Let me start by saying I have been hunting for the perfect sheltie food for some time now. I want to support gallbladder health so want the lower fat and I have no need for high protein since we are not excessively active.
This bit about the sheltie gallbladder is a large driver in my food choice. My personal criteria is 1. Responsible company with no recalls ever 2. No Chinese ingredients 3. No chicken (2 of 3 can't do chicken) 4. No grain 5. None of the crazy high protein and fat (I go for 24-26% protein and as low as possible fat without getting into grains as filler which most low fat foods do). 6. No much fish in the recipe. The waters are SO contaminated that I don't trust much fish for myself or dogs these days. They have reported radiation from Japan all over the US West Coast / Canada West Coast already. So . . .
Fromm Gold has some nice options. Their Reduced Activity Senior (fowl), Gold Coast (fish), and Gold Prairie Large Breed Adult (red meats) have some of the lowest fat around, responsible company, grainfree (the Reduced Activity does have some grain but the Golds don't), no Chinese ingredients. The shelties are on the Fromm Gold Prairie Large Breed Adult and are doing fabulously (12% fat). VERY pleased with this food. I had used the 4 star with them and they didn't like it as well and the fiber is lower too. The Golds have 6% fiber which helps with those anal glands. Apparently, the food tastes better too and they are very happy with it.
Then . . . Shay, my shepherd, has the most sensitive stomach in the world. He gets the grumbly tummy pre-bloaty kind of thing. For nearly TWO years he has been rock solid on Acana Ranchlands. I opened a new bag and he was getting the grumbles 2-3 times a week. I removed everything from his diet except food. Still grumbles. I finally posed this to a FB Herding Group I am in (mostly ACD's & kelpies but we have a few of the "cutsy" fluffy shelties around and a few shepherds). I had 3 options . . . 1. They changed the recipe (they did change it back in the summer but removing potatoes is not exactly a problem). 2. Bad bag (hard to track that down since I didn't keep the UPC). 3. Other??? Someone explained, which was actually confirmed by Acana, that the Regionals that have multiple meat sources vary their formula based on what shows up at the plant that week. Seriously, they CHANGE their recipe from lot to lot, bag to bag, and even sometimes from bottom to top of a single bag. Are you kidding me? They don't have a set formula? They seriously bake dog food by "winging it"? Yep. There might be more lamb and less beef or more pork and fish in ratio to beef. They just come up with a plan with leftovers from the single source foods that must follow a recipe. They told me to pick a Single like beef or pork and try that until I find one that sits well with him or try another Acana bag. Oh well. At $86 a bag (in the US) I am not buying another bag in hopes that one will be OK. On the upside, the outdoors cat is LOVING the Acana mixed in with her regular cat kibble. It has taurine, she's good for a short time, it's a mix anyway. It's high protein.
Fromm, in contrast, spent a huge amount of time calling me and talking with me about their consistent recipe, my needs, their production, and such. Shay is now happily eating Fromm with the shelties and doing great!
Yay for Fromm!
This bit about the sheltie gallbladder is a large driver in my food choice. My personal criteria is 1. Responsible company with no recalls ever 2. No Chinese ingredients 3. No chicken (2 of 3 can't do chicken) 4. No grain 5. None of the crazy high protein and fat (I go for 24-26% protein and as low as possible fat without getting into grains as filler which most low fat foods do). 6. No much fish in the recipe. The waters are SO contaminated that I don't trust much fish for myself or dogs these days. They have reported radiation from Japan all over the US West Coast / Canada West Coast already. So . . .
Fromm Gold has some nice options. Their Reduced Activity Senior (fowl), Gold Coast (fish), and Gold Prairie Large Breed Adult (red meats) have some of the lowest fat around, responsible company, grainfree (the Reduced Activity does have some grain but the Golds don't), no Chinese ingredients. The shelties are on the Fromm Gold Prairie Large Breed Adult and are doing fabulously (12% fat). VERY pleased with this food. I had used the 4 star with them and they didn't like it as well and the fiber is lower too. The Golds have 6% fiber which helps with those anal glands. Apparently, the food tastes better too and they are very happy with it.
Then . . . Shay, my shepherd, has the most sensitive stomach in the world. He gets the grumbly tummy pre-bloaty kind of thing. For nearly TWO years he has been rock solid on Acana Ranchlands. I opened a new bag and he was getting the grumbles 2-3 times a week. I removed everything from his diet except food. Still grumbles. I finally posed this to a FB Herding Group I am in (mostly ACD's & kelpies but we have a few of the "cutsy" fluffy shelties around and a few shepherds). I had 3 options . . . 1. They changed the recipe (they did change it back in the summer but removing potatoes is not exactly a problem). 2. Bad bag (hard to track that down since I didn't keep the UPC). 3. Other??? Someone explained, which was actually confirmed by Acana, that the Regionals that have multiple meat sources vary their formula based on what shows up at the plant that week. Seriously, they CHANGE their recipe from lot to lot, bag to bag, and even sometimes from bottom to top of a single bag. Are you kidding me? They don't have a set formula? They seriously bake dog food by "winging it"? Yep. There might be more lamb and less beef or more pork and fish in ratio to beef. They just come up with a plan with leftovers from the single source foods that must follow a recipe. They told me to pick a Single like beef or pork and try that until I find one that sits well with him or try another Acana bag. Oh well. At $86 a bag (in the US) I am not buying another bag in hopes that one will be OK. On the upside, the outdoors cat is LOVING the Acana mixed in with her regular cat kibble. It has taurine, she's good for a short time, it's a mix anyway. It's high protein.
Fromm, in contrast, spent a huge amount of time calling me and talking with me about their consistent recipe, my needs, their production, and such. Shay is now happily eating Fromm with the shelties and doing great!
Yay for Fromm!
Honestly, I'd have done the same thing upon learning what you learned and that's switch foods.
...Savannah has always sought out bugs to supplement her diet since she was a wee one. I never knew a dog to do this, the crunchier the better, ugh...I hate seeing legs dangling out of her muzzle.
