We just bought a beagle puppy and we purchased the dog food at the pet store where we bought him. The food brand is Innova. He will not eat it at all. We try to doctor it up so he will eat it and he just spits it out. We have had him for about a week so I don't think it's his nerves. Does anyone know another safe and healthy food for a growing puppy?|||my puppy wouldn't eat innova at first either. Just try microwaving it for 30 seconds (it makes the food smell better and brings out the foods natural oils)
and you can mix in 1/10th of a mashed banana, or 1tbsp of 100% canned pumpkin (not sweetened) and add some water in the bowl. My puppy (jack russell/beagle) LOVES her innova now.
Vets get paid to endorse certain food brands like science diet. and most commercial foods have fillers and byproducts which can include beaks, hair, teeth, claws, etc in them. You're doing great with innova.
also, how old is your puppy? She might be teething and having trouble eating anything?
here's what cons I read about a few good foods so why i think innova is best
1. EVO might be too much protein and causes diarrhea in some dogs
2. canidae has the all life stages formula and I just can't see puppies, adults and seniors needing the same exact nutrients and amounts
3. Solid gold is too high in calcium|||PRO PLAN puppy.|||one tip for the kind that you are already giving him. pore a little bit of olive oil on the food and mix it around. its not bad for the dog and my dog always eats her food right away when we do that plus it makes their coat shinier and healthier|||Innova is one of the top foods you can feed him. He may just be stressed so don't give up on the food brand. Try adding a lil warm water and letting it sit for 10 minutes or try mixing it with a "chopped" canned food.
A food I reccommend for picky eaters is Bil Jac and can be bought at Petsmart and Petco. I also use Nutro Ultra or Natural Choice.
This is how I feel on buying dog food IF THERE ARE COMMERCIAL ADVERTISEMENTS AND/OR YOU CAN GET IT AT YOUR LOCAL GROCERY STORE, IT IS NOT A GOOD FOOD. So far this has been 100% true. Look at any dry dog food in your grocery store and I bet corn is one of the ingredients.
Have fun with your new baby.|||Innova is an awesome food, but I've never personally used the stuff. Personally, I was impressed by the smell of Timberwolf Organics. It's the best smelling dog food I've ever seen (smell is important because it is one of the dogs best senses. Why do you think they love socks and shoes so much?)
Abby's post is full of good information so I'm only going to briefly go over the basics.
1 Meat followed by meat meal (preferred) or just meal is good for a first ingredient. Meat should be identified. Should not be byproducts.
2. Corn, wheat, and soy should not be in the first 5 to 10 ingredients. They are common allergens and have little nutritional value. Whole grains like rice, barley, and oats are the way to go. Watch out for splitting grains (listing rice in several ways) as it may mean food has more rice than meat. Nutro, I'm sad to say, is bad for this.
3. No artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives. Colors have been linked to hyperactivity in kids and many owners have noticed the link with dogs as well. BHT, BHA, and ethoxyquin (preservatives) have been banned from human food for a link to cancer. Why should we give it to our dogs?
The best food you can get at PetSmart is Blue Buffalo (that was the first food I went with when I finally learned about nutrition - basically went from dog chow to blue). Petco is starting to carry more and more higher quality foods my faves there include Solid Gold and Natural Balance (some stores may have Blue which I prefer over both of those). You can get Timberwolf online (it's in some stores but no real big chains) at www.timberwolforganics.com . The list of good foods go on and on, Abby lists most of them.
Someone earlier recommended Bil-Jac. Please look at the ingredients on that. I'm not going to go into the byproducts in it, but you'll see mollasses on the list. Dogs don't need that much sugar! Sad thing is, the most obese maltese I ever saw was on biljac, her sister was beautiful and fed Blue. (Owners were neighbors and dog sitting for each other).|||Since you bought him from a petstore he is probably sick. Take him to a vet ASAP and go to this link
www.stoppuppymills.org
ALL foods brought from a grocery store is pure crap. Full of fillers, by-products, dyes, etc. UGH
Please go to the link below and try to find something rated high 4-6 for your pup but please take it to the vet, considering you got it from a pet store which in turn got it from a puppy mill
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_鈥?/a>|||Innova is a great food. If the dog was eating lower-quality food before, it can take a while to adjust. (Innova is healthy, lower-quality food is the dog food equivalent of McDonalds.) Lower-quality foods are sometimes sprayed with fat which makes them smell more, therefore the dog eats it more readily. Dogs determine what to eat by smell, they actually have a poor sense of taste.
