Brands of food our chows eat...

An archive of the best and most helpful nutrition, diet and food related topics.

What brand do you feed your chow?

Active Care, AvoDerm, Beneful, Bil-Jac, Breeder's Choice.......
4
3%
Canidae, Castor & Pollux, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Diamond Pet...
6
5%
Eagle Pack, Embark, Eukanuba (regular and prescription)...
9
7%
Farmore, Foundations, Force, The Goodlife Recipe...
0
No votes
Healthy Essentials, Hi-Tor, Hill's Science Diet, Hill's Prescription Diet...
10
8%
Iams, Innova, Kal Kan, Kibbles & Bits...
16
13%
Natural Balance, Natural Blend, Newman's, Nature's Recipe, Nature's Variety, NutrA, Nutro...
35
27%
Organix, Pedigree, ProPlan, Purina, Perfect Servings, Pinnacle, Praire Brand...
19
15%
Preference Formula, Premium Edge, Professional, Redbarn, Royal Canin...
1
1%
Sensible Choice, Solid Gold, Triumph,Verve, Wellness, Wysong...
28
22%
 
Total votes: 128

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jojasp5
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Re: a Chows, chow chow

Post by jojasp5 »

My Chow Chows and, my Labrador Retriever love "Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lovers Soul." :D I switched from Purina Pro Plan puppy food. They've taken to it right away with no adverse side affects. :D My dog food supplier says she's fed it to her diabetic dog and has noticed a great improvement in her dogs health and H2O consumption.

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Shane
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Post by Shane »

Well i have my 2 on Exceed. Its a really nice food and the only thing that i had wished if I had placed it on them earlier.

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Post by Shane »

Exceed!

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Grab
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Post by Grab »

Legend eats Solid Gold Wolf King, which he enjoys. He's also eaten Avoderm Naturals, also with good results
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Post by Leadboiler »

Puka eats Hill's Science Plan... to be honest I don't think that she likes it a great deal but will clear the bowl when hungry. The vet here says it is one of the best. Occasionally I will give her a tin of Pedigree Chum gourmet food that looks good enough to eat myself..she adores it but this only happens once in a blue moon. Since she was ill I have taken to giving her boiled chicken and rice now and again which she wolfs down. Will try some of the wonderful homemade recipes on here but the vet insists that the dried stuff is the best. (She seems to like it more when I add a bit of water).
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Bob
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Re: Brands of food our chows eat...

Post by Bob »

I was feeding Cindy Doctors Foster and Smith Puppy Food. I recently switched to Innova Puppy Food because it got a little better write up.
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leisa75
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Re: Brands of food our chows eat...

Post by leisa75 »

Orijen !!! My chows love it..
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thanks sweetpea
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Re: Brands of food our chows eat...

Post by shannlee379 »

The breeder I got Shelby from said she has been on the Wellness Brand food for puppies, the Holistic formula. Today I just went out and got her the yogurt, banana, strawberry, and apple bites. She loves them. I don't see the need to switch until she is older, except the cost is alot more than I am used to spending on dog food.
My husband will just have to do a bit more over time, so I can feed her right...lol. Besides I like the fact that she is eating the kibble rather than wanting canned. She loves the food and that in it self makes me happy.
Shannon & Shelby...
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Re: Brands of food our chows eat...

Post by sit_by_the_beach »

I used to feed my chow Purina ONE lamb and rice-plus bama's burgers. Mikki chow was spayed in June last year, I switched to Orijen in August last year. The chow loves it.

I rescued a senior mutt two weeks ago, he was neutered three weeks ago. He loves Orijen. He's greatly improved, health wise and his coat is growing in nicely. I still prepare bama's burgers and feed it to them once a week.
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Wilux
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Re: Brands of food our chows eat...

Post by Wilux »

Hi everybody, I have been feeding my chow a special recipe that she loves I mix oatmeal brend and cookies, I batter all the ingredients till its all gushy, she loves this meal, is it proper and nutritious for Chows?? I stopped giving her dog food bcz she hardly eats it what can you guys recommend me to feed her if she wont eat dog food Is meat necessary in a chow diet??

THX

WILL
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Jeff&Peks
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Re: Brands of food our chows eat...

Post by Jeff&Peks »

Wilux wrote:Hi everybody, I have been feeding my chow a special recipe that she loves I mix oatmeal brend and cookies, I batter all the ingredients till its all gushy, she loves this meal, is it proper and nutritious for Chows?? I stopped giving her dog food bcz she hardly eats it what can you guys recommend me to feed her if she wont eat dog food Is meat necessary in a chow diet??

