What do you feed?

[grizabella]

Bella's been through a few different brands of dry food since I've had her, but I've now found one that I'm going to be sticking with. I'd been wanting to switch her over to a premium food (she'd previously been on Pedigree, Supercoat and Coprice) that would be better quality and contain less filler. The price of some of the premium foods was a bit much, but I was lucky to find a highly recommended and reasonably priced premium food, Black Hawk. I believe it's only in Australia. She's doing very well on it, and her droppings have improved since switching to it.
www.blackhawkpetcare.com.au/dog-food/

She also has mince with her dry food, mixed in with water, and often has chicken necks and sometimes sardines or tuna as well. Occasionally she has vegies or pasta in there as well.

Bella can be a bit of a nightmare in that she often doesn't finish her food- once she's full, she stops and that's it! She's generally getting better..

What do you feed?

[Gazinghound]

I was asked this at the shows, and it was kinda tough to answer just because I always switch it up so much. The dogs seem to enjoy that, and if they don't like a brand or flavor, they let me know by snubbing it.
I sort of wish there were just one perfect brand to get...but there are so many that are supposedly very good, that I try a different one or two almost every time I stop at the pet store.

Let's see, our favorites have been...

Blue Buffalo
Stella & Chewy's (raw patties)
Nature's Variety Instinct (raw-coated)
Fresh Pet (refrigerated dinner cups and sliceable loaves...mmm)
Merrick (gonna get some more of this because her breeders use it, and she loved the can they gave her)
Evo
Innova
California Natural (This and the two prior two are all made by Natura.)
Purina One Beyond
Fromm
Canidae
Wellness
Orijen
Taste of the Wild
Newman's Own
Halo

All of them may not be available in other countries. They're mostly fairly similar and come in the same basic flavors/varieties.

Mostly dry, but I pick up a few cans every so often as well because they looove the moist stuff. I also sometimes mix in a bit of water to moisten it, or use some kind of sauce or broth.

I'm hoping to see this dehydrated raw stuff called Honest Kitchen there; saw it once, and then not again. It's about $40 a box, but I figured I might try it once, see how long a box lasts, and determine what kind of a value that is.

I'll often get whichever's cheapest, and sometimes I buy the small bags, although I know that the larger ones are actually better values.

And of course there's the occasional treats/bones, meats, and people-food scraps.

Black Hawk sounds like good stuff! Glad to hear you found something affordable that she likes and does well on.

I'm not sure where to find things such as mince or chicken necks. I think Ulla likes tuna okay, but for the most part they're not seafood lovers. They disliked the salmon-inclusive foods I tried. None of them like sweet potatoes or yams, either, unfortunately. They all like pasta, but can be a bit picky about veggies, fruits, and even certain other grain items. (I tried to put Rusty on a green bean and apple slice diet, but he pretty much just picks those out or says, "No thanks." Argh.)

See, he's the one who runs around to all the bowls and tries to gobble everything as if all our food's going to disappear the next day, or someone else will steal it from him if he doesn't. On the other paw, Ulla is a silly girl. She'll eat only as much as she wants, which is fine, but she'll also sit there watching the boys devour most of it instead of going to her own bowl. They just don't understand the concept of each having their own bowl and place to eat, no matter how many times I show them. I dunno what compels them to act the way they do. And then Jack's method is to spill the bowl and eat off the carpet or placemat...

[grizabella]

I used to buy little bags, but I'm now getting 20kg bags as that's all Black Hawk comes in! It is pretty good value as it lasts a long time. Bella has mince from the supermarket, she gets a variety of different meats to keep it interesting. We get chicken necks from there as well, Bella likes them a lot.

[Gazinghound]

Ah, I see...wonder whether my local supermarket carries such things. Of course, the meat section is one of my least favorite parts of the store (aside from the lobster tank--I seriously want to buy all of them and either set them free into the ocean or keep them in a NICE tank)...but the doggies always love whatever we get from there, so sometimes it pays to look around a little more and see what I can find.

[grizabella]

I think most supermarkets would have mince, I'm careful to always choose free range, as with any meat we consume which can be expensive but the alternative is unthinkable. Bella does love her mince, it mixes in very well with her dry food when warm water is added which appears to make it more palatable.
We don't have lobster tanks (thank goodness!), I can't believe what people do to them, surely boiling the poor things alive can't be the most humane way of doing things.

[Gazinghound]

'Kay, I'll have to check, then. Yeah, I always look for the free range, too. It's so good that you don't have any lobster tanks! There's one in practically every supermarket here. I can't imagine how anyone could live with themselves after boiling an innocent creature alive. The "they don't feel it" excuse has already been discredited, so there's no excuse...

[grizabella]

Have you given your guys Earthborn Holistic at all? Bella's been trying it out for the past week as they were on special (it is a happy day indeed when the expensive super premium foods are on special!). She's on the 'Primitive, grain free variety', it seems really good and she's doing well on it, better than most foods she's tried- she's even put on weight! I think because of the price I will be mostly keeping her on Black Hawk as it's that bit more affordable but still really good food. I think I'll keep an eye out to see when other premium foods are on special so I can give them a try. I do like the idea of feeding her something that's not got a load of grains, corn etc. high up on the ingredient list.

[Gazinghound]

I've actually not heard of that brand, which seems strange. I just got an "Only Natural Pet" catalog, which sells pretty much every natural/whole/organic/premium/healthful type...except for that, apparently. The hard part's deciding which one to get next!! o.O The prices seem comparable to the store's, and the shipping's free for $40+ orders. I guess I can go by price because I know that they're all high-quality food (save for the one brand, Dogswell, which I believe manufactures their stuff in China, and I've heard enough bad things to distrust edibles made there.) Even that is tough, though, given all of the different sizes of packages, and the fact that dehydrated food may look like less but actually be more once you prepare it...ay, yi, yi.

I'm still thinking about trying the Honest Kitchen...it comes in a number of varieties as well. I know the one called Embark is low-carb, grain-free, and designed for dogs of all life stages. The Earthborn sounds great--glad to hear that Bella likes it and is doing so well with it! Yay! =D I hear you--LOVE it when the expensive ones go on sale! I just got some more Fresh Pet the other night...three individual cups of stew (which can actually be divided into more than one serving) and a roast chicken loaf. The loaves remind me of liverwurst fruitcakes, but they go utterly mad for this stuff. Ulla needs the snood, & Rusty sucks it up in seconds, making a mess and then trying to see whether he can mooch off of either of the slower eaters, so my mom and I have to shield them. That brand is by far the best of what ShopRite offers, though, so I was actually really grateful and surprised to see them install a fridge in the pet aisle dedicated to it. It's the one thing I'd expect to find at the pet shop that's actually in the supermarket.

I like to get "the good stuff" as often as I can, too. Always looking for anything that has real meat as the first or among the first ingredients, without a lot of filler and chemical junk.

[grizabella]

Here's a link for Earthborn: www.earthbornholisticpetfood.com/
It is a bit strange that you've not seen it, as it's an American brand. I've been looking mostly at the 'natural' dog food brands as well.

[Gazinghound]

Wow, that is pretty weird. I can't say that I've seen (or really noticed, anyway) those bags, although they somewhat resemble others that I do see. According to the site, it's carried at my local shop, so maybe I just somehow haven't seen it...dunno how that could've been, but I'll make sure to look for it especially next time I'm there. It's not sold by that company I'm looking at ordering from, either, which is just plain strange.