# Dog food



## kristin06 (Mar 18, 2006)

I've been through quite a few different kinds of dog foods. Natural Balance, Solid Gold, Merrick, Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul, the little pouches of wet Nutro... and Keegan doesn't just gobble any of those up. Now I have this mixture of so many different kinds of food. So... I thought I will just try the Science Diet puppy that the vet gave on his very first visit. Guess what? He eats it all. I really thought I had something with the chicken soup, because the first couple of bowls he devoured. 

I don't want to use Science Diet because of the ingredients.. but I'm running out of foods. I've still got the options of Newman's and a few other to try, he's not even real crazy about wet food. Any suggestions... and I haven't tried Royal Canin yet because of those ingredients... but he'd probably like that one... since a lot of people on here have said that's the only one their dogs would eat. 

I'm going to finish up this Science Diet and continue looking. Oh I forgot one... I got the Natural Balance rolled food stuff and he likes that okay, so I usually mix some of that in. Anyone had this problem and then found something that I haven't mentioned that their babies liked? Thanks for any advice in advance.


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## Bonnie's Mommie (Mar 2, 2006)

At such a young age, I wouldn't be changing food so quickly. Can really upset his stomach. Buy a high quality puppy food, and stick with it. The bottom line - not to sound harsh, but your puppy won't starve himself. He''ll eat. 

If he liked the chicken soup at first, go back to that. But switch over gradually - keep feeding Science Diet, too. Start with 1/2 of each, for a week or so, then maybe 3/4 chicken soup and 1/4 Science.


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## beckybc03 (Jul 6, 2006)

I agree. I wouldn't let your dog tell you what kind of food they are going to eat. I picked Merrick for Lilly and that was what she was going to eat. Lilly has never been a "gobbler" but she eats her food throughout the day.....about 1/2 cup per day. Sometimes she doesn't eat it all and sometimes I give her a bit more. Your dog doesn't have to LOVE their food, they just must eat it for nutritional value. Imagine what all the people in the world would look like if we only ate the stuff that really tasted good and didn't eat any of the healthy stuff. I guess I just don't look at food for Lilly as enjoyment. She gets food because she needs to eat to be healthy and energetic.


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## LMJ (Feb 16, 2006)

I just switched Jeffery to Natural Balance Complete and Balanced in the blue bag (kibble). He loves it.


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## RexsMom (Jun 8, 2005)

Dont starve your baby! If you ask me it is better for them to eat than not to eat. Our babies are so small anyway and dont have a lot of weight to lose. There was a post with a reply quite a while back where someone had said they would rather their dog eat Science Diet than not at all and I agree, there are a lot that are worse. I went through something similiar when we got Rex, he was on a cheap dog food and I wanted to switch him to a high quality food. We tried the switch slowly, it didnt matter. He would pick out the cheap pieces and leave the rest. The vet was beginning to get concerned about Rex's weight loss, when we tried the if he gets hungry he will eat it thing. Rex would eat eventually, maybe about 10 pieces, very little. Our pet store usually has sample packages, so I was able to try him on different foods without a huge waste of money. We finally found that he will eat Solid Gold- Just a Wee Bit and Innovo EVO. We went through tons of dog food trying to find what he liked. He still gets bored of food from time to time, so we have to keep switching it up. To use up the other food I would mix 1/4 a small can of soft food and about 2 tbs of hard food and a little water to make it more like gravy. That helped him put his weight back on too. We still do this in the morning and he eats dry food by itself at night. Good luck to you and Keegan in finding that perfect food!


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## kristin06 (Mar 18, 2006)

Thank you for all of your advice. I will pick a good food and stick with it and mix it with the Science Diet.


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## hillary&lola (Apr 4, 2006)

lola is the same way and loves her new wellness chicken mixed with some merrick canned food (Wingaling-i think she has the one with the chicken right now). merrick canned food is not like the rest, it is in a thin gravy with whole veggies and big pieces of real chicken- i would eat it! give it a try, lola goes crazy when i heat it up in the microwave 50% power for 20 seconds (i mix about 2 tablespoons into 1/3c dry food).


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## I found nemo (Feb 23, 2006)

I still did not receive my Wellness (Chicken) yet. I am so praying Nemo likes it..
I can't wait to try it..

Andrea~


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## 2maltese4me (May 8, 2006)

> I agree. I wouldn't let your dog tell you what kind of food they are going to eat. I picked Merrick for Lilly and that was what she was going to eat. Lilly has never been a "gobbler" but she eats her food throughout the day.....about 1/2 cup per day. Sometimes she doesn't eat it all and sometimes I give her a bit more. Your dog doesn't have to LOVE their food, they just must eat it for nutritional value. Imagine what all the people in the world would look like if we only ate the stuff that really tasted good and didn't eat any of the healthy stuff. I guess I just don't look at food for Lilly as enjoyment. She gets food because she needs to eat to be healthy and energetic.[/B]



I agree. Not only that, I personally don't think its healthy for their digestive system to switch food so frequently.

Gracie and Cooper used to be on Wellness and we switched to Merrick because I liked the smaller sized kibble better...and I think the lamb formula of Wellness was causing tear stains.

Find something your happy with and try sticking with it.


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## luvmymacy (Mar 18, 2005)

Has anyone used Lifes Abundance? Thanks


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## Littlemans Mom (Apr 6, 2005)

I really like the Artemis fresh mix for small breeds that the Vet mentioned to us when she wanted us to change his food







It also comes in a puppy mix. The ingredients are







and Indy loves it







I posted the ingredients in a post that is pinned to the top of this foums page about foods.


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## Morkie4 (Oct 13, 2006)

I use the Natural Balance Venison/Brown rice and the Natural Balance Potato and Duck. Both products are an allergy formula but neither of my dogs have allergies, just liked the ingredients of the product. Yesterday I started adding the Solid Gold Wee Bit food (first ingredient is bison) with the others. Oh did I ever learn the hard way about introducing new foods............so I always add "variety" of quality dog food slowly. I add a little bit of shaved turkey or chicken by boar's head and mix it up really well so they can't pick out the shaved meat. They gobble it up pretty well. Just as a side point, I had to take my baby girl to the vet yesterday as she seemed to have an infection in her eyes. It was the first time I had been to this vet........had a problem with my old one...........and I loved him. He was so gentle, happy attitude and when she got a little upset at the assistant holding her he told her to turn her towards her mommy so she could see me. I thought this guy has it together. Of course I jumped in and helped hold her and she calmed right down and let him do his exam. He checked her eyes and gave me some drops.........thought it was "air" allergies. Anyway, on the way out, a gentleman was asking about dog food and she said the biggest thing to keep in mind is that there is no by-products, low fat and no ash. So there is for what it is worth. Also, get the number off the back of a dog food bag and call the company.........sometimes they will send you coupons if they know you are thinking of buying their product.


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