Hi Glenn - congratulations on working to find a better alternative for YOUR dog!! And while I'm personally a raw food convert, I also respect that there are other good alternatives out there that are better than the Assumed-To-Be-The-Best-Mainly-Due-To-Good-Marketing kibble products. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> Oh - about BAD gas. Not only did our old Beagle have HORRIBLE smelling gas, and lots of it, when on Science Diet and any other "premium" (marketed as premium) kibbles, but he stunk big time on the outside too. Especially on his head.?????? HUGE big time stink going on there. While I don't fully understand all the changes to his Oderous Problems since improving his diet, I am grateful for a better smelling dog, since he likes to share my pillow with me at night.

Connie, thank you as always for your great info and support. Someone posted a "score card" for dog foods that they found on the net on a GSD board. I want to find the "source" link, and while I treat this as "just for fun" see what you think. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Beth

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....Someone posted a "score card" for dog foods that they found on the net on a GSD board. ......

I've seen several. Is this it?
http://www.feedmypet.com/dog-food-comparison.html

Or:
http://www.dogadoptionnetwork.org/food_scores.html#brandscores
On that second one, there are a lot of foods graded A+ that I wouldn't give an A+ to. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

..true but the first one SELLS one of the foods they rate, which should be taken into consideration.....

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..true but the first one SELLS one of the foods they rate, which should be taken into consideration.....

Absolutely true. It's a handy page for explaining what some common ingredients really are, though.

I haven't seen a really good rating chart. Even the ones without an interest in one of more commercial products generally have the idea that a lot of grain is OK as long as it's not wheat and corn. Foods that derive a lot of their protein percentage from grains instead of meat are questionable, in my book.

That second chart has some well-deserved Fs on it, though! <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Connie, the second link you provided was the one I saw - sans the source link reference. While I know this is not "scientific" I enjoyed working through it to identify areas where we *might* be able to improve our own dogs' diets.

I was THRILLED by this exercise to find that (according to that particular evalution) I think the tracking food we are using scores in the 90's. (Natural Balance Turkey Food Rolls)

Thanks (back a few posts) for the RC link. I can't wait to score that one according to this unscientific test. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Beth

I don't know if any of you have ever tried this food http://k-9kraving.com/pages/main.html
but this is by far the best COMPLETE raw dog food we have come across. After researching this for years which was brought on by some of our dogs dying way to young from cancer and having them on allergies med's and all kinds of crazy stuff over the years this has been the 100% answer for our problems. The few years that we have been using this product our allergies problems disappeared, our visits to the vets office has dropped off dramatically and every person that gets some of this from us to try is very satisfied. It has resolved stomach digestion problems for a couple of dogs that friends of ours own. The dogs were on all kinds of digestive enzymes and special foods and nothing helped until they put their dogs on this food. We have been feeding anywhere from 9 to 12 dogs on this for the past couple of years and so far we have not come across a single down side everything has been a positive. You can see on the web site that the list of distributors is growing, so you can check and see how close a distributor is to yourselves, or do what we did and become a distributor, it just takes a big freezer and a bit of an initial investment, but it has been worth every dime. We have made up for the initial cost by the money that has been saved in vet expenses and allergies med's over the past couple of years.

Doug

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I don't know if any of you have ever tried this food http://k-9kraving.com/pages/main.html
but this is by far the best COMPLETE raw dog food we have come across. .......

Hi, Doug,

I too have seen similar results from switching dogs to raw. Great, isn't it? The reduced vet bills alone can pay for the food, IMO.

Looks like a good list of ingredients! How much do you pay per pound?

AH HA, <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> I had seen this before but could not find it until now, a little research and I found it again. Don't know of any foods not listed (kibble) and I don't remember anyone else posting it.
Hope it helps.
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com

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AH HA, <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> I had seen this before but could not find it until now, a little research and I found it again. Don't know of any foods not listed (kibble) and I don't remember anyone else posting it.
Hope it helps.
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com

AH HA! Even without reading all the categories, I like this (from "How do we assess the foods?"):

QUOTE: You’ll see the crude fat and crude protein content of the food listed on the labelling, but that alone does not tell us very much. Grains contain protein too – but it’s far less bioavailable protein for a carnivore that lacks the digestive enzymes needed to digest plants. Protein derived from meat represents a far higher quality and species-appropriate diet for a carnivore than plant proteins ever can be. What’s the point of a protein if it cannot be properly digested? END

They are definitely on the right track here. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Thank you!!!

Glenn,

I feed raw 98% of the time. However, when I am out of town my husband just doesn't want to fool with it so my dogs eat Natural Balance and do really well on it. I have tried many others but like this one the best. My dogs like it too. Have never had digestive problems switching back and forth between NB and raw. Still think raw is best but certainly understand that it is not for everyone. Glad it is working for your dog.

Debbie