Is there a dried dog food that dogs actually LIKE?

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

Help.

I am dog sitting my sister-in-law's dogs for possibly a year.

One is a beautiful labrador retriever, male - fairly large but lanky
the other is a mixed breed/herding dog - medium size.

They are both very well behaved, they stay outside in my back yard,
and they have dog houses under my deck, with cedar shavings.

The dogs do NOT like their dog food, its a cheap kind with corn as #1 ingrediant.

I gave them some of my dog's food (she's a chihuhua) it is Purina One with Chicken as #1 ingredient.
they don't like it much at all.

The two dogs DO like canned dog food of almost any kind, and are getting Alpo beef.
They also like the Purina moist packets of dog food that have beef.

IS THERE A DRIED DOG FOOD THAT THEY WILL ENJOY AND IS GOOD FOR THEM?

Any help appreciated.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. I don't know about specific brands, being a cat ownee.

However, I did recently see a TV show ("How It's Made") that described how dog food is made. Basically, they make little dried ground-up corn pellets and soak them in a meat or meat by-product slurry (so the corn pellets taste like meat, even though there is very little actual meat in the food). So I guess we can conclude that a lot of commercial dog food is crap. You might look into the Wellness brand -- they make a very high-quality cat food that doesn't contain corn, and I think their dog food is of similar quality.

http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/dog_index.html

[elleng]

2. I gave my Bedlington Pro Plan.

She is (was) small, but thought you might want to know.


http://www.gooddogmagazine.com/drydogfood.htm

[FloriTexan]

7. I'm sorry I can't help.

My dog will eat absolutely ANYTHING! Even if its not food. Except for carrots. He doesn't like carrots. What were they being fed before?

You are a special person to babysit for a year!

[MadMaddie]

3. Pinnacle - Trout and Sweet Potatoe

http://www.breeders-choice.com/dog_products/pinnacled.htm

My Max has allergies so we decided to feed it to both of our dogs. They love it. We use the kibble as treats too.

[Neecy]

4. My dogs love anything you feed them

..except for one, who is the fussiest kibble eater in the world.

He'll eat one kind of kibble and one kind only: Bil-Jac. The other dogs like it as well so that's what they all get.

[FloriTexan]

8. Bil-Jak gives mine severe indigestion

but he loves it just the same.

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

5. Can you get samples of some dry foods ? Some of our local

pet stores almost always has Wellness samples, for instance. That way you won't have to spend lots of money for something they won't eat.

The Whole Dog Journal publishes ratings for dog foods. http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/sample/how-to-choose-dog-food.html

You could try putting a little canned food on top of the dry or mix it together.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

6. Taste of the Wild Salmon

Beag gets the duck one, because duck is the best protein for her.

Mick is picky as hell, and loves the Salmon.

[pipi_k]

13. Just started feeding this to my two German Shepherds

They were kennel rescue dogs I got at the end of March, 10 months old at the time...were eating Blue Seal Krunchies, but it was causing diarrhea and lots of poo.

Tried two other brands, mostly grain (boo!) and finally got them going on the Taste of the Wild Salmon. At first they thought it was a little strange, but I add a few tiny dollops of Kong Liver Paste and they eat it eagerly.

I feel good that it isn't full of cheap grains and stuff.

Pretty funny that a couple of dogs have "fish breath" :7

[InvisibleTouch]

9. Try blending a healthy dry food with a tiny taste of canned.

Look at the ingredients in the canned food too - much of it is junk, just like lots of kibble. But find a good one that the dogs like, and blend a little bit into their premium kibble. Adding some hot water to make a gravy also works. Over time you can reduce the amount of soft food/gravy.

[glinda]

10. Whatever you do change over slowly. Start by putting a quarter new food in with old type.

Then in about a week do half and half for a couple of weeks then switch in about a month totally to the new food. Pets can suffer with abrupt food change.

[Catshrink]

11. Mine like Blue Buffalo.

If you go to bluebuff.com you can print out a coupon for $5 off and you can compare it to other brands.

[dana_b]

12. try a higher quality food like

Premium Edge or Candidae. My dog likes both of those. Less fillers and more protein.

[dropkickpa]

15. I second higher quality foods

I feed my 70lb pit bull Wellness.

Pricey, but, in the long run, I end up spending the exact same amount of money if not less because the higher quality ingredients have a much higher bioavailability so she eats a *much* lower volume of food to maintain her weight, so I spend the same amount of money on food, she eats less food, is MUCH healthier, and **BONUS**, she poops less!! She eats roughly 30lbs. a month at a cost of $52.00. When we switched to this diet I had to do a lot of tweaking to her feeding amount because she packed on a bunch of weight because I was feeding her the same volume as I had been of her previous diet.

Agatha is allergic to beef, chicken, corn, and wheat, so finding a food she can eat was hard, so expensive diets were the only route I could go. The diet I've landed on is like doggie crack to her, she tap dances whenever I ask her if she's hungry. It smells like fish (but not bad fishy), and I use it as her treats too. Since I carry it around as treats, I've given it to other dogs and they all seem to love it too.

[leftyladyfrommo]

14. I feed Evo - my dogs love it.

It has no grains or fillers and the meat and vegetables and fruit are all human grade. But that would be expensive for big dogs.

[bain_sidhe]

16. Costco's "Kirkland" brand

My pups like it a lot, it's way cheaper than the "premium" foods like Wellness and Blue Buffalo, and almost as good - better than some pricer brands*, actually. I switched to it because it's what our rescue group provides for the foster dogs and it was a pain to keep feeding separate foods. Now that I've decided not to foster any more, I'll stick with it.

(*as per the dog food ratings found here: http://www.the-puppy-dog-place.com/dog-food-ratings.html )

[Orsino]

17. Royal Canin

I've got two on two different prescription varieties, and the other two on Medium Adult 25. They all tear right into their food as though they enjoy it.