Consider this in your cost. Feeding less of a higher quality food will solve two dilemmas. The calories will be of better quality and more thoroughly digested (higher %), less food is needed for the dog to get correct nutrition and maintain weight. 99% of the time more food is suggested on the bag than the dog needs, remember their goal is to sell u more food so they generally suggest too much esp for a spayed or neutered dog of average activity. Many of the large dog food makers use cheaper filler ingredients like grains and carbs and fat levels too high for most dogs. Those fats are often not the healthiest fats so you get a lot of calories that are high in saturated fat, not healthy fats. Some of the more $$/bag foods may be cheaper if you feed for a while, discover the calories are being digested more thoroughly, therefore need less volume to maintain weight. Don’t go by just the label and kcal/cup it will leave you lacking about 50% of the true info u need.
Just as an example for One the cups of food suggested for my 52 lb Golden is 3 1/3 to 4 ¼ cups a day. She would be obese. She eats 1 cup EVO kibble plus 1/2 cup raw unbleached tripe, ¼ can Wellness canned food, plus a few bits of yam, 2T yogurt a day divided in two. Over 4 cups of kibble would be grossly over feeding. If I fed just kibble it would be about 1.5 cups to 2 cups max a day if she were given about 2 hours hard exercise. Added to this would be chicken or roast bits for training daily-about a ½ cup a day. The result is a more lean healthy protein, less fat, and healthy levels of Ca and Ph. So I am actually spending less feeding her with EVO because I’m feeding less than half what One suggests even though EVO is more per bag. Some good food comparisons
http://www.naturapet.com/
You might do a comparison not on just kcals but on % of digestible kcals/cup. All those fillers are not usable calories and many actually are designed to make droppings small and dry. This is not really healthy esp the low moisture content. The ideal balance for a large breed puppy is 26% protein, 15% fat, .8% calcium, and .67% phosphorous. Most commercial kibbles are much higher in calcium and protein than is healthy. I also agree with most of the research that feeding 2x a day and leaving it down for 20 minutes is optimal. Leaving it down for longer encourages pickiness and free feeding contributes to obesity. Feed more of the allotted food in the morning so he has a chance to burn it off during the day.
A couple of things about reading labels. Even the second and third ingredients may be very small percentages. Check out
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=main and how to read labels at
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=labelinfo101 off that same page label info 101. On this page note that beef listed as an ingredient may be only 3% of the volume!! You may not even be getting what you think because of labeling protocol. These pages also explain what AAFCO is, sort of like doggie FDA.
When I look at the ingredients in Purina one I see #1 barley, then b vitamins and beef but most of that is not muscle protein but tallow, pulp, bone meal. So right there I see that the highest % of the calories are carbs not protein. There are no AAFCO guidelines for carbs, some will argue that dogs do not need them. In feeding a kibble it’s harder to find grain free kibble (which will be lower carb) but it is possible. Then I see rice, chicken by products, a bunch of stuff that I can’t pronounce, but by now I’m so far down on the list that this % is negligible in volume and nutritional value. Note also that the labeling is minimum and maximum amounts. Meaning that the fat and calcium could be way too high to be healthy, they are merely listing the amounts nearest AAFCO standard and saying it could be this but we don’t guarantee it.
Note that Purina one has many of the AAFCO bad ingredients
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=badingredients that you might want to consider. Fewer ingredients in a dog food the better. Much of the “vitamins” and additives here are preservatives or for flavor and not of significant % for nutrition. One is at minimum or higher than puppy levels of rec protein at 26% but that is the minimum remember. More protein is usually only suggested for dogs living high stress high performance lives like working dogs. Something around 18% AAFCO might be better. Fat minimum is 8%; maybe something less/nearer AAFCO 5% would help keep the weight off. Calcium and Phosphorous in One is min .9% and .7% which are both a little high. The ratio is within guidelines of 1:1 to a max of 2:1.
Generally you want to avoid any foods that contain by products. Go for foods that have 1-2 protein sources in the first few ingredients before the fat source. The ingredients before and including the fat, which in one is beef tallow or lard make up the majority of the food. Look for ingredients that are real foods that you recognize like legumes. A good food should not need additives for taste and don’t get a food with sugars like corn or sugars etc. Look for yams or beets, fruits, etc as sweeteners.
When I look at EVO red meat ingredients compared to Purina proplan (they didn’t have One) it’s enlightening. Evo’s first ingredients down to the fat, sunflower oil are all things I recognize. Lamb meal is not the best but the first ingredient is beef. Purina down to the fat “animal fat” (which is very questionable) are chicken, brewers rice, wheat, poultry by product, corn gluten, corn. I recognize all the things in EVO but what is Animal digest in the Purina? Corn Gluten is also something that is a production by product and very sugary and of no nutritional value.
If I compare Innova to Nutro. Innova: turkey, chicken, chicken meal, barley, brown rice, potatoes, rice, chicken fat. Nutro wheat flour, rice, rice bran, chicken meal, wheat, poultry fat. I notice right away what will be healthier protein and natural ingredients. All that wheat and rice and flour is filler and empty calories that you are paying for.
So while this is a lot of info to take in you might try a different kibble or canned is even better. Canned food is less processed than kibble so it’s by default healthier. It’s a myth that kibble keeps teeth clean. I know your parents are probably doing what is easiest right now, and that’s fine but you might switch and try a few of these foods with less volume and see what makes your dog thrive with a healthy glossy coat. You might find that all that junk food is making him a little hyper and he may be nutrient deprived and therefore obsessively eating to try and find something he is lacking. That’s the main reason dogs eat their poo. They smell undigested food in it and are desperate for nutrients so they eat it.
Just do a slow switch over a couple of weeks mixing a little at first of the new food so there is no tummy upset. Many people think switching periodically is good since some foods may lack some things that others have. Changing sort of provides a good balance over a few months. I’m betting if you get some good food and less of it that your pup will slim down and calm down. :dogwink: