what do you feed your hounds

[nmplott]

thats why I feed the pedigree, its easier to clean up.

[BlacktailStalker]

Fillers like corn, grains etc are usually the culprit to problems as they round prime age... just when you enoy them most. Cancers, skin problems, dandruff. hot spots etc and it is harder on their organs.
Nice thing about hounds is they are not really purebreds so genetically usually have less problems than your typical pet.
Those fillers are garbage though, it'd be like you eating styrofoam. You would feel full but you would have no physical advantage from it.

My dogs drop hard little turds, they use about 80-85% of what goes in them and they're pretty ripped even when laying around all summer like they are now.
I feed Orijen.

[elkhuntress]

Catman and Brindle-well said! That is all very true! Black gold uses quality ingredients and I would say my dogs have maybe 2 hard turds every day, and thats it. If you do happen to notice that your dogs do have the runs on black gold, then you do have to cut back a little, its well worth the money tho, and like any switches in dog food, do the switch slowly over a period of a couple of weeks. I own 2 hounds and a 50# bag lasts me 3 weeks easily. This was a great post!!!

[Melanie Hampton]

I use the Kirkland brand from Costco.. Same ingredients/calories per cup etc as Purina Pro Plan, but for a lot cheaper..

My dogs do awesome on it.. I love it...

[Brindle]

Amen to that Melanie. That is exactly what I feed just like Black gold but cheaper. Nice coats and hard turds.

[radar]

Can't belive buddy hasn't stepped in on this for there is like 10 different post on this same subject.

Dimond is pretty much the best for your money and as far as being healthy for them too. Nutro-natural is what I used mainly because it was supposed to make less and hard stools, and it truly did, plus every flavor has like 425ml. of glucosimine per serving. But that stuff got way way to much to afford.Dimond Natural has all the same stuff minus the gluco.I also noticed the Nutro made it very difficult for them to clean out.

[Outlaw 3]

Joy dog food is what we feed we have gotten more for our money. We used to feed Diamond only, but took a break from it when it started killing dogs. 6 years ago 50lbs of Diamond was about $12 now it is $24+ and I guarantee it isn't twice as good as it was back then. I have also tried Enhance and Sportmix. Sportmix was the worst we ever had. It crapped them to death and you could not feed them enough of it to keep them from looking like skeletons. Enhance was OK but Joy is as good or better for less money.

[Dan Edwards]

I pretty much hate all dog foods and have never found one single company or brand that made a product to suit me. Its all garbage but I cannot afford to not feed it so I go with the best I can afford. Right now all I can get is the Diamond 26/18 and its about as shitty as the rest of em but its the best I can get around here at this present time. I used to feed Black Gold but the blue bag which is their 24/20 and thought it was one of the best I ever fed. Their black bag in my opinion which is a 26/18 is pure shit. My dogs fall apart on it. They lose weigh like crazy unless I more than double their rations and then they got loose stool cuz of that. Like I said, I pretty much hate all dry dog food cuz I have yet to see one thats any good. I feed about 5 coups of dry a day to my dogs plus I feed all left over bones that we dont eat and then they get 1 to 2 pieces of raw chicken leg quarters that I get at walmart for about 60 cents a pound I believe. And yes I feed cooked chicken bones to that we dont eat. I have never in my life seen a dog die from it and have been watchin my daddy and me do it for about 35 years now. I'm not sayin it cant happen but it aint never happened to me and if one of my dogs dies from it, I pretty much believe he just werent good enough to live at my house. If I could afford it I would feed nothin but raw meat and bones but I cant cuz no matter what them crazies try to tell you, that is an expensive ass deal there.

[ferjr]

i had a red nosed pit bull that i had for 9 years that i used to feed chicken bones to, he died last year after my mom gave him some cicken wing bones. i wouldnt have beleived if i hadnt seen it, like i said i have gave him chicken bones all his life without problems but it onlyt took one, it splintered in his throat, it must have punctured his jugular or something because he bled out right there within minutes, there was nothing i could do about it. i personally never give another dog a chicken bone.

