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Find out what exactly a grain-free diet is and why it is important to consult veterinarian to select your dog’s diet if you think he has food sensitivities.
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Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! It is not known at this time if grain free diets are actually better than diets with grain. I usually recommend feeding a high quality diet. Purina is an excellent diet but if you do not have access to this diet, there are others that you could consider that are also excellent such as Hill's Science Diet, Royal canin and Iams foods. Grain does not necessarily make dogs gain weight so I would be more focused on the quality and balance of the diet per se. Good luck and have a great day!
Updated on September 24th, 2025
I agree. I do not recommend to feed pets a grain free diet unless they have a known grain allergy. There are a few brands that I recommend because I think they’re high quality and pets tend to like the taste. Royal Canin is my number one choice. It is highly digestible and low residue and this tends to result in good stool quality with low stool quantity. Another brand I like is Purina pro plan. Nutro is also a good brand. Make sure to transition any diet slowly. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Basically, there is proponent of people in the media and in the "natural" food sector that would like to make everyone believe that grains are the devil and that dogs are wolves. This is, in fact, incorrect. Wheat and soy, grains, contain valuable nutrients including proteins that dogs can readily digest and utilize appropriately. While it is true that there are dogs that get GI upset from consumption of these, the same can be said about beef, chicken, and any other meat protein. Rice, oats, and potatoes are acceptable in small quantities, but do contain starches which are complex sugars, and are a little more difficult to digest. In terms of by-products, this is usually referring to any part of the animal that is not the flesh of the beast. Usually this includes certain organs, bones, blood, etc. These products can be ground up and made into a byproduct - meal of sorts. Obviously, the actual meat is going to contain more appropriate nutrients but if a dog were left to it, they would be happy to eat any and all pieces of an animal. As for specific brands of food, Hill's is the brand that I typically recommend to all my clients and which I feed to my own dogs and cats. I consider it to be very high quality. I can't speak much about the other brand you've named unfortunately as I have little knowledge about it. Hope this helped though!
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Hello. Grain free labeling is more of a marketing to rather than an indication of a good food. I encourage brands that have passed the AAFCO food standards (it would say that on the bag usually by the nutritional information). These brands include Purina, Science Diet, Pedigree, Eukanuba, Blue Buffalo- In changing diets remember that sudden changes can be hard on the GI tract so gradually mixing in the new food is best.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! As you have probably noticed there are plenty of diets in the market. There are a few that stand out in my opinion in terms of quality and palatability. I really like the Science Diet, Royal Canin and Purina Pro Plan products. A diet that I have found to be of very good quality, affordable and dogs love is the Purina Pro Plan shredded blends. You can find that at your local pet store or online. Otherwise any of the diets of the previously mentioned brands would also be good choices for Harley. Good luck!
Updated on September 24th, 2025