[Kahlua Golden]

want to hear some thoughts on this brand as ive never used it. i am trying to stay as natural as possible, but still be in my price range. the Eukanuba is a bit out of my price range, but if its really worth it, ill spend the extra bucks. it seems to be pretty decent, any advice? also when we get Kahlua home, she will be around 10 weeks, how much should i feed her, and is it better to do two meals a day, or three? thanks!

EDIT: also, i forgot to ask, is large breed the right formula? im also looking at Iams, as they are cheaper, but still seem to have pretty good quality. thanks again

 

[jwemt81]

That paricular food is not natural. It's a decent food for dogs who don't have food allergies. We had our dog on Eukanuba for about 6-7 months and finally had to take him off and switch to California Natural because of his ear infection problems. If your dog doesn't have allergies to corn and other fillers, it's an okay food.

 

[Kahlua Golden]

ok, good info. well i dont think i will use it then just in case. because if my pup does have allergies, i dont want to find out AFTER i paid $30 for a 20lb bag of food. the Iams is the same price for 40 lbs

 

[LuckyPup]

I am going to leave the food to the experts. I also feed Luck California Natural. But he has a very sensitive stomach and we still have yet to find a food that works.

I do know you should feed him whatever he is being fed now and slowly transition to the new food (if you are going to switch).

How much you feed her depends on the food you are giving her.

Can not wait to see pictures of her coming home this weekend!

And 3 times a day is a good feeding schedule IMO. I think vets say until they are 6 months old? Could be wrong on that time. Since my bf works from home we chose to keep Luck on a 3 times a day feeding schedule.

 

[jwemt81]

Iams is basically the same thing Eukanuba. It's just the cheaper version and is more widely available since they sell it in grocery stores and department stores. Eukanuba is supposed to be a little bit higher quality than Iams and you can only get it at pet specialty stores, but they are both made by the same company and are very similar. We have been using California Natural for almost 2 weeks now and I already see a difference in Tucker's coat and his ear is clearing up very nicely, so we will be sticking with the CN.

Like I said, they're not bad foods if you don't have a dog with food allergy issues.

 

[esSJay]

I haven't used Eukanuba, but I believe that tippykayak feeds it to his dogs.

As for the feeding schedule, we feed only twice a day since he came home at 3½ months. I don't know what the pros/cons are for the frequency of feedings.

 

[Popebendgoldens]

want to hear some thoughts on this brand as ive never used it. i am trying to stay as natural as possible, but still be in my price range. the Eukanuba is a bit out of my price range, but if its really worth it, ill spend the extra bucks. it seems to be pretty decent, any advice? also when we get Kahlua home, she will be around 10 weeks, how much should i feed her, and is it better to do two meals a day, or three? thanks!

EDIT: also, i forgot to ask, is large breed the right formula? im also looking at Iams, as they are cheaper, but still seem to have pretty good quality. thanks again

I don't like Eukanuba. Here is the first 5 ingredients "Chicken, Corn Meal, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Chicken By-Product Meal (Natural source of Chondroitin Sulfate and Glucosamine), Brewers Rice,"

This food is over 75% corn, grain & rice. Did you know that Sorghum is cattle feed? It looks a lot like corn when it is growing but it is primarily grown for cattle (at least here in Texas). Dogs are carnivores and do NOT need grain in their diets.

Chicken by-product meal is chicken feet , parts of the chicken that aren't used for people to eat.

Also puppy food, senior food, etc is a marketing ploy. Puppies do just as well on adult kibble.

Try to either find a dog food that is grain free or feed a raw diet. Forget about buying Eukanuba.

Please read the ingredients on any type of kibble, before you buy. If you still want to stick with kibble, try to find a kibble where the first 2 ingredients is meat or meat meal.

 

[tippykayak]

There are no "fillers" in Eukanuba, and it's pretty inaccurate to call all corn-based ingredients fillers. Eukanuba is a highly recommended company with a very long track record of excellence in producing foods that dogs thrive on, and I've had excellent personal experiences with the Large Breed Puppy formula.

Allergies to corn or other grains are exceedingly rare, and many people who think their dogs are allergic to corn have arrived at that conclusion by switching to a foods, which doesn't actually tell you which ingredient was causing your dog's problems or actually if the problem was really the ingredients in the first place. I'm not arguing against JW's personal experience, but rather against the general theme I often hear in anti-grain statements.

There's a huge, unscientific anti-grain bias out there on the web, and we don't help things by perpetuating myths that aren't grounded in good data. It's absolutely true that a dog can have a condition that makes corn a bad ingredient for him, but it's dramatically less common than people think. Most allergies are to protein sources, and many allergy-like symptoms in Goldens are actually the result of hypothyroid conditions.

