What to feed.....

[Hanne]

Fromm Gold, was my rescue.

After 2 years Minnie still loves it

It's also these small pills that I use as treats.

 

[Calliesmom]

we were on Taste of the Wild from the time that Cran came home as a puppy- then they had their giant recall and with other issues, I swore off anything by the parent company. and also to never feed one brand exclusively, we switch brands and flavors every couple months.......
we have used Fromm, Earthborn Holistics, Zignature, Nature's Variety........

 

[Sharon7]

Might have been me talking about Wellness Lamb and Barley. We have had all our dogs on it for years and they have done so well. Hasn't had a recall that I know of and I subscribe to the Dog Food Advisor recall alerts. They have shiny coats, bright eyes, good energy and nice firm stools. The only thing I add is a joint powder and green lipped mussel powder for Brooke.

I hoped that the Lamb might not be as prone to salmonella as chicken and so far so good.

 

[pomshe]

My 14-year old oversize guy has been on Fromm (not the grain-free) for 12 years. He still gets excited for it everytime. My 1-year old little guy started out on Fromm Gold Puppy, but I switched him to Primal Raw and he has done great on it. His fur is incredibly soft and shiny and he is the picture of a beautiful healthy dog. I truly believe raw is the way to go, but since I work fulltime I can't make my own, so Primal is a good fit for me. It is not too expensive and he loves it. I just have to remember to put the servings for the next day in the fridge to thaw.

 

[kazie]

Gosh, the whole pet food thing is stressful isn't it! I had gone the whole kit and Kaboodle through dog food with my doxies. Long backs, I wanted healthy, trim dogs. I did Canidae (has had numerous recalls these last few years), Wellness Core - oh the gas! - and finally settled on Merrick Grain Free Buffalo.

Now with Brodie, I read all the threads here about lower protein foods for Shelties and Grain Free certainly is NOT low protein. So I stressed over it, researched up the wazoo, breeder had Brodie on Purina as well. I finally said phooey, after all the research, I stuck with Merrick. Yes they were bought by Purina, but Purina was letting them do all their own processing - they are a money source only. Now there's all this info on Grain Free - so after stewing on the Grain Free and the Protein and reading, reading, reading, reading... yesterday I went out and bought Wellness Complete Health puppy for Brodie and ordered in Wellness Complete Lamb and Barley for Kooper.

I started mixing the puppy in last night with Brodie's food - no upsets yet but too soon. Not sure yet if I will switch over 100% to the Wellness Complete Health or mix it in with Merrick or what. I do like that Merrick has a better track record, all US sourced foods, they both have peas which seem to be an issue with grain free foods but most foods have peas. I did contact Merrick and was told by their rep that although they were contacted about their grain free food with the stuff that went out last year, their foods were checked out and no recommendations were given to change their recipe since their recipes contain so much meat for protein versus peas, etc. for protein. But their recipes, even the none grain free ones, are way higher than the recommended percentage for protein for shelties from what I read here.

Someone here has written VERY favorably about the Wellness Lamb so I took what I read here, added in reviews from Amazon, Chewy, Petco and Dog Food Advisor - narrowed down stuff and the Wellness came out on top of the 4 I had narrowed down to, so we are giving it a try.

I have fed Wellness Compete puppy food to Luna since she came home from the breeder at 10 weeks. She does great on it and except for recently when she found a dead fish under the snow in my yard (yuck)she hasn't had any intestinal problems at all. Peas should not be an issue in regards to grain free since peas are not a grain.Wheat, barley rice, etc. are grains. Luna also gets frozen peas for an occasional treat and absolutely loves chopped up carrots which I put in a puzzle feeder and it keeps her occupied for a good long time. She is now 9 months old and I feed her 1/2 cup of kibble twice a day. I'll soon start gradually mixing Wellness adult food in with the puppy mix to switch her to adult food by a year.

 

[Sunflower77]

Peas should not be an issue in regards to grain free since peas are not a grain.Wheat, barley rice, etc. are grains.

