Oh! and these three seem to be good, but I have never tried them and had never heard of them before thus why I started this topic, wanted to know if anyone here had ever used them and what they thought:

Pinnacle
AvoDerm Original Plus
Health Food for Dogs

All three are also holistic kibbles and made by the same company.

Here are some more:

Wysong
Three Dog Bakery
Innova has been mentioned, but Natura (the manufacturers of Innova) also has three other foods, and Natura is the ONLY dog food manufacturer that is licensed and inspected by the USDA. Their facilities fall under the same rules as facilities manufacturing products that we eat! ( Natura)

Wellness has also been mentioned, and is a wonderful food (quite pricey though). The only thing is that it gives some dogs very soft stools ( Wellness)

Don't forget Back To Basics pet food. Another high quality kibble. Shipping is only 2.99 for the first bag and $1/ea. additional bag to 5.99. They offer 2 kinds, chicken or pork. Pork was too rich for my other dogs.

Kevin, your post has me laughing. Why? I used to think the same thing when I was feeding Science Diet, as my vet suggested. She was as healthy as any dog the vet saw. Turns out the people with more sense took their dogs somewhere else. The change in Auster's coat and health is unbelievable with California Natural, and she is supposed to be dead, much less healthier than she was before. I would highly suggest that you try a better food and see what you are missing. Vets know very little about nutrition.

Lew, it's a huge leap of faith to say that changing foods will cause messed up pups. Taking away essential nutrients and changing foods are two completely different things. I will still continue to feed as many different foods as I can, in order to avoid the very same nutritional problems that you blame on switching kibble <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> .

Well, having fed just about all of the premium kibbles mentioned here and having had great results with them, I have to say I still do love the Royal Canin. That is because I love how awesome my pup looks on it, and her energy level is through the roof, and she is developing perfectly. She is black, and has NO dandruff, and her coat shines and I would ALMOST venture to say that she doesn't shed, except we all know since she's a GSD that really is not possible!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> The cost of the food is about the same as what I paid for all of the other stuff....

I will still give her the occasional treat of a chunk of frozen green tripe, she NEVER has loose stools from that....(as for the gizzards, I should have given her only half the amount I did, so that was an error on my part. She really NEVER gets loose stools.)

Oh and "Food for Thought"...I had a dog that lived to be 18 years old( a terrier mix, approx 35 lbs) and she ate GAINES BURGERS her whole life!!LOL, Medical Miracle????? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />


Kate, Chicken Soup For Dogs is a very reasonably priced food that meets all of the criteria you mentioned.

 Quote:

Originally posted by Kate Kolbeck:
My question is, out of all the brands you all have mentioned, which one(s) is...

1. good quality?" There are many many high quality brands of dog food available nowadays. It would be impossible to list them all as most are made by small companies that don't advertise. A much better way of going about finding a good food is to do some of your own research. Learn about the ingredients used in dog foods and what it is that makes a food good.

Here's a good place to start:
What's Really in Pet Food
AAFCO's Ingredient Guidelines
Natura Comparison Wizard
BowChow.com

2. good for a Goldens coat?" This would be best discovered by trial and error. Once you narrow it down to a few quality brands, see which she does best on. But when you deal with super premium foods it is hard to find one that won't do wonders on a coat.

and 3. reasonably affordable?" Prices vary.

Modern day quality complete foods are just that COMPLETE - which means they are balanced and have everything your dog needs. For a food to be labeled “complete” by AAFCO it need only 1)meet a minimal standard of nutrition OR 2)show that dogs can survive on it for 6 months. For the former, AAFCO only states recommended ranges (in many cases broad ones) of each ‘essential’ vitamin or mineral. This means that a food can be very low in all or certain nutrients and still manage to fall within the guidelines. AAFCO also does not recognize many nutrients as being ‘essential’ when many of us know that they are, in fact, an important part of good health. (Essential Fatty Acids and vit C for example.)

Then of course there’s the fact that kibble is a dead food with NO enzymes. This is why I strongly feel that kibble feeders should supplement with a product like The Missing Link, Nupro, Prozyme, etc...

Here's an excellent article on the importance of enzymes: Enzymes and Longevity.