I could object to just about every point you made in your review, but instead, I will pick a few topics.

Regarding your one year old dog not doing well on high quality foods... what do you mean by "none of them seemed to work right for him"?

Eukanuba ISN'T a proven food, and that's half the point I try to make with my negative review and comments. It's a proven BRAND NAME. The contents of the food are always changing. And those changes are seldom for the better. The Eukanuba brand name has existed since 1969, and at that time was one of the best foods in the world. That started changing in the mid-80s, when the founder stepped down and sold out his share. The downward spiral was caused by a greater concern for profits than in pet health, and was made worse by the corporate buyout in 1999. Proctor and Gamble simply does not care about your dog's health or the quality of their ingredients. The BRAND NAME has the reputation. The FORMULA and intent behind founding the brand are lost to history. You place your trust in a brand name, trusting that "Eukanuba" means what it always did... that is simply not the case any longer.

You say you need proof that the claims that these foods are harmful, that you consider environmental and genetic factors to be more likely culprits for death. Well, I can show you proof in the form of thousands of pets killed by the April 2007 melamine contamination alone. I can show you dogs fed Pedigree in laboratory settings, controlled environments, that developed cancer due to the carcinogens in that food. I can show you the potential toxins and horrible ingredients that make up the "chicken by-product meal" that Eukanuba features. Do you really think it's healthy to use beaks, feathers, feet, bones, diseased carcasses, unformed eggs, and other inedible meat waste as a primary ingredient in a quality dog food?

Bottom line, Eukanuba is NOT a good food. Eukanuba is an average food, at best. And my dogs deserve better than average.

First, every food is not right for every dog. My dog did poor on the more expensive foods like Wellness, Solid Gold, Orijen, and so on. He had excessive gas, anal gland problems, never had a completely solid stool just poorly formed, and shedded like crazy. I am not debating the fact that these "higher quality" foods are good but they DO NOT work for every dog. As soon as I fed my dog Eukanuba I started to see a difference. I feed him the Naturally Wild series which is a more natural form of the brand.

Of course, the brand may have been much better when it was first developed but it is still among the best easily available brands. I have had many dogs over the years and had always fed Science Diet or Eukanuba until my lastest 1 year old. I simply fell into the hype and holistic/natural brands that use emotion to get you to buy their foods. Yes, the foods may be good but to play on an owners emotions seems cheap to me.

Lastly, yes I do contribute environmental and genetics factors in causing the deaths that many owners unknowningly blame on the food. Your point of the contaminated is mute because it was a industry wide occurance and is not from a common ingredient, it was from a toxin. Just as well as peanut butter for humans was recalled due to salmonella! It can happen to ANY company and does not represent the quality of the food or brands involved. Of course it was a terrible situation and should never happen but considering we live in a real world that is not perfect it did happen. Also, this recall involved companies who are marketed as the "better" high quality dog foods you push. For example, Blue Buffalo and the Diamond company which makes a high rated food called Chicken Soup for the Pet Lovers Soul both of these brands are considered better choices and Blue Buffalo is among the top rated on dogfoodanalysis.com. Another questionable thing I found is that Orijen says they get their fish wild from a fresh ocean, which is wonderful, however where the fish are harvested is rumored to be the located of an oil concern. Also, Orijen states on their website that they get their tests for the fish (testing for mercury and other heavy metals) from the supplier!! Like the supplier should be trusted to give accurate tests! These are just a few points that poke holes in the complete reliability of the hoslitic/natural foods. Orijen also had a major recall for toxic cat food in australia. I was under the impression that orijen was among the best? According to the facts I am not sure they are good or bad.

Yes, the so called "better quality" foods may have better ingredients but they also may contain negative ingredients just as a so called "grocery brand" can. And ANY dog food company can have a recall, it comes down to someone not doing thier job and not reporting the accurate test results or not testing period.

