[BeckyBeagal]

Does anybody have experience with this? I see lots of other brand but not this one. I wanted Diamond Natural as one of members recommended but all the stores around here carry only Diamond not natural. I am so spoiled living in Burank, Ca where all the studios are. everybody is actor/actress wanabe
It was so easy to get anything you want, here it seems harder on everything.
Not that I like SO Cal culture, superficial, arrogant, overloaded traffic.. I was happy to get out there but I really miss the weather, being a cold nature myself.

Please advise. Thank you

[cjac&mac]

From what I know of Diamond, Their "Natural" line is their top line. Diamond original is NOT the way to go. Their first ingredient is Meat Meal. What kind of meat???? Their Maintenence formula--first ingredient is By-products.....

As for Nutro, Their max line was their first line, and their bottom line. Although it is better to feed this than Diamond, Nutro Natural Choice, or Nutro Ultra, would be much better and healthier for your dog.

There are a lot of foods on the market. Nutro is considered one of the best. However there are more formulas still that are better than Nutro. The key is finding something that is good for your dog.

I'm not familiar with what everyplace sells as options. If you have some other choices you would like me to go over with you, I would be more than happy.

[BeckyBeagal]

Thank you so much for your kind answer.

I think I know what to do now. Based on the post on this Forum (http://www.dogforums.com/5-dog-food-...-question.html (Lab Question))
I am going to try to get ones that scored over 100 at least, also easy to find and more economical. Thanks again.

[BeckyBeagal]

Becky weights about 24lbs and she is about 20inches +/- 1~2inches from collar to beginning of her tail. I think she looks overweight. I want her to get down to 20 lbs. Is it standard weight for female beagle? Or Am I over concerned? Lorina suggested on checking up thyroid function so I did some reading on it but Becky doesn't show none of it. BTW she got spayed about 3 weeks ago.

[cjac&mac]

How old is she? Hyperthyroidism is common in Beagles, however it usually isn't a concern untill they are much older. Signs of hyperthyroidism is actually weight loss.

As for her weight she is average weight for a beagle, though a female specifically usually weighs 20-22lbs. With her recent spaying she is likely to gain a little, keep her properly fed and exercised and she should remain a good healthy weight.

To judge a good weight for a dog you should be able to place your hands on their rib cage and with some pressure just feel their ribs. You should not have to press for them as this would be 'overweight', and you should not be able to feel them by lightly placing your hands on them as this would be 'underweight'.
From a birds-eye-view, between the bottom of their rib cage to the top of their pelvic bone you should see a slight indentation (curve inwards). Too much inwards, is 'underweight', a straight line is bordering overweight to obese, and an outward curve is obese.

[BeckyBeagal]

Thank you very much for quick response.
It was easy to feel her ribs with just little pressure. But I can grab handful of her skin/fat/muscle whatever from her neck all the way to the bottom
(She got JLo's Butt , so cute walking down the steps) I think she has more like straight line than inward indentation.

We adopted her and Vets said she is between 1 and one1/2. However some people said she looked mature than that.

[cjac&mac]

Well like Boxers (as I have) the Beagle does have loose stretchy skin. But no where near like a Boxer LOL. She sounds like a good weight. Keep an eye on those tips. It's easy to go from a straight line to an outwards curve

Her teeth are a good indication of her age. A mature dog will have some natural wear on their teeth which usually looks like vertical lines running down the canine. The older the dog the deeper and more coloured. The younger--the harder to see. It is not 100% accurate, but it should give you a pretty good idea.

[BeckyBeagal]

Yeah.. I heard that. Probably that is why vets though him to be that young.
I will be more patience and give couple months to rid of 3~4lbs off of her.
Thanks * BYW, You look great in the pix. I love it

[cjac&mac]

Originally Posted by BeckyBeagal

Yeah.. I heard that. Probably that is why vets though him to be that young.
I will be more patience and give couple months to rid of 3~4lbs off of her.
Thanks * BYW, You look great in the pix. I love it

Well thank you. That was this November, we never get snow--let alone that much. We took advantage!!

[LeRoymydog]

The breeder had LeRoy on Nutro Max and I found that he pooped alot with it. I looked at the ingrediants and it was mostly fillers. I paid alot of the bag of food and was surprised to see it. Then I put him on Natures Recipe which made him have itchy feet. I now have him on Chicken Soup for the Puppy Soul. It's been working well.

[BeckyBeagal]

LeRoy-

Thank you for sharing. After posting this one, I started to learn to read ingredient and It DID look yucky. Nutro Natural looks a little better.
I love to get "Chicken soup for dog's soul" but I have a hard time finding local distributor here in St. Louis Area. Called couple place on their website and they said either they stopped carrying the line long time ago or no longer in biz. (They should updated their list ).

[nrhareiner]

I have over the years used all of the above you mentioned. I do like the regulare Diamond and my dogs did very well on it but after getting several of the tainted bags last year I switched to Nutro Max and used it for about a year and found that several of my dogs developed food alergies which they never had on diamond then I tried the Nutro Natrual choise but at the cost I found it to be not a lot better for my dogs. It is a good feed but mine just did not do well on it. I have gone back to the Diamond Natural and the dogs love it and are doing very well on it and the cost is about 1/2 of the Nutro Ultra and N.C.

Heidi

[BeckyBeagal]

Heidi-

I hear a lot of good things about Diamond Natural so I am looking for local distributor. I thought about Natural Balance Ultra Premium which seems to be one of the best, however some dogs wouldn't touch it and as you said cost is a lot less expensive. Thank you for sharing.