My question for the group is how do you normally choose food for your dog or cat?
- Reviews?
- Family and friends recommendations?
- Reading labels?
- Store clerk recommendations?
- Images or words on the bag or can?
- Other?
Thanks for your insights!
Lisa
How do you choose your pet's food?
clarachan43·Oct 21, 2021clarachan43·Oct 21, 2021For my cat’s normal day-to-day food, I usually buy whatever my vet recommends! I think they know my pet’s health and needs the most and I almost never do it any other way. Different story for buying snacks tho! I love buying snacks for my cat at pet stores, and usually like to do my own shopping or if friends recommend a specific product. Usually if I go shopping myself, I like snacks that have a packaging that says it’s natural, with no fake flavourings or preservatives. Always a plus if the snack is only made of the food itself, e.g. a pack of dried shrimp where there is literally full shrimps and nothing else. Also a sucker for snacks that have some additional benefit, like hair ball control or helps brush their teeth.
tamayogirl·Oct 21, 2021tamayogirl·Oct 21, 2021Thank you! Excellent insights!
I check FB group posts, but do listen to my vet’s suggestions. My dog is allergic to a ton of stuff, so we read labels too. We do quite a bit of online research too. I never go by packaging, the ingredients are key. For me, if I can read and understand the ingredients, less likely it’s an issue for my dog. I also look where it’s manufactured, ideally US, since there’s stricter standards around pet food.
Thank you! Allergies definitely complicate things. I hope you have a good food for your dog now!
Last year I was looking for ways that I could regularly spend with Black-owned businesses; so I went through my recurring expenses and saw that pet food was one I could switch. I chose PetPlate and they've been outstanding. Really impressed with how they've innovated and updated the customer experience throughout the year I've been with them.
Thank you! I have not heard of them. Will go check them out now. Great food at a great price is a win! win!
I have three dogs all at different ages, but one of them has food allergies and a sensitive stomach. When I get my dog food, I read the labels and take the store owner’s recommendation (usually shop at a locally owned store). Then I wait to see how it effects my sensitive dog’s tummy and either keep it or go back to the store.
I don’t like to waste food (unless there are some real potty issues), so I wait till they eaten the whole bag and then I’ll change. But, once I find something that works, typically they’ll stay on it for 1-2 years. That’s when they get tired of the it and I have to start all over again.
Great informations thank you so much.
That's a good question; I know we switched from something without grain to Blue Buffalo because it seemed our dog was developing an allergy. We ask my aunt (who often works with dogs) and do online research.
I don't think so; We had to put her on some kind of medication. On the plus side, at least there are little bits of vegetables in the cans.
Thank you for that information. 😍
My own research and the feedback from doggie groups on FB and the vet. Farmer's Dog Food - raw food has been game changer. Yes, its pricey, but worth it.
@tamayogirl - I love loved Farmer's dog food. The customer service is exceptional. They go out of their way to please the customer. Cassie, the Labrador retriever goes crazy over it. It really has helped her with inflammation and digestion issues that she had on Purina. The only thing that is tough for me is the price. However, I put that towards the fact that there is no price for healthy and avoiding any future issues.
@ritapalanjian I have not personally used Farmer’s Dog, but hear amazing things about them. Thank you for the information.
We adopted our pup in St Louis, where Purina is headquartered. So the humane society was giving him Purina One chicken and rice when we got him. Our vet said that his food was one of the best on the market so we stuck with it.A few months back he decided he didn’t want to eat it anymore so we asked our vet for alternatives. She said that only Purina, Hills Science Diet, Iams, and Royal Canine had done long term testing on their products and she wouldn’t recommend anything outside of those brands unless there was an allergy that excluded them. So we switched him to Iams for a bit and then recently went back to Purina with a different flavor (tuna and salmon), and our boy loves it.Here’s a photo of our Toby, a Labrador-Boxer-Chihuahua mix.
Hi @hollydechelle - thank you for that information. Tony is a very handsome boy! It's true that the big companies do a lot of research on their products. So, it makes sense that vets recommend them.
I check my local stores as I do not want to depend on delivery (too much packaging). I decided early on I wanted to go with kibble for travel purposes. I then used this site https://www.pawdiet.com/
@nicolahughes - thank you for the insights and for the link to Paw Diet! I've never seen that before. Looks very informative. Do you have trouble finding the foods you want with just local retail?
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