Good Quality Mid-Range Food?

[greymomnc]

Minnie has been with us 2 months. When she came I started her on Purina EN Gastroenteric Formula available through the vet. This is a good food to transition from the kennel food. Her stools firmed up right away. This is a grain based food and I did not want to keep her on it if she could tolerate something protein based.

 

I slowly transitioned her to Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Formula---Chicken and Sweet Potato. She has gas off and on and her stools are huge and occasionally a bit soft. The late Miss Jonelle had the same problem with the premium foods and I had to keep her on the EN most of her life as nothing else seemed to totally agree with her.

 

It seems the high end foods are just too rich for Minnie as well. The store I visited carries the entire Nutro line but I have been weary of Nutro since the problems a few years back.

 

If you have a grey that cannot tolerate the premium foods, what have you found that works for you? In addition, Minnie has lost 2 pounds since we adopted her. We have had a complete blood panel run and the only abnormal result was low thyroid which we are further testing with Michigan State. She has adjusted wonderfully, so the weight loss is a bit puzzling although she may just be getting more exercise with walks and squirrel chasing in the yard. We are increasing her food which is only adding to the gas and stool issues.

 

I tried researching the foods while at the store with my phone...ACK!

 

Thanks in advance.

[Hubcitypam]

I've had some good luck with Purina One and Iams. I actually worked for Blue Buffalo for a while and got free food...that I couldn't feed as it was too rich.

[Guest Doggone]

I had to switch Autumn to IAMS green bag for the same reason!

[Guest PiagetsMom]

I feel like I could probably write a book on this, and I know there are lots of others who feel the same way. I've tried many grain free foods thinking they would help with the sensitive stomachs, and finally got advice from Batmom, who told me to try the IAMS or the Purina One. IAMS didn't work for us, but the Purina One Smartblend/Sensitive Systems with salmon is working as well as anything ever has and both pups like it.

 

Bonus is not only is it better, but there's less poop output, and I'm spending $30 on a 30+ lb bag of food vs the $65 to $70 I've spent on some of the grain free foods.

Edited December 3, 2013 by PiagetsMom

[Guest Wasserbuffel]

Iams in the green bag is working well here too. I buy the minichunks, because the one month I bought the larger kibble pieces Jayne got several stuck behind her canines in the gaps where she's had teeth pulled.

[Brandiandwe]

You might find that there's too much fibre? Hermon doesn't do well on food with too much sweet potato.

[3DogNite]

have you tried Pulsar by Horizon

good quality, grain free, and reasonably priced

mine all love it

[Guest sirsmom]

We've had the best luck with Purina One, Iams and Rachael Ray Nutrish Just 6. Everything else caused on and off D.

[Feisty49]

My Annie doesn't tolerate "good" kibble either. The better the kibble supposedly is rated, the worse her poos get. She's on Iams in the green bag with a dose of FortiFlora a couple of times a week.

[winnie]

Our hound pack all does well on the BJs Wholesale Club Earth's Pride All Natural Chicken & Rice formula.

[TINMANPDX]

We feed Costco dog food; specifically, Kirkland Lamb and Rice and Nature's Domain Salmon Meal. Price is reasonable and the pups do well on it.

[fliggie]

Sammie is on Purina One for old guys and likes it.

[cleptogrey]

if you have a blue seal dealer near you their lamb and rice or pork/barley crunchies are more than affordable and i've been getting excellent results w/ it. the person i board w/ had danes and greys and feeds it. when ever she boards a dog w/ gut issues she feeds them the blue seal and they are fine. around 24% protein and 14% fat. good ingredients, they have a clip and receive a free bag program(after 12 bags). it works!

[greymomnc]

Thanks All! Pulsar by Horizon was not available at any of the three stores I went to. While we have BJ's and Costco here, they are so far out of the way that it is not convenient to get to on a regular basis. The Blue Seal sounds really good, but the closest dealer to us is 20 miles away in the opposite direction of anywhere I might be going. So, after trying to decide between IAMS and Purina One I decided to go with PiagetsMom's suggestion of Purina One Smartblend/Sensitive with Salmon. Let's see if Minnie is a seafood lover. I will begin a very slow transition today and report back the results. Fingers crossed! Thanks again to everyone for your help.

[Guest PiagetsMom]

As Batmom said to me, food is really a crapshoot! On her advice, I didn't do a really slow transition since our poops weren't good anyway - we did half and half for 2-3 days, until I was sure the poop I was seeing was the new food. At that point, if things are better, or at least not any worse, I switched.

 

Hope it works for you - good luck!

Edited December 4, 2013 by PiagetsMom

[cleptogrey]

i wish my blue seal dealer was that close! we buy 2 months worth at a time- 3 weeks to a 40# bag(7 cups per day between the dogs). we store it in the basement which is cool and dry.

Edited December 5, 2013 by cleptogrey

[fsugrad]

We love the 4Health brand dog food sold at Tractor Supply. Read the label--it's high quality stuff at a very reasonable price.

Our greyhound group's hounds all get this food.

When we adopted Dakota, it was what he had been eating. After speaking to others in my group about it, we switched Toby over to it, as well. (We feed the salmon and potato).

Toby used to be on science diet Sensitive Stomach and he has done so much better on 4Health--and the price can't be beat, either.

[sobesmom]

I'm another 4Health fan - the ingredients for the price are hard to beat. And there's a TS right by where I work- convenient!

We've had good luck with Diamond Naturals, and sometimes Iams.

[Guest shanesmom]

Ace couldn't tolerate any of the higher graded foods either. And I never seen so much poo come out of a dog as when I tried grain free. He's been eating Iams green bag for almost 2 years now and his poo practically bounces and there's not as much of it to clean up. He gets the large chunks because he inhales the mini chunks and chokes it up from eating too fast. The large chunks he has to chew. Fortunately he really loves it too.

[Time4ANap]

Late to the party here, but we had the same issue. Rocket could only tolerate all of the richer foods for a month or two before having major issues. We tried them all over time.

 

The best we have found for him are Precise Foundation Chicken Meal and Rice, and Precise Senior. He just turned 8, and we were seeing occasional soft poops on Foundation after several years on it. The Senior blend seemed to do the trick.

 

For really sensitive tummies, their Lamb based Sensicare formula works well for some others that we know.

 

It can be hard to find a Precise dealer in some areas, so order it from Wag or Petflow depending who has the best price.

Edited December 23, 2013 by Time4ANap

[Remolacha]

I'll have to double check, but if you are out west, Sprouts carried Precise last time I looked. I may try that.

[Guest Bean_Scotch]

I have 7 dogs here and have fostered 150+ others...Authority Lamb and Rice from Petsmart has worked for every single one of them. 30.00 for 34lbs. It's awesome stuff!

[GreyhoundGirl]

I really like Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin and Stomach and the dogs did really well with it. Then Mason turned his nose up at it. I'm actually thinking about trying it again because I'm tired of paying Fromm's prices and the poop is terrible. But, since I'm not currently scooping poop it's not a problem I am, however, scared to go out and scoop

[Guest sirsmom]

One of ours is currently eating the Pro Plan lamb & rice and does really well on. I looked at the ingredients list and it does have beet pulp in it (most of the other formulations of the regular Pro Plan do not) and I think that may be a reason the poop is good. Some dogs do better with lower fat as well so maybe check out a large breed formula.