Price isn't a factor for me. I feed my dogs top brands with excellent, quality ingredients. I don't consider RR a really high-end brand, although it might be very good food.

I tried her little containers of wet food but my dog refused to eat it .

We used it for quite some time. The dogs did well, but when our doxie started her downhill decline and had kidney problems, we ended up switching to BilJac. We now only have 1 dog, and we just left her on that.

I bought it but my peke doesn't like it so I guess it's back to Blue Buffalo small breed.

For a grocery store food (cheaper) it was about the best I tried. I used the chicken/wild rice. It did have some grain products in it. I switched over to Blue Buffalo senior and get it delivered to my door at close to $10. off the store price. I am happy with it and the dogs love it.

When our previous bichon was getting very old, we fed him Beneful. It was what he'd eat, and we would actually pick out his favorite colors and shapes!

My soon to be 9 year old Pomeranian, Izzi is now on Earthborn Holistic weight management. It is a dry dog food. I buy it at a pet store. Price is not a problem as she is small and a big bag will last a long time. A couple of her doggy relatives also eat it when they come over. The pet store has coupons each time I need to get a new bag plus, they give you $3.00 back for the old bag and after you buy I think 10 bags you get the next one free. I think it is made in Indiana. I would have to go out into the garage and look at the bag to be sure.

Sue in Central Indiana and Izzi Too

I have not seen it in Toronto, but then I have not been looking for it. We feed our 12 years and 7 months (tomorrow), 25 lb. American Eskimo Fromm Four Star. He gains weight very easily and he is also the worst dog our vet has ever met when it comes to loving anything edible (or not edible). He is a true hoover. It is made in the U.S. but is considerably more expensive in Ontario - but then only the best for him.

We do not feed him the Fromm Four Star Grain Free though because we would have to feed him less than the amount he already receives, which is much lower than the recommended amount as per the bag. (We know, we bought it a couple of times - and my husband eye-balled the serving and fed him more!) Then we had a dog on a diet. He has now lost the weight but it was very hard on me.

We've been users of Nutro dog food since our last dog. She had a lot of skin problems and those mostly went away after we switched to Nutro. So when we got our current dog we stayed with it. It's not cheap but it's not the most expensive either.

Nutro Large Breed Puppy for the next 3 months. Then we will put her on Nutro Large Breed. I have raised 3 generations of dogs on Nutro products it and I don't fix what ain't broke. She's 82 pounds and gets two rounded 1/2 cup scoops in the morning and and two in the evening along with a 1/4 of a 13 ounce can of wet at each meal. So that totals just around 3 cups per day. She's healthy, super active, no coat or skin problems and lean muscle.

The recommended amounts on the bag of most dog foods are ridiculous. Mine would be eating twice to 3 times as much and she would be fat and unhealthy. Dogs rarely have grain allergies. Actually the most common allergy is to beef. Go figure.

Grain free, holistic, all natural all buzz words . Bah.

by products is one I avoid.

I change brands if my dog is getting picky or shedding or allergies. We've been using Taste of the Wild Salmon for about a year now and the dogs are still eating it.

Which says a lot when one is a pickly little Bichon!

We change up flavors of the wet.

I've never heard of nutro. Looks to be the same price I was paying for Iams at Kroger. $40 for a 30 pound bag.

I'll have to try it sometime.

My dogs will eat anything, even vegetables. In fact they love baby carrots and broc and cauliflower. I started them on grain free food last year, and wish I had done it sooner. My mini poodle takes a steroid for asthma and has always had itchy skin, and since going grain free he is much better. I have used RR, now I use the brand from Costco

FYI, I read that Iams has sold out again and after Dec. 31, 2016 won't be available to order. Once it's gone, it's gone. Just be aware.

And another pet food advocate http://truthaboutpetfood.com/

My dogs have never been fooled with vegetables. I wish they were. Next door Golden loves green beans. My lab took one begrudgingly.

Mimi is right, when feeding a small dog, price doesn't get to be such an issue. It's not too expensive when the pup only eats 1 C a day.

My dog doesn't like vegetables or fruits either, Mimi. I cook them up with a little fresh meat and mix with kibble. He doesn't know.

My dog loves green beans, carrots and some fruits like apples. She's even eaten lettuce from my salad which is a first for me. We've always given raw carrots to our dogs as treats and I've used low sodium canned green beans or sometimes carrots mixed into their kibble before.

My dogs LOVE fresh veggies. I had an old cauliflower in the sink I was going to throw away. I went to the basement for something.

My German Shepherd got in the sink, took the whole cauliflower & ate the whole thing. There were cauliflower bits all over my living room.

