# Petcurean Formulas - Go vs NOW



## Jacksons Mom (Jun 13, 2010)

During the recent search for 'the' food, lol, I've found Jackson seems to do best on Petcurean foods as well as finding it the most palatable (but he also does great on Acana, he ate it for over 2yrs but we stopped when price increased, and bags got smaller, and they added more lentils to GF's, etc). But we've done a few sample bags of new formulas with no obvious problems. Also, Elmira Pet Products where NOW and Go is made seems like a great plant - anyone have further info?

Anyway, can anyone good at ingredient and label reading explain to me why they'd pick one over the other of these formulas (or your opinions on their other formulas as well)?:

This is the *Now Adult GF* which he is almost finished a 6lb bag of:

De-boned turkey, potato flour, peas, apples, whole dried egg, pea fibre, tomato, potatoes, flaxseed, canola oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols), natural flavour, salmon, de-boned duck, sundried alfalfa, coconut oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols), carrots, pumpkin, bananas, blueberries, cranberries, raspberries, blackberries, papayas, pineapple, grapefruit, lentil beans, broccoli, spinach, cottage cheese, alfalfa sprouts, dried kelp, calcium carbonate, dicalcium phosphate, lecithin, sodium chloride, potassium chloride, vitamins (vitamin E supplement, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (a source of vitamin C), niacin, inositol, vitamin A supplement, thiamine mononitrