# Performance Dog Food...which one??



## kimby2974

I have been feeding Iams for a couple years now and trying to research other options. We work for hunt test performance. Which dog food do you feed and why? I have been researching this for weeks and decided to come to the "pros"! Thanks for your help!


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## Uncle Remus

kimby2974 said:


> I have been feeding Iams for a couple years now and trying to research other options. We work for hunt test performance. Which dog food do you feed and why? I have been researching this for weeks and decided to come to the "pros"! Thanks for your help!


I've fed Purina Product for thirty years and have found them very adequate.
I've switched from Adult to Performance for all my dogs. I believe they and
Science Diet were both clear of the scare last year.


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## J. Walker

Uncle Remus said:


> I've fed Purina Product for thirty years and have found them very adequate.
> I've switched from Adult to Performance for all my dogs. I believe they and
> Science Diet were both clear of the scare last year.


I mean no offense but if anyone does even a small amount of research on Purina foods, he or she will realize that Purina's foods are really sub-standard. Pretty much all of the company's foods are _loaded_ with grain, especially corn which most dogs can't digest worth a darn so it leads to digestive and/or urinary problems. I've seen the problems first-hand. For example, with Dog Chow, nine of the first 11 ingredients are grain. Purina's Naturally Complete contains grain in the first seven of 10 ingredients. For both, the very first ingredient is whole grain corn. Even Purina Pro Plan has "real chicken" (or the protein source for that formula) as the first ingredient. The problem is that "real chicken" hasn't been processed yet so it's still 80% water. Once processed, the resulting material becomes the fourth, fifth or lower ingredient by weight. In other words, even with Pro Plan, the first three ingredients after processing are grains.

It seems everyone is looking for the Holy Grail of dog food. The biggest problem I've noticed lately is that even premium food brands have been getting bought out or have been changing their formulas like crazy over the last two years. Nutro, Royal Canin, Canidae, Wellness, and others have all either been bought out, changed their formulas or both. A local place where I've bought food for several years has had lots of problems with food returns over the last few months from Canidae, Nutro, Wellness, and Eagle Pack as the foods were making animals sick. I called one premium company (Blue) to find out more about the company's food and was told that not only was Blue only a marketing company, the company didn't even have a representative on site where the production takes place. The company is in Connecticut but the manufacturing takes place completely outside of the company's control at a facility in Missouri as I recall. That's my point in that it's really hard to truly know what you're getting and what you can expect from batch to batch since it seems more and more companies are selling out, going to cheaper ingredients or contracting to have a company have way across the country make their foods.


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## nanney1

J. Walker said:


> I mean no offense but if anyone does even a small amount of research on Purina foods, he or she will realize that Purina's foods are really sub-standard. Pretty much all of the company's foods are _loaded_ with grain, especially corn which most dogs can't digest worth a darn so it leads to digestive and/or urinary problems. I've seen the problems first-hand. For example, with Dog Chow, nine of the first 11 ingredients are grain. Purina's Naturally Complete contains grain in the first seven of 10 ingredients. For both, the very first ingredient is whole grain corn. Even Purina Pro Plan has "real chicken" (or the protein source for that formula) as the first ingredient. The problem is that "real chicken" hasn't been processed yet so it's still 80% water. Once processed, the resulting material becomes the fourth, fifth or lower ingredient by weight. In other words, even with Pro Plan, the first three ingredients after processing are grains.
> 
> I'd like to see even a small amount of research that shows that Purina, or other "grain based" foods are sub-standard. And, by research, I don't mean dogfoodanalysis.com or some other opinion-based website that judges foods simply by looking at an ingredients list.
> 
> J. Walker, I agree with what you're saying in your second paragraph. Very interesting what you mentioned about Blue.


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## MSDOGS1976

*I'd like to see even a small amount of research that shows that Purina, or other "grain based" foods are sub-standard. And, by research, I don't mean dogfoodanalysis.com or some other opinion-based website that judges foods simply by looking at an ingredients list.*

[/QUOTE]


Good point. I see lot's of opinions on grains but no research listed. How do we know all grains are bad? I try to take a balanced approach. My kibble of choice has meat listed in the first and fourth position on the ingredient list but grains are also included. No corn as she had issues with that, but other grains. My dog is healthy and looks great too.


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## Swampcollie

About the only way to truly judge a food is to look at the results it delivers over the long term when fed to numerous dogs. None of the websites that rate foods really do this. Those websites are heavy on opinion, short on facts, and rely on an almost religious philosophy when questioned (they can't back up their arguments with facts.)

