[AJ983]

A little background history. I have one dog Finnlee. He's a 12 pound Chiweenie/Papillon mix. He just turned two on Sept 21, 2020. My vet said feed him 1/2c. a day so I split that into two 1/4c. servings morning and night. His condition is good; coat is great. Muscle tone is good. He was raised mostly on Iams Smart Puppy except for a few months I had him on Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula Small Breed Puppy Chicken & Oatmeal Recipe Dry.

Then I heard some bad things about Blue and went back to the Iams totally. Now he is on Iams ProActive Health Adult MiniChunks Dry. Sometimes I mix wet and dry and let him have that for breakfast. Then stuff leftovers in his Kongs. But I've noticed a couple of behaviors that seem to pop up. He seems to be constantly looking for food. Even trying for dried worms and bird poop at times. And he seems to be scratching a lot and I haven't noticed any fleas. He gets Nexgard and Iverhart Max for pest control. Also he seems to be passing smellier gas now but I'm not sure if its the dry food or mix of wet and dry.

So do you think Blue is safe to go back to or what else sounds good for little dogs? I'm so confused I don't know which way to turn. I don't mind paying for a quality food if that's what is best for Finnlee. I don't want to do Grain free after all the studies and issues dogs have had with those lines of products.

Thanks
AJ & Finnlee

 

[LeoRose]

Just like humans, some foods don't agree with some dogs.

It could be that the Iams he's getting isn't as calorie dense or as filling as the previous food, which makes him feel hungry. The gas could be a sign that it's not the best food for him (my dogs always had horrible gas when eating lamb-based kibble). Sometimes, you just have to try different foods until you find one he likes and does well on. And you also need to pay attention to the calorie count, and not just assume that "he gets 1/2 cup a day", since one food could have 300 calories per cup while a different food could have over 400 calories per cup.

As far as specific food recommendations, I am feeding Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin and Stomach Salmon and Rice formula. I've fed a LOT of different foods over the years, and seem to keep winding up back with Pro Plan. They have recently reformulated it a touch, and out next bag will be the first of the new formula, but I don't anticipate any issues with my two.

 

[Deacon.dog]

Anything in the 4, 5, or 6 catagory will work.

Dog Food Reviews - Main Index - Powered by ReviewPost

 

[LeoRose]

Anything in the 4, 5, or 6 catagory will work.

Dog Food Reviews - Main Index - Powered by ReviewPost

Wow, that is some old information. The latest review was a decade ago. Do they even still make Innova? As an FYI, Innova Red Meat formula (a five star food) was one of the "super-duper" brands that my dogs at the time did horribly on. They never had a solid stool, and both of them lost weight on it. When I tried Pinnacle Chicken and Oats (a four star food), less than halfway through a 20-something pound bag, my Rattie came down with acute pancreatitis and my mutt looked like a walking snow storm, she had so much dandruff. One of the few foods I threw out rather than finish the bag.

 

[Deacon.dog]

I cannot vouch for all of the brands, but I selected TOTW from the website, and its wonderful. Even if some brands don't make food anymore, a lot of them still do. I cant find a website thats similar, and that website was reccomended for me to look at.

 

[storyist]

Dog Food Advisor
So far as I know they're pretty current. It's also the outfit that sends out notices of recalls if you sign up. That doesn't mean every food they rate high will work for every dog, of course. Dogs are individuals like the rest of us. A cousin of mine and his wife are dieting on one of the high protein plans. I tried one of those once and was nauseous every day I was on it. I left my younger Rottie on the food the breeder was feeding for her first year and was convinced she was one of the few picky-eater Rottweilers in existence. When I switched her to something else, she immediately became a typical empty-the-dish in seconds Rottie, and she's never turned her nose up at anything edible since.

 

[Quinsation]

I went to DogFoodAdvisor.com, got the list of all 4 & 5 star rated food. From there, I narrowed down the foods that were available thru Chewy.com (I live on an island and hate having to make a dog food run, LOVE autoship)
Then I listed the price, price/lb, bag size, protein, and calories.
Kicked out the 16 brands on the FDA list possibly linking to DCM and any brands with a history of recalls.
I also kicked off any grain free foods. From there I narrowed it down to foods under $2/lb.
That left me with about 10 brands to pick from. I went with Victor and so far have been happy with it.