# Better dog food



## jrscll (May 22, 2011)

Hello,
Our family has grown by one more with a boxer puppy, he is 11 weeks old and just adorable! 
Previous owner stated was giving him the Kirkland puppy brand which he gave us a good amount to feed and transition him to other brand. I have looked at the ingredients and dont see much out of the norm as to other dog food brands. How does this compare or how good is the Kirkland brand from Costo? I have heard that the Kirkland brand is a good brand, how true is this?

I am thinking of switching him gradually if a big difference between the Kirkland brand and other brands.
I am looking into Nutro as its one of the easier brands found in my area and have heard Nutro is a good brand. Am possibly thinking of also the following as I hear nothing but good things, Natural Balance, Wellness or Innova.


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## 3Musketeers (Nov 4, 2010)

Kirkland is better than Nutro for the most part, I also like it better than the LID Natural balance foods.

Innova and Wellness are great. Kirkland is very good.

The others, I am not too fond of, they use vegetable proteins to boost the protein levels and include less meat.
The exception would be Natural Balance's Alpha formula, and *only* their "Lamb, Chicken Meal and Rabbit Formula". The other ones are at most alright.


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## SamWu1 (Oct 15, 2010)

I personally wouldn't feed anything else besides Champion Pet foods, so either Orijen or Acana.


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## Serendipity (Aug 13, 2010)

I also like Kirkland better than Nutro and Natural Balance. 

But, I would only stay on Kirkland if you have a tight budget. Orijen is a good option and so is Evo although that'll probably have to wait until your Boxer is fully grown.


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## theprodigy001 (Mar 31, 2011)

Costco's Kirkland food is made by diamond which had one of the worlds biggest dog food recalls ever.
i used to feed taste of the wild but that is also made by diamond so i now feed orijen.best move i did was change to orijen.


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## Jack Monzon (Jul 25, 2010)

I would see how he does on Kirkland and stay with that if he does fine.


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## Herzo (Feb 5, 2011)

theprodigy001 said:


> Costco's Kirkland food is made by diamond which had one of the worlds biggest dog food recalls ever.
> i used to feed taste of the wild but that is also made by diamond so i now feed orijen.best move i did was change to orijen.


I heard they had the most recalls also. Do you know what the deal is. My sister has just started TOTW and I would hate to have to tell her to quiet it. She was feeding Cal Natural rice and what ever and I told her I thought that ToTW was a better food. She thinks her dogs look better. I have fed it in the past but one of my Dogs has allergy issues and I so far have found 2 foods I can feed her with out a break out. Do you know if maybe it would be in the grains and then it would not affect TOTW? That's what I was hoping.


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## jrscll (May 22, 2011)

Thanks for all the input... I went to the local pet store, saw some of the following brands;
Wellness
Innova 
Nutro
Blue Buffalo
Natural Balance

If I take a small drive of about 20 minutes I can find at a local pet store
Acana
California Natural

Of the 7 listed above can you help put them in order from best to worst including Kirkland brand so total of 8


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

jrscll said:


> Thanks for all the input... I went to the local pet store, saw some of the following brands;
> Wellness
> Innova
> Nutro
> ...


orijen
acana
kirkland
wellness (core variety)
innova(evo variety)
blue buffalo(wilderness)
caliornia natural(grai free)
natural balance
nutro


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

RCTRIPLEFRESH5 said:


> orijen
> acana
> kirkland
> wellness (core variety)
> ...


Exactly!:biggrin1:


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## dmgmn (Apr 24, 2011)

The Kirkland dog food is fine! If your dog does fine with it, why change?
There are few kibbles that equal it's quality and value.


jrscll said:


> Hello,
> Our family has grown by one more with a boxer puppy, he is 11 weeks old and just adorable!
> Previous owner stated was giving him the Kirkland puppy brand which he gave us a good amount to feed and transition him to other brand. I have looked at the ingredients and dont see much out of the norm as to other dog food brands. How does this compare or how good is the Kirkland brand from Costo? I have heard that the Kirkland brand is a good brand, how true is this?
> 
> ...


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## dmgmn (Apr 24, 2011)

Give it a rest already!! The last recall on a Diamond product was in 2008!!
Most of the Diamond products/brands are well above average in comparison to other brands.
I feed TOTW to our 3 dogs and NO problems!

I would be more leary of the recent P&G purchased brands than the Diamond brands.



theprodigy001 said:


> Costco's Kirkland food is made by diamond which had one of the worlds biggest dog food recalls ever.
> i used to feed taste of the wild but that is also made by diamond so i now feed orijen.best move i did was change to orijen.


