This is a highly informative post! Thanks kingrattus. I did run across this pets article the other day... If people want to know the dirty truth about what's in that bag of dog food: http://petsadviser.com/2009/10/how-to-choose-a-pet-food/

WOW!!! Thank you so, so, so much for posting that link for the food analysis site! Even if someone doesn't necessarily agree with the rating given to their chosen food, just the fact that you can go to one place and view all the food choices and their ingredients is an incredible asset.

When we lost the info from the site this summer it deleted my post saying that I had taken my dog off the Science Diet food I had recently switched her to. She just wouldn't eat it and when she did she had digestive issues. At 1st I figured it was just because it was a new food and she was adjusting, but after 6wks of this I was ready to pull my hair out. After really reading the ingredient list on the back of the bag - I admit I had just given it a brief scan when I switched her initially - I realized the ingredients just weren't what I wanted to be feeding my dog. What I just read on that analysis website totally backed up my decision.

Maya is currently eating Healthwise Active Chicken & Oatmeal Formula (3 star review) and she loves it. For my picky eater that’s half the battle. And what's even better is that this food has more protein, fat and fatty acids than regular dog foods (it's made for working dogs), so I don't have to mix puppy food in with her adult kibble anymore to keep weight on her. She has been eating this since August and she looks great, has even bulked up a bit. I will admit that once winter hit Ohio I started giving her Derma Form again - but that's just because she has sensitive skin and the air in my house is very dry.

I think everyone should take a second and look at that analysis website. You don’t have to agree with the review, but it’s always good to know exactly what you’re feeding your dog. You might just be surprised.

Heres a website that has anaylized just about every dog food there is and given it a rating from 1-6, and why it got its rating. You will be surprised at what got a good rating and what didn't.... check it out for yourself. I researched and then talked to my vet and realized what I was feeding my dogs could have killed them but was being sold as a "high end" dog food!!! For a human it would be like eating at McDonalds for 3 meals a day every single day and ordering crap.
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/

I know I guess its the size weight and what you dog eats and also there vet says is good for them.

If your dog is getting the nutrition she needs (I'd check the bag), then you are a lucky person at those prices. My girl tends to get, how shall I put this, gassy on anything other than Iams (off the shelf). I haven't tried premium foods beyond that. She's happy, healthy, and has a beautiful coat. She's never been sick and other than "growing pains," has not required anything other than routine vet calls. I think the food is a part of it, but her overall health is related to her overall life as well.

I have feed my dog Mini store brand dog food for her whole life now and let me say she is a healthy and active dog that loves to play.
So I prefer store brand cause it's cheaper and still the same kind of nutrition.

I'm highly against store brand dog foods. Have you read what the ingredients are & what they mean? Ya ummm NO WAY IN HECK are those toxic chemicals and nasty/bad things going into my pets! That junk causes soo many illnesses it's not funny. Also there is NO variety in dog kibble, which is unnatural & not healthy.

Read the nasty ingredients on your so called good brands and then do research on it online... Try not to puke too much. Also DO NOT read BS from PETA, so much of it is fake & twisted truth, so it's untrustworty... So read many different sites and look at many videos.. For starters look up: Meat/Chicken/Beef/etc "By-Product". "Meal" is better then "By-Product", but you want to see Chicken, Beef, Fish, as it's using quality grade foods (healthy & safe).

Dogs shouldn't get sick when switching foods or eating different foods. It's the chemical levels that are a common cause to making the switches an issue. If you buy GOOD & I mean good kibbles (wont find it in pet stores or the grocery store.. Can be found in dog/cat food stores like Global Ryans (NOT Pet Value type stores..ewww)). Basically anything in a Global Ryan type of pet food store is healthy. There are low & high qualities. The low's usually contain rice, but all the other ingredients are human grade & healthy, no toxic chemicals in theses foods!