To entice him to eat it more, cut out any extra snacks and treats for the time-being. A dog won't starve itself, it will eat it's dog food when it gets hungry.
Another thing you can try (in moderation, so the dog doesn't expect it all the time) is to crumble up an all-natural freeze-dried treat meat on the food. Fish is good because it has a strong smell: http://www.wholepets.com/index.php?actio鈥?/a>
===
Here's my typical "dog food shpeel":
---
There is no single food that is "best". For example, some dogs thrive on grain-free foods, while grain-free is too rich for other dogs. What you want to find is the high-quality food that *your dog* does best on. (I recommend feeding dry food instead of wet. It's healthier for the gums and teeth.)
---
On choosing a good dog food:
Read the ingredients on the food you buy. Go with a high quality dog food. A grain should not be in the first couple ingredients ingredient (corn and such are mainly fillers, dogs don't digest it well). Avoid foods that have a lot of "by products" listed.
Here is an article about byproducts:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?鈥?/a>
And an article on what ingredients to avoid:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?鈥?/a>
---
Some GOOD foods are :
* Merrick - http://www.merrickpetcare.com/
* Solid Gold - http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/
* Canidae - http://www.canidae.com/
* Timberwolf - http://timberwolforganics.com/
* Orijen - http://www.championpetfoods.com/orijen/o鈥?/a>
* Wellness - http://www.omhpet.com/wellness/
* Chicken Soup brand - http://www.chickensoupforthepetloverssou鈥?/a>
* Blue Buffalo - http://www.bluebuff.com/
* Innova - http://www.naturapet.com/brands/innova.a鈥?/a>
* Innova EVO - http://www.naturapet.com/brands/evo.asp
Or check this website for good foods: http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_鈥?/a>
(I recommend only feeding foods rated 4, 5, or 6 stars. Anything 3 stars or less, I would stay away from.)
---
Stay away from grocery stores brands. They are low-quality foods chalk full of fillers, preservatives, dyes, etc.. (Grocery store foods are those like Beneful, Old Roy, Alpo, Pedigree, Purina, etc.)
Beware "premium" foods. "Premium" does not mean good nutritionally, and is not a nutritionally high quality food. It has the same types of ingredients as grocery store foods, just a bit better quality of those not-so-good ingredients. (Premium foods are those like Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, etc..)
Another thing to be wary of: A lot of vets will recommend what they sell in their office. They get profit from the brands they keep on their shelves, that's why they push it. Truth is, vet schools don't focus a lot on nutrition. It's not saying that a vet is a bad vet because he recommends those foods, a lot of vets just are told "this is good food", so they pass the message along without proper nutrition knowledge. Also, some dog food brands (like Hills) support vet schools, so vets have heard of it from the time they start college, which makes them think it's good as well.
---
Higher quality food may seem more expensive at first, but it evens out. The higher quality the food, the less fillers eaten (and therefore the less poop comes out the other end). Your dog eats more to try to get the nutrition it needs, and most of the food just passes right on through. Also, it will make your animals healthier, so you save money on vet bills in the long run.
---
"Big box" petstores like Petco and Petsmart rarely have quality foods. (I do believe that PetCo sells "Solid Gold" and "Natural Balance" brands and Petsmart sells "Blue Buffallo", which are all quality foods, but most of the foods aren't.)
Also, grocery stores and Walmart aren't good places to buy food either.
Your best bets for getting quality dog food are:
- small, locally owned petstores
- dog boutiques
- farm supply stores
---
When switching foods, do it gradually. I do this over about a two week timespan:
25% food A, 75% food B
50% food A, 50% food B
75% food A, 25% food B
100% food A
.|||get him something without corn. a lot of dogs dislike the taste and many are allergic to it....it's not necessarily good for a dog it's just a filler.|||Blue for puppies. Blue is an all natural holistic food. When the tainted dog food thing happened, I knew I had nothing to worry about. No wheat or fillers in what I feed.|||call the pet store you got him from and ask what kind of food he was being fed.
You should stick with the same food they were feeding him or he can get sick -
if you dont like the quality of food they were feeding him then you can gradually change to a different brand.
As far as good puppy foods -
Purina puppy chow
Iams lamb and rice for puppies
eukanuba is also good
Also ask a vet many vets have food at there office that they recommend|||Iams or pedigree puppy chow...its full of the essentials they need to grow up healthy..and its not that expensive..and if he's nervous...get to his level. talk to him. play with him. get him to trust you and understand that your there for him. sometimes if you add a little hot water to the food ya know soften it up they like that too...good luck !!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment