# Help on choosing a food for my pugs



## grkgod36 (Jun 27, 2010)

Im looking for a good grain free food for my pugs , the one is over weight a little and has skin allergys in the summer she itches like crazy.

i need something thats moderate in protein , as the doc found a bit to much protein when she did blood work, and shes not the most active dog either . 

any suggestions ?


----------



## wrangler1 (Jun 27, 2010)

Annamaet, either adult, extra, option or encore


----------



## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

What is she eating at the moment?


----------



## ruckusluvr (Oct 28, 2009)

wrangler1 said:


> Annamaet, either adult, extra, option or encore


umm, that is not a grain free food. very grain heavy, would recommend it myself


----------



## wrangler1 (Jun 27, 2010)

Its not grain heavy at all...you don't know the relative weights, I do. I know sled dog teams that eat nothing but Annamaet Ultra.

The guy that makes it knows his stuff and has extensive research experience from Penn, not to mention his mushing titles. 

He and another Penn guy pretty much wrote the book on feeding working dogs.


----------



## grkgod36 (Jun 27, 2010)

MollyWoppy said:


> What is she eating at the moment?


well in the begining she was on solid gold barking at the moon , then the vet she was having to much protein ,when she went in for tests. then i switched her to the solid gold holistic , not to long ago .... but i read on here that solid gold in general has gone down hill since they were bought out , and im looking to switch her now to a good food , cost is not an issue.


----------



## ruckusluvr (Oct 28, 2009)

Grain heavy Annamaet

Chicken Meal, Brown Rice, Rolled Oats, Pearled Barley, Chicken Fat (Preserved with Natural Mixed Tocopherols 

NOT grain heavy
Chicken, Chicken Meal, Turkey, Barley, Brown Rice,


----------



## grkgod36 (Jun 27, 2010)

grkgod36 said:


> well in the begining she was on solid gold barking at the moon , then the vet she was having to much protein ,when she went in for tests. then i switched her to the solid gold holistic , not to long ago .... but i read on here that solid gold in general has gone down hill since they were bought out , and im looking to switch her now to a good food , cost is not an issue.


My olde english bulldogge is on solid gold barking at the moon , and im switching her to one of these ,orijen , acana , fromm , california natural or canine carviar .


----------



## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

wrangler1 said:


> He and another Penn guy pretty much wrote the book on feeding working dogs.


What are these guys names and what books have they written?


----------



## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

wrangler1 said:


> I know sled dog teams that eat nothing but Annamaet Ultra.


And I know show dogs and agility dogs, and herding dogs that eat nothing but Pro Plan. That doesn't make it a good food. 




wrangler1 said:


> He and another Penn guy pretty much wrote the book on feeding working dogs.


There's lots of books on feeding dogs. 
Most of them are wrong. :biggrin:


----------



## grkgod36 (Jun 27, 2010)

um... is it possible to get back on topic and not argue ?


----------



## wrangler1 (Jun 27, 2010)

grkgod36 said:


> Im looking for a good grain free food for my pugs , the one is over weight a little and has skin allergys in the summer she itches like crazy.
> 
> i need something thats moderate in protein , as the doc found a bit to much protein when she did blood work, and shes not the most active dog either .
> 
> any suggestions ?


Please don't feed your pug a grain-free food if her blood work is not normal. The catfish based foods are very good for a dog like yours. The grain-free foods out there are very caloric and meant for more active dogs. Blackwood & Annamaet both have a catfish based food just for this purpose and both are made in an EU certified facility. The itching probably has nothing to do with grain.


----------



## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

wrangler- are you a sales rep? 

Anyways, theres nothing wrong with grain free, unless the test results show that in fact it caused elevated kidney function or something else. Either way, it can be balanced out with little moisture, I feed 34% protein with no issues to a non working but active dog. He did put on 4 lbs while on high protein (horizon legacy), so I decided to try wellness core reduced fat, he's back to his normal weight and loves the taste, so I reccomend it to overweight dogs. Its still grain free with good bit of meat in it. 


But generally speaking if your dog is pudgy, cutting back on the food and treats and increasing exercise usually does the trick. 

I'm also a fan of acana provincial, its not as high protein as Orijen, but still good quality and grain free, plus it comes in 3 varieties so you can rotate the protein sources.


----------



## malluver1005 (Nov 15, 2009)

grkgod36 said:


> Im looking for a good grain free food for my pugs , the one is over weight a little and has skin allergys in the summer she itches like crazy.
> 
> i need something thats moderate in protein , as the doc found a bit to much protein when she did blood work, and shes not the most active dog either .
> 
> any suggestions ?


