Here are the products we’re using for our dogs’ diets. Farmina N&D Ancestral Grain Lamb and Blueberry is a food that we just recently switched over to due to experiencing loose stool from the previous dog food that we used.
Why Farmina?
After researching dry dog foods for a couple years, I kept returning to Farmina. This company is based in Italy, using human-grade ingredients, non GMO, no recalls in over 50 years, using much higher quality in all ingredients because they are from Italy and Europe where their standards for what's sprayed on crops are MUCH higher than here in the US. This is not to say that we "can't" get foods with higher standards in the US as you can, but since it's more rare, they are very expensive. Since feeding a dry food is still best for us, this did seem like the best option although we really love raw or fresh food options available here in the US if anyone wanted to go that route. We just wanted everyone to know where we are at with foods.
Disclaimer: Some dogs will have different responses to various proteins, so find what works best for your dog.
I like this brand because the first ingredient is a whole protein and they don’t have canola oil (GMO)and unnecessary carbs like potatoes, corn, wheat, soy and neither is this heavily loaded with legumes. What’s in the top 5-10 ingredients are important. Particularly if the bulk of the protein comes from legumes like peas, etc. We prefer to see meat sources listed instead for health reasons.
I personally believe a completely raw diet is always ideal, though it is pricier and more time consuming. However, to create your own diet can often be unbalanced and have a lack of certain valuable vitamins and minerals. Find a nutritionist/Veterinarian Nutritionist to formulate a raw or home cooked diet which is specifically tailored to your pet’s needs. For a dog with skin, coat, or joint problems, I would feed a nutritionally balanced raw diet for the extra benefits. However, when you don’t feed raw, it is important to supplement your dog food*. Standard dog kibble is baked to death, leaving the vitamins and enzymes lacking. That is why we add the following supplements: Nuvet plus, Fera Organics Probiotics & Fish oil and a raw egg.
*Even if the dog food is organic and non-GMO.