r/DogFood

My (almost) 2 y/o spoo is skinnyyyy. He plays nonstop, seems to have unlimited energy😅 We are currently feeding Hill’s Science Diet and he does well on it, I just don’t think he eats as many calories as he burns. He just got groomed and his hip bones are more prominent than I would like. I supplement with wet food when I don’t feel like he is eating enough, I just think he needs a higher calorie food because he just doesn’t eat that much, so I would like for him to get more calories in the small amount of food he does eat. Any advice? Any food recs?

I have a 1.5 year old mixed small breed that eats PPP and loves it! I just got a new puppy and would like to have them eat the same brand if possible. The puppy is a small mixed breed as well. They are both rescues so I don’t know what they are specifically. I plan to do a DNA test to determine that. The new puppy is 2 months and 26 days old and 5.5 pounds. Thanks in advance!

I picked up some Instinct raw fresh dried food this morning because it was on sale, I like to use raw stuff for high value rare treats. I don't grab the bags like this one, normally it's whole dried things like liver or fish. Not processed type ones. Twas on a great clearance price so I didn't even think about checking the nutritional info.

Got home and looked at it, and holy crap. The fat content is crazy! 36% protein, 33% fat minimum. I've never seen such a high fat content compared to the protein, are people actually feeding this to their dogs daily as a main meal?

Hello, I'm trying to choose a new food for my 11 year old. He is a 14 pound terrier/chihuahua mix. He is in excellent health and very active.

He is currently eating Orijen Original Grain-Free High Protein Dry Dog Food, Acana Red Meat & Grains Beef Pork & Lamb Wholesome Grains Dry Dog Food, and Nulo Adult Grain Free wet food in a variety of flavors.

Based on recommendations in this sub, I'm leaning towards Purina, but I'm having trouble choosing one. Here is my current list of options:

• Purina Pro Plan Complete Essentials Adult 7+ Shredded Blend (Beef & Rice OR Chicken & Rice)

• Purina Pro Plan Bright Mind Adult 7+ (Chicken & Rice)

• Purina Pro Plan AdvantEDGE Senior Support Plus Shredded Blend (Chicken & Rice)

• Purina Pro Plan AdvantEDGE Senior Support Plus Small Breed Shredded Blend Chicken & Rice Formula Senior Dry Dog Food

• Purina Pro Plan Complete Essentials Adult 7+ Shredded Blend Adult Chicken & Rice High Protein Formula with Probiotics Small Breed Dry Dog Food

Here are my questions:

1. Is there much advantage to choosing a small breed specific food? His teeth are in perfect condition and he eats fairly large kibble without issue.
2. I've read that wet/dry foods should come from the same line. Complete Essentials and Bright Mind have wet food versions but AdvantEDGE doesn't. Could I feed AdvantEDGE with a different Purina wet food or should I rule out AdvantEDGE?
3. Can I get multiple flavors of the same line of wet food and rotate them? I assume yes but want to check.
4. Is there a measurable increase in quality with the increase in price? I can afford the pricier options but don't want to pay more if its just upsell.
5. Are there any other considerations I'm missing? Does anyone have really strong opinions about a different food?

Thank you!

Edit to add: We are Australian

Hello, I have a nearly 4 year old purebred Cavalier called Peggy with a lot of food intolerances that give her colitis.

I also have a nearly 7 year old whippet called Karl who also can have a bit of a sensitive tummy sometimes.

I'm looking for probiotic recommendations, I've noticed they help just not sure what is best.

dry and wet food recommendations and treats.

my Cavalier is currently on spd salmon and tapioca roll and that's working great (added some dry food and sick the next day.)

she cannot have - chicken, lamb, kangaroo, beef, poultry. Basically salmon is all we've found not to set her off.

Looking for treats for training for her and walks that are I guess fish only?

and any dry food that might work?

Whippet is pretty good seems he's okay with chicken but looking for probably a fish based wet food for him, he has royal canin digestive care and that seems to work for him.

TlDR

looking for recommendations for:

probiotics

fish based treats

fish based wet food

fish based dry food (no lamb, chicken, roo, poultry, beef)

My 3 year old border collie has had issues with bile vomiting after not eating for 8 to 12 hours. She has also had three severe bouts of gastroenteritis, once when switching her to a food with beef and twice when she scavenged elk poop from the yard. She has a sensitive stomach in general, even with treats. Her most recent food, which was not was WSAVA compliant (and I admit was a huge mistake) also had her throwing up partially digested food frequently. After all the necessary tests, the vet just recommended Hills gastrointestinal biome. She has been doing well on Iams Lamb and Rice, so I’m a little hesitant to change her again. What are your thoughts? I want to make the right decision.

Curious what people with older dogs (7+) are doing.

