What dog foods have you fed

[Maxy24]

I'm looking for a list of foods you have fed your dogs and what their coat/odor/poop/tear stains/energy levels/breath/etc. were like on each food (if they were anything out of the ordinary or changed from food to food). I'm just looking for some ideas of what I might try nexy for Tucker as I want to see if a few things could be improved with a diet change. Plus I just think it would be interesting to see what everyone's dog does best and worst on.

So far Tucker has only been on one food:
Taste of the Wild
His coat is soft and healthy-looking but there is some dandruff.
He has no odor and his breath has no unpleasant odor.
His pops are small and hard but he goes 3-4 times a day and they smell pretty bad.
He has obvious tear stains.
He has a nice high energy level.

 

[CaliTerp07]

Her coat and energy have been great on all foods. The only difference was the poop.

Avoderm (chicken), Solid Gold (lamb), Solid Gold (bison), California Natural (chicken), Innova (chicken), Innova (venison), & Evo (herring & salmon) all gave her horrible, horrible diarrhea that lasted for days after we stopped the food. Taste of the Wild (salmon) is the only thing that makes her poop solid.

I think it was more an inability to handle the different kinds of proteins than anything else that was good/bad about the food though. If she pulls the styrofoam tray from chicken breasts out of the trash and licks it, she'll have loose stools for a day or two.

 

[Southpaw]

Lucy has been on Nutro Natural Choice, Nutro Ultra, Innova, Blue Buffalo, and now Kirkland. I've never noticed a difference with her as far as poop, energy, coat, etc.

Juno has been on a variety of foods as well and the biggest difference that I've noticed between each one, has been in her poop. Taste of the Wild was the worst, she'd wake up in the middle of the night and RUN outside she had such bad diarrhea. After that was Innova I think... better, but then she had a few episodes of bloody diarrhea so we stopped that. After that we tried Natural Balance. Again, it was better, but she still had mushy poop. Then we tried Blue Buffalo, and finally, she had normal firm poop. Super shiny coat as well that people always comment on. We're just now in the process of switching her to Natures Domain, which might be stupid of us but we'll give it a try. So far no issues though.

 

[PalmettoPaws]

Savannah has been on tons of different foods. Honestly I'm not sure I can remember them all lol but I'll try.

Pro Plan - She came to me as a puppy on this food. I can't really say what effect it had on her because as a puppy she had polydipsia and barely ate at all.

Nutro - BAD BAD BAD. She pooped a lot, had gas and her fur got a red tinge to it.

Solid Gold Barking at the Moon - I just could not get her to keep weight on while feeding this kibble.

California Natural - No complaints with this one. The only reason we switched was that it was no longer available locally.

Diamond Naturals Chicken and Rice - She was ok on this one but she pooped a lot and wasn't keeping weight on.

Taste of the Wild - Can't recall any complaints with it other than some gas.

EVO - The first time around back in 2009 she did spectacular on EVO I couldn't have been more pleased. She gained weight and kept it on. Then I moved and it was no longer available locally. I put her on it again a couple months ago when I found a grooming shop that sold it and she lost weight and had horrible gas.

Diamond Naturals Extreme Athlete - I put her on this because the employee at Tractor Supply told me it had put and kept weight on his hunting dogs and he sold me a 40lb bag for only $10. It turned out not to be such a great deal because Savannah had horrible gas and got watery diarrhea in the middle of the night twice.

Now she's on raw and so far is doing great.

 

[danewillow]

I've had dogs for a while so I'll just give you the foods our current dogs have been on.

Nutro - while our dogs did well on it I wouldn't feed it again because I don't like the ingredients and because of the recalls.

Eagle Pack - this had been a popular food with the Dane crowd. Our female Dane's breeder wanted her on it when we got her 5 1/2 years ago. She hated it. Getting her to choke down a full meal was a chore. It's very grain heavy (even the holistic blend has a lot of rice). I wouldn't feed it again.

Innova - I liked it. It's a high quality food and our dogs did well on it. Maia didn't like it much better than Eagle. It's expensive so we switched to save money.

