dog food

[kbbumgarner]

I was wondering what people are feeding there hunting or trial beagles

[2500 HD]

Black Gold 26/18 fall & winter. 23/16 or 24/12 in the summer.

[allniter]

Can I ask a ? --why do you change dog food from winter to summer -----I feed the same food year around --just don't feed as much in the summer as I do in the winter-- ISN'T that must different in price of the food --I want a food year around

[2500 HD]

Heat calories are lower in the other blends. Easier on the dog when it's hot out. It is something I'm gonna try this year, had a dog heat up pretty bad last summer in a trial. Did some research, thought I will try it this year.

[FrancoMo1678]

Rex Caliber 26/18

[allniter]

you have to keep them in shape ---the treadmill will do it if you can't keep them run up ----that is why they run the horses everyday to keep them leg up ---you will get leg cramps if you aren't in shape --fat boy watching TV is going to have a hard time run the race with the boy that runs 5 miles a day --they both eat the same food

[TheLittleBlackBook]

The best kibble to feed your dog is no kibble at all.

There is no kibble made by man that can be called "optimal nutrition"; all kibbled feeds are designed for human convenience, not canine nutrition. Sure, some kibbles are better than others. Some use human grade meats, no corns, etc., but even these fall short of providing the kind of full nutrition found in a balanced raw diet. The reason is, even if the finest ingredients go IN the kibble to start with, they come OUT as little brown pellets ... and that is because it has all been cooked to high Heaven in the extrusion/kibbling process which allows it to sit in a bag for months. By the time the food comes out as "kibble," most of the nutrition is now gone. In fact, the very reason dog food "lasts so long" in a bag and doesn't spoil anymore, is because there isn't much left of it anymore. Just think about it: you surely couldn't leave a sack of raw meat in your garage ... but yet you can do this with kibble. What does this say about the kibble's remaining food value?

Second, most kibbled brands didn't even start out as good nutrition anyways. They contain items like corn, wheat, beet pulp, glutens, sorghum, none of which are even things dogs are supposed to eat at all, let alone processed and cooked to high Heaven. Most of these ingredients actually cause a dog a breakdown of health by middle age, same as eating potato chips, ice cream, and french fries will cause a middle-aged person to look terrible also, if that's all he eats.

I can truthfully promise you greyhounders and Alaskan Ididarod racing dogs are not fed kibbles ... they are all fed raw meats, organ meats, bones, and FATS (not carbs) to gain their best racing advantage. Beaglers can learn something from competitive dog sports to get their best field performances out of their beagles. Dogs THRIVE on fats and oils, and slow down when fed carbs and kibbles. Also, running your dogs when completely empty, and hungry, will get a better run out of them as well. A dog is designed so that when his food runs out his liver produces the energy-giving glycogen. This is why wild dogs can seemingly run forever when they're hungry, nature designed them to be at their best and sharpest when hungry.

But a dog who is fat and full, and especially a dog who is full of kibbles and carbs, will never perform at the level of a dog who is lean and who has fed meats, organ meats, bones, and fats ... and then who is brought out hungry.

[DIXIEDOG]

I recently switched to Eaglepack Power blend and I really like it so far. Been feeding it for a month, I had to cut back the amount to keep the dog's weight down. All 4 of my dogs are doing great on it, I'm happy It sucks when trying foods because if you don't find the right one you have to keep switching which is hard on your dog's system. The energy level is way up feeding the blend and the stool is fairly small and solid, there coats are shining and they wolf that food down like it is prime rib.

[jar242]

I feed Sportmix 26/18 and Purina Pro Plan 26/16 mixed, I give half of what each calls for and dogs seem to like it mixed better than just plain Sportmix, haven't fed Pro Plan alone, I also give the dogs frozen chicken wings once a week to exercise those jaw muscles and it cleans their teeth. I used to feed Black Gold 26/18 and 23/16 in the warmer months but once I'm out of Sportmix which will be at end of this year, I will probably go to feeding just Pro Plan or Purina One because they seem to be the same things or I may still mix it. I have noticed a big difference in the stools, there isn't as much and they are lighter weight wise when scooping it up. I did the math and measured how many cups are in a pound and everything and the bottom line is, it is less than $10 bucks a year difference when feeding the higher quality foods, I was very skeptical until I bought some Pro Plan and did the facts and figures, if anyone wants the results to my findings let me know and I'll PM them to you, I have my preliminary findings on me, I would have to recalculate the cups per pound findings but that did nothing but support my findings that the cost per feeding was very close between "higher" quality foods and I used that term loosely. You can't be turned off by these people supporting all raw or that chicken meal for example is bad, I'm looking to limit the corn intake more than anything and some good foods can't be that good for the price, when I had a conversation with a breeder the other day, she fed Science Diet but when you break it down, it isn't much better than ole roy and you pay out the a$$ for it.

[bluecollar beagler]

i feed purina.... i switched a few years back to diamond and tried another brand but found it was just running through the dogs and there stool was soft as could be.... so i switched back to purina and ive stayed there ever since.... not many places sell good feed around me and the ones that were never sold it at the same price everytime i went in to get it and it ticked me off plus, its easy to just stop by walmart and grab a big bag on my way home from work and go...the fat/protein % were pretty much on par with all the big name brand hound feeds so i didnt mind...

[THE BRAIN]

Has anyone feed the pride dogfood ?

[cajunmeadows2]

Purina Dog Chow!

[foxxy]

I feed nutro hi-energy 30/20
the dog seems ok hardly no waste

[les guynn]

I think there is to much protine and not enough fat, protine is a proven fact to be hard on a dogs kidneys, i know i lost a mail at 8 years old. But i still feed hi proteine to my dogs PRIDE the orange bag. what can we do?

[Beagled1]

I think there is to much protine and not enough fat, protine is a proven fact to be hard on a dogs kidneys, i know i lost a mail at 8 years old. But i still feed hi proteine to my dogs PRIDE the orange bag. what can we do?

Protein is not what damages a dog's kidneys or cause renal failure in a healthy dog.

The mineral phosphorous, which is found in any food containing protein, is what is filtered out through the kidneys and *can* be problematic IF the dog is fed excessive amounts over a long period of time or the quality of the feed is poor. Ash in commercial food is also a contributor to renal problems, as are artificial colors & chemical preservatives such as BHA, BHT. If you feed a low quality food, it's kidney problems waiting to happen

A high protein feed with controlled levels of phosphorous, sodium, ash, and that is preserved with mixed tocopherols (basically, vitamin C & E) will not cause strain on the kidneys in a healthy dog. If the quality of the meat is not good, the kidneys & liver are working overtime cleaning out the dog's system. Another thing that will cause an infection of the kidneys, and eventually renal failure is bad teeth. The bacteria that causes the plaque spreads throughout the major organs, killing the dog. If a dog's teeth are bad, so is their overall health.

Personally, I've been feeding mostly a high protein diet (raw) for about 8 years now. It's based on meat protein, fat, and some complex carbs (mostly oats), but the grains make up maybe 10% of the entire diet. My oldest is 9yrs and still going strong even with some hereditary problems. I can't keep up with him, in fact, lol. He recently had a routine blood test and all kidney/liver values were where they should be. Anyway, it's never on the high protein raw that we run into problems, it's on dry feeds that we thought were good but turned out to be junk ... A bad dry food will ruin a dog's health faster than you could believe, and the problem is, we don't even know they're bad until we try them and ruin the dog's health in the first place ...