I have a question? Why are you against buying IAMS? Just curious...I feed my dog Orijen. Its a fish based food which is great for her coat.

This is probably your best choice given where you have to shop and the dollars you are wanting to spend. Also, the Costco brand is supposedly rated as a pretty good dog food.

Some dry dog food seems to expand when it gets wet. Thus that may be why the dog was throwing up. Basically kind of blowing up in his stomach. However your beagle mix may be vomiting because, being a hound, he's eating too fast. Apparently one way to help is to place a large rock in the bowl. Makes him have to eat around the rock. Just make sure that is big enough that he can't swallow the rock.

As far as the glucosamine, couldn't you just buy human supplement and put it on that particular dog's food? Your vet should be able to help with the amount he would need for each feeding. Solid Gold also sells "Seameal Powder" supplement that is suppose to have all kinds of vitamins, etc. I personally haven't used it but have considered purchasing the product.

Well first of all, I think you do have other places to shop besides Wal-Mart?

Do you have a Tractor Supply Store? or a Farm and Fleet? Or someplace where farmers go to buy feed and supplies?

You can also buy food online....thats what we do.

First off, Trini & House, thanks for your replies.

Trini~ I have just heard awful things about the Iams company. Perhaps they aren't true, but I've heard that they severely mistreat the animals that they test their food on, etc. & personally, I don't want to contribute to that.

House~ We don't have a Costco near here. I just did a search & it didn't come up w/ any within 50 miles. We do have a Sam's Club, but it's in a town about 40 miles away & we only get there 2-3 times a year. I have read that about hounds, so far I haven't had a problem since changing their food, so maybe I won't have to resort to the rock, but thanks for that suggestion! :) As for the glucosamine, I pretty much "free-feed" my dogs (they get their food put up @ about 6-7 pm), so I was hoping to get something that they could all eat & avoid having to feed her separately, like I'm doing now, as I said in my OP. Also, I am also giving her a glucosamine vitamin once a day in her wet food, but planning to wean her of wet food; I am just feeding her that to get her back to good health/weight after her ordeal.

Joe~ Really? I don't think you know what you're talking about. The only other option I have, besides Orscheln's (mentioned in my OP) is online as Trini suggested (thanks for that suggestion by the way). There is not a Tractor Supply Store or Farm & Fleet (never even heard of that one) near us. I live 8 miles outside the city limits of a very small town, pop. 626, and even our Walmart is 20 miles away. There is a town about 20 minutes away w/ an MFA Co-Op, but I've checked there & they quit carrying cat & dog food b/c ppl weren't buying it. They only carry farm animal - horse, cow, goat, etc... food. I don't mean to sound rude, but I really don't appreciate your reply... It doesn't help me. I am almost 26 yrs. old & have lived here my whole life, so I think I know what stores I have as options!

I wouldn't feed the other two senior food - as it's formulated for less active dogs, with different nutrient ratios than food for active, younger dogs.

You can however buy glucosamine and chondroitin in a powder or pill form and give that to your senior dog - then you could probably keep them all on the same food, if you would like to.

We didn't switch our old guy (14) to senior food until December when our beagle had to be put on a prescription diet permanently.

mc hudd....good for you for not supporting a company you don't like I'm the same way....I will never ever ever use a HArtz product again and I always tell people to stay away from Hartz....question though? have you checked out Purinas record? buying the food online is really great. We look for coupons for free shipping so the only difference is we don't have to hunt for our food. Not everywhere carries Orijen...around here only the pet boutiques do and sometimes they don't have it because it runs out so fast. We buy her two bags at a time. They are vaccuum sealed so stay fresh. We found shopping online has really taken the stress out of dog food shopping we no longer have to hunt.

Joepyeweed play nice....not everyone lives in a city that has everything. I've lived most of my life in NYC and recently moved to Miami....I've stayed in a few smaller towns in between and let me tell you its a world of difference...and not even a SMALL town...just smaller towns.....When I first moved to Albany, NY for instance....I was so mad when I found out there was nothing to do at 2 AM.....I was used to being able to do whatever I wanted at all hours....want Pizza at 3 Am just go down the street...and GOOD pizza not dominoes. Needless to say I lived in Albany less than a year. Back to the point though...there is no need to make someone feel bad about where they shop....although I share you personal dislike for stores like Walmart, Kmart....basically anything that has mart at the end.

