# Is this Food Good for my puppy



## april3 (Feb 13, 2017)

Hello please i need your opinion regarding this dry food to my 5month old solid black GSD. Its name is NutraGold Holistic made by Diamonds company 
The Ingredients are for the Large Breed Puppy Formula:

Chicken, turkey, chicken meal, turkey meal, barley, whole grain brown rice, white rice, oat flakes, millet, potatoes (3%), egg derivatives, tomato pomace, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), duck, salmon, linseed, ocean fish meal, natural chicken flavor, salmon oil (source of DHA), potassium chloride, salt, choline chloride, dried chicory root, dried kelp, carrots (0.1%), peas (0.1%), apples (0.1%), tomatoes, blueberries, spinach, dried skim milk, cranberries, rosemary extract, parsley flake, yucca schidigera extract, L-Carnitine, dried fermentation products of Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus plantarum, dried Trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, vitamins and minerals.

Guaranteed Analysis

Crude Protein	26%	
Crude Oils and Fats	14.0%	
Crude Ash	6.5%	
Crude Fibres	3.5%	
Moisture	10.0%	
Calcium	1.2%	
Phosphorus	1.0%


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## Momto2GSDs (Mar 22, 2012)

I do not trust the Diamond Company after their huge recall a few years ago.

I think you are in the UK?
If so you could try Symply Dog Food. 
 Why choose Symply 
"Symply recipes contain only the finest natural ingredients for the balanced and complete diet he needs to stay in top condition. All Symply products are free of artificial colourings, flavourings and preservatives. Formulated with wholesome ingredients and natural antioxidants rich in vitamins to enhance the immune system." "The high meat content provides the protein your dog needs for a healthy body and strong muscles.
The Symply dog range contains over 26% real dried meat. By using "dried" meat our range has more meat content than the equivalent "fresh" meat. "Fresh" simply means that it’s weighed in its wet form but this water is lost during processing and so there is a lot less meat in the final product."

I believe you can get Orijen there (which is a high quality food), but note that it can give some dogs loose stool.

If you change your pups food, 
 always transition with small amounts of new food mixed with old, taking a week or two to change. If stool get loose, go back to previous amount fed (where stool was solid) and hold at that amount for a few days until his gut gets use to it. Then increase again. This is called "bowel tolerance".
 
Moms


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

I think this might be one of Diamond's foods formulated for the international market. What country are you in? 

There are a lot of foods sold internationally that are far worse. This looks pretty similar to the Kirkland Signature puppy food, sold at Costco in the United States, also made by Diamond. I've used a lot of that stuff in rescue for pups and nursing moms, and they've all done very well on it. We choose it because of the price point -- there are far better foods out there, but not at that price point. I consider it a mid-tier food that's a very good value for the cost -- a compromise.

One interesting "selling point" for Nutra Gold is that they claim to use deboned meat, not meat meals. That sometimes causes people to hand-wring about the protein and water-content of the meat being over-counted. HOWEVER, I think that thinking ignores the role meat meals have played in contamination and recalls -- so maybe this food is actually a little safer. _Maybe._

Diamond produces LOTS of brands of food. Given Diamond's recall history, you must save date codes on their bags until done with it, in case any dogs get sick. However, the way things are going, I think you probably ought to be doing that with any brand.

I'm slowly re-evaluating my view on Diamond being any "worse" than other big manufacturers based on their recall history, because even very expensive brands recently have had unforgivable processing mishaps leading to serious recalls -- Evanger's, Blue, and Wellness all had them recently, and I wasn't impress with Evanger's response or the fact that Blue and Wellness only acted when dogs got sick due to thyroid hormone in the food, and third-party labs proved the cause. I'm not sure Diamond's really any worse then these other guys.

Diamond hasn't had a serious recall in the news for a while -- that could be luck, or they could have improved their processes. I don't know. Many other brands have had much more recent problems. The problems seem rampant in the entire industry, frankly. So....unless you are going to pay more for an independent brand that owns its own plant and has a rock-solid reputation for quality control over the ingredient chain...this is probably a decent food for the money.


