Your Questions About Organic Dog Food Brands

admin answers:

Breed specific food is a marketing scam. Size specific doesn’t really matter once your dog reaches adult age.

Purina is crap. Most vets do not receive a whole lot of nutritional training, and the seminars they attend are hosted by Hill’s, Purina, etc. They sometimes receive bonuses from the companies for vouching for their products. Go to a holistic vet, and he/she will condemn Purina. Why? Because it’s a bag of cornmeal with some mystery meat and by-products, and artificial colors, preservatives, etc. Added to it.

The best adult dry food on the market has to be Orijen. Compare the ingredients to your dogs current food. It has high protein that most dogs do well on, is grain-free, and can help with weight loss/maintenance, because it does not include so many of the useless carbs crappy supermarket brands have. Orijen is made from fresh regional ingredients passed fit for human consumption, and is independently manufactured, so there is better quality control.

Purina ONE Healthy Weight Management:

Turkey, brewers rice, corn gluten meal, poultry by-product meal, corn bran, whole grain corn, whole grain wheat, oat meal, natural flavors, beef tallow preserved with mixed tocopherols (source of vitamin E), dicalcium phosphate, salt, calcium carbonate, potassium chloride, choline chloride, l-lysine monohydrochloride, vitamin supplements (E, A, B12, D3), zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, riboflavin supplement, niacin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, biotin, thiamine mononitrate, folic acid, copper sulfate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, garlic oil, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, sodium selenite.

The turkey is good, but I doubt Purina uses human grade meat and since it’s a fresh meat that is not backed up by a meat meal (already cooked and more concentrated), it will lose water content during processing and drop down the ingredient list.
Brewer’s rice is a nickname for “floor sweepings” rice and has very little nutritional value.
Corn gluten meal is corn, and a common canine/feline allergen. I also doubt Purina uses human grade corn kernel (which has a 99% digestibility), so the digestibility goes down. Many dog owners notice that their dogs have smaller, firmer stools after switching from a supermarket brand to something better. Why? It’s the corn.
Poultry by-product meal is a generic meat source, and the by-products are not specified, which means they could even be beaks, feathers, etc.
That is followed by even more corn.
Wheat is another common canine/feline allergen with little digestibility.
Menadione (synthetic vitamin K) is a controversial ingredient that has been linked to kidney problems in various studies.

Orijen Adult:

Fresh boneless chicken*, chicken meal, fresh boneless salmon*, turkey meal, herring meal, russet potato, peas, sweet potato, fresh boneless turkey*, fresh whole eggs*, fresh chicken liver*, fresh boneless lake whitefish*, fresh boneless walleye*, sun-cured alfalfa, pea fiber, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), organic kelp, pumpkin, chicory root, carrots, spinach, turnip greens, apples, cranberries, blueberries, licorice root, angelica root, fenugreek, marigold flowers, sweet fennel, peppermint leaf, chamomile, dandelion, summer savory, rosemary, vitamin A, vitamin D3, vitamin E, niacin, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, d-calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12, zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, selenium yeast, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Enterococcus faecium.

* DELIVERED FRESH, preservative-free and never frozen.

admin answers:

A lot of the times with small dogs you have to mix something in with their food to get them to eat it. Examples: ground beef, fish oil ( this one works really well and it’s very good for their skin and coat), any kind of meat that’s chopped super fine so it can be mixed in really well with the dry, canned dog food, or the one that I call doggy crack because dogs go nuts for it, green tripe. Smells AWFUL but wow do they love it and it’s very good for them. Solid Gold sells it in a can that you can buy at Petco.

As far as dry foods go, the two that I’ve found that my very picky Toy Fox Terrier will eat are Wellness “Just for Small Breeds” and Solid Gold “Just a Wee Bit”. You could also try a brand called Timberwolf organics and they make several varieties that are of good quality and the kibbles are TEENY, like pellets almost. Or you could try Innova Evo “Small bites” (although my dog wasn’t too fond of this one)

Good luck 🙂

admin answers:

Castor & Pollux Organix is a good brand. Other good brands that don’t designate themselves as “organic” include Taste of the Wild, Innova, and Wellness. But, Blue Buffalo is also a great brand.