question for a friend -whole foods dry?

[sbonder]

As mentioned in the intro section, I don't get my pup for a few more weeks and will feed Orijen and Primal. A friend has been feeding his dog 365 Whole Foods Dry dog food and we cannot find any reviews of it on the various dog food sites. Any thoughts?

[SamWu1]

Do yourself and your future pup a favor and avoid that junk. Below is what your friend has been feeding his poor dog, because it's from Whole Foods, doesn't make it a quality product. To be perfectly candid, it's utter crap.

Chicken by-product meal, rice, corn meal, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and rosemary extract), corn gluten meal, ground wheat, beet pulp, natural flavors, flax seed, dried egg product, canola oil, brewers dried yeast, salt potassium chloride, taurine, l-lysine, rosemary extract, l-carnitine. Vitamins: choline chloride, vitamin E supplement, vitamin A supplement, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), vitamin D3 supplement, niacin, calcium pantothenate, thiamin mononitrate (vitamin B1), pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), riboflavin supplement, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement. Minerals: zinc, polysaccharide complex, iron, polysaccharide complex, manganese polysaccharide complex and polysaccharide complex, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, manganese sulfate, calcium, iodate, cobalt carbonate, sodium selenite.

[Serendipity]

Depends. If he's feeding the regular line, it's crap. The holistic line (with meat passed fit for human consumption, and no corn, wheat, soy, etc.) is an excellent choice if you're on a budget.

Oh, and I don't recommend getting any other brand at Whole Foods. I checked the prices there for Wellness, Castor & Pollux, etc., and the markups were almost 100%! I hurried out after getting my favorite locally made juju stars (off-topic, I know, but they're just great), and fled to Petco across the street.

[cprcheetah]

I believe most whole foods carry AvoDerm which would be MUCH better than that diet. I think they might have wellness too, I know the one by us carries Steves Real Food which is a premade raw diet.

[naturalfeddogs]

If it were me, and I had access to Orijen, I would go with that.

[RCTRIPLEFRESH5]

If it were me, and I had access to Orijen, I would go with that.

orijens 80 dollars..not all people are you.

[SamWu1]

orijens 80 dollars..not all people are you.

Quality costs money, my dog's health is priceless.

[RCTRIPLEFRESH5]

Quality costs money, my dog's health is priceless.

most dogs do fine on any food including alpo...and not everyone has 80 dollars to spend on food. just because someone feeds orijen, it doesnt make them better than someone who doesnt. my dad pays for shane's food, and we can afford orijen, but not everyone can..im unemployed so i can relate.

[PDXdogmom]

orijens 80 dollars..not all people are you.

Orijen is never an inexpensive food, but 80 dollars is very expensive. I just bought a 29.7 lb. bag of the Orijen Adult 80/20 (updated formula) yesterday for $57 dollars. Another store a mile away was selling it for $62 and a 3rd store was selling it for $68. Needless to say the first store will be getting my future business. I do realize that the fish and red meat formulas cost more.

I agree that the Whole Foods 365 isn't anything special. And as someone else posted, the Avoderm is a pretty decent kibble, reasonably priced, that works well for many dogs.

[stajbs]

Certainly understand finances can be an issue for any of us. That being said we have two senior sibes with recently developed health concerns. We are now exploring the pre-mixes, maybe that would be something to consider if it can be handled financially. Because we have been cooking for the past 8 weeks, I am hopeful our guys will manage to do well on Sojos Complete, that transition will begin in another week or two. I have spent a good bit of money on turkey, sweet potatoes, and now we've been able to add split peas, and our boy is digesting all of this well, and now that he is no longer on a premium kibble and he is getting about 60 % meet his poops are smaller too. Our girl is finishing the kibble and getting about 30% of the same cooked diet. The Sojos Complete formula we are looking at is the Sweet potato and Turkey, but there is a Sweet Potato and Beef also. I believe the 8 pound dehydrated is priced anywhere between $59.99-$77.99 but makes about 40+ pounds of food. These two formulas are freeze dried raw meet and dehydrated. I've managed to talk our vet into letting us give this a try. We were paying about $50.00 for 30 pounds of kibble and $30 for a topper of canned Merrick Before Grain per month so I think the price is fairly comparable. As senior dogs we have both been probably stupidly scared about raw. This will be our first venture into anything other than kibble, cooked and canned but we are hopeful to see that the dogs do well. If they adapt to this food and do well, it's likely we will add some other raw meets to this mix eventually.

Main thing I feel is to feed the best quality you can afford for your furry family members. I have spent a load of money on ground turkey from a local butcher these past 8 weeks because our dog is going through it fast. Who knows what adjustments lie ahead in the future as they continue to age, but we always try to do what we feel is best, and that we can afford and feel comfortable. The proof will be in how well the dogs do and how they look after a few weeks. Just my two cents as it relates to our circumstances. However I have become an even more firm believer in home cooking or dehydrated because the food is so much less processed, therefore the dog gets more nutrients from their food.