I want to keep track of responses, because I have no answers either. It seems that pet foods are like so much else, and there are fads and the "popular" for a time foods.

Is cost important to you? Many that I have had suggested to me are very pricey, and I would spend the money if I had a real belief in their superiority instead of just popularity. But many can't afford to do that.

I don't know about Costco's food, but I always tend to look for a mid-price food. I never buy the cheapest, but I really don't know if one of the really cheap ones might be decent. It just seems less probable because better quality ingredients could not be used in a cheap food.

I hope you get good suggestions.

Let's keep an eye on this. Hopefully I will get some answers!

Last edited Sun Apr 8, 2012, 03:24 PM - Edit history (1)

I think I will give it a try. Thanks!

homecooked food almost exclusively these days - a mix of chopped broccoli (or maybe some cooked spinach), freeze dried sweet potato rehydrated with chicken broth and some shredded chicken breast. He also gets baby carrots and apple slices as treats or some Mother Hubbard organic treats. Sometimes he gets a bit of malt o meal made with chicken broth. Maybe a poached egg white - or egg white powder mixed into his sweet potatoes instead of the chicken. Sometimes I can get him to eat a bit of canned prescription renal dog food (either Science Diet or Royal Canine or Purina). And sometimes the best I can do is give him some gruel - a mix of recovery food plus some nutrical plus some other stuff. If I need to boost his calorie intake he might get a nutrical treat. He takes both anti-nausea and antacid prescription meds and is an incredibly finnicky eater.

The younger dog eats Science Diet small and toy breed small bites food which is supplemented with some Science Diet Oral Care food. He also gets the leavings of the renal dog - and a fair amount of training treats since we work about almost an hour most days.

I've been happy feeding Science Diet food - supplemented liberally with people food. I've fed that to 4 different dogs over the last decade with no issues related to food quality.

I don't recall the web sites, but our research showed it was well regarded. Some of the very high end stuff is more highly rated, but this stuff was quite good.

We feed it to the two big dogs. (The little one is on a weight control diet.) They're thriving.

I have an older golden that during his growth had allergies to grains. Ear infections and hot spots were the norm until I switched to Wellness Core. A bit pricey but still cheaper then numerous vet visits.
A daily dose of plain Greek yogurt is a great supplement. A tablespoon of EVO in the dry kibble as another supplement.
Any raw veggies and fruits (except the forbidden ones.)

and 1 Pom that rules all. I have feed Innova or Evo for over 10 years. Never had a recall that I am aware of. If using Evo be aware you do not have to feed as much. My dogs get 1 cup of Evo for supper and raw food for breakfast. in spite of that 2 are still overweight LOL. Two spayed girls are 135 and 140. Male 165 (gets 2 cups a day) and one girl 125, puppy gets as much as she wants for now Innova large breed.

I quit using it when P&G bought out the company but did not like anything else as well so went back to it. When pups I feed Innova large breed puppy food and as adults I feed Evo.

http://www.naturapet.com/brands

edit:

Be very careful any food made by Diamond. Check for manufactor on any food you buy. Good luck!

75%-80% meat/fish, 20%-25% fruits/veggies depending on the formula of which they have several. I supplement with cottage cheese, yogurt, pumpkin, green beans, broc or peas, cooked carrots or other veggies, fresh spinach, occasionally canned Solid Gold, pineapple, oranges, and bananas. They also get a Solid Gold vitamin/mineral supplement called Sea Meal, and one gets a skin coat supplement (made from sardine oil), Sam e and milk thistle (available at any drugstore, Costco, etc). It is not inexpensive food and can be hard to find, but I credit it for helping to keep my male bouv as healthy as possible. He was diagnosed with lymphoma 2 years ago in July. He has had chemo on and off which keeps him in remission, but we are not going to cure him. His body has handled the chemo very well with few side effects (mostly hair loss). I did a lot of research on diet for dogs with cancer and a high protein, low carb diet was what I found to be the best. The vet does frequent blood work on him, and the few times his kidney levels have come back abnormal, I've backed off a bit on his protein, using a mix of Solid Gold kibbles and less high protein supplements. The Sam e and milk thistle have kept his liver levels on an even keel. It really is amazing to me, because other than the hair loss, I would never know he was sick...great appetite, normal activity level for a 9 year old bouvier, no digestive problems, etc. I really do credit the food for his health. My other two dogs, a bouv and a cocker mix, thrive on the food as well.
The Whole Dog Journal publishes a list yearly of their approved dry and canned foods based on quality of ingredients, sourcing of ingredients, where processed and how, etc. They also have great articles on raw diets, home cooking, behavior management, training etc. It's a great publication (no ads) and not too expensive.

https://secure.whole-dog-journal.com/subscribe/main.html/?t=R_I_SUB&track=LC_I_SUB

I'll be looking into these ideas.

I only know the ones that rate dog foods, but I'm sure there's sites for cat foods, too. These are a couple of good sites...

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/

http://www.dogfoodscoop.com/

I'm sure if you do a google search you'll find lots of sites that rate cat foods, too.

It's also a good idea to check from time to time for recalls and other information like foods that have been bought out by nefarious companies, etc.

i have actually raised quite a few long lived and healthy dogs on purina. one is the best. read the ingredients.
i talked to my vet about this, and he concurred that they had worked hard to build a reputation on well researched nutrition for dogs and many other animals. zoos used purina product exclusively in the old days. don't know about now.
but, yeah, mostly purina one.

