or ingredients fed are better or worse. My own personal yardstick is how the dog looks to me & whether it performs up to my expectations.

Here is the best advice you can get. You are feeding a dog and not dogfood.

Ezzy

[birddogger]

P.S. I feed Nutro and the dogs do well on it. I recently sent a one year old dog to a pro for 12 weeks and he feeds the dogs in his care Purina Pro Plan Performance. The dog came back more fit & looking as great as when she left. It is easily debated whether other feeds or ingredients fed are better or worse. My own personal yardstick is how the dog looks to me & whether it performs up to my expectations.

Here is the best advice you can get. You are feeding a dog and not dogfood.

Ezzy

Ditto!

Charlie

[mcbosco]

"Here is the best advice you can get. You are feeding a dog and not dogfood"


Ezzy, so you finally agree with me?

sal

[Rick Hall]

That's funny.

[mcbosco]

well he did say remember you are feeding a dog..last time i checked every tooth in a dog's mouth is for tearing food...

[Rick Hall]

Dogs are not cats. Cats are dedicated carnivores. Dogs are not. Cats have short intestinal tracts evolved mainly for meat digestion. Dogs have longer intestinal tracts evolved for greater varieties of foods.

[BigShooter]

(Fighting like) cats & dogs now that's really funny!

[Greg Jennings]

We need to quit fightin' about dogfood and get to training, conditioning and hunting the dogs.

[birddogger]

He just can't drop it.

Charlie

[big steve46]

We need to quit fightin' about dogfood and get to training, conditioning and hunting the dogs.

Yeah, but feeding is part of the conditioning. I agree that some do like to "beat a dead horse," so to speak.

The bottom line is that most working dogs do well on most good feeds. I happen to only feed feed that has a good meat source as the first ingredient, but a good mid-grade feed is usually very cost-effective.

[live4point]

A good rule of thumb for me is what comes out of the other end of the dog,if the dog makes small firm piles I know he is absorbing the food,if he is making big soft piles it tells me that there is alot of junk in the food his body is not obsorbing.

[slistoe]

A good rule of thumb for me is what comes out of the other end of the dog,if the dog makes small firm piles I know he is absorbing the food,if he is making big soft piles it tells me that there is alot of junk in the food his body is not obsorbing.

It would seem to me that the texture of the stool would have little to do with how much food was being absorbed by the body. If you were to make a dry matter weight of the stools and compare to the dry matter weight intake then you might have some idea, but not a complete idea unless you made a full nutrient analysis of intake and output.

[live4point]

Come on over and measure and weigh them for me

[ezzy333]

A good rule of thumb for me is what comes out of the other end of the dog,if the dog makes small firm piles I know he is absorbing the food,if he is making big soft piles it tells me that there is alot of junk in the food his body is not obsorbing.

This is true. Softness and moisture are as much of an indicator of how soon after eating the dog eliminates as of what they ate. My dogs that hve a firm stool always eliminate when we start hunting and it won't be hard or even firm. Another factor is how much the dog drinks, the type of ingredientsin the food much the same as cheese does to us compared to other foods we eat such as fruits and vegetables, etc.

Small and fim is fine but has more to do with the water content in the stool than anything else. Keep the dogs a little hungry and it will be firm but then increase the feed a little and it will soften. You have to weight intake and output if you want to know what is being absorbed. But small firm stool are an indication the dog is beinf fed the right amount if they are also holding their weight at the same time.

Ezzy

[live4point]

Years ago I fed Ol'e Roy hi pro.I swear the piles that came out the back end looked bigger than the pile of food they ate!

[mcbosco]

our local hardware store stocks Big Red, and right next to the bags are those cheap plastic snow shovels, the owner Art tells me its just a coincidence

[ezzy333]

our local hardware store stocks Big Red, and right next to the bags are those cheap plastic snow shovels, the owner Art tells me its just a coincidence

Several years ago I fed Big Red and finished to Champions and had several trial placements and never had a dog that didn't do good on it. But by todays standards people would make fun of it but it does a good job with all of the dogs we had in the boarding kennel.

Funny how we ignore how much waste we produce when picking our diet and what is good for you. Same is true when we feed any of our livestock, our cats or horses, or any of the fowl. The one and only exception is the dog. It seems to me that we do that becuse we have to cleanup after them so in all our wisdom we have most people picking their dogs diet by what creates the least annoyance to us, the dreaded cleanup. Too bad more people don't ask the dog. I had a plantation owner from Georgia that said the Big Red was the best feed he had ever used and was buying it by the truck load.

Funny how different our opinions can be yet the dogs thrive and do well.

Ezzy

[mcbosco]

ezzy, the statement about Big Red was a joke, you have to admit when you see shovels next to dog food what ever the brand you have to laugh.