I have glossy, happy, healthy dogs that have always grown up on Eukanuba LBP and then switched to a Eukanuba adult food (currently, we're using the Premium Performance). Eukanuba makes well-balanced, excellent food, and the proof is right there in the healthy animals and in their long track record.

Even if you just poke around the forum, you'll hear more stories of dogs who have runny stools and other health issues from grain free foods than you will about medically confirmed cases of grain intolerance. The vast majority of dogs process grains just fine, and it's quite healthy for them to get a certain proportion of their calories and nutrients from grains. All-meat diets often work for dogs, and many people report great success, but don't go in that direction just because some dog food websites make claims about the digestive systems of wolves.

Eukanuba LBP is specifically formulated for fast-growing breeds like Goldens in order to help with proper development, particularly of bones and joints. It's an excellent choice for a Golden puppy.

Iams, for the record, is owned by the same corporation that owns Eukanuba, and they also produce good foods, but I believe the ingredient quality is slightly lower than Eukanuba's. In a pinch, though, I'd happily feed Iams to the dogs.

 

[Kahlua Golden]

good info, and thanks all. i havent seen california naturals in my area. i used to sell pet food, but its been a while and ive forgotten most of my knowledge lol. i was leaning towards the nutro brand, but it seems to be more expensive than i remember. the breeder sends some of the food she feeds them so we can transition, i was already planning on that.

 

[jwemt81]

I will add that we have been feeding our cats Iams for several years and they all do extremely well on it. Every animal is different. Some thrive on a certain food while others don't do so well on that food. It's really a personal choice depedning on how your pet does on the food that you choose. It's just like humans. Some people are allergic to dairy and wheat products and some aren't. If your dog does well and has no obvious problems on the food you choose, great. You have found your food. You really can't make a decision on what food to go with based on other people's experiences because you may have a completely different experience with that food. Your dog will tell you how she is doing by the look of her coat, stools, eyes, ears, and energy level.

 

[tippykayak]

I don't like Eukanuba. Here is the first 5 ingredients "Chicken, Corn Meal, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Chicken By-Product Meal (Natural source of Chondroitin Sulfate and Glucosamine), Brewers Rice,"

This food is over 75% corn, grain & rice. Did you know that Sorghum is cattle feed? It looks a lot like corn when it is growing but it is primarily grown for cattle (at least here in Texas). Dogs are carnivores and do NOT need grain in their diets.

Chicken by-product meal is chicken feet , parts of the chicken that aren't used for people to eat.

Also puppy food, senior food, etc is a marketing ploy. Puppies do just as well on adult kibble.

Try to either find a dog food that is grain free or feed a raw diet. Forget about buying Eukanuba.

Please read the ingredients on any type of kibble, before you buy. If you still want to stick with kibble, try to find a kibble where the first 2 ingredients is meat or meat meal.

I really have to object to this post, since some of the statements are not just inaccurate but downright harmful.

First of all, Chicken By-Product meal means, according to Eukanuba's website, that it contains organs, meat, and bones. As you may or may not be aware, ground bone is an important source of nutrition, and organ meat is harmless and nutritious. While "by-product" is often used in the industry to cover up a poor ingredient, it isn't always. Unless Eukanuba is lying in their product claims, that ingredient is not just chicken feet, but is rather a balance of whole chicken in with the chicken muscle meat. And what's wrong with chicken feet anyway? They're an hors d'oeuvre in some parts of the world.

Second, dogs are not carnivores. Wolves are carnivores, and dogs were recently reclassified back into the same species as the gray wolf (Canis lupus), but after fifteen thousand years of eating people scraps, it's hardly a given that dogs have the same nutritional needs as wolves. Certainly, it makes sense to discuss whether or not a dog needs more meat than they get in a traditional kibble, but claiming that they're carnivores and acting like the debate is over is at best unscientific and at worst unreflective.

Third, puppy food is generally lower calorie and has a different balance of nutrients than adult food. Your advice here is outright irresponsible, since there are many adult foods out on the market that are not appropriate for puppies and could increase the chances of lasting physical problems for the dog. I'm not sure why you'd pooh-pooh a piece of nutritional advice that's really important for large breed puppies. Some adult kibbles are appropriate for all life stages and thus can be fed to puppies, but grabbing an adult food that isn't AAFCO approved for puppies or for all life stages is not a good idea.

