# food



## meric1887 (Jun 12, 2009)

i have a 9 week old pit and i want to feed here right give here a good home what are some of the best foods to use as of right now i have been using science diet dry food


----------



## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Well, all I can tell you is good for you for taking a pitbull. Get her off the Science Diet, there are some really good quality foods out there and you'll get the right info here. You'll get some answers shortly.


----------



## EnglishBullTerriers (Sep 10, 2008)

meric1887 said:


> i have a 9 week old pit and i want to feed here right give here a good home what are some of the best foods to use as of right now i have been using science diet dry food


I am sure that there are plenty of us that will say, feed raw. If you are wanting to go with kibble, that is fine and there are plenty of people to help you out with that. My own opinion is to go to raw especially with a pitt. They really like it and do best with it. Let us know which way you are looking at go and we are all more then happy to help you out. :smile:


----------



## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

I always reccomend it to people that are unsure about trying new foods is to email companies for samples or coupons, some stores will accept open bags but not others, so this is a good choice. 
How much are you willing to spend on the food? Some of the highest rated foods are grain free or use unique protein souces for allergic dogs. Some of those brands are :
-Orijen
-Acana
-Addiction
-Natures Logic
-Ziwi Peak
-Timberwolf

They generally range anywhere from $50-70

Theres a lot of good foods in between as well, if you have a Petsmart or Petco nearby, they carry Blue Buffalo, I prefer the grain free Wilderness line. Petco carries brands like Solid Gold, Wellness, Natural Balance, Blue Buffalo, Organix. 

You can also find foods at feed and tractor supply stores. But each website that you visit has a link to the store locator, so its easy to find something in the area, unless you live in a really remote place. 

I've tried probably around 95% of the premium foods on the market and it seems that my dog likes Orijen, Acana Provincial, and Wellness core the best. 
All of those are grain free foods, they are higher in calories, so you end up feeding slightly less then regular kibble. ( about 1/3-1/2 less)

Even though I like Orijen, I only feed it once in a while, usually mixing with lower protein kibble. I think every dog is different, but I've heard a lot of people have issues with kibbles like Orijen and Innova Evo when they feed it to a dog that gets little/moderate exercise or is an elderly dog. But I think its ideal for working/hunting breeds, or dogs with high metabolism/energy. 

The new Acana formula is very similar to Orijen but less protein, therefore it seems to work better for my dog. 

Every dog is different and will respond differently to each food, even with super premium kibble, theres no way of telling whether you dog will do well on it. I tried Natures Logic, which is an excellent kibble, but my dog had a severe allergic reaction to it, he was vomiting, had bad breath, eye discharge and hives all over his body. But a lot of people swear by it. So, go figure. 

Some other good brands include:
-Innova
-Horizon Legacy
-Natures Variety
-Artemis
-Petcurean Now! and Go! 
-Avoderm
-Pinnacle
-Canidae
-Fromm
-Healthwise
-Taste of the Wild
-Evangers
-Wysong


----------



## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

Sorry, I misread the first part about your pups age, definitely do not feed a grain free to a growing pup. But use a formulated large breed puppy food. 
I reccomend either Innova large breed or Wellness


----------



## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Good for you for looking into something other than Science Diet. It's one of the worst out threre so you're making a smart move by getting her off of it. 
I've personally tried quite a few of the premium foods with my three dogs, and there's still a few more I'd like to try with them.

SOme things to consider:
What will your budget allow?
Avaliability of product lines?

From there, educate yourself on what makes a food good or bad. This forum is a great place to learn. Also, check out how your options rate on dogfoodanalysis.com 

Some Great ones are:
Innova
Innova EVO
Wellness
Wellness CORE
Ziwi Peak
Orijen
Taste of the Wild
Solid Gold

(Some of these are grain free- not recommended for puppies under one year. Just FYI... special "large breed formulas" are a rip off.)

Other more affordable ones that are still pretty good:
Canidae
California Natural
Kirkland (CostCo)
Chicken Soup


----------



## wags (Jan 31, 2009)

I think because of vets we are all co~ursed (sp?) into buying SD when we first get our pups because this is what is handed to us at our first visit:frown:! And we unknowingly believ its good becasue we don't know any better! Then we learn! I know this is why I did this! Large breed puppies there are nice premium foods for them look at Dog Food Reviews - 6 Star Premium Dry Food - Powered by ReviewPost

you will get alot of info here along with the great info you have received from others!:biggrin:


----------



## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

Unosmom said:


> Sorry, I misread the first part about your pups age, definitely do not feed a grain free to a growing pup. But use a formulated large breed puppy food.
> I reccomend either Innova large breed or Wellness


In what biology book did you read that young carnivores need grain in their diet? NO carnivore needs grain in their diet, young, old or in between.

Have you closely compared ingredients list of puppy/aduld/senior dog foods? There is almost no difference. Usually just 2 or 3 ingredients switch places on the list. "Puppy food" is a marketing gimick to make you think you are buying something specially formulated for your pup. Nothing could be further from the truth.


----------



## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

Are you here to pick fights, honestly? get a life. 

I think meric1887 is looking for a kibble NOT RAW. Hence the post location.
Majority of the grain free foods are high in calcium and phosphorus and therefore can interfere with proper bone development. Therefore its best to stick with regular kibble until 1 or so, then switch to grain free if desired.


----------



## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

Unosmom said:


> Majority of the grain free foods are high in calcium and phosphorus and therefore can interfere with proper bone development.


Then possibly you should say, "Pick a grain free food that is lower in calcium and phosphorus". There is never a time in any dog's life that grain is good for them in any form.


----------



## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

99% of the grain free foods on the market are not suitable for puppies, so I'd rather be on the safe side and reccomend one that has maybe one source of grains.


