Pride dog food

[BB Beagles]

I am not saying Victor dogfood is the best and the only dog food that you should feed. I just stated that I have been feeding it and compared to Pride I like it better. Truth be told the vet told me as we were talking dog food one day his preference on dry food was Purina. Reason being was due to the freshness of the food, being a bigger company than a lot of these others. He also stated that a lot of these dry feeds do have similar ingredinents and just because there grain free does not make them a top choice food.
If all dry food was exact same there wouldn't be so many post on here about it. We all just go to Wal-Mart by couple bags of OL Roy or Gravy Train and say "there ya go boys", But we don't. We try to give them the best dry food we can and afford. Ya there has been recalls on several high dollar dog food. Diamond. Blue Buffalo, Taste of the Wild, but there been recalls on peanut butter too,but we still keep on buying are favorite brands.
Wardog you are very knowledgible in the scientific breakdown of corn, but why so many post on here about guys not wanting corn in there dry feed? Some like it in there and some don't and a lot of guys just don't care. I didn't let Victor sale me with there fanciful names. I just tried it as Ive tried others and seem to prefer it better.
What about the guys who feed raw? If all they feed is raw, do they need to go to feed store and buy a 50lb bag of corn and mix in? I think I do know my hounds. I feed my hounds separate to monitor there intake and how each one is reacting to there feed. Who's eating,who's not. How each ones coat looks, how each ones performance is on there food. How much crap is in each kennel.
Im not trying to say victor is the best dry food ever made in the history of dog food, HELL I don't even have a hat with there name on it. I just try to feed my hounds the best dry food I can and that I can afford too and to me so far it has been Victor. Until something changes with there feed, that's prob what I stick with, long as I can get it. They are a smaller company based out of Texas and only have limited suppliers. One just happens to be close to me.

[gwyoung]

BB, I don't believe anyone is saying corn is a great dog food ingredient. But some seem to think it is simply filler that dogs cannot take advantage of, this is not true , CORN does have nutritional value, and when ground it is highly digestible As far as Victor, Purina, Ole Roy , Black Gold, Pride, and every other brand we discuss to death on this forum, None would fall into the good feed category with me . ( I feed purina) I feed mostly raw with some kibble thrown in.( Oh, my God the " experts" cry out " they are digested at different rates" yeah, well "expert"s tell me what difference it makes? back on topic! ) If most would do as you do and let their dogs tell them how good their food is instead of asking someone who is not feeding THEIR dogs how it will work on THEIR dogs they might get better results! I don't think any of us are made of money, we feed what we can afford that does the best for our hounds, that is all we can do, I just want to emphasize one thing Let your hounds tell you if you are feeding what they can work with instead of someone hundreds of miles away , that has never seen your hounds, make sense. BB, seems like that is what you are doing, I can't believe you don't have a " Victor" hat, though. They had to give me a Purina hat before I would even touch the stuff, I wasn't exactly sold on it even then but on my next trip they also gave me a patch to sew on my jacket, and believe me it is the best food out there for the money, now!

[bigcfromrbc]

I feed the puppy food of Pride, and the Orange Pride.

[sem]

I feed the lite green bag. I do think there's a lot of stool and I have one dog that seems to not be holding her weight well. The coats look good and have plenty on energy with no health problems so I'm just gonna up her feed and see what happens. For the price it dosent seem to be bad food.

[warddog]

warddog, correct me if im wrong but on the sportmix "meatmeal " followed by "corn".......... meat meal is not in the dry state so once dried that makes corn the main ingredient in the dog feed .......... correct or not?

CORN!?!?!?!? When did i have corn????? Corn is far from highly digestible

Wrong on both fronts as any MEAL is in the dry state but if the label states BY-products it is probably in the green or wet state. In order to process ALL those guts, feathers, bones, lungs, and or ANY other defect that a food animal would have that would NOT be allowed into the human food chain down into ingredients for pet foods they have to have the moisture or water removed. This is done by heating for long periods of time or with very high heat. The first liquid to be removed is the fat and then the cooking process continues for as long as the renderer wants the end item moisture content to be. I used the example of jerky before but has anyone rendered pork cracklings? Basically the same process as the lard or oil is cooked off then the cracklings are then cooked to whatever dryness the maker wants. Ever seen or tried to eat them after they have cooked a very long period of time? They become hard as a rock. Now at that point if one were to grind them they would have crackling MEAL! Don't get pork cracklings confused with pork skins as they are two totally different products processed in totally different manners.

As to the corn being far from highly digestible, what is the very first thing that is feed to livestock to fatten them up for market? Another manner test that theory is to understand that corn is carbohydrate or as my doctor MD tells me sugar. I am a type 2 diabetic and take my blood sugar numerous times per week and have done so for years. eat you a meal with corn and I don't care if it is whole kernel, creamed, on the cob or even corn meal mush and then take your blood sugar reading a few hours later. I will guarantee you it will be HIGHER than normal. WHY, because the guts of the corn are highly digestible, just as the guts of animals are and the hull which is the only thing that is not, is expelled. Kind of like burning coal and wood, ALL the stuff that is digestible is used to make really good heat but the stuff that is not is left as a clinker and in the process sometimes it also makes a stinker!

