[zendog]

I say stick with what the breeder was feeding until she settles in. Also pick it up if she doesn’t eat within 10 minutes or so and wait til next feeding time. She won’t starve herself.

I like fresh food, but later. Nutrition is complicated, especially with a fast growing pup.

 

[Cdg711]

Is farmers dog better than kibble- yes. Is farmers dog the best fresh food out there- no. My two goldens ate farmers dog for about 2 years and they loved it, but one of them did develop yeast from it. I’ve also heard from others the same thing happened to their dog. Mine now eat All Provide gently cooked. When switching foods you definitely want to go slow to avoid an upset stomach.

 

[Candyc]

To Lisa’s point, I’ve always been of the opinion that many of the AAFCO feeding trial requirements are borderline useless. A trial where most of the dogs are still alive after 6 months doesn’t tell me anything good about a food, I don’t care if they’re in a lab environment or not. Table scraps would pass those minimum requirements. I’m all for good science and good trials, but they are few and far between, even when it comes to many of the big brands.

Anyway, I don’t think Farmer’s Dog is necessarily the best food or the best value, but it’s probably not the worst either. You are always going to have trade offs when you are purchasing premade — you’ll pay more for the convenience and you don’t have control over the formula like you would if you home-cooked a diet formulated, but it’s simple and thought-free.

I don’t keep up with the cooked food space as much, but Just Food For Dogs is the name I hear most amongst vet nutritionists when it comes to premade, cooked fresh food diets with science behind it. I have no personal experience with either brand.

I use Just Food for Dogs after my dog would not eat Purina Pro Plan. She was vomiting and losing weight. We switched to boiled white chicken and rice. When that did not help and she was diagnosed with pancreatitis at 7 months I took her to a specialist. The specialist said she was too young to have pancreatitis especially since she did not get table scraps. She suggested stop the chicken and recommend Food for Dogs skin and joint support. We stopped chicken and fed Food for Dogs pork and quinoa with carrots, and broccoli. Although we can not rule out pancreatitis, once we stopped chicken she has been healthy and energetic. She is 30 months now.

 

[Candyc]

I use Just Food for Dogs after my dog would not eat Purina Pro Plan. She was vomiting and losing weight. We switched to boiled white chicken and rice. When that did not help and she was diagnosed with pancreatitis at 7 months I took her to a specialist. The specialist said she was too young to have pancreatitis especially since she did not get table scraps. She suggested stop the chicken and recommend Food for Dogs skin and joint support. We stopped chicken and fed Food for Dogs pork and quinoa with carrots, and broccoli. Although we can not rule out pancreatitis, once we stopped chicken she has been healthy and energetic. She is 30 months now.

She is 20 months.

 

[ferst]

All kibbles, especially Purina Pro Plan, are bad choices. You are on the right track with considering a natural raw diet. There are a few excellent commercially prepared natural raw diets, but The Farmer's Dog is not one of them. The best commercially prepared natural raw diets are Evermore, Viva Raw, Dr. Harvey's, and We Feed Raw. Personally, those are the only ones I'd ever consider, but they are pricey, and I have a better suggestion. I have made my dogs my homemade natural raw diet for over thirty years. My recipe, which I've perfected over the years, is at the link as follows:

Dropbox

bit.ly

For the person who suggested chicken and rice for an upset stomach, chicken and rice will not help an upset stomach. Chicken is inflammatory, and many dogs have trouble digesting it. Rice is a grain that is a high-calorie carbohydrate, which should always be avoided. Also, there are often traces of arsenic in rice. Two excellent choices for an upset stomach are pure all-natural:

canned pumpkin (ex., "Nummy Tum-Tum Pumpkin")
bone broth

Make sure they are pure and all-natural with no additives (like sugar or salt).

You can also find my personal bone broth recipe at the above link.

