Your Questions About Organic Dog Food Petsmart

admin answers:

Nutrena Naturewise 16%
Purina Advanced Nutrition Rabbit Sho or Pro
Tradition
Oxbow
APD
Mazuri (Last place in my book)

Those are the best foods on the market right now for chins. There are some long-time ranchers who make their own feed, but they don’t advertise it, and usually don’t sell it in small quantities. Owbow and Mazuri you can get at either Petco or PetSmart, the others are all through feed stores or from on-line sources (individuals). Stay away from the other crap you can buy in pet stores. Treat filled foods and ones that sit on shelves for 2 years before being purchased are hardly going to benefit your chin.

Mazuri used to be a really popular feed, mostly because that’s all anybody knew about or could get. Now though, many people have switched from it because it has given their chins diarrhea. It seems like Mazuri tried to cover that up by adding acidophilus to the mix, but in my opinion that’s putting a band-aid on it, not fixing what caused the diarrhea. There are still people who use it and swear by it, but a growing number are switching to what they feel is a better feed alternative.

You want your fiber to be high and your protein low. Ideally, protein would be 15% or less, though most feeds don’t hit that. I feed the Nutrena at 16% and I’m really happy with it. It and PANR are rabbit feeds, but there are many pet owners and breeders who feed them and get excellent results. You can’t ‘buy just any rabbit food though, those two brands are tried, tested, and approved by actual chinchilla folk.

If you just need small amounts (not a 50 pound bag) you can check the classifieds at http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com. Lots of people will buy 50 pound bags then want to split them because they won’t come near to using that much. It’s still actually cheaper to buy that 50 pound bag though than it is to buy a smaller bag at a pet store. Some other people also take what they will need, then donate the excess to an animal shelter. If you just want smaller amounters, you can find them in the classifieds as well.

As far as treats, nix the raisins. They are high in sugar and chinchillas don’t digest sugar well. There are much better treats for your chin, and they don’t come from the pet store either. Bite sized nonsugared shredded wheat, dried rosehips, organic rosebuds, a pinch of old fashioned (not quick) oats, and chinchilla safe wood chews are a much better alternative to raisins.

Feel free to join the forum if you’d like. You need to be over 14 due to COPPA regulations, but you can still read all the forums regardless. We’re a large and growing community of pet owners and beeders, and we’re always happy to answer your questions.

admin answers:

Not all pet food is made equally. A lot of it is full of corn, by-products, dyes, unhealthy preservatives, filler grains and all sorts of nasty stuff. A lot of pet food companies are perfectly happy to dump cheap leftovers in. Will it kill your dog/cat? No, it has to be nutritionally complete and safe to even be marketed. Is it healthy? Not by a long shot.

Corn is a low quality ingredient you never want to see in your pet food. Corn and low quality grains are two of the biggest culprits when it comes to food allergies in our pets.

Thankfully, there are some excellent dog and cat foods being made these days that include organic, human grade ingredients rather than trash not fit for human consumption.

Examples of low quality foods to avoid: Anything you can find in a grocery store will be low end, Purina, Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Royal Canin, Pedigree, Kibbles n’ Bits, Beneful, Ol’Roy, Whiskas, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Meow Mix.

Examples of high quality foods to look for: Innova, Wellness, Solid Gold, Canidae All Life Stages/Felidae, Fromm Four Star, Merrick, GO Natural, Nature’s Variety Prairie, Nature’s Logic, Artemis Fresh Mix, Timber Wolf Organics.

Although the high quality foods are more expensive, you’re getting what you’re paying for. Less filler material means more concentrated nutrients… This means you typically need to feed far less of the high quality food than you would of the low quality one. Which also means less poop!

A great option is to go with an entirely grainless diet. Many of the high quality foods now put out grainless formulas. Some good grainless diet’s include: Innova EVO, Wellness CORE, Blue Wilderness, Nature’s Variety Instinct, Orijen, Fromm Surf & Turf, Now! And Sold Gold Barking At The Moon (dogs)/Sold Gold Indigo Moon (cats).

Some of the high end foods can be found in common pet stores. Petsmart carries Blue Buffalo products (such as the excellent grain free diet Blue Wilderness). Petco carries Wellness and Solid Gold. If you can’t find a food, most of the high quality food brands have websites with store locators on them.

Remember that foods should be switched gradually, especially when switching to a higher quality one, so as not to upset tummies.

