What is the best brand to feed regularly?

[SuperNova]

I had our siberian Husky to the vets for the first time for boosters and checkup since we adopted her from a siberian breeder here in Wisconsin. She is 9 wks. old now and the visit for my boyfriend and I was all very political, biased, and to us at home we are doing the best we know how with what we learned before we purchased her. I worked at a humane society for 2 years. Its a whole other world in there. But you learn a great deal. I have taken 6 dogs to obedients for basic obedience training in my lifetime ( I won first place with the first dog, by practicing every day.) And still, this women vet. Fresh out of college, made us feel , the dog food that we feed her, ( Life's abundance }, is not healthy enough for her. You can look it up on line and tell me your input. She was on Puppy Nutro.Natural

[basfish]

That's a tough question to answer....everybody has their own opinion on what food is the best to feed. I do not think there is a definite answer. As long as you feed a premium food that you are happy with the ingredients,protein and fat content you can turn a deaf ear to these people.
By the way..I am from WI. also,and the proud owner of 3 Purebred AKC Siberians.

[Rig]

If your dog is zesty and of a healthy weight and has firm droppings, the food is fine. Don't worry too much about it, but try to keep the pup from getting too skinny, so that she has some reserves to fight off puppy illnesses. An adult dog can be healthy even if it is skinny and ribby. But if the dog is skinny because it isn't doing well on the food, then it's time to change or supplement.

Huskies do very well on meat, and kibble to provide nutrients, probiotics, and enzymes not in the meat itself. If mushers had only a few dogs to care for, they would feed a variety of meats suited to the temperature and activities.

The kibble used by Iditarod mushers is generally high in fat and protein--something a pet may not require unless it is running a lot. For pups, I recommend rice and lamb.

Life's Abundance dog food seems to have good ingredients, and the quality ingredients are on a par with kibble that mushers would like to feed. That may be more of an adult maintenance diet though. Rather than change dog food brands abruptly, you can supplement the diet with ground red meats of different kinds. I like to feed lamb and beef. Whole meat is okay, but the ground meat is easier to introduce and to portion out. You can feed those human-grade meats raw or cooked. (Yes, huskies can eat raw meat, as long as it is free of parasites.)

[StarDancer]

I think you should feed the absolute best food possible to your Siberian Husky puppy, even if you have to give up a latte a week, or whatever! Especially now, when your puppy is growing rapidly and needs the best nutrition.

Here is a link to a website which rates all the dog foods:
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/

There should be little or NO grain in a dog's food! Most cheap dog foods are full of corn, soy, wheat and whatever else is cheap. Dogs cannot digest grains, and many grains cause severe allergies in dogs. The "meat" in cheap dog foods is usually filler and is not of high quality.

Please do not feed any dog the cheap store brand of dog food. Dogs might look like they are "OK", but they are not getting the proper nutrition. It is YOUR responsibility to do research until all your questions are answered and you are comfortable with what you are feeding your dog.

Siberian Huskies do not eat as much as other breeds. The Siberian Husky was developed by the Chukchi people in Siberia as a fast, lightweight sled dog that didn't eat much. My 9-year-old Siberian Husky only eats about 1 cup of high-quality food per day (she is moderately active). And, I won't feed her "senior" dog food because she doesn't need it.

There is a great internet group called "Sibernet" for people who are owned by Siberian Huskies. There are about 1100 of us from around the world. It's a great group of people and a valuable source of information and support Just do a Google search of "Sibernet" and you'll find how to join us.

StarDancer

[Lioness]

My best guess is that your vet has suffered from two possible things:

1 - she drank the Kool-Aid they offered her in vet school and she is convinced that Science Diet and the like are the only good foods out there
2 - she actually does know something about nutrition but she either confused the food you are feeding with something else or she has never actually read the ingredients list of the food you are feeding

Nutrition is very much my thing, and I had to look up the food you are feeding because I was not familiar with it. While I am disappointed in the fact that they don't list the exact ingredients list on the site, I can tell by what IS there that you could do MUCH, MUCH worse than you are doing right now. By, say... feeding that Science Diet garbage, for example.