 

[GoldenRetieverL0ver08]

All kibbles, especially Purina Pro Plan, are bad choices. You are on the right track with considering a natural raw diet. There are a few excellent commercially prepared natural raw diets, but The Farmer's Dog is not one of them. The best commercially prepared natural raw diets are Evermore, Viva Raw, Dr. Harvey's, and We Feed Raw. Personally, those are the only ones I'd ever consider, but they are pricey, and I have a better suggestion. I have made my dogs my homemade natural raw diet for over thirty years. My recipe, which I've perfected over the years, is at the link as follows:

Dropbox

bit.ly

For the person who suggested chicken and rice for an upset stomach, chicken and rice will not help an upset stomach. Chicken is inflammatory, and many dogs have trouble digesting it. Rice is a grain that is a high-calorie carbohydrate, which should always be avoided. Also, there are often traces of arsenic in rice. Two excellent choices for an upset stomach are pure all-natural:

canned pumpkin (ex., "Nummy Tum-Tum Pumpkin")
bone broth

Make sure they are pure and all-natural with no additives (like sugar or salt).

You can also find my personal bone broth recipe at the above link.

Our vet always told us to do chicken and rice. We do hamburger and rice as chicken doesnt do well with one of ours. And rice is in a ton of dog foods.
Canned pumpkin makes my pups stomach worse and its litterally just pumpkin nothing is added.

 

[ferst]

Our vet always told us to do chicken and rice. We do hamburger and rice as chicken doesnt do well with one of ours. And rice is in a ton of dog foods.
Canned pumpkin makes my pups stomach worse and its litterally just pumpkin nothing is added.

Don't you hate it when facts get in the way of reality.

Vets are not canine nutritionists. Many dogs do not do well with chicken because it is a warm protein, and is inflammatory.

The reason why many dog food companies use grains (such as rice), especially in kibble, is that they are inexpensive fillers. Rice has little to no nutritional value and is high carbohydrate. Carbohydrates digest into sugar which is bad. If you want an overweight and unhealthy dog with a shortened life, feed them a high carbohydrate diet.

By the way, many of the dog food companies have been bought up by giant candy companies (Nestle and M&M Mars) ... what does that tell you?

 

[Rion05]

Whenever the topic is food, you are bound to get a wide variety of opinions. I would take the advice of a board-certified veterinary nutritionist first, but also heed advice of other board-certified veterinarians, including those who have observed the health impacts of a deficient diet. They will give better advice than the rest of us.

Personally, I will not risk DCM in my dog. I do care about longevity and my last kibble-fed golden lived to 14.5. There likely are ways other than WSAVA-compliant kibble brands that can avoid health problems, but I would defer to a boarded veterinary nutritionist on those.

 

[ferst]

Whenever the topic is food, you are bound to get a wide variety of opinions. I would take the advice of a board-certified veterinary nutritionist first, but also heed advice of other board-certified veterinarians, including those who have observed the health impacts of a deficient diet. They will give better advice that the rest of us.

Personally, I will not risk DCM in my dog. I do care about longevity and my last kibble-fed golden lived to 14.5. There likely are ways other than WSAVA-compliant kibble brands that can avoid health problems, but I would defer to a boarded veterinary nutritionist on those.

Few Vets are degreed and certified nutritionists. Avoid nutritional advice from a Vet who has an office display of kibble brands like Science Diet and other high-carb kibbles. Also, stay away from dog food brands made by candy or processed food manufacturers. Personally, I would never trust a WSAVA certification.

If you don't feel comfortable doing a homemade all-natural raw diet, go with a commercial all-natural raw diet with Evermore, Viva Raw, Dr. Harvey's, or We Feed Raw. You can be assured that you will notice huge positive changes in your dog, both immediately and over time (as indicated in my recipe link: Zuma's Recipes).