I also feed my dogs Purina One. I have an almost-14-yr old lab mix on Purina One Senior food and a 6-yr old boxer on Purina Weight Management. Both are happy, healthy dogs and have no stomach or digestive problems. My boxer has, on occasion, eaten the older dog's senior food if he doesn't finish it, but it's not very often that this happens. If your beagle is not having any more issues, then I would think Purina One is the way to go and you should stick with it!

Quite frankly I believe Purina One is paramount to junk food. I am a Natural Balance fan-they truly have the most diverse variety of food available and a good portion of what they carry is high quality - you can order on line directly from the company....bottom line feed your dog good food for it, your dog will eat less, poop less and be healthier....the other aspect of the bottom line is what you decide as a pet owner...good luck

56.99 for a bag of science diet is dumb! In gen you get what you pay for. EVO is better and cheaper!

Innova EVO is really good. Orijen is good too. Raw diets are best but not always possible.

Iamscruelty.com is a site that tells the truth of Iams.

Basically dog food has no government standards like people food is, so often times PTS shelter animals are used in the meat meal or meat and bone meal. Also the filler do nothing but make your dog fart and poop stinky. Plus cause dental disease,cancer and a host of other problems

Food is the biggest danger to indoor pets IMHO.

Per the OP's post, she is limited by her location and funds she has to spend on dog food. I'm guessing she pays between $1.25 - $1.50 per pound for Purina One. If she orders online, there is shipping cost to add to the food cost, which may be out of her budget. Certainly a more premium food is not an option due to the cost.

I feed my dogs a raw diet, which averages out to about 1.00 per pound, but I am fortunate to have a local supplier, which may not be available to the OP.

Given her circumstances, I think Purina One is OK. (NEVER thought I would say that!) However I think Shannon should take the time to do some research and figure out if there is something better that is still affordable.

Shannon, you should know that just because meat is the first ingredient, the definition of "meat" is VERY loosely applied to dog food. Feeding raw or feeding a gently cooked diet are options, and there are several groups on Yahoo that are good sources of information.

Shannon: Thought the attached recently-published article might be of interest to you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Don't Pick Pet Food By Price

Seems to me that the problem with dogs and dry food is more that some dogs cannot eat some foods well while others thrive on the same brand/type.

I have used Pedigree for years, my DIL uses it as well. I had a chihuahua mix live to be 20(on Pedigree dry) before cancer took him. Several lab mixes have also lived to or past 15. The results I get using Pedigree(minimal elimination ratio to weight and health maintenance) are quite acceptable.

I rescued a whippet mix from a shelter---Pedigree was being fed there---and I continued it here. Quickly found it was NOT the food she needs. Tried a lamb and rice formula---BINGO! Now, the brand of lamb and rice I tried???

Purina.

Why? Because it lists the same basic ingredients as the other brands(I now buy dog food at Petsmart) and is the least expensive. I see absolutely no reason to pay more money for a food simply because the companies involved 'say' theirs is better.

In fact, I now have a different problem---the Purina lamb and rice formula agrees with Molly's system so much, I have had to reduce the amount I feed to prevent her from gaining too much weight. And that has caused her to chew more than before.

"Don't Pick Pet Food by Price" article states:

" Edelson always picks products with labels stating the food was developed through "animal feeding tests" under guidelines by the Association of American Feed Control Officers, a regulatory group that sets ingredient standards."

Ugh. Animal feeding tests consist of dogs, typically beagles, locked in cages all their life.

The other fact is that nutrition education at vet schools is conducted by dog food companies.

There's got to be a better way.

I know this is anecdotal, but all of my dogs have thrived on Purina ever since I had dogs (60 years now) and I think all the silliness over it is just that.

Once Purina One became available decades ago, we switched to that for whatever dog we had at the time. No health problems and always had happy dogs that lived to old age. Right now we are raising a lab pup who is now close to a year old. She is on 'large breed puppy' and we will keep her on that until she is 18 mos. old. Then on to Purina One adult. (I look forward to that because Sam's Club has it in large quantities.)

It may seem silly, until you end up with a dog that has allergic reactions or digestive issues.

Joepyeweed I agree with you there...when we got our bully she had a couple hot spots on her paws. The breeder was feeding her IAMS puppy chow. Well we switched her food to Orijen as soon as we got her and the hot spots have "magically" disappeared. It's because of that we decided to start making her treats and feeding her raw fruits and veggies as treats also. She has had no more problems with hot spots :-) Her breeder used to call her spinner because she would spin on her tail because it itched her so much. She actually got a tail infection due to the itch so the breeder could not sell her til it cleared up. Its how we ended up with her at 10 months old. The puppies the breeder had were cute as buttons....but I felt sorry for Toots imagining her spending most of her time in a crate for 10 months...so we took her. I thank god for that tail infection. She is perfect now. All her problems were due to the food she was fed. WE have another friend up in Jersey who was experiencing similar problems with his wheaton terrier....a change in diet has also improved the condition...not as well as we have because they are not using Orijen but another high quality food...just not as good as Orijen IMHO because it has not solved the problems as quickly or thoroughly as the Orijen has.

