Best food for daschund

Question
Our "tweeny" daschund is 15 lbs.--a weight which he maintains. He has occasional loose stools--about once per week for a day.  We've been feeding him about 1 cup of Purina One dry and about 1/3 can Purina One moist per day. He gets no people food and an occasional Bouda Bone.We're wondering if there is a better brand and how to transition to it.  Are we feeding him too much?    Should we feed him once or twice a day?  He gets at least 3 20-30 minute walks each day as well as play/fetch in the yard. During colder weather he gets 2-3 shorter walks each day. Thank you for your help.

Answer
Hi Helen - Oh my yes - there are many far better brands available these days! Let's see if we can chunk this down a little and I'll tackle your questions one at a time.

First, let me clarify one concept -   there is really no such thing as "people food" - there is really only *food*, and better or worse quality at that. Commercial dogfoods are highly processed products based - hopefully - on real food; the ones I prefer will contain items such as lamb, duck, sweet potato, brown rice, eggs and so on - all food, right? The ones I don't like will list ingredients that are not accurately identified - "mystery" ingredients such as "meat" (what kind of meat?) "animal fat" - (from what animal exactly?) and will often use waste products such as brewer's rice and peanut hulls - things that we humans definitely do not eat! but then - neither should your dog. I don't encouarge the feeding of table scraps if the human meal has been pizza or richly sauced foods, deep fried etc - but, real, wholesome "human" foods like cooked or raw meats, eggs, sardines, a little cheese if well tolerated, sweet potatoes, even fruit for some dogs - all are healthy snack/reward alternatives to the usual barrage of nasty stuff like Snausages and Pupperoni and MilkBone.

So, with that off my chest - on to your questions.

When I looked at the Purina site, there were many varieties of the One formula; I choose the small bites beef since you have a small dog, but all the formulas were equally egregious. So you aren't just taking my word for this, here's the ingredient list:

" Beef (natural source of glucosamine), brewers rice, whole grain corn, corn gluten meal, poultry by-product meal (natural source of glucosamine), animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), oat meal, whole grain wheat, fish meal, animal digest, potassium chloride, calcium carbonate, caramel color, salt, calcium phosphate, choline chloride, zinc sulfate, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, Vitamin E supplement, ferrous sulfate, manganese sulfate, niacin, Vitamin A supplement, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, copper sulfate, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, garlic oil, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, calcium iodate, biotin, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), sodium selenite."

There is so much wrong with this I don't have time to list it all off, but - it's very low quality. Beef is the first ingredient, but this isn't beef meal, it's whole beef weighed with water, so the next few ingredients - corn (a notorious allergen) and brewer's rice (a waste product) weigh much more than the meat. Then we have by products, animal fat (I hate to see this on an label) WHEAT (!) and so on. One again, Purina tricks consumers into thinking the food is high end, when it's the same old junk they always produce. It galls me they charge more for these formulas claiming they are premium.

Here's a truly premium food label to compare:

"Salmon, Duck Meal, Potatoes, Pea Flour, Sweet Potatoes, Duck, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Dried Tomato Pomace, Salmon Meal, Whole Dried Egg, Pea Protein, Chicken, Flaxseed, Cheese, Salmon Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols), Chicken Broth, Carrots, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Apples, Green Beans, Lecithin, Chicken Cartilage, Potassium Chloride, Cranberries, Blueberries, Salt, Chicory Root Extract, Alfalfa Sprouts, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Folic Acid, Parsley, Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Bifidobacterium Longum, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Enterococcous Faecium, Vitamin A, D3, E, B12 Supplements, Choline Bitartrate, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Riboflavin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Biotin, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Manganous Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Cobalt Carbonate, Calcium Iodate, Sorbic Acid, Iron Proteinate, Zinc Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Sodium Selenite. "



This is Fromm FourStar's excellent product Surf and Turf - I've been using a Fromm product for my own dogs over the past months when I can't cook, and they are thriving. I love the ingredient list - duck MEAL shows us a high level of meat protein, there is no gluten in the food - nothing unidentifed - there's no comparison! Does this make sense to you?

A lot more information about commercial food can be found here:
http://www.api4animals.org/facts.php?p=359&more=1

The Fromm product above is just one example of a superior food - there are many others. YOu could look into Fromm, or consider any of the following:

Solid Gold  - makes a small breed food called "Just a Wee Bit"
www.solidgoldhealth.com

Natural Balance - large selection of all premium foods, I suggest browsing the site
www.naturalbalanceinc.com

Naturapet - makes Innova, California Natural - a large line of all excellent products
www.naturapet.com

Some others to google include Orijen (very high protein and not for every dog, but I like to mix some into the  main diet as an overall booster) - Wellness (a great brand with many formulas) and Nature's Variety.

I can't predict, without knowing a lot more about your dog, which food out of all of these is ideal for him. I can  however, say any of these products are much higher quality than the Purina One. I think you have made a wise decision to upgrade and your dog will thank you for it.

Lastly - I always like to see dogs fed twice a day.  My own dogs eat three times, when I do. But twice is a minimum. And if he isn't overweight you aren't feeding too much.  Sounds like he gets a lot of exercise and has a good metabolism! My male dog eats close to 25% above the recommended level for his weight because he is so muscular and fit - that's one reason I feed three times, as I have a bloat-prone breed and he eats so much..  Dachshunds can develop spinal and other orthopedic problems so keeping him at a good weight is essential. If he starts to gain, cut back by 10 - 15% - don't let the pounds creep up.

I hope this helps - please let me know if I've missed anything. I'd love to hear what food you decide to go with, and how you do with it. Please transition slowly - from a poorer level food to a richer premium variety I go by 25% increments. Give each increase at least 3 days, and watch stool, appetite, drinking.  Some dogs have a little loose stool for a few days on a premium food if they're not used to it, but it should be minor, transient and no other symptoms.
Best of luck with this!

Catherine