What are you feeding your pets?

[ICNDonna]

We've been afraid to buy more dog food that contains gluten --- and finally found some without. We found it at a natural food pet store; expensive, but we'll be using it at least for a while. And I went to the internet and searched for recipes for pet treats and actually made dog biscuits for our Meggie. The only problem is that she loves them. Looks like I'll be making her treats from now on.

Donna

[Berkshire Road]

Oh, my daughter made home-made treats once! They were too popular; the dogs started begging for them. They only wanted the treats, and weren't eating as much of their regular food. So, no more home-made treats for them.

We have always given our dogs dry food only. We called our vet to double-check, and they promised us that only wet food is affected. Because one of them has a hip problem, we were advised to find a food with glucosomine/chondroiton. We now buy the Kirkland brand premium food at Costco. It is one of the most nutritious foods around, and it's not as expensive as most others. And it has poor Rusty's glucosamine. You can only get it in huge quantities, but we have two big dogs, so this is not a problem. We need huge quantities.

The other thing we do is put about a teaspoon of safflower oil on their food in the evenings. It's almost pure vitamin E, and it very much helps the dry skin they tend to get in the winter. The dogs love the oil; they love anything greasy. In the summers we have to close them in another room while we put sunscreen on, or they try to lick it off as we're applying it. Like, "Yum, Coppertone Sport, my favorite!" It's gross, but I think it's their natural instinct to seek out fats, to keep them warm in the wintertime.

[waterflow]

I have only been giving Patches dry cat food as far as pet food goes. Then she gets canned salmon, tuna, I cook fish for her and she will have chicken too. I did get one can of liver patete. Didn't think she would eat the stuff but she loved it.

[shell]

I few years ago I did a project for a class and compared commercial dog food to homemade and was amazed at the junk that's in commercial food. As I don't have the time to make food for myself let alone the dog, I found a dry commercial food, Natural Balance, that isn't too full of byproducts and preservatives. And once we switched to that food my dog's skin problems cleared up.

[waterflow]

Wonder what they fed pets before they had pet foods?

[vm]

We feed our dog Science Diet's sensitive skin formula (made him stop itching!) and the kitties get Science Diet for kittens. Both are dry.

[ICNDonna]

We've always gone with dry food too. So far there's only one dry food effected --- I think they said it's a prescription one. We've been giving Meggie Science Diet, but we're switching to a non-wheat one at least for a while.

Donna

[Zygala87]

Great ideas. I have been mixing cooked rice, cooked chicken (cut small) and mashed carrots to feed a little bit morning and evening to our Chihuahua. I leave down Sience diet small bits for him to have anytime. He loves my concoction. I keep it in the fridge and warm it a little when I give it to him. There are suppose to be a number of pet foods that are safe but I don't trust them at all right now only because I think the companies just don't know if it is truely safe. OMG what if it got into baby foods or any human foods. What a mess!!!! Ziggy

[Kara Isabel]

I've been feeding some homemade food. What I do, is boil chicken and mix chicken, brown rice, green beans and pears (diced very small) and she LOVES it. She gets this for dinner, or an occasional scrambled egg with a little cheese (she's insanely spoiled!)

As far as breakfast and lunch go, I just switched to Purina Pro Plan. I like the fact that its made in the same facility without any outside/imported products (especially after this scare!) She seems to really like it and it was rated highly.

Gosh, this food scare is terrible and has me worried about everything I'm giving her.

Here's some info on dog food ratings:

How to grade your dog's food: Start with a grade of 100:


1) For every listing of "by-product" , subtract 10 points
2) For every non-specific animal source ("meat" or "poultry", meat, meal or fat) reference, subtract 10 points
3) If the food contains BHA, BHT, or ethoxyquin, subtract 10 points
4) For every grain "mill run" or non-specific grain source, subtract 5 points
5) If the same grain ingredient is used 2 or more times in the first five ingredients (I.e. "ground brown rice",
"brewers rice", "rice flour" are all the same grain), subtract 5 points
6) If the protein sources are not meat meal and there are less than 2 meats in the top 3 ingredients, subtract 3 points
7) If it contains any artificial colorants, subtract 3 points
8) If it contains ground corn or whole grain corn, subtract 3points
9) If corn is listed in the top 5 ingredients, subtract 2 more points
10) If the food contains any animal fat other than fish oil, subtract 2 points
11) If lamb is the only animal protein source (unless your dog is allergic to other protein sources), subtract 2 points
12) If it contains soy or soybeans, subtract 2 points
13) If it contains wheat (unless you know that your dog is not allergic to wheat), subtract 2 points
14) If it contains beef (unless you know that your dog is not allergic to beef), subtract 1 point
15) If it contains salt, subtract 1 point

