[mogavero1955]

Hi Kayley, first of all, check the dog’s nails. My mini beagle bites her nails…when it is time for a cut. 🙂 If it is itchy, it probably is allergies. My other beagle has allergies and always gets ear infections. We have changed foods so often. Response FP, taste of the wild salmon, arcana fish, blue buffalo salmon, fromms duck and now earthborn lamb. The last four just the last two weeks! I noticed his ear infected tonight. The lamb I started yesterday. So, my advice is trial and error. I had heard Fromms was good but so are many others. I would recommend grain free. Good luck!

[Sarah Y]

I hope it’s okay to jump in on this since I was going to ask about some senior foods for a 10 year old beagle with early renal issues or may not renal issues. She has had some elevator bun levels and creatine was elevated once. The odd thing her last 3 tests have come back normal. She has a history of being a heavy water and unless we get her first urine sample of the day, her USG is always low. First catches are always normal.

Anyway, I’m just trying to find a grain free senior food low in phosphorus. My vet is still a believer that low protein is good and she recommended finding foods low in phosphorus so if our Scooter does have a renal deficiency then the food would help.

I looked into blue buffalo freedom senior and it’s low in phosphorus but i’m worried the protein is too low. the other option was blue wilderness red meat senior food. Not sure if there are other recommendations? If you prefer i start another thread, just let me know.

[Tina]

I’m extremely interested in the secrects to Blue Buffalo. Where is it made? Where do the ingredients come from? Why didn’t it make any of the lists? Where there many silent recalls? Why do some dogs like it and some dogs like mine who won’t touch it?

[Jodi R]

I’m looking for recommendations for a good quality dry senior dog food. I have been feeding my 13 year old mixed breed Blue Buffalo Life Protection Senior. I thought that was a good choice, but it only gets a 2-star rating! I want something better for my sweet old girl. She is about 65 lbs, but I really have no idea what breeds she may be. When I adopted her 12 years ago, they told me a possible chow mix, but I don’t see that at all. She did have some kidney and liver issues a few years back but now is in good health for her age. Any suggestions would be very appreciated!

[Doris H]

Blue Buffalo Wilderness

[Naturella]

Steven A, I would definitely advise you to try all of the above suggestions. Rotational diet is good anyway. 🙂

Also, I have fed Blue Buffalo Wilderness for about 4 months or so just fine. Acana and Orijen I have not tried yet. A good one, and pretty affordable, is Dr. Tim’s, as well as Victor. I usually look for deals both in stores and online and was able to snatch a 4-lb bag of Nutrisca Chicken and Chickpea for $5 on Petflow, no kidding! 🙂

Other foods I’ve fed that are good are Holistic Health Extensions, Earthborn Holistic – currently on the fish one, Nature’s Variety Instinct + Raw Boost and Now Fresh (on samples), and I will be feeding some of Victor, Back to Basics, Wellness Core, AvoDerm, Merrick, Nature’s Variety, and more in the near future. ALL grain-free too.

Of those, I think Wellness Core and Blue Buffalo Wilderness are moderately affordable; Victor, Dr. Tim’s, and Earthborn Holistic seem to be very affordable; the rest I have coupons for/will scout deals for, lol.

[Mom2Cavs]

Of the two you mentioned, I prefer Wellness Core. I am a Wellnss fan and use their canned food as well as their biscuits regularly. I don’t use their kibble, though. In the past it was too big and the small breed formulas all had chicken. Now they have some new small breed formulas I may check in to at a later date. I am feeding Victor to 3 of mine and my new one came with Blue Buffalo lamb & rice. I am trying to switch him off now. I did just get a huge bag of Precise Sensicare that looks promising at a tremendous price (35 lbs. for 26.00!) so will be using that in the future, too. I’m also fans of Fromm, Dr. Tim’s and Annamaet, and Holistic Select.

[Steven A]

I’ve had my to Dachshunds on a raw diet for three years. I can no longer keep up the pace processing my own Raw diet for them. Chicken Neck, Beef Heart Liver and Ground Organ mix. All purchased from a local slaughter house. It is time to head back to Kibble(don’t stone me) I know for years I praised the Raw Diet. I just can’t do it any more so I’m heading back to a grain free kibble. Any suggestions on how to do it and what brand to get? Leaning toward Wellness brand or Blue Buffalo……

[Naturella]

Patty, wow, yeah, I haven’t seen NutriSource elsewhere yet (besides at that Petland), and it’s too expensive, so I try to snatch a free sample when I can, lol.

Betsy, I was having a hard time to find the best by date on my Victor free samples too, so I hope I have better luck with the actual bags of food.

Melissaandcrew, yeah, I don’t know what’s wrong with me, lol. I am pretty stocked up with Earthborn and Holistic Health Extension for a while now, so I won’t need Victor till next year probably, but I did order me some samples and I CAN’T WAIT for the little black baggies! I hope Bruno likes it, I really really hope so! After he’s out of the Earthborns and HHEs, he will get him some Victor Ultra Pro-Victor Joint Healt-Back to Basics Open Range mix.

And THEN, some others that I have coupons for – Avoderm (interested in), Wellness (also obsessed over), Canidae Pure (somewhat excited about), Blue Buffalo Wilderness (had it before with great success), Solid Gold (hmm, we shall see how this goes. They have interesting names, lol), Nature’s Variety Instinct + Raw Boost (I know, recalls, but COUPON – I will just watch the pup and make sure he is feeling well on it), and Merrick (interested in). And THEN, I have a $5-off coupon for ANY bag of ANY food for Petco. So I will get another one of a brand he has liked/did well on. With those, plus the ones he currently has, Bruno will be set for most of 2015. But I will get the coupon foods toward the end of the year so they are hopefully fresher longer into 2015. I watch my best by dates closely. 😀

[Mom2Cavs]

Betsy, I used to feed Canine Caviar before they added their new grain free formulation. I fed the Lamb & Millet and the Special Needs. Loved it back then. One of these days I might try it again for the dogs. My girls are eating Victor Yukon, atm. I do have some of the Senior on hand and just ordered some of the Lamb & rice. Rupert came to me eating Blue Buffalo lamb & rice, and I thought I’d try the Victor’s L&R with him and the girls.