Also, your reference to by-products. Do I think it is ok for my dog to eat beaks, feathers, feet, bones, carcasses, and so on? Well, lets think a minute...in the wild are wolves and other canines picky eaters? I dont think so, they eat what they can which may mean carcasses (left our for days at a time), scraps from other animals hunts, feet, bones, and so on. They eat what they can. One of the major messages of the holistic/natural brands is that it gives our pets a more natural food which they would eat in the wild. Well, considering the poor diet canines eat in the wild, very seldom fresh and clean, the whole by-product argument does not have much validity. Of course, pure fresh meat is ALWAYS better but simply saying a dog should not eat these left overs is denying the essence of the argument of eating as they do in the wild.

Bottom line, Eukanuba is a good quality food, it could be better but it is among the better choices. Holistic/natural food may work for some animals and not others just as Eukanuba may work for some and not others. I go on how well my dogs live on the foods not on what a company tries to sell me. Eukanuba is a reputable company with its downsides just as any other company, animals or human. The huge recall was very sad and evidence of poor manufacturing procedures but it can happen to any company and I do not doubt it will happen again. Eukanuba has been recalled in the past and may in the future, as have many other companies, but so have human foods been recalled. Have you stopped eating peanut butter (assuming you like to eat peanut butter)? Or spinach (assuming you like spinach), tomatos? All of these human foods are just a few which have been recalled. There are arguments for Eukanuba and against and each have a valid point. It is a personal preference and up to the owner to give their dog the best they can. If I feel and have seen success with Eukanuba there is nothing wrong with me giving my dogs this food and it does not make me a poor owner, it makes me an owner who sees results. I care deeply for my dogs and would never purposly harm them, I believe in the quality and results with Eukanuba and the lack of results with other foods. Each of our opinions are just that, opinions. We each have valid points and each have the freedom to feed our dogs what works for them. I do not give my dogs average food, I give them what they like to eat and what makes them healthy, which for me and my dogs is Eukanuba!

You have a LOT of bias toward an undeserving food. And really, I can't understand the loyalty. I've been working in animal medicine for more than twenty years. When I first started working in vet clinics, as a teenaged veterinary assistant, Iams' Eukanuba was one of the two best foods in the world, along with Hill's Science Diet. When I first went to college and studied Animal Science, I learned more about these foods, and why the were the best, comparing them to other foods then on the market. For the first ten years I was a licensed Veterinary Technician, I swore by these foods, despite a growing number of problems we saw clinically that could be traced back to food quality issues. Starting about twelve years ago, I really started researching, looking into pet foods and their ingredients. Having previously worked in the meat industry, I already knew about byproducts, and what, exactly, they were. However, learning about different proteins and their digestibility, learning about carbohydrates, and the difference between good carbs and bad. Learning about proper nutrient ratios, and the need for balance between protein, carbs, and fat. And I began learning much more when I went back to school for a specialty in companion animal nutrition. And I continue to learn more each day... because our knowledge and the pet food industry bot are always changing. To stop learning is to stagnate, and to stagnate is to endorse products that may once have been worthwhile, but over time have become undesirable... products like Eukanuba.

No, not every food is right for every dog. But from a nutritional standpoint, Eukanuba is not right for ANY dog.

Your dogs didn't do well on top quality foods? Well, either you didn't transition properly, or you simply didn't find the RIGHT proper quality food. The fact that Eukanuba makes a firm stool doesn't make it a good food... it just means that it's a food with many undigestible carbohydrates, fibers that add bulk to the stool but nothing of any nutritional value.

Eukanuba is absolutely NOT among the best readly-available brands. Again, Eukanuba is average, at best. Much better foods are available nationwide in Petcos and PetSmarts, brands like Blue Buffalo, by Nature, Solid Gold, Wellness, Natural Balance, Pinnacle, Castor & Pollux Ultramix/Organix, all are VASTLY superior to Eukanuba. For those without access to one of the national chain pet stores, most areas have farm or feed stores or just independant pet stores carrying some of the above brands as well as many others. Given time, I could list perhaps three to four HUNDRED brands of food of better nutritional value than Eukanuba. Literally. Granted, some are small regional brands not available outside a narrow geographic area, but still... they are out there.