I found the site below while researching dog food---it seems to have sensible points.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dog Food Project

Good luck with your dogs! You have a vet, the Purina One seems to be going fine, and you're way more informed about dog food than most people your age. I'm sure you and your dogs will be just fine.

Thanks s.mike! My vet will definitely be called if my beagle has anymore vomiting after doing so good for a couple of weeks now. All of my dogs have very shiny coats, so I'm hoping that means they're healthy all around. Like I said, I'll try to post again in a month or so to update everyone.

Shannon

I copied this from another forum on that home site. Thank you to the person that posted it.

I snagged this from my chihuahua forum but it's very, very useful information. We switched to chicken soup brand dog food after I learned more about some of the other premium brands I was looking into. How to grade your dog's food:
Start with a grade of 100:
1) For every listing of "by-product", subtract 10 points
2) For every non-specific animal source ("meat" or "poultry", meat, meal or fat) reference, subtract 10 points
3) If the food contains BHA, BHT, or ethoxyquin, subtract 10 points
4) For every grain "mill run" or non-specific grain source, subtract 5 points
5) If the same grain ingredient is used 2 or more times in the first five ingredients (i.e. "ground brown rice", "brewer's rice", "rice flour" are all the same grain), subtract 5 points
6) If the protein sources are not meat meal and there are less than 2 meats in the top 3 ingredients, subtract 3 points
7) If it contains any artificial colorants, subtract 3 points
8 ) If it contains ground corn or whole grain corn, subtract 3 points
9) If corn is listed in the top 5 ingredients, subtract 2 more points
10) If the food contains any animal fat other than fish oil, subtract 2 points
11) If lamb is the only animal protein source (unless your dog is allergic to other protein sources), subtract 2 points
12) If it contains soy or soybeans, subtract 2 points
13) If it contains wheat (unless you know that your dog isn't allergic to wheat), subtract 2 points
14) If it contains beef (unless you know that your dog isn't allergic to beef), subtract 1 point
15) If it contains salt, subtract 1 point
Extra Credit:
1) If any of the meat sources are organic, add 5 points
2) If the food is endorsed by any major breed group or nutritionist, add 5 points
3) If the food is baked not extruded, add 5 points
4) If the food contains probiotics, add 3 points
5) If the food contains fruit, add 3 points
6) If the food contains vegetables (NOT corn or other grains), add 3 points
7) If the animal sources are hormone-free and antibiotic-free, add 2 points
8 ) If the food contains barley, add 2 points
9) If the food contains flax seed oil (not just the seeds), add 2 points
10) If the food contains oats or oatmeal, add 1 point
11) If the food contains sunflower oil, add 1 point
12) For every different specific animal protein source (other than the first one; count "chicken" and "chicken meal" as only one protein source, but "chicken" and "" as 2 different sources), add 1 point
13) If it contains glucosamine and chondroitin, add 1 point
14) If the vegetables have been tested for pesticides and are pesticide-free, add 1 point
94-100+ = A
86-93 = B
78-85 = C
70-77 = D
Here are some foods that have already been scored. If you don't see your dog's food here, ask and someone will score it for you.
Dog Food scores:
Alpo Prime Cuts / Score 81 C
Artemis Large/Medium Breed Puppy / Score 114 A+
Authority Harvest Baked / Score 116 A+
Authority Harvest Baked Less Active / Score 93 B
Beowulf Back to Basics / Score 101 A+
Bil-Jac Select / Score 68 F
Blackwood 3000 Lamb and Rice / Score 83 C
Blue Buffalo Chicken and Rice / Score 106 A+
Burns Chicken and Brown Rice / Score 107 A+
Canidae / Score 112 A+
Chicken Soup Senior / Score 115 A+
Diamond Maintenance / Score 64 F
Diamond Lamb Meal & Rice / Score 92 B
Diamond Large Breed 60+ Formula / Score 99 A
Diamond Performance / Score 85 C
Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra Premium / Score 122 A+
Dick Van Pattens Natural Balance Venison and Brown Rice / Score 106 A+
Dick Van Patten's Duck and Potato / Score 106 A+
EaglePack Holistic / Score 102 A+
Eukanuba Adult / Score 81 C
Eukanuba Puppy / Score 79 C
Flint River Senior / Score 101 A+
Foundations / Score 106 A+
Hund-n-Flocken Adult Dog (lamb) by Solid Gold / Score 93 B
Iams Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Premium / Score 73 D
Innova Dog / Score 114 A+
Innova Evo / Score 114 A+
Innova Large Breed Puppy / Score 122 A+
Kirkland Signature Chicken, Rice, and Vegetables / Score 110 A+
MemberÂs Mark Chicken and Rice / Score 84 C
Merrick Wilderness Blend / Score 127 A+
NatureÂs Recipe / Score 100 A
NatureÂs Recipe Healthy Skin Venison and Rice / Score 116 A+
NatureÂs Variety Raw Instinct / Score 122 A+
Nutra Nuggets Super Premium Lamb Meal and Rice / Score 81 C
Nutrience Junior Medium Breed Puppy / Score 101 A+
Nutrisource Lamb and Rice / Score 87 B
Nutro Max Adult / Score 93 B
Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice / Score 98 A
Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy / Score 87 B
Nutro Natural Choice Puppy Wheat Free / Score 86 B
Nutro Natural Choice Senior / Score 95 A
Nutro Ultra Adult / Score 104 A+
Pet Gold Adult with Lamb & Rice / Score 23 F
Premium Edge Chicken, Rice and Vegetables Adult Dry / Score 109 A+
Pro Nature Puppy / Score 80 C
Pro Plan Sensitive Stomach / Score 94 A
Purina Beneful / Score 17 F
Purina Dog / Score 62 F
Purina Come-n-Get It / Score 16 F
Purina One Large Breed Puppy / Score 62 F
Royal Canin Boxer / Score 103 A+
Royal Canin Bulldog / Score 100 A+
Royal Canin Natural Blend Adult / Score 106 A+
Science Diet Advanced Protein Senior 7+ / Score 63 F
Science Diet for Large Breed Puppies / Score 69 F
Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice / Score 97 A
Solid Gold / Score 99 A
Summit / Score 99 A
Timberwolf Organics Wild & Natural Dry / Score 120 A+
Wellness Super5 Mix Chicken / Score 110 A+
Wolfking Adult Dog (bison) by Solid Gold / Score 97 A

