[Dawn H]

I’ve just heard about the beneful “Problem”. I had four dogs. I do believe my border collie/lab mix of 8 1/2 years old died this past November due to this dog food. I’m just putting it together now. It wasn’t mentioned at the vet. I just know the first question that was asked was whether she had gotten into antifreeze somehow. I’ve got three other dogs on this food and I want them off of it NOW. An older golden who has been losing weight, a shepherd mix, and a chi-weenie both of whom seem to be fine. I just know that I can’t handle going through another death like Dixies. It was horrific. I need a good dog food that is good for dogs of all sizes (except maybe the chi-weenie. She’s under 10 pounds). The golden and the shepherd are 55lbs and 42lbs respectively. I have a Petsmart right down the road and I’m willing to order online or go pick something up from the vets.
Thanks you

[Naturella]

Hi, Dawn, and welcome to DFA! I commend you for the decision to switch your babies from Beneful – it is really one of the worst foods out there, along with other popular brands.

What I would recommend is switching your dogs gradually over 1-2 weeks to a mid-grade dog food at first, because switching directly to a 4-5-star food may really upset their tummies. I have a couple of recommendations. You can use Rachael Ray from Walmart, Nutro Natural Choice, or Authority (a PetSmart brand) as your mid-grade food. Look on this website for foods that are around 3 stars to begin with. Once you have transitioned to such a food and your dogs’ stool is good, and they are ok on it (keep them on it for about a month), I recommend Pure Balance (a Walmart store brand dog food, but it’s actually pretty decent) grain-inclusive and grain-free, Rachael Ray Zero Grain, Nulo (a Petsmart brand), Earthborn Holistic, Dr. Tim’s, Annamaet, and Victor are all pretty good, reliable foods in the 4-5-star range. I have fed many of these foods to my dog and have some lined up to feed for the future as well. Many of these you won’t find in big box stores like Petsmart and Petco so shopping online would be the way to go. Websites like petflow.com , chewy.com , wag.com often have deals on many of these good foods. Victor you can get from sportdogfood.com The kibbles are nice and small so even the chiweenie can eat it, and such is the case with most of these foods except Dr. Tim’s – the kibble is a tad bigger, but not huge at all.

Also, feel free to try all of the above brands – rotation of foods is essential for the dog’s health and you can learn more about that here: /frequently-asked-questions/diet-rotation-for-dogs/

Good luck and keep us posted on how it goes!

[theBCnut]

NutriSource is an easy to switch to food that is economical and pretty good quality.

[Author]

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