1. What brand and type of kibble do you use? (senior formula, standard, grain-free, etc.)
2. Do you add any protein on top? Things like chicken, eggs, fish, meat toppers, protein chews or supplements. If so, what and how often?
3. Have you noticed any muscle loss as your dog has aged? If you've added protein, has it helped?
4. Has your vet ever suggested adding protein to their usual food?

I brought home an 11 week old Rottweiler puppy last Wednesday.

The breeder I got him from had them eating Purina Puppy Chow (non large breed dog version).

I did some research and wanted to switch him to a kibble that’s meant for large breed dogs and something WSAVA approved. The top three choices were Royal Canin, Hill’s Science Diet, and Purina Pro Plan.

I decided to try Purina since it was the cheapest of the three and my puppy had a not so great reaction to it.

He had diarrhea and vomited on the second day. He was lethargic, taking long naps throughout the day. He passed some gas every now and then and his tummy looked bloated and was making noise.

I’m not sure if I’m over feeding him or if the food was just too much for his sensitive little tummy. The Purina Puppy Chow and Purina Pro Plan are both chicken and rice so I figured it wouldn’t be that stark of a difference.

I started off with giving him 75% of the Puppy Chow he was already eating and 25% of the Pro Plan puppy food. I never increased the ratios during those two days but I also could have been over feeding him maybe.

Should I give it a couple days and try again? Or is it too soon to be trying to switch foods like this?

Thank you in advance for any help and advice.

So my dog is currently on Purina Pro chicken and rice adult essentials and she does good on it. However I was wondering what other Purina Pro kibbles have small round pellets. As my dog is a fan of the Nutri Source Whitefish kibble. She likes the shape but I want to keep her on Pro Plan however I’m willing to change what kibble she eats within Pro Plan. She has a stomach of steel so she adjusts quickly to different foods. As long as the sport kibble is not recommended as it is too high calorie for her I’m willing to take suggestions.

TLDR: dog has had diarrhea since adoption a couple months ago. Our experimentation with probiotics and different foods hasn't yielded results other than chicken and rice, which he might be allergic to. Looking for suggestions.

Hi, everyone! Blu is 6 years old and we adopted him from the local humane society ~3 months ago. He's had diarrhea since we adopted him. It's gotten a tiny bit better over the last 3 months but (TMI incoming, you've been warned.) >! now it's more like undiluted Campbell's tomato soup, whereas it was very watery when we first got him !< No matter what we try it seems that there is marginal improvement at best so I'm looking for advice from people with experience and knowledge of what other products to try.

The details: we initially had him on the Hill's science diet Adult 1-6, as that is what the humane society had him on. They also had him on a prescription probiotic for ~7 days. As the problems persisted after a couple weeks I tried supplementing with the Purina Pro Plan fortiflora for 15 days. That didn't help, so the vet advised trying a chicken and rice diet, which is the only thing that has given him a remotely normal poop. However, he was licking his paws like crazy and the vet said he might be allergic to chicken. So we moved to PPP sensitive skin and stomach salmon with supplemented fortiflora and Zyrtec at night for allergies. He no longer has the paw licking problems, but it's still on the Zyrtec. Even after stabilizing hours food for a month he still had diarrhea, so, thinking it was a protein source problem, we briefly tried the PPP sensitive lamb but that didn't help. So now we're back on the PPP sensitive salmon, but now I'm supplementing with a different probiotic (TummyWorks because it had a better assortment of lactobacillus rather than just the enterococcus that fortiflora has). He's been on that for about a month I think and he's stable, but still has diarrhea.

I took him to the vet again to ask about his medical history because shortly before we adopted him he had giardia (he tested positive using the Elisa assay.) However, it was explained to me that he was cleared before adoption by a microscopic analysis that looks for eggs or other visual signs of infection in the poop, since the Elisa will come up positive due to lingering antibodies (I believe, can't remember for sure.)

The most recent time we went to the vet for immunization updates, the tech suggested trying nature's balance because it's a limited ingredient food. However, upon looking it up, it doesn't have a lot of the approvals or guidelines often advised here, so I'm apt to try something else before putting him on a good like that long term. I've also brought up potentially trying the chicken and rice again now that he's on the Zyrtec.

So I guess my question is, given your experience and knowledge, do you have any other suggestions? Maybe a recommendation of a limited ingredient dog food? Should I try the chicken and rice again?

Also, it's weird but Blu doesn't seem too bothered by his tummy. He has a normal level of gas and they don't smell horrendous. I'm beginning to wonder if he just has IBS or something similar, but I was hoping to do a little more food trials before asking the vet about testing for that or whatever.

Sorry for the long post! Thank you for reading. If it's allows me I'll post the dog tax picture in the comments 😊

So I feed my dog Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin & Stomach: Salmon and Brown Rice Formula. Both wet and dry food. I don’t know what’s going on but she has the stinkiest farts known to man. I never used to notice this before but the past few months it’s been badddd. I can’t tell you if it started when I started this food because we went through a bunch of different foods with her allergies before getting on Zenrelia (which has been a lifesaver btw). But I’m just mostly curious if anyone else uses this food and experiences this. These farts are deadly and I don’t know what to do about it.

