[Amy S]

Does anyone have suggestions for budget friendly dry food that does not have chicken/ turkey as the first ingredient. My GSD loves pork dry food, and will eat fresh chicken, but she does not like dry food made from chicken. Currently have her on Fromm, but would like something less expensive.
Going to try Whole Earth Farms Beef, but have concerns with Merrick. Haven’t they had multiple issues with sourcing to China, recalls, etc?

• This topic was modified 11 years, 4 months ago by Amy S.

[Jackie B]

Check out the Editor’s Choice report on Merrick. /reports/merrick-pet-care/ It has a lot of the information you just asked about.

[Amy S]

Well now I don’t know what to do! Was just reading research on Bloat, and saw that the risk increases 100% in high risk breeds if one of the top 4 ingredients is fat. The 4th ingredient in Whole Earth is chicken fat, and I have a German Shepherd which is an at risk breed.
I am surprised to see very little discussion on bloat.
I am thinking about rotating Nutrisource (need to check prices) and Grandma Lucy’s with fresh meat. With 2 large breed dogs I just can’t afford the raw route, and husband gets the willies lol.

[Amy S]

Wow Jackie B, thanks for the link. Merrick looks like a great company. Now to just decide about the fat content.

[theBCnut]

Somewhere there is a thread about bloat, but I don’t know where it’s hiding, but the take away is that they really don’t know what causes bloat. Every time they think they have a cause, they try to cause bloat and find that whatever they were testing doesn’t cause bloat. The current thinking is that there is no one reason that animals bloat, but that there may be several factors that have to be present at the same time to cause bloat. I can tell you that raw fed dogs are not known for bloating and they recieve a high fat diet compared to kibble fed dogs, so it can’t just be fat. Same with dogs fed canned foods.

They say that for bloat prone dogs that you should not feed a food with citric acid in it because this can cause gas build up in the stomach. And they also say to wet the food well before feeding it to allow it to absorb all the water that it can. And don’t allow your dog to drink water after eating, especially if fed a dry meal. I would always add digestive enzymes to any kibble being fed to a bloat prone dog, but I would strive to feed a more natural diet to these dogs.

[Amy S]

Definitely taking her off of whole earth farms. She has thrown up three times in the past week after eating it. I give her anything else and she is fine.

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