Check your dog food

[FullCryHounds]

How does your dog food rate. Here’s a great web site to see how your dog food rates. Some very surprising dog foods are rated with the lowest rating of a 1 out of 5 stars. These foods will keep your dog alive but if you don't supplement their food with meat, he won't perform at his best. I'm switching from a three star food to a four star dry food I found I can get for the same price of $23/ 50#bag. I also feed meat every day or every other day when I'm hunting them all winter.
Alpo Dry
Black Gold
Purina Dog Chow
Purina One
Purina Puppy Chow
Purina Fit and Trip
Purina Healthy Morsels
Purina Active Senior
Purina Veterinary Diets
Old Roy – this is Walmarts cheap brand
Hills Prescription
PMI Nutrition
Ranchers Choice
Plus a lot more, these are just some of the more popular ones.

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/dry/

[Larry Emery]

What brand of 4 star or 3 star can you get for that price? We have to pay that for 1 star here.

[mofo21]

i can get diamond for that price but 40# bags seems like thats all we have around here is 40# in any brand i never see 50# bags

[FullCryHounds]

I'm switching to the Eagle brand this week for $23.19 a bag. You have to set up an account with your local distributor so you can get it for wholesale.

[wiwalkerman]

i dont want to start anything here. but i will stick to my one star. I had two dogs that almost starved to death eatting that better dog food with the meat ingredient listed first.before anybody jumps on me about letting them get that bad i thought they were ill and tried somethings to get them better and after two weeks of them not gaining weight back, i switched back to the one star and they put on weight and look real healthy. I have never noticed any differance in stamina when feeding the differant foods.

[joshtee]

I'm switching to the Eagle brand this week for $23.19 a bag. You have to set up an account with your local distributor so you can get it for wholesale.

What Eagle pack food will you be buying? If you looking for quality food, just looking at the ingredients, imo, it doesn't look too great.

Here is a site that seems to be alittle more consistant in their ratings. They do a real good job of breaking the food down.

Here is the Eagle Pack Lamb and Rice. 2 Star.
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food ... 02&cat=all

[cascadecathunter]

I feed diamond lamb and rice...does anybody else feed this? Whats your opinions on this food. My dogs do awesome on it

[houndnem]

I've been feeding the ol roy hi protein (the brown bag). 50 lbs for 22 bucks! I run my dogs hard week in and week out and I recently had to cut their food back because they were all getting fat. say what you want but that is the best bang for the buck. never had a sick dog in ten years so say what you want.

[hunt14]

houndnem I never had any problems with that dog food either other than the fact that I think it made the dogs $h!t stink twice as bad and their turds were bigger than a loaf of bread:lol: After a few of them dogs unloaded on the top of the box I had to find an alternative to their current diet. Nah I only fed ol roy for a short time back years ago when I first got into hounds and then I was actually buying the Diamond high energy by the pallet with a buddy and we were getting it cheaper than ol roy up until about a year ago. Ive been feeding the Kirkland dog food which is Costco's brand and I was surprised to see that it is ranked as a 4 star dog food and it only costs me $24 a bag. Dogs do great on it and if its as good as they say it is its priced right in my opinion.

[FullCryHounds]

The reason a lot of dogs crap more on the cheaper foods is because that food isn't as digestable as others so it goes right through them without being digested. So, in the long run, you are feeding more (unknowingly) to keep the same amount of wieght on and it is actually costing you more.

[Dewatto]

I was feeding ol roy for the last two years cuss of the economical times, I decided to switch over to pedigree and my food bill dropped by over 50% after two weeks . My dogs look better and are craping a hole lot less. But after reading that pedigree is 1 star I think I might try the costco brand at 4 stars its only a couple dollars more a bag.

[StrawberryMt]

What a joke website.Just read the FAQ page.When I sw Purina ONE listed as a 1 star I knew it was bull54iT.

[Bearkiller]

What a joke website.Just read the FAQ page.When I sw Purina ONE listed as a 1 star I knew it was bull54iT.

All dogs are different but my dogs don't do good on purina one at all. From my experience purina one is junk. It's 32 dollars for a 37 pound bag and you have to feed more of it than other "inferior" dog food. I can buy chicken for basically the same cost. I just tried 3 bags of Loyall (nutrena) because they were out of sportmix and Diamond High energy and it doesn't seem too bad. I really liked the sport mix but they don't carry it consistently. I hate changing back and forth. I may get more of the loyall because after 10 bags you get a free one.

[Brent Sinclair]

What a joke website.Just read the FAQ page.When I sw Purina ONE listed as a 1 star I knew it was bull54iT.

All dogs are different. [/quote]

This is true with any animal, wild or domestic.
Some guys say it's not good to switch feed others say do it.

As Dean said mixing brands is good because one brand of food will not have everything your hound needs.
I have a couple clients that do fairly well on beer and pizza twice a day for months on end...drink some coffee for mornin and a couple candy bars in the saddle bag....these guys are in real good shape if your lookin for Big Ol Boys.
Are they healthy is the question.
Sure they get around but it takes them a while to get there.
I think I'll out live them though...... why?
I change what I eat alot.
I almost always have bacon,eggs and some toast in the mornin, then after a few days I'll switch that for some sausage ,hash browns and hotcakes.
Maybe mush one day, a couple sandwitches with some garnish for lunch and a good ol elk or moose steak with potatoes for supper.

Hounds are like people, we are all different and when we eat varitey we will last longer.
Pretty simple....try this and see how long that hound you like so much lives, it may surprise you.

[FullCryHounds]

Brent, didn't you just post a picture of one of your dogs that is going on 14? Thats outstanding for a hunting hound. How that dog has been fed and taken care of, along with some great genetics, has a lot to do with why he's lasted that long.

My real point in all of this post is to hopefully get some guys to look at what they are feeding thier dogs and see how easy it is to upgrade thier food. Usually, you can do it for the same amount of money. Adding meat to their diet is huge in my book and basically free, it just takes a little bit of effort. These dogs do everything we ask them to do for not much more then a meal at the end of the day. The least we can do is give them the best we possibly can.