[Bonnie V]

I have 2 dogs. A female german shepherd (almost 3 yo) and a mix (possible mastiff/boxer- a little over a year old is the vets guess). Right now they eat Canidae PureSky and PureSea- I mix the two bags. These bags are 24 pounds, and I go through 2 bags every 3 weeks. I am all for spending money on good food- but it is time for a change, and I am going to try to scale back just a little at the same time. Here is what I have narrowed down to:
American Natural Premium Sensitive Care 33 pounds $39.99
American Natural Original 40 pounds $39.99
Wellness Complete Health 30 pounds $51.99
Fromm Classic Adult 33 pounds $38.99
(currently my Canidae is 24 pounds for 48.99 and 54.99).

Please tell me your pros and cons!! Thanks in advance!!

[RescueDaneMom]

Hi Bonnie,

Some other foods that are known to be high quality, yet budget friendly are Victor, Dr. Tim’s, and Earthborn Holistic. You can get grain-inclusive Dr. Tim’s on Chewy.com for $1.85/lb (Momentum) and $1.46/lb (Pursuit). The grain-free kinesis is $1.80/lb. Earthborn has 4 grain-free varieties that are $47.99 for a 28lb bag ($1.71/lb), on Chewy.com also. Victor is a little harder to find. Amazon and sportdogfood.com carry it. It’s around $1.80/lb.

I’m not familiar with American Natural. I’m not a big fan of Fromm and the only Wellness formula I would consider feeding is the Core. Compared to what you are currently feeding (a 5 star grain-free food) you’d be downgrading by feeding any of those because none of them are 5 star foods and they are all very carb heavy. All of the Dr. Tim’s varieties I mentioned are 5 stars, as is the Victor Grain-Free. Earthborn is 4.5 stars but the Primitive Natural variety is 5 stars.

That’s my 2 cents. I hope it’s somewhat helpful for you.

[Shasta220]

I second DaneMom on all she said. Are these foods listed as options because you’ve looked them over, or simply because there’s a limited availability in your area? If it’s the latter, maybe you could try finding one of the suggested brands online. I’ve never bought dog food online, but I know there are many on here who can recommend great places to start (I wanna say Chewy.com is one of the popular ones? Maybe Amazon as well?)

[BlackandBlue]

I’m going to highly recommend American Natural Premium. I feed the grain free fish (purple bag) to my dog and she does really great on it. The original and/or the sensitive care is definitely worth a try to see how your dog does while feeding it.

[Bonnie V]

I have narrowed down to those because I am in a very small town and that is what is available. I choose to order from this store because I have the option to use my paypal acct- so if money is tight, it is never a problem.
Can I ask why you don’t like Fromm? I was hoping they would be a good one bc they seem to promote that small company feel, up in Wisconsin. But- I can be naïve and fall for that kind of stuff…. that is why I am here 🙂

[aquariangt]

There are some people whose dogs have done poorly on Fromm, though mine do well, so a lot of it is a test. That goes for most foods-one of mine doesn’t do well on Orijen-some people swear by it. 2 of my 3 don’t do well on Solid Gold, but it’s rated well, etc…

The other thing with Fromm is it is fairly low in protein %. The grain free gets a lot of its protein from peas, so some people don’t love that either. I supplement with canned and dehydrated food for extra meat protein, so I am not super concerned by it. I only use the 4star Grain free regularly, I have used Gold in the past as well. Never used the original

[Bonnie V]

Got it!!….. I think I will give Dr. Tims a try. I had never heard of it, but they all look very good!!
I am a little lost on which one to try though. I would love to do the Kinesis, because it is an awesome price. How much better is the grain free kinesis?? Neither have corn or soy.

[RescueDaneMom]

Hey Bonnie, I agree with aquariangt. There’s a thread in the forums somewhere titled Fromm dog food dangers in which a number of people have reported feeding Fromm making their dogs sick. Yet others feed Fromm with no problems. I fed the Fromm Gold to our rottie for a while but I stopped once I became educated and realized it was almost 50% carbs. He was on the heavy side and didn’t need that many carbs (granted dogs don’t really need any carbs).

A lot of people have said good things about Dr. Tim’s. I haven’t tried it myself. I don’t feed white potato or grains because I have a dog with arthritis. I would definitely try it if I could though. I think it’d be a great one to try. I prefer the other formulas over the grain-inclusive Kinesis because it is lower protein (26%) which means higher carbs. I prefer to feed 30% or more protein. Also, don’t forget that the more calorie-dense foods (higher kcal/kg) the less you will feed of it so it will last you longer making it an even better bang for your buck. Ex: you would feed less of the Momentum (588 kcal/kg) than the Kinesis (415 kcal/kg).

I hope that helps. 🙂

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