[Mom2Cavs]

If your food is a 5 star rated food on this site, why would you need to switch….especially if it’s working for your dog. Now that said, I do agree with BCnut that switching or rotating after a certain amount of bags can be a good idea. I personally am not a fan of Blue Buffalo but I know tons of people who swear by it. I just am not comfortable with them for a few reasons. One is that they have so many co-packers for their food (5 or more!?). I’m currently eating a food that has one co-packer for their food….easier for me to keep track of. They also have so many new products, and are adding to them all the time. That alone is not so bad, but again….with all the co-packers they already have it’s a nightmare to keep track of who makes what for them, and that’s important to me. My new Cavalier came to me eating Blue lamb & rice. I will soon switch him over to what my others are eating.

[cindy q]

I just switched my puppy (standard poodle) to blue buffalo wilderness because it was given 5 stars by the dog food advisor, now I see it didn’t even make the list in the editors choice. Now do I switch again??

• This topic was modified 4 years, 2 months ago by Mike Sagman. Reason: Fix Duplicate Topic Title

[D C]

Looking for Large Breed Grain Free, without chicken would be great. Budget friendly would be helpful, we have 4 dogs, the biggest being a Great Pyrenees and he needs large food and alot of it! Some of the regular size food we have tried seem small to me, and it just falls out of his mouth. One of the dogs, a Boston Terrier seems to scratch non stop on everything for the last year. I thought it might be the chicken, switched to duck and he still scratched. Poor thing spins like a top and has no hair on his tail. We currently are using Blue Buffalo Large Breed Salmon. It seems ok so far, looking for other ones to try. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[Monica J]

My baby, Max, is a very large framed westie and is 7. He weighs 33.3 pounds and the vet says he needs to lose weight. He says to feed him a 1/2 cup of food 2 times a day. I’ve been feeding him Canidae forever, but he seems to have no energy anymore and since he recently sprained his leg he is taking a very long time to heal. I feel he needs a change to his diet. Perhaps a higher protein? My brother suggested Blue Buffalo but I see some reviews on here that are not too good for that. I really would love some advice.

[Bobby dog]

Gotta love kitty love! Thanks for the Purina info. I didn’t check out the “One” for my neighbor just the One Beyond and I probably won’t considering they are more corn based. I don’t really keep up on Purina except for canned cat food. Years ago I fed my JRT Pro Plan then switched to Blue Buffalo when they began marketing their food nationally. She did very well on both, but I am sure the recipes were very different from what they are now.

I always had Pro Plan Select in the back of my mind as a choice I would throw out there if they were ever interested in upgrading. I had a feeling they would only be open to Purina. I recommended both to them but I would just rather see them choose One Beyond since it is a simpler recipe and I feel the switch from Dog Chow to One Beyond will have a better chance of success. I think they will choose Beyond One anyway for both convenience and price.

I actually think I will get a small bag of One Beyond for Bobby to try; I saw a coupon for it. I like the idea of being able to feed a kibble that could easily be bought from a grocery store in case I was not able to take care of Bobby in an emergency. Some of my friends and family are not dog people let alone know how to feed one!

[Naturella]

I have found that a lot of good foods have really small kibble even if not specifically for small/toy breeds. My 13-lb Rat Terrier mix does well with just about any size, the biggest he’s had so far being Dr. Tim’s Kinesis GF. We’re about to get on Earthborn Holistic GF (not for small breeds), and the kibble is bigger in diameter but really flat. My friend has an 8-lb Chorkie (Chihuahua-Yorkie) and he did just fine on Earthborn normal size. So yeah, just pick just about any 4-5-star food, think your new little family member should be ok! Some small kibbles I have fed/will feed are Holistic Health Extension (especially the “little bites”), Nutrisca, Blue Buffalo Wilderness, Back to Basics, Nature’s Variety Instinct, NutriSource, NOW Fresh, and many more.

Also, if you are trying to reach his ideal weight, Victor foods are pretty calorie-dense and small kibble, my guy LOVES it, and you can feed him that in such an amount so that he gets to his ideal weight.

But please, get him off the Science Diet ASAP!

[Barb D]

I have a nine month old Bichon shih tzu & I have tried Orijen, Acana, Blue Buffalo, Natural Balance both wet & dry & cannot get him to eat dog food. I have tried adding chicken broth & broiled chicken & salmon. He will pick out the dog food & will eat the chicken & salmon. The vet checked him out & there is nothing wrong with his health. I am at my wits end so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Jasmine W]

I have a greyhound mix who seems to have the same things your dog has but not as bad. Leo had very bad hot spots though. A friend told me chicken allergies are super common in dogs. Seemed ridiculous but apparently since many dog foods contain beaks feet and feathers aka “chicken by products” or “fillers” well dogs who’ve eaten these dog foods even once can develop a chicken allergy. When I had Leo on a grain free chicken free formula he had loose stools and a runny nose still but less itching and no swelling around tick or flea bites. He got so much better that I let him have chicken treats. This seemed ok so I bought the grain free blue buffalo wilderness chicken formula and now he’s sliding back again. He even got some hot spots again and hadn’t had any for years. So we’re going back to no eggs no chicken no duck no turkey, no poultry of any kind. Try that and let me know. Also dairy products even yoghurt can cause a runny nose and “runny rear.”