THX

WILL
Cookies and oatmeal sounds good but dosn't sound to healthy to me to be the main diet, I can't see when People make their own food how they can get all the vitamins and nutrients in the food that manufactured food has. I remember reading on here to much meat isn't good for a Chow so an occasional bone (not Chicken bones) and a little meat is ok.

When you say won't eat the regular food what's that mean she won't eat it for a day or two? Thats ok they will eat when they get hungry, I always look at it like a kid, Put MacDonald's in front of them they will eat, if you put healthy food in from of them they won't touch it. Chows are picky eaters so if they get use to Cookie's and oatmeal and like it naturally they will turn away from the healthy food. I had to buy my Chow a big bag of prescription food once she wouldn't go near it and refused to eat for 3 days, she had no problem with her regular food but get the Bag of meds out of my dish. Its still sitting in on the shelf on touched. I couldn't blame her tho that food smells horrible.

When you feed your Chow don't just think about the stomach think about the rest of the body, Eye's, heart, liver, immune system, kidney, liver, bones, joints, Etc. They need to function way more then the stomach does.

Look above your post at the thread of what people feed their chows those will be the more healthy foods, I think there may even be some home made recipe's.
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h0n33y
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Re: Brands of food our chows eat...

Post by h0n33y »

guys....yesterday when I went 2 a mall...I saw this 5mths old chowling....man he's gorgeous, Then I asked what his dog food was....the owner mentioned JOSERA it's germany made (the dog food seller said)

I've been feeding my 'baby' eagle pack lamb hollistic (for adults) cos' she has quite a problem with the demodex (demodectic mange)...from what I know from articles...lamb is good for sensitive skin...she's recovering now(got her shots every 10days, and prescription from a vet) but I can say she's still sick

JOSERA.....has lamb formula for puppies /juniors. Which I cant get from eagle pack (actually there is eagle pack natural formula--lamb for young dogs...but I read someone's statement on d web, that its the only type of eagle pack U must avoid..THE NATURAL FORMULA for eagle pack--lamb n rice formula--non hollistic)...I'm planning to switch to JOSERA brand....but I want 2 make sure...thats its good to my 'baby'

d reason for me to switch...is that the current EAGLE PACK HOLLISTIC lamb formula for adults I'm feeding 'baby' with....has not enough fat n protein for PUPPIES(baby is 9 moths old). I'm afraid that I'm holding 'baby's growth back by feeding it to her....but so far...its the best I can get her in town.....never heard bad rumors bout eagle pack brand so far....

what do u guys suggest me doing now....anyone ever heard about josera brand?
this is the link of JOSERA website http://www.josera.de/emotion_englisch/p ... e/kids.php

regards,

Hani (Indonesia, Surabaya)
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chowwoman
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Re: Brands of food our chows eat...

Post by chowwoman »

My compliments on this thread. Great idea.

I've read articles and forum threads on the net where folks hotly accuse one dog food as being awful over some other dog food. We can all read the labels on the bags, but what do we really know about what goes into it?

What kind of rationale do YOU use when reading a label?
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Re: Brands of food our chows eat...

Post by gebower »

I feed Max "Eagle Pack" kibble and mix in a little Merrick's canned dog food. He likes "Turducken" and "Cowboy Cookout" as far as the canned dog food goes. Both foods are high grade, super premium, no presersavatives, no food dyes, the highest premium dog food you can get. Without all the allergies that goes with a lot of the others. He's not even 12 months old yet and he's pushing 65 lbs. and his coat is huge. I also give him an "Nzymes" tablet once a day which is an antioxidant. It's working for him.
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Re: Brands of food our chows eat...

Post by akheila »

when we got Kira she was just a puppy on Eukanuba...didn't think too much about it and the breeder's dogs all looked good. But we ended up having problems with her coat....was it food or allergies? not sure...but we have since changed her food. We did Eagle pack holistic for a while and that was OK....in the last 4 months we have switched her to Blue buffalo...we have started to look at ingredients a lot more. At first she gobbled it up...now we give her a portion in the morning and in the evening (5ish) but we've noticed lately that she may take all day to eat her breakfast. So we don't give her the supper. Her energy is good fur still good too...seems to be almost weather related. have been keeping an eye on her and at her last vet visit she had actually gained a few pounds. for treats she doesn't get any rawhides...and we try to choose mostly grain free treats..we recently found some thick dried sweet potatoes for her and she likes a good chew on those. We too found if we are careful what we put in our mouths why aren't we watching what we give her!
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Re: Brands of food our chows eat...