They also love raw green peppers, fresh carrots, lettuce & broccoli. Just no corn or onions.

They also love raw potatoes & uncooked spaghetti noodles.

When I'm cooking & something falls on the floor my German Shepherd eats it before I can bend down to pick it up.

Imhappy, do you have a link to the source for the IAMS buy-out? I have google searched and I don't see anything about it. I only see a buy-out from back in 2014? My dog has much trouble finding a food that she can actually eat without some sort of issue, IAMS works for her. This is very troubling as I have no idea what she will be able to eat if they no longer sell it! We tried dozens of other foods before discovering this! We tried crazy expensive grain free foods she absolutely could not eat them! My vet suggested IAMS so we gave that a try and it worked wonderfully for her.

watchme, what kind of large breed do you have? 82 lbs and still a puppy???? Wow.

My dogs eat sweet potato, I just harvested and cooked a bunch from my garden and they got some and loved it.

Many people know this site, for those that don't it is interesting to read

Dog Foods

Purina Pro Plan

Purina ONE

Purina Dog Chow

Science Diet anything

Iams anything

Here is a description of Purina Dog Chow.

Review, Purina Dog Chow

That website is run by a human dentist and other information is from pet owners. It's not an authoritative source.

I've received some of Rachael Ray's dog food in the donations that I get. I can't remember if I fed it to the dogs or the raccoons. Maybe both. I usually feed my dogs out of the donations....pick out the better food for them. They aren't picky....they will eat anything. Right now I am feeding Eukanuba because that is what I have.

aok27502 - Rottweiler. Not a puppy in the true sense of the word but not fully grown and developed until 2 years old to sometimes even 3 years. She is 15 months old. She has probably reached her full height but still has some filling out to do. I don't expect her to gain much more weight wise either since most of her puppy fat has already become muscle. There is still some bone density growth occurring however so she may still gain a few pounds.

Lucille - yes, dogs love sweet potatoes. We have had a few breeds of dogs and to a dog they all loved them (actually so did one of our cats who was more of a dog than one of our dogs). I told another woman about sweet potatoes and now she can't have any without her dog wanting some.

Our dog loves all fruits and vegetables - except for raw parsnip. Cooked parsnip is fine though. Since he has a tendency to swallow everything whole, he was surprised when he had to chew a blueberry due to its shape. The look of delight on his face. He is also fond of raw asparagus - I found this out when he was "helping" me to unpack the groceries. The asparagus was at the bottom and his 25 lb. butt was sticking out of the bag.

Arugula is a particular favourite of his, but generally I buy him head lettuce (his diet!). Since he swallows practically everything whole, how would he know? This is a dog who will not exchange bark for beef - I know, I tried - he wanted both. He also thinks that unflavoured meds are treats - kind of scary actually.

I will not bring chocolate into the house as a general rule. Of course last night was an exception, but I was very careful. And there is the fact that I doubt there is any real chocolate in the candy bars of today. I tasted one - yuck.

At least he knows hand signals and is very concerned that he not be hurt - so when a glass breaks and I put up my hand he will stop. Otherwise he has a tendency to scream just in case he might get hurt. He is something of a drama queen to put it mildly. He also looks like a girl - I have had to show people that he has equipment (although he was neutered at 7 months).

Eccentric I LOVE your description of your drama queen dog, lol.

I didn't get as many sweet potatoes this year as I wanted, will probably grow more next year, some for me, some for the dogs.

Your dog-posts always make me laugh out loud Eccentric!

I had a friend who's cat would dance in front of the microwave when she was nuking brussels sprouts.

Wow, I feel like a mom whose kids won't eat their vegetables!

Our bichon does RUN to the kitchen when I'm using the salad spinner, and that's because I used classical training to assuage his being scared of the darn thing, and reinforced with treats.

Now, the sound it makes is like calling him with a dinner bell.

Izzi eats a lot of vegetables. She has been know to sneak a fresh green bean out of the bucket while I am picking and also pick her own black raspberries. She likes sweet potatoes too. In the past I have dehydrated them for her.

Sue

We are currently on a bag of RR grain free, and our shar-pei mix really likes it. Of course, he loves anything with sweet fruits and vegetables (sweet potatoes, papaya, carrots, pumpkin (he adores baked pumpkin peels!) banana, apples...) . They say that dogs don't taste sweet, but he sure seems to.

We are thinking about trying the Sam's Club grain free Exceed, since I have a trial membership -- does anyone have any experience with that one?

