just a couple of questions

[Lesli310]

Hello everyone I know I haven't been on in awhile bit I been busy with school. I changed shifts so now I work 11 to 7 instead of 3 to 11 which works out better with my school schedule which is from 8 to 3:30. I guess with all my working and school I failed to notice that Miss Toester had come into heat. So now on top of school and work I have a pregnant Great Dane!! I just built her whelping box last night and she's due Like any day now, I don't know the day cause I didn't know she was pregnant until I saw her nipples getting huge but the way she looks now I'm guessing any day now. Anyway enough about that. I have a question. well two actually.
My first question is....What makes a quality dog food? I know you might have had this conversation in the past but I don't have time to go though all the post and find it I have a lot of homework today. Last week I was broke!! I only had $30 and it was like two days until payday. I had no gas and no dog food. I had a tough decision to make. The dog food I usually buy is $40 a bag and I needed gas to get back and forth to school, I asked around and no one had any money either being that close to payday. I went to the store and I walked around and looked at all the different dog foods and looked at all the labels and the question came to me. I've heard people say that the meat in and the amount of corn in the food made it "quality"  some say its the fillers and the vitamins some think its just the price. So what makes a "quality dogs food? I always thought that it was the ingredients list and it meat was the first one it was good cause it didn't have all the fillers and corn. If that's the case the Science Diet is not good cause if you look at the label then the first one listed is corn. I know a lot of people who feed their dogs this food and some vets recommend it. I also saw Wal-mart brand dog food for $8 a bag and the number one ingredients was Lamb or Chicken which ever the flavor was. So does that make Wal-mart brand a "quality" dog food? I also saw pro plan for $18 and it had yogurt and the number one ingredient was meat and it had an lamb and rice formula which I thought was good for dogs.  To make a long story short I ended up getting the pro plan and a little over $10 in gas. If that's a good "quality" dog food then why am I paying over double that for Nurto? Help!!!
        My next question is a lot shorter, for those of you who breed what do you put in the bottom of you whelping box? I'd like something that would keep the smell down since Toester and the pups will be in my bedroom. I was thinking about cedar shavings but that can get messy, someone told me that a blanket might suffocate the pups and someone else said lambs wool blanket but I can't find one.

[Svnt4God]

Here is an excellent article about Question #1 (How to select a quality food).  It is written by one of the Nation's leading pet food nutritionist/consultant, Linda Arndt.

I hope this will set you in the right direction.

http://www.greatdanelady.com/articles/selecting_a_better_food.htm

[nostaw]

On the Dog bedding side try, http://www.profleece.com/ I dont know if they sell it in the states, I presume so. It works very well for newfies.

Andy, Bell & Hovis

[patrick]

Shredded paper makes an excellant bedding but what we use are comforters  We buy at Goodwill for $3-5.00.  Makes an excellant absorbent and is washable.  They do not suffocate but can climb under the blanket sometimes.  We do a head count every time we go in the room just to be sure no one is lost

[cricket36580]

Quality is going to be in the meat...not by-products...as long as you don't have a special needs animal.  Dogs do not naturally eat grain and it does nothing except add fat, fiber and filler for the food.  (say that 10 times fast...lol)  When they say by-products, you have no idea what they are getting.  Sometimes you are getting "droppers" intestines - cattle that are so sick they have to be drug out of the auction house and slaughtered. Sometimes you are getting other euthanized animals...yes, that happens.  As gross as that is, it's fairly accepted...the problem comes with the phenobarbital which isn't ever rendered out of the meat.  Also, "cheaper" brands will add antifreeze for taste, as well as a whole host of other chemicals for that same reason.  Raw is obviously the best quality you can find for dogs but it can be horribly expensive.  So, educate yourself about what is in the food and go from there.  There are good brands out there that don't cost a fortune.  Also, try looking at your local feed store (livestock) rather than a pet store.  Often their prices are much better than the pet store.  I'm using Purina Exclusive and mine love it and seem to be doing better than when they were on another brand.  I pay $20 per bag (40#) which is more than what I was paying but I'm not feeding as much.  PMI makes a good product but I think it's only available through feedstores.  I think it runs between $10-$25 per bag...dependin g on which type you get.  Personally, if I were spending $40/bag, I'd go raw.