 

[tam_h]

I have found this thread to be very informative and thank you to Zuma for sharing their recipes. I have two golden retrivers boys that I recently switched from Royal Canin Golden Retriever (on which we had no problems, I just wanted to do better) to Raw, we feed raw 80/20 ground beef with Volhard Canine Nutrition supplementation. I add yogurt, cottage cheese, green beans, egg, carrots, as toppers (not all at the same time). These are the differences I have found in my dogs. They don't poop as often and it doesn't smell. They are much calmer. They already had beautiful coats and teeth and that has continued.

I am new at feeding raw and always looking for better (and less expensive options). The Volhard program just gave me the confidence to try it without feeling like my dogs were being deprived of any nuturients. Once I get more confident with what I am doing, I will most likely use other products because it is expensive.

I just wanted to say I appreciate this thread and the information people have shared about feeding raw.

 

[Megora]

If you don't feel comfortable doing a homemade all-natural raw diet, go with a commercial all-natural raw diet with Evermore, Viva Raw, Dr. Harvey's, or We Feed Raw. You can be assured that you will notice huge positive changes in your dog, both immediately and over time (as indicated in my recipe link: Zuma's Recipes).

Fwiw.... I do not feed raw primarily. My guys get fed kibble (not the usual 5 whatever).

But I like Koha Raw and Vital Essentials - which basically you can supplement part of the kibble with.

My cat eats primarily raw (Stella and Chewy) + his usual can food.

 

[ferst]

... I will not risk DCM in my dog. ... WSAVA-compliant kibble brands that can avoid health problems ...

The DCM studies focused on grain-free kibbles, not raw diets. Also, the grain-free kibbles that were studied, replaced the grain with other cheap fillers.

WSAVA-compliance is bought and paid for by the big commercial brands: Royal Canin, Hills Science Diet, Purina One, Purina ProPlan, Iams, and Eukanuba. I would never feed my pup any of these. They are nutritionally deficient and loaded with carbs, fillers, and synthetic vitamins. BTW, not only are these brands grossly overpriced, Vets are paid big subsidies to sell them.

Beware of mass-produced dog foods that are commercially manufactured by big multinational conglomerate candy, processed food, and consumer product companies ... M&M Mars, Nestle, and Colgate-Palmolive. They are good at one thing ... marketing, but they are not good at making nutritional dog food.

 

[ferst]

80/20 ground beef with Volhard Canine Nutrition supplementation

I think you are on the right track.

I use 70/30 ground beef because I feel the extra 10% fat is better for their coats, and my pups have no problems digesting that extra fat.

I'll do some research on Volhard Canine Nutrition. In my recipe, I use Dinovite as a supplement to fill in any missing vitamins. There's a new supplement on the market called Ruff Greens. It seems pretty good, but it is extremely expensive, so I stick with Dinovite.

The key to feeding a raw diet is getting the right balance between ingredients. There is plenty of info out there on how to create that balance. Also in my recipe, I provide links to a lot of helpful raw diet info.

 

[Taz Monkey]

I have found this thread to be very informative and thank you to Zuma for sharing their recipes. I have two golden retrivers boys that I recently switched from Royal Canin Golden Retriever (on which we had no problems, I just wanted to do better) to Raw, we feed raw 80/20 ground beef with Volhard Canine Nutrition supplementation. I add yogurt, cottage cheese, green beans, egg, carrots, as toppers (not all at the same time). These are the differences I have found in my dogs. They don't poop as often and it doesn't smell. They are much calmer. They already had beautiful coats and teeth and that has continued.

I am new at feeding raw and always looking for better (and less expensive options). The Volhard program just gave me the confidence to try it without feeling like my dogs were being deprived of any nuturients. Once I get more confident with what I am doing, I will most likely use other products because it is expensive.

I just wanted to say I appreciate this thread and the information people have shared about feeding raw.

