bad food?

[denise&chico]

Hello my wonderful maltese parents I now have 3 full bags of food that i wont feed because I things i have been reading ... Bella is 13 weeks now She is 2.8 pounds of spunk Breeder had her on health extention My local pet store owner is super knowlegeable and spent a hour schooling me on all that goes into our babies food He stated that health extention and blue are the sa,e company and the can food is made in china and has a chemical on the inside that can make them sick said blue isnt good they compare themseleves to "walmart brand " fods like iams beniful etc look at the ingridents Seemed soo wonderfully truth and cared very much SOOO my question to my wonderful people here who love their malts like me ... what do you feed ? I am feeding them earthborn hosltic protien 38 percent . what do you think? oh its also grain free . Here is a link to food

Dumping Perceptions

[Sylie]

Selecting the right food is so hard. If you want to go grain free you risk feeding what is considered too high in protein for a Malt. Most of us, our breeders, and our vets think that 38% is way too high.

On the other hand, grain free foods that are lower in protein often have potatoes, which I consider worthless and too high in sugar.

It is a constant learning experience, with new, often unexpected information being brought to light.

[Zoe's Mom88]

It is very hard to find a food that you feel is the best and that your furbaby will enjoy. I agree with Sylvia that 38% protein is much too high. It's a never ending battle trying to find the right food. I myself homecook and when I don't have time to do that I use Fromm wet food.

[denise&chico]

I know ! I can rip my hair out what is a good grain free dry for a malt?

[shellbeme]

Ok I just looked up Vet's Choice Health Extention and it's actually rated decently on several dog food sites, I also looked at the ingredient list of a package or two and it doesn't seem like bad ingredients.

However...

I did not research what does and doesnt' come from China. I'm going to be honest, I really don't believe there is a dog food company who can be 100% China free. If I'm wrong, that is wonderful. Most of the worlds vitamin source comes from China, often times, Pet food companies will do their best to be China free (because that is what we want) and they will source from places other than China for those mixes... HOWEVER, the non China sources, often get their ingredients from China.

So it's really difficult, but don't get me wrong, I am in full support of being as China free as possible.

Overall this doesn't look like a bad food (I did not check the protien content). If I wanted to feed it I might e mail the company for more info such as China sourcing, and where their plants are, who processes their food. (I want to avoid diamond).

I was not impressed with earthborn, honestly. I do see a lot of dog foodie people recommend it, but the ingredient list was just barely above average for me. I feed Fromm four star and rotate between the grain inclusive and grain free formulas. Fromm Family Foods Gourmet Dog & Cat Food, Naturally Holistic Fromm also has a lesser expensive line (Gold) that has excellent ingredients as well, and if I was not able to afford the four star I would not feel guilty about feeding the gold.

I also like acana-though with recent changes to their formulas I feel like we are paying the same for less quality and I love Freshpet. There are lots of other good brands out there, these are just my favorites.

When feeding kibble, it is important to pay attention to protien. There is much discussion over protien levels for malts, my vets have been happy with 30% and other-but you will find others dog people who prefer to stay around 25% or so with malts.

The fromm grain inclusive four star that I get are all in the 25ish catagory, the grian free tends to be a bit more. Nutri Source is another brand I see recommended quite a bit and I did try them for a while but my dogs were not crazy about it, they are also good with protien levels.

The thing with protien in kibble, you want to make sure it's a quality source, things like byprodcuts (beaks, feathers, the gross stuff) are harder to digest so brands that get their protien by this method are making your dogs body work harder to digest. Also with higher protien, dogs need to drink more to properly process it, and often times dogs do not drink quite as much as they need. This can take a toll on the body after years and years and years of eating like this.

Now, this is me talking in generalizations, you need to do what works best for you and your pup. If you are happy with earthborn, it is not terrible, it is just not one of my favorites. Not every brand works for every dogs, that's something I've learned is true for mine. Read all you can but remember also to take it all with a grain of salt, and trust what you see with your own eyes with your own pets.

[Sylie]

Originally Posted by denise&chico

I know ! I can rip my hair out what is a good grain free dry for a malt?

I haven't found one. But I am not concerned with it being grain-free. I would rather that it has whole complex carbohydrates, such as brown rice, barley and/or whole oats.

[Grace'sMom]

I home cook, and will probably never feed store bought again.

Look for lower protein foods and I agree with Sylvia.... don't worry so much about Grain-Free - you want good complex carbs to balance out the protein.

[Snuggle's Mom]

Blue Buffalo and Health Extension are not made in the same company. Health Extension is located in Melville, NY and Blue Buffalo is located in Wilton. Not sure where the owner of the Pet Shop that you visited got his/her information but I did a search and that is not the correct information. Blue Buffalo is an excellent food and all four of our Pets (2 Cats and two Dogs) are doing very well.

[denise&chico]

Ok so you think fresh pet would be a good food to feed a puppy I dont mind buying it if its good for her as a all food?

[Ladysmom]

Originally Posted by denise&chico

Ok so you think fresh pet would be a good food to feed a puppy I dont mind buying it if its good for her as a all food?

Fresh Pet is also too high in protein for most Maltese. It is 39% protein when you calculate the dry matter.

We've had a couple recent threads on this subject worth reading:

So You Think You Can Avoid Pet Food Made in China?

"Somehting Very Fishy"

Article About Grain Free Diets From Veterinary Nutritionist