She said pea seemed to be an issue with grain free food because recently FDA issued a warning against the linkage between grain free dog food and a type of heart disease. Many people suspect it’s caused by peas, lentils and other legumes contained in the grain freed dog food.

 

[Sandy in CT]

Agree with sunflower, pea protein is getting alot of attention in the warning about grain free foods and DCM issues that came out last July and write ups on the subject since then. Peas and potatoes and grain free were the 3 things that came out in the first warning, but lots of attention since to peas in particular. I just wrote up on a previous thread of mine my whole dog food thing with Brodie, but as of last night, he has started his switch to Fromm Gold puppy and Kooper is transitioning to Fromm Gold Adult. The Wellness was NOT a hit here. I hope this ends my food search. There is a VERY long thread here about the FDA warning that is very informative to read.

 

[Ann]

I second what Sandy and Sunflower have said. It's not just plain peas which, on their own, are probably a fine additive to a balanced diet...if you look at the ingredient list of many "high quality" dog food, there's a trend toward peas, pea protein, pea fiber, lentils, etc. near the top of the list. In many, there are three or four types of peas! This trend toward pea products is the result of food companies trying to increase the protein levels in their food, rather than using meat.

But if you think about it, why would we feed our dogs a diet that is heavy in peas? Or potatoes? That's not what they're meant to eat. Even good grains such as brown rice, or barley are better food choices for them.

 

[kazie]

She said pea seemed to be an issue with grain free food because recently FDA issued a warning against the linkage between grain free dog food and a type of heart disease. Many people suspect it’s caused by peas, lentils and other legumes contained in the grain freed dog food.

Wow! That is disturbing. I thought it was better to feed grain free. Maybe not. Unfortunately, I just bought a bag of Wellness adult and began mixing puppy and adult to start the switch. Not sure what to do now. She loves the Wellness and is doing great on it but I certainly don't want to expose her to heart problems.

 

[Sandy in CT]

Wow! That is disturbing. I thought it was better to feed grain free.

If you google 'grain free' and 'DCM' you will probably get more info than you want. But last July, a warning was issues about Grain Free foods. I have always fed my doxies grain free Merrick - the buffalo flavor. I wasn't concerned then since doxies aren't prone to DCM. But when Brodie came along, I read about protein levels in foods fed to Shelties. Because they can be prone to kidney issues, a lower protein diet is recommended - grain free is high protein and the Merrick I was feeding was super high at around 32%. I went on a hunt which led me to try out both Wellness and Merrick Classic which are not grain free. Neither dog was a super fan of the Wellness and the Merrick Classic ended up too rich for Brodie with lower fiber levels and loose poo.

But both of those foods also have peas, which if you read the latest stuff that has come out in these last few months, some are feeling peas and legumes are big culprits in this food/dcm issue. Seems like even in grain foods, manufacturers use peas or pea protein to boost the protein levels of foods instead of using meats or meat meals. If a food does contain peas, pea proteins, legumes, white potatoes - you want them to be further down the list of ingredients. One place I read said not in the top 10 - try finding a food without one of those ingredients in the top 10!!!! Wellness puppy has peas listed at spot 5 and Merrick Classic at spot 4. Welness puppy is also a tad higher protein than is recommended here which I think was about 26-27%.

I did NOT want to feed a food I couldn't pick up easily. I wanted something available to me at Petco or Chewy or my local Agway. i had read lots on Fromm but it is not something I have easy local access to so I kept crossing it off my list. In the end, I switched both dogs over to Fromm last Wednesday' Brodie on the puppy, Kooper on adult. It was actually super easy too - no digestive issues, only stool changes to the positive (less and well formed). Brodie actually picked the Fromm out of the dish so after 3 meals with him only eating the Fromm, I just did a quick switch.

Fromm is highly written about here, is within recommended protein levels, has no peas in it at all, does have potatoes but they are #11 on the ingredient list.

My vet told me to push puppy food as long as possible - she'd like to see Brodie on it till he is at least a year old but said 9 - 10 months for sure.