Post by Lisa_D »

I am going to be switching to a new dog food for Bear called Taste of the Wild, wetlands formula. I was really tired of all the yucky foods at the local supermarket and had gone to a pet store in my area. The owner gave me a bunch of free samples of the Taste of the Wild dog food. They have different blends but Bear really liked the Wetlands formula. There are no grains at all in this food which is something I was looking for in a new food for Bear. Bear has always been a picky eater and he went nuts for this one. It looks to be a good quality food!
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schnauziechow
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Re: Brands of food our chows eat...

Post by schnauziechow »

I do Home cooked food for them ranging from all sorts of meat and vege :D
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Re: Brands of food our chows eat...

Post by hattiecat »

Our new puppy is eating Blue Buffalo puppy kibble. The first ingredient is deboned lamb. She seems to really like it.
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Re: Brands of food our chows eat...

Post by Zhuyos mom »

~ Cross post of Article from San Francisco Chronicle/SF Gate ~

Raw food for pets? Despite warnings by veterinarians, growing numbers
of dog and cat owners are serving uncooked, homemade fare

by Christie Keith, Special to SF Gate
Tuesday, March 31, 2009

To most people, pet food is something that comes in a bag or can. The package might be illustrated with pictures of meat chunks, vegetables and grains, but what's inside is probably the most thoroughly processed food product on the market.

Still, quite a few dog and cat owners are deciding that packaged food isn't the only way to feed their pets. Over the last two decades, they've become a vocal movement advocating food for pets made with whole, fresh, minimally processed and usually raw ingredients.

If calling it a "movement" seems like hyperbole, consider that nearly a thousand pet owners in San Francisco and the North Bay alone belong to SF Raw, a raw feeders' buying group. Similar organizations have sprung up across the country.

Since the early '80s, dozens of books have been published on raw pet diets. There are raw feeding dog and cat breeders, animal rescue groups and shelters. There are also uncountable e-mail lists, websites and message boards where raw feeding is discussed. Veterinarians have reported a huge increase in the number of clients expressing interest in raw and homemade diets, particularly after the 2007 pet food recall.

Most of those people, when they did mention raw diets to their veterinarians, got a lecture about the dangers of homemade diets and raw foods in particular. A lot of vets think it's impossible to make a homemade meal for a dog or cat without a PhD in nutrition and a food laboratory in the garage. And a raw diet? Given the amount of bacteria in raw meat, they say, that's a recipe for sickness and death for your pets.

So why do so many pet owners insist on feeding raw diets to their pets? And why is the modern raw pet food movement not just alive, but growing?

If the terms "slow food" and "locavore" come to mind, you're on the right track. Modern raw feeders aren't crazy, back-to-nature hippies or indulgent pet parents trying to spoil their fur babies with grass-fed steak tartare. They're part of a much larger movement interested in doing right by farm animals, the planet and their local economies.

Commercial diets and the myth of "people food"

The roots of today's raw feeding movement go back to the early '80s, although feeding raw foods to dogs and cats is as old as domestication itself.

Commercial pet food in the United States was introduced in 1890, but it took several decades for the idea that "science and industry know best" to completely take hold. When I was growing up in the 1960s, my family and my friends' families fed their pets a combination of commercial foods, scraps from the butcher and the leftovers from our own meals.

By the end of the '70s, however, the multibillion dollar pet food industry had created a generation of pet owners and veterinarians who were absolutely convinced that dogs and cats couldn't survive without the scientifically formulated products known as "dog food" and "cat food." What we ate was "people food," and our pets couldn't eat it without developing any number of diseases caused by nutritional deficiency or excess.

Then, in 1983, a veterinarian named Dr. Richard Pitcairn wrote "Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats," in which he challenged that pervasive belief, suggesting that a lifetime of processed food wasn't any healthier for our pets than it was for us.

I read Dr. Pitcairn's book in 1986 and, being a health food kind of person, thought I'd try his approach, and I convinced my mother to make the switch for her dog, too. Our animals thrived on their new diets, but for years we were the only people we knew who were feeding that way.

A few years later, the Internet put pet owners around the world in easy contact with each other, and I discovered lots of people were feeding raw to their pets. That nascent online community discovered and spread what turned out to be the next big thing in raw pet diets, a feeding plan known as the "BARF" diet.

Does your pet BARF?

Australian veterinarian Ian Billinghurst didn't name his raw diet after puppy puke. The name "BARF," which stands for "bones and raw foods," was coined on the Wellpet e-mail list, where Billinghurst's book, "Give Your Dog a Bone," was being avidly discussed.

