Yea, now that I am reading a lot of these boards and other information about the 'best' dog food, it does feel overwhelming.
When we first got our puppy, I had no idea you could even feed raw food, or knew nothing about grain-free options etc. Luckily, we at least knew we wanted him to be as healthy as we could manage, and took someone's recommendation to feed Blue Buffalo (knew we at least wanted to avoid the 'meat' by-product & corn-based cheap food). Now moving forward from BB, which is a good quality food, my next step was to be sure that we rotate in some new protein sources and new brands, so that no weird allergies develop, and to give him something new to eat (the same chicken and rice for almost a year! yikes) :\ This is where the forums and other research really started to come into play.
So far so good, the new grain-free Acana kibble has been an easy switch with virtually no GI issues. Within a day of switching (started with just mixing in 25% of the new Acana), he was already favoring the new food, and everything is solid, as it were. Going from chicken to fish has posed no problems, and it seems he is just excited about something new in his bowl! I'm already mixing over 75% of his new stuff in less than a week's time, so we may be lucky in him having an iron stomach.
But now the more I do my homework, this whole raw meaty bone approach just sounds like it is the ultimate 'top notch health food' for our dog. Now I'm overwhelmed with possibilities for 'toppers' for dehydrated or freeze-dried raw, and eventually want to truly embrace the full raw program (even more research, yow!).
Logistically, full raw just is not doable yet, so the new hurdle is deciphering between the 'over-hyped'/over-priced premium food, and something just as healthy without breaking the bank.
I know I'll continue learning and fine-tuning this meal thing for a while, so I'm just impressed with all the knowledge that is being shared on these boards and beyond. It's good to know that people care about the well-being of their pets, and by sharing our info I'm confident that the brands that are trying to 'take advantage' of pet owners will be singled out and cast aside for what they are, leaving us with a more manageable array of options for the benefit of our pets.
Hmm, sorry for the wall of text.