Hello all. I am expecting my 8wk old dobie in a couple weeks. Currently, the puppy is eating Nutro, which I thought was a high quality dog food and then confirmed, at least for me, when I bought a 35lb bag for $42. It is suppose to be Ultra Holistic dog food. I do not see this brand on the list of "approved" kibble on here. Does anybody know if this a "high quality kibble"? I'm also asking because I am looking for the best food during housebreaking. This is what sealed the deal for me... hopefully it is accurate. http://www.ultraholistic.com/stool.shtml

I don't think I am ready for an all raw diet at this point, but is there anything I can do to "jazz" it up? Something like a raw egg on top of it?

Thanks.

Nutro is crap. Don't worry, everyone falls for the marketing at some point. But the reality is that, well... it's crap. "Crap in a Bag" I believe would be the technical term, for just about any kibble available at PetSmart :p

Try Orijen, Nature's Variety Raw Instinct, Innova-Evo, or any of the kibbles on the Leerburg list. There are a couple of threads on Orijen here, do a search. That's my vote for sure.

Well, my first issue is that they were so sketchy about listing the ingredients. When I clicked on the ingredient list, it took you to a page ( http://www.ultraholistic.com/ingredients.shtml ) with a slow-scrolling pictogram of their ingredients.

They didn't give a complete list of ingredients and they didn't show what the list of which ingredient is most predominant in the diet, and the next and so on.

So, I would be hesitant to comment on the food until I could see a "real" ingredient list. Otherwise the way they're marketing seems a little shady. But that could just be my paranoia with the way most kibble companies do their advertising.

If I were you, I'd just stick with the list of kibbles on the Leerburg page. Those have gotten a lot of scrutiny with sharp eyes and passed. (Sure you can't do raw??? )

On another note, I would HATE to be the person that gets to measure the stool for that little comparison study they did. Blech.

On the product page it lists the ingredients and two of the first three are rice. I feed two of our dogs Evo and they do well on it.

 Quote: steve strom

On the product page it lists the ingredients and two of the first three are rice. I feed two of our dogs Evo and they do well on it.

Funny, you'd think they'd list it on the *ingredients* page!

Yup...crap in a bag.

I just clicked the link to make sure it was the Nutro Ultra I was thinking of (and it is)......... funny. Solid Gold and Wellness are both better foods than Nutro Ultra, but because they produce larger stools they are lower in their rankings???

I can vouch for the quality of Evo over that of Ultra, or any other Nutro product. Innova Evo has my vote, as does Orijen. Taste of The Wild may be an option( http://www.tasteofthewildpetfood.com ) though they list "egg product" and canola oil so it is grain free and better than most foods but I think Orijen and Evo are better.

I've fed Ultra (Thanks, Mike, for the "Everyone falls for the marketing at some point" comment. At least I'm not a lonely idiot) and it's as others say; crap.

Better foods include those listed above, and we've had success with Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul, which is essentially the same list of ingredients as Wellness.

A raw egg 3 - 4 times a week is great. You can also feed a few ounces of beef liver once every day or two, and some PLAIN yogurt (with live active cultures). Make sure it's not sweetened (no vanilla flavor). If you want to get more in depth with suplements, you can add Salmon Oil. Always add Vitamin E when using Salmon Oil, as processing the salmon oil depletes vit. e.

Adding this stuff will help, and it will ease you into the idea of raw. If you're already doing egg, liver, yogurt and oil, all you need to add is RMB (for instance, wings or a drumstick) and muscle meat (chicken breast meat, ground beef)...very easy transition.

All the suplements and additives in the world, on top of low quality kibble, is just dressing up a base of crap. But it's better to dress up a base of crap than to feed only a base of crap.

None of these beat a freshly prepared raw diet.

Hi, Craig-

I started out with Science Diet, found out (from people on this site) that it was crap in a bag (I worked for a vet years ago, and she stillr recommends it). Switched to Nutro Natural. It's better than SD, but not by much. I thought it was good, til I asked around on this board. Now I feed my pup Orijen Adult Formula kibble, and it's great! It's grain-free, all-natural, and uses only human-grade products. My pup looks wonderful - has the thickest, shiniest coat I've ever seen. I am gradually being persuaded to the "raw side" since being on this board and doing a lot of research. I'm using The Honest Kitchen dehydrated raw food with raw chicken added in about 3-4 times/week. I feed this separately from his kibble, usually as his evening meal. He eats Orijen adult formula every morning and some evenings. One thing I do for variety, along with the raw food, is give him the Fish version of Orijen. It's one way to add variety and different nutrients to his diet.

One thing you will notice if your dog does eat raw, is they will have "clean" smelling breath (hard to believe, but true)! I eventually will probably go totally raw for Kodee. I would never have considered this if I hadn't learned so much from the people on this board. Good luck w/your new pup. You've come to the right board for nutritional advice. This board has helped me tremendously!