My point about contaminated ingredients is NOT moot. Tje case I pointed out, the April 2007 melamine toxicity, was NOT industry-wide. It just seemed that way because all of the well-known, average to low quality foods were affected. The only three super premium brands recalled due to possible melamine contamination were Blue Buffalo, Natural Balance, and Diamond's Chicken Soup. Blue Buffalo because they trusted an outside company to produce their foods and stick to the recipe the Blue Buffalo company provided. The contracted production plant decided to deviate from that recipe, and include ingredients (glutens) that aren't even supposed to be in that food. Blue Buffalo caught the dishonesty from their contracted plant before any potentially tainted product was sold... a big plus in their favor. Chicken Soup's and Natural Balance's melamine recalls were a little less excusable. Those companies made a conscious decision to change their formulas and use low quality, low cost rice protein concentrate, and their customers suffered. But those three brands were the only three recalled that classify as being far above average in nutritional content. Why? Because one of the qualifications that makes a superpremium food so good is no glutens or other grain or vegetable proteins added. In that particular recall, the contaminated ingredient was gluten. And roughly a third of Eukanuba products were tainted, not to mention sister-brand Iams.

Orijen may or may not harvest it's wild caught fish from an area of the ocean that is known for oil contamination... but fish are almost never subjected to that contamination. Orijen's Australia recall was the fault of the Australian government, and their policies that they have for imported pet foods, specifically irradiation. Wasn't Orijen's fault at all. Good foods from good companies CAN have issues. Mistakes can be made, contamination can happen. But the good companies learn from their mistakes and don't make them again. Brands like Eukanuba do not... they cointinue making the same mistakes time and time again. Eukanuba is STILL using imported glutens and other ingredients, shipped in from China and elsewhere. That's precisely what caused the melamine recalls. Chinese glutens and rice proteins.

Byproducts. Yes, wolves in the wild and feral dogs eat prey animals and their parts that include byproduct-level tissues. But those byproducts are a fractional amount of the total protein intake... in pet foods, byproducts aren't used in fractional amounts. They are used as the bulk of the protein source in many of the brands that use them... including Eukanuba. Which is healthier, eating a chicken breast or eating a chicken tumor? Byproducts are low quality, and potentially toxic. Byproducts are all parts unfit for human consumption. I have shoveled slaughterhouse waste into byproduct bins for the pet food industry. I know exactly what it is. And it's horrifying. And there is absolutely no way that "chicken byproduct meal" is a healthy choice. It simply is not.

I am not bias, I simply know what works for my dogs. To say I just did not transition right, which I am well aware of how to do, or simply did not find a good quality food for my dogs is a bit ridiculous. I have tried many brand of what you call great foods. I have tried Blue Buffalo (which my dogs would not eat, which my 1 year old will eat almost anything), Wellness (which was ok but again caused excessive shedding, itching, gas, and soft stool), Solid Gold (which brought out allergies from my dogs and I am concerned they do not name a fish in the ingredients), Oirjen (which I stopped using because of the questions about where they get their fish, relying on supplies to do testing, and same average issues as the others foods), and Pinnacle (which again did the same as the others, itching, soft stool, etc). I mean these are the ones you say are so good, why would my dogs system not agree with these foods if they were so good. It is hard for me to believe that Eukanuba is so bad when my dogs do so well on them. My dogs comfort is of the utmost importance to me and if a food causes allergies, soft stool, gas, and lack of enthusiasm for the food I will NOT feed it.

