[bigthree]

I have a 2 and a half year old chocolate lab how has lately been very picky about eating her dry food. I give her Nutro Natural chicken and rice recipe and lately the only way I can get her to eat it is to mix it in with the wet food and even that is difficult. Does anyone else use this brand and if so have they had any problems with it? I would like to change the dry that I use any suggestions would be very helpful.

[InkedMarie]

IMO, Nutro is a so-so food. How long has she been picky with her food? If it’s a recent thing, listen to your dog and stop feeding it. If you want to change the food, choose any 4 or 5 star food, ideally one with no recall history. Brands I like are Farmina, Nature’s Logic, Annamaet, Dr. Tim’s…..other people speak highly of Victor.

[bigthree]

Thanks for the quick reply. Can I ask which one do you feed your dog?

[bigthree]

Here’s another question I hope can be answered. Is there really a difference between Large breed formulas and Life Stages?

[bigthree]

Thanks InkedMarie for you advise. I went on the food list and found one that the pet store around the corner from me sells (Orijen) which got a five star rate. I looked for the ones that you mentioned but they didn’t carry them. She loved it so much that she went back to her bowl for seconds. Hopefully this is it.

[crazy4cats]

Bigthree-
Glad you found a food that works. Now I am going to attempt to answer your question about large breed food being different from all life stages food. There is no official AAFCO guidelines for large breed pups. Only for 1) adult/maintenance and 2) all life stages/puppy. So, when you see a food marketed for large breed, it is whatever the manufacturer of the food decides is best for large breeds. They tend to be a little lower in both protein and fat usually. You just have to read the guaranteed analysis to see if it fits your needs. Good luck with the Orijen. A lot of people think it is the cream of the crop!

[Pitlove]

I love Orijen personally. My dog has just finished two bags of it (the Regional Red and the Adult Dog) and now we are on a bag of EVO. My dog used to be quite picky as well, lately what I’ve done is wet food on the bottom of the bowl topped with the dry food and I change the dry food he eats every bag, whether it be a different protein or different brand. Gives him a variety and he has been eating great since I started doing that. Before when I was just feeding the same boring dry food all the time with no wet he would sniff the bowl and walk away. Now when I’m making his food he sits right next to me and stares at me waiting for his food and devours it when I put it down. Feeding canned food can be very expensive, and because I have a tight budget I try to go for the more budget friendly wet foods like Walmarts brand Pure Balance (5 star rated on here) and Tractor Supplies 4Health (rated 4 stars on here), Merricks Whole Earth Farms line which is about 1$ more than those so I don’t get as many and then he gets special treat wet foods like Wellness CORE, Nature’s Variety and Merrick Classic. But since those are more expensive I only do like 1 or 2 cans of each. It allows me to feed a higher quality dry food, which is where you really don’t want to skimp if possible. Canned food is far closer to a species appropriate diet for them and most holistic vets will say that they would rather see a dog eating the most dumpy terrible canned food than to see them eat dry kibble.

Glad Orijen is working for you! If she gets bored of that brand switch the brand! Just like a human being, a healthy dog can change his diet constantly with no digestive upset. You can add yogurt or kefir to the food as a probiotic and canned pumpkin for the fiber in case of diaherra. The healthy bacteria in the yogurt and kefir will help make your dogs stomach healthy enough to withstand the change in diet

[bigthree]

Thanks pitlove, Canned has never been a problem for me due to the fact I make my own. Most people are kind of sceptical about that but the recipes I got were from my vet.

[Pitlove]

as long as the wet food you make is complete and balanced (which it should be as you had the help from your vet in designing the food) there is nothing wrong at all with making your own dog food. in fact almost everyone on here will tell you thats great that you do that. its so much better to be able to know exactly what is going into your dogs food because YOU picked it out not a dog food company and YOU know where it came from and the quality of the product.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 7 months ago by Pitlove.

[bigthree]

It took a couple of trays, a few trips back and forth to the vet bit I finally got two that all three dogs can’t get enough of.

[InkedMarie]

Most of the regulars here order food online: Chewy.com is my favorite (great prices, the best return policy) also PetFlow.com, Wag.com

[bigthree]

So its been about a week since I changed Athena’s food, and so far so good. In fact she eats like she can’t get enough. I do think I will change the flavors periodically so she doesn’t get bored. By the way I went with Orejin.

[Pitlove]

Thanks for the update bigthree. thats great to hear! Orijen is an amazing food. My dog is a big fan and so am I. They have a few different formulas you can try. The Puppy, Adult and Senior are pretty much all very similar with chicken being the main protein source, however the Regional Red, Six Fish and Tundra have a lot more exotic proteins in them. I havent tried Champions other line Acana yet, however I plan to.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 7 months ago by Pitlove.

[bigthree]

OK, my little Athena has done it again. I love her to death but I’m at my wits end. I changed from Nutro Natural to Orijen which I thought was a big hit since she scarfed it down like there was no tomorrow. But now she has turned her nose up and I have to beg her to eat her food. I have taken the advise from a few and gotten a different brand and tried to change her to that (Fromm) but she literally looked at me and walked away. I figured it was because it had a different smell so I just kept with the Orijen. So I have a few questions. First is it really good to constantly change dog foods? An if that’s what I need to do is there a place were I can get samples instead of buying one she doesn’t like?

[Pitlove]

Are you still doing the homemade canned recipes you and you vet made? I mentioned before I had this problem with my dog. Now the only way he will eat is with the wet canned food on the bottom and I have to lightly sprinkle the dry on top so that the dry doesnt mix in with the wet (which i mentioned before) I tried everything else and this is what works for me personally. Consider that she has an issue with texture. I know I do as a human, hence why I wont eat applesauce.

I firmly believe that changing my dogs diet regularly has helped him greatly in becoming interested in food again. You wouldnt want to eat chicken and rice your whole life, well your dog doesnt either. Its boring and eventually they grow tired of it. It also makes for a sick gut.

[bigthree]

Yes I do still make my own canned dog food, and I have mixed her dry with it. Here’s the kicker last night when I fed her I notice that she was just eating the homemade food. What I mean is she was spitting the dry food out on the floor. My other two dogs a
St. Bernard and a yellow give me no problem when it comes to feeding time. There is one thing that I noticed with Athena the stinker the dry food is the more she likes it.

[bigthree]

Has anyone heard of Nulo?

[aquariangt]

Nulo is pretty cool. Available at some PetSmarts. The PetSmart line and the other line are similar. I’ve used the canned, would use the dry but just haven’t worked it into rotation yet, but they are a smallish company that manufactures themselves, so thumbs up there

[Pitlove]

Nulo looks good. Ive been interested in trying it but for some reason my PetSmart doesnt have it in store. At least I havent seen it, might have to look harder.

It doesnt surprise me that she is interested in more stinky food. Dogs sense of smell is their most powerful sense and they are driven by it. Something that smells AWFUL to us ( Beef Tripe for example) is like heaven to them.

[Author]

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