Best Dog Food & Cat Food Options for Your Healthy Pet!

I have a big lab/golden mix who has protien allegies. I ahve tried to find some kind of meat he can eat but to no avail. He is on a home made veg diet. He has NO doggy smell. None at all. I worked in an organic pet store and people would comment that certain types of meat would make their dogs smell worse, so if you have a problem I would try changing to a human grade dog food and changing the main protein source and see if you notice anything. I make my own food but after being the business for years if I had to buy food it would be any food from the Natura company. Either Innova or California Natural.

I thought that garlic was not good for pets.

When we first brought home our Welsh Corgi puppy we noticed he had no real interest in his kibble. He would let it sit for an hour or so before he would finally eat some of it. We thought he was just not a big eater, but as we learned more about health from reading Earth Clinic we decided that real food HAD to be better for him than kibble so we switched his diet to real people food. (By this time, he was a very skinny little dog, about 1 year old) We fed him things such as eggs, chicken, beef, lamb, rice, cottage cheese, yogurt,and oatmeal. What a difference it made! First of all, he LOVED his food now! He would ask to be fed and gobble down his food. His energy level soared and his coat became so glossy and soft that people always commented on how silky he was.When he ate kibble he would zone out by 4pm and sleep from then on. After we changed his diet he played until closer to 8pm and had more energy on his walks. Now we have begun adding ACV to his meals and his energy has risen yet again. We love you, Earth Clinic!

Right before the big recall I had mostly cut all kibble from my two italian greyhound's diets. After the recall I stopped with kibble all together. I now feed a combination of raw (some pre made, and sometimes whole chicken, including bone) and other days cooked chicken or salmon with avacado, pumpkin, flaxseed oil, and acidophilus. My girls have done WONDERFUL on this diet. Their teeth look amazing from eating the raw bone and their coats are extremely shiny. This is great being that they are both 'show dogs'. Its always nice when someone is impressed with their condition and wants information on what I feed. Prior to feeding raw my 2 year old was having a lot of stomach upsets. Even with feeding just home made cooked food she was still having some issues (although better than on kibble). After introducing raw a couple times a week, her stomach problems are completely gone.

I have changed my 4 dogs diet since the scare with great help from a holistic DVM here in Florida. I have 3 Jack Russells (yes I have a horse farm) a Chihuahua. Ages range from 6 to 13. They are now eating a raw food diet (comes frozen, I slice and rebag) with veggies, missing link suppliment and Flint River. The change in these dogs is amazing. They don't smell like dogs...beter breath, super coats and overall better health and happiness. They love raw bones. I freeze the bones for 48 hours then thaw. No more dental problems! God Bless Earth Clinic! Cindy in Florida

Since the pet food scare, I started making my own pet food. everything I use is organic. the base is chicken, Beef, Fish(salmon) ,veal or Lamb. I then mix in brown rice which is made from the broth of the meat. I then add peas, corn, carrots,and soy beans. My dogs just love it. I generally make enough to freeze so I have plenty on hand. My cats get almost the same except for the brown rice. they don't seem to like it. I have found that it is much cheaper to make my own. I just have to give up some of my time on Sundays to keep my pets happy.

Many, many thanks to Archie from West Covina, Cal for writing in about molasses for aging/sad dogs. I had just bought organic molasses (regular, not blackstrap) at the grocery store for myself and decided after reading Archie's email that I would also give it to my two dogs. One of my dogs is a 13 years old, 55 pound shepard mutt who has a rough time walking up hills when we go on our daily walks. I added molasses to both dogs meals today (good quality kibble, slightly undercooked ground turkey, and 1/2 teaspoon of molasses that I watered down with hot water) and OMG!! I cannot believe the difference in just one day! On our walk tonight, my elderly dog walked at a fast clip the entire walk, even on the hills. No problem whatsoever. WOW! Molasses should be a must for all aging dogs. I will write in again after they've been on it longer with another update. My dog won't touch apple cider vinegar or any other supplement I try to give him, so this remedy is a God send. My finicky boy dog actually likes the taste of molasses!

P.S. I am slowly going to increase the amount of molasses I give the dogs. I am starting slowly because I don't want them to get the runs!

I wanted to reply to a couple of the comments that Donna made. She mentioned odor as one of the problems dogs can have from commercial foods. Wow! I can sure attest to that with our dog. Prior to home cooking she had terrible doggie odor. A bath a week, which isn't really good for most breeds, wasn't enough. Now that she is eating home cooked, supplemented with a high quality commercial kibble, she doesn't have an odor problem.

Donna also mentioned that she is shocked that people could blindly feed their dogs commercial foods. Well I feel that over the years the public has been brainwashed into believing commercial foods are the healthiest way to feed our pets. A lot of money is spent on advertising in order to get their point across that "people" food is bad for pets. I think the tainted pet food problem was a good wakeup call for a lot of us, myself included.

Like Donna says, we need to do our homework to insure that we our feeding our pets what is best for them. That can vary tremendously from breed to breed. So that is something to consider and research. There are websites that provide valuable information on this subject.

My 6-1/2 year old dog started vomiting daily. This went on for months, though she didn't seem to be suffering in any way. Every vet I consulted said there was nothing wrong with her and that I needed to buy her a better grade of food, so I did, but she continued vomiting. Finally I decided to get her a dry food for senior dogs, even though she wasn't strictly a senior yet - and it worked instantly! The higher quality regular brands were just too rich for her to digest. Maybe this will work for others too.

I was appalled when the news about unsafe dog and cat food started breaking. I feel there is probably more to it than what we are being told. I wanted to switch my dog to something that would be healthy yet safe. I am leery of the RAW diet because I feel there are many risks involved with it as well. So I started home cooking for my dog. I found a recipe online that includes meat (cooked), vegetables, and grain. However, I started to worry that it might not include all the vitamins and minerals she needs. So now I feed half home cooked and half a supposedly very high quality commercial food. I also give her a dog vitamin and a flax oil capsule daily. At this point in time I feel we are all taking a gamble with our pets no matter what we choose to feed. And if toxic ingredients are in pet food, I have a sneaking suspicion they are in human food as well.

A great deal of dog food has ingrediants in it that is sourced from off shore. I cannot comment on the Whole Foods supplied commercial dog food, but would recommend serious study of "raw feeding" - it's healthier & cheaper than anything out of a can or a bag. If you are in No. America, one good on-line supplier & advisor (biochemist with years of experienc in canine nutrition) is www.k9rawdiets.com or buy the book "Raw Meaty Bones" by vet author, Tom Lonsdale. Another good resource site is http://b-naturals.com/email.php Here's to healthy animals!

I saw on your page about other dog food may be bad! And dogs passing away out of the blue. I just fell upon your site and felt that I should tell you my story. I had a Weim. Female. She would have been 3 on Aug.10, but she never made it. She was very healthy. She was in the back yard with water and a big dog house with a fan in it. She never touched her water. But when I got home I Thought she was Sleeping when I went out there to check her she had already passed! I have no clue what happend, I called the vet and he said that It may have been Blot. I really dont know she was Fine when I left, I am heart broken I hope this helps. I was feeding her Purina one Large Breed adult. I also have a male Weim. he is 5mo. old and I have done alot of research and as of today he is on a RAW diet, I dont want to take any chances. Good Luck