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## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

Not really. My puppy came to me on Diamond and I go him off it as soon as I found a better option. Look at Fromm.


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## dz0qp5 (Oct 12, 2004)

You can't tell by looking at the ingredients list, more often than not, it is simply used as a marketing tactic to get you to purchase the food. It has actually been a verify effective tactic, because now that is how people are incorrectly judging food quality. The only way to know is to feed it and see what kind of results you get. Does your dog find it palatable or do you need to doctor the food, does he have good stool quality, clear eyes nice coat, good energy, etc. If so then it probably is a good food for your dog.


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## april3 (Feb 13, 2017)

Thank you for the replies . Actually my puppy came to me on Royal Canin Maxi-Junior which he is doing really well on it , very good stool, coat is good, but im afraid on the long run the ingredients in this food is harmful to him.below are the ingredients of RC maxi junior 
Ingredients:dehydrated poultry protein, maize flour,rice,vegetable protein isolate,animal fats,maize,wheat flour,hydrolysed animal protein,beet pulp,maize gluten,vegetable fibres,minerals,soya oil,fish oil,fructo-oligo-saccharides,psyllium husks and seeds,hydrolysed yeast (source of manno-oligo-saccharides),marigold extract (source of lutein), hydrolysedcrutaceans (source of glucosamine) hydrolysed cartilage (source of chondroitini)

protein:30%
fat: 16%
fibres:2.4%
ash: 7.2%
calcium: 1.2%
phosphorus:0.9%
i know this food is not a good one, but im afraid if i change i will get loose stool and diarrhea thats the only thing making me think twice. 
I also have the option to feed him Taste of the wild. 
Thank you


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## ghinchcl (Mar 2, 2017)

*April*



april3 said:


> Thank you for the replies . Actually my puppy came to me on Royal Canin Maxi-Junior which he is doing really well on it , very good stool, coat is good, but im afraid on the long run the ingredients in this food is harmful to him.below are the ingredients of RC maxi junior
> Ingredients:dehydrated poultry protein, maize flour,rice,vegetable protein isolate,animal fats,maize,wheat flour,hydrolysed animal protein,beet pulp,maize gluten,vegetable fibres,minerals,soya oil,fish oil,fructo-oligo-saccharides,psyllium husks and seeds,hydrolysed yeast (source of manno-oligo-saccharides),marigold extract (source of lutein), hydrolysedcrutaceans (source of glucosamine) hydrolysed cartilage (source of chondroitini)
> 
> protein:30%
> ...


If your dog is doing good on the food than i think it is a good food for your dog. A lot of people have a lot of opinions. If your dog is healthy no reason to change. I have personally been sampling various foods and unfortunately got tied up in all the hype of figuring out what is the best food. Each dog is differtent and what is good for one may not be for the next. I would not change personally if your dog is doing well on it.


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## dz0qp5 (Oct 12, 2004)

Royal Canin has done a ton of scientific research into GSD nutrition. Stick with the science and results not with the marketing and the hype.


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## ausdland (Oct 21, 2015)

april3 said:


> Thank you for the replies . Actually my puppy came to me on Royal Canin Maxi-Junior which he is doing really well on it , very good stool, coat is good, but im afraid on the long run the ingredients in this food is harmful to him.below are the ingredients of RC maxi junior
> Ingredients:dehydrated poultry protein, maize flour,rice,vegetable protein isolate,animal fats,maize,wheat flour,hydrolysed animal protein,beet pulp,maize gluten,vegetable fibres,minerals,soya oil,fish oil,fructo-oligo-saccharides,psyllium husks and seeds,hydrolysed yeast (source of manno-oligo-saccharides),marigold extract (source of lutein), hydrolysedcrutaceans (source of glucosamine) hydrolysed cartilage (source of chondroitini)
> 
> protein:30%
> ...


My breeder feeds this kibble, so do a couple other well known gsd breeders. I fed this kibble until my pup was 7-8 months old, she did fine on it. If your pup does well on it, I'd feed it until it's 6-7 months old then transition to an als or adult food.


