Question for the veterinarians out there

silenthunterstudios

silenthunterstudios

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Would you recommend Dinovite? Anyone used it for their pups? Any precautions? I was feeding my three yellow labradors Ol Roy regular food, with a "treat" of one of their "premium" blends every three weeks. I've been trying different brands, and settled on Purina Dog Chow. They seem to be doing a little bit better. They were doing great on canned food too. Is this stuff all hype, or does it work?
 
Dinovite® Original Canine
Ground flax seed, dried kelp, yeast culture, ground grain sorghum, fructooligosaccharide, zinc methionine complex, diatomaceous earth, montmorillonite clay, yucca schidigera extract, dehydrated alfalfa meal, Aspergillus oryzae fermentation product dehydrated, Aspergillus niger fermentation product dehydrated, Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product dehydrated, Lactobacillus casei fermentation product dehydrated, Bifidobacterium thermophilum fermentation product dehydrated, Enterococcus faecium fermentation product dehydrated.

:barf:
 
silenthunterstudios said:
Would you recommend Dinovite? Anyone used it for their pups? Any precautions? I was feeding my three yellow labradors Ol Roy regular food, with a "treat" of one of their "premium" blends every three weeks. I've been trying different brands, and settled on Purina Dog Chow. They seem to be doing a little bit better. They were doing great on canned food too. Is this stuff all hype, or does it work?
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Please feed your dogs a better diet than Old Roy. There are many to choose from, and yes... it will "work" for your dogs. Call up your DVM, I'm sure he will be able to direct you to some better choices. Dinovite?... looks like some sort of supplement. Feed a good quality diet, and you won't need something like this.
 
I've always heard that if you can buy your dog food at WalMart or your grocery store - it's not worth feeding to your dogs. However, I do believe I have seen Iams products lately in the store.

If you love your dogs, you'll feed them a quality dog food. There was a thread a couple of months back asking what dog food people were using. Everyone has their preferences.

Most Vets will probably recommend Science Diet, since a lot of them carry it.

Follow Mongo's advice. He knows what he's talking about.
 
Make no mistake, I love my pups.

The Science Diet and Iams etc are just too damn expensive. If I have to get it to make sure my boys get the right amount of nutrition, then I definitely will. If the Ol Roy and other brands are so bad for dogs, they should be pulled from the shelves. But then, that would be a lost cause from the start. They were fine for a long time on the Ol Roy, but I have heard that the dog food manufacturers are cutting corners.
 
SHS - Mongo knows of what he speaks. Quality pet food is very important for the health and well being of the animal. I would suggest something in the Nutro Natural line myself. Even many of the name brands like Hills and Iams are chemically preserved with Ethoxyquin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethoxyquin . While the negative effects may well be negligible, it is also a pesticide and is used in chemistry as a rubber stabilizer IIRC. The natural foods are preserved with Vitamin E. They also use ingredients which are much higher quality. Find the money somewhere if you can and pay the difference. Your pets will thank you for it. Just my $0.02.
 
silenthunterstudios said:
Make no mistake, I love my pups.

The Science Diet and Iams etc are just too damn expensive. If I have to get it to make sure my boys get the right amount of nutrition, then I definitely will. If the Ol Roy and other brands are so bad for dogs, they should be pulled from the shelves. But then, that would be a lost cause from the start. They were fine for a long time on the Ol Roy, but I have heard that the dog food manufacturers are cutting corners.
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I do not want to derail this thread with this, but Wal-Mart probably destroyed Ol' Roy by demanding they find ways to drop their costs. I sold to Wal-Mart and other retailers, and they by default start asking for cheaper products every year you go in to set pricing for the next year. I recommend you support your local one off pet store privately owned. It is good for your community, and you will get quality food.

I buy Eukanuba, and my lab does well on it. A vet recommended that brand. It is approx $50 with tax for a large bag that will last her almost 3 weeks.
 
I will find the $. No problem with that. Knives and guns aren't so happy to see me when I get home that they knock me down at the front door, or go absolutely nuts when they get up in the morning to go out, or come to me and warm my toes better than any slippers could by laying on my feet. I also go to Mongo about some things, and trust his opinion.

I am thoroughly pissed however that most of the dog food out there is inferior to what my boys need. I have an elderly dog, about ten years. I have a dog about 5 or 6 years old, an adult, insane, but an adult nonetheless. Last but not least, I have a 2-3 yr old baby, a definite baby Huey. The largest of the bunch, at 100lbs, he thinks he is a baby. Imagine a 100lb labrador scared to death because he hears a fox calling her pups, jumping into your arms! I am going to hit Petsmart on the way home. Might try Iams just to see what happens. I will talk to my vet about a new diet. My boys feed has changed so much over the past month, their heads must be spinning.
 
Make sure to transition gradually. Mix it at first. Little more, little less, over about a week. Wise decision. You da man.
 
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Eukanuba and 4 Health are two others I might suggest. I am partial to dog food which has a high content of meat (lamb particularly) and avoid the ones that are mostly corn or other grains. But you know what they say about opinions....

Oh, and the contents of the brands are easy enough to look up online, FYI.
 
You could try Costco's brand of dog food. I've been feeding the Kirkland chicken, brown rice, and vegetables since February, and my dogs have been doing well on it, and their coats also look good.

No corn. Stay away from anything that has any corn products in it.
 
Bob W said:
Why? :confused:
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Corn is for goats and mules. Unless it is processed (cooked, not just cracked or ground) dogs don't digest it well. Otherwise, it is just cheap filler and might as well be sawdust (again, just my non-professional opinion). :p
 
Corn is something you do not want to see in your dog food, it is a low quality filler ingredient and a common source of pet food allergies.