You can buy a different brand & a different flavour at Global Ryan's every time you need a new bag & your dog wont get sick. Before I learned about my Dog's food allergies, I use to buy a different brand and different flavour every bag. I sometimes mixed brands together to make it more interesting for her. She can't eat kibble anymore due to allergies, but all my friend's dogs eat different brands/flavours every bad & they couldn't believe the difference in their dogs. My 1 friend's Chocolate Lab was over weight & stupid hyper for a 7yr old dog. One week after the kibble change Stitch is no longer a crazy hyper dog. He's very well behaved now, & has a healthy energy level. He's also lost a lot of weight, his dry skin has cleared up, he doesn't stink anymore, no more nasty dog breath, no more nasty farts (unless her dad feeds him fast food, then he farts), not always looking for food, and has smaller & less smelly poops. My Dog's poop smells like fish, it's really weird, but not nasty/offensive like other dog poop.

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My below reply is a copy/paste from another post. It has fantastic info so I'm posting it here.

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My dog is allergic to Red Meats, Dairy & Shellfish. At first she didn't show any signs of allergies, I thought she was just a picky eater or only ate like a bird. Once she was about a yr old I knew something was wrong. It was Dairy that I noticed first (cheese). Then it was beef, then pork, then deer. At 1.5 months old she nearly died from getting into cheese and beef in the trash (well the cat ate it, then puked & well, Digi is a dog & she ate it, ewww)... She had a lot of blood loss (in my opinion anyways), coming from the front & back end.. this all happened in less then 24hrs before I noticed something was very wrong.

After $800CDN, 4 vet visits, 18 needles within 30hrs, 8 meds 6 times a day at different times for 2 weeks, no food for almost 1 week, & Gateraid for 3 weeks she was better.

Then 1 week after that she was sick again (very minor compared to before). Thats when I learned about her allergy to shellfish. Since then (about 8 months ago) she hasn't been sick. I had to rehomed that cat (he has an eating disorder that would more then likely make Digi sick again) to a good friend of mine (I made darn sure he was going to a loving home with someone he knew.. he liked my friend more then me anyways...I adopted him at 9yrs old & had him for 6 months).

Due to her allergies & my pickiness in dog food (I don't buy "store brands" as they are low quality. I bought grain free, no additives, human grade foods uses), I just make her food now. I use whole fish (guts in all), whole tiny fish (I do not cook them), whole chickens, chicken bones, turkey neck, turkey legs, duck head, duck feet (mostly a treat), chicken & duck organs (I do not cook it), eggs, eggshell, and many different veggies. I pressure cook the meats until the bones are soft. I then blend the meats into a paste as its easier to digest. I blend the raw organs into a paste and put them in ice cube trays (prevents it from going bad). I cook the veggies until they are soft & blend them together. I use all the liquids & nothing goes unused.

Takes me about 1 day to make 1-2 months worth of dog food. I freeze everything & store it in a chest freezer. Once a year I hit a huge local farmers market to get 6-8 months worth of veggies (the freezer is FULL) for dirt cheap.

My dog also has a huge issue with keeping on weight. She is known as Skeleton dog & there is little to nothing that can be done. TO make petting her more pleasant I also give her over cooked rice. This rice is 100% extra to her diet, so it's not a filler. It's used purely to help keep a tiny amount of fat on her bones. Normal dogs do not need rice, as it's unneeded calories (grain=fat dogs.. not good at all).

My dog (Digi) looks & acts great! Lovely coat, never dirty ears, very healthy, good eyes, and very healthy & small poops.

My kitten (Cam) looks great too! She has lovely fur, very clean ears, clean eyes, active, and isn't over weight.

Both of them LOVE their food & gobble it up! Digi is now a little pig and goes NUTS at food time. Cam meows & purrs like crazy when eating.

If you need more help in getting good food for your pup, let me know.

EDIT: forgot to add, Neither of them have bad breath, & they don't fart. Why? Because there are no bad chemicals & things in their food.

Hey, i have a german shepherd/ beagle thats named Abby and she is the love of my life. For the past couple of weeks I noticed that she was acting wired, not wanting to play, not eating that much, an was always mopping around. This scared me because she only 7 years old. I was talking to a friend of mine and told her what was going on, she introduced me to a new type of all natural food called FreshPet Select. After a couple of days of eating the new food, she was her old self. i highly suggest this product. Here there website check them out http://www.freshpetselect.com/.