----------



## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Could be most people don't know or are aware of the benefits of feeding a natural raw diet like god intended. I started out in the kibble section but quickly learned , because I love and want the very best for my dogs ( they are my kids) that if I didn't want health problems and the allergy issues they had, I needed to do what was right and go raw. So, someone new very well should at the very least now the options they have.


----------



## meric1887 (Jun 12, 2009)

i dont want to feed raw but i want to feed my dog good food how expensive is canned food compared to kibble and which of the 2 would be most ideal remeber its a pit i dont really know if that matters but i would def like to give her some good food


----------



## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

You really can't just feed a dog canned food, it's mostly water. Go with a good grain free kibble like Orijen, or Innova Evo and you shouldn't go wrong.


----------



## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

Whiteleo, don't forget that raw food is mostly water too, that's why our dogs don't need to drink as much on it :smile:

I think that canned food is ever so slightly more species appropriate for dogs to eat, or at least wetting down the dry food with warm water. This should also help reduce the plaque and tartar build-up on your pup's teeth since they won't have as much of the hard garbage pushed up into their gums on a regular basis. Supplement this with bones for chewing and their teeth should stay nice and healthy. 

However, canned food is considerably more expensive to feed exclusively, especially for a big dog. Canned food also seems to have less carbs in it than kibble since it doesn't need it as much to hold it together. 

PS - you know what's affordable and truly plant-matter free? $.50/lb for my dog food and meat, bones, and organs only. Try finding THAT in a so-called premium food. Sorry, I couldn't resist :biggrin:


----------



## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Oh Thank you , I had gotten off track. We just don't seem to have anything to talk about.


----------



## EnglishBullTerriers (Sep 10, 2008)

rannmiller said:


> PS - you know what's affordable and truly plant-matter free? $.50/lb for my dog food and meat, bones, and organs only. Try finding THAT in a so-called premium food. Sorry, I couldn't resist :biggrin:



Haha!! I like that!!

Merk, there are a ton of good suggestions here. Hope you find one that works for you. I do suggest that you stay with the high quality foods though, your dog will be big and it might cost more. But the benefits that you will see will be more then worth it!


----------



## sganow (Apr 16, 2009)

Orijen also has a large breed puppy formula. That should be a good one for you. You can also look into Solid Gold Wolf Cub. There are also some good foods for all life stages. You could use Innova or Nature's Variety Prairie.


----------



## claybuster (Dec 18, 2008)

Unosmom said:


> Are you here to pick fights, honestly? get a life.
> 
> I think meric1887 is looking for a kibble NOT RAW. Hence the post location.
> Majority of the grain free foods are high in calcium and phosphorus and therefore can interfere with proper bone development. Therefore its best to stick with regular kibble until 1 or so, then switch to grain free if desired.


Wrong...here's why: Tissue must be able to grow at the same rate as bone in order to support the dog. If bone grows faster than tissue you run into problems, and could be setting up the dog for pending diaster down the road.
If tissue is too weak to support bone, you're setting the dog up for possible collapse whereas the tissue cannot support the weight of the dog. ONLY animal source proteins will grow tissue at a fast enough rate to keep up with bone. These TBNs (tissue building nutrients) are found in animal source proteins. When Vets routinely advise to curtail or limit the amount of food intake for growing pups, it is self admission the diets are simply too weak in animal source proteins to keep up with the rate of bone. Therefore the only choice is to restrict food intake in hopes to slow down growth (yea I know, it is really criminal when you think about it but that's what they recommend...starve your growing pup to slow down growth). So, the problem is not the fact grain-free diets are too high in calcium, they simply don't contain enough animal source proteins.

The biggest offenders are the diets starting off with a meat muscle like "Chicken". These are the worst diets out there. Imagine your fresh wholesome first ingredient, "chicken" is a dollar bill. Knock off .75 cents right off the bat for moisture content (remember you get it dry in kibble, not wet). Only a portion of the remainder (25 cents) is actual chicken protein, so you have 12.5 cents worth of animal source proteins out of the dollar bill. Thats why this catchy marketing of fresh and wholesome worthy of your dinner table is utter nonsense because it translates into miniscule amounts of protein. So what's the solution, starve your growing pup in hopes to slow down growth giving time for tissue to be able to keep up with the rate of bone. Again, many are misguided with the wholesome nonsense and never even realize how weak in animal source proteins many of these "chicken" diets actually diets. There is only one way to ensure adequate growth of tissue to keep up with the rate of bone in a kibble diet and that is the LIBERAL INCLUSION OF BY-PRODUCT MEALS.


----------



## claybuster (Dec 18, 2008)

meric1887 said:


> i have a 9 week old pit and i want to feed here right give here a good home what are some of the best foods to use as of right now i have been using science diet dry food


These folks know how to feed Pits! TITLE SHOT KENNELS: boarding,training and K-9 training equipment,American pitbull terrier (blue), AMSTAFF BREEDER in New Jeresy, Specialize in Blue Pitbulls/bite sleeves/bite tugs


----------



## sganow (Apr 16, 2009)

Don't know about the inclusion of by-product meals, but including both a specific meat and a specific meat meal are best, and they should be the top ingredients in the food. I wouldn't want by-products to be the main source of animal protein.


----------



## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Have you seen some of those working dogs muscles? You don't get that from feeding crap!


----------



## EnglishBullTerriers (Sep 10, 2008)

whiteleo said:


> Have you seen some of those working dogs muscles? You don't get that from feeding crap!


I don't know that I would ever feed crap, It seems counter productive! How would you do that anyway? feed the dog crap, pick it up and feed it again??? :biggrin: Besides, don't dogs do that naturally?? :wink:


----------