Billinghurst wanted dog owners to reproduce the elements of a prey animal when they fed their pets. He recommended a diet of muscle meat, organs and bones along with pulverized raw vegetables, probiotics, cultured foods like yogurt and a few supplements.

While the specifics of the Billinghurst diet were a bit fanciful, it tapped into something that made a lot of sense to most pet owners. They began asking questions like, "What did wolves eat before domestication and selective breeding created the dog?" and "What was the diet of the wild cat like?"

Their answers, like Billinghurst's, often had more fantasy than science behind them, but the approach made enough of an impact that the pet food industry and veterinary profession took notice -- and it wasn't positive notice.

"You're going to kill your pets."

Opposition to raw diets was loud and powerful. Dogs and cats, critics insisted, had such specific and complicated nutritional needs that no one in a home kitchen could possibly get their diets right.

That argument convinced some people to stay away from homemade and raw diets, but it flunked the logic test for most raw feeders. If dogs and cats couldn't survive without commercial pet food, why did we have dogs and cats at all? After all, the 20th century was almost upon us when commercial foods were invented.

Besides, we could see with our own eyes that our raw-fed animals were not just doing fine, but doing better than they had on commercial foods. Certainly it was possible to screw up a home-prepared pet diet, but getting it right definitely wasn't beyond our ability.

Another objection was much harder to dismiss. Raw meat, eggs and dairy products, raw diet opponents said, were full of bacteria that could sicken our pets and even be passed to us. The only safe way to consume these foods was to cook them.

Some raw feeders were skeptical. Dogs and cats not only evolved while eating raw critters, guts and all, but dogs -- as well as predators like the cat -- ate rotten, decomposing prey. And dogs and cats both lick their own behinds. Surely a little bacteria won't hurt them.

Unfortunately, it's not that simple. From E. coli in hamburger to salmonella in produce, juice and peanuts, there's fecal bacteria getting into our dinner at nearly every stage of the agricultural food chain. Cooking has become the only way for most individual consumers to eradicate harmful bacteria in their food, and warnings against eating raw or "undercooked" meats, eggs and dairy products are everywhere.

While it's true that healthy dogs and cats are more resistant to food-borne pathogens than humans, it's not true that they can eat them with impunity. Furthermore, the industrialization of food production has resulted in different bacteria, in greater numbers, than anything dogs and cats evolved to handle.

Ironically, the most effective objection to raw feeding -- food safety -- has ended up being its strongest justification. That's because the very reason most people feed their pets raw and homemade food is that we've come to believe that processed foods aren't safe enough.

When our veterinarians lecture us about the dangers of raw meat, they may be trying to scare us back into the arms of the commercial pet food industry. Instead they often end up pushing us farther into the movement towards locally grown, in-season, sustainably produced fresh foods -- foods that we perceive are cleaner, more humane and better for our animals and the planet.

The big change

Once, my mom and I were the only people I knew who fed raw. Today, almost everyone we know has at least considered it.

Raw frozen diets are available in pet supply stores and even vet's offices now, most formulated in accordance with guidelines by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), a private organization that establishes standards for animal food and whose approval has become the imprimatur of pet food nutritional adequacy.

Veterinary opinion is still overwhelmingly negative, but even that's starting to change. While there were always a handful of holistic veterinarians who advocated raw diets for pets, today their more conventional colleagues are taking a second look at the practice. SF Raw maintains a list of raw-friendly veterinarians on its website, several of whom feed raw diets to their own pets.

Kasie Maxwell, who founded SF Raw in 2003 and has been feeding raw diets to her pets since 1989, agrees that raw feeding is part of a bigger movement -- one that's not really about pets at all. She called it a "Michael Pollan-esque thing."

"Most of our members buy from us because it's an affordable way to support sustainable agriculture," she said. "But it's more than that. We buy eggs from a woman's backyard chickens and milk from someone else's pet goats. Instead of supporting mega-corporations and companies in China, we're supporting the local economy. We're supporting our neighbors."
lightforce18
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Re: Brands of food our chows eat...

Post by lightforce18 »

Start Yogi on Beneful, quickly took him off. Then got Nutro Ultra, and saw the FDA warning. So now hes on Innova. I got a giant bag too, so hes EATING this stuff lol. But he loves it so far.
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Re: Brands of food our chows eat...

Post by mpcdeb50 »

We use Urban Wolf. This is the food that comes with powdered fruits & vegetables and then you add raw meat and some other ingredients to it. Our Chows love it!
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Re: Brands of food our chows eat...

Post by Constantina »

Except for Canidae (Grain Free line) and solid Gold. My brands are not in here :-C Orijen, TOTW, Acana, Go! Natural.
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