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I'm thinking of trying Diamond High energy dog food for my Catahoulas. Just thought I'd ask others if they use it or tried it. Thanks all opiniona are greatful.

I like the Diamond Performance. Very good food. Dogs have no problem with digesting it completely and don't require lots of food to be full. Never have used the high energy though.

Your best bet is to mix two or even three types of dry food. There isn't any one type of food that really is any good for your dog. I also ad meat every day during season or every other day in the off season. I dont' think feeding only one type of dry food to your dogs is good for them. They are all corn and fillers. Dogs are meat eaters. You can pick up all the meat you want for free whether its from old freezer burned meat from all your buddies, road killed deer, or if legal just shoot an extra deer or elk every year for dog food. I use buffalo mostly because I can get as much of it as I want but any type of meat will do. Your dogs will do much better on a healthy diet of meat rather then corn.

1hogwild,
For a second there I thought I didn't post this thread cause I just saw Ozzy as your profile pic.

Anyways, I used to feed Diamond High Energy and my dogs did really well on it. I noticed that it got more and more expensive, but the quality went way down. I haven't taken a look at it in awhile so I don't know how good the quality is now a days. One key thing to good dog food is moisture and the amount of meat compared to fillers. Any grain product is a filler. Look for dog food that the first ingredients are meat, and not meat by products. Lots of times the manufacturers will try to fool you by saying it is meat based and it is really ground bones and left over waste meat. It can be confusing and frustrating to say the least. I would spend a lot of time at the feed store reading the back of dog food bags.

Dean has the right idea basically making his own blend of dog food. You know exactly what you are putting into your dog. Dogs are carnivors and need meat and protien to survive. I would always pack as much lion meat out as I could and feed that to my dogs. Better than leaving an unused carcas on the mountain for some tree hugger to find on one of their nature hikes. Dogs love it. Could do the same with your hogs and bears too.

Hope that helps.

Here's my $.01. The past year I spent a fair amount of time looking at and trying different brands of dog food including Diamond hi energy. It's not a bad food, it's just not that good. It contains a lot of fillers and my dogs had big fat saucy turds from it.
Now I think dogs will live fairly well on just about any type of food the eat, but I think the higher meat content food are the best. The turds were small and compact and if I missed picking one up in a few days it turns to dust. That is because there is very little filler in good dog kibble. Kibble with high filler content, ie. corn, beet pulp, cellulose, etc do nothing but bind together the other ingredients in the food. Binders/fillers are like the corn you eat, come out the same way they went in and your left with a steaming pile of filler on your ground that stinks for days.

The best kibble I found was Canidae all life stages. Something like 4 or 5 meat ingredients first then good fat sources for energy. Canidae is way to expensive though, $49.00 for 44lbs. I finally settled down to Diamond Naturals Extreme Athlete or Diamond Naturals Lamb and Rice. It's the best compromise between price and quality that I could come up with.

I agree strongly with everyone else about adding raw meat or good table scraps to your dogs food. Dogs get bored with kibble and a little raw meat and veggies in their diet helps add nutrients as well as some flavor.

Again, just my $.01.

Zach

Of course, adding meat to most any dry dog food will improve it, but if for whatever reason you want to stick to dry food (as I do) Diamond High Energy will serve you very well. I have fed it exclusively for several years and my dogs do well. I do feed a little more than recommended in the winter and when they are being hunted hard. I am presently paying $17.95 per 50# bag at Atwoods.

briarpatch

Fat is broken down into glucose, which equates to sustained energy for the dog. The harder and longer the dog works, the more glucose it needs. That's the reason sled dogs on the Iditarod get raw meat and blubber from seals or whales. Those dogs need as much fat (glucose) as possible to perform their task. Protein is what helps the dog rebuild tissue (like muscles broken down from exercise).Fat = energy. With that said it becomes probably the most important number for the hunting dog or professional athlete. That is what they are, pro athlete's. The amount of fat depends on the amount of training and hunting. Just like a body builder they also need branched chain amino acid to rebuild and develop. This is why the first ingredient should be meat based. In general, animal proteins (meat, fish, poultry, milk, cheese, and eggs) are considered good sources of complete proteins. Complete proteins contain ample amounts of all essential amino acids. On the other hand, vegetable proteins, grains and other vegetables are incomplete proteins because they are missing, or do not have enough of, one or more of the essential amino acids. The type of food does matter! Go to my web page http://www.calicooutfitter.com in my links and read the link on dog food. It is a great study.
Wolves, including the domesticated wolf we call the dog, are classified biologically as being in the order carnivora. There is no scientific debate, or dissension on this issue.
Wolves eat other animals and berries and forage. So depending on the outlook some call them omnivores.
Beet pulp is considered to be an excellent fiber source in most commercial pet foods. The addition of beet pulp to commercial dog and cat food is widespread, but the actual amount eaten per day is quite small. Beet pulp is rarely the only available fiber source; as a rule.
One more thought, Corn is a complex carbohydrate and a source of vitamin C and fiber the soluble fibers in corn bind with cholesterol in bile from the liver. It then leaves the body, taking cholesterol with it. Scientific research has determined that corn is a very good aid to prevent iron-deficiency anemia because it increases the absorption of this nutrient up to 50 percent. So not everything is how we see it. Just because it comes out similar to the way it went in does not mean its just a filler.
Most everyone knows I feed Arkat dog food. My homework, this company make ALL of their own food out of their Own AIB certified plant. It is not a recipe someone copied off another label. Speaking of there numbers(labels) They have there own on site lab and designed each food purposely,24-18, 30-20, 27-17. That's why mixing dog foods is not a good idea. Whole nother topic.
Most importantly, just find a dog food you and your dog likes.
Diamond is a great food. One more thing, just because someone didn't have good luck with a particular dog food, take it with a grain of salt. There are alot of factors (fed to much, dogs metabolisem, nervous dog, worms, stress,... ) as to why it didn't work. Anyway, This is my thought. Good luck and God bless Randy