Another option for feeding dogs and cats is to feed raw. This is something that should be thoroughly researched before being attempted:
http://www.barfworld.com/
http://www.rawfed.com/
http://www.rawfedcats.org/
http://www.rawlearning.com/
http://www.wysong.net/controversies/rawmeat.shtml

Now the question is, for cats, do you feed wet or dry? Wet is the correct answer. The reason is, in the wild, cats normally get most of their water content directly from their prey items and drink very little. Domestic cats are no different, and because of the fact that they are designed to take in water with their meal, they have a very low thirst drive. Cats often just don’t drink enough. This leads to urinary tract infections and crystals. The bit about dry food being better for teeth is a myth and has not been proven in the least. Canned/wet food is better because it more closely mimics the cat’s natural diet. More on why canned food is best:
http://www.catinfo.org/ (Excellent cat nutrition information by a vet)
http://cats.about.com/cs/catfood/a/canned_food.htm
http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=whycatsneedcannedfood

Another option to get cats to drink more would be a cat fountain. Cats tend to like to drink from running water and cat fountains see to that need, encouraging cats to take in more water.

More on dog and cat food:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=main (Learn how to determine the quality of your dog’s food.)
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/ (Dog food reviews. It’s for dogs, but most of the high quality brands also put out excellent cat foods. Anything with five or six stars is a great food.)

admin answers:

A high quality one! You might use a formula designed for senior dogs as well.

Not all pet food is made equally. A lot of it is full of corn, by-products, dyes, unhealthy preservatives, filler grains and all sorts of nasty stuff. A lot of pet food companies are perfectly happy to the dump cheap leftovers and things that aren’t safe for human consumption (from human food processing plants) into their foods. Will it kill your dog? No, it has to be nutritionally complete and safe to even be marketed. Is it healthy? Not by a long shot.

Corn is a low quality ingredient you never want to see in your pet food. Corn and low quality grains are two of the biggest culprits when it comes to food allergies in our pets.

Thankfully, there are some excellent dog foods being made these days that include organic, human grade ingredients rather than trash not fit for human consumption.

Examples of low quality foods to avoid: Anything you can find in a grocery store will be low end, Purina, Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Royal Canin, Pedigree, Kibbles n’ Bits, Beneful, Ol’Roy.

Examples of high quality foods to look for: Innova, Wellness, Solid Gold, Canidae All Life Stages, Fromm Four Star, Merrick, GO Natural, Nature’s Variety Prairie, Nature’s Logic, Artemis Fresh Mix, Timberwolf Organics.

Although the high quality foods are more expensive, you’re getting what you’re paying for. Less filler material means more concentrated nutrients… This means you typically need to feed far less of the high quality food than you would of the low quality one. Which also means less poop!

Before following your vet’s food recommendation, keep in mind that vets get /very/ little nutritional training during their schooling. Besides that, what training they /do/ get is usually sponsored or taught by the crappy pet food companies! They also often get paid to sell some of their products at their clinics (Science Diet, Royal Canin etc.)

A great option is to go with an entirely grainless diet. Many of the high quality foods now put out grainless formulas. Some good grainless diets include: Innova EVO, Wellness CORE, Blue Wilderness, Nature’s Variety Instinct, Orijen, Horizon Legacy, Merrick Before Grain, Canidae Grain Free All Life Stages, Fromm Surf & Turf, Now! And Sold Gold Barking At The Moon, Taste of the Wild.

Some pretty decent foods can even be found in common pet stores. Petsmart carries Blue Buffalo products (such as the excellent grain free diet Blue Wilderness). Petco carries Wellness, Solid Gold, Natural Balance, Eagle Pack Holistic, Blue Buffalo, Castor & Pollux Organix, Pinnacle, and Halo. If you can’t find a food, most of the high quality food brands have websites with store locators on them.

Another option, if you can’t find anywhere around you that sells good foods, is to order your pet food online. Here’s an excellent place to do so: http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/

Remember that foods should be switched gradually (mixing new slowly in with the old over about a two week period), especially when switching to a higher quality one, so as not to upset tummies.

Another option for feeding dogs is to feed raw. This is something that should be thoroughly researched before being attempted:
http://www.barfworld.com/
http://www.rawfed.com/
http://www.rawlearning.com/
http://www.wysong.net/controversies/rawmeat.shtml

More on dog food:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=main (Learn how to determine the quality of your dog’s food.)
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/ (Dog food reviews. Four stars is a decent food, five stars is a great food, and six stars is an excellent food.)