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## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

Of the 3 aforementioned foods, I'd choose Taste of the Wild - ive had 4 dogs that did well on this food for years. The youngest being 7 months to my 13yr old senior.


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## april3 (Feb 13, 2017)

Fodder said:


> Of the 3 aforementioned foods, I'd choose Taste of the Wild - ive had 4 dogs that did well on this food for years. The youngest being 7 months to my 13yr old senior.


HI, yes i know that Taste of the wild has the best ingredients in it but as @dz0qp5 was saying Royal canin has done thousands of researches scientifically so thats why i am getting firm stools and nice coat.My parents Lab never ever had firm stools on Taste of the wild thats why im not convinced,maybe the potatoes in it are not making the stool hard or maybe there is no rice in it. Anyway i think I will try to change to Royal Canin German Shepherd-Puppy formula after i finish the RC maxi bag. Thank you everyone


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## Galathiel (Nov 30, 2012)

Have you actually looked at the ingredients for Royal Canin? I think it might be more suitable for a cow.

Brewers rice, chicken by-product meal, brown rice, oat groats, corn gluten meal, wheat gluten, chicken fat, natural flavors, dried plain beet pulp, fish oil, sodium silico aluminate, vegetable oil, pea fiber, calcium carbonate, potassium chloride, monocalcium phosphate, psyllium seed husk, L-lysine, salt, fructooligosaccharides, sodium tripolyphosphate, taurine, hydrolyzed yeast, DL-methionine, vitamins [DL-alpha tocopherol acetate (source of vitamin E), inositol, niacin supplement, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), D-calcium pantothenate, biotin, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), riboflavin supplement, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), vitamin A acetate, folic acid, vitamin B12 supplement, vitamin D3 supplement], choline chloride, glucosamine hydrochloride, marigold extract (Tagetes erecta L.), trace minerals [zinc proteinate, zinc oxide, ferrous sulfate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, copper sulfate, calcium iodate, sodium selenite, copper proteinate], chondroitin sulfate, rosemary extract, preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid.


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## ghinchcl (Mar 2, 2017)

*Part Cow*



Galathiel said:


> Have you actually looked at the ingredients for Royal Canin? I think it might be more suitable for a cow.
> 
> Brewers rice, chicken by-product meal, brown rice, oat groats, corn gluten meal, wheat gluten, chicken fat, natural flavors, dried plain beet pulp, fish oil, sodium silico aluminate, vegetable oil, pea fiber, calcium carbonate, potassium chloride, monocalcium phosphate, psyllium seed husk, L-lysine, salt, fructooligosaccharides, sodium tripolyphosphate, taurine, hydrolyzed yeast, DL-methionine, vitamins [DL-alpha tocopherol acetate (source of vitamin E), inositol, niacin supplement, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), D-calcium pantothenate, biotin, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), riboflavin supplement, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), vitamin A acetate, folic acid, vitamin B12 supplement, vitamin D3 supplement], choline chloride, glucosamine hydrochloride, marigold extract (Tagetes erecta L.), trace minerals [zinc proteinate, zinc oxide, ferrous sulfate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, copper sulfate, calcium iodate, sodium selenite, copper proteinate], chondroitin sulfate, rosemary extract, preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid.


Maybe April's dog and thousands of millions of others are part cow as well..


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## kimbale (Mar 7, 2017)

dz0qp5 said:


> Royal Canin has done a ton of scientific research into GSD nutrition. Stick with the science and results not with the marketing and the hype.


Royal Canin is the biggest marketer in the industry. Their tailor made breed-specific formulas are nothing more than a marketing gimmick. It's an overpriced food for what's in it and you can get a better food for less or the same amount of money.

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## ghinchcl (Mar 2, 2017)

Not saying it's cheap but if a dog is doing good on it why switch?? The ingredients are apparently good for that dog. Yes Fromm, Canidae and Orijen may be better but why chance and switch? And some say raw is the best, again each dog is different and can handle foods differently.