The recall which you have as such a major point is still not making any proof for me, if it was Eukanubas fault their food was recalled then it was every dog food companies fault. You cannot say one company was negligent when a few were not. And again, as we both agree a recall can happen to ANY company, even Orijen. The defense of the Australian government causing the contamination from radiation (I know exactly what you wrote about) is from Orijen and has never been proven. There is no way to know exactly why the company had the problems so one cannot say it was Orijens fault nor the Australian government, there is simply no accurate proof just speculation. Also, I have been reading many reviews where customers have discovered whole bones in the Orijen bags, this is a major concern for me. What if I were to buy Orijen and accidently give my dog a bone which might kill them? If a whole bones slips into the bags what else does the company not check for. These questions simply are enough for me to not buy these particular brands.

In the end it is my personal preference based on experience and research to use Eukanuba. We will not agree and as I said before we each have valid points which can be supported and broken down. If I have hard evidence of a dog food (without contamination) causing a disease or health condition I will not use it but all of the reports thus far are speculation. Direct me to a unbias website which documents scientific proof of a direct correlation between Eukanuba and a dogs disease or illness and I will reconsider. Until then I will go on what my dogs thrive on and how they do well.

I appreciate your comments but again each of us has points which are valid and invalid. I will continue to feed my dogs Eukanuba until I discover different. I read a review who has thier Toy Poodle on Eukanuba for 19 years! The dog was very healthy and obviously lived a long thriving life. Obviously the food did not cause that dog to die or get an illness. There are also other reviews from users who have had their dogs on Eukanuba for years with no issues. Yes, Eukanuba may not be the best food for a dog who already has a condition or a genetic reason which will lead to disease but as far as I know my dogs are perfectly healthy. If they develop a disease or illness I will speak with my veterinarian as to what food would be better but until then Eukanuba will be what I feed. Due to moving alot, I have had a few different vets for my dogs and every one says Eukanuba is a very good food to feed my dogs. I just wish I would have not jumped onto the natural banwagon with my younger dog so he would not have experienced the minor conditions he did (soft stool, gas, shedding, etc).

Again, thank you for your thoughts and I appreciate your experience but you should also understand my points. You might personal feel strongly that the natural foods are for your dogs and that is great. I personally feel Eukanuba is for me. I have educated myself and thought natural was the way to go but after even more research and the experience my dogs have had Eukanuba is best for them. Thanks again for your comments.

Eukanuba WAS one of the best...many years ago. They have fallen prey to the evils of corporate greed, like so many others. I use Nature's Variety and Wellness Core. Nature's Variety does source ingredients from China, from their own privately help and operate facilities staffed by US citizens and using livestock originating in the US Only. They don't trust ANY third parties to produce their foods or ingredients. And Wellness Core, they are as close to beyond reproach as dog food gets! We mix 2/3 of these kibbles and some others of their quality class with 1/3 raw daily. I feel that the rotation diet with raw is superior to any other diet than staright raw with supplementation. I agree that some foods wrok better than others for different dogs. I personally don't think corn is evil, or even bad if processed correctly and if it appears as a whole grain AFTER the fat/ oil source in the food. There are exceptions to every rule, of course. There is a lot to going with what works as well....but we can't be blind. At a little over 30 yrs old I came to find that a dog food brand in which I had full faith for many many years used atrificial preservatives that are considered "Ify" at best. I switched. I went to all the four, five and six star companies and put their foods AND Customer service to the test. If a dog food company is unreachable, rude, bothered that the customer exists, defensive in any way about anything, or just porr quality......I see these things a a direct reflection on the food. Nature's Variety, Wellness Core, Artemis, PetGaurd, Natural Balance, Taste of the Wild (a Diamond pet foods brand I know), Grandma Lucy's, Best Breed and LOTS of others were not only polite and helpful, but they asked detailed questions about my dogs and our feeding system so they could send out more than generous samples for us to try. I admit that I would and will feed Eukanuba as an aspect of our rotation diet IF it were free or close to it! I wouldn't pay their retail prices for sure. You can get a lot better for a lot less.....I pay average of $1 lb for our brands mentioned above by using coupons, store sales, and other promotions. I think we should all do the best we can for our dogs and support each other's efforst through open dialogue and information sharing!!