Leo gets a homemade dog food meal separate from his kibble meal. He gets a pound of ground beef freshly cooked and drained of fat plus a quarter can of “tripette” green tripe and “Solid Gold Seameal.” He’ll take a bit of ground up frozen peas with this meal but if I put too many peas in it he won’t eat. I’m concerned he’s getting too much protein. He won’t eat pumpkin. I’ll try the beet fiber. I know the tripette is making his coat soft because that’s what it did for my friends dog and before eating tripette Leo had a rough coat. Tripette is amazing stuff. I don’t really know what good the Solid Gold Seameal is doing but its filled with vitamins and minerals.

[T S]

We have two male JRTs (5 & 7 yrs) and a female Labrottie (9 yrs). After seeing ads and getting some samples from a local rep, we tried the Blue Buffalo–dogs rejected it outright. We tried the Wild stuff, various flavors, and inevitably at least one of the three turned up their noses at each flavor of the food. Talked to vets, who sell canned Canin and Hills, about allergies, food ingredient quality, flavor variety. Went back to Fromms, tried three different flavors (chicken, beef and pork), and all three dogs are happy with the dry pork & applesauce formula. They’re energetic, different vets are all REALLY happy with all 3 of their overall health, especially weight maintenance vs activities levels, and their coats, teeth and skin are all great. None smells, they all sleep and BM on schedule w/o problems. We looked at MANY of the so-called ‘holistic’ and ‘organic’ foods. Local pet store guy recommended some ‘natural’ and raw foods, but it made no sense to change from what’s working now. Fromm’s is US made, only US ingredients, and no recalls we know of. We don’t feed them ANY human food, and they almost never get snacks or treats–so no threat of allergic reactions. Labrottie came to us from a poor-quality non-US food diet, and she’s a much happier, healthier, energetic dog now.

[Naturella]

Yeah, I think brushing and RMBs/natural chews would be the way to go for Bruno. I have also tried the Blue Buffalo dental bones (once), and it gave him serious tummy troubles… So none of those anymore. I trust(ed?) Zuke’s more, I have used their training treats with no problems, so we’ll see.

I have used a water additive too, he had to have 2 canine teeth extracted because the puppy ones wouldn’t fall and the adult ones had come in, so he was a little shark with 4 sharp canines (the long ones). So after the extraction I used water additive in his water, more for antiseptic purposes.

I have read that apple cider vinegar is good to put in their water, so I got some with the mother in it, but Bruno really dislikes his water with it and barely drinks it… I put one teaspoon, maybe I should put less? I don’t know…

[Naturella]

Bobby dog, thanks for the kind words!

Yes, shopping on a budget is a necessity for both my friend and I, but finding fantabulous deals for quality food is a hobby. Luckily, she has 2 dogs – the lab and a Chorkie (chihuahua-yorkie, although he looks more like a bichon…), so she likes to stock up for both of them… She feeds them different stuff, which I find slightly odd, but to each their own, they both eat really good food. The Chorkie is stocked up with Holistic Health Extension Small Breed, Earthborn Holistic Small Breed and Coastal Catch, as well as a bag of Whole Earth Farms – Pork (I think), Halo, Simply Nourish, and Evanger’s. The lab also has a bag of Earthborn’s Ocean Fusion as well, I forgot about that.

To add to that, we both have a bunch of PetCo coupons and wipll be using them throughout the year.

As for me, my little JR-Rat Terrier-maybe Chihuahua in there-mutt is on a mix of Dr. Tim’s Kinesis-Nutrisca Chicken-Holistic Health Extension Grain Free-Now Fresh-Victor Yukon Salmon Grain Free-Nature’s Variety Instinct Chicken + Raw Boost-Nature’s Variety Turkey, Duck, and Chicken (TURDUCKEN! 😀 ) + Raw Boost. Some is from his initial mix of the first 3 foods; the HHE bag I got for free from Petland; the Now Fresh I got on sale for $3 for 0.5lbs; the Nature’s Variety and the Victor are free samples. For treats I use those kibbles, or free samples of Victor Joint Health Grain Free and Victor High-Pro Grain free, mixed together. Lined up I have Earthborn’s Coastal Catch, Primitive Natural, and Great Plains Feast to be mixed with ALL FREE bags of HHE Original, Grain Free, and Lamb and Brown Rice, respectively. For later on, I have Victor Ultra Professional lined up to mix with Back to Basics Open Range, and the foods that I have PetCo coupons for, such as Wellness, Canidae, Blue Buffalo (Bruno has done well on it in the past), Avo Derm, Solid Gold, Nature’s Variety, and Merrick. Those last ones I will buy in the end of the year, so they will be next year’s stash.

As for the pet boutiques, I would not purchase food from Store A, even if it’s good. But Store B I really like.

And thank you for the compliment – Bruno is our first “real” dog (when I was little, I had a min pin for about 2 weeks, but my dad couldn’t stand her, so they gave her away… Gina was “real”, but not “mine” for very long…) and I really try to learn about what is good for him and what’s not… We really love the little guy and definitely take better care for him than for ourselves (which is not entirely good, but… eh…). 🙂

[Naturella]

Hey, guys! I need to vent… sorry to burden you all, but it’s happening…

So today I was grooming Bruno (with the Furminator – that dog sheds like an avalanche!), and my roommate saw me so he came to offer precious advice. He did help me finish Bruno up cause it was a bit of a struggle – he doesn’t like being groomed and I wasn’t doing it quite right – he was in my lap when he should have been in front of me. Either way, it all went ok, until my roommate was almost done with Bruno and noticed his doggie dander.

