Dutch Shepherd Forum

I have been feeding my dutch shepherd/german shepherd mix, Kahlua, Whole Earth Farms Salmon and Whitefish kibble. Its about $45-$50 for a 25 pound bag, so it isn't cheap. I am willing to spend a little more for a quality dog food because my dog is becoming picky with her food. I would set down the food and she would eat around 75% of her bowl. She barely finishes her food, and I am convinced that this isn't the best kibble I could feed her. I believe Merrick actually owns and makes Whole Earth Farms dog kibble. But at the moment, I am looking at few different kibbles to buy, and I would like an opinion..
-Blue Buffalo Wilderness dog food (Salmon or Duck)
-Merrick dog food (Buffalo & sweet potato or Salmon & sweet potato)
-Taste of the Wild dog food (Bison & Venison or Salmon)
If these aren't that good, let me know what you think is the best. I know Orijen is top notch but I cannot spend that much. I would love to hear what you guys think about these kibbles, if not I am open to different suggestions. I am just desperate for some advice because I am stuck.

75% is a good amount, How much does she weigh? How much are you feeding her.

Before spending more on food, lets see what we can come up with.

Acana is just as good as Orijen if you want to try that. Maybe thats all she wants to eat.

She weighs about 45 pounds, and I was trying to feed her anywhere between 3.5-4 cups a day since she is very active. Unfortunately Acana is still a little expensive for me, but I tried something new today and she inhaled the bowl. After talking to a few people, I decided to try the Merrick Fresh Buffalo and sweet potato recipe, while adding Natural Balance food rolls as a topping. What I did was put a cup of her old food and about a 1/3 of a cup of Merrick into a bowl (slowly switching to Merrick as her food). After, I sprinkled the Natural Balance food roll (Lamb and Turkey flavor), all over the kibble. I took a slice of the roll and grated it into a plate and put a reasonable amount in her food. She seems to love it a ton!

thats alot for 45 lbs. dog, mine are 55lbs and they get only 2 cups a day and Sadie gets a can of food with that.

So 2 cups is enough? The previous owner fed her about 4 cups a day because she is so active. The bag of dog food especially says to eat around 3 and a half cups a day based off her weight range.

Its hard to say exactly but sadie is a bag of nerves and very active and She gets 2 cups and a can, but I also keep her lean because of her hip problems but I still would not want any more weight on her than she already has anyway at 55lbs.

how tall is she?

She is about 22-23 inches. It is hard to measure her

Lexi is 65 pounds and very active. I feed her about 3.5 cups a day. I asked the vet if she needed more weight on her and she said she was exactly where she needs to be. I feed her Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Venison. I had a lot of diarrhea issues with her as a pup so I was thrilled to finally find something that works well with her digestive system, keeps her coat looking great, and just healthy in general. The other perk is my extremely picky eater will eat it too.

My personal experience leans toward finding a food that works for my dog, look at the bag recommendations for feeding but only use as a guideline. Adjust to what your dog needs to eat to stay fit. Lexi would eat more but I don't want her overweight. My other dog is also 65 pounds but is less active and 9 years older ... she gets fed half as much as lexi

Sorry is I missed it but I didn't see it noted that your dog was underweight and that was why you were concerned about not eating all the food.

So what should the goal be for my dog. I have posted pictures of her on the forum, and she does weigh 45 pounds so she is skinny. You can sometimes see her ribs, but she doesn't eat what I give her fully. She will finish about 2.5 cups a day.

Unless something has changed Merrick sold out to Purina. I fed Xander Merrick but quit when they sold out. I hate Purina. I tried Acana but he wasn't crazy about it. Now he eats Earthborn. So far so good. And it's reasonably priced.

Do you think Purina changed the formula for Merrick? Because I don't trust Purina, and quite frankly Merrick has been the star of the show for a while.

karenz wrote:Unless something has changed Merrick sold out to Purina.

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Ugh

Its a tough call. Growing up our bassets lived on purina and my parents still feed it to this day and all of our dogs lived great lives.

I wont feed Purina but thats me. If he is fine then continue and research other brands. You can go to Dogfoodadvisor.com, they rate the brands and you can see if there is one there that is good and with in your budget.

If you can feel a rib then thats a good weight. Find the amount and food he will eat and go with it. I would not fret too much about it.

I think my vet said what Lisa did, you should be able to feel ribs. If you can see ribs, might be underweight, but your dog looks great in the photos. Has your vet given an opinion on weight? That m8ght be a good place to start.

My vet said it is sort of what you would expect with this breed since they are highly active. She recommended the natural balance food rolls so I can sprinkle them on her kibble. She says they are a good brand, and will help her get the calories since she is slightly underweight. When I use dogfoodadvisor, the natural balance rolls were a 2.5 star rating which has me confused on quality.

There has to be other high calorie treats that could be added at other times than meal time. Treats for training or just for being a cool dog

Anybody ever use any high calorie treats they could recommend?

At least it sounds like the vet wasn't overly concerne

Yea the vet isn't very concerned. I use dogs butter which is peanut butter for dogs and put it in a kong. I also use Merrick power bites or salmon jerky also made by Merrick. I also have greenies dental chews but I don't feed them to Kahlua because of all the mixed opinions on the snacks. Many people said they are terrible for dogs.

I would not let him chew on the greenie chews or any rawhide, they can chew off chunks and choke, many dogs have died from them. the only chew thing mine get are hard antlers.

jrez wrote:Do you think Purina changed the formula for Merrick? Because I don't trust Purina, and quite frankly Merrick has been the star of the show for a while.

I spoke to a Merrick rep at a disc dog tournament back in the Fall, and I asked her specifically about the new ownership. She said nothing had changed at the production facilities, and they didn't expect anything big in the future. She also said they hadn't been privately held for quite some time, so this corporate ownership stuff isn't new for them. She said they intended to continue to function as an independent organization.

Of course, as a marketing person she's trained to always provide a positive spin. Time will tell if anything about their operation fundamentally changes. I personally feed Acana, but sometimes use Merrick treats.

We feed our DS who trains every day, OB Agility and Bite work 2x week. 1 1/2 cups TOTW Bison/Venison, 3 tsp, Missing Link Hip and Joint, 2 taps of Salmon oil, Tsp cottage cheese and 1/2 cup beef livers, lung, stomach or heart or what is available in the AM, PM is just the kibble. He is 8 months almost 9, 66 LBS, Our working retrievers who work every day are feed exactly the same but kibble is reduced by 1/2 cup at each feeding.