Extra Credit:


1) If any of the meat sources are organic, add 5 points
2) If the food is endorsed by any major breed group or nutritionist, add 5 points
3) If the food is baked not extruded, add 5 points
4) If the food contains probiotics, add 3 points
5) If the food contains fruit, add 3 points
6) If the food contains vegetables (NOT corn or other grains), add 3 points
7) If the animal sources are hormone-free and antibiotic-free, add 2 points
8 ) If the food contains barley, add 2 points
9) If the food contains flax seed oil (not just the seeds), add 2 points
10) If the food contains oats or oatmeal, add 1 point
11) If the food contains sunflower oil, add 1 point
12) For every different specific animal protein source (other than the first one; count "chicken" and "chicken meal"
as only one protein source, but "chicken" and "" as 2 different sources), add 1 point
13) If it contains glucosamine and chondroitin, add 1 point
14) If the vegetables have been tested for pesticides and are pesticide-free, add 1 point

Score:
94-100+ = A 86-93 = B 78-85 = C 70-77 = D 69 and below = F

Here are some foods that have already been scored.

Dog Food scores:
Authority Harvest Baked / Score 116 A+
Bil-Jac Select / Score 68 F
Canidae / Score 112 A+
Chicken Soup Senior / Score 115 A+
Diamond Maintenance / Score 64 F
Diamond Lamb Meal & Rice / Score 92 B
Diamond Large Breed 60+ Formula / Score 99 A
Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra Premium / Score 122 A+
Dick Van Patten's Duck and Potato / Score 106 A+
Foundations / Score 106 A+
Hund-n-Flocken Adult Dog (lamb) by Solid Gold / Score 93 B
Iams Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Premium / Score 73 D
Innova Dog / Score 114 A+
Innova Evo / Score 114 A+
Kirkland Signature Chicken, Rice, and Vegetables / Score 110 A+
Nutrisource Lamb and Rice / Score 87 B
Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy / Score 87 B
Pet Gold Adult with Lamb & Rice / Score 23 F
ProPlan Natural Turkey & Barley / Score 103 A+
Purina Beneful / Score 17 F
Purina Dog / Score 62 F
Purina Come-n-Get It / Score 16 F
Royal Canin Bulldog / Score 100 A+
Royal Canin Natural Blend Adult / Score 106 A+
Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice / Score 97 A
Science Diet Advanced Protein Senior 7+ / Score 63 F
Science Diet for Large Breed Puppies / Score 69 F
Wellness Super5 Mix Chicken / Score 110 A+
Wolfking Adult Dog (bison) by Solid Gold / Score 97 A
__________________


I hope that helps!
hugs,
Kara

[tigger_gal]

I feed my dogs the Diamond High Energy dry dog food.. I have tried others, but when I do my dogs coats seems dull, and they act like theyare starving to death.

[DebbieB]

Hi Donna,

My dog is allergic to every thing going , I did have him on the Nutro Lamb & Rice diet and with all this scare of dog food recall ..
I change him over to Solid Gold Hund-N-Flocken with Lamb and rice , has no wheat , soybeans, corn , animal fat added , poultry fat , by-products, sugar added, artificial preservatives added , salt and no sunflower oil ..
He seem to like it so far..

[humpieumpumkin]

Sadie-Beneful Healthy Radiance
Jim & Creepy:Purina Indoor cat formula, Friskies wet food, and Hairball remedy over food once a week.

Erika

BTW sadie is sooooooooooo shiny!

[Sarojini]

I feed my cat dry food -- Royal Canin Maine Coon #31 (breed specific nutrition -- large kibble to encourage a large cat to chew properly, contains glucosamine/chondroitin sulfate to help prevent hip dysplasia Maines can get, nutrients to maintain a full, shiny coat)

We were feeding the dog Purina Dog Chow Senior, but my husband wants to find something else.

They both used to get a teaspoon of wet food morning and night for a treat, but we have stopped that for the time being, until the poison problem is resolved.

[dancemomof2]

Mine are on Purina pro plan with salmon, since our Golden is allergic to meat. They Brittanies are on Kibbles and Bits.

[mary124]

I feed my girls' Nutro Dry for Seniors.