Ol' roy

zaire · Post by **zaire** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 9:21 pm

Does anyone feed their GSPs Ol' roy dog food. Is this brand any good?

Lab Man · Post by **Lab Man** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:00 pm

Its junk. Do yourself a favor and remember that feeding the dog is the cheap part about having a dog. There are alot of good foods to pick from. Here are some examples of good foods to feed.
Purrina Pro-Plan, Eukanuba, Black and Gold Signature Series, Nutro. There are many more. Good luck

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hubweims · Post by **hubweims** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:03 pm

I agree. Spend just a few $$$ more and feed quality. Ol' Roy is made with whatever the cheapest ingredients are at market when making. With a quality feed you get the same ingredients and levels all the time. Hence, the little bit more money you are going to spend. Better to spend it and know what your dog is getting.

Post by **topher40** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:20 pm

You all are missing some crutial info before making a judgement. There are a gew ?s you need to ask first. What do you want the dog for, hunting, pet, trialing, etc. If all this guy is wanting is a good hunting dog then the only thing he is doing is shortening the dogs life by a few years. A dogs years are already limited and you can only get a few out of a good one. Although if you are looking for an athlete then you better fee the dog well. You wouldnt dare seeing Michael Jordan Drinking Gravy for supper before a game so why would you do the same to yo0ru dog? This all boils down to what you want your dogdo for you, how well and how many years. I would agree though Ol Roy is the BOTTOM OF THE BARRELL.

Post by **ezzy333** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:24 pm

Hubwiems,

Would love to see the data behind what you just said. How do they change formulas everyday and not change the quarantees?

I am not commenting on Ol Roy's quality since I have never fed it but looking at the ingredient list it isn't much different than most of the other feeds on the market.

The good thing is that every feed on the market satisfies the needs of the dog. However I do think some of the real cheap ones may require more feed to provide the calories the dog uses.

Try it and see what you think but I would probably try something a little better. If the dog likes it, it's easily available, and the dog is doing well and you can afford it, it is a good feed.

Ezzy

Post by **kninebirddog** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:25 pm

grocery brand food mass chain production feeds are all going to be JUNK

Ol roy ole yeller...Wouldn't feed that _______to a coyote

Post by **ezzy333** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:32 pm

Knine,

Thats your opinion and you have the right to it. But there are probably more healthy dogs in this country eating Ol roy and simular feeds than all the "high" class feeds put together. And most are made in the same plants. I personnally feed a better quality feed now but hard to see any difference in the dogs.

I know plenty of people who will tell you Fords or Cheves are junk also but they have carried passengers and frieght around the country for years.

Ezzy

hubweims · Post by **hubweims** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:51 pm

ezzy,

Well, I personally havnen't looked at Ol' Roy's label. I was told that exact information from two different vets. One in Dallas, TX and the other being my own personal vet here in MS. It's not so much that the ingredients are different from bag to bag, but the percentages will be. For instance, if wheat is cheaper one week over say corn, then this latest batch of ol' roy will have more wheat. It will have the same % of crude protein, fat, etc., but it will fluctuate as to what ingredient produces this. Hence, why you may have to feed more or less from month to month of the same feed. He instructed me to feed a good premium feed b/c it has same % everytime no matter on market prices.

BTW, with regards to Ol' Roy being okay. Nope, not at all. Before I knew better and was told same story by two vets in different states, I fed Ol' Roy to my dog growing up. He died from GI complications do to cheap feed. He lost massive weight and couldn't hold any food down. Everytime he ate it would come up. B/C I fed a cheap feed (Ol' Roy to be precise) his body and organs began shutting down. His GI tract was so damaged from the feed that I had to put him down. This is where I met the first vet in Dallas who gave me my first lesson on choosing a proper feed. When I moved back to MS and began to aquire about another dog, the vet I decided to use here told me the same story for my weims. So, I feed Eukanuba.

Post by **pear** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:52 pm

Ol'roy is a discount dog food around here and I assume that holds true across the country. As ezzy stated, it's probably not the worst thing you could be feeding. As is and has been stated much of time in many other threads, check the ingredient list, and you'll see little difference in many of the foods. My fear with many of the food chain brands is simply this. Who stands behind the quality, research, and testing of this product? You are the only one who can decide what your budget can stand and these days I know that is important, but there are many brands out there that are backed by all of the things I mentioned that plainly won’t break the bank. As already said the feeding of you hunting and family companions is likely the cheapest aspect of raising a dog. Hope this helps, it’s just my thoughts on the subject. ...”pear”

hubweims · Post by **hubweims** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:53 pm

i will get the specifics from my vet if you wish though.

hubweims · Post by **hubweims** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:56 pm

BTW,

Ol' Roy is Wal-Mart's store brand. Doesn't everyone know how wal-mart does business?????