Keep in mind, a properly fed raw diet consists of many proteins. If you stick to just one, you end up being deficient in certain areas. There are raw feeding facebook groups that have files on all the places online you can order complete mixes. My Pet Carnivore, Raw Feeding Miami, and Raw Pet Food Delivery Market are 3 I use occasionally, but I am lucky that I have a fairly local place that makes raw food. Raw Feeding Miami often does free shipping. I have fed raw for about 6 years now to all my dogs, my golden has never eaten kibble, and the difference both outwardly and inwardly is astounding compared to before I started raw.

 

[ferst]

I have fed raw for about 6 years now to all my dogs, my golden has never eaten kibble, and the difference both outwardly and inwardly is astounding compared to before I started raw.

BINGO !!!

All well said.

This is why, in my homemade raw diet recipe (Zuma's Recipes), I have a number of different proteins.

 

[Will_]

Thanks for all the great advice and replies everyone! Sorry I got caught up in life, but I have definitely learned a lot from this!! I think I will stick with Purina Pro plan for now and look into preparing food myself in the future

 

[MIkeBra]

Hi all, thinking of trying The Farmers Dog fresh food for our new 3 month old golden retriever. She is currently on Purina Pro but will not eat it unless mixed with wet food, and still does not eat much. We just got this dog 3 days ago from a breeder and she is absolutely gorgeous. I am willing to invest the money needed into the proper food that will allow this puppy to grow up full potential. I have heard great things about The Farmers Dog, would anyone here be willing to share their experience with it? Also if I do make the switch from purina pro, to Famers can I safely switch all at once or do I need to slowly mix them

Hello, I switched to Farmer's Dog when my golden doodle was 8 and starting to slow down up the stairs, etc...She's now 10 and bounding around with our new puppy and not going sluggish up the stairs after a day of walks or swimming...It's pricey..compared to dry but I think definitely worth it for my older doodle...for my puppy, we may try DIY with the farmers dog nutrient mix...I'm not a vet or an expert but I'm a believer... Mike, UT

 

[Seana]

My vote is no. The Farmer’s Dog uses a lot of sweet marketing to make you think it’s worth it, but the research just isn’t there. It IS there with Pro Plan. Is your puppy on Pro Plan Puppy or 30/20 All Life Stages?

I agree,
The surprise prices of hundreds of dollars is upsurge. Customer service is extremely rude when confronted about their lack of transparency on pricing. It's best to just make your own dogs food at home

 

[ferst]

Hi all, thinking of trying The Farmers Dog fresh food for our new 3 month old golden retriever. She is currently on Purina Pro but will not eat it unless mixed with wet food, and still does not eat much. We just got this dog 3 days ago from a breeder and she is absolutely gorgeous. I am willing to invest the money needed into the proper food that will allow this puppy to grow up full potential. I have heard great things about The Farmers Dog, would anyone here be willing to share their experience with it? Also if I do make the switch from purina pro, to Famers can I safely switch all at once or do I need to slowly mix them

Do your pup a favor, don't feed them kibble. Instead, feed them a balanced whole-food raw diet. Here's a link to my personal homemade recipe: 2024_03_14 Zuma's Raw Diet Recipe.pdf

 

[Holydoc]

This seems to be an old thread. My pups are currently both are on Farmer's Dog. Their testing is more thorough than AAFCO. Their food is recognizable as real food. You can see the meat. You can recognize the peas, carrots, kale, etc. Their customer service is incredible. We were working on Cheyenne's weight, and not only would they adjust the portion sizes they sent but would constantly followup with emails asking how she was doing. Every time I spoke with Farmer's Dog staff, they would send me a survey which identified the person I spoke to and tell me what pets they had and how long they have worked for Farmer's.

Now to answer you question. I cannot say whether it is worth it for you. I cannot say whether it is going to change your dog's life or even prolong it. All I can say is that it makes me feel good to feed food that looks like food we eat and receive it from a company that seems to care about my opinion and the welfare of my pup. Just an update, Cheyenne is now currently at a perfect weight and has been maintaining it for over a year. Her poops are very small and never have any stool problems. It is right for me. You will need to determine if it is right for you and your expenses,