Dog Foods We Use at Dyer Farms
What do we feed our dogs and puppies?
Convenient Raw, Kibble, Raw
What is Convenient Raw?
Raw food made easy for those of us who don't have time to make home made food for our fur-kids.
What is Kibble?
You know - that crunchy stuff that comes in a bag from the store.
We send all of our puppies to their new homes with a gallon zip-lock bag of food that they're used to eating - most often "NutriSource Small Breed Puppy" kibble. This is 4-star rated (out of 5), and is available at Menards, Orscheln, Theisen's and pet stores. One of the reasons we use this particular brand is because it is the least expensive highly rated kibble that is readily available to new puppy owners. We recommend your puppy stay on this brand until the age of around 16 weeks before switching to what we call "convenient raw" for life.
Convenient Raw dog foods used most often here at Dyer Farms:
Sojos - Made in Minnesota - Available in complete diet and in base mix for adding your own protein.
Honest Kitchen - made in California - Also available in complete diet and in base mix
Spot Farms - made in North Carolina
All of these foods are dehydrated / freeze-dried. An 8lb bag or box makes 40 lbs. of food after water is added. 2 lb bags are available for 1 or 2 dog owners and make 8 - 10 lbs. This is HUMAN grade food usually sourced from the area where these foods are made. No toxins from China or other places to poison our fur-babies. No artificial ingredients. No by-products of any kind. Enzymes and other goodies for our dogs' guts are still in the food - not baked out and then sprayed back on with fats that go rancid. Order this food from amazon.com or find it at pet stores.
These foods aren't exactly cheap, but are priced competitively with the 5-star kibbles and are less expensive than some. We view this as an investment in our dogs' health and protection from vet bills, allergies and other food-related ailments. We've seen first hand the change in our adult dogs' body composition and energy levels. If there's one thing I could hammer home with new puppy owners - it would be the wise choice of nutritious, wholesome foods for your new fur-babies and fur-kids. We all want our dogs to live long, healthy lives. Here's one of the best ways to help that happen.
Raw foods used here:
Green tripe mix- ordered from My Pet Carnivore out of Indiana. We pick our frozen order up once a month in Coralville, Iowa. The company's routes cover multiple states, have the best pricing I've been able to find so far, and come conveniently packaged for easy thawing and using.
Whole ground chicken (minus the feathers)
My dogs' favorite meal by far! We take a base mix (without the protein) from Sojos or Honest Kitchen and add the right amount of tripe or chicken for each dog. (Amount of protein needed is stated right on the base mix boxes.) Your dog's bowl will be empty within seconds and you'll know that you're giving your dog the best meal possible so he'll be with you a long, long time!
Adult Kibble used here:
Diamond Naturals - 4 star food
NutriSource Small Breed - 4 star food
These are the brands we buy since we feed a number of dogs. They're highly rated at reasonable prices and available at our co-op as well as Menards, Theisen's and pet stores. There are many, many highly rated kibbles on the market these days - most with questionable marketing tactics that are very misleading. Any kibble would be my last choice for feeding your fur-kid for a life-time. A Google search on "dog food ratings" or a visit to www.dogfoodadvisor.com yields lots of good information for sorting out the hundreds of products competing for your precious dollar. You'll also discover why kibble is our last choice......