Fourth, the advice to look for a food with the first two ingredients as meat is a popular piece of folklore, but it's also one that is manipulated by boutique dog foods. After all, if Eukanuba has a massive amount of chicken meat, it still can only list it as the first ingredient. If, however, I want to exploit you, I can use two meats in order to give you the impression that the food is mostly meat.

Lastly, I have no idea where this 75% claim comes from, so I'd ask you to substantiate it. Is it by weight? By calorie? By volume? Or simply by rumor?

 

[The_Artful_Dodger]

My old dog ate Eukanuba most of his life and never had a problem with it. Dogs can be allergic to many things but there's no way to determine what if anything your dog will be allergic to. Corn has a bad rep on the internet, but your dog is no more likely to be allergic to it than anything else.

By-products also get a bad rep - but it does not mean that it is beaks and feet.

I'm not an expert, but I would recommend brands like Eukanuba and Science Diet. I would avoid grocery store brands.

Puppies should eat three times a day (I think because they cant regulate thier blood sugar level?)

 

[Bock]

I don't like Eukanuba. Here is the first 5 ingredients "Chicken, Corn Meal, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Chicken By-Product Meal (Natural source of Chondroitin Sulfate and Glucosamine), Brewers Rice,"

This food is over 75% corn, grain & rice. Did you know that Sorghum is cattle feed? It looks a lot like corn when it is growing but it is primarily grown for cattle (at least here in Texas). Dogs are carnivores and do NOT need grain in their diets. No, dogs no not NEED grains, but they surely don't harm them in anyway.

Chicken by-product meal is chicken feet , parts of the chicken that aren't used for people to eat. Chicken by-product meal is not necessarily chicken feet. It is true that this is the part of the chicken that people do not eat. However, give a dog a raw chicken and see what parts the dog eats -I'd be willing to bet that the dog will happily eat parts of the chicken I wouldn't think about touching.

Also puppy food, senior food, etc is a marketing ploy. Puppies do just as well on adult kibble. While the "breed specific" foods are more of a marketing ploy, there are differences in puppy foods and senior foods. Different nutrient levels occur in these various foods. The only adult kibble I would feed a puppy is an ALS (all life stages) kibble

Try to either find a dog food that is grain free or feed a raw diet. Forget about buying Eukanuba.A grain-free or raw diet is not the goal here. The goal is to find a food that works for your dog whether it be raw chickens or a food full of corn. If it works, it works. A dog does NOT need a grain-free or raw diet to thrive.

Please read the ingredients on any type of kibble, before you buy. If you still want to stick with kibble, try to find a kibble where the first 2 ingredients is meat or meat meal.Once again, this is not sound advice. While I do advocate finding a food that has a meat meal as the first ingredient, it is not necessary to have the first 2 ingredients as meat. Some foods are limited ingredient foods and offer only 1 meat source and that 1 meat can make up a large percentage of the kibble.

Sorry, but I think most of the statements made by the poster above are not much more than scare tactics some people use to advocate a grain-free/raw diet. While there are valid reasons to feed a grain-free/raw diet, a kibble diet with grain in it is perfectly suitable if it works for your dog.

My specific comments to each claim are above in bold.

 

[Kahlua Golden]

lots of great info there, i believe ive made my choice to start on Eukanuba and see how she likes it. if she wont eat it, i may switch to pedigree. as long as i can find a food that she likes and that isnt el-cheapo bottom-of-the-pot , i will be happy, and so will she. thanks, folks, for helping out a retriever rookie!!!

 

[Ljilly28]

I struggle mightily with all this. I got a golden to 15/1/2 eating Eukanuba and another one to 13. I did lose one at 9 to cancer. Then, with a new generation, I switched to Canidae because of Tally's contract, and it seemed like a great food until the forumla suddenly changed and caused some seriously upset tummies around here. Since then I've tried Eagle Pack Holistic and Innova, but havent had the CBC's and coats I want. My vet lobbied me to go back to Eukanuba premium performance sporting dog, and wow what a difference is both blood tests and coat. I wish I could be sure about the by products and preservatives, because the dogs certainly feel/look best on the top level Eukanuba. I do think that there may be something to a food like California Natural or Innova culling out cancer causing preservatives, so I will probably keep trying to mainly stay with Innova, but I certainly think the Eukanuba Premium Performance sporting dog is kind of a miracle food for adult dogs and Eukanuba LB puppy did very well by my first generation of goldies. It was sold to Johnson and Johnson - not sure who owns it now?

 

[Garfield]

Sorry, but I think most of the statements made by the poster above are not much more than scare tactics some people use to advocate a grain-free/raw diet. While there are valid reasons to feed a grain-free/raw diet, a kibble diet with grain in it is perfectly suitable if it works for your dog.

