Recent dog food experience

LC Smith

LC Smith

Well-known member
Some of you in the past have read about my experience with Extreme Dog Fuel. I had read about some folks using Next Level dog food. I had a Chewy coupon so I ordered a bag to try. My boy, Whisky, is a yellow Lab about to turn 5yrs old. He is athletic and not a 100% couch potato. I got about 1/3-1/2 way through the bag and switched back to Extreme Dog Fuel for two reasons:

1. Significantly larger volume of stools. He was going more often.
2. Larger piles. When we would go it was much more quantity than before.

I don't think his body was processing the food in the same manner and not getting as much out of it. The Next Level food has less calories per cup, but I was feeding the same amount, so I think he should have been burning more of it in normal digestion for energy.

I think the NL food is a good food, but just not optimal for him.
 
LC Smith said:
Some of you in the past have read about my experience with Extreme Dog Fuel. I had read about some folks using Next Level dog food. I had a Chewy coupon so I ordered a bag to try. My boy, Whisky, is a yellow Lab about to turn 5yrs old. He is athletic and not a 100% couch potato. I got about 1/3-1/2 way through the bag and switched back to Extreme Dog Fuel for two reasons:

1. Significantly larger volume of stools. He was going more often.
2. Larger piles. When we would go it was much more quantity than before.

I don't think his body was processing the food in the same manner and not getting as much out of it. The Next Level food has less calories per cup, but I was feeding the same amount, so I think he should have been burning more of it in normal digestion for energy.

I think the NL food is a good food, but just not optimal for him.
Click to expand...
Take a minute , a day , or a week,and read what you posted. Less calories more poop from the same volume of food who would ever imagine that?
 
Someday I may get around to just raw feeding my dogs -- I'm 100% convinced with us feeding them "dog food" commercially made we are leading them to a premature and most likely cancerous death.

With as poisonous as the human food supply is with all the chemicals - Lord knows what's in the feed we give them --

I haven't switched yet -- need to make it a goal to get set up to do so.

For a business I have I order a bunch of meat and it doesnt always get used on time or we have stuff that gets a bit old or we didnt use --

when I raw feed the dogs their stools are 100X improved and they certainly seem much better. One time I over ordered on smoked 15 or so lb turkeys -- I think the 2 boys each got 2 a piece -- of course spaced out -- they ate the whole damn thing...ha. They do that with ribs too -- eat most of it on pork ones.
 
I hope you didnt switch cold turkey. You need to half and half for a few weeks, then give new food. Switching cold turkey is a to give your dog food allergies.
 
2point said:
I hope you didnt switch cold turkey. You need to half and half for a few weeks, then give new food. Switching cold turkey is a to give your dog food allergies.
Click to expand...
I have switched his food around a few times in his five years. He’s not had issues I think in part because he is a Lab (walking garbage disposal) and I’ve fed high quality foods.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: gim
LC Smith said:
I have switched his food around a few times in his five years. He’s not had issues I think in part because he is a Lab (walking garbage disposal) and I’ve fed high quality foods.
Click to expand...
I was told by my vet to do that, and I use high quality foods also. Just saying.
 
Don't wait. I've fed my dogs raw for the last 11 years.
I feed raw chicken leg quarters, whole or cut in halves depending on size. We supplement with frozen veges, blue berries, 100% canned pumpkin to help with softening the stool.
The stools are much,
much smaller and are literally gone in 3-4 days naturally. If we get rain the stools dissolve immediately.
We tried purina pro this last season while traveling in Montana, South Dakota. It was much easier to feed them on the road. But when we got back we put them back on raw.
My dogs are lean, glossy, high energy while hunting. I currently have griffs, one seven and one 5.
My previous house dogs got on raw at 12 and 11. I truly believe we got several extra years with them because of it.
 
capt4fish said:
Don't wait. I've fed my dogs raw for the last 11 years.
I feed raw chicken leg quarters, whole or cut in halves depending on size. We supplement with frozen veges, blue berries, 100% canned pumpkin to help with softening the stool.
The stools are much,
much smaller and are literally gone in 3-4 days naturally. If we get rain the stools dissolve immediately.
We tried purina pro this last season while traveling in Montana, South Dakota. It was much easier to feed them on the road. But when we got back we put them back on raw.
My dogs are lean, glossy, high energy while hunting. I currently have griffs, one seven and one 5.
My previous house dogs got on raw at 12 and 11. I truly believe we got several extra years with them because of it.
Click to expand...
what do you feel is the cost comparison? at 60.00 a 30lb bag I go through 2 a month. After a aholiday, you can get turkey as low as 39 cents a pound.
 