Hey, i have a german shepherd/ beagle thats named Abby and she is the love of my life. For the past couple of weeks I noticed that she was acting wired, not wanting to play, not eating that much, an was always mopping around. This scared me because she only 7 years old. I was talking to a friend of mine and told her what was going on, she introduced me to a new type of all natural food called FreshPet Select. After a couple of days of eating the new food, she was her old self. i highly suggest this product. Here there website check them out http://www.freshpetselect.com/.

Thanks! That makes sense. The vet recommended a probiotic, but we got this fish oil stuff and I don't think she likes it. Active culture yogurt or that PB stuff you're talking about sounds better. Poor puppy!

I'll give that a try and change out her food.

Before the summer rolled around and Maya started having dry skin issues and we only had to worry about her very sensitive stomach the Iams Lamb and Rice worked well for her. If she had a few days of upset belly it would help if I added a few tablespoons of plain yogurt (make sure to get something with active cultures). Whenever I switch her food or when she's going through something stressful I give her Probios dog treats (the digestion support variety). They are a peanut butter flavored dog probiotic (I got mine through Smartpakcanine.com), they seem to help and she eats them more readily than the yogurt.

If you have a dog that is all around sensitive though I'd recommend California Natural. Max is allergic to practically everything - literally 31 things - and their Lamb and Rice Formula is one of the only foods he can eat because it doesn't have alot of additives. It's a little more expensive than Iams and you usually have to go to a pet boutique store or feed mill, but I think it's worth it. Their website can tell you where to find it in your area and more about it www.naturapet.com

I'd love help with food, as well. I was feeding my dogs Authority, but needed to put my older one on senior so upped to Nature's Recipe. He's fine, but changing my younger one (she's one) from puppy to adult and the Natiure's Recipe, she's had an upset tummy ever since, even though I transitioned her slowly.

Any one have dogs with sensitive stomachs... what did you use? 4LeggedCircus, maybe I should follow something like you're doing?

Thanks!

Just so I'm being 100% honest - my vet told me this past weekend to put my pit/greyhound mix on Science Diet Adult Sensitive Skin because she's having a problem with her skin (she's overly sensitive to alot of things).

Usually you can just give a dog fish oil (caps or straight oil), but she's allergic and she won't eat her food if you put flaxseed oil or powder on it - and the Derma Form chewables alone weren't cutting it. So we needed to find a food that was high in good oils and good quality.

I'll still be mixing in about 1c of Iams puppy food because she needs all the extras to help with her weight/metabolism, but she is being switched over to the Science Diet Sensitive Skin from the Iams Lamb & Rice. Since my vet recommended it I'm confident it's got to be a good brand.

I say iams my pup mini loves it and I think its a nice brand for big dogs my uncle feeds it to his dogs and they are HUGE!!!!
Heres a link to a brand THAT i think your dog will like http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2750138 best of luck savannah

I'll second Iams. I have a yellow Lab and she's in very good shape. Nice coat, too!

I'm not familiar with Bloodhounds specifically, but I may be able to give some general help. This may sound stupid, but are you still feeding your dog puppy food? I know some breeders that suggest keeping dogs on puppy formula until 24mo that's why I ask. The extra calories & other things in puppy food can make an adult dog that doesn't necessarily need them hyper. On a similar note I feed my dog a mix of puppy food & adult food because it's really hard to keep weight on her since her metabolism is through the roof.

I'm currently feeding my dogs Iams and California Natural dog foods. I love them both and have never had a problem with either. I use the California Natural because I have a dog with severe food allergies, but it's also good if you're looking for a food that doesn't have alot of additives.

You may also want to ask your vet or email a Bloodhound breeder. They know your dog/breed better than anyone - with the exception of you of course :)

I don't know about bloodhounds, but my shepherd is eating Iams for large dogs and is healthy as can be.