And then…

He began lecturing me on how I feed my dog “a bunch of random crap” (referring to the additives I have been giving him to help with his hard-ass stools, and just for general health supplementation, such as yoghurt, pumpkin, flax seed meal, coconut oil, canned sardines, raw egg, RMBs, etc.)!!! He then continued on saying how his brother’s dog (a rottie) lived to 14.5 years old (“when the average lifespan of rottweilers is 10 years”), and how he thrived on ONE food for his WHOLE life, and it was… Can you guess? THE SCIENCE DIET!!!

His next advice was that I need to not mess with my dog’s GI tract by giving him my random crap, because:
a. I will spoil him and he won’t ever eat just dry kibble again.
b. I will mess his digestion up
c. I will mess his skin and coat by adding the stuff I add.
He then went on to brag about his dog, who has only been on Science Diet as well, and how she has no pet dander and how she is the “epitome of health” according to his vet and how whatever he’s doing, he shouldn’t change ever (and he plans to do exactly that); how she never has tummy troubles because he has found one food that she likes and does her so much good and he will never change it… And how I SHOULD DO THE SAME, how I need to choose between Nutro, Blue Buffalo, or Science Diet, and find something Bruno likes, and keep him on it forever!!! GAH!

In between some of his tirade I managed to sneak in a word or 2, such as: “The random crap I feed him is to help with his stools, and is carefully researched and selected to fit my dog’s dietary needs” – response “Yeah, but you give him too much of it, plus, hard kibble is designed to be balanced and give the dogs all they need, so they don’t really need any other crap, additives, or soft food, for the a, b, and c reasons above.”
Me – “I am about to put Bruno on a fish-based food soon” (referring to his pet dander).
Him – “Why?”
Me – “Because fish is really good for dogs’ skin and coat, and has Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, just like flax seed (minus the Omega 6) and coconut oil.”
Him – “… Yeah, but lamb is better. Casey (his dog) has been on brown rice and lamb and her coat is so shiny and soft (not nearly as much as my dog’s, I promise), and she has no pet dander, and she loves the food, and you really shouldn’t switch his food so much.”

Maybe he is right, maybe lamb is indeed better, but can someone please explain how it could be better than fish, in regards to Omega 3 and 6, and skin and coat benefits?

As for the rest, the convo ended with him saying that he doesn’t usually like to tell us (my husband and I, which he NEVER tells him – he only speaks to me about the dog) how to take care of the dog, cause he feels like “we” (read “I”) get pissed off, but he wants us to do what’s best for Bruno…. I don’t know how I didn’t lose it and yell at him that I already am, and that all I do and feed is because I do daily research on it, and educate myself on what is good for Bruno… I just thanked him for helping me with the grooming and went to wash my dog…

Sigh, annoyed… The other problem/reason why I didn’t pour some emotions and knowledge down his head, is because:
a. he clearly won’t take it
b. he is helping us financially with the place a lot, i.e. paying more than us
c. I’m a chicken (or, how I like to think of it, I pick my battles).

SO, this is it… I just really needed to vent… Sigh, I will go walk my “messed-with” dog… Poor guy, having all kinds of variety with his food… I should be ashamed of my dog parenting skills… LoL,.. Sigh….

[aquariangt]

Acana Regionals
Simply Nourish Source
Blue Buffalo Wilderness

Acana is great if you wanna spring for it, the other two are available at PetSmart and well priced for 5 stars

[“Blue”]

Blue Buffalo makes many types, which ones gave problem to your dog HDM? We’re half way thru our first bag of BB Wilderness Lg. Breed Chicken without any probs.

[Naturella]

Shasta,

This is amazing that your lab has had such a turnaround! It is so amazing to see and hear success stories of better food, so I am always ecstatic to see my friend who switched to good food.

As for my other friend, I took her to my favorite store today, and they hooked her up with over 15 samples of 4-and-5-star foods for her old rottie who has been on Beneful and Pedigree so far… She was happy, I was beyond excited, and I can’t wait too see which one he likes/does on best, and which one she gets. I think she should incorporate a joint supplement in whatever she feeds anyway. But I think we’re on a good track there! Hoping for a smooth transition and great results. Also, I did recommend to her to start with may a 3- or 3.5-star food first, and then go to a 4- or 5-star one.

Shasta, I would have never guessed you are a teenager! You rock! 🙂

And also, I agree with both Shasta and aquariangt – although some people feed Beneful and the sort because of price, it is true that good foods can be found for much less online or at clearance/sales racks in pet stores/boutiques. But I can understand how uninformed people can suffer from commercials and misinformation, and I also believe that once they are open to at least checking this website out, they will also get hooked. Like with Shasta, that’s what happened to me. I just stumbled upon it googling something, and bam. That was it for me. I just wish people weren’t so headstrong about what they choose to feed and at least entertain the idea of learning something from someone else… My roommate, however, said to me, after I had had Bruno for about 2 months – “You have had a dog for how long, 2 months now? What do YOU know about dogs. I GREW UP around dogs and have had my own for over 3 years now.” Then it was clear to me that he just wouldn’t ever take anything I tell him, and, sadly, even his vet recommends this site, and other foods (NOT the SD), but he would still not listen, or research so meh… It is what it is.

