Sunday, January 24, 2010

Choosing the Best Food for Your Dog




About a year ago, our 5-year-old yellow lab developed a horrible case of chronic, quite smelly gas. Though Jasmine had experienced sporadic bouts with gas in the past, it now had morphed into an everyday occurance. She was literally clearing out rooms! Since our vet couldn't pinpoint any health problems that might cause excessive flatulence, he suggested we try other dog foods.

For years, Jasmine had been eating what I thought was a top-rated, organic dog food. But like humans, every dog's system is unique. As my vet said, what agrees with my neighbor's lab might be a gastronomical nightmare for Jasmine. So the search began.

We buy our food from a wonderful independent pet store in St. Louis called the Canine Center. Before heading in there, however, I decided to research dog food online. I found quite a few sites with dog food reviews but the best of the bunch was Dog Food Analysis, an independent site that provides detailed information on more than 1,500 dry dog foods, along with ratings and reviews. (They also review canned dog food but I was interested in dry food.)

The review section of Dog Food Analysis is broken down into six categories ranging from the top-rated 6 Star Premium Dry Food to the not-so-great 1 Star Dry Food. Of course, I started in the premium categories. After reading profiles/reviews on several of the dog foods, I headed to RateItAll.com to read what dog owners had to say about the foods I was considering. While the Rate It All site did not include overviews about the nutritional content of dog food, its huge collection of consumer reviews provided me with more than enough feedback to decide what food to try first.

Armed with the knowledge that I was not blindly choosing just any dog food for Jasmine, I ended up purchasing Now! Petcurean Dog Food. And like magic, Jasmine's gas problem has all but disappeared. There are many great dog foods out there, but Now! worked best for us. If I hadn't done my research before heading to the pet store, we probably would have gone through several trials before settling on a food that worked. Used together, the Dog Food Analysis and Rate It All sites can help dog owners make more educated decisions about what to put in their dogs' mouths.

2 comments:

  1. It is my first time to visit your blog. I get pleasure from reading. Thanks for sharing your precious blog with me.

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  2. We're glad you liked our blog! Something I forgot to mention, however, is the importance of switching your dog's food gradually rather than cold turkey. A good rule of thumb is to mix in 25% new food with the old (Days 1-3), 50/50 mix (Days 4-6), 75% new (Days 7-9), and 100% new by Day 10. Your dog and her tummy will thank you for this gradual introduction!

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