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## jrscll (May 22, 2011)

dmgmn said:


> The Kirkland dog food is fine! If your dog does fine with it, why change?
> There are few kibbles that equal it's quality and value.



He seems to be doing fine with the Kirkland puppy brand, but I now often hear about all these brands and how it makes a difference for a dogs life and health and well want him at its best. But from what I hear the Kirkland brand is good so might stick it out for now unless there is a big difference in other brands then I would switch.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Most kibble is created equal as it is all cooked and loses a lot of its nutrient quality through that process, not to mention the horrible things it does to their teeth.

If you truly wish to do what is best for the health of your puppy check out the raw section of this forum.

I am a former Acana feeder and still feed it on occasion when I get a rescue in, I always recommend that brand of kibble.


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## 3Musketeers (Nov 4, 2010)

Outright best, go for Orijen or Acana.

Then I'd list them as such:

Innova (EVO)
Blue Buffalo (Wilderness)
Merrick (Before Grain)
California Natural (Grain-Free)
Wellness (Core)
Kirkland


Lower Quality:
Natural Balance (Lamb Alpha)
Nutro

The reason kirkland is last on that list is because it is grain-inclusive, but it is as good as the other brands grain inclusive formulas.


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## jrscll (May 22, 2011)

Thanks for all the input, I am taking all this into consideration!!!
I will look into Acana, Wellness, Innova EVO as the primary options


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## Serendipity (Aug 13, 2010)

whiteleo said:


> I am a former Acana feeder and still feed it on occasion when I get a rescue in, I always recommend that brand of kibble.


I'm just curious why you recommend Acana and not Orijen.


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## CavePaws (Jan 25, 2011)

Ughhh. I hate kirkland dog food. :| Just because it's so damn cheap and has, OMG 2 meat products (one inclusive of water!) in it's first two ingredients, people justify buying it.


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## PDXdogmom (Jun 30, 2010)

EVO, Wellness Core and California Natural Grain-free are not recommended for puppies per the companies' instructions. BB Puppy Wilderness is very high in fiber at 6% which would really make a puppy poop a ton. I had very bad experiences with Nutro a few years ago and would not feed that brand again. I personally look for protein of 27-34% and fat 16-19% for puppies. The Acana is an "all life stages" food that you might look at.


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## 3Musketeers (Nov 4, 2010)

CavePaws said:


> Ughhh. I hate kirkland dog food. :| Just because it's so damn cheap and has, OMG 2 meat products (one inclusive of water!) in it's first two ingredients, people justify buying it.


Even if it only has one real meat meal, the fact that it doesn't have "rice gluten" or any plant/veggie proteins means it probably has a decent amount of meat in it, especially for the price range. Instead of having "chicken meal, turkey meal" it could just have twice as much chicken meal, and so they only list one, I don't see it as bad.
What's really really unfavorable would be something like "lamb meal, brown rice, rice gluten, white rice, barley, etc." =/.


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## Serendipity (Aug 13, 2010)

PDXdogmom said:


> EVO, Wellness Core and California Natural Grain-free are not recommended for puppies per the companies' instructions. BB Puppy Wilderness is very high in fiber at 6% which would really make a puppy poop a ton. I had very bad experiences with Nutro a few years ago and would not feed that brand again. I personally look for protein of 27-34% and fat 16-19% for puppies. The Acana is an "all life stages" food that you might look at.


Small/medium breed puppies are fine on any food; people just have to factor in their higher caloric needs. Higher protein is fine, too. You just have to look for low calcium/phosphorous for larger breed puppies. I agree with you about the Nutro though.


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## CavePaws (Jan 25, 2011)

The protein content of their Chicken and Rice formula is 24%, the protein content of their Lamb and Rice formula is 23%. Those are really low. The egg product in there will also boost the protein content up nicely. I think we can conclude that this food has wayyyyy more grains than meat...


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## PDXdogmom (Jun 30, 2010)

Serendipity said:


> Small/medium breed puppies are fine on any food; people just have to factor in their higher caloric needs. Higher protein is fine, too. You just have to look for low calcium/phosphorous for larger breed puppies. I agree with you about the Nutro though.


Of course, people need to do what they feel comfortable with, but I wasn't aware that EVO or Wellness Core distinguished between dog size on their recommendations. I only read age recommendations.


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## Sapphire-Light (Aug 8, 2010)

Pompadour's diet is like 65% raw and the rest kibble (kirkland) since its the best I can find here in Honduras, the second would be propac.

The other brads are the low quality ones eukanuba, proplan, beneful, etc and some crappy central american brands.