My specific comments to each claim are above in bold.

Excellent post/corrections by Bock. It IS important that puppies receive certain nutrients, so you definitely want a puppy food or an all life stage food (which are specfically formulated to puppies' needs) and a large breed puppy formula is fine for a Golden.

So long as the dog can tolerate grains, I don't have anything against them in the food provided that they don't make up the majority of the protein count (which unfortunately foods like Eukanuba, Pedigree, Iams, etc tend to do). And I also take the company into account (things such as quality & manufacturing control, research methods, history, pricing, personal experience and that of pet owners, customer service, etc). That said, I generally recommend (at least starting with) one of the puppy foods from Healthwise or California Natural as alternatives to the Euk, Pedigree, Iams - both are from a top shelf company, affordable (especially Healthwise which is about $35 for 35 lbs in these parts), and though they have grains, they are minimal (making up no more than 20% of the protein) and those that are usually well tolerated/highly digestable. But as has been said, different food strokes for different dogs and some do better on premium stuff, some on lower end and some on the many in between, and you'll find it's just a matter of which one best suits your particular dog.

 

[tippykayak]

So long as the dog can tolerate grains, I don't have anything against them in the food provided that they don't make up the majority of the protein count (which unfortunately foods like Eukanuba, Pedigree, Iams, etc tend to do).

Can you substantiate this claim? Are you saying that in the Euk food, the bulk of the protein comes from gluten? Also, how are you measuring protein?

 

[Garfield]

Can you substantiate this claim? Are you saying that in the Euk food, the bulk of the protein comes from gluten? Also, how are you measuring protein?

What I'm saying is that the bulk of the protein in this food (by weight) comes from corn, sorghum, and brewer's rice which can be ascertained from the ingredient listing.

But beyond that, as part of my work and a graduate project, I've researched foods extensively and inquired with several companies directly as to the quality control/manufacturing processes I mentioned above as well as to the specific nutritional makeups of several of their formulas, including the digestability of each of those components. I tend to only recommend the makers that were forthcoming with satisfactory answers (you'll notice that's very few).

This is not to blanketly pan Euk or any other food (as indicated elsepost, I've witnessed dogs thrive on non-holistic foods that didn't do well on grain free foods, vice versa and most everything in between), but rather an effort to provide information to make educated feeding decisions and hopefully encourage the original poster and other pet owners to really look into any food they feed.

 

[Bock]

What I'm saying is that the bulk of the protein in this food (by weight) comes from corn, sorghum, and brewer's rice which can be ascertained from the ingredient listing.

I believe this is a realistic representation of where a majority of the protein in Euk (at least the adult large breed formula) comes from.

If you have percentages, please share as that would be very interesting to analyze.

 

[MyBentley]

I generally recommend (at least starting with) one of the puppy foods from Healthwise or California Natural as alternatives to the Euk, Pedigree, Iams - both are from a top shelf company, affordable (especially Healthwise which is about $35 for 35 lbs in these parts), and though they have grains, they are minimal (making up no more than 20% of the protein) and those that are usually well tolerated/highly digestable.

I also support these suggestions by Garfield. Healthwise by the Natura company is an excellent value ($36.50 for 35lb.) with ingredients and guaranteed analysis that look good on paper. My daughter's family is on a tight budget and their dogs do well on Healthwise and they like the fact that it is a company that only makes pet food. There are 468 kcal/cup in Healthwise which means you would feed less of it than some brands like Eukanuba Large Breed Puppy which is 361 kcal/cup. That makes it even more of a value. I've used other products by the Natura company and believe strongly in them. Here is the link: http://www.naturapet.com/brands/healthwise.asp

The following stores seem to carry Natura products (Healthwise, California Natural, Innova) in your area.

All About Pets
2953 Cape Horn Road
Red Lion, PA 17356
(717) 244-4099

Cape Horn Country
3100 Cape Horn Road
Red Lion, PA 17356
(717) 246-3778

Getty's Pet Shop
2908 East Market Street
York, PA 17402
717-755-4913

Happy Tee Kennels
333 Newcomer Rd.
Windsor, PA 17366
(717) 246-3267

Morgan's Paws Pet Care Center
305 Hill Street
York, PA 17403
(717) 755-9544
Website

Pets 'n You
673 Lombard Rd
Red Lion, PA 17356
717-246-1981

Puppy Tails
292 Dew Drop Road
York, PA 17402
(717) 741-9190

York Pet Supply
241 Pauline Dr.
York , PA 17402
(717) 741-1751