Thanks for your comment PittBull77. I understand your hesitation and still support Eukanuba based on the results in my dogs. My pomeranian has always been on Eukanuba and always been a very healthy dog, no problems whatsoever and he is 6 years now. He will continue to be fed Eukanuba, its the only food he will eat! He is very picky, kinda a brat, and I have tried these foods you mention and the only food he will eat is Eukanuba.

As an update, however, my Pit Bull (my young dog 1year) has recently developed food allergies. I had to take him off of the Eukanuba because he is allergic to chicken. He is now on Pinnacle dog food (I am trying it again since it is one of the only proteins he has not been on, before he was on the Pinnacle chicken formula now I will try the Duck), the Duck and Potato allergy formula. He is doing good since switching him. But I do want to clarify, the switch to Pinnacle Duck and Potato had NOTHING to do with the quality of Eukanuba, we just found out he is allergic to chicken and most of the Eukanuba food formulas have chicken in them. While my young dog will be on Pinnacle, assuming he does well on it, my Pom will be on Eukanuba until I find another food he will eat. Eukanuba of course is not as good as it use to be but it is still a quality food and anyone who feeds their dog this food does not care any less for thier dog simply because they feed this food. I am considering trying to switch my Pom to Pinnacle so both my dogs are on the same food but I tried it the other day and he just did not eat it so I went back to the Eukanuba. But Again, the switch (even if I switch the Pom to Pinnacle) is not a reflection of the good benefits I have seen with Eukanuba. I still give it 5 stars and still support it as a good food among the other options out there.

One question I do have however, does anyone have any experience with a dog with food allergies? My Pit (1 year) have allergies to food. So far we have discovered chicken to be an allergy and we suspect lamb, however we are not sure about any other ingredients. Has anyone used Pinnacle dog food, is it a good brand? I have tried Solid Gold and as I mentioned before my dogs did very poorly on it. I have also tried Wellness and my dog still itched. I have tried Orijen, Spots Stew, and Natural Balance and my Pit Bull itched on all of them. I just started to feed him the Pinnacle so I wont know for several weeks if it helps with his itching and allergies but wondered if anyone has a dog with food allergies.

Again, thanks all for your comments and discussion. I still believe in Eukanuba if the dog thrives on it. My Pom has eaten nothing but this food and is super healthy. My pit cannot eat this food because he has food allergies, which is not reflection on the brand.

Most Pit Bulls are allergic to corn and wheat, not chicken or lamb. It's entirely possible, but not as likely. The only real way to determine what ingredients a dog is allergic to is to do an elimination diet, feed the dog a novel protein, novel carb (or prescription hydrolyzed diet) diet for two months, then gradually introduce other ingredients to the diet. Blood and skin testing for food allergens is very hit-or-miss, and I find it to be a waste of money.

I know he is likely allergic to corn and have never fed him a food containing corn, Eukanuba had a natural formula without corn. However it may have included wheat. Nonetheless, every time I fed him a chicken based diet he got itchy and the same with Lamb, so I suspect the two proteins. I have been doing the elimination diet and it is very difficult but I am mostly concerned that he does not itch so I will find a good food for him. I have heard that the blood and skin tests dont work so I have not done them. Have you ever used or learnt about Pinnacle dog food, its from the Breeder Choice company. My Pit is now on the Duck and Potato formula but he just started it so too early to tell anything. Thanks for your help.

