I've researched dog food for so many years now, I know the difference between them all. It was almost an obsession there for a while, when I was into heavily researching the foods. And I researched everything down to the comparison of the mineral contents.
I worked in a specialty store for years as well, where they only sold the higher brands like Cal. Nat., Innova, EVO, Wellness, ect. Along with all the pre-made raw diets.
Been there, done that, and went back to Purina. My dogs were on different foods ranging from a few weeks, to a couple years, and I still have not been happier than I am with Purina. Emmy's seizures are the most controlled, Katie's leaky anal glands that we were about to have to have anal gland removal surgery on, suddenly quit completely and never started again on Purina. The shedding, the bad gas, the diarrhea that some of them had on 'better' foods, dissapeared on Purina.
What this proves to me is that while better foods may have better ingredients, they don't work for me. And the cheap food must not be that bad, because my dogs look, act, and feel great on Purina. They're coats are soft and shiny, their weights are great, they have great muscle tone, and their energy level is amazing.
And their poop-o-meter? They poop the same amount now that they did on 'better' foods. The only comparison is that their poop was never HARD on the better foods. It was always semi-mushy. At least on Purina, they are pooping the same amount, but have firm stool. And I'd know, I pooper-scoop my yard reguarly.
I quit tinkering with their diets, because it was harming them. I can't begin to name the total amount of problems I had over the years on some of the better diets, even after trying some for several months. Purina was the first, and only, dog food that every single one of my dogs have done amazing on. And this is coming from someone who has been there and done that with every 'good' food out there.
And as far as whoever said that they've never met a dog that looked better on cheap food than on better good, hadn't met my guys then.
Audubon had thin, flaky hair when I had her on Solid Gold. And she was on it over a year, until I couldn't take it anymore. She still sheds, but nothing like on Solid Gold. Her hair was actually *thinning* on that food.
Bo was on Diamond Naturals, and ended up in the emergency vet for 2 days with Colitis.
Sam was on Innova, and you couldn't be in the same room as him, the gas was unbelieveable.
Gracie and Emmy both were on a raw diet. Gracie's liver enzymes shot thru the roof, and it took weeks after removing her from the raw diet before she quit dumping tons of protein and billrubin in her urine. Emmy's seizures shot up from one seizure every 3-4 weeks, to one seizure every single day. And not only that, but the seizures became more severe and with a long duration of seizure activity. And she was on this diet a while, before I fully realized the correlation between the seizures and diet. Put her on Dog Chow, the excess seizures stopped almost immediately.
So Dog Chow, and other cheaper foods, don't have the best ingredients in the world. But it works for us, with great results. My dogs are living, breathing, proof that 'better' is not always really BETTER.