westksbowhunter said:
Inukshuk is hard to beat. My male labrador gets 2.5 cups a day and my female gets 2 cups. Great coats, hard stools, high energy, dogs love it.
Click to expand...
Inukshuk or Red Paw Poweredge. High fat content, high protein, and you get what you pay for.
I feed Red Paw Poweredge because the first ingredient is menhaden, rich in omega-3s.
I've been lucky...labs since the 1980s and all have lived to 13-15 years, none have had cancer.
 
gim said:
Lol that's pretty good. I generally use the term bottomless pit.

There is literally no end to their appetite. It's as consistent as the sun coming up and going down every day.
Click to expand...
I have a GSP that will eat anything, an old Vizsla that always has had a good appetite(but food sensitive) and a male Vizsla that is a pain in the butt. He is not a big eater and will walk away from a bowl full of food if it doesn't suit him. He eats really slowly and isn't food protective at all, so the other dogs are always waiting for him to walk away from his bowl so they can finish it for him. I have to separate him at feeding time and keep an eye on him, so I know what he ate or didn't.

I fed Inukshuk for several months and the Inukshuk 30/25 was great at $50 a bag. I was thrilled with it, but he quickly soured on it and I couldn't get two cups in him a day. Some days barely a cup. He got painfully thin last year in training and I had to take him off of it. He seems to like Nutrisource, so I have a solution for now but I do monitor it closely. I have no idea why he eats one but not the other. Could be a Vizsla thing.

Regardless, dogs that like to eat are a lot easier to deal with than dogs that don't.
 
Last edited:
I would love to see a trial of 2 littermates with one being fed a high-end brand, take your pick, and the other being fed Ol Roy. It'd be interesting to see over the course of life in real world the differences, if any, that could be seen.
 
GetTothePoint said:
I would love to see a trial of 2 littermates with one being fed a high-end brand, take your pick, and the other being fed Ol Roy. It'd be interesting to see over the course of life in real world the differences, if any, that could be seen.
Click to expand...
It's been some time but I read a study once by Purina that found that hunting dogs that are fed at least 30% protein have significantly fewer soft tissue injuries than dogs that are fed lower protein diets. Purina also found that dogs fed high fat food with at least 20% fat had more energy and found more birds than those fed lower fat diets. I know diet can impact athletic performance beyond a certain level and I would think that would carry over to dogs as well, but it would be interesting experiment.
 
Mosby said:
It's been some time but I read a study once by Purina that found that hunting dogs that are fed at least 30% protein have significantly fewer soft tissue injuries than dogs that are fed lower protein diets. Purina also found that dogs fed high fat food with at least 20% fat had more energy and found more birds than those fed lower fat diets. I know diet can impact athletic performance beyond a certain level and I would think that would carry over to dogs as well, but it would be interesting experiment.
Click to expand...
It would be interesting. You kinda got to the exact point I was making. All the "tests" they show us and "the research" they have undoubtedly always benefit their pocketbook. If you put a champion field trial dog from today up against a champion from 1980 do they win/outperform just based on the "supposed superior diet" of today?
 
GetTothePoint said:
It would be interesting. You kinda got to the exact point I was making. All the "tests" they show us and "the research" they have undoubtedly always benefit their pocketbook. If you put a champion field trial dog from today up against a champion from 1980 do they win/outperform just based on the "supposed superior diet" of today?
Click to expand...
I think the 45 year old would be at a disadvantage. Probably has a couple stiff joints.
 
akersrob said:
what do you feel is the cost comparison? at 60.00 a 30lb bag I go through 2 a month. After a aholiday, you can get turkey as low as 39 cents a pound.
Click to expand...
In texas, 10 lb leg quarter bags go for@ $7.00 a bag. My two dogs go through 7-8/ month. So call it sixty bucks on chicken, another 40 on veges.....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top