Anyone here try feeding raw? or a home cooked meal? I like to know exactly what goes into my dogs food!
Meat by-products are made up of meat unfit for human consumption. Thousands of euthanized dogs and cats are made into dog food with all the poisons used to kill them and they don't always remove the dog collars and metal name tags... that goes right into the food your feeding your dogs.
You may have been fine feeding it so far but one day you might get a contaminated bag and change your mind about IAMS and Eukanuba when you find your self spending thousands on vet bills. You are taking years of his life by filling his body with preservatives and chemicals.


any of you with questionable dog food should check out Dogfoodanalysis.com

Try these brands as well
http://www.naturapet.com/brands/innova.asp
http://www.artemiscompany.com/products.asp?cat=fres h_mix

Also please check out
The pet food list - http://www.thepetfoodlist.com/petfoods_pg1.htm
personally if a food has been recalled once... I don't trust it at all. I also don't trust anything made by or produced by Menu Foods

gmvt08, you are incorrect... at least since the late 80s, early 90s, since the FDA has been looking for it, not a trace of dog or cat protein has been found in ANY American-made pet food. The story of euthanized dogs and cats winding up in pet foods is based on speculation and myth. Some Canadian pet food manufacturers have used animal by-product meal including rendered euthanized pets, but for about twenty years, anyway, the practice has not been used in the US.

Thanks for the clairification sheltervet, I had heard this rumor before too. I personally did not ever believe it but was not sure because alot of stupid stuff can go on and has. Quick update, I switched my pit to Pinnacle Duck and Potato and he is doing GREAT! It is a limited ingredient food so it contains no corn, chicken, beef, or other typical allergens. My pom is ok with Pinnacle but loves Eukanuba still more. I may give him a mixture and see how that does. The pom is so picky, prob because he is spoiled. I do want to clairfy for anyone reading this post who does not know, I support Eukanuba and the ONLY reason I switched my Pit Bull to another food was because he has food allergies and Eukanuba does not have a true limited ingredient food I could have used. Otherwise, I would have kept him on the food. It has worked wonders for my other dogs for years so I feel it is a great food.

In response to gmvt08's post, no I have not tried a raw diet and do not think it is a wise choice. Food these days, human and animal, is never as pure as it says it is and there is no way to guarantee any raw food is free of disease or contaminates. In reference to a home made diet, I do support this only if it is well researched and completely fits the needs of your pet. Because it is so hard to make a true home made diet (cooked) and it is completely balanced I feel it is better just to buy a good manufactured food. Also, in terms of by-products I do not think they are as bad as everyone thinks. It also depends on the type of by-products. Some companies put quality by-products into their foods which I feel is nothing wrong. Dogs naturally would eat the entire animal, including the neck or bones. If any dog was a stray they would say, "oh wait I cannot eat that, its a by-product". Also, alot of beneficial nutriets are included in QUALITY by-products. In reference to the euthanized dogs. I had heard this and was not sure what to say about it but I did not know how much validity it had. I did some basic research and believe sheltervt is right, it is not the case today. Finally, when you say you will never use a company whos food has been recalled, let me ask you this, do you buy peanut butter from any company who had it recalled? Do you eat ANY spinach? Do you eat tomatos? Do you eat any food yourself which has been made by a company who's food has ever been recalled? If you say no, you do not know the facts. Food, human and animal, is produced by humans and humans make mistakes. I thought Solid Gold was a good dog food but I found out Diamond makes part of thier food and Diamond is among the most recalled foods. Does that make Diamond brands bad? No, not neccesarily. Yes, the previous food recalls have been terrible and many people suffered through seeing their loved animals in pain due to the irresponsibility of others but it can happen to ANY company. Even the best dog food company can have a recall and one day they could. Not buying a food because the company has had a recall in the past does not prevent your dogs food from being contaminated. No matter the food you food, it CAN be recalled if one person does not do thier job right. But again, that is your right and it is probably a good idea to stay away from a company who is notorious for recalls but I personally do not feel it is necessary and does not prevent the food you choose from being a bad batch.

This is all my opinion and based on my personal research. Some agree with me and some do not but that is what makes freedom such a great thing. I appreciate everyones input and hope everyone has seen my point and agreed to disagree.