Dog Food

I feed my dog California naturals and raw turkey chicken bison or beef.Also there is a great raw food from whole foods I cant remember the name though it is by the sausage.

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I highly recommend Iams. That's what I feed my dogs and they are really healthy! Just a little advice though, you don't want to make the switch all at once you need to mix the new and the old together to gradually get him used to it. Hope you love your lab as much as I loved mine!

I have been using an all natural food (since that big scare with the pet food) called American Natural. They are located in Wisconsin and only use human-grade all natural products. No wheat gluten or by-products in it. My dogs LOVE it and I had a very picky eater that even loved it. There are not many places that sell it. I work at Wizard of Pawz in Hoffman Estates and we sell it there. It is only $25.00 for a 40 pound bag! It really is great food. Good luck with your newest family member! Labs can be quite a handful but they are wonderful family dogs.

I'm wondering if you meant Nutro Max. That's what I had my Rottweiler on and she got really sick from it. My vet said that he feeds his dogs the lamb and rice formula from Costco. So that's what we switched to and she loves it. It's so much cheaper too!

I highly recommend the Purina brand of dog food. All of my dogs have been on this & there has never been a problem. Just my two sense

We have a chocolate lab who is almost 2. He is a big boy, 90 pounds, but a sweet dog. We have him on Innova large breed. It does not have any fillers... the main ingredients are meats and veggies. It is a bit pricey, but you can find better prices online. Hope this helps!

For a lab you may want to look into any of the large breed specific foods. These foods often have joint aids (glusimine and chondroitin) added in to help with the common problems sometimes seen in large dogs. Purina and Eukanuba both have good formulas. Also check with your vet and what they offer, it is a bit picier but worth it. i used to in a vets office and my husband is a vet so it is a subject i am familer with. Labs tend to get chunky if your not careful so watch the amounts given a little goes a long way.

Hi C.~
3 years ago we purchased an already 3 year old adult Yellow Lab (72 pounds) from a wonderful breeder in Iowa. The breeder couldn't emphasize enough the importance of feeding her dogs a top quality food. She had always fed the dogs "Canine Caviar", but that is not easily available in this area. She then recommended Innova Adult Dry and we are extremely happy with it. As other replies have said, when you feed the correct amount of food that is not full of junk, you have a happy pet who keeps a beautiful coat, good teeth, healthy ears (which can be a Lab's weak spot), and regular poops that are easy to clean up. She has never been sick and maintains her weight. We feed her just under a cup in the morning and again at dinner time, and she gets so excited to see the food coming that she can hardly contain herself! She scarfs it down, never begs for people food, and has a great disposition!

Check out the comparisons on this website, which includes many of the other foods discussed in this post. Have fun with your new dog; remember, they are the only ones who are ALWAYS happy to see you AND they never talk back!

http://www.naturapet.com/default.asp

We feed our dog raw turkey and a little Iams kibble. The raw turkey is bought at aldi frozen in a tube (like breakfast sausage) and only costs 79 cents per pound. The reason behind this is that think about what a dog would eat in the wild. Would it eat the stuff that is in most commercial dog foods? Flour, grains etc? Most likely not so we go with the raw turkey and a little kibble for the vitamin component. The choice to go with Iams is that there is not a lot of filler in it. Less goes in = less comes out. We have noticed with our beagle that she had maintained a healthy weight, has a beautiful shiny coat, and is filled with energy. She also is on a "pooping" schedule because of the regulated feed. We know exactly when she needs to go out and for how long so that we never have accidents in the house. This is the first dog that we have done this for. Our last dog, who died of cancer, was fed Bill Jac, which we loved too but required a special trip to a pet store over 20 miles away to purchase it.

As long as your dog is happy and healthy, feed what you prefer and what they will eat. Remember to transition slowly to the new food.

Good Luck!

S.

We feed our beagle Iams Mini Chunks. That is the only thing I have ever used. Congrats on your newest family member :)

we hv a 3.5yr old samoyed and she's been on science diet for most of her life. i think it's a good brand, reasonably priced and good quality.

C.,

We always used Innova/California Naturals for our German Shepherds. But, when we moved to our new home, we couldn't find anywhere that carried it. After talking to the Vet, we changed to Purina ONE.