[Dan Edwards]

i had a red nosed pit bull that i had for 9 years that i used to feed chicken bones to, he died last year after my mom gave him some cicken wing bones. i wouldnt have beleived if i hadnt seen it, like i said i have gave him chicken bones all his life without problems but it onlyt took one, it splintered in his throat, it must have punctured his jugular or something because he bled out right there within minutes, there was nothing i could do about it. i personally never give another dog a chicken bone.

Damn! You are the first person I have ever talked to that had that happen to him. That sucks.

[Redwood Coonhounds]

I've gone through this a few times. I've fed anything you can imagine. As I used to get dog food free. Most all of it is crap. I won't feed Diamond or Black Gold ever again. My dogs looked terrible the last time I fed those foods. Not what they used to be.

I have been feeding Science Diet Adult. I can feed them 2-3 cups right now, and 3-4 cups in the winter, and there coats are awesome, lean muscle. And they crap, maybe one time a day. If they are at home (they have to crap if you take them somewhere, its a rule), I have one dog that goes once every two days, and I think she's a little fat right now, need to cut her back more. BUT, they changed the bag size down to 35# and the price shot back up to $34. More for less... So I am going back over to Pro Plan Proformance. The Pro Club helps a lot, and its a good food.

[elkhuntress]

I've gone through this a few times. I've fed anything you can imagine. As I used to get dog food free. Most all of it is crap. I won't feed Diamond or Black Gold ever again. My dogs looked terrible the last time I fed those foods. Not what they used to be.

I have been feeding Science Diet Adult. I can feed them 2-3 cups right now, and 3-4 cups in the winter, and there coats are awesome, lean muscle. And they crap, maybe one time a day. If they are at home (they have to crap if you take them somewhere, its a rule), I have one dog that goes once every two days, and I think she's a little fat right now, need to cut her back more. BUT, they changed the bag size down to 35# and the price shot back up to $34. More for less... So I am going back over to Pro Plan Proformance. The Pro Club helps a lot, and its a good food.

I also use to feed black gold years ago and my dogs looked so bad on it, I stopped feeding for prob 5 years or so. The "new and imporved black gold" formula is right on for my dogs now tho and they look awesome. As for science diet-thats a great dog food as is pro plan. When I was a manager at a dog kennel years ago, those were the BIG sellers and we fed pro plan and nutro to the kennel dogs with great success and even a brand called AVO-derm, which is actually based on avocado. Pro plan is really expensive out here-45$ a bag for 40#-no can do!

[M Evertsen]

I first fed Pedigree - Junk for working dogs
Then PMI (now Red Flannel) Prime - Good, but rediculously expensive, and hard to get here.
Then IFA name high energy. Ok, but not great, and also got too expensive for what I was getting.
Then Sun Pro - from IFA - 26/16 - GOOD food, but $35 for 40 lbs was outragous.
Then I got some Diamond 26/18 when a new dealer came into town, dogs did good on that.
Then I got in a deal on Hi Standard - I can pick it up 300+ miles away, and still be cheaper than Diamond. GOOD food, and dogs did well, a little less than 4 cups per day for my biggest dog to maintain, a little more during hunting season, no additional food.
I am now feeding a food called Lightning from the same distributor I am getting the Hi Standard. I am about through the first 20 bags I bought. I am feeding 4 cups for my two biggest dogs, and 2 cups a day for my smallest dog. This spring I hunted hard, and one day, put 25 miles on the 4 wheeler with the dogs free the whole time. I had my 3 males, and they were tired the first morning after, but by the second morning they were good to go. I can run them hard 4 days straight with no problems.

I put this food real close to the Hi Standard, but I am still debating on this or the HS for my next load of food in two weeks. At $3.75 price difference in bags, I am not sure if there is a need to change, although I have not seen how the dogs do in cold weather on the lightnigh.

It is hard to find a good food at a reasonable price.

Later,

Marcial

[eROKv]

basically all you really need to do is look at the first couple ingredients on the label - if its corn, or anything other than some kind of animal meat, then its junk. food labels list the largest percentage ingredient first, then work down from there. you will notice the difference in price but you get what you pay for.

food like that is fine for house dogs, but hounds work for a living and need real food.

[BlacktailStalker]

food like that is fine for house dogs, but hounds work for a living and need real food.

Bingo.
Especially when they're running 4-5+ times a week.
The better the food the sooner they cut back in to shape after lay ups and the longer they stay in shape when they do stop.