Choosing the Right Puppy Chow

When I adopted Gibbs from Wright-Way, his regular diet was Fromm's puppy food.  High quality stuff but pricey, and worse - not readily available in my local stores.  I could buy it directly from Wright-Way, but that involves driving eight or ten miles and nothing resembling regular retail hours.  So I started to research:

I knew I wanted to feed him a quality product.  Dogfoodadvisor.com was my primary resource.  It looks at bunches of different pet products and reviews them based on the ingredient list.  Then it is open to consumer reviews.  You can search by product name or skip to the "best of" lists.  I looked at the four and five star products.

(Note:  ProPlan, which I recall my vet saying was a perfectly acceptable food when I had my last dog, received only two stars.  Disconcerting since ProPlan cat food is the only thing my cat will eat.  ProPlan Select, however, received three stars.)

Next:  Again, I don't mind paying a bit more, but accessibility is an issue.  I do a lot of online ordering, but I really feel more comfortable knowing I can just swing by the store and pick up a bag of dog food.

I settled on Blue Buffalo Puppy food.  Four star rating, sold on Petango.com and at PetsMart and Petco.   Not cheap, but one of my three resources generally has a decent deal, so I've never paid retail for it.  Gibbs seems to like it and his poop has remained normal (sorry).

However.  After his post-surgical convalescence, Gibbs went back to Doggie Day Care and over did it.  Vomiting and lethargic.  The vet said that Blue Buffalo was a bit rich since he wasn't feeling well and sent me home with some canned food.

Fast forward to yesterday.  After a few very active days, Gibbs was napping yesterday afternoon.  He woke up and tossed his lunch.  I worried that Doggie Day Care plus weekends at the dog park were too much for him.  I called the vet.  She said that while Blue Buffalo is a high quality food, she would look at changing the diet as opposed to worrying about excessive play time.

So.  Back to the drawing board.

What are you feeding your pets?  And how did you come to that decision?