[Lone Pine Beagles]

I also noticed more stool with the 26/18.
BUT with the Pro Series 26/20 they have firmer and less stool.
I think the Pride Pro Series is the way to go if you feed Pride.

[BB Beagles]

Question of post again was Pride dog food. I stated that I prefer Victor over Pride and everybody knows a dog food question will lead into a multiple page thing. LOL. If I were to be able to feed raw to all my hounds I prob would. It in my opinion is the best form of food for a dog there is. A dog is a carnivore, it was intended to eat real meat, not meat meal, or by product, but real bloody ass meat. Meat is what gives a hound its protein and contains plenty of moisture. Along with protein they also need fat, oil, and form of minerals. That would consist of my raw diet for a dog.
That being said,I do not feed raw and after trying diff brands of dry feed I chose Victor. Not because of it being a new fad or fanciful names nor cause of hats and patches. I chose it cause like I said before, I feed and monitor all my hounds separate. I like to see how they are reacting to there food. NO, Victor might not be perfect feed but its what I chosen to feed. A lot of its ingredinents contain added fermentation and added digestive enzymes, fats , oils, and minimal carbs.
Yes corn is a carb and no corn in Victor. Wardog stated " why do you think cows get fatted up before go to market with corn". First we are talking about dogs not livestock. Cows have 4 stomachs and were built to eat and process corn and reap the benefits from it.. Dogs have 1 stomach. If you were feed a grain of corn to a dog, when he passed it, you still see the same grain of corn. Corn in dog food is cooked, cooked, and cooked some more and added to the feed as a filler. Its makes the stool have the appearance of being solid, but the dog does not benefit any resources from it. Another issue with corn it is can be a high allergen ingredinent. There are many fillers in dog food such as wheat, soy, brown rice, beet pulps, etc.
There is nobody that lives miles and miles away from me that tells me how and what to feed my hounds. And nobody will. I feed dry feed and prob always will. Like I said earlier until product changes I will continue to use Victor. They are not a big company such as Purina so getting it is lil harder than just running up to WAL-MART. Even though I do have some Purina hats, but choose not to wear them just because I don't like color of hat. LOL!

[warddog]

My point is that people do NOT know what they are eating let alone what their dogs are. Someone will have to show me some science backing the OPINION that dogs are strict carnivores. FACTS are that since dogs have been domesticated their digestive tracts have evolved to digest carbohydrates. From studies that I have read Wolves could NOT eat the foods that our dogs are feed unless it is those feeding raw. Not trying to tell anyone what to feed their animals BUT facts are facts and having four stomachs has absolutely NOTHING to do with digesting corn. Hogs have one stomach and they fatten them up with corn to. Folks can buy into all these fanciful names just as they do when they go to buy their own meat and poultry BUT I can tell you there is absolutely NO difference in the meat protein ingredients among ALL the dog foods other than the amounts within each ones formulation. The amount of protein also comes from some of the carb sources as well. Animal and Humans body functions are basically the same and many hog tissues are used in medicine and in research. I have been involved in a lot of pharmaceutical research studies where hogs were fed the ingredient being studied and then slaughtered and dissected to see the impact on lean meat, fat, organ damage or stress etc. The basic common in ALL these feed studies is corn. Believe what you want but I'll guarantee you there is absolutely NOT A SINGLE rancher producing meat animals for dog food or any pet food that matter and ALL of the protein that is within the first several ingredients of dry manufactured dog food comes from the same source, a rendering company be it Pride, Victor Sportmix, Ole Roy, Sportmans Pride, Purina or any other pet food manufacturer. Of course we all know that Diamond gets some of theirs from China as that is where the ingredient with Melamine that caused the death of numerous dogs and entire kennels came from.

[DAN LANG]

..WARDOG, you seem to be up on all the info on this.........I have read and re read more info on dog feed then I care to remember. The problem is I don't really have the back round to decipher it. I base what I feed on what other folks have tried and there comments, and what I can get at a reasonable cost and is not junk. So, what do you recommend...what do you feed ???...