And another dog that I take pride in being put on good food is my own. When Bruno was first found, he had the worst case of fleas the vet had ever seen. His fur was falling out, and he had patches of sores and wounds all over. The couple that found him (the second ones; the initial “founders” did not even give him food or water for 2 days before the other couple visited them and took the puppy from them) did a great job de-fleeing him, having him dewormed, given food and water, and a good safe space to live for a while until found a forever home (that would be us!). They had him on Purina-Something and he looked fine (I wasn’t able to tell he had fur missing before), and only had 2 scabs left from when he had sores. It wasn’t until we got him on Blue Buffalo Wilderness that his fur got really shiny (that’s when I realized it had been dull before!), and he started growing fur on his tummy (I thought it was supposed to be bare, not that it was actually missing fur!). So good food helped my little guy too, and like others, at first I did listen to the pet store associates and even my roommate (the Science Diet guy), but even then, I preferred grain free and higher protein food, I guess by instinct. So once I found this site, I have never looked at dog food again, let alone any grocery store’s pet aisle, lol.

[Naturella]

I think I have mentioned being in a similar situation with my roommate who feeds his lab-hound mix the Science Diet. While not as horrible as Beneful or Pedigree, he can still do MUCH better, especially because he has the means to! But he just believes he knows a lot about dogs and would not listen to another opinion. This weekend he was out climbing and I was in charge of feeding his dog. Many times I debated whether I should sneak some good food into her crap, or at least a sardine, some coconut butter, or some healthy additive, but never did, precisely because of what neezerfan said. The dog is somewhat picky and if she doesn’t eat the food and he gets home and sees it, he will be upset. Or, if she eats it and gets sick, he will be upset. So while it is heartbreaking to me to not feed her good food, I am working on coming to terms that this battle is one I will never win.

I have, however, gotten a really close friend of mine and a former roommate to stop feeding her lab and chorkie (chihuahua-yorkie mix) dogs the Aldi brand dog food Shep (1 star), to feeding 3.5-5-star foods, such as Blue Buffalo, Great Life, Earthborn, Holistic Heath Extension, Evangers, Nutro, Victor, etc. She can clearly see the effects of better food on her dogs, especially her lab, whose coat has gotten soft and shiny. Her and her dogs are my pride and joy! Now, if only I can get her to stop bathing them every week and giving them “greenies” every night, I would feel complete, but that’s another story, lol. She does give them bully sticks-antlers-marrow bones-hooves-himalayan dog chews-other natural chews, so I guess they are ok for the most part. 🙂

Another “battle” is with a classmate, who is a vet actually, but studied in Colombia, back in the day. Her husband feeds their rottweiler Pedigree (1 star) and stuff like that, so I am going to slowly introduce her to other foods for a great price too (Victor for example, and Earthborn, and HHE). I am giving her a bag of free samples of better foods I got from the nearby pet boutique, and I will hopefully get her to switch to Victor Joint Health or something like that soon. 🙂

Overall I have spoken to many friends who have dogs about dog food, and some take my advice, and some don’t, but if I can even help one dog, I would be happy. I would always want to help more though, but you just have to be careful, and really gauge how to speak to a person about what they feed their “baby”.

[Mom2Cavs]

Blue Buffalo is an approved food on the Whole Dog Journal’s list of dry foods for 2014. It does say they are co-packed. Last I knew they had about 6 different co-packers! Not sure anymore, though, as I don’t feed it….I have in the past, though.

[Melissaandcrew]

Blue Buffalo? Last thing I heard was Simmons for canned and CJ Foods for the dry, but I think they may have more than one for the dry products.

[Willy]

My miniature Schnauzer, Duke, would turn up his nose at BB for the first two bags, and I figured he was being a picky eater. Since to me, it looks like quality food on the packaging, I was insistent. For five days in a row last week he could not hold it down. I switched to home cooked meals, and it all stopped. Now I will pay more attention to Duke’s judgement, when a hungry dog won’t eat dog food – it probably means something is going on. Yes, there’s a problem with Blue Buffalo , IMHO.

[aquariangt]

I would try Blue Buffalo (Wilderness is my favorite of their blends, but its also pricey), Fromms, Precise, or Simply Nourish (Source is my favorite of those, still under 50$ a bag)

If you want to spend more, of course you have Acana, Orijen, Wellness…all things that are solid and not made by diamond

[aquariangt]

I don’t believe Merrick is made by Diamond, is it? Blue Buffalo isn’t either-i don’t hate their wilderness blend. Simply Nourish isn’t manufactured by Diamond either, and I actually like them as far as PetSmart options go (its an exclusive for them) the Source is pretty nice, gets 5 stars on this website too.

[Mom2Cavs]

Although, personally I don’t recommend Blue Buffalo I’m not sure about the statement of being bought by P&G. Maybe, but P&G did buy Natura a few years ago. Anyway, you are right that quite a few of the more cost conscious foods are made by Diamond. Some foods that I feel are good foods that are not made by them are: Earthborn, Victor, Dr. Tim’s, Fromm Gold (I feel the 4Star line is expensive), Annamaet, Wellness, Holistic Select, Precise, Nutrisource, Merrick (even though I don’t like them now), 4Health grain free only (TSC’s house label, the grain free is made by Ainsworth but the grain inclusive by Diamond). Also, some of these may not be local to you but if you’re not adverse to ordering online sometimes you can get deals and free shipping. I order my Annamaet, Dr. Tim’s and Victor online.

[freshley]

I have the normal chain stores (petco, petsmart & petvalue)(live in PA).
I had my previous dog on Canidae and he’s on Wellness puppy now. I had read that Canidae is being produced by diamond but they opened their new plant so they are now making some of it in their plant now.

I was going to try Solid Gold or taste of the wild but they are made by diamond. I was then thinking of chicken soup for dog lover as it’s reasonably priced and has a 4 star rating but the reviews from people about it are not very good.
I was going to try blue buffalo but there was a rumor that they were being bought by Proctor and Gamble who also has had issues with recalls.