Eukanuba Premium Performance and Pro Plan Performance are both good examples of what a Performance food should be, based upon the results they have delivered for decades with thousands of dogs. The foods are not the least expensive nor the most expensive, they're widely available and consistent bag after bag, month after month, year after year.

Diets assuring that the dog has the nutrients it needs to train hard, work hard, and remain in peak physical condition over its' entire lifetime are your better foods.


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## DMA

Sub-Standard would mean not meeting the standard. What is the standard? When I am not training dogs I am enforcing over 300 US Grade Standards for foods. Dog foods are handled like human foods. Processing facilities pack for multiple lables. Key point to look for is how your dog performs on a particular food. Better yet worry about how your family and kids perform on what they eat. I agree you should look into the food and get what you feel is important. It just amazes me how many food posts are on the RTF, I am guilty of looking for premium foods also. I even think about it while waiting in line at McDonalds. I am sure of one thing. If I asked the dog she would request cat turds.


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## MSDOGS1976

DMA said:


> Sub-Standard would mean not meeting the standard. What is the standard? When I am not training dogs I am enforcing over 300 US Grade Standards for foods. Dog foods are handled like human foods. Processing facilities pack for multiple lables. Key point to look for is how your dog performs on a particular food. Better yet worry about how your family and kids perform on what they eat. I agree you should look into the food and get what you feel is important. *It just amazes me how many food posts are on the RTF,* I am guilty of looking for premium foods also. I even think about it while waiting in line at McDonalds. I am sure of one thing. *If I asked the dog she would request cat turds.*


You should look at the lab and golden retriever forums. They are obsessed with food topics. Yes, most dogs don't seem to be too picky about what they eat. Mine has been known to nibble at her own poop.:barf:


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## road kill

Any opinions on "Taste of the Wild?"


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## jreid06

road kill said:


> Any opinions on "Taste of the Wild?"


I fed it for nearly 9 months then switched to Native then Pro Plan. I know shouldn't switch so much but my native dealer went out of business so I had to find a replacement. 

I was feeding two dogs the Venison version a bag a piece about per month just to keep them looking somewhat healthy. My dogs aren't super active running trials or anything so its not like they are burning tons of calories every day. I honestly fed nearly 7 or 8 cups a day just to keep them looking like they got some food. 

I can go on about one big bag (PP) per month for both dogs. I feed them around 4 cups a day and look better than they did on the Taste of the Wild. 

I just put one dog on the PP salmon (sensitive skin for allergy reasons) because of what one of the petsmart people suggested instead of the Taste of the Wild. It (PP) has a higher protein to fat rate than the Taste of the wild without the corn. So far I really like it for him but only time will tell. The other dog is on the adult PP and doing great as well.

Plus PP is about $10 or more cheaper than Taste of the Wild locally. Just my thoughts based on my experience. 

Josh


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## road kill

jreid06 said:


> I fed it for nearly 9 months then switched to Native then Pro Plan. I know shouldn't switch so much but my native dealer went out of business so I had to find a replacement.
> 
> I was feeding two dogs the Venison version a bag a piece about per month just to keep them looking somewhat healthy. My dogs aren't super active running trials or anything so its not like they are burning tons of calories every day. I honestly fed nearly 7 or 8 cups a day just to keep them looking like they got some food.
> 
> I can go on about one big bag (PP) per month for both dogs. I feed them around 4 cups a day and look better than they did on the Taste of the Wild.
> 
> I just put one dog on the PP salmon (sensitive skin for allergy reasons) because of what one of the petsmart people suggested instead of the Taste of the Wild. It (PP) has a higher protein to fat rate than the Taste of the wild without the corn. So far I really like it for him but only time will tell. The other dog is on the adult PP and doing great as well.
> 
> Plus PP is about $10 or more cheaper than Taste of the Wild locally. Just my thoughts based on my experience.
> 
> Josh


The Taste of the Wild I am using is grain free and is pretty high protein %.

I have some suspicions about my dog and corn.
He seems happy and active, but I just started.