Not all pet food is made equally. A lot of it is full of corn, by-products, dyes, unhealthy preservatives, filler grains and all sorts of nasty stuff. A lot of pet food companies are perfectly happy to dump cheap leftovers and things that aren't safe for human consumption (from human food processing plants) into their foods. Will it kill your dog? No, it has to be nutritionally complete and safe to even be marketed. Is it healthy? Not by a long shot.

Corn is a low quality ingredient you never want to see in your pet food. Corn and low quality grains are two of the biggest culprits when it comes to food allergies in our pets.

Thankfully, there are some excellent dog foods being made these days that include organic, human grade ingredients rather than trash not fit for human consumption.

Examples of low quality foods to avoid: Anything you can find in a grocery store will be low end, Purina, Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Royal Canin, Pedigree, Kibbles n' Bits, Beneful, Ol'Roy.

Examples of high quality foods to look for: Innova, Wellness, Solid Gold, Canidae All Life Stages, Fromm Four Star, Merrick, GO Natural, Nature's Variety Prairie, Nature's Logic, Artemis Fresh Mix, Timberwolf Organics.

Although the high quality foods are more expensive, you're getting what you're paying for. Less filler material means more concentrated nutrients... this means you typically need to feed far less of the high quality food than you would of the low quality one. Which also means less poop!

Before following your vet's food recommendation, keep in mind that vets get /very/ little nutritional training during their schooling. Besides that, what training they /do/ get is usually sponsored or taught by the crappy pet food companies! They also often get paid to sell some of their products at their clinics (Science Diet, Royal Canin etc.)

A great option is to go with an entirely grainless diet. Many of the high quality foods now put out grainless formulas. Some good grainless diets include: Innova EVO, Wellness CORE, Blue Wilderness, Nature's Variety Instinct, Orijen, Horizon Legacy, Merrick Before Grain, Canidae Grain Free All Life Stages, Fromm Surf & Turf, Now! and Sold Gold Barking At The Moon, Taste of the Wild.

Some pretty decent foods can even be found in common pet stores. Petsmart carries Blue Buffalo products (such as the excellent grain free diet Blue Wilderness). Petco carries Wellness, Solid Gold, Natural Balance, Eagle Pack Holistic, Blue Buffalo, Castor & Pollux Organix, Pinnacle, and Halo. If you can't find a food, most of the high quality food brands have websites with store locators on them.

Another option, if you can't find anywhere around you that sells good foods, is to order your pet food online. Here's an excellent place to do so: http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/

Remember that foods should be switched gradually (mixing new slowly in with the old over about a two week period), especially when switching to a higher quality one, so as not to upset tummies.
 
One other negative about corn as a main ingredient, aflotoxin found in corn has been a major reason for recalls. And there are really surprisingly few manufacturers of dog food. Many brands use copackaging, private branding of dog food manufactured by others.

The pet food market has been dominated in the last few years by the acquisition of big companies by even bigger companies. With $15 billion a year at stake in the U.S. and rapidly expanding foreign markets, it’s no wonder that some are greedy for a larger piece of the pie.

•Nestlé’s bought Purina to form Nestlé Purina Petcare Company (Fancy Feast, Alpo, Friskies, Mighty Dog, Dog Chow, Cat Chow, Puppy Chow, Kitten Chow, Beneful, One, ProPlan, DeliCat, HiPro, Kit’n’Kaboodle, Tender Vittles, Purina Veterinary Diets).

•Del Monte gobbled up Heinz (MeowMix, Gravy Train, Kibbles ’n Bits, Wagwells, 9Lives, Cycle, Skippy, Nature’s Recipe, and pet treats Milk Bone, Pup-Peroni, Snausages, Pounce).

•MasterFoods owns Mars, Inc., which consumed Royal Canin (Pedigree, Waltham’s, Cesar, Sheba, Temptations, Goodlife Recipe, Sensible Choice, Excel).

Other major pet food makers are not best known for pet care, although many of their household and personal care products do use ingredients derived from animal by-products:

•Procter and Gamble (P&G) purchased The Iams Company (Iams, Eukanuba) in 1999. P&G shortly thereafter introduced Iams into grocery stores, where it did very well.

•Colgate-Palmolive bought Hill’s Science Diet (founded in 1939) in 1976 (Hill’s Science Diet, Prescription Diets, Nature’s Best).

Private labelers (who make food for “house” brands like Kroger and Wal-Mart) and co-packers (who produce food for other pet food makers) are also major players. Three major companies are Doane Pet Care, Diamond, and Menu Foods; they produce food for dozens of private label and brand names. Interestingly, all 3 of these companies have been involved in pet food recalls that sickened or killed many pets.
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Well I'm no veterinarian, but I'm happy to report that our dogs have always done well with Purina Dog Chow. :thumbup:

Our vet staff did recently recommend however that Sadie switch to Senior Diet. It's supposed to have some supplements that are good for joints, plus it has a lower fat content to help keep senior dogs' weight down.

We're using the Purina One Vibrant Maturity food. It's available locally and doesn't cost an arm and leg. First ingredient is chicken, second ingredient rice, third ingredient corn meal, fourth ingredient more chicken parts... Sounds more healthy than what I eat. :D
 
+1 for the grain free, i have used innova in the past, excellent food. I am using a food called Now, with the kitten i saved a couple of weeks ago, also grain free. it was touch and go for the first week, but he is starting to put some weight on. and while the food may cost more, with no fill you will probably find that your animals eat less. with dogs it might not be so noticeable, but when you empty a litter box you really see the difference.
 
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