...and our dog seems to really like it...I may have just fallen for their ad campaign, but the ingredients appear to be healthier for her, and it seems to agree with her digestive system better than the more mainstream mass produced stuff...

My previous dog really liked the canned stuff that I had to feed him when he had the cancer, but he didn't like the dry food. The dog I have now I've been feeding Innova puppy food, but since I found out about them being sold to P&G I don't want him eating it anymore. But he's almost old enough now for adult food, and I want to try the Blue Buffalo adult food with him in a few weeks. I only went with the Innova puppy food instead of the Blue Buffalo because for some reason the puppy food can almost never be found around here in the big bags. If he decides he doesn't like it, I'll either try another flavor or Wellness or Taste of the Wild or one of the other good ones.

He's at that age where he wants to eat everything whether or not it's food and whether not it fits in his mouth but can be a little persnickity about his dog food. At the moment he's contemplating tasting my foot. What is this strange obsession that young dogs seem to have with everyones' feet as if they're the most fascinating toy in the whole world?

Since we're almost finished the bag of Innova puppy food and I didn't want to buy another one and it's only a couple of weeks until his one year birthday when he can have adult food anyway I got some Taste of the Wild adult food and switching him over to that. I read a lot of ingredients labels and going by the experience of my other dogs I decided not to go with the Blue Buffalo dry adult food only because of the dried cranberries and blueberries that my other dog hated and spit out... and nearly 1/3 of the food is the dried cranberries and blueberries, so financially that didn't make sense. Since this dog is even more picky about his dog food (though he eats everything else whether it's actually food or not) I didn't think he'd like the dried cranberries or blueberries either. I was going to go with the Blue Buffalo Wilderness that doesn't have the dried fruits loose in the food, but it was a good deal more expensive than some of the good other foods.

So, now we're making the switch to Taste of the Wild, and he really likes it a lot. It's got blueberries in it but they're not dried by themselves and loose in the food and part of the kibble bits, so he doesn't notice them, and going by the ingredients list there isn't that much of them. I've noticed since I've been mixing the old Innova kibble with the Taste of the Wild new kibble so he gets used to it he picks through the kibbles and eats the Taste of the Wild pieces first, so he definitely likes it better than the Innova. He's also more excited when it's mealtime, too, so that tells me he likes the new food better.

I wanted to stick with Blue Buffalo since I like the company and the canned stews were really great for my previous cancerous doggie (and so yummy looking and smelling I was tempted to eat it myself!), but he didn't like all those dried loose fruits in the kibble food at all. So, we're with Taste of the Wild now, he likes it a lot, and it's even a wee bit cheaper than the Innova and a good deal cheaper than the Blue Buffalo Wilderness.

So far, so good.

It does not have any of the vitamin additives that generally come from China in it. We were feeding EVO and as said above, P&G bought them out so dropped them. Our dogs have trimmed up and all of them have waists now.
I also supplement them with recipes from the Dinner Pawsable book. They are easy to make.
My cats are all on Renal food unfortunately (Menu Foods poisoning & heart issues) which has tons of bad things in it and our newest cat we are trying to wean off of kitty crack, Fancy Feast. he doesn't like Halo although that is a very decent food. Am still trying to figure it out on him.

both dog food and their dog beds (big fluffy things that aren't very expensive)

I don't have Costco terribly convenient so I buy at the doggie daycare. We use Innova's EVO and our dogs seem to love it (it's a grain free food)

One thing my vet told me and has seemed to be true is that cats especially need a lot of protein and it's good to feed them some wet food if you can. Our cat lost weight (she needed to) and her coat improved dramatically once we added wet food. We went all wet food for a while, but she eats better if we let her have some of her beloved "crunchies" (kibble) as well.

My vet also says that, despite the iconic cat-with-a-fish-in-its-mouth, cats should not eat fish. A lot of chicken, turkey and beef flavors also have fish lurking in there around the third or fourth ingredient, so read labels carefully. Several of the Wellness canned varieties are fish-free, which is one of the reasons we went with it.

and they let you have samples.

I learned that Kidley's favorite canned cat food is Wellness, and he seems to thrive on it.

For dry food, he likes Felidae and Evo.

If his feeding time comes around when I have some meat thawed for my dinner, I give him about half a cup of meat instead of his canned food.

At unpredictable intervals, he likes eggs. Sometimes he'll beg for eggs when I'm making breakfast, and I'll give him about a tablespoon full of raw egg, which he laps up as if it were the world's greatest dessert. At other times, I'll give him some egg, and he'll sniff at it and walk away. Go figure.

because my oldest (14) is diabetic and it's grain free, high protein. The youngest loves it too. My local store doesn't carry the canned, so they get Hound&Gatos, a 98% meat formula.
The dog gets Canidae senior and she loves it. Never had any issues with it. But I think my dog has superior genes. Never been sick in her life and until she was 9 or so she ate exclusively Beneful brand and thrived. I've heard how bad Beneful is and I'm happy she's healthy.

She got so sick from it, she stayed in my bedroom, pooping loosley in my shower, and cowering next to my golden retreiver, who was taght to ignore cats (awkward). I don't blame the food, just my kitty's digestive tract. It looks like a great product.