Hi all! I have a 57 pound lean pit mix. She is 6 years old and seems to be aging more rapidly than similar dogs in our lives. She currently eats Kirkland beef and sweet potato dry food and Purina One beef and vegetable wet food. She used to eat homemade food, and I felt that she was healthier on that plus kibble than she is now, though she was obviously younger at that time. I’m interested in switching her to a mix of high quality dry food paired with a commercial, balanced wet/fresh/frozen food. She is possibly allergic to chicken, so she doesn’t eat it, but our vet informed us that her persistent itching could be due to cross-contamination in manufacturing of her current diet.

For now, I have purchased one 5 lb. bag of Steve’s beef recipe frozen food to hold her over until I’ve found an ideal regimen. We are not wealthy, or even financially comfortable right now, but our animals come first. The absolute maximum we could spend per month would be $100. Thank you for reading.

Hi there, just wanted to preface by saying I will be discussing these questions with my veterinarian once I have the puppy. They were just born, and I'm just doing some research beforehand on what is best to feed.

Hi there, I will be taking home my Toy Fox Terrier puppy once they reach 8 weeks old, the litter was just born this last week so I'm finishing up my prep work in the meantime. My breeder starts them with this kibble: Purina Pro Plan Puppy Small & Mini

Is this a good kibble to start them off with as a puppy? Should I find a food that has a protein other than chicken (I've been seeing a lot of dogs tend to have chicken allergies?)

When should I take them off of the puppy kibble and to adult kibble? And how do I pick an adult kibble, which do y'all recommend? Just want to get an idea, I will obviously ask my vet this question as well.

Thanks so much!

So I’ve had my dog for almost a year, he’s about 1.5y old. Since I got him I’ve been giving him purina one plus puppy then adult small breed kibble on and off. I mixed in some purina wet food at first, he would sometimes turn his nose up at it and skip a meal or two.

Then I started mixing in Caesar wet food, same reaction. Then after a while just gave him the Caesar wet food alone and he ate most every meal. My dogs have always had just kibble and I would prefer him to eat that alone.

I started mixing it again with the Caesar and now we’ve transitioned out of all the wet food and he won’t eat any dry kibble. Its the same kibble, purina one plus adult small breed, but he won’t eat any of it alone..

Is it possible that he just won’t eat it? I know people say they won’t starve to death, but I don’t want him to be miserable either. Am I just torturing the little guy? He sees me cook our human food and it makes me feel guilty for giving him dry lame kibble.

I tried making some chicken broth to add to it and he ate that once and didn’t eat it again after.

I currently feed PPP salmon and rice, they’ve been on it for over a year and do well on it. Recently I’ve felt like maybe they are bored of their food. I was thinking of cheaper food toppings, canned wet dog food in a beef or chicken flavor to add a little bit more flavor. My question is, do I need to stick with pro plan since it’s just a topper or would it be okay to get a cheaper brand? If so what brand would you guys recommend?

My dogs are 80lb and 60lb pitbulls so pro plan wet food even as a topper would get a bit pricy even doing 1/4th or half a can a day for each.

The 60lb Pit is more picky and doesn’t like a lot of other food toppers like freeze dried liver or things like that. It also has to be something that coats the food completely or they will pick it out and only go back to their bowl hours later after realizing they aren’t getting anything else that’s why my thoughts are canned food. Broth doesn’t work, they will just lick up what they can and leave the food to dry out and get stuck in the bottom of the bowl.

I’m thinking about switching my dogs to a different food and would love to hear from people who have done it before.

How did you handle the transition, and how long did it take for your dogs to get used to the new food?

Did you notice any changes in their appetite, digestion, stool, or overall eating habits after the switch?

Anything you wish you had known before changing their food?

My dog Astro is a Carolina Dog 8 years old and consistently 50-60 lbs. I got him from a shelter in 2019 and he has always struggled with vomiting stomach bile. He has high energy and is great with people. The only problem is that sometimes he just won’t eat and will throw up! I keep his bowl full so he always has access to food if he’s hungry. I’ve tried MULTIPLE kibbles and wet foods. Wet food usually gives him diarrhea and he’s responded the exact same to every kibble I’ve tried. It was worse when I first got him but over time it’s lowered to once or twice a month. He doesn’t act upset after throwing up the bile and will eat after his stomach calms down.

We saw the vet today for his yearly shots and I brought up the vomiting. He said since it’s mild (bordering on frequent at twice a month) that we should try a sensitive stomach food first before trying medication.

Do you all have any recommendations? When he eats he never throws up his food and he has normal poops on standard dog chow.