[warddog]

I am NOT an expert on dog food but only can speak to what I have experienced. Having spent an entire career as a USDA food inspector in slaughterhouses all over the US, I have also regulated the disposal of ALLL those meat and poultry items that did NOT go into the food chain. ALL of this offal is also regulated so that it doesn't get into the food chain by unscrupulous people. Also the states have regulations on transport of what is classified as "INEDIBLE" product. I also have talked to rendering companies as they must prove to the USDA inspector in charge of the plants in which they pick up "offal" that they are licensed to do so. There are many, many laws when it comes to handling this type material in commerce both state and federal but there is actually very few if any on what is done with it after rendered and used in pet foods. I wouldn't recommend anything but raw as you know the exact raw ingredients that you put into it. As for manufactured dry dog food I can only say that there few specific regulations on what can go into the feed or where the manufacturers get their ingredients from and for the labeling as long as they are declared on the ingredient statement in descending order of predominance. Dog food manufacturers want to portray images in consumers minds of fat juicy chicken, Choice fresh cuts of red beef or juicy pork but I assure you NOT a single piece of what the industry advertises through the media is the case.
I can tell folks that I have fed about every brand out there one time or another and in FACT have been a dog food dealer some years back and all one can do is try specific brands to see how their individual dogs hold up on it. I personally as well as my cousin are feeding "The Pride" 24/20 and have done so for the past couple of years. Prior to that I have fed hi- standard, Sportmix, the Pride, (green, orange and black bags), Sextons, Ole Roy, Rural King store brand as well as numerous others over the years. I have found that there is a difference even among the dogs I have in my kennel when fed the exact same feeds in the exact same proportions and it has been the same with EVERY dry food I have fed, except one. That one was Diamond way before they had the very first recall and I'm glad I stopped feeding it in time. ALL our dogs got to looking so bad I was ashamed for anyone to see them. Then after Diamond had another recall and it was found that the problem was with MELAMINE from an ingredient from CHINA which is a product NOT intended for the manufacture of pet food. I will never feed that brand again. That tells me this manufacturer was using the cheapest ingredients possible with total disregard to quality, period. About the only standards for pet food is when they are labeled as complete and balanced or that they meet the standards for AAFCO. in making that statement they must then meet those requirements. AAFCO also states that for dog growth and reproduction the standard is 22% protein and 8% fat and for adult maintenance it is a minimum of 18% protein and 5% fat. I understand that these are for normal every day lay around the house dogs and those that exercise their dogs more will need to increase those percentages. I also know that folks complain about the stool and all I can say is that I never fired a furnace without having to clean out the clinkers.

[BB Beagles]

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[DAN LANG]

..WARDOG...thanks for your info. I agree that folks are looking at the advertisements of choice cuts of beef and pork and chicken that is pictured on the bag, or whatever thinking that is what they get. If they only knew.!. One thing I have noticed with the PRIDE is that it is consistent. I am always cleaning the same amount of stool and it always has the same consistency. I fed Purina for a long time and there were more then a few times that the stools were runny, etc. I actually got so annoyed by it I called the company and complained. Which did nothing they said it was the store's fault.

[J Martin]

Dog food advisor's website is a good resource for evaluating different feeds. They give a review with a detailed list of ingredients, then the good or bad about each ingredient. You can find pretty much any dog food you can name on there as well.

[likeemfast]

Warddog, I'm sure with your time in the industry you have seen or heard some very interesting on the job experiences but I have to disagree with your choices of feed even tho you have said different dogs have had different results with the different feeds, just with the dogs in your kennel. They are not all the same obviously and I still say corn as a ingredient in the top 3 of the ingredients is not good for the hound. It's ok for hounds to have some corn, but as a major ingredient it's a cheap filler only.

I think we have all seen the dog food advisor website, which is updated on a regular basis. What are we supposed to take away from his evaluations, compared to your choices of feed?

I've told ya in a PM I feed Diamond naturals Chicken n rice mixed 50/50 with Diamond extreme athlete and there are no complaints here. Yes Diamond makes lots of different brands and have had major issues but since switching over about 4-5 years ago I've never had a issue with their feed. Thru their last recall, I just checked my lot number against the recalled lots and kept feeding it. I've sold about 5 hounds and given away 20-25 over the past 5 years and all I hear is how great my hounds look, especially from the guys I've sold them to as hunting dogs. I hear " what do u feed? I've never seen a hound with such a full shiny coat before." This is a result of Diamond, nothing else, because that is all they get. No additives, no fruits, veggies, no supplements, nothing else, and it's every hound I own. That's not to mention the ones I've bought from other beaglers who have fed some of what you mention and the hound looks plain and simple like hell. Bad coats, not to mention ear mites or some other simply cured illness. 3 months give or take in my kennel and they look real good.

I will out work most, eating Big Macs n fries and they can have their broiled chicken with broccoli and bottled water. I've said it before and will say it again, "ya can't feed a dog desire". But there is a difference between the 1star feeds and 5 star feed for a reason. I have no scientific study to back my beliefs nor have I ever worked in the food industry (but I have eaten a lot of it) these are my beliefs based on real life experiences. JMO

[mybeagles]

Feeding raw for 3 years now but always curious about the kibble. Recently purchased 2 bags of EVO red meat formula. Sells for $75 for 29# around here. Stool out put doubled from the raw and the dogs were not as excited as they were with chicken thigh or hunk of venison or fish. Back to raw for 1/2 the price of premium kibble and better results.