[Bobby dog]

Hi, congrats and he is gorgeous! As far as how much to feed your kitty, if you are going to feed wet and dry food I would suggest you check out the feeding guide on the dry food you are feeding him. For example, Wellness has a guide on their bag suggesting how much to feed your cats if you are feeding only dry or a combo of wet and dry according to your cat’s weight. When you decide on an amount just observe your cat’s body condition and adjust your food amounts accordingly.
I have had cats ever since I can remember and still have lots to learn. I have two 15 yrs, one 14 yrs, one 11 yrs, and one 6 yrs, all stray cats. I wish I never fed them wheat, corn, soy, fish, or dry food. I lost two that were 15 years old about four years ago to illnesses that bad nutrition surely contributed to; digestion problems, obesity, and the male had urinary tract issues throughout his life. I have one cat that was diagnosed about five years ago with a hyperthyroid; he requires daily meds now. I have slowly changed their diets over the past five months, but at their ages change is difficult so they still need their fish and dry food fixes. Most importantly I have weaned them off of Friskies. I might not ever be able to completely ween them off of fish or dry food. If I paid more attention to their diets I truly believe I would not have had the vet bills I had over the years. About four years ago an emergency room visit in the middle of the night for my male cat’s urinary tract infection cost me about $2,000 to get him well.
My advice is to feed them the best wet diet that fits your budget. Avoid soy, wheat, corn, and fish. Stick to poultry, lamb, rabbit or beef if possible. If you are going to feed dry find a good quality GF dry.
I am with Crazy4cats, my go to website is catinfo.org. My other favorite is the naturalcatcareblog.com. They have a great list of dry and dehydrated foods and the reason they recommend them. I feed wet three times a day (totalling about 3-5 oz./cat) and give them a small scoop of dry once a day. I am on a very tight budget as well so I only buy food that I either have coupons for, on sale, or on the 50% off shelf. I feed Natures Variety raw (when they e-mail coupons), 4Health from Tractor Supply, Merrick, Wellness, Tiki Cat, Weruva, Soulistic (chic only, K3 is in the other varieties), Blue Buffalo, and Evo. I am always trying new canned foods using the information I learned about food from catinfo as a guide. I also feed them boiled chicken two or three days a week as one of their meals to help keep costs down. For dry I have been feeding Wellness GF Turkey & Duck meal (bought with the $5 coupon from their site of course) because there is no fish meal in the recipe. I just bought a bag of Merrick GF chic on sale which they seem to like.
Sorry for the long post, maybe something I have written will be helpful for you. Good luck, he’s one lucky kitty!

[Tulip]

Sounds like they may need a good probiotic to help. And adding a tablespoon of pumpkin as well. I’ve used Dinovite with great success. Added it to Blue Buffalo and a tablespoon of pumpkin.

[Akari_32]

PetSmart dry list!

Simply nourish source
Organix
Natures recipe grain free
Simply nourish LID
Wellness CORE
Blue buffalo wilderness
Blue buffalo freedom

Blue buffalo’s cat food is pretty cheap, considering! I was surprised. Their dog food is outrageous lol

[Akari_32]

PetSmart list for wet

Natures recipe
Blue Buffalo
Simply nourish
Organix grain free
Innova

[Akari_32]

Thanks! I’ve been scooting around the websites for all the stores here and picking out some foods to try. Wet and dry together sounds cheaper than just wet, and obviously healthier than just dry.

Wet:

Newmans own
Rachael Ray
Natural Life 95% (the dry is disgusting, but I don’t think the wet looks at all)
EVO
Wellness Core
Natural balance (some of them)
Nutro Natural Choice
Wellness
Blue buffalo

For dry, I’m kind of just leaning toward EVO, for the price. Given the good selection of canned foods I’ve got going, that’d be alright, right? Obviously, if another brand I like the looks of goes on sale I can get a few bags of that, too. It’s hard to find a good, affordable (for me) grain free dry cat food around here! :/ I’ve still got a local shop to check in person, and two more websites to check (PetSmart and PetCo).

What do you guys think so far?

[Susan]

My dogs ate blue buffalo for a while, but I had to switch. They didn’t want to eat and they started having skin issues. I switched to grain free and tried a few different brands. They did well on Nutrisource for a while, but started itching once again. They are now eating Earthborn Holistic and it is the best so far. I have to stay away from chicken, fish and tomato, add a little fiber (pumpkin) once a month or so. Absolutely no more skin problems and they love it.

[blizhagan]

We are seeking help! Our dogs have progressively been having worse and worse stomach issues.

We adopted our 1.5 year old Chocolate Lab in October 13 and we also have a 25 pound 3.5 year old Basenji Mix. We wanted to put the dogs on great food when we got our lab. Our Basenji previously had been on Trader Joe’s Lamb and Rice Formula. He has been fine on that since we have had him however when I researched the food when we got our lab I was disappointed by the quality. Our lab was adopted from a family who could no longer care for him and he was on Kirkland Lamb and Rice Formula.

First we tried out the Kirkland with the dogs but both dogs were constipated and were having hard stools. Our lab was also going through 5-6 cups a day.

So we went to a local natural dog food store and they sugguested for our budget and needs to put the dogs on Diamond food and they said to rotate the flavor every bag so that their stomachs will strengthen.

Well our lab was flying thru the Diamond food and looked like he was losing weight so we were supplementing with wet food for more protein for him. The basenji still had constipation.

So we decided we need to go to Blue Buffalo for all the ratings. They have been on Blue Buffalo since mid November. We feed the Basenji 3/4 cup of food twice a day and the Lab (80 pounds) 2 cups twice a day.