HUTCH · Post by **HUTCH** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:13 am

I cant speak of facts other than I fed it to several dogs that are not hunting dogs and they did fine and looked fine on it. I would assume anything you can put in there bowl that they dont have to hunt and kill they will be great full. I have fed more expensive feeds and the dogs have looked worse.

hubweims · Post by **hubweims** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:23 am

Hutch,

If it is working for you or anybody else, it is your choice to feed your dogs whatever you wish. I personally just had a horrible experience with it, and I will never feed it again. Actually, my mother came to visit and brought the dogs some treats. They were ol' roy biscuits, and I threw straight in the trash. Anything with that name brand scares me. I have lost dogs in the past, but nothing like what I experienced with my last rottie. I guess it may be a guilty complex for me. He didn't die of natural causes, or a bad accident. He died because of something I did to him. I fed him bad, cheap feed. Never again will I have to carry that burden.

Don · Post by **Don** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:26 am

I have fed a lot of different food's over the year's and the most important thing is that your dog will eat it! There are grocery store food's that work well, even for trial dog's. Purina Hi-Pro is used by a lot of performance dog owner's. Many like it because anywhere you go, you can get it. I was on the Pedigree breeder plan for year's and my dog's have done great on it, I still use it today. Befor that, the best I ever found was Kennel Ration Biscut. Never found a dog that wouldn't eat it and it never let them down. A lot of the grocery store food's are awful suspect. I tried one made by General Nutrition that maintained the dog's well but when we'd go to work, they fell on their face. I used to know a lab trainer that fed Fred Meyer store brand. He said it was cheap and kept the dog's energy level's down.

In my opinion the high price premium food's are made to sell to dog owner's. I say that having fed them and not noticing any difference in performance over food's such as Purina Hi-Pro and Kal Kan Pedigree. Were I to stick to one food, that was readily avaliable, it would be Kennel Ration Biscut because every dog I switched over to it not only did very well but the dog's would pick it out of a bowl 50/50, it and their former feed, and leave the former feed. Unfortunately it was very hard to come by. I had to order it direct and buy a ton at a time.

As for longivity from a food, Otis is 15yrs old and has eaten Pedigree most his life. Hannah lived 16 yrs and was fed Nutro Max, Pedigree and Biscuit. Tia (GSP) lived 14 yrs and Lefty (GSP) 15 yrs. Both Pedigree dog's. Pedigree is no better than Nutro Max or many other's but it's sure easy to find and the dog's eat it.

mtlee · Post by **mtlee** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:36 am

I think that it as least important to feed a good puppy food as a lot is going on developmentally during "puppy-hood." I did a little research when I got my pup and decided to feed her a puppy food that contained DHA (i chose purina)...and I still feed her this. There have been some good research articles linking DHA and cognitive ability (in infants) and trainability (in pups). Here's one about DHA and pups...

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:RX ... =firefox-a

h20fwlkillr · Post by **h20fwlkillr** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:43 am

There will horror stories with every brand of food there is, so it is up to the buyer to beware.

The main thing I find with low end vs high end feed is high end feed requiring less food to maintain desired weight. Less food intake means less fecal waste. I have found there really isn't much of a cost savings, because you end up feeding more of the low end food and less high end. all cost savings are ate up with the higher food consumption.

Casper · Post by **Casper** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 9:26 am

I grew up wiht a Golden Retriever that lived the majority of his life on Ol Roy.

Zeke, may he rest in peace, was put down at the ripe old age of 16. I miss that dog

Devils Creek · Post by **Devils Creek** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 11:01 am

I fed Ol' Roy Maximum for YEARS. Now some dogs seemed to do all right. But.....

I had 2 dogs die at 7 yrs from cancer. Never had that before....in 40 plus years. Also one developed skin allergies so bad that all attempts to relieve him failed, and he was put down at 8 yrs.

So...right now all non-competing dogs in the kennel are on Pro Plan Chicken & Rice. Do I believe this is the best food on the market? No, way too much reliance on corn and other grains, and LOW meat content.

I am only trialling one dog likely this season, and he is a hyper active pointer with what I thought was a nervous stomach. He had permanent diarrhea on Maximum.