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## kimbale (Mar 7, 2017)

ghinchcl said:


> Not saying it's cheap but if a dog is doing good on it why switch?? The ingredients are apparently good for that dog. Yes Fromm, Canidae and Orijen may be better but why chance and switch? And some say raw is the best, again each dog is different and can handle foods differently.


Just because a dog can live on something doesn't make it healthy. Some people are able to eat McDonald's every day, but that doesn't mean they're healthy or getting the nutrients they need.

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## ghinchcl (Mar 2, 2017)

*Wow*



kimbale said:


> Royal Canin is the biggest marketer in the industry. Their tailor made breed-specific formulas are nothing more than a marketing gimmick. It's an overpriced food for what's in it and you can get a better food for less or the same amount of money.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk


You are comparing RC as the McDonald's of dog food?? Maybe O'l Roy but not RC. Are you a dog food maker??


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## kimbale (Mar 7, 2017)

ghinchcl said:


> You are comparing RC as the McDonald's of dog food?? Maybe O'l Roy but not RC. Are you a dog food maker??


Making a comparison regarding living on a poor diet. I'm not a dog food maker, but am a large carnivore zoologist. Does that count for expertise?

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## ghinchcl (Mar 2, 2017)

Sure if you want to compare what lions eat to medium to large size dogs. I am signing out of this chat as I gave OP my opinion and done with the back forth adding no value to the OP. Peace out


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## kimbale (Mar 7, 2017)

I actually worked with wolves for several years. Lot closer to dogs than lions. 

Anyway, to the OP, you want to find a dog food that has a good meat protein source in the first five ingredients. Stay away from byproducts as that's basically anything that food processors can't sell as human food, usually inedible pieces of anything and everything. The more meat sources in the first five ingredients, the better. I recommend Fromm, Taste of the Wild, Holistic Select and Orijin. Fromm is great because you can mix protein sources if you feed the shiny bags (you can do chicken one bag, and duck the next, etc.)

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## ausdland (Oct 21, 2015)

kimbale said:


> Just because a dog can live on something doesn't make it healthy. Some people are able to eat McDonald's every day, but that doesn't mean they're healthy or getting the nutrients they need.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk


I liken any kibble to eating McDonalds. All kibble is processed food.
And I agree RC is one of the largest marketers in the industry and doesn't contain what I think are the highest quality ingredients, but many gsd's thrive on it. I tried 5 kibbles in 8-9 months. RC and Victor worked for my pup, but she got too skinny on the Victor. Whatever works for your dog is a 'good' food for it.


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## Hannah Renee Cain (Apr 26, 2017)

This is similar to the Costco food we feed our dogs. They do well on it and for the price it is the best value. From the start Kibble has not the been only source of food. We tried the raw diet and some of our older dogs got sick so we switched to cooked chicken, rice, oatmeal, spinach, peas, carrots, celery, and brocoli at night and they LOVE it. We have 8 dogs so we buy 40lbs of food every two weeks.


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## dz0qp5 (Oct 12, 2004)

Marketing is a beautiful thing, people think they can tell the quality of a food by reading a piece of paper, you simply cannot. No one other than the manufacturer and sometimes not even many of those, can tell the nutrient profile and the quality and grade of ingredients in dog food? Chicken meal for instance comes in many different grades from good to very poor, as does poultry by product meal. A lower grade chicken meal is an inferior source of protein than a top shelf by product meal. There is so much information on the net about these things, people are accepting it as gospel, when it is simply mis-information. How can you tell by looking at the ingredients list whether they are using a high quality or poor quality chicken meal?


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## dz0qp5 (Oct 12, 2004)

Another example of the above statement is that Purina had to actually tell Blue Buffalo what was in there food, cause they had no idea. Yet Purina is the bad company and Blue Buffalo for many years was the highly recommended food, until it came out that Purina had to tell them their own ingredients list did not match what was in the product. Now after that some people will say they were never high on Blue, but that is revisionist history.

As far as marketing goes they all do extensive marketing, some of the "holistic" companies are exclusively marketing companies, which is exactly my point, go by the results not the hype and marketing.


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