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## SableMom

.I decided to try Taste of the Wild grain free for my chocolate lab's skin problems and she is somewhat overweight - was told the higher protein (was on NB) would maybe keep her from behaving like she is starving. Neither is happening. She seems to have gained weight which is bad at her age (9) and am only giving her 2 cups a day. What food should I try now? Have tried Blue Buffalo and NB. Need help


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## MikeB

I would try the CANIDAE Platinum formula. It is made for older overweight dogs. 

http://www.canidae.com/dogs/platinum/dry.html


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## Brian Skibicki

I have fed Purina ProPlan Performance for the last 2 years and have been very pleased with the results on my 3 labs. The consistency of the stools makes keeping the kennel clean much easier then some other high protein foods I have tried. My friend / pro feeds Black Gold to his 20+ dogs and he has been pleased with the results as well.


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## Blackstone

I currently feed Nutro Ultra, but switch over to Nutro Adult High Energy as hunting season nears. However, I am a little concerned about the quality of Nutro products since they were purchased by Mars. I think I am going to try Taste of the Wild to see how the dogs do it. Taste of the wild appears to have really high quality ingredients and no grains. However, I am not as concerned about grains as I am about the use of animal by-products and animal digest used in some other foods. I really don’t want to feed that stuff to my dogs.


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## kcrumpy9

Blackstone said:


> I currently feed Nutro Ultra, but switch over to Nutro Adult High Energy as hunting season nears. However, I am a little concerned about the quality of Nutro products since they were purchased by Mars.


I switched from Ultra myself.. They are changing the formula again so I'm sure they (Mars) will be making it cheaper. 

Someone said something about grains not being so bad for dogs. Yeah they aren't that bad but when you have 3-4 in your top 6-7 ingredients that is. Yeah it's only half the ingredients but when you take out the water weight of the meat then grains are about 75% of what you're feeding. Euk and Pro Plan both use chicken/poultry by-products in their top ingredients do you really wanna feed ground up beaks, feet, feathers, and bones?

I feed Blue Buffalo Wilderness. I mean read the ingredients and it's meat and potatoes. 42% protein, 16% Fat. and 586 kcal.


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## MSDOGS1976

kcrumpy9 said:


> I switched from Ultra myself.. They are changing the formula again so I'm sure they (Mars) will be making it cheaper.
> 
> Someone said something about grains not being so bad for dogs. Yeah they aren't that bad but when you have 3-4 in your top 6-7 ingredients that is. Yeah it's only half the ingredients but when you take out the water weight of the meat then grains are about 75% of what you're feeding. *Euk and Pro Plan both use chicken/poultry by-products in their top ingredients do you really wanna feed ground up beaks, feet, feathers, and bones?*


Here's an interesting article concerning poultry by-products vs poultry meal. The author discusses the nutrition value of both and it may surprise you there is really very little difference in the two, particularly the low ash version(pet grade). Also read the last paragraph. The author points out that AAFCO doesn't require the "by-product" label on lamb, fish, and meat meal but all contain by-products. So some may think they are not feeding their pet's by-products when in fact they are. 

http://www.hilarywatson.com/chicken.pdf


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## kcrumpy9

That's a great article. It's a bit misleading, b/c it says there are substantial differences in the poultry processed shortly after slaughter compared poultry processed later and the ones declared not fit for human consumption. It's hard to tell where you poultry is coming from. A lot of company's will boast they only use human grade ingredients. Euk and Pro Plan don't boast that. I'm not saying they don't use human grade poultry b/c I don't know where their poultry products come from but there is that unknown factor. Just b/c it says chicken as the first ingredient doesn't mean it truly is. It's listed first because it's weighed before they take the water out.

I'm not saying that Euk or Pro Plan are bad foods just using them as examples since they seem to be the 2 most used by people. 

If you're really looking for a great premium food look at Evo by Natura 42% Protein, 22% Fat and 537 Kcals per cup. The only thing is it can be hard to find, so you would possibly have to special order it.


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## MSDOGS1976

kcrumpy9 said:


> If you're really looking for a great premium food look at Evo by Natura 42% Protein, 22% Fat and 537 Kcals per cup. The only thing is it can be hard to find, so you would possibly have to special order it.


At $66.69 for a 28.6lb bag, plus shipping at the below site, I'll pass.  BTW, the ingredients include lamb *meal*. According to the author of the article I referenced, she says lamb meal includes by-products. Does that not matter if your against by-products? Also this product contains 8.7% ash where as Pro Plan's chicken and rice is just 7%. Not a great deal of difference but you would think Evo's would be much less at the price you have to pay for it.

http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/product_detail.asp?pf_id=2011264&dept_id=1&brand_id=1052&Page=

http://www.purina-proplan.com/uk/dog/adultAllSizesOriginal.asp

I'm not trying to get in a debate over dog food but I guess I just don't have as big of a problem with by-products and grains as some. Dogs have done well with these products for years with out having to pay a fortune that some 'premium' brands charge. But to each their own.