They did ok with the Adult Lamb and Brown Rice and the Adult Salmon and Sweet Potatoes however they had the occasional diarrhea and or constipation. Now we got the Chicken and Brown Rice formula and every day for the past week both have been either throwing up or having diarrhea. They aren’t lethargic or have any other symptoms. They are both very active still and their coats look great except our lab has a bit of dandruff.

I am wondering what other food should we try? Would going grain free or getting the wilderness blend be better? Or should we switch brands entirely? Is switching the flavors what is causing this even when we transition the foods? Just looking for some advice.

We live in the mountains and this time of the year they have to be inside while we are out so their stomach issues are much harder to deal with and I just want them to feel better!

Thank you in advance!

[Naturella]

I second both Shasta and dchassett. I have fed Blue Buffalo Wilderness with no problems and really good results, but it is a bit pricy. I do recommend stocking up on food, but watching the “Best by:” dates. The bigger the bag, the less per pound it is, as Shasta noted.

Here is another link for Victor foods that should be right on the money: http://www.victorpet.com/#!buy-organic-dog-treats-online/c13qg

Make sure you do some research as well, visit local feed or pet stores, shop online:
http://www.chewy.com
http://www.petflow.com
http://www.wag.com

Have good deals and sales often.

And do try to get a 4-5-star-rated food. It IS possible, even on a tight budget, we promise! 🙂

[Shasta220]

I will deeeefinitely say a HUGE no no to Science Diet. It is not much better than Purina dog chow, despite the high price. Blue Buffalo is alright, but it’s more expensive than the quality is worth. The link given for Victor foods was good, too. I’m on a big-time budget with my 3 pigs (oops! I meant dogs!) I buy 40lb bags of Diamond Naturals (some dogs do great on it, others do terrible…luckily my dogs are fine) for about $35

That being said, I’d imagine it’ll be harder to find something around $1/lb for a small dog, as small bags tend to be more expensive per pound, and I honestly don’t know how well a large bag of kibble would last. Possibly going for a 12-15lb bag? Really though, the bigger the bag, the cheaper the food will be per pound.

Hopefully you can find something that works! Oh, and try to make sure it’s a 4-5 star food on this site 🙂

[Dori]

Science Diet and Blue Buffalo are two foods that have terrible reviews so you wouldn’t want to feed them anyway. Jams is another food you wouldn’t want to feed. I agree with Aleksandra check out Victorpet.com. You may want to keep the puppy on the food that he’s eating at the breeder for the first couple of weeks and then do a slow transition with whatever good food you decide on. Leaving the breeder and going to a new home with strangers is always very stressful for the pup so it’s always best to give him a little time to adjust before switching his food. Too much stress all at once. Otherwise you may not know whether it’s the stress or the food if he comes down with diarrhea or vomiting.

[Evonne]

I have a three year old cockapoo, Charlie. He has been eating Blue Buffalo Grain Free Turkey and Potato for awhile now. He loves it, and that is saying a lot because he is super picky. This is the first food that he would scarf as soon as we put it in front of him. He has been having issues with yeast and dermatitis. We decided to have him allergy tested. I got the results back a few days ago. He is allergic to fish mix, potato, wheat, and green beans. He is borderline on lamb, venison, oats, beets, apple, banana, and tomato. I fed him a trial of lamb at one point and he reacted by turning bright red on his underbelly. So, I think that is more of an allergy than something that is borderline. I want to avoid feeding him anything that is on his borderline list. I am having a hard time finding him a commercial dog food. For the last few days, I have cooked for for him. I just used things that I had in the house. I used eggs, brown rice, carrots, and pumpkin. He loved it. I am not opposed to cooking for him, but I want to make sure that he is getting the right vitamins, proper carbs and protein. I am just a little nervous about all of this. I am not even sure what amount to feed him if I am cooking for him. I have been giving him a half of a cup of the stuff I made up twice a day. He is a little over twenty pounds. I have two other cockapoos with no allergy issues or health problems. They are also on the Blue Buffalo Grain Free Turkey and Potato. Since they are doing well, I will keep them on it. I just really need advice on what to do with Charlie! Any tips would really be appreciated.
Thank you!

[Evonne]

I have a three year old cockapoo, Charlie. He has been eating Blue Buffalo Grain Free Turkey and Potato for awhile now. He loves it, and that is saying a lot because he is super picky. This is the first food that he would scarf as soon as we put it in front of him. He has been having issues with yeast and dermatitis. We decided to have him allergy tested. I got the results back a few days ago. He is allergic to fish mix, potato, wheat, and green beans. He is borderline on lamb, venison, oats, beets, apple, banana, and tomato. I had fed him a trial of lamb at one point and he reacted by turning bright red on his underbelly. So, I think that is more of an allergy than something that is borderline. I want to avoid feeding him anything that is on his borderline list. I am having a hard time finding him a commercial dog food. For the last few days, I have cooked for for him. I just used things that I had in the house. I used eggs, brown rice, carrots, and pumpkin. He loved it. I am not opposed to cooking for him, but I want to make sure that he is getting the right vitamins. I am not even sure what amount to feed him if I am cooking for him. I have two other cockapoos with no allergy issues or health problems. They are also on the Blue Buffalo Grain Free Turkey and Potato. Since they are doing well, I will keep them on it. I just really need advice on what to do with Charlie! Any tips would really be appreciated.
Thank you!

[Sheltie_Pom]

I can’t spend over $1.05 per pound. I am looking for a good quality dog food to put my new Pomeranian on once he comes home. So far the one that I like best is Pure Balance, I was considering Iams but I’m not so sure after reading the ratings on it. Right now the puppy is on Purina Pro Plan but I don’t like that it contains menadione sodium bisulfite complex. SO what si your advice suggestions? Science Diet and Blue Buffalo are WAY out of my price range. I can’t afford $52+ dollars a bag.

