Food Opinion & Extras

Skippy had his first birthday last week. He's doing absolutely tremendous and has not exhibited any health problems. He's extremely calm, fun loving, obedient, easily trained, etc. Yes, for the most part, I can say I've got the perfect dog. We are a family of routine so it's pretty easy for him to have adapted.

I guess I'm just looking for opinions from the "Shiba Experts" out there. Skippy has been on Eukanuba: Small Breed Puppy since I got him at 4 months of age. He's content with eating approx 1 cup a day and is lean and doesn't exhibit hunger - he's approx 21 lbs - his dad was very small and Skippy was the runt. How long do I stick with this food? What would you suggest I switch him to after this? What type of "extras" should I be giving him for his health? Pros and Cons from what you've seen. thanks for the opinions...
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Comments

  • edited November -1
    OK, so I research the Eukanuba: Sensitive Skin Formula with no wheat or corn and made from ocean fish. Currently, Skippy isn't exhibiting any problems however I hear that Shiba's are very prone to skin problems. Should I be feeding him sensitive skin formula just in case? Does this carry enough Omega 3? Or is there something better out there?
  • edited November -1
    Is there a reason you stick with Eukanuba?
  • edited November -1
    Have no reason outside of the fact that it looked like good quality and seemed to be the best at the time. We have limited area to purchase other brands. Please comment and/or suggest others if they are better. Skippy does seem to really enjoy the Eukanuba but if there is something better, I'm willing to listen.
  • edited November -1
    If he's doing well on it, that's one thing.

    If you think he could do better - then it can't hurt to compare and contrast other foods for him. In my opinion, there are better foods out there, yes, because not all foods are appropriate for all dogs all the time.

    Some good sites for comparing food brands:
    dogfoodproject.com
    dogfoodanalysis.com

    How old is Skippy?
  • edited November -1
    He just turned 1. What should I look out for in the ingredients. Even though he's not exhibiting problems, I want to get something for him "just in case" that is breed specific and hopefully prevent any future problems. I understand nothing is 100%, but it can't hurt.
  • edited November -1
    I think these are great articles to start with:
    How to read a dog food label:
    http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=labelinfo101

    Identifying better products:
    http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=betterproducts

    Ingredients to avoid and why:
    http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=badingredients


    After that, I would go to dogfoodanalysis.com
    And look up the current formula of Euk that you feed, and get the ingredient list for comparison..

    Then perhaps explore some other brands that are available to you locally. I don't know where that is, but some brands that seem to be almost everywhere these days are:
    Wellness
    Nature's Variety
    Solid Gold
    Blue Buffalo
    Canidae
    Innova
    EVO
    Orijen
    Acana
    Taste of the Wild
    Merrick
  • edited November -1
    You can also go on a dogfood brands website and check their store locator to see where that food is being distributed near you
  • edited November -1
    Wow, talk about an eye opener. I viewed the www.dogfoodanalysis.com and found that eukanuba is one of the worst. Who would have known???? Thanks for giving me all this info. I know that none of the above mentioned foods I can buy local so maybe online. I just want the best to HOPEFULLY prevent the worst. Thanks for everything!
  • edited November -1
    aproximately where are you located?
  • edited November -1
    We feed Evo small red meat bites with a fish oil supplement. The dogs LOVE it.
  • edited November -1
    We're located southwest Nebraska with only a walmart to choose from. I can purchase some of these online. Looks like i'm going to try the Orijen 6 Fresh Fish. It costs the same as eukanuba but has a 6 star rating and looks yummy. With this I won't have to add any extra omega 3.
  • edited November -1
    Orijen 6 fish is great, just watch out for room clearing farts! It's the only reason we switched off of it. :) It is a great food though with great ingredients!
  • edited November -1
    LMAO!!!! He'll do just fine in our house then! He and my husband can have contests. What did you switch to?
  • edited November -1
    We have tried a few different things. Evo Small Red Meat Bites, Orijen Puppy (when they were under 1 year), Orijen 6 Fish, Evo Small Bites (Chicken, turkey, lamb).

    We rotate foods, right now they are on a rotation of the Evo Red Meat and coming up will be the Evo Small Bites, I really want to incorporate a fish based food, but I can't deal with those farts! Even with probiotics they were Lethal!
  • edited November -1
    Best of luck with Orijen! Make sure you do a proper transition period between foods to make it easy on Skippy due to going from mostly filler food to a grain free meat protein based food.