I too live in Wisconsin, and I feel it is my duty to at least mention the benefit of a prey model raw diet to someone who (simply by location) should have some pretty reasonable access to great meat. Just a quick google query will get you boatloads of info if you're interested. Both of my dogs are raw fed, and I wouldn't have it any other way - and I don't think they would either.

That said, here is a link to my terribly lame (but at least informational) website where I offer a quick and dirty education on picking pet food. I also list a bunch of foods I am familiar with that I do recommend to people who aren't ready to make the leap to raw.
http://ajvdogtraining.webs.com/howtopickapetfood.htm

~Lioness

[rallycairn]

^Great post and link, Lioness. Although due to restrictions of time and other resources, I'm unable to feed raw/homemade all the time, I do prepare meals for my pack as often as possible, otherwise they are on Natural Balance Duck & Potato or similar food. I also like some of the dehydrated foods like The Honest Kitchen or frozen meals like Bravo or Aunt Jeni's Homemade 4 Life. Definitely I watch for meat as the first ingredient, first 2 or 3 even better, no by-products anywhere, and no corn, although there is a reappearance of corn in some super premium brands and there is a rationale behind how they use it -- but personally I still avoid it. I don't compromise on the "by-products" though and I sure won't take any generic category ingredient like "meat" or "poultry" meal, e.g.

[Lioness]

I understand the time restrictions.

After much hounding from people, I finally put together a blog post of how *I* feed raw. (I must admit I'm glad they did because I've offered the link to tons of people since)
This is how I make it work:
http://adayinthelifeofamutt.blogspot.co ... y-way.html

~Lioness

[MHutchens]

One of the very best working dog foods is manufactured and marketed in WI by Redpaw.
Many sled dog racers that I know feed it and love it.
http://www.redpawfeed.com/

Another top food for sled dogs is Caribou Creek Gold. It too is manufactured in WI but is marketed out of UP Michigan.
http://www.cariboucreekgold.com/

[7 Siberians]

This is an interesting thread/topic.

Over the years I have tried many,many brands, and finally arrived at a brand that my huskies will eat, and not waste. Many of the touted top brands, they would not eat, unless famished, and I was wasting much food. I have been using Purina One , and have tried Science,Nutro,Natures Recipe, etc and my dogs prefer Lamb/Chicken Purina One over Pro Plan.When Purina switched Pro Plan to the large chunks, I found they would eat the larger kibble and leave the rest.

I am feeding 8 adult Siberian Huskies, and 1 Border Collie and 1 Lab/Mix. I only feed them 1 cup each of food a day,unless its really frigid cold, whereas I will feed them a half cup more each day, with perhaps a can of ProPlan wet or Mackeral added to their food .
Its not the best food, I know, but over the years its what my dogs will consistently eat.
My dogs are exercised daily either by running /scootering or walking.

So, I feed them the brand that they will eat on a daily basis, and supplement that with fish such as mackeral and a weekly ration of beef. And it seems like everytime I go to the stores to buy dog food, the prices have risen......

Listening to anyone's advice, if they think I am doing wrong.

[Labtail]

It doesn't take me any more time to feed raw than it does to feed kibble. I've got four dogs.

I buy bags of chicken quarters, cases of beef brisket and pork tenderloin (cheap at Sam's club since we don't have access to slaughterhouses in Texas), and tubes of green tripe. Split all of it into ziploc bags (in dinner sized portions) when it comes home, all goes in a chest freezer. Then just pull out bags to thaw in the fridge, slap it in the bowl. Fish oil most days, vitamin supplement some days. Easy! Healthier and much cheaper than dog food. (my oldest Lab, my Rottie and my Alaskan Husky all eat 8 - 16 oz per day. Chicken here is about 90 cents per lb., beef maybe 1.60. Two year old Lab eats enough for a tiger!)