# Food question for seniors



## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

Sorry to start another in the endless debate over food, but I've got a Senior Shepherd and a Puppy BC/lab mix. I'm feeding two different foods. I put Buddy on Senior food after Shadow died to try to control weight, but now that we have a puppy and he is a lot more active I'm wondering if I should switch him back to regular food? 

Buddy will be 10 next month
Ivan is 6 months.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

You should be able to feed them both a good quality All Life Stages food.


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## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

Does science diet make one? What about Royal Canine? Where on the label would I look for "All life stages "?


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

I wouldn't feed Science Diet or RC. Look for something on the label that says "This food has been certified by the AAFCO to be complete and balanced for all life stages." If your Shep/BC mix puppy is going to be a large dog, make sure your MAX calcium/phosphorus percentages are low enough for a large breed puppy.

I really like Precise Foundation as a good all life stages food.


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## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

Emoore said:


> I wouldn't feed Science Diet or RC. Look for something on the label that says "This food has been certified by the AAFCO to be complete and balanced for all life stages." If your Shep/BC mix puppy is going to be a large dog, make sure your MAX calcium/phosphorus percentages are low enough for a large breed puppy.
> 
> I really like Precise Foundation as a good all life stages food.


Thanks. I will look we are pretty limited in choices here. I'm not sure what puppy is giong to be size wise. I think pretty small. I don't think there is shepherd in him. My old guy is a pb though.


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## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

Made a special trip in to Carson City today to visit a PetsMart, figuring they would have more options that the tractor supply. They didn't have 
precise foundation. I did find the wellness that was suggested in a different thread. 78 dollars a bag. Yikes heart attack.  I can't do that.  They had a new science diet that is grain free, so I grabed a small bag of that to give a try. Also stopped at 2 feed stores on the way home. One had something called old chuck or something like that, that was high preformance and 18 dollars a bag. Didn't figure that was very good stuff, the other one had stopped carrying dog food completely. :shocked:


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Have you looked at the Precise dealer locator? Precise Pet Products. The price on mine just went up to $45 for a 40lb bag. It was $39.99 for 40lb for a long time. You can even get it delivered through Pet Food Direct or similar.

PetSmart/PetCo are ripoffs.


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## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

*<H4>Retailer Locator

No Retailers found within 50 miles of Nevada, USA
*</H4> 
This was as far as the search engine would let me go. So I put in my zip code, the Carson City zip code and the Reno Zip code, finally just put in the entire state, No luck.  

I'm leary of ordering online. Our mail service is horrible. I ordered a Kindle from Amazon in February. It was sent from an Amazon warehouse in the next town over, less than an hours drive. It took 3 weeks for it to arrive. 

I will try going to the tractor supply on Friday. I will post what they have and maybe you all can help me find a better food within my budget.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

If you get decent UPS that is who doggiefood.com uses and I have been very pleased with them.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

shepherdmom said:


> I will try going to the tractor supply on Friday. I will post what they have and maybe you all can help me find a better food within my budget.


Tractor Supply carries 4Health, Diamond Naturals, and Taste of the Wild. None are bad foods so far as ingredients go, but they're all made by Diamond and Diamond seems to be having a rough time with the recalls in the last few months.


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## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

Its real name is not tractor supply its Big R I just thought it was a tractor supply (farming and ranching) type store. I've seen diamond products there as well as Nuterna and I can't remember all what else. I have gotten SD there as well. Everyone is so down on Science Diet I really wanted to see if there was something better, but 75 dollars for a 35 # bag of dog food, is not something I can realistically do, at least not while gas prices are so high. $4.00 a gallon is really difficult on the budget.


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

When you read the labels, make sure there is no SOY, Wheat, Corn or By-products.
SD is such a cheap yet overpriced food I'm betting it is soy based.
Soy is used to boost protein levels in cheap dog food so they don't have to add real meat.
Soy is hard on dogs' digestive tracts and tends to give them gas and bloated stools.

**And I'd be wrong!




> Chicken, Pea Protein Concentrate, Potato Starch, Dried Potato, Chicken Meal, Chicken Fat, Dried Beet Pulp, Flaxseed, Chicken Liver Flavor, Powdered Cellulose, Lactic Acid, Cranberries, Apples, Peas, Carrots, Broccoli, Iodized Salt, Choline Chloride, vitamins (L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Vitamin E Supplement, Potassium Chloride, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid, Taurine, Beta-Carotene, Phosphoric Acid, Rosemary Extract.