    This is written by Canidae foods but applies:
    http://www.canidae.com/transitioning.html
  • edited November -1
    Orijen is a great food! Toby has been on Fresh Fish 6 since he was 7 months old. :) And how he's over a year and a half. I think it is a great dog food. Toby does get stinky farts sometimes, but since he's been on it for a while, he's been doing better. He actually only farts maybe a few times a week, whereas he was farting stinky everyday when we first made the switch. Man, his farts clear the whole house!
  • edited June 2009
    Where did you find the star ratings?
  • edited November -1
    Two more things (1) tobyshiba, how much do you feed Toby? Currently, I'm feeding Skippy 1/2c AM and 1/2c PM - he seems fine with that and (2) if I feed him this Orijen with fresh fish, do I need to supplement Skippy's diet with anything else?
  • edited November -1
    Here's where I found the Star Ratings on various dog food. Very eye opening

    http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/
  • edited November -1
    Hi there, fellow Nebraskan! Here in Lincoln, we have a few more options for food. The guy at my new favorite store said Nature's Variety is actually made in Nebraska. Couldn't find anything with a quick search of the website, but shipping from them would definitely be quick and fresh if they are so close.
    They have like a regular brand, a grain and corn free brand, and also a raw variety. Going to try the raw on my pups next.

    If you ever make it east, we've got 3 Shibas and a big backyard :)
  • edited November -1
    You've gotten great info!

    I have tried many different foods...as I am always looking for the best for my pups. Orijen is a fantastic food, however, as some of the members here mentioned...it seems too rich for my pups and they can't seem to digest it well. Lots of stinky farts :X

    Right now I have been rotating from EVO Small Bites, Before Grain Buffalo, and Wellness CORE Ocean. However, I will switch between Wellness CORE Ocean and Solid Gold Barking At The Moon. My dogs do extremely well on all of those. When I do try something new, I try to get the 5 lb. bags to see how the transition goes. If it doesn't go well, I just donate it to the local shelter, and if it does go well, I buy the bigger bag and continue to feed it.

    I also add The Honest Kitchen dehydrated RAW with their dinners. I switch between Embark, Force and Thrive. They loooooove this stuff!

    As for supplements - I use Solid Gold Seameal, NaturVet Enzymes & Probiotics, and Grizzly Salmon Oil

    Not all dogs are the same, so just buy a few sample bags of foods you are really interested in and try them out. Even though my dogs do fantastic on EVO Small Bites, he might not even touch it! It was a lot of trial and error when trying to find the right foods for my pups.


    *Kristin - Have you tried Solid Gold Barking At The Moon, Wellness CORE Ocean, or Acana Pacifica? Those are all fish based kibbles too. Even though my dogs had the nastiest farts on Orijen 6 Fresh Fish - they do great on Solid Gold BATM and Wellness Ocean. Haven't tried Acana Pacifica yet though.
  • edited November -1
    Wow, great idea to mention that Romi, LOL! - def get the small bags as your transition/trial supply first just in case!

    And we're in the same boat as you, Romi... my dogs (well, Tsuki) did NOT fare well on Orijen 6-Fish with gas and a flare up actually like she had when she was eating Nutro as a pup. It was bizarre, but its definitely a food we unfortunately cannot feed. She (they) do very well on Wellness Core Ocean and we just did a three week trial of Acana Pacifica and its been beautiful all along! Great stuff!

    Our next trial will be Nature's Variety Instinct Turkey and Duck...

    p.s. I have a lot of info on The Honest Kitchen foods if its something someone is seriously interested in trying, just whisper/email and I can send you brochures and two small sample packs. I'm a demonstrator!
  • edited November -1
    Now that you mention it, there's been a distinct decrease in farting since we started feeding Acana. Each dog will respond better to certain foods, though, so trying different things doesn't hurt.

    I'm glad you're trying some good foods! I didn't know how crappy most dog food was, either. I just kind of figured that it was dog food, so it's meant for dogs, right? Anyway, the breeder I got Tojo from really opened our eyes to proper canine nutrition. It hasn't been unreasonably expensive, either. In fact, it might be less expensive because they don't need to eat very much to get all their nutrients. I had to buy a small bag of craptacular food in a pinch once and the dogs had to eat 2-3 times the amount they normally do just to maintain their weight! Really, those crap ingredients are just poop-enlargening agents, and a pain in the butt, considering you have to carry that bag of poop-enlargener around and buy food more often.
  • edited November -1
    Barking at the Moon has a bit of beef in it as well, but I like that Solid Gold, like more companies these days, seem to be offering more grain free foods.
  • edited November -1
    Romi - I haven't tried SGBAM or Wellness Core Ocean, maybe I will get a small bag and see how they do in transition. Like I said, I would love a fish based food, but the farts I can do without! LOL. Thanks for the tip!
  • edited November -1
    Wellness CORE ocean smells like goldfish flakes, and the boys loved it as a treat
  • edited November -1
    Does anyone else have a dog that gets disinterested in food after eating 5lbs of it? My dog apparently likes variety so much he literally starts losing his appetite after 3-4 weeks of being on the same kibble....

    Beth: For a moment I thought you were referring to goldfish crackers (human food) instead of goldfish flakes (fish food). Must...learn...to....read...thoroughly...

    Jesse
  • edited November -1
    Do you rotate, Jesse?
  • edited November -1
    I have a dog that gets bored of the same treats. I always have to have an assortment of treats with me when out training ;o)
  • edited November -1
    I buy only the smaller bags and rotate through the brands I buy. Jazz loses interest after several weeks on the same brand - whether this is due to the fact that I change hers so often or just because she's Jazz, I don't know.
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