[Polemos]

Hello everyone!
We just got puppy that is prob pit mix which will prob be around 25 kilos fully grown. We don’t have many choices of dog food brands where we’re from. So far we were looking to get him either ProPac performance puppy or Royal Canin medium puppy/junior dog food. Which of the 2 would you recommend or should we keep looking for something better?

Has anyone heard of Sam’s Field puppy dog food? I think it’s made in Denmark so there is no review on it on this site. Thanks!

[A.Sandy]

I would say none of those! they all contain corn, maize, beet pulp and a lot of junk not good for a growing dog. what other choices are there where you live?

-Ana
pet nutrition expert/advisor
@pupfacts
pupcatnutrition.com

[Shasta220]

Big time no-no to Royal Canin. ProPac seems to have a high rating on this site, but for a growing pup, you really want to avoid anything that has corn on the top 5 ingredients. Corn is 100% filler, and many dogs are hyper-sensitive to it. My APBT/Lab/Rott has sensitive skin, but surprisingly didn’t react to corn. We fed him 3-4x the amount of dog food when he had the stuff with ground corn. It literally went right through him – his stools were full of the corn grit. I think I could have fed him sawdust and gotten better results!

I looked up Sam’s Field food. Even though it /does/ have the corn, I noticed chicken and chicken liver were the first two ingredients in the dry puppy food. It’s not /the/ best out there, but if the price is right, then I’m sure your pup could do fine on it.

I know options are slim around your place, but if you could try finding #1. Make sure real meat is the first 2-3 ingredients. Then try to avoid corn/soy/wheat, and even skipping grains entirely is great. If you can’t find all of that, then I’d say Sam’s Field should be fine – my dogs were amazingly healthy on a food with wheat as the 3rd ingredient.

Best wishes with your pup! I hope you’ll find something that works for her growth, tummy, skin, and your wallet/convenience! 🙂

[Polemos]

Thanks everyone for the replies! These are the other brands that I could find only from ordering online that seemed ok:

Acana Puppy and Junior
Hill’s Science Diet Puppy Healthy Development
Barking Heads Puppy Days (British Brand)
FROMM Puppy Gold Large Breed

There is also Orijen Puppy but it’s a little outside of our budget at the moment.

Thanks again everyone!

[GizmoMom]

Acana and Orijen are good.
/?s=acana
/?s=Orijen

Don’t use Hill’s

Not sure about Barking Heads, never heard of them.

Some people are having some issues with Fromm.
/forums/topic/fromm-dog-food-dangers/

[RescueDaneMom]

I would second GizmoMom. Acana and Orijen are the best. They are made by the same company. If you can’t afford Orijen, Acana is the way to go. You could also try the Fromm. Some dogs do really well on it and others have been reporting that their dogs are getting sick on it. I had a dog on the Fromm Gold Reduced Calorie for months with no problems. Keep in mind it is good to rotate foods for your pup so s/he is not eating the same thing all the time.

[Shasta220]

Acana is definitely a good one. Agreed – avoid Hills… My vet once told me Hills was the only thing he recommended because of the science/research behind the company. I thought “oh, the vet says it’s best, so it’s the best!” And bought a bag without reading the ingredients. Wow was that a waste of money! I think next time I will try Dog Chow and get better luck with my dogs!

Just as long as the food as wholesome good quality proteins and a low amount of fillers, your pup should do good 🙂

[Polemos]

I was able to find Acana Puppy and Junior in only 1 store in my whole area. I was looking at Barking Heads Puppy Days dog food which is made in the U.K. that seems pretty good. Here are the ingredients according to their site:

Ingredients
Composition* Freshly Prepared Deboned Chicken 22%, Dried Chicken 18%, Brown Rice, Sweet Potato, White Rice, Freshly Prepared Deboned Salmon 8%, Freshly Prepared Deboned Trout 5%, Dried Egg, Chicken Fat 3%, Chicken Stock 2.5%, Lucerne, Salmon Oil 1.5%, Seaweed, Dried Tomato, Dried Carrot, Prebiotic MOS, Prebiotic FOS *Ingredients
Analytical Constituents Crude Protein 27%, Fat Content 17%, Inorganic Matter 6.75%, Crude Fibre 2.2%, Moisture 8%, Calcium 1.2%, Phosphorous 1%, Omega-6 (2.2%), Omega-3 (1.3%), DHA 0.3%
Nutritional Additives (Per kg) Vitamin A 25,000 IU, Vitamin D3 2,222 IU, Vitamin E 694 IU
Trace Elements as Compounds Ferrous sulphate monohydrate 956mg, zinc sulphate monohydrate 772mg, manganous sulphate monohydrate 152mg, cupric sulphate pentahydrate 56mg, calcium iodate anhydrous 6.80mg, sodium selenite 0.77mg

Is there anything on that list that you would red flag as an ingredient? Or is this an actual good puppy dog food? Thanks

[RescueDaneMom]

It looks pretty good to me. Nothing in it I would red flag. I wouldn’t want to feed it all the time because of the rice. I think it would be a good food to have in a rotation. You could switch back and forth with the Acana.

[slvet2]

Go with Hills Science Diet Puppy Healthy Development. Pits don’t have great immune systems so they need every bite to be excellent quality. Hills is the most copied (by competing dog food companies) dog food on the planet, and it is NEVER recalled for quality issues. Once sold only by veterinarians because of its quality it can be found at good pet stores and veterinarians. Make sure you get him/her vaccinated properly.

[GizmoMom]

@slvet2 Are you kidding? Hill’s never been recalled?

Pet Food Recall Widens After Toxin Found
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Healthday/story?id=4506404

Nestlé Purina, Hills join pet food recall
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-31-pet-food-recall_N.htm

[Shasta220]

Polemos, that looks like a great food! If it is easy to access and easy on the budget, then I’d go with it.

Slvet2, GizmoMom gave you the truth. I would honestly rather feed my dogs Purina Dog Chow than Hill’s garbage…at least Dog Chow has a price to match the quality, Hills doesn’t. “Veterinarian recommended” honestly means nothing to me… Just because my vet tells me it’s good doesn’t mean the ingredient panel, and my dog’s health agrees! I was stupid enough to listen to my vet on that. Poor Cassy was looking awful honestly! I’m gonna say anything with corn and by-product is FAR below “good quality”.
Edit: “Hills is the most copied…” Hrrrmmm. Dog Chow, Beneful, and Ol Roy did a pretty good attempt, and /almost/ matched the quality, LOL!

• This reply was modified 10 years, 9 months ago by Shasta220.

[typhoon]

Hi every one . Just started my dog on a dry food called Now Fresh Market. It is all natural, no soy, no corn, no GMO stuff and it has everything in it a dog needs. It is somewhat hard to find as it is out of Canada but it can be ordered from KV pet which can be looked up on web. It is sort of expensive but sure takes a lot of guess work out of things. My dog is a real picky eater but loves this stuff.

[Shasta220]

I would DEFINITELY avoid Royal Canin, samaroberoi. It’s cheap filler food that has a fancy name, much like Hill’s Science, and even Eukanaba. Breed specific foods make me LAUGH (not the good kind, either). A dog’s nutritional needs is NOT based on his breed, that’s for sure! I mean, yes, an average husky will need more protein and calories than maybe a Bassett hound… But I’d honestly avoid any brand that is full of breed-specific food. A quality food will be good for almost every dog – regardless of the breed.

[weezerweeks]

Samaroberio do you work for royal canine? You always recommend that food. It is not good food and neither is science diet!!!

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