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## kcrumpy9

MSDOGS1976 said:


> I'm not trying to get in a debate over dog food but I guess I just don't have as big of a problem with by-products and grains as some. Dogs have done well with these products for years with out having to pay a fortune that some 'premium' brands charge. But to each their own.


Nor am I.  I would just prefer not to feed by-products or try not to; although grains don't bother me that much, I feel that a lot of dog foods are being over run with them. I will definitely agree most of dogs have done fine on lesser foods. If not Ol' Roy wouldn't be one of the top dog foods in the industry. 

I thought I mentioned that Evo was expensive. I spend a pretty penny on food but not quite that much. You also are getting over 100 calories more per cup which means less food you have to feed. 

P.S. I was referring to the regular Evo formula with chicken, and turkey. No red meat. also a little less expensive.


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## Steve Hester

Pro Plan Performance. I judge foods I feed my 4 dogs by results, not speculative information. Pro Plan gives my dogs the best results.


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## road kill

I tried "Taste of the Wild."
No problems per se'.

But I switched back to Eukanuba.
Dog is happy!

stan b


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## Ken McNutt

I've fed Nutro for many years. Years ago, I used to be a manager with Pet Smart and the rep showed me some really thorough research and comparisons with other foods. That's what got me started. Originally, fed MiniChunks and got a glossy coat and a dog that had a lot of energy and seemed to run a lot cooler, even in summer. However, I've switched over to Nutro Beef and Lamb because my dog's coat was getting dull, he seemed to have more stool, which tended to be a little runny, and he was really gassy on the MiniChunks. I tried the Senior, with little difference. The Beef and Lamb seems to have him back to solid stool, less gas, and a better coat. However, I've been hearing bits and pieces about problems with the Nutro: sick dogs, etc., but I think they are confusing Nutro with Nutra, which is a different company. Has anyone heard anything solid about any problems with Nutro? Also, I'm working with a hard-running dog that seems to easily overheat. He's lean, solid muscle, so body fat is not the issue. Has anyone had experience with foods that work better for dogs that are wound tight and run hot?

Mac


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## jrobinson91

My labs get Taste of the Wild. Its 100% grain free so they use ALL of it. unlike Purina or IAMS. Its pretty inexpensive too. My dogs have an amazing coat from it as well.


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## Roughriding Woody

PRO PLAN! Just good eatten's!


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## Brent Keever

I feed my pup Exclusive. My dogs really like it and my feed store carries it. Alot of foods that some of you mention is not available in my area. Exclusive works for me and my dogs.


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## Blackstone

I switched to Taste of the Wild. I switched slowly, but my dogs except one experienced bouts of diarrhea that I could not completely clear up after 6 weeks of feeding it to them. I’m not knocking the food. My dogs just couldn’t seem to adjust to it.

I also noticed my dogs drank a lot more water. They seemed to be thirsty all the time. I controlled how much and how often my puppies drank, but my little 8 month old female started having problems holding her water. She had accidents in her kennel and in the house. I can’t swear it was the change it diet, but it coincided with the change. I am switching them to Healthwise Chicken & Oatmeal. I am interested to see if the excessive peeing stops.


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## mlp

I've been feeding exclusive for a few months and the dogs are looking pretty good.


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## M&K's Retrievers

I have been feeding Extreme Dog Fuel to 4 dogs for the last 2 years with great results from puppies to 17 year old junk yard dog. Coats look great, stools not a problem and the dogs love it. The trainer we use has been feeding it as well for all his dogs for 3 years with the same results. The only problem is it's hard to find. Bass Pro carries it.


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## bluemister

I'm feeding my BLM (90 lbs) the ARKAT Enhance 30-22 Professional Athlete and he has seemed to like it just fine. We aren't training as much as we probably should be right now due to the heat but he hasn't gained weight and only eats about 4 cups a day, if that much. Anybody have any other experience with Enhance? The ingredients look pretty good to me and he eats it just fine. I have been feeding it for about 4 or 5 months.


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## gman0046

I've been real happy with Eukanuba Performance food as my dogs seem to like it.