They do use Pea Protein concentrate however, to boost protein levels, peas are still not as bioavailable to a dog as an actual meat protein like Chicken. Chicken meal is in there (a meal of the muscle meat) but lower on the list. I'd say the bulk of the protein is a vegetable source and therefore not as bioavailable, but still perhaps a better food than Ol' Chuck or Ol' Roy


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## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

msvette2u said:


> When you read the labels, make sure there is no SOY, Wheat, Corn or By-products.
> SD is such a cheap yet overpriced food I'm betting it is soy based.
> Soy is used to boost protein levels in cheap dog food so they don't have to add real meat.
> Soy is hard on dogs' digestive tracts and tends to give them gas and bloated stools.
> ...


Actually you are right. This is what I'm looking at for their new Ideal Balance ingredients. There is soy. No wheat or corn though. 


*Ingredients*

Chicken, Whole Grain Wheat, Brown Rice, Cracked Pearled Barley, Soybean Meal, Chicken Meal, Pork Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Whole Grain Oats, Dried Egg Product, Natural Flavor, Apples, Lactic Acid, Soybean Oil, Cranberries, Peas, Carrots, Dried Beet Pulp, Iodized Salt, Flaxseed, Broccoli, vitamins (L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Calcium Carbonate, Vitamin E Supplement, Choline Chloride, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Taurine, preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid, Phosphoric Acid, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

pssstt...Whole grain WHEAT is the second ingredient.


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## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

jocoyn said:


> If you get decent UPS that is who doggiefood.com uses and I have been very pleased with them.


Thanks!! I will check them out.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Precise - Precise | PetFoodDirect.com

We order tripe for Banshee through here and their shipping is really fast. Just time it so they have free shipping or 15% off deal and it pays for the shipping. You also might want to check into the food Jamie sells. I like the look of it. Send her a PM (gsdraven) and ask her for the information.


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## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

Jax08 said:


> pssstt...Whole grain WHEAT is the second ingredient.


Omg totally missed that. :blush:


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## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

Wait a second. I thought they were advertising grain free, and this has wheat? Now I'm even more confused. How can they say its grain free?...... Just looked at the bag. Ok I get it, I thought they were all grain free but this one just says natural grains. Grr... Why do they make this stuff so confusing?


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

shepherdmom said:


> Wait a second. I thought they were advertising grain free, and this has wheat? Now I'm even more confused. How can they say its grain free?...... Just looked at the bag. Ok I get it, I thought they were all grain free but this one just says natural grains. Grr... Why do they make this stuff so confusing?


Precise? No Precise doesn't advertise grain-free. It has no soy, wheat, corn, or byproducts but it does have rice. Rice is fine. If your dog has no issues with grains there's really no problem with feeding rice.


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## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

Actually I was talking about the small bag of Ideal Ballance, that I got to try. I haven't found Precise anywhere near me yet.  I didn't see it on doggiefood.com and I am 5 days away on shipping from them. I still need to check the petfood direct link that was posted.


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## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

I didn't make it to Big R this weekend but was in Carson today so I stopped once again at petsmart. I looked at several bags in my price range and came up with Natures Recipie. 

Chicken meal, ground rice, pearled barley, poultry fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), natural flavor, tomato pomace, salt, potassium chloride, vitamins (vitamin E supplement, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), inositol, niacin supplement, vitamin A supplement, d-calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, beta carotene, riboflavin supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, menadione sodium bisulfite complex, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement), minerals (zinc proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, iron proteinate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, copper sulfate, copper proteinate, calcium iodate, sodium selenite), yeast culture, choline chloride, yucca schidigera extract, rosemary extract, citric acid (used as a preservative).


Hope Buddy likes it and it doesn't give him an upset tummy switching. I've only got a little bit of the old stuff left to mix it with.


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## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

Sorry I didn't update sooner, but had a close family friend pass away and haven't had time. The switch to Natures Recipie went well. Buddy seems to like it and his coat looks much nicer. Since it is a food for all ages of dogs, I went ahead and switched the puppy when RC changed their formula and raised their prices. It was a more sudden switch than I would have liked but it went well. No runny poo. Ivan looks good and seems happy with it. I notice they have a grain free easy to digest formula as well that I might try in the future just to switch it up a bit but so far I'm very pleased. It is a decent price and seems to have better ingredients than the Science Diet.


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