Just so you know, when you do switch - do it gradually as to not upset his stomach. Mix 75% old with 25% new and increase it as the days go on.

T.

We have a 2yr old black lab, and we feed her Hill's Science Diet.

C.,

I had a lab/akita mix for 13 years and now have a mastiff, age 3. I am a big fan of Science diet. Yes, I had a scare with my mastiff back with the food recalls, but it's a great brand that you can really tailor to your needs. I now use adult large breed dry. Be very careful when switching foods. Decide on a brand and switch - don't try many brands, it's very disturbing to thier digestive tract and believe me - you don't want those types of problems. Good luck

My husband works for Colgate-Palmolive, which owns Hill's Science Diet, so of course we feed our dogs that. He has extensive knowledge about not only the quality of the food, but also the operations at their plants. When you look at the feeding chart on the bag, you would be amazed at how little food the dog has to eat in order to get his or her daily nutrients. That's because the food does not contain a lot of junk...only what the dog needs. Despite what someone else said about Science Diet, the first ingredient listed on the label is meat. It should not be compared to Purina, etc, but rather to Iams and the like. It was not until a few years ago that it even became available in grocery stores. Also, the animals who live at Hill's live like kings and queens. They really take care of their animals, which helps me sleeps a little better at night knowing that not only are they not mistreated, they are spoiled rotten.

If you check out consumer reports about dog food the Target brand is not significantly nutritionally better than the higher priced ones. We feed our big lab purina for large breed and he does fine with it. Higher end food does not mean better for your dog.

Hi C., we have two yellow labs who will be two years next month. Yes, they are a handful but if you make a point of walking them daily and playing with them, they're just fine. We have a big yard and they both love to run around. It's great having two dogs because they truly entertain eachother. Our trainer gave us a list of foods that are great for dogs. Two that we can find are "Nutro Max Ultra" from PetSmart and the Costco dog food. I can't remember the name of that food but it was really good for them. We no longer have a Costco near us, otherwise we'd still be giving them that. Both our dogs really like the Nutro and it doesn't have all the sugars and garbage that they don't need. Labs a great with kids. Congratulations on your new family member. We love our dogs and can't imagine not having them around.

Hello,

We feed our dog who is a German Shorthair Pointer, a food called Flint River Ranch. It's oven baked kibble and supposed to be really good for dogs. Our vet recommends it as well as the Pointer Rescue society where we adopted our dog from. It's mail-order. I pay about $27 per 20lb bag. One bag lasts about a month. THe website I order from is frrco.com. Good luck.

Hi C., we have a female yellow lab that is almost 3 years old and is about 75 pounds, and a female boxer mix that is 14 weeks old. Our lab is on Iams adult breed large chunk food, and our boxer is on Science Diet puppy small bites food. They both love there food (of course), but once our boxer is around a year I think we will slowely change her to the Iams dog food. I would definitely recomend the Iams, we have never had a problem with it and it was recommended by the breeder that we got our lab from.

We raised our 16 year old Golden Retreiver on Pedigree for Large Dogs, Small Crunchy bites. If she lived that long, it has to have something good! I'm starting my new lab puppy out on Pedigree Puppy.

We feed our dog the Maxx brand from walmart that is lamb & rice. We had a lot of problems with her vomiting & this seems to be alright on her tummy. We tried lots of different brands before coming to this one.
Whatever you try make sure that is does not list corn meal as the first ingredient, otherwise that could make your new pet poop alot & could be loose. I also agree with everyone that said to switch to the new stuff gradually.

We have an almost 3 yr. old chocolate lab and we like Pro Pac for large breeds the best.

We've had our 7 year old 85 lb, lab and boxer cross on Hill's Science Diet available at Petco or PetSmart for just over 6 years.

He loves it, it's kept him healthy, and it's mid range in price. If you sign up for the Petco card, every 10th bag is free (as long as you've been buying the same food brand). It's good deal in the end.

Good luck and enjoy your new buddy!