one thing I learned this year is that while higher fat/protien food may have advantages to more active dogs, too much protien and fat can cause liver and kidney problems in older dogs

So how do you guys feed the meat. Do you cook it or feed it raw. Chunks or ground? Also what is the ratio you guys use for meat to dog food? I have thought about doing this for the past couple years just havnt done it. Thanks for the info

Daniel,

It all depends on how much food your dog needs. If you are mixing the meat in with kibble you don't need to go crazyfeeding them masive amounts of meat. As for raw or cooked that doesn't matter. If you want to take the time to cook it for them every so often and keep it in the fridge or freezer and use it as needed that works. You can also save all the grease from bacon or other fatty meats you cook and pour that over the dogs food as well. Or give them any left over meat you don't eat from dinner. That is the most economical way to do it.

I feed my pups H.E and a mix of leftovers and every other day i mix in the lamb n rice they look good and i work the hell out of them they are roaded 36 miles a week and we hike 24 the 24 is more for me. But tihs will all change when i go back to work, Hate when that happens

I'v fed Diamond, Black Gold, & IPA when i lived in Washington State, now im in Georgia and i found a food that i really like and so do the Dawgs. they look lots healthier, have way more spunk, & the food cost less than Old Roy and it comes in 50lbs sacks,
Its called The Pride, right now in the off season im feeding 22/10.
also in the switch my Dagws never got the shiiiitz

I feed strictly meat all winter. And 3 different brands of dry in the summer due 2 lack of freezer space. I would reccomend as much meat as possible. They are different animals when u feed them meat. Better coats, stamina, u can just tell a dog that has eaten nothing but raw meat for months and gets as much exersize as he or she can stand. It is a beautiful thing. A lean game catching machine. And a nother good thing about it is u dont have 2 feed on the successful days. Just skin it and let them go 2 work on the rest for 5 minutes.

I was feeding the diamond high energy and there stool looked like cow turds ,switched them gradually too . Fed about six bags before i switched to something else . Now i've been feeding Retriever brand they seem to do good . If you feed raw meat do you have to be more concerned about tape worms?

Big Horn, I got my avatar pic here in the avatar section.

Tractor supply has a sale of Diamond High energy $21.99 for 50 lb bag. I raise Catahoulas and 4 dogs are starting eatimg me out of a house. My budget limits my expense as a retired medical vet. So the best deal may not always the best food but playing the caution game on what food I buy for my four legged friends to save from losing them to make this post. Thank for all replies and honest opinions.

Big Horn Posse wrote:1hogwild,
For a second there I thought I didn't post this thread cause I just saw Ozzy as your profile pic.

Anyways, I used to feed Diamond High Energy and my dogs did really well on it. I noticed that it got more and more expensive, but the quality went way down. I haven't taken a look at it in awhile so I don't know how good the quality is now a days. One key thing to good dog food is moisture and the amount of meat compared to fillers. Any grain product is a filler. Look for dog food that the first ingredients are meat, and not meat by products. Lots of times the manufacturers will try to fool you by saying it is meat based and it is really ground bones and left over waste meat. It can be confusing and frustrating to say the least. I would spend a lot of time at the feed store reading the back of dog food bags.

Dean has the right idea basically making his own blend of dog food. You know exactly what you are putting into your dog. Dogs are carnivors and need meat and protien to survive. I would always pack as much lion meat out as I could and feed that to my dogs. Better than leaving an unused carcas on the mountain for some tree hugger to find on one of their nature hikes. Dogs love it. Could do the same with your hogs and bears too.

Hope that helps.