If I had the option I would feed another brand but he choices are very limited, when people from here ask what I feed him most of the times they tell I should feed dog chow or pedigree. :twitch:


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## speeddts (Sep 3, 2010)

I agree mostly with the above, if you are ok with spending more for better quality, more nutritious dog food I would choose from the below. The price of Kirkland makes it very attractive but when you compare the guaranteed analysis of any of the below, they have better ingredients and nutritional content. I have a Welsh Terrier is a little over 1 year old now and he is fed a rotation of Orijen, Instinct and Wellness Core.

1) Orijen/Acana
2) Instinct - made by Nature's Variety 
3) Wellness Core - only if your dog is over 1 year old
4) Go
5) Blue Wilderness - Salmon variety

Just be careful to transition slowly, mix the food over maybe 1 to 2 weeks, as the above dog food varieties will have higher percentages of protein due to higher meat meal content. I really like Wellness Core because they are very happy to send coupons to try their products and also if you sign up for their email newsletter they send coupons about twice a year.


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## 3Musketeers (Nov 4, 2010)

CavePaws said:


> The protein content of their Chicken and Rice formula is 24%, the protein content of their Lamb and Rice formula is 23%. Those are really low. The egg product in there will also boost the protein content up nicely. I think we can conclude that this food has wayyyyy more grains than meat...



:O Missed that one. Guess there not much meat then, least it's better than a bag of corn lol.


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## CavePaws (Jan 25, 2011)

3Musketeers said:


> :O Missed that one. Guess there not much meat then, least it's better than a bag of corn lol.


Agreed! This is definitely a higher quality dog food than almost all of its price range.


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

RCTRIPLEFRESH5 said:


> orijen
> acana
> kirkland
> wellness (core variety)
> ...





Scarlett_O' said:


> Exactly!:biggrin1:


actually now that i reread what i wrote...i think wellness core and evo would be considered better than kirkland. kirkland has grains doesnt it? I think i;d still feed kirkland over blue though.


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## nupe (Apr 26, 2011)

Originally Posted by RCTRIPLEFRESH5 
orijen
acana
kirkland
wellness (core variety)
innova(evo variety)
blue buffalo(wilderness)
caliornia natural(grai free)
natural balance
nutro
Originally Posted by Scarlett_O' 



Does Natural Balance...mak a Grain Free food???,,,,,beCAUSE i DONT THINK IT DOES..So should be off that list!!!...;lol....and as far as as kibble goes....Does Not get anybetter than ORIJEN!!!..((THE CLOSEST YOU WILL GET TO RAW FOOD))....i ACTUALLY STAND CORRECTED i THINK THE nATURAL bALANCE aLPHA IS GRAIN FREE......i THINK?


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

nupe said:


> Originally Posted by RCTRIPLEFRESH5
> orijen
> acana
> kirkland
> ...


This Natural Ballance is grain free: Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance® L.I.D. Limited Ingredient Diets® Lamb Meal & Brown Rice Formula For Dogs and Puppies
"dogs with sensitivities can now have a complete grain-free diet!"


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## Serendipity (Aug 13, 2010)

nupe said:


> Originally Posted by RCTRIPLEFRESH5
> orijen
> acana
> kirkland
> ...


Most of NB's LID formulas are grain free (Potato & Duck, Potato & Venison, etc.), along with the Alpha line. The LID formulas are basically sacks of potatoes (starts with potatoes, along with potato protein very high up the list). The Alpha formulas are a little better, but still pretty mediocre (no meat meal right after the first fresh meat and the main filler/binder, garbanzo beans, is pretty high in protein). I've heard of many dogs with severe allergies doing well on Natural Balance, but I would never feed it.


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

Serendipity said:


> Most of NB's LID formulas are grain free (Potato & Duck, Potato & Venison, etc.), along with the Alpha line. The LID formulas are basically sacks of potatoes (starts with potatoes, along with potato protein very high up the list). The Alpha formulas are a little better, but still pretty mediocre (no meat meal right after the first fresh meat and the main filler/binder, garbanzo beans, is pretty high in protein). *I've heard of many dogs with severe allergies doing well on Natural Balance, but I would never feed it.*


Ive heard the same things, how ever like you I wouldnt feed it!! As you said, there are TONS of other things other then REAL dog food in ALL of their recipes! But the LID that I posted was Lamb and rice(but when you look at the ingredient list it should be called "A lott'a Rice and some lamb formula":twitch


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## manny (Apr 29, 2011)

wellness (core variety)
acana
blue buffalo(wilderness)
innova(evo variety)
caliornia natural(grai free)
natural balance
kirkland
nutro


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