[jas84047]

Hi everyone…
I’m hoping to get a little advice/opinion on which is best. We have 3 dogs – 2 Jack Russells (ages 14 and 8) and a Lab/Golden Ret mix (age 7) – so all Sr dogs, all indoor spoiled babies. We had been feeding them Purina One for the last 5 years until I came upon this sight and realized what a fool I was. They are stinking little furkids…always farting. We had tried at one time the Kirkland brand that got 4 stars but the farting was the stinkiest and worst ever so we did not buy a second bag. I narrowed our choices down -due to budget – to:
-Whole Earth Farms Senior
-Healthwise
-Premium Edge Lamb/Rice/Veggie (no Sr because it got less stars)
-Diamond Naturals (I like this because it comes in the largest bag)
I bought the Whole earth farms for the last 2 months and the dogs like it but it hasn’t helped their gas problems. They do eat less of it, which is nice though. So I thought I’d go with my second choice – which was Premium Edge – and see what effect that has on them.

So- My question is: Which of these 2 (or even 4) are better? They all seem pretty comparable to me but any wise opinions would be helpful! Thanks!!

• This topic was modified 11 years, 2 months ago by jas84047.

[pugmomsandy]

The gas is from not being able to properly digest the new foods. This can happen with all foods – old and new. You can help their digestive tract by adding probiotics to their meals and digestive enzymes until they have healthier guts. I don’t like to feed just one food as this sets them up to have unhealthy guts since they are only exposed to certain ingredients and therefore only know how to digest those certain ingredients. Rotate through several foods to offer variety (4 and 4.5 and 5 star foods). And you can feed them an “all life stage” food. I personally prefer Whole Earth Farms Puppy (for all life stages) to feed the seniors as they require more quality protein. It only has 28% which is not high by any means. There is also Merrick Classic which is good for all life stages (even the senior recipe). For Premium Edge (made by Diamond so be aware) I would not chose the Senior or Lamb recipes. It’s (the Premium Edge review is coming up for an update and the Lamb formula will not be 4 stars). For Healthwise, mark off the Weight Control formula. For Diamond Naturals, I personally would mark off the Adult Lamb Meal and Rice and Senior 60+, Large Breed Adult Lamb Meal, and Lite Lamb Meal formulas. Diamond Naturals grain free and Nature’s Domain (at Costco) is OK at 3.5 stars. They’re more like 3.75! Just like any company can have a recall (like Diamond has had several), don’t become dependent on one food or brand in case you have to change and dog food companies can change and do change their recipes from time to time. Even my 14 yr old foster (and my other nine pugs) eats a variety of different kibbles, canned foods, dehydrated foods, and raw foods without being gassy. I fed them probiotics and enzymes at one time fairly regularly but now they don’t need them every day as they have healthy insides now. Sometimes I just pour a little multi-strain kefir (Lifeway) on their food for the probiotics and they get a powdered probiotic supplement a couple times a week.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 2 months ago by pugmomsandy.

[InkedMarie]

Are you willing to order food online? If yes, there are a couple foods that I think are better but you may not be able to find them locally. I really like dr Tim’s and I’ve heard good things about Victor. Also, have you looked at Fromm?

[jas84047]

Thank you Sandy and Marie for the quick responses and opinions. I’m very happy to get them. I decided to order some Probiotic chews for my gassy dogs and stick with the Sr Whole Earth Farms. I like the info on Whole Earth Farms Puppy protein but worry about my less active Sr dogs getting any fatter. Especially my Golden/lab mix that has thyroid cancer and cannot regulate it well anyway. I don’t know. I now think I will rotate in another feed in as well but mostly stay on the Whole Earth Farms. I already order online- due to the amount of food we go through (3 dogs/3 cats– speaking of cats, how come there’s not cat food advisor?) and I can find the better deals on the good foods online. I will await the re-review of Premium Edge before deciding on that one as a possibly add-on. Fromm, Merrick Classics and GF are a little out of my price point, Victor I have a hard time finding anywhere -including online, I think right now I’m leaning toward Healthwise chicken/oatmeal, Canidae chicken/rice, or Chicken Soup….
Sound about right? Now which of these last 3 would you go with to add into rotation?

Thanks again for all your help!

[InkedMarie]

What about Dr Tim’s?

[jas84047]

I didn’t see Dr Tims on the site I normally buy from (Wag.com) but found it on Petflow and a pretty good price. Is Dr Tims Pursuit or Kinesis better than any of the 3 I said above? Thanks for the tip. I’ll see what I can find. 🙂

[InkedMarie]

I personally won’t use any Diamond due to their recalls. Healthwise is a Natura Pet product, now owned by P & G so I won’t feed that. I’ve never been a Merrick fan, not even sure why and I know nothing about Premium Edge. I use dr Tim’s, it’s a great food at a good price. Small company and chances are, if you call, dr Tim himself will answer or return the call. He’s also accessible on fb.

[jas84047]

I didn’t know P&G was the one who made Healthwise— that makes my decision on that one as well…NO way! Thank you so much for the info. I’ll look into Dr Tims as well. Thank you everyone for all your help.

[pugmomsandy]

Chicken Soup is also a Diamond made food. Have you looked at Nutrisource? They have grain and grain free recipes at a reasonable price.

[jas84047]

We’ve tried Nutrisource and my lab with thyroid cancer had a reaction to it. The vet wasn’t sure if it was his meds or chemo but everytime he ate it he’d vomit. When we went to Whole Earth Farms it stopped. It was very strange…
Is Canidae also a Diamond food? What’s the story/issues with that one? What about Pro Pac?

• This reply was modified 11 years, 2 months ago by jas84047.
• This reply was modified 11 years, 2 months ago by jas84047.

[InkedMarie]

jas: love your avatar picture!

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