Hi, C.. The best thing you can put your dog on is anything where the first ingredient is a meat. You can go to Hungry Hound on 41 in Schererville (just North of Lake Central). I have 3 cats (2 are kittens), and I was feeding them Nature's Variety and then Orijin from the Hungry Hound (both are available as dog food as well). It ended up getting too expensive since I lost my job. So I went to PetSmart and searched for a long time until I found a food where the first ingredient isn't "chicken meal" or "byproduct" or anything like that. The line is Blue. I don't know if they have an equivalent for dog food, but they should. I stay away from Purina, Science Diet, and all the other big national brands, since their products don't contain actual chicken, especially as the first ingredient. Good luck!

M.

Hi there. We have an 8 year old yellow lab and a bulldog and we feed them both Merrick. (Mostly Grammy's pot pie and Turducken) I love Merrick and we've had them both on this food for almost 2 and a half years with no problems and our lab even has digestive issues, but this food seems to work for him. It is about $40 a bag (for the big ones) but this feeds both of our dogs for about a month because you go by a specific amount of food based on weight. It sounds expensive but I think it comes out just a little bit more than if you were to feed them the regular store bought brands and the health benefits are worth it. Every time I go to the vet, they compliment me on keeping my bulldog health which will help prevent hip problems for her later in life. The only downfall of Merrick is that it is not available just anywhere. Around here in Northwest IN, the only places I have been able to find it is at Pet Supplies Plus in Valpo or Dyer, or at Hungry Hound in St. John. Hope that helps.

C.,
We have a Border Collie puppy (9 mo old) & we put him on Exclusive Puppy food, they have all kinds & different size bags too. We also have a Shitzu(?)that has alot of tummy troubles but he started eating this food also & since has had very little problems with his tummy. Both dogs are growing, very active & doing very well on it. The only place I can find it around Springfield, Il. is Bradfordton Grain Elevator. The 35lb (i think) bag with tax is $27.00 but they give you a customer card for the food & after buying 6 lg bags you get a bag free so that helps. Good luck with your dog, he will make a great friend for the boys. D.

Well, I'm not a dog food expert, but I've done a TON of research. We have two dogs that we adopted from a local shelter and since day one I've been concerned about their nutrition.

Nutromax, which I think you're referring too, is good. It has no animal by-products and is in the mid-level price range. I would stay away from store brands because they usually have tons of fillers which are not good for your dog, especially a young dog. You want to go for a food that has as few fillers and grains as possible. And don't be fooled by a food that has "natural" in the title. This usually means that it has more grains, which don't tend to digest properly in dogs.

Another good thing for feeding is to add supplements to your dogs food. We use salmon oil, pro-biotics, and enzymes for digestion. This really makes a difference in their demeanor, coats, and overall health.

A great on-line resource for healthy feeding and care is onlynaturalpet.com. It's great and has tons of ideas for food, supplements, and treats!

Happy Feeding!

Meaghan

i'm sure you've gotten more advice than you know what to do with and that most of it is fantastic, so i'm going to throw in just one little thing that i'm guessing a lot of others don't think about.

find out how the administration treats the staff. are they paid hourly or are they salaried? can they get health care? can they contribute to a 401k (or 403b if it's a non-profit)? what kind of vacation/sick days do they get?

i know this may sound odd, but the better the staff are treated, the better they will treat your child. i've worked in two preschools--one where the staff were treated amazingly and one where the staff were all but neglected while i was there (things have changed)--and it makes a huge difference. it's unlikely that you'll find a preschool that salaries its staff, so the benefits are key.

good luck!

C.,

I had a black lab mix for 10 wonderful years. He was on store food until he had gained too much weight. He ended up on ProPac adult chunk. We really liked it. We had to buy it at a pet store (PrairieLand Feeds and Animal Outfitters around here). I recommend to anyone. We also used Hill's Science Diet for a while and it was fine, too.

I would recommend getting a kong toy for your dog, too. They are very durable rubber and great to put snacks and watch your dog play. Wennie (my dog) also loved to swim, so we got him in the water anytime we could.

Good luck with your new pup,
B.

most importantly, be sure what you change to is for a large breed..nutro is great...but expensive... staying constant is very important...whatever you decide...... I hpe you enjoy your new member of the family...

We feed our 6 year-old lab Solid Gold. It is the highest rated natural dog food. Congrats on your new family member!