If you haven't seen this site, take a look... Nutro Ultra is a 4-star dog food, according to the criteria used to rate dog food on this site. But there are 5-star dog foods, too, that you might like. Nothing wrong with a 4-star dog food, though - I feed my girls Nature's Variety, which is a 4-star. But I do plan on trying Blue Buffalo in the near future (5-star).

You're so right about Beneful and Rachel Ray's, Beneful in particular - it's a 1-star. Horrible.

One of the criteria they use is how much/many grains are used. Just me, I don't think no-grain is necessarily perfect, which is why I've stuck to Nature's Variety for years now.

Dog Food Advisor.

Another is The Dog Food Project.

One more: DogAware.com.

If nothing else, those are really informative sites about what NOT to feed our babies. Basic rule for me is, if it's sold in a grocery store, it sucks.

Having said all that, forgive me if you already know about those sites! I'm kinda obsessed about dog food, and once I start, I have a hard time shutting up. I feed my girls a cup of Nature's Variety Prairie Chicken, supplemented with a cup of cooked food (ground chicken, ground beef, ground turkey, sweet potatoes, carrots, broccoli, zucchini, beets, brown rice, lentils, apples, pears, all cooked together) + dried cranberries, blueberry Activia, ground flaxseed, and apple oatmeal. My Sandy (she'll be 15 in Jan) has shown incredible improvement in mobility and alertness since I started this almost 2 years ago now. Her poop is nice and solid, something it's never been, which means she's digesting all of that good stuff. I'll never go back now.

Sandy also gets a 200mg caplet of Co-enzyme-10 daily. Good for her heart and immune system. I ran out of it once and missed giving it to her for a week, and she started getting lethargic. I'll never do that again.

Okay, I'll shut up now.

veggies as she cannot digest them. I have figured out that she can have a large handful of Arcana Prairie followed by Basmanti rice (rinsed several times and cooked soft) and chicken breast with turmeric and either coconut oil (very small amount as it affects Thyroid) or Safflower oil or Nordic Naturals Omega 3 oil and a pinch of salt.

I also like Truth About Petfood's website and pay once yearly list. Susan does a lot of work following the political side of things with pet foods as well as has a pretty detailed list that is easy to read.

I'm glad that you've found a way around her IBD. Unable to digest vegetables... that really limits you, but Acana (is it Acana, or Arcana? - I couldn't find an Arcana) looks like a good one, and has vegetables in it, so at least she's getting the nutrients, even though she can't get them fresh.

I took a look at that site, I've bookmarked it and added it to the others.

My dogs have been thriving on Wellness for 12 years but many of my clients have switched to Fromm. I used to add a tablespoon of Merrikk Grammy's Chicken Pot Pie to the Wellness dry for a treat but I switched to Fromm shredded Chicken about 6 months ago. Now I am 50% Fromm dry as well. The quality of the food is excellent. It runs about twice the cost of my old food but it has a much lower residue and it looks like real food.

so my vet wants me to change to Science Diet for teeth when she goes to adult dog food at six months.

I have never heard of a dog food for teeth, but my vet says it really does make a difference. So, I will change when the time comes. My other poodle had lost most of her teeth by the time she got old, so I am really going to try with the new puppy.

My parents fed our poodle (when I was a kid) science diet. She lived long and only lost 3 teeth (removed by surgery) when she was already in her teens.

My vet with my first dog recommended Iams - this was back in the day where the only place you could buy it was the vet's office. I kept him on that. He wasn't 100% poodle (he was cockapoo/maltese)

He didn't live as long and by the time he died he had lost almost all his teeth (had them removed actually). My parents had the same result with their second dog (she was my dog's niece - same breed w/a bit more maltese)

So when my parents got their new dog (bichon/malti-poo) they asked around for a good food for his teeth - at age 3 he already had surgery to remove a few teeth despite constant tooth brushing. Nutro lamb & rice was the one recommended.

Now that I have a new puppy (she's poodle/yorkie/maltese we think) I asked at our local pet food store (very high end store) what kinds would be good for her teeth as she already has horrid breath at 6 months old, they mentioned science diet, but said that some of the other foods they carried were more nutritious.

So I'm kind of stuck on what to feed her. She's currently on a trial of some 5-star stuff recommended by the store and she loves it, but her breath is worse, even with all the fancy doggie toothpastes and brushing I bought. When I was dog-sitting my parent's dog, my pup's breath improved because she was eating his stuff. She loves it. But her poos were quite a bit softer.

So maybe Science Diet is the answer? I'll have to do a little research on this.

http://www.hillspet.com/products/pd-canine-td-canine-dental-health-dry.html

I realize some of the ingredients are not what everybody might want, but I have to weigh this against the germs/tooth loss. So, I'm sure I will change when the time comes.

Hope the link helps.

I think I'm going to try this. Maybe I'll mix it with some really high quality stuff.