Canidae ALS - I like the quality for the price. This is what we switched to after Innova. Unfortunately, the dogs didn't do well on it including Spencer who had liquid poo. I'd feed it if our dogs could eat it.

TOTW - we rotate flavors. Maia (and any other dog) LOVES IT! I swear it's doggy crack. Our current foster makes Chewbacca noises when he sees us getting the food ready. They do well on it. I get a bulk discount at $33/bag so it is more affordable than Innova.

The great thing about Innova, Canidae, and TOTW is that I've never had to feed our Danes more than 4 cups a day. With a picky eater it's nice to feed less. It's also easier to put weight on bag-of-bones fosters we sometimes get.

Julie

 

[Michiyo-Fir]

We've gone through a lot.

Innova puppy
- medium sized poops, brown
- 70% shiny coat
- few eye goops
- she had bloody stinky puppy breath back then but it was due to teething so no comments on this one
- energy same as every other food I've fed

Wellness Super5mix
- very large poops, slightly lighter in color, rock hard
- 60% coat shine
- no bad breath
- few eye goops
- this food wasn't that high in calories and we had to feed more per meal than the Innova

Orijen (all 3 formulas)
- least poop, slightly softer than the other foods but still very solid and formed, very dark stool
- no eye goops
- no stinky breath
- coat shine 100%
- didn't have to feed a lot to fill Nia up
- same energy

Acana (all 3 grain free formulas)
- medium poop, quite hard, very dark
- no stinky breath
- no eye goops
- same energy
- 95-100% coat shine

Royal Canin mini puppy 33
- medium poop
- no stinky breath
- no eye goops
- coat shine 50%
- same energy
- a bit of body odor

Science Diet (Fed by dogsitter)
- didn't feed long enough to notice coat difference
- no eye goop
- same energy
- big poops, yellowish in color
- strong body odor. Eve if she gets one meal of SD, the next day a weird dog stink just seeps out from her body.


*Note: Nia has never had diarrhea switching kibble or eating a different kibble so her stool was formed fine in all of the foods we've tried.

 

[JustaLilBitaLuck]

Purina Pro Plan - Missy was on this when we got her, and we kept her on it for a couple weeks until she settled in. stools were fine, but her coat was very dull and dandruffy, and she had a horrible doggy odor, and horrible breath.

Taste of the Wild - Jack was on this when we got him, and I just recently switched him off it. I figured that it was a good food, so I might as well give it a shot. Stool was fine, coat was great, no tear stains, and he smelled fine.

Fromm - They're both on this now, and they look great. No doggy odor, normal-smelling breath, great coat, great stools, no tear stains, weight is good. Their energy level has been consistent on all the foods, so I can't really say that's changed.

 

[wvhollardawgs]

Both my boys eat 2 varieties of Taste of Wild Kibble mixed with variety of no grain canned or homemade raw ground chicken w/supplements and water added at each meal (twice a day).

The idea to use 2 varieties of kibble and an array of canned food or raw was to try to hit on all the various supplements and nutrients in different foods so they don't get too much of one thing and not enough of another.

I also supplement with NutrVet All-In-One Vitamin powder at each meal as well.

Their coats are shiniest since adding the vitamin powder, however I have seen dandruff on both of them recently...we are a little late for baths this round, so they may just need a good scrub. Also the dry indoor heat in our cold climate, I think adds to this.

There is no odor for the one boy ( unless you count his gas after treats!) but my younger one has ALWAYS had a little breath stink to him. Not noticable unless you are sniffing for it. I chaulk it up to his nerves as he is still working out his kinks from early life at shelter. The more comfortable he has become, the less stink I detect. On particularly nervous days, the stink is more noticeable.

Both of their poo's are firm and decent amount, though it is less and smaller when they get the raw.

No tear stains, just eye boogers!

Energy levels are off the richtor scale, especially since adding the vitmain powder. Mine are both fairly young, though, at 5ish and 3ish.

