i just went through the dog food list and highlighted the offending ingredients in red (according to Natural Abundance, anyway. I thought this might be helpful for easy reference.

I'm not sure what the story on oatmeal, barley and flax is. . Will have to do some more research and let you know what I find. . . Each of the "highest ranked" dog foods have at least one of the above grains. .

Cleo, Tell your dad he is great and he sure does his homework. You're lucky to have such a smart father.

My girlfriend feeds her dachshund Wellness dog food which is supposed to be another of the good foods along with Canidae and Timberwolf.

From the ingredients of their Super5Mix Chicken I can only see Oatmeal as being the only questionable ingredient?

http://www.oldmotherhubbard.com/dogs/ ... Code=dryDogSup5MixChicken

What do you all think? Great forums by the way. :)

Me and Max used to eat Wellness, and we agree that it's very healthy for you. . but my dad was not as happy with it because for whatever reason, and I think this is not supposed to generally be the case with good food like Wellness, it made our poops also very "healthy." And, by way of "healthy" I mean "GENEROUS!!!!"

So he made us switch. . but we sure loved it.

Woof!

i'm adding timberwolf and wellness to the list. also, according to timberwolf, oats and barley are good for stress and the digestive tract, so I am going to de-red those items in the list for now until I get clarification that these grains are good, while others are bad. . .

As the list above evolves, I think we are starting to see some clear winners and losers. . . next, I will add links to their websites. .

Today at the petstore I was looking at the dog food after reading this forum and I found some samples of Pure Gold. I took a puppy sample for Olivia and the Millennnia Maintenance for Oscar the Ingrediants are as follows:

Solid Gold: Hundechen Flocken (for growth/puppies)

menhaden fish meal, ground barley, rice bran, amaranth, garlic, blueberries, yucca schidigera extract, taurine, carotine, choline chloride, calcium carbonate, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, vitamin A supplement, zinc proteinate, calcium panthothenate, vitamin D3 supplement, niacin supplement, riboflavin supplement, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement, folic acid, thiamine, pyridoxine hydrochloride, manganese proteinate, menadione sodium bisulfate complex, copper proteinate, ethylenediamine dihydriodide, natural flavors added.

Crude Protein (minimum) 28
Crude Fat (minimum) 14
Moisture (maximum) 10
Crude Fiber (maximum) 4


Contains:
NO Wheat

NO Soybeans

NO Corn

NO Animal Fat

NO Preservatives




Solid Gold: MMillennia (for weight maintenance)

Beef Meal, Ground Barley, Ground Brown Rice, Menhaden Fish Meal, Flax Seed Oil, Salmon Oil, Rice Bran Oil, Garlic, Parsley, Thyme, Seaweed Meal, Cranberries, Sweet Potatoes, Apples, Carrots, Vitamin A supplement, Vitamin D3 supplement, Vitamin E supplement, riboflavin supplement, niacin supplement, Vitamin B12 supplement, folic acid, thiamine, pyridoxine hydrochloride, biotin, manganese proteinate, iron proteinate, copper proteinate, zinc proteinate, and sodium selenate.

Guaranteed Analysis:
Protein (minimum) 22
Fat (minimum) 12
Moisture (maximum) 10
Fiber (maximum) 5

Solid Gold :Just A Wee Bit Adult Small Breed (Bison)

Bison, Salmon Meal, Millet, Brown Rice, Cracked Pearled Barley, Rice Bran, Canola Oil, Flaxseed Oil, Garlic, Amaranth, Blueberries, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Taurine, Carotene, Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Iron Proteinate (a chelated source of iron), Zinc Proteinate (a chelated source of zinc), Copper Proteinate (a chelated source of copper), Manganese Proteinate (a chelated source of manganese), Potassium Iodide, Thiamine Mononitrate, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A Supplement, Biotin, Calcium Pantothenate, Selenomethionine, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (vitamin B6), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin, Vitamin D Supplement, Folic Acid

Guaranteed Analysis:
Crude Protein min 28
Crude Fat min 18
Moisture max 10
Crude Fiber max 4

Oscar and Olivia Loved the samples, I may start purchasing this food for them as it sounds like it has good ingredients and they seem to like it. It is somewhat pricey compared to the big name brands, but as little as my dogs it I think it will be worth it. ~Chrissy

ooh. they do sound yummy! I'll add them to the list at the top. Thanks for posting the ingredients!