Well I'm glad royal canin scored 100 cause thats what I was feeding my old bully. We switched to Orijen after doing more research. Where can I get Orijen fish 6 scored?

Well, for some reason my 2nd to last post was deleted... I had copy/pasted some posts that didn't get posted, so maybe that's why. ?????

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for replying & to those of you who have used Purina One & told me your opinions.

I think I'll stick w/ Purina One & see how my dogs do. I'll try to post in a month or so to let everyone know.

Thanks again!
Shannon

Don't understand the minus points for 'by products'. We eat by-products, why shouldn't our dogs? Protein is protein and using 'everything but the squeal' seems pretty green to me.

We used to raise meat chickens and people thought it was gross that we kept the feet. Chicken feet make the most wonderful rich broth!

By products in my understanding in dog foods (or in general) - are anything but the actual meat. Feet, skin, bones. Which are OK, and do have SOME nutrition (not nearly as much as the actual muscle meat, especially chicken by-products) However, it's a lot less controlled and can make the nutrition information of a food vary quite a bit. One batch has more chicken feet than heads, or vice versa. With by-products there is no guarantee the nutrition from bag to bag, will be the same.

And you especially want to watch out for generalized by-products. "Poultry by-products" "meat by products" But that is more because you don't know the actual source animal for them, than the fact that they're by-products.

This is a grocery store food I recently noticed. What do you think of the ingredients?
http://www.lassie.com/naturalway/natural-way-flash.htm

Your vet probably recommended the senior food because her other clients may not be reliable about giving supplements. Old dogs don't need 'senior' food unless they're fat, and you said you are trying to get weight back on your dog. Since you want to free feed, give the Glucosamine chondroitin as a separate supplement to your older dog. Though honestly, all of your dogs would benefit from it. It's not just for seniors.

No comment on the food quality, you're obviously doing the best you can for your dogs. But please keep in mind that higher quality foods require you to feed much smaller portions so a cost per pound anaylsis isn't an accurate way to compare cost. Might want to compare cost per meal instead - by looking at the chart of cups of food per day to body weight.

Problem with the chicken soup food is, the company doesn't have any quality control of their products. I live where they make it and no one buys it here. It's crap, to put it lightly and you would be serving your animal better by feeding it something else. Purina is a much better food than the Chicken Soup food.