He was with a pro last summer who put him on Pro Plan and he came back a different dog. He's not on Pro Plan right now, as the price of Pro Plan Performance in Canada is almost as high as the premium foods with much higher meat content.

He's on Innova Evo, and all I can say is WOW what a dog food, and WOW what a price. But he's doing great on it. Stomach issues and the horrible gas he had has CEASED. I feed 2 1/2 cups a day, and he's maintaining weight despite having been roaded every day all winter.

When my father was alive and active in the kennel and breeding business he used to buy large flats of ground up horse meat from the local packing houses that would supply the fox and mink farmers. He would freeze these big flats, and then saw them up in 10 lb blocks, so he could thaw a bit at a time. He would feed 2 different brands of dry food PLUS about 3 cups of raw horse meat per day per dog. We had up to 35 dogs at a time. It was an immense amount of work, but most dogs were healthy and happy till 13 or 14, and quite a few of those were still hunting part days at that age.

So....you can feed Ol' Roy, and you might be alright, but.....

Don · Post by **Don** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 1:14 pm

There is a lighter side to this dog nutrition program. I think most of us feed what we believe to be a quality feed to our dog's. But what if the dog was left to itself?

My old "Drifter" absolutely loved dead field mice and the riper the better. Never tried to catch a live one tho. He prefered them aged!

Another time I was out hunting with a couple client's with Britt's. Decided to show them what a English Pointer was all about so I took "Rex" with me. 2x RU Ch!!! We're talking class. We got to where we were going and I turned "Rex" loose to clean out and they let their Britt's out and said loving thing's to them. Then off we went. Them with their Britt's and pump shotgun's, me and my RU Ch and my AyA SxS 16 ga.

About 5 min after we started, I heard one guy yell: "Oh my god, I know you pointer guy;s are proud of how tuff your dog's are but this is ridiculas". Knowing that I had him suitably impressed, I went over. There was "Rex". Eating a decayed porcupine! I put him on the tail gate and used my surgical clamp's to pull quill's, even out of his throat. He ate that night like nothing happen and the next day he was acting well so I put him down again. He cleaned out and I went over to inspect it, old habit, and there it was, last night's dinner fully enbeded with quill's! by that time, "Rex" was going away on a mission!

Dog's, ya gotta love'em!

Post by **ezzy333** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 1:41 pm

Don,

I just wish more people today could see how dogs really eat and maybe there wouldn't be so much discussion about which food is better and which ingredients the dogs like. I think it has been lost in our sofisticated society of today. I never met a dog that wouldn't eat corn off the cob in the corn crib topped off with some horse manure if the horses were being fed lots of hay. And never saw one pass up beef for lamb or pass that up for chicken but might for something rotten. And bet they have never seen a mother dog go gorge on rotten meat and come back to the den and upchuck so the puppies could have a good meal.

You just got to love em

Ezzy

Don · Post by **Don** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 1:52 pm

Hehe. "Otis's" favorite treat is boiled corn cob's! He bury's they for a few day's then dig's them up and eat's them.

mtlee · Post by **mtlee** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 5:34 pm

ezzy333 wrote:Don,

I just wish more people today could see how dogs really eat and maybe there wouldn't be so much discussion about which food is better and which ingredients the dogs like. I think it has been lost in our sofisticated society of today. I never met a dog that wouldn't eat corn off the cob in the corn crib topped off with some horse manure if the horses were being fed lots of hay. And never saw one pass up beef for lamb or pass that up for chicken but might for something rotten. And bet they have never seen a mother dog go gorge on rotten meat and come back to the den and upchuck so the puppies could have a good meal.

You just got to love em

Ezzy

haha...Maggie LOVES horse manure...if I don't watch her she will clean my parent's pasture out! You're right though...although I feed her Purina Pro Plan (maybe c/ it makes me feel better?) I have yet to find anything edible (and somethings not) that she won't at least try.

Post by **ezzy333** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 5:55 pm

And if we are talking manure I am glad it isn't human grade. :roll: :roll: :roll:

Ezzy

jbr03 · Post by **jbr03** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 8:52 pm

my roommate fed his last lab ol roy his entire life and said he believes the food gave the dog cancer and was teh main reason he had to be put down before his time. i cant say that i have any first hand experience with ol roy mself, just sharing what i have heard. personally after my roommates story i will never feed any ol roy products.

HUTCH · Post by **HUTCH** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 9:33 pm

I think if there were any validity to the claim of multiple dogs getting cancer from walmart dog food that some group or lawyers would have a field day with it.

