Dog Food Choices

Early this past summer I was shopping for dog food at a local grocery store. Normally, I purchase Purina One, but that day they were out. So feeling too lazy to drive to another grocery store or to a Pet store, I picked up a bag of Purina Dog Chow.

The dogs seemed OK with it, and it was a little bit cheaper, so I ended up buying it the rest of the summer. But the results have been less than stellar. For one, my dogs have all developed massive shedding problems. At first I took it as normal shedding when my Akita Naomi was shedding like crazy. Getting rid of her winter coat I told myself. But this went on: June, July, August, and now September and Naomi is still shedding like there's no tomorrow. To make matters worse, my German Shepherds Jake and Brandy are now having coat problems. Basically they look like shit. Big clumps of dog hair come out at the slightest touch. And my wacky Wiemaraner Lucy? Well she has symptoms of diabetes. Drinking water in quantities that you wouldn't believe and always hungry all the time. Plus they are all pooping in massive quantities.

A woman I know at the ranch where I board my horses is an ex-professional dog trainer. So I mention this stuff to her and she says "its the food stupid". She said that Purina has a lot of filler in their food (corn, rice) that not only isn't good for dogs for nutrition but may even cause allergies. Then she says the protein in Purina dog foods ain't that great, its stuff like ground up hearts and spinal chords. In other words, the left overs at the slaughter houses.

She recommended feeding my dogs a gourmet kind of dog food called SOLID GOLD. I haven't made the change yet but am giving it some serious consideration. The problem? This crap is expensive. Its $44 for a bag that would normally cost me $24. But my dogs look so pathetic with their coats I am thinking of making the jump. Another consideration is my dog Jake has skin allergies, and reading about Solid Gold Dog food on Pet co I came across a testimonial by a lady whose dog had the same problem and was on the same medication as Jake. She was able to get her dog off the medication just by feeding him Solid Gold.

Another option is some kind of natural diet. But that takes time. If you are having diet problems, what are you doing for your dog? I would like to hear suggestions, in particular if you feed your dog Solid Gold natural dog food.