I have always fed Purina One which is 26% protein and 16% fat, very good levels. My dog has high energy all day and the dog loves the chicken and rice formula. Feeding a dog food not readily available in any grocery store or Walmart can lead to a situation where the hunter and the dog are on the road, or ready to go, and you suddenly realize you're out of dog food. Switching food might sicken the dog. I don't buy all the hoohaw about hunting dogs needing some special expensive unique super duper dog food. Regular, good quality dog food is as nutritious as needed. With my first Brittany, when I took him in for his one-year-old vet visit, the vet paused upon entering the exam room, looking at the dog and said, "Wow. I don't know what you're feeding him, but he is all muscle."
I also alter the dog's feeding pattern when hunting. On normal days the dog gets half a ration in the morning and half a ration when I get home after work. The day before a day afield, the dog gets all he wants in the evening but nothing the morning of going afield. He gets all he wants after a day afield.
Taste of the Wild Wetlands ing. list:
Ingredients: Duck, duck meal, chicken meal, egg product, sweet potatoes, peas, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), potatoes, roasted quail, roasted duck, smoked turkey, natural flavor, tomato pomace, ocean fish meal, salt, choline chloride, dried chicory root, tomatoes, blueberries, raspberries, Yucca schidigera extract, dried fermentation products of Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus plantarum, dried Trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, niacin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin (vitamin B2), vitamin D supplement, folic acid
Now Purina One:
Ingredients: Chicken (natural source of glucosamine), brewers rice, poultry by-product meal (natural source of glucosamine), corn gluten meal, whole grain wheat, whole grain corn, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of vitamin E), pea fiber, oat meal, fish meal, animal digest, salt, potassium chloride, calcium phosphate, potassium citrate, vitamin E supplement, choline chloride, zinc sulfate, l-lysine monohydrochloride, l-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), ferrous sulfate, manganese sulfate, niacin, vitamin A supplement, calcium carbonate, copper sulfate, calcium pantothenate, garlic oil, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin B12 supplement, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin supplement, calcium iodate, vitamin D3 supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of vitamin K activity), folic acid, biotin, sodium selenite
Are you kidding me? Iv'e used this stuff.My dogs would waste away on this garbage.Chicken is good but cooks away to the point of making BREWERS RICE the main ingrediant,its considered a low quality ingrediant.Corn gluten meal? whole grain wheat,whole grain corn? When was the last time you saw a dog grazing in a rice paddy?A cornfield? A wheat field? Dog's eat meat.
carnivore (kärn-vôr)
1.
a. An animal that feeds chiefly on the flesh of other animals. Carnivores include predators such as lions and alligators, and scavengers such as hyenas and vultures. In a food chain, carnivores are either secondary or tertiary consumers. Compare detritivoreherbivore
b. Any of various generally meat-eating mammals of the order Carnivora. Carnivores have large, sharp canine teeth and large brains, and the musculoskeletal structure of their forelimbs permits great flexibility for springing at prey. Many carnivores remain in and defend a single territory. Dogs, cats, bears, weasels, raccoons, hyenas, and (according to some classifications) seals and walruses are all carnivores.
If you think quality dog food is uneccessary,come out here where we hunt 50-60 days/yr.We can run them with my spaniels through the windblown cane fields and see how they hold-up.I know where my money is.
Check this independant website:
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com
Look at the review for any commercial brand and compare.
(Purina One, 2 stars,Diamond Naturals, 4 stars,Taste of the Wild, 5 stars.