[Sarah H]

Hello all. I have been feeding my puppy the Fresh Pet rolls for a few weeks now and she absolutely loves the food! I had been mainly giving her the Fresh Pet Vital (both grain free and regular varieties) and occasionally buying a roll of Fresh Pet Select at the supermarket when I didn’t have time to get to Petsmart. Last week, Petsmart had an issue with their fridge and didn’t have any rolls, so I had to go to the supermarket. I really see no difference between the Vital and the Select and I just checked out the ratings here on Dog Food Advisor and I see that Fresh Pet Select has 5 stars while the Vital (regular and grain free) have only 4 stars! Is the Select a better food? Opinions?

[Sarah H]

I had the same question recently as my puppy seemed bored of her canned food. I switched to Fresh Pet, which is for all life stages. She LOVES it! I buy the Fresh Pet Vital at Petsmart and also the Petsmart Select at the supermarket. It comes in a loaf. There is a grain free and regular variety and different flavors. I buy the smaller loaves and rotate flavors during the week. Rotating the flavors seems to keep her interest. She wasn’t so crazy about the fishy one, but she likes the beef and chicken varieties. She is a five month old Shih Tzu by the way.

[Sarah H]

Well I got the Vital at Petsmart. They did not have the single serving tubs so I got the logs. She LOOOOVED it so much! Doggie crack is right! I mixed it with the Wellness and she managed to pick out all the chunks of Freshpet and leave the Wellness LOL. I had intended on doing the rotation diet but I think she likes this food so much it won’t be necessary. I guess I will rotate between the different flavors, the Grain free and the regular. My only concern now is that she will get chubby because she is eating about three times as much as she has been in the past! I am feeding her the recommended amount, it’s just that she was barely eating her other food the past few weeks! I just fed her and the bowl was literally licked clean within 2 minutes, whereas with the canned Wellness I was throwing most of it out. I was lucky if I could get her to eat one serving a day. She is so happy. She thinks she went to doggy heaven..

• This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by Sarah H.

[Sarah H]

I was thinking of the loaf or those single serving containers. She seems to still like the Wellness kibble, so I will stick with that as well for now. She is just bored with the canned food.

[Sarah H]

OK thanks for the reply. Does anyone have any feedback on Fresh Pet (any variety)?

[Sarah H]

Thanks for the feedback Jenn. I was torn between the Wellness Core and the regular. I had read good reviews on both. Maybe when I start the rotation feeding I will try the Core. Oh and mine was on Purina too! Yuck.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 3 months ago by Sarah H.

[Sarah H]

Thanks crazy4cats (love the name)! The puppy is a shih tzu. I was worried about the cat eating the dog food as well, especially since one of my son’s friends told me his cat died from eating their dog’s food – but my vet assured me that just a little bit wouldn’t hurt. I did catch her once or twice eating the puppy’s food, but that hasn’t been so much of an issue since the puppy food is usually put up out of reach except at meal time. It is the cat food that is out all the time. We do have one cat box which is behind a cat door in the basement, but unfortunately my cat had a stroke a couple of years ago and has troubles with mobility so we had to put a cat box in the corner of the living room area so she wouldn’t have to go down stairs all the time. It is behind a cabinet, so it is accessible but not right in the middle of everything. All the more reason to keep it clean! The cat is doing amazingly well with the puppy and doesn’t seem fazed at all.

[Sarah H]

Interesting about the food. Thank you, I will look into this. Thankfully I don’t think the cat litter or feces is an issue in our house (knock on wood).

[Sarah H]

And yes, thank you. Already bought the toothpaste and brush and gave it a try last night!

[Sarah H]

PS I also keep the cat box clean so there is never cat poop in there for more than a few minutes.

[Sarah H]

Oh yes, she is in the crate when we are out (or even just in the shower) and in the play yard when we are home and not watching her 100%. The play yard is great and she has room to run around and play and we put her bed in there too and a water dish. She only has free run of the house for small spurts of time. Unfortunately the cat litter has to be accessible to the cat so it cannot be put away. But as I said the puppy only has access to that area when we are watching her and so far has shown no interest and when she walks in that direction we shoo her away. It is just the food that she keeps getting into. And yes the coffee table- she is chewing that too! I sprayed it with Bitter Apple but it didn’t seem to work. She is a very small breed dog so I am not so sure she will ever be able to jump up to the coffee table or the couch.

[Sarah H]

Yes, I have a gate for the kitchen, unfortunately then the cat cannot get in either! Originally the thought was to keep the puppy in the kitchen with her food and the cat with the cat food in the living and dining room, but the puppy hated being in there. I think the tile floors are too cold. We do keep the puppy confined to a play yard in our finished basement when we are not able to keep an eye on her, but we let her run around the living room when we are watching her. Unfortunately she is very quick and sneaky! As I said we turn away for a second and she is already in the kitchen going for the cat food. We will just have to keep a better eye on her. Or train the cat to eat her food off of the coffee table which she can access from the couch (she cannot jump high). We have been trying to do that but she just doesn’t seem to get it. So far so good with the cat litter. The puppy has not tried to go for it at all. Hopefully just a bite or two of cat food will not hurt her now and then. We have had her a week and no digestive issues so far.

[Sarah H]

Unfortunately I cannot change my cat’s meal habits at this point. She is 19 years old and underweight and used to free feeding. I am just going to have to find a way to make sure my puppy stays out of the kitchen.

[Sarah H]

Thank you – it was actually not the breeder that recommended we free feed. I read it somewhere on a puppy care site (or maybe in a book I have on puppy care) that they should free feed until 3 months and then do 3-4 meals. It might have been specific to the Shih Tzu puppies because they are so small. Of course I have no idea now where I read it!

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