[Naturella]

Thank you, sue66b and pitbullmomma!

I am guessing it is the fiber in the pumpkin that will help him?

Also, I always thought that grain free causes softer stools than grain-inclusive, and this is his second time on all-grain-free (but the first time was just for a month). So maybe I can add a kibble that has a little bit of grains in it… I had some coupons so I stocked up on Earthborn Holistic Grain Free and Vets Choice HHE, but 2 of my HHEs do have grains in them.

Come to remember, Bruno (my pup) did good on Blue Buffalo Wilderness Puppy 11lbs mixed with 4lbs of HHE Original (with grain), I think those were the perfect stools – firm enough, but not super hard.

So maybe until he finishes his current blend and starts on Earthborn GF and HHE (with grain), I can add some pumpkin and/or any other additives that may help?

[Akari_32]

Hey guys! Bentley is once again having itching problems as the weather stars to warm back up. We aren’t sure if it’s chicken, grains, grass, fleas or a combination of any of these. He’s constantly chewing his feet and tummy, and scratching his neck and chest, and his skin is bright red all over his body.

We’ve got a little (really little) problem with fleas in the yard, and he gets maybe 3 or so a day just from going out side. I wouldn’t think it’s enough to cause a problem unless he’s allergic to them. He’s on Trifexis, which kills the fleas after they bite. We have stuff to treat the yard, as well that we are going to try. He does get pretty decent sized welts, but that could be from fire ants (the dog is pretty stupid– he likes to play with ants), so it’s hard to say.

As for food, he used to be on the red meat Innova Prime before the recall. And before that we tried just about every brand and meat/grain combination all sorts of brands there is in the area, ending with chicken without grain, and non-chicken with grain, just to be sure. We finally settled on no chicken and no grain as it caused him to itch less and his skin looked better, and used $10 off any size bag Innova coupons, which is the only way we could have afforded it at the time. He’s been doing good since then so I figured I’d try him back on chicken, and he did good for a month or so, so I tried him back on grain. For the last 3 weeks maybe, he’s been on half and half, grain free and grain inclusive, with mixed protein sources, and it doesn’t seem to help much, but it has helped some.

We aren’t really sure on the grass allergy either, as it all started to die off for the winter when it occurred to us it could be grass/weed pollen and started taking precautions for that as well (wiping him down with a baby wipe after going outside). But now the grass is starting to grow back, so I’ll have to see about that.

So basically, we have all of these possible irritants back all at once, and we are back to where we were last year: he’s chewed his back legs almost bald, he’s scratching himself raw on his chest and neck, and his sole purpose in life is to chew the bottom of his feet.

Since fleas and grass are easy to take care of (sort of), I need some help on picking a food. The only catch is, it has to come from Pet Supermarket. It’s the only place close that isn’t a grocery store. AND…. Around here it’s pretty much either Natura or Diamond for (“good”) grain free. Lucky me. Being so close to the South Carolina plant (I live in Florida), I have my reserves about feeding Diamond products, but he’s been on most of the TOTW formulas and my other dogs have been on Kirkland with no issues. Here’s my list:

Wellness CORE Wildgame
Taste of the Wild High Prairie PUPPY
Taste of the Wild Sierra Mountain
EVO Red Meat Small Bites
Innova Natures Table Beef and Red Lentils (doesn’t appear to be available here yet, but I’d like to hear thoughts on it)

He doesn’t like fish, and it makes his breath smell nasty, or else I’d be able to add the CORE Ocean Fish in there, too. I was looking at Blue Buffalo, despite what ever they’re going through right now, but I’m fairly sure all their grain free foods have chicken, don’t they? Any thing else to add that Pet Supermarket carries?

If you could just pick one, because the chances of mom rotating are slim, which would you pick? And what are your top three, if I can get her to? And thoughts or concerns about any of these? Any other tips as far as natural flea treatments, itching relief, and whatever else goes are also greatly appreciated!

[Mom2Cavs]

Hermione….I agree with the probiotics and enzymes. They should help. However, the Blue Buffalo has grains (rice) and most likely has way less protein than the EB Primitive Natural, which is EB’s highest protein variety. I do know that my 3 dogs could not make such a switch easily, but they are older dogs. Anyway, it can be done, but it may take longer for your dog to adjust to the “richness” of the EB Primitive Natural. Have you thought of transitioning to a lesser protein Earthborn food, like Meadow Feast, or first to one of their grain inclusive foods then when the dog is used to that food gradually switching to, say Coastal Catch or Meadow Feast, then finally to Primitive Natural, providing your dog can handle it along the way? It’s been my experience with my dogs that when switching to a new food if the new food has a similar protein/fat and analysis makeup to the old food the switch goes much easier than if the new food is a lot different makeup. Once I’m on the new, similar food for awhile I can then go on and transfer to a higher protein of the same brand. I hope this makes sense lol.

[Hermione]

I recently switched (slowly, of course) my border-collie mix of unknown age from Grain-Free Blue Buffalo Chicken and Rice to Earthborn Holistic Primitive Natural. She definitely enjoys the new food and is eating normally, energy is good, etc. I started the transition on 1/27 so she’s been eating the new food for about two weeks.

My concern is her stool. While she’s going less, when she does have a bowel movement it’s VERY soft. Not liquid, thankfully, but not solid, either. It also REEKS. Is it possible I just need to give her more time to adjust? At what point do I decide that her new food doesn’t agree with her? Any advice?