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## Mike Peters-labguy23

I am feeding Arkat. The Proffesional Athlete is a little hot for my older dog so she is on the Endurance formula. My other 2 dogs have done/look very well on it. I switched them from Pro Plan Performance and will never look back!


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## hamie7

I have used Iam's it didn't work out for my dog her coat was dull and we had a lot of waste to pick up. I went on to use nutri source which was a great food for both of my dogs. Coats looked great high energy and less waste to clean up. price sky rocketed and wasn't easiest to find Gander Mt and a few coops sold it. I went to Loyall dog food I would put it up with my luck with Nutri source a great food. 

Every dog is different what works for mine may not work for you.


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## choclab05

Just changed to Taste of the Wild for 4yr CLF for a month .. So far so good, her coat has improved and I dont feed her as much food. I work with her daily doing drills - shes a happy dog. 

Most of the performance dog food in my area has to be special ordered ..


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## MSDOGS1976

hamie7 said:


> I have used Iam's it didn't work out for my dog her coat was dull and we had a lot of waste to pick up. I went on to use nutri source which was a great food for both of my dogs. Coats looked great high energy and less waste to clean up. price sky rocketed and wasn't easiest to find Gander Mt and a few coops sold it. *I went to Loyall dog food I would put it up with my luck with Nutri source a great food. *


Run that one by me one more time. What are you saying about Loyall?


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## hamie7

Msdogs. Sorry for the bad wording was trying to do two things at once.
I would put Loyall up on the top of my list of dog food. I have two labs that weigh about 60lbs. I feed them two and a half cups of food a day. they have great coats plenty of energy and I have less pick up. That is on the active adult. Which I pay 28.50 for a 40lb bag. They do have a adult maintence and a professional brand. That I have used and was very happy with. I would give it a shot if you are looking for a new food.

But every dog is different. What works for mine may not work for others.

Pat


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## jimmyp

I've recently made the switch from diamond performance to the pro plan performance and hadn't really noticed much difference in her then I went and trained with a group I hadn't trained with for a month or so and several of the other guys kept tellin me how much better she looked and I have noticed that she looks more like a lab than a hound here lately. It has been mentioned and I agree that all dogs react differently to different feed.
Jim


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## MikeBoley

EXTREME DOG Fuel.


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## ChessieMike

Hi all! This is my first post so excuse any ignorance in my post if any should be there. I just got another Chessie pup a couple of weeks ago after my other boy died. I have been searching trying to find a good dog food for the new pup. I also have my other male Chessie who is turning 10 this year and he is in great health, still hunts and is active but I am wondering with him getting older if I should switch to a better food (if there really is) I have feed him Pro Plan all his life and he has done well on it but just like humans I wonder if at his age now wouldn't benefit from a "better" food (again don't know if it really does exist). One of the things that did make me feel good about feeding him Pro Plan was that when they had the dog food recalls for the Melamine poisoning from China's crap, Pro Plan nor Purina where not on the list.
My girlfriend is a greyhound person and she gave me a score sheet for grading dog food. Greyhounds have a lot of health problems and are prone to food problems. I don't know anything about dog food so this list is just an example of how some of them chose there foods. If it helps great, if it doesn't just ignore it. This list is copied from the Greyhound board at Greytalk.

_"I've fed several of the foods with a 100+ score and either Jet or Ryan or both did not do well on them. Just because it scores well does not mean your dog will do well on it.

But anyway... here it is...


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", "brewer’s 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 3 points
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

94-100+ = A 86-93 = B 78-85 = C 70-77 = D <70 = F

Dog Food scores:

Alpo Prime Cuts / Score 81 C
Artemis Large/Medium Breed Puppy / Score 114 A+
Authority Harvest Baked / Score 116 A+
Authority Harvest Baked Less Active / Score 93 B
Beowulf Back to Basics / Score 101 A+
Bil-Jac Select / Score 68 F
Blackwood 3000 Lamb and Rice / Score 83 C
Blue Buffalo Chicken and Rice / Score 106 A+
Burns Chicken and Brown Rice / Score 107 A+
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
Diamond Performance / Score 85 C
Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra Premium / Score 122 A+
Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Venison and Brown Rice / Score 106 A+
Dick Van Patten's Duck and Potato / Score 106 A+
EaglePack Holistic / Score 102 A+
Eukanuba Adult / Score 81 C
Eukanuba Puppy / Score 79 C
Flint River Senior / Score 101 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+
Innova Large Breed Puppy / Score 122 A+
Kirkland Signature Chicken, Rice, and Vegetables / Score 110 A+
Member's Mark Chicken and Rice / Score 84 C
Merrick Wilderness Blend / Score 127 A+
Nature's Recipe / Score 100 A
Nature's Recipe Healthy Skin Venison and Rice / Score 116 A+
Nature's Variety Raw Instinct / Score 122 A+
Nutra Nuggets Super Premium Lamb Meal and Rice / Score 81 C
Nutrience Junior Medium Breed Puppy / Score 101 A+
Nutrisource Lamb and Rice / Score 87 B
Nutro Max Adult / Score 93 B
Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice / Score 98 A
Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy / Score 87 B
Nutro Natural Choice Puppy Wheat Free / Score 86 B
Nutro Natural Choice Senior / Score 95 A
Nutro Ultra Adult / Score 104 A+
Pet Gold Adult with Lamb & Rice / Score 23 F
Premium Edge Chicken, Rice and Vegetables Adult Dry / Score 109 A+
Pro Nature Puppy / Score 80 C
Pro Plan Sensitive Stomach / Score 94 A
Purina Beneful / Score 17 F
Purina Dog / Score 62 F
Purina Come-n-Get It / Score 16 F
Purina One Large Breed Puppy / Score 62 F
Royal Canin Boxer / Score 103 A+
Royal Canin Bulldog / Score 100 A+
Royal Canin Natural Blend Adult / Score 106 A+
Science Diet Advanced Protein Senior 7+ / Score 63 F
Science Diet for Large Breed Puppies / Score 69 F
Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice / Score 97 A
Solid Gold / Score 99 A
Summit / Score 99 A
Timberwolf Organics Wild & Natural Dry / Score 120 A+
Wellness Super5 Mix Chicken / Score 110 A+
Wolfking Adult Dog (bison) by Solid Gold / Score 97 A "_

Sorry for the long post and I look forward to getting to know you people on this board.
Have a great day!
ChessieMike


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## marcj33

money aside, the "raw" high protein diet concept makes sense so why feed grains and other such ingredients to dogs? is it energy? general health needs learned from science?


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## lenny7

hamie7 said:


> I went on to use nutri source which was a great food for both of my dogs. Coats looked great high energy and less waste to clean up. price sky rocketed and wasn't easiest to find Gander Mt and a few coops sold it. I went to Loyall dog food I would put it up with my luck with Nutri source a great food.


hamie7, I know you've settled on Loyall, but you can find NutriSource at Pet Supplies Plus or at Chuck & Don's.


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## lenny7

Blackstone said:


> I switched to Taste of the Wild. I switched slowly, but my dogs except one experienced bouts of diarrhea that I could not completely clear up after 6 weeks of feeding it to them. I’m not knocking the food. My dogs just couldn’t seem to adjust to it.


I had a similar experience. I really wanted to use TotW because of the great ingredient list and used it for 2 months, but my dog just couldn't get over the gastrointestinal distress it caused. I finally went back to NutriSource and will be sticking with that.


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## Chance Raehn

We've fed Eukanuba for seven years and all of our dogs do well on it. We had a female in for breeding a couple of weeks ago and she ate Blue Buffalo. Never heard of it before then. It smells awful but according to the earlier post that rated the dog foods, it scored high. Anyone else had any experience with Blue Buffalo?


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## gmmark

I've fed the Blue Large Breed for about 6 months. Dawg does great on the food and I've been able to reduce the portion while maintaining his weight.


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## Guest

I fed raw for a while and the dog did great on the diet. Sometimes he would only eat every other day, even during hard training. I was very concerned that he would try to eat birds, but he never seemed to make the connection between his food and the birds he was picking up. I quit the diet because its too expensive, too labor intensive and dog meat was competing for freezer space with my meat. Sorry buddy...

I played around with different foods after that. He did very well on Pro Plan but the stools were really nasty. I've stuck with EVO red meat due to what seems to be a turkey allergy and I really don't even need to pick up stool. It dries in a day, turns white and crumbles into dust. He usually gets 3 cups/day to maintain, a heavy exertion week will be more like 4 cups/day.


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## Jill Simmons

We feed Eagle Pack Holistic in the winters, but can't keep weight on is the spring and summer, so feed Eukanuba Premium Performance- sporting. I loved Canidae until the changed the formula. . .


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## hamie7

Lenny 7 
I have seen nutri source at Gander Mt and at a few COOPs. Not sure who else carries it


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