Post by **ezzy333** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:31 pm

If any dog dies because of the food a lot of dogs have to die. Each batch that is made may be from 1 to 10 ton depending on the size of the equipment and samples from each batch are kept so they can be checked through the lab. The thing is when a dog gets sick even from a possible food source the sample will be checked if it is reported. But one of the things that are eveident if one dog gets sick from the feed that left the plant then other dogs have to be affected also. When that didn't happen you have pretty much proven it wasn't the batch of feed that was responsible. Plus cancer has not been associated with nutrition. I've had dogs that have developed cancer and they were eating the same feed as the other dogs. We are quite sure at this time that most cancer is related to sex hormones but that is being challenged also.

Ezzy

mtlee · Post by **mtlee** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:35 pm

ezzy333 wrote:If any dog dies because of the food a lot of dogs have to die. Each batch that is made may be from 1 to 10 ton depending on the size of the equipment and samples from each batch are kept so they can be checked through the lab. The thing is when a dog gets sick even from a possible food source the sample will be checked if it is reported. But one of the things that are eveident if one dog gets sick from the feed that left the plant then other dogs have to be affected also. When that didn't happen you have pretty much proven it wasn't the batch of feed that was responsible. Plus cancer has not been associated with nutrition. I've had dogs that have developed cancer and they were eating the same feed as the other dogs. We are quite sure at this time that most cancer is related to sex hormones but that is being challenged also.

Ezzy

Ezzy,

Where did you get this information about cancer correlation in dogs? There is a strong correlation between diet and types of cancers in humans....not trying to argue with you, this type of thing just interests me! I'd like to read the literature.

Post by **ezzy333** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:52 pm

This is one source but there are many others if you google dog cancers

http://www.peteducation.com/category_su ... 2&cat=1638

Ezzy

mtlee · Post by **mtlee** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:54 pm

ezzy333 wrote:This is one source but there are many others if you google dog cancers

http://www.peteducation.com/category_su ... 2&cat=1638

Ezzy

Thanks!

zaire · Post by **zaire** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 6:11 pm

I've been very busy and haven't had a chance to check this post. First and foremost, Thanks for everyone's response. The question wasn't meant to cause conflict but be informative, as it has.

Thanks,

Stump · Post by **Stump** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 9:26 pm

My buddy Chessy will eat 10 lbs of elk poop at one sitting. The dogs nuts about it. gets a little sick afterwards thou

Devils Creek · Post by **Devils Creek** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 11:42 am

I guess one of my worries is a matter of trust.

Dog food companies are not regulated to the same degree as human food.

Pet food companies have been known to add road kill and euthanized animals to the mix.

Certain food colorings are known to be carcinogenic.

Maybe I'm just being paranoid but......

Post by **ezzy333** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 12:24 pm

Devils Creek,

The FDA inspectors that are in DeMonte today will be in Revlon tomorrow and Purina the next day. They all are regulated by the exact same people.

I don't know of a manufacturing company that buys or processes dead animals of any kind but if they do I wonder who they hire to drive around and pickup the roadkill and how they process them. It would be illegal for them to be in the plant where they make the feed. You get written up if they find a dead nouse in the plant let alone roadkill.

Because a food coloring is carcinogenic to people does not make them for animals. Think you will find those kind of ratings are speice specific and apply to humans. Food coloring isn't used in most feed as far as I know and I doubt the ones that are wouldn't be using the ones that are known to produce a problem. There are too many different coloring products around to use a bad one.

But do remember dog food companies, animal feed companies, human food companies, cosmetic companies, labs of all types, etc. are all regulated by FDA with the same people doing the inspections. That makes it really difficult for feed mills of any kind to pass inspections when the inspectors have just come from a human food plant.

Ezzy

Buckeye_V · Post by **Buckeye_V** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 2:08 pm

I think this is one of the most heated topics discussed on this forum. Ask any vet worth their salt today and they will tell you a dog eating one of the many mainstream feeds today eats MUCH better than we do (as far as a balanced diet is concerned).

I feed Exceed Performance Blend and Lamb and Rice and my dog loves it. Puppy Eukanuba for another 10 months and then he'll be switched over as well.

Post by **ezzy333** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 3:07 pm

Right on Buckeye. If only people were as concerned about their kids diet as they are about their dogs. I can see it now as we switch the kids breakfast food each week because he isn't the top track performer or is getting C's instead of A's.

Ezzy