Since there seem to be a lot of dog owners here, I thought I'd pass this site along. It was an informative read; good to know that the brands I usually buy for my dogs are pretty much sh1t in a bag.

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/

Most of the brands they listed in their five and six star ratings were companies I had never heard of, however when I did a price comparison (stupid shipping... ruins everything) they were more expensive than the middle of the line pet store food brands (Eukanuba, Science Diet, etc) but not by as much as I thought they'd be.

After reading the above site, plus doing a little extra side research, I ended up buying "Canidae All Life Stages" - it turned out to be the most cost efficient, plus since I had two adult dogs and one puppy, it was nice since I wouldn't have to buy "puppy" and "adult" dog foods. Ideally, I would have gone with "Innova EVO" or "Innova EVO Red Meat," but I couldn't justify the extra cost in my head.

Hope the site is useful to some others.

Before 60 thousand years ago, dogs ate pretty much all meat, right.

They evolved pretty much with us, for 60 thousand years, and ate what their humans ate.

My last dog had no problem with pizza and beer. Even though her vet did.



I think it is pretty stupid to buy dog food which costs more, pound for pound, than human food.

The most expensive stuff, which was the Innova, was around $50/28lbs, putting it just under $2.50/lb, which, generally speaking, is probably cheaper than most human food.

As for the beer and pizza, yeah, my old dog was fed on Iams and a bunch of tablescraps every day, and he had no problems with his health. However, like I said above, since the costs of crappy dog food and good dog food are only a few dollars apart, I figure my puppies are worth it.

Humans haven't been eating the products of agriculture for very long 3-7 thousand years, depending where your ancestors are from. Dogs and cats, even less long. These adaptations don't happen over night. And many/most plants have evolved some pretty formidable defenses to ward off being eaten that our own evolution has to keep up with.

I've got my cat pretty much on an all raw meat diet. His health was declining on kibble food, even the expensive kind. It all has grain in it. I switch to Innova EVO but that has potatos in it. Now I try to get him raw food with the occassional fall back to something else.

I've got my cat pretty much on an all raw meat diet.

That is exactly my point.

I don't think all that grain product in pet food is all that great an idea for pet health.

All of my cats and dogs have eaten grass at one time or another, but they usually vomitted it back up.

Need to get a line of pet foods which are made up of what the animal actually likes to eat.

Mouse Buffet. Gopher Liver Surprise. For your cats.
Cat Dinner, [with just a hint of sock flavoring]. For your dogs. Or cats, I had a cat who would bring home cat parts.

I think my cat eats grass to make himself vomit.

Did you see the Innova EVO Red Meat, Fyyr?

Ingredients
Beef, Beef Meal, Lamb Meal, Potatoes, Egg, Sunflower Oil, Buffalo, Lamb, Venison, Beef Cartilage, Natural Flavors, Herring Oil, Apples, Carrots, Garlic, Tomatoes, Vitamins/Minerals, Cottage Cheese, Dried Chicory Root, Ascorbic Acid, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract

Sort of a part two to this post -
http://www.local6.com/problemsolvers/10091600/detail.html

Lots of raw food supplier grind up the organ meat, bones and other stuff, quite intentionally. Its stuff that is good for your pet. I'm more concerned about the non-animal stuff that goes into pet food.

Before 60 thousand years ago, dogs ate pretty much all meat, right.

They evolved pretty much with us, for 60 thousand years, and ate what their humans ate.

My last dog had no problem with pizza and beer. Even though her vet did.



I think it is pretty stupid to buy dog food which costs more, pound for pound, than human food.

While there are certain things that aren't good for dogs (chocolate...though our wolfhounds were big enough that satisfying their cravings for 3 Musketeers bars wouldn't hurt them =D).

But, yes, for the most part dogs can eat whatever we eat (though dog farts + beer farts = foulness which should be banned as a chemical agent).

About the only dog food I'd consider legitimately better than the rest is Bil Jac.

Humans haven't been eating the products of agriculture for very long 3-7 thousand years, depending where your ancestors are from. Dogs and cats, even less long. These adaptations don't happen over night. And many/most plants have evolved some pretty formidable defenses to ward off being eaten that our own evolution has to keep up with.

I've got my cat pretty much on an all raw meat diet. His health was declining on kibble food, even the expensive kind. It all has grain in it. I switch to Innova EVO but that has potatos in it. Now I try to get him raw food with the occassional fall back to something else.

Your hound will forage for whatever greens he needs (which isn't much) all of my dogs were particularly fond of these specific leaves off these specific woody weeds that would pop up all the time.

As the grass (which Fy'yr mentioned below) my understanding is dogs eat grass when they are sick (i.e. ate something bad).

About the only dog food I'd consider legitimately better than the rest is Bil Jac.
Actually most of the Bil Jac line rated pretty low on that site.

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php/product/72/cat/7

I didn't even know Bil Jac made dry dog food.

We've only ever purchased Bil Jac Fresh Frozen (which evidently they don't advertise at all), not even putting it on their website. I think its a tradition thing?