I was thinking about buying the Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul dog food for my future dog but somebody said it is a bad food because it is made by Diamond. And Diamond had a break out of salmonella in their dog food a few years ago or something. So I don’t know if I should feed my dog this or not.
Crap just as the name suggests.
It’s not the best, but it’s definately not the worst.
My dog did really well on it. The only reason we switched off of it was we moved and no stores aroud here sell it.
Honestly, there have been so many recalls by so many different companies, I don’t consider any commercial brand 100% “safe”.
We have always bought Purina One for our dogs (they love it!!) I wouldn’t buy anything else.
Its a pretty decent dog food for the price… certainly a big improvement over ANY Purina, Iams, Pedigree or Science Diet product.
My favorites are Wellness, Innova, Solid Gold, California Natural
Check the products website for any recent recalls, and history. Don’t feed it to your pet unless you feel comfortable. Any dog food maker is looking for repeat business, so I’m sure that any previous illness were not intentional and have been rectified. I’m sure a quick e-mail to them would get you the feed back you require to make an educated decision, and let you know if they are the right choice for your dog food needs.
It’s a decent dog food at a decent price. Are there better foods? Yes. But Chicken Soup brand is much better than the majority of foods out there. I wouldn’t discourage anyone from feeding it like I would with lower quality foods.
It’s also more easily attainable if you live in a small town without petstores and you don’t want to mail-order dog food since it is sold at farm supply stores.
Here is a review of it (4/6 stars):
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=907&cat=all
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On choosing a good dog food:
Read the ingredients on the food you buy. Go with a high quality dog food. A grain should not be in the first couple ingredients ingredient (corn and such are mainly fillers, dogs don’t digest it well). Avoid foods that have a lot of “by products” listed.
Here is an article about byproducts:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=ingrd
And an article on what ingredients to avoid:
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=badingredients
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There is no single food that is “best”. For example, some dogs thrive on grain-free foods, while grain-free is too rich for other dogs. What you want to find is the high-quality food that *your dog* does best on. (I recommend feeding dry food instead of wet. It’s healthier for the gums and teeth.)
Some GOOD foods are :
* Merrick – http://www.merrickpetcare.com/
* Solid Gold – http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/
* Canidae – http://www.canidae.com/
* Timberwolf – http://timberwolforganics.com/
* Orijen – http://www.championpetfoods.com/orijen/orijen/
* Wellness – http://www.omhpet.com/wellness/
* Chicken Soup brand – http://www.chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com/
* Blue Buffalo – http://www.bluebuff.com/
* Innova – http://www.naturapet.com/brands/innova.asp
* Innova EVO – http://www.naturapet.com/brands/evo.asp
Or check this website for good foods: http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/
(I recommend only feeding foods rated 4, 5, or 6 stars. Anything 3 stars or less, I would stay away from.)
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Stay away from grocery stores brands. They are low-quality foods chalk full of fillers, preservatives, dyes, etc.. (Grocery store foods are those like Beneful, Old Roy, Alpo, Pedigree, Purina, etc.)
Beware “premium” foods. “Premium” does not mean good nutritionally, and is not a nutritionally high quality food. It has the same types of ingredients as grocery store foods, just a bit better quality of those not-so-good ingredients. (Premium foods are those like Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, etc..)
Another thing to be wary of: A lot of vets will recommend what they sell in their office. They get profit from the brands they keep on their shelves, that’s why they push it. Truth is, vet schools don’t focus a lot on nutrition. It’s not saying that a vet is a bad vet because he recommends those foods, a lot of vets just are told “this is good food”, so they pass the message along without proper nutrition knowledge. Also, some dog food brands (like Hills) support vet schools, so vets have heard of it from the time they start college, which makes them think it’s good as well.
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Higher quality food may seem more expensive at first, but it evens out. The higher quality the food, the less fillers eaten (and therefore the less poop comes out the other end). Your dog eats more to try to get the nutrition it needs, and most of the food just passes right on through. Also, it will make your animals healthier, so you save money on vet bills in the long run.
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“Big box” petstores like Petco and Petsmart rarely have quality foods. (I do believe that PetCo sells “Solid Gold” and “Natural Balance” brands and Petsmart sells “Blue Buffallo”, which are all higher quality foods, but most of the foods aren’t.)
Also, grocery stores and Walmart aren’t good places to buy food either.
Your best bets for getting quality dog food are:
- small, locally owned petstores
- dog boutiques
- farm supply stores
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When switching foods, do it gradually. I do this over about a two week timespan:
25% food A, 75% food B
50% food A, 50% food B
75% food A, 25% food B
100% food A
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its not a bad food. it does contain white rice which i am not crazy about, but overall its not bad. it does not contain any corn, wheat, soy, or beetpulp, and the first four ingredients are meat and it does not contain any by products.
It is a pretty good dog food.
I have fed it and my dogs did very well on it.
Even my hunters who require huge amounts of calories to hold their weight durring hunting season did very well on it.
It is far better than what is sold in most pet stores and by most vets.
It’s definitely a decent food, it’s far better than anything you’d get at a grocery store or Petsmart/Petco type place. There are some better brands available, but that’s really up to you.
Other brands: Innova Evo, Canidae, Wellness, Timberwolf, Solid Gold, California Naturals.
It’s a mid range quality food, not the best, but certainly not the worst. It’s rated 3 stars on :
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/index.php