Kibble: Any that is easy to get and safe?

[spacehorse]

[QUOTE=ponies123;6240071]
Mine have done well on Nature’s Recipe which is also sold at Petsmart and Petco (Petsmart is cheaper). All of their food is beef, corn, soy and wheat free and they sell a Grain Free bag that is made with pumpkin and sweet potato (I believe?). Fairly cheaply priced as well at about a dollar per pound if you buy the large bag, although slightly more expensive for the Grain Free recipe. Mine have done well on the Easy-To-Digest bag with chicken, rice and barley, my vet is always commenting on how nice my dogs look and has started recommending the brand as well.[/QUOTE]

I also feed Nature’s Recipe. I feed the venison type. My lab had horrible skin issues that I could not pin down. She has done very well on this food and her skin issues have resolved. I also get mine at Petsmart. I had trouble with the $$ at first, but I figured it was less $$ I was spending at the vet office if the food fixed the problem, which it did!

[wendy]

It doesn’t matter to me that TOTW itself hasn’t had any recalls. If the company who makes it could care less about the quality of their other food and all the other recalls it has had it doesn’t make me feel too good about anything they make.

I’ll still never use anything they produce. No one will ever convince me the “quality” of their “american” ingredients are any good.

that’s kind of my feeling- Diamond doesn’t care if they kill your pets or not. Plus TOTW is, IMHO, very over-priced considering its low caloric density.
Another company to avoid is Merrick- a never-ending string of endless recalls. They clearly don’t care either.

There are many really good options out there these days. Orijen, Acana, Nature’s variety, EVO are all good options that tend to be widely available.

I suggest printing out the list of 5-star brands from http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/5-star/

going to wherever it is you prefer to buy pet food, and seeing if they stock any of them, and if they do, read prices and ingredients and select a SMALL bag of one, and try it on your pet. Just because it looks good on paper doesn’t mean your particular pet will agree.

[WarDance]

I was super tired last night and typed the wrong thing. By Core I mean Core Wellness. They have alternative protein sources like fish. I’ve been feeding it to my dog with ulcers and he’s doing great.

[Kryswyn]

I switched to Diamond Naturals CHICKEN a bag ago and am almost ready to buy another. Sorry to see the recall for the LAMB & RICE.

OP, according to reports, NO dogs have been reported as being sick, so if you fed a bag of contaminated food (prolly purchased in January) I’d be calling my vet and getting in touch with Diamond.

If on the other hand, if your bag was NOT one of the affected and your dogs are sick, you still prolly want to call your vet.

[GoForAGallop]

[QUOTE=wendy;6240276]
that’s kind of my feeling- Diamond doesn’t care if they kill your pets or not. Plus TOTW is, IMHO, very over-priced considering its low caloric density.
Another company to avoid is Merrick- a never-ending string of endless recalls. They clearly don’t care either.

There are many really good options out there these days. Orijen, Acana, Nature’s variety, EVO are all good options that tend to be widely available.

I suggest printing out the list of 5-star brands from http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/5-star/[/e.[/QUOTE]

Yeah and all those options you listed off are WAY more expensive than TOTW. Which may work for you if you’ve got the discretionary income or one dog, but I have three and a college students budget, so theyre not an option for me. Many others on this board are in a similar position. TOTW is the best option in that lower end grain free price range. It is rated as a 5-star food.

No ones saying Diamond is a great company. But the TOTW brand itself has not had any issues, and there are many on this forum alone who have had really great results with it, myself being one.

[EqTrainer]

Kryswyn - my big dog has been at the vet with an undiagnosed complaint AND my new puppy has oddly not yet recovered from vomiting up a toy mouse he ate… On monday.

So yes, the vet and I will be discussing this on Tuesday (holiday weekend) In the meantime I grabbed some pumpkin, a chicken and some rice and we will wing it until we decide what to feed.

Thanks everyone!

[CrouchingCheese]

California Natural

I was feeding the Diamond Naturals Lamb and Rice to my diabetic beagle (he’s done well on it for years) and wouldn’t you know, the bag I have is one of the contaminated ones (bought last week from Pet Supplies Plus, I now see that the bag expired in JANUARY and they were still selling it in April?!). Anyway, I read that the bag was recalled last night and immediately stopped feeding it to him.

I have two dachshunds that have been on TOTW since I got them in August. They were on Kibbles and Bits with their old owner (and looked fantastic, albeit overweight, of course :/) Within a month of living here and changing their food to TOTW one of them developed skin allergies (mostly yeasty bacterial infections on her belly). We thought it might be a flea allergy so we’ve treated for fleas (and the whole house is flea free) but she still has the skin issues. We’ve been to the vet numerous times and every time they give her a steroid/antihistamine shot and send her home with antibiotics. It always clears up after about a week, but returns again a week or so later, so frustrating!

So anyway, I’ve been researching grain-free dog foods and trying to find one that doesn’t contain potatoes (apparently potatoes are bad for dogs prone to yeast infections). I finally found that the new grain-free food released by California Natural uses peas, not potatoes. I can’t find the grain-free locally without ordering it through the feed store (which is what I’ve done, but it won’t be in until next friday).