We have to avoid wheat for him, because it clearly causes him joint pain and causes fluid on his shoulder to enlarge. I had a hard time believing it, but he has been challenged 3 times with the same results. He was given some treats 2 weeks ago that contained wheat, by mistake, and within 2 days was limping so badly that he couldn't be walked -- barely could go out to the back yard. Now he is back to his old self.

Price is not a real big factor for us and I've tried several brands because our lab had a lot of issues with excessive gas. Testing also showed she is allergic to yeast which can be found in some foods. The food that she's done best on is Canidae Pure. She bores easily when eatting straight dry food, so we mix a little bit of soft food in it (Canidae Pure or Fromm's) and that does the trick. Between the Canidae and strict portion control, she's no longer having any health issues. Plus her coat is so soft and shiny.

Rae, if you go to dogfoodadvisor.com you should be able to find some good information about any of the foods available for dogs.

Canidae has been great for our lab's coat, too.

dogfoodadvisor is the LAST place anyone should go to for scientific, professional advise about dog food.

Ask a veterinarian what he/she feeds his/her dog.

Pat, you seem pretty outspoken. What are your credentials, that you are telling us where and who we should talk to? I always thought most of the people here didn't have to be closely monitored on their decisions and choices about their pets. Certainly, they can go to a site and see for themselves whether they think it is useful to them.

I have to tell ya that a curse the day I ever heard of dogfoodadvisor! Had I just listened to my vet instead of researching at dfa, I could have saved our little dog a lot of misery! Like a lot of you, I thought they knew more than the vet so I read my little heart out trying to "fix" my dog's food allergies. In the end, my vet's advice was spot on! From now on, I'm trusting my vet!

I've been using the nutrish, just not the zero grain. I can't figure out whats good anymore. I was thinking about trying the on in the Walmart freezer, I can't remember the name. Has anyone tried it?

My Bichon, Chi and cat thrive on cooked lean beef and chicken. I don't feed commercially prepared dog food. My Border Collie lived to be 15 years old, eating boiled liver and boiled lean beef and chicken. I do have Meow Mix weight control dry food down once in a while, but they won't eat much of it.

Well my last dog couldn't eat even a tiny pea sized piece of beef without getting the explosive runs...HA! This is to point out that every dog is different.

My vet feeds her dogs on a raw diet & only feeds them once a day. She said it's best for their digestive system.

I'm afraid about a once a day feeding that they would get so hungry at night.

But like my vet said, way back in the wild days, most wild animals were lucky to get 1 kill a day and only ate once a day, if that. So it won't hurt them at all.

In the waiting room at the vets office they sell a lot of top shelf dog food, but it's so expensive. Especially when my German Shepherd eats like a horse.

Thing we should remember is dogs have been domesticated, our pets are no linger in the wild fending for themselves. Their gastro systems have changed thru the years.

That being said each dog is different, some have the gastro system of steel while others have developed sensitivities. My Lily (chi/yorkie) 8 pounds can eat nothing except boiled, boneless skinless chicken breast, a few teaspoons of pumpkin a week and some white rice, otherwise she's vomiting horriably and needs IV fluids and a shot of Cerenia. Lily will be 7 next month. I rescued her at 8 weeks old weighing 13 ounces. Her entire gastro system from top to bottom was eaten up with parasites. She has maintained weight since this diet started a few years ago and her sickness has cut back from 3or4 times weekly to 3 to 4 times a year. But let me give her a small treat any kind of treat and the next day she's sick. yet some dogs can eat the wallpaper and thrive. Lol.

Lucille, seriously, get a life.

I always give the cats some of whatever meat I've purchased. If they eat it I figure if they tested it, and it's fine, it's good for us!

They love pieces of raw chicken thighs and ground beef. They also eat raw pork loin.

Pat

You're right. I got a little too caught up in it all. The election reminded me that we should all be here for each other, not against one another.

Sorry.

So far Logan is doing great on the science diet upset tummy food after his terrible incident last week.

My dog has many serious health issues, one of them being anorexia. After being at the ER for a week a few years ago he was extremely close to death, the Vet said let him have anything he wants as he will most likely die. He's alive and kicking. I did what the Vet said for a few years. Now I am feeding him some special very expensive food that his general Vet put him on. He has CHF and failing kidneys and this new food is supposed to help manage these conditions. He's happy as can be and always has been. He hasn't had any hair on his back for 8 years. Every Vet has tested him because they all have theories as to his hair loss, and thrown their hands up, and said who knows, but he's happy. His current Vet said he has an unstoppable will to live :) I love him, he's a wonderful little dog. The food costs $60 he doesn't love it, or hate it. If he's in a mood he will pass up ANY THING so his love it or leave it attitude is pretty normal for him.