Better food?

[Ringo]

I'm sure with a little searching I could get an answer but I like validating people who feel they are competant, and I'm sure I'll get flamed a little for saying I feed my dogs Nutro...

I've got a 14 month old Boxer thats eating six cups of Nutro Large Breed Adult dry food a day.

I don't know know why every brand feels its better than another and sort of feel its all about personal opinion anyway (Ford vs Chevy or take your pick of a myriad of religious beliefs), but I would like to get my dog on a more nutrient dense food. At the rate he eats we have to buy a 44 pound bag every five or six weeks. I also have a 4 month old Boxer and although a 44 pound bag of Nutro Large Breed Puppy goes a lot slower with him, I'm sort of scared about the expense of having both of them on the adult food. A rough estimate would be about 120 dollars a month feeding both of them with this food.

I'm not trying to cheap out on my dogs, but I'm confused as to why my 60 pound dog needs six cups of food a day but my dad's 85 pound lab gets by on four cups of Purina One a day (sometimes two). I don't think there's any great discrepancy between their activity levels, it might be simple basal metabolism, but I figure the Nutro isn't very calorie dense.

Looking for some advice on which way to go. Everyone here seems to go with dog foods I've never heard of or seen for sale in any pet store, feed store or supermarket.

 

[Grimmja]

we feed our 9 month old california natural, here it's $34 for a 36 lb bag and he gets a little less than 4 cups a day, and as he gets older, it gets to be less than that. it's a more expensive food than our last brand (chicken soup), but it last at least a week , maybe two longer. also he's only pooping about 3 times a day instead of 5. with the higher quality foods you can feed less, and there's less waste because there's less filler in the food, much of it's absorbed.

 

[tyson69]

Depending on the size of your dog you are probably feeding too much. look on the website. i was feeding my dog that same food, he weighs 75lbs and i was giving him 4.5 cups a day. i changed to nutro nc lamb and rice and now i give him 4 cups a day. here is the site

http://www.nutroproducts.com/ncdoglbadult.asp

also if you are feeding to much he will be crapping alot more too!!!

Also dont be ashamed or feel that you will be flamed for feeding Nutro. It is a great food. If your dog works great on it than so be it. My dog is great on Nutro NC.

 

[Ringo]

I think I may be giving him too much according to normal standards, but we've expirimented and have found this is the amount of food that keeps him from looking emaciated. Even if we go to just five cups instead of six, in a week or so he starts looking like he's been in a concentration camp.

And about the poop, he takes a lot of dumps! I'd say about three first thing in the morning and another three or four throughout the day. Between the two dogs I'm picking up crap three times a day...

 

[Gruntsmom]

We had been feeding Nutro NC Max for almost a year, and a couple of months ago, switched over to the new Nutro NC Ultra Adult, which is working great for our boxer who is 19 months old. Grunt is perkier (if that's possible with a boxer, ), his coat is so shiny and soft, less poops, and his skin problems have all but disappeared. I've seen quite a few Nutro NC people here on BW, so you're not alone. All in all, like I've seen so many people post, what works for your boxer and you is the most important thing. If your dog is healthy and happy, why fix what isn't broken?

 

[KCboxer4]

Nutro

You know we fed the Nutro Ultra and really thought it was great, then after about six months Roxie started loosing all kinds of fur?? So I did some hunting around and came up with Solid Gold Wolf King, there both doing great on it. I just wanted to say that if that hadn't happened to Roxie ( shes my 12 year old white boxer) I would still be feeding Nutro. Its all what they like and what agrees with them. I think its all about whats best for them and what we feel compfortable doing. Best of luck
Roxie-12
Maya-4
Dylan- always in our hearts boo-boo

Oh, sorry I dont know about portions -n-stuff , we just leave the bowl down all the time

 

[Cami]

I would say that if your dog is eating that much food and producing that much stool then it is time to experiment with a different brand.

Of course the majority of Boxers have an endless supply of energy and tend to burn up boundless amounts of calories.

Not all high quality foods will do great on all dogs. When I was feeding my girl Solid Gold it caused her to become very gassy, it was just too rich for her....it does wonders with other dogs. Since switching to Eagle Pack Holistic Select kibble and Wellness canned the gas has disappeared. Just because a food costs more and is touted as being a wonderful healthier choice doesn't mean it will be right for your dog. My girl eats 1 1/2 cups of kibble in the AM and 1 cup of kibble & 1/2 cup of canned in the PM. Of course numerous treats thru-out the day (spoiled rotten). 3 bm's per day like clockwork.

The fact that you are concerned enough about both of your dogs to start researching foods is a great sign. Some owners head off to the grocery and pick up whatever is on sale or what they have a coupon for. I feel very sorry for these animals.

That said, I am concerned that you are feeding a large breed food to Boxers which are medium size breed dogs. There has been much discussion on BW concerning this.

I would also think that if fed something other than what you are feeding that provides less fillers then you will be able to cut down on the amount of food eaten and the amount of stool produced.....still keeping weight on your guy.

Keep searching posts concerning foods that appeal to you (ingredient-wise and cost wise) and I am sure that you will be able to make a switch that will benefit your dogs as well as yourself.

Good-Luck!

 

[Tulsa-Dan]

Canidae. That's all I can say.

 

[ssleighter]

We had been feeding Nutro NC Max for almost a year, and a couple of months ago, switched over to the new Nutro NC Ultra Adult, which is working great for our boxer who is 19 months old. Grunt is perkier (if that's possible with a boxer, ), his coat is so shiny and soft, less poops, and his skin problems have all but disappeared. I've seen quite a few Nutro NC people here on BW, so you're not alone. All in all, like I've seen so many people post, what works for your boxer and you is the most important thing. If your dog is healthy and happy, why fix what isn't broken?

Being involved in rescue, I get in a lot of debates about the quality of kibble. I too recently switched to Nutro Ultra and here's what I've seen.

Hammer, who always has a tummy ache and eats grass before meals so he can throw up, no longer does so. His grazing days are gone. He is filling out and no longer looks skinny.

Gingers hair grew back, and I am convinced it was something in Chicken Soup for the Pet Lovers Soul Food that made this occur because Booker had hair loss at the exact same time. His grew back faster though.

Booker has shown the most remarkable change. Booker is a stay on the porch or on the couch kinda dog. When Ginger and Hammer are doing boxer burns, Booker's on the porch. He sort of just mosey's around, and has never been real energetic. He's a big guy, 80 lbs., but he's well proportioned. Just BIG. I just assumed this was his nature as we've had him a year and he's always been that way. Well, two weeks after going to the Nutro Ultra I looked out the window and saw the most amazing thing. Booker was doing BOXER BURNS. Never have I seen him run like that, and he does it regularly now. He runs all over the yard with the jolley ball and just has the best time.

I know it's not the most well thought of kibble on the market, but I have tried so many and have actually seen visible changes in my dogs on it that I will be sticking with it.

 

[Lilypickle]

I had Lily on Nutro but changed her to Canidae because of all the good things I had heard about it. But Lily doesn't like it and has dropped weight as a result. We are changing over to Nature's Variety or maybe Eagle's Pack on our next bag. The Nature's Variety doesn't use any "meals" and has a higher caloric count per cup than the others, so we will probably go with thatto try and get her weight back to normal.