I threw out the old Diamond Naturals (my dog hasn’t been sick, but you can’t be too careful, especially as he’s already “compromised”). I’m feeding him the rest of the TOTW that I had for the dachshunds and I got a bag of EVO to feed them until I can get the California Naturals in. Ugh. You try and do your best by your dogs (and we live on a budget too, it’s not easy sometimes).

Anyway, if you made it through my novel, I’ve heard good things on the dog forum about the California Naturals Grain Free. I’m looking forward to trying it next week and seeing how the dachshunds do. They’ll eat pretty much anything, but I really, REALLY hope that it helps clear out the bacterial infections! If I didn’t have the yeasty problems then I’d probably stick with EVO, it’s not too too expensive and it seems to be pretty good for them

Good luck!

[balakai]

I really like Orijen but after a $200/month paycut this year, just cannot afford it.

My little terrier mixes eat Acana–better price plus not as high in protein as Orijen.

My GSD eats Earthborn Holistics grain free. I order it from doggiefood.com; buy two bags and they cost $44 each and shipping is free.

Kristin
Hillsboro, OH

[lovey1121]

[QUOTE=EqTrainer;6240906]
Kryswyn - my big dog has been at the vet with an undiagnosed complaint AND my new puppy has oddly not yet recovered from vomiting up a toy mouse he ate… On monday.

So yes, the vet and I will be discussing this on Tuesday (holiday weekend) In the meantime I grabbed some pumpkin, a chicken and some rice and we will wing it until we decide what to feed.

Thanks everyone![/QUOTE]

Great plan! I hope the kids recover quickly.

[JB]

I recently read about rice not being that great for pups in distress, though did not read into the details why. Just FYI

Another FYI - we snatch up hoards of pure pumpkin when we see it (make sure it’s pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie mix) and feed it as a treat 4-5 nights a week. I am trying to grow some pumpkin this year with the sole intent of freezing the guts for the critters. And yes, “critters” include kitties, some of whom will rip your hand off trying to get to to the pumpkin It’s not at all too late for you to start some of your own!

[GraceLikeRain]

Oirjen is definitely at the top of my list (regional red is the bomb).

I also like acana, ziwipeak, darford, etc. Back to basics, and EVO also have nice ingredients but I know less about their companies and sourcing.

I really feel that raw is so superior to kibble so if you are going to feed kibble I feel like you should feed the absolute highest quality kibble you can afford. On super premium kibble you can feed a lot less so it often works out to the same per month.

[Sonesta]

We, too, are Feeding Nature’s Recipe Healthy Skin Formula Venison. I have tried other, more expensive, foods and keep coming back to Nature’s Recipe, as all my Cavaliers do really well on it and ours is a breed that can be prone to skin allergies.

I have also recommended it to friends who have dogs with severe skin allergies and, with one exception, all their dogs’ skin have cleared up right away on it.

So, I’ve decided not to try to fix what is not broken. It’s a very good quality food and they do have several grain-free varieties. I fed the salmon one for a while and the dogs loved it, but I will admit that I just didn’t like the fishy smell of the food, so I switched back. The other grain free ones are either chicken based or duck based and my stores never seem to have the duck in stock and some dogs have allergic reactions to chicken, so I don’t fee it.

The venison version of their Healthy Skin Formula (they also have a vegetarian version) seems to be the best for my dogs.

[LauraKY]

I feed Tractor Supply’s 4Health food. It’s rated at 4*, no wheat, no soy, no corn. My guys like and do well on the salmon and potato version. It’s only $35 for a 35 lb bag. I have three large dogs, so price is important as well as quality.

[ponies123]

[QUOTE=LauraKY;6242710]
I feed Tractor Supply’s 4Health food. It’s rated at 4*, no wheat, no soy, no corn. My guys like and do well on the salmon and potato version. It’s only $35 for a 35 lb bag. I have three large dogs, so price is important as well as quality.[/QUOTE]

Interesting! Thanks for the suggestion, I recommended Nature’s Recipe earlier in this topic and I still think it’s a good food, but for the same price I think I’m going to try 4Health next time. I think my 18 month old boxer could really benefit from High Performance food.

[IFG]

Switched my dogs to Acana Ranchlands, and they are doing great. The Orijen was too rich for one of them. Result was not pretty. You can get Acana on-line.

[ChocoMare]

Also consider Nutrisca. Very, very pleased since switching from TOW.

[vtdobes]

[QUOTE=ChocoMare;6244963]
Also consider Nutrisca. Very, very pleased since switching from TOW.[/QUOTE]

Interesting option…hadn’t heard of that one before. Thanks!
What is the pricing like?

[vtdobes]

Nevermind…found prices on the website!

[ChocoMare]

Oh good. The “rate the dog food” site that’s been posted several times gave Nutrisca quite high marks. I’m actually feeding less and my dogs have not lost weight… just nicely maintained their healthy weight.

[fish]

Paws on the Corner in Hillsborough also carries Orijens and may be closer to EqTrainer than Chapel Hill. I like the owner, too-- and her own dogs look great!