 

[Saeleofu]

Gavroche has eaten Science Die, Purina ONE, Nutro MAX, Authority Harvest Baked, Pedigree, Diamond Naturals, and Taste of the Wild. His skin always had issues on anything other than Taste of the Wild. He's still got some spots on TOTW but is much improved. His stools are also hard little balls on TOTW, while he had a tendency to have diarrhea on the others. Other than his skin issues and his diarrhea on crap foods, he'll do all right on anything. He's eaten Diamond Naturals before when I bought the wrong formula for Logan or when I run out of TOTW and can't get to the store for a few days, and he does all right on them.

Logan has eaten Diamond Naturals Chicken and Rice, 4Health Chicken and Rice, and Diamond Naturals Extreme Athlete. They're all more or less the same thing, with differences in calories and such. He does well on them all, but I feed less with the Extreme Athlete. He did have a few meals of lamb & rice Naturals before when I bought the wrong bag by mistake, and that food did not do him any favors.

I do want to add that Gavroche has not had tear stains since switching to TOTW. He's full of energy now that his thyroid disease is under control, and his coat is starting to come back in nicely.

 

[Libby]

Oh boy. I'll admit, I've gone through a lot, some really not good at all.

When I first got Gypsy, I had Lucy, an ACD mix who now lives with my parents. She was fed Beneful dog food, and when Gypsy came along, I had her on Purina puppy chow for the first couple months, then she started to develope allergies.

THAT is how I learned about what is a good food, and what isn't.

So, she ate DVP Duck and potato formula food for a long time. She did well on it, but the price kept climbing.

I switched her to Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lover's soul, and she really liked that and seemed to do ok. She was on it for a while.

Switched to Diamond Naturals Beef formula, and fed that to everyone for years. They did well on it, never had problems.

Then Umah started having stomach issues with the Diamond Naturals, and even trying different formulas (chicken, lamb), she still had soft stools and really bad gas.

So I changed her over to Blue Buffalo, the fish and potato meal one. She did fantastic on it! I fed her that for a few months, but I couldn't get it in my own town--I had to travel to Albaquerque, which is nearly two hours drive. My local feed store started carrying taste of the wild, per request (lol) and I've had all of my dogs on the TOTW Pacific Stream for almost a year now.

I've never seen them have such shiny coats, or be so healthy. No one has any tummy upset, and they've never looked better!

I also do partial raw, and they get raw meals two or three times a week, mostly chicken and beef.

 

[ihartgonzo]

Blue Buffalo Wilderness (Salmon and Chicken formulas)
Awesome coat and skin
No eye boogs ever
Nice, small, odorless poops 2 times a day
LOVE it so much that I can use it as valuable treats
Very convenient because I work at a store where it's sold and I get a discount.

Taste of the Wild
Coats were so-so
Some eye goop
Poops were frequent and SMELLY and loose D:
Not too palatable
Contains way too much potato for my taste

Nature's Variety Instinct (Salmon and Rabbit formulas)
Nice coats; low shedding
No eye boogs
Dogs loved it
Super firm, low odor poops 1-2 times daily
Favorite kibble!

Innova Evo
Didn't notice a change in coats/eyes/breath/etc
Not too palatable, I don't like the look or smell of the kibbles.
Didn't feed it long enough to notice... poops were not acceptable, very loose even after a week, so I brought it back.

The Honest Kitchen supplemented with cooked meats
Super nice coats
No eye boogs
Good breath
Good poops - except for the occasional bits of dried veggies don't like that.
Gonzo is eating this and doing SO well, I tried to use it as a supplement to Fozzdawg's raw diet but he refuses to eat it. Some dogs just don't like the texture, that's my only issue. It's also pretty much necessary to add fresh meat.

Orijen
Nice coats
Somewhat fishy breath/odor... they all contain lots of fish
OK poops, 2-3 times a day, not as firm and small as I'd like
Gonzo got sick and almost died when he was on this food. I don't know if it had a thing to do with the food. As much as I like it and know how well it works for some dogs, I won't feed it ever again.