Hi Nikkie-
Welcome to the forums. Firstly, it sounds like your boy is not going to be inheriting the large size of the bloodhound and is probably just about done growing if he is at 35lbs and almost a year old. In another month he’s probably good to go on an adult maintenance or all life stages formula.
It is definitely strange that sometimes the stool quality is really good and sometimes really poor. It does not really make sense (to me at least) that sometimes his body is absorbing the nutrients better than other times, but perhaps it has to do with his strange eating habits. I definitely agree with anonymously’s suggestion of the Pro Plan Sensitive Skin & Stomach. It’s formulated without corn, wheat and soy and has excellent digestability and for a fish based food seems to have good palatability. Orijen is probably going to be way out of your price range.
Saying a “good food = good urine and bowels” is a bit too general because “good” can mean a lot of things. The best dog food is the one your dog does the best on and part of that is having high bioavialibility and high digestibility. Some of the “top rated” foods on here have poor digestibility or they don’t agree with the dogs stomach for a variety of reasons or they have poor palatability and the dog won’t touch it which renders the food useless. The 2.5-3 star or 4 star foods are probably a good place to start, but just remember, if your dog does well on the food that is what matters, not the star rating. BTW there are actually a couple of 5 star foods that are reasonably priced (Dr. Tim’s for example). Just depends on how much you want to pay per lb.