Horizon Legacy or Acana Grain-Free


----------



## buddy97 (Mar 29, 2010)

wrangler1 said:


> The grain-free foods out there are very caloric and meant for more active dogs. Blackwood & Annamaet both have a catfish based food just for this purpose and both are made in an EU certified facility..


even less active dogs will benefit from eating a kibble that is more meat based like orijen or acana grainless. a higher protein kibble will not cause kidney issues. it is important a dog drinks plenty of water when eating primarily dry dog food. active or not dogs are designed to eat and digest meat. no problems. orijen and acana arent even super high in calorie content.

BTW, Champion's self owned manufacuring facility is EU certified....and both already make a (not farm raised) salmon based grainless food.


----------



## ghostrunner (Mar 24, 2010)

grkgod36 said:


> um... is it possible to get back on topic and not argue ?


By all means. One option for a moderate-protein grain-free food is Taste of the Wild. By "moderate" I mean lower protein than richer foods such as Orijen and EVO. 

TOTW provokes opinions here from many folks because it is produced by Diamond and, at least until a month ago, is preserved with a chemical potentially thought to cause cancer. 

There are likely other low-protein grain free options, too.


----------



## StellaLucyDesi (Oct 29, 2008)

I recommend Wellness CORE Reduced Fat. It's my favorite grain-free (for my dogs, anyway). Grain-free, higher protein food, should not hurt "healthy" kidneys (note the keyword is "healthy"). If your dog has compromised health issues, i.e. kidney issues, pancreatic issues...then I would do some in depth research into what food to feed. I will not feed prescriptions foods, myself, and I have a dog with compromised kidneys and she is eating Canine Caviar Special Needs (lower protein, low phosphorus) with added canned meat dog food. It seems to be helping her quite a bit so far. Wellness CORE RF did well for my dogs. I have smaller dogs, all prone to weight gain (except the kidney dog, haha, she's always been an easy keeper for weight...but really picky...I digress lol). Another one that isn't too bad might be Blue Wilderness. It isn't as low in fat as CORE RF, and has a few more calories (around 410 versus 350 a cup), but it does have more flavor options for rotation. Here is a list of all the ones I can think of that are moderate protein for grain-free foods:

Wellness CORE - all versions
Instinct - Duck, Salmon (I won't recommend Rabbit - sourced from China!)
TOTW - 2 flavors around 32% protein, the other 25%
Blue Wilderness 
Cal. Natural has some new grain-frees, but with the P&G buyout I'm leary...and I also think they're pretty carb heavy for grain-frees. Check out http://dogfoodchat.com/forum/dry-canned-dog-food/www.dogfoodadvisor.com..I think they might review it.
Fromm 4-Star Surf & Turf - Fromm is one of my favorite companies.
Merrick BG - never really used this food, but moderate protein %.
Canine Caviar also has a grain-free (Venison and Split Pea) that looks good.
A lot of people use the Natural Balance LID's because they're grain-free, but I'm not a fan....too much potato and not enough meat, IMO, but may be good for special needs cases.
Canidae all-life-stage grain-free - moderate protein %

BTW...remember to always give plenty of water (with any dry food, but especially higher protein grain-frees) and especially with a health compromised dog.

Hope this helps somewhat. Good luck, I love pugs! My brother has Tucker and I used to be owned by Cinderella (Cindy) and Bogie. :smile:


----------



## grkgod36 (Jun 27, 2010)

thanks everyone for the recomendations .

zoe , the pudgy pug, isnt all that active but she has been going for walks now more frequently. when she had blood work , and was eating high protein food it showed that it was a bit too much, and she is completely healthy! so for her i guess i need something with not so much protein ,and no grains since i dont like grains for dogs. and she needs something to a loose a bit of weight.

heres some pics of my pooches. 
zoe 








bella








and myka my olde english bulldogge


----------



## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

grkgod36 said:


> thanks everyone for the recomendations .
> 
> zoe , the pudgy pug, isnt all that active but she has been going for walks now more frequently. when she had blood work , and was eating high protein food it showed that it was a bit too much, and she is completely healthy!


I may not understand exactly what you are saying but blood work does not indicate anything about diet. "completely healthy" often does say something about diet. Blood panels are snapshots of exactly how the major organs are working at the instant blood is drawn. Nothing more. Did you fast her before the blood panel? If not, the results are questionable at best. 

I don't think any dog needs "medium" protein. Protein is the building block of muscle and dogs need plenty of it. You don't need to short change your dog in the protein department.


----------



## grkgod36 (Jun 27, 2010)

sorry i forgot , when she did blood work my wife also took in a urine sample.


----------



## StellaLucyDesi (Oct 29, 2008)

Again, you could look at my suggestions in my prior post, but I think something like CORE Reduced Fat might fit your bill. Good luck! :smile:


----------

