Another Dog Food debate

[klrconcrete]

daustin, I am feeding 6 beagles right now- through the winter months I feed raw beef and chicken daily mixed with dry kibble once winter is over and I am not running every day I go back to straight kibble. Chris of Northwind kennel I have looked at nutrisource alot lately there is a new distributor in my area who is really pushing this feed and I think it is an excellent food but for the time being I am going to stay with Eagle Pack. I am probably going to get torn up for my next statement but it is from my experience that Purina (any formula) is not the quality feed it has been portrayed as, I just was not happy with the results of this feed by itself, any Purina ingredients list I look at makes me feel like they are pushing an all corn diet- just lots of it in there.

[NorWester]

Hey NorWester

Can you come take your weather back.

hey Mo, I thought everyone wanted to be part of the ole "winter challenge" .......Back to nutrition, if thats what is most important, make your own feed out of raw meats, cereals/grains and veggies. You will know exactly what goes in and your dogs will be much healthier because of it.

[mybeagles]

Kurt, where are you getting your Eagle Pac from? I had to get off Diamond, which I thought I would be feeding for life. Just bought 10 bags of Sportsmix Premium 26/18 a month ago and have been very satisfied. I mix venison or scrap table meats couple times a week with good results. Crack an egg on their food every so often for a treat.

In response to your original question, I would go with Eagle Pac or a more expensive brand if I didnt feel I was getting what needed out of my current food. It would be hard for me to justify a food costing triple when Im as satified as I am with current feed. Everything is based on digestibility! Purina hi pro is 27/18 but high in grain which has very low digestability, therefore you on get about 1/2 the protein you think your getting.....Egg 100% Beef/Chick 90% Grain 40-60% these are a general guidline of digestability percentages. If you want to enhance protien give the dogs some raw egg. Kurt, the reason you get so much waste with foods like Purina and ol roy is the high percentage of grain which doesnt get digested.....

[Tim L]

Like I said in another post the other day diamond just was not the food for me. I have fed a little of everything thru the years and I am realy happy with Chestnut Mountain. My brother is manager at a local feed store so I try about everything he has, and back to chestnut I go. black&gold when you can find it in my area is $$$ ...

[full circle kennel]

most of the dog food posts i've seen on this board have little results attached to the post. they always bring up the stool volume and or cost and coat. but other than that those who have supported one food or another, how about some RESULTS. what have you actually seen? simply put"they do good on it " doesn't mean squat. i don't mind paying the money for the better foods at all, there are too many to choose from. to anyone that posted... please list why you feel the way you do about the food you feed.great topic here,but as with most posts concerning this,they all seem to be opinions...

[Duke]

Purina Proplan for me. Ive tried a lot of foods and got a lot for free, because of what my wife does, but I have settled on Proplan, which does have Corn Gluten, which if you do research is less likely to create a situation like Diamond had with a lot of dead hounds.

[RABBITBUTCHER]

PURINA IS ABOUT THE SAME AS A CHEAP OL ROY IN MY BOOK.
I WOULD THROW IT OUT BEFORE I FED IT TO MY DOGS.
IT GOES THREW THEM LIKE PORK THREW A GOOSE!

[mybeagles]

full circle, I base my satisfaction on amount I have to feed to maintain weight, thats the best indicaiton of digestbility, amound of stool, again tells you if their digesting it........ Then I look at vibrance of the dog, energy level....how well they rebound after all day run.....their teeth/gums......ingredience, avoiding HI grain levels, look for egg/flaxseed........does the dog eat it eagerly......then cost/availablity.

As I stated in another thread, unless your running your dogs long and hard on a consistant basis, all of this doesnt matter. For the amount of running most dogs get most will thrive on any basic food..........If you have outdoor hounds, live in the north, run your dogs regularly for all day races they will fall apart on the cheaper foods, many of us on here have seen it.....When a guy gets on here and says he feed Purina dog chow or similar type food and his dogs are in great shape, either he doesnt run much or stretches the truth!

[full circle kennel]

mybeagles, i agree with you 100 %. i live in ohio and run and comp hunt my beagles alot. i watch these things as well but i'm most interested in there stamina at the end of the day. if i put them through 6-8 hours of hard running i would like to be able to see an increase at this point. i have been doing research on this area along with my own tests of what i'm feeding and supplementing. i have not settled yet on one food in particular yet.i along with a few friends have had problems feeding purina hi pro. weight loss and stamina and hot spots are a few. as of right now i have 3 dogs on pro plan 30/20 supplemented with 1/2 cup canned pro-plan or bil-jac. also b- complex shots during the week of trials. the others are being feed joy food super meal as rec by my vet. i am a skeptic by nature and would rather see for myself sometimes. my next tests will be with eagle pac if i can locate it. i can try to keep you guys up on my results if you like?

[Beagled1]

I am probably going to get torn up for my next statement but it is from my experience that Purina (any formula) is not the quality feed it has been portrayed as, I just was not happy with the results of this feed by itself, any Purina ingredients list I look at makes me feel like they are pushing an all corn diet- just lots of it in there.

My dogs never did well on Purina either, which was completely dissapointing. It was locally available and the price would have been easier. I tried both the Pro Plan Sensitive Skin & Stomach and regular Pro Plan w/ chicken.The snesitive stomach gave one of them explosive diarrhea the entire time she was on it - regular Pro Plan gave a few loose stools and tinted coats red. Purina One we used the L&R, I wound up spending over $300 to find out a few of the dogs had colitis. My Shepherd developed a histiocytoma on it, which the vet explained to me will form when the skin is overly oily. Their teeth got pretty bad on it, as well. So basically, whatever I was saving feeding that brand was flying out the window on vet bills!
I primarily feed Eukanuba Performance but also feed Evolve to a few of the older dogs - but even that is getting hard to find here, so I'll be switching everyone over to Eukanuba soon. Thinking about the purchase price makes me dizzy, lol, but they do have a nice breeder program where you can earn free 40 lb. bags of food, and better yet, quality control. The more I feed other brands, the more I find I can't bring myself to recommend other feeds to puppy buyers but Euk .....

[mybeagles]

Full Circle, Dont be afraid to try Sportsmix Premium 26/18 (blue bag) not the high pro. I dont have any vested interest in them but seem to be getting good results in the stamina and recovery department......It was very popular on the LP circuit up here until they raised prices then many switched to high standard which didnt stack up for me....

If the Sportsmix doesnt stand the test of time I too will be trying the eagle pack. Thats awful expensive, but with only a couple dogs its not that big a deal......Please keep us posted on how you come out.....

[klrconcrete]

Dave, I order the Eagle through a local supplier they keep the holistic formula on hand for me- usually I buy a bag at a time this will last me right around three weeks. I had tried Hi-standard briefly a couple years ago and could not keep wieght on my dogs and after a few days of consecutive running the quality or should I say the lack of showed. When I switched I went to Eagle Pack and have been with it ever since. It is almost double in price per bag compared to Hi-standard but there is no comparison in these two feeds.