I am in the market to switch Cali up from Nutro Ultra Small Breed to something a bit better since she is now on a 50% raw 50% kibble diet. I have been feeding the Nutro for probably the last year and have had really no problems with it. Her coat is beautiful and shiny, her energy is very high, her weight has been steady but everyone keeps saying that Nutro is crap. There is really nothing around my area other then Petsmart's, Petco's etc.. There is one small Pet-Value store but the prices there are rediculious.. I am searching around on dogfoodanalysis.com and see alot of different things. We started on Wellness and her poops got mushy after a few months. Right now her poops are a bit on the yellowish/brown side but have been solid and consistant. Ideas on something new that would be sold at a big name store? I plan on keeping her %50/%50 for atleast 6+ months (hopefully to go 100% raw but we will see how this works out) so I don't want to make a huge change, but would like to step it up a notch. Also should I be feeding her the "small breed" style food? I mean she is a smaller dog, but not like a toy breed. Ideas? Thanks!
Should I be feeding "small breed" style kibble or does it matter? Looking for new!
- Thread starter mikebdub
- Start date
Chris
Premium Member
Try My Food!
Mike, I swear by Life's Abundance. It's all natural, made fresh, shipped to your door, and is the highest quality. We get the regular kibble for Layla and the low fat for Bits and Annie. The kibbles are just the right size for Shelties!! Here's the website -- and you can watch a video at the site below. My girls love it
http://www.healthypetnet.com/Healthypetnet/home.aspx?realname=
Mike, I swear by Life's Abundance. It's all natural, made fresh, shipped to your door, and is the highest quality. We get the regular kibble for Layla and the low fat for Bits and Annie. The kibbles are just the right size for Shelties!! Here's the website -- and you can watch a video at the site below. My girls love it
http://www.healthypetnet.com/Healthypetnet/home.aspx?realname=
Dog foods should have way more meat than grain, if any grain at all is used. I looked into Life's Abundance some time ago, and noticed that the two of the first three ingredients are grains. If you add those together, you probably have grain as the first ingredient.
I used to feed Nutro Natural, and the change in our pup was unbelievable when we started switching to better foods. You can actually see the difference in his coat, but if you touch him, it's even more obvious. He's so soft now, and shiny.
First we tried Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream, but I wasn't satisfied with the protein content or the preservative used in the salmon. Then we did Blue Buffalo Wilderness--this is where we noticed the coat changes--but I was still concerned about the preservative.
Now we're using Orijen Adult, and it's by far his favorite. It's the only kibble he will finish in one sitting, and all the ratings I've read have been excellent. No one has had a bad thing to say about it, and my doggie sure doesn't! It's not just high protein, but more importantly, high quality protein. Here is the write-up at the analysis site:
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=915&cat=8
I order mine in 15-pound bags from http://www.heartypet.com/orijen_pet_food.php They ship quickly. I also figured out that buying my old Nutro Natural in 5 pound bags cost about the same as the Orijen, even with shipping! I'm still agonizing over having fed him garbage food during his most formative months, but at the time, I was ignorant that there even was any controversy out there regarding dog food.
I used to feed Nutro Natural, and the change in our pup was unbelievable when we started switching to better foods. You can actually see the difference in his coat, but if you touch him, it's even more obvious. He's so soft now, and shiny.
First we tried Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream, but I wasn't satisfied with the protein content or the preservative used in the salmon. Then we did Blue Buffalo Wilderness--this is where we noticed the coat changes--but I was still concerned about the preservative.
Now we're using Orijen Adult, and it's by far his favorite. It's the only kibble he will finish in one sitting, and all the ratings I've read have been excellent. No one has had a bad thing to say about it, and my doggie sure doesn't! It's not just high protein, but more importantly, high quality protein. Here is the write-up at the analysis site:
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=915&cat=8
I order mine in 15-pound bags from http://www.heartypet.com/orijen_pet_food.php They ship quickly. I also figured out that buying my old Nutro Natural in 5 pound bags cost about the same as the Orijen, even with shipping! I'm still agonizing over having fed him garbage food during his most formative months, but at the time, I was ignorant that there even was any controversy out there regarding dog food.
Caro
Moderator
The size of the kibble depends on how big she is and how big her teeth are. I feed Tully smaller kibble because she has tiny teeth (and is 6kg) but bigger kibble for Deska who is 12kg and a 'chewer". If the kibble is too small it wont clean the teeth properly. In general, if she is under 8kg I would go with small dog kibble.
Kibble doesn't clean teeth at all. You can feed whatever size you like.
The best kibbles do not have a lot of grains in them, especially for shelties.
Orijen is a wonderful food, out of many other wonderful foods.
If you'd like to learn more about kibble quality, here are some links for you:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=intro
The best kibbles do not have a lot of grains in them, especially for shelties.
Orijen is a wonderful food, out of many other wonderful foods.
If you'd like to learn more about kibble quality, here are some links for you:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=intro
HopeShelties
Forums Enthusiast
The only drawback as far as Orijen goes is they don't have it locally, and with 12 Shelties, paying shipping prices on it on top of its' already much higher cost is NOT an option.
Last edited:
Chris
Premium Member
I think I'm changing to Orijen. Dang -- that's good stuff!
BarbV
Forums Celebrity
I'm leaning that way too!
Is there a specific formula recommended? For young adult, average weight , medium activity dog?
I wonder if I can get it locally!
I believe they're all awesome and a lot of people cycle through them for variety. I use it as my treats for my raw fed dogs and they LOVE LOVE LOVE it. So do the cats, actually!!! LOL!!!
I also like that it's tiny so, for my itsy bitsy minpins, it's a great size for a treat without giving them too much and it's just right for Titan at the moment, too. I love it and have used it for some time now as their treat. If I fed kibble, I'd probably feed Orijen.
Just be careful if you're coming from a much lower quality brand not to overfeed - you need a lot less of Orijen than you do grocery dog food
I also like that it's tiny so, for my itsy bitsy minpins, it's a great size for a treat without giving them too much and it's just right for Titan at the moment, too. I love it and have used it for some time now as their treat. If I fed kibble, I'd probably feed Orijen.
Just be careful if you're coming from a much lower quality brand not to overfeed - you need a lot less of Orijen than you do grocery dog food
All four of the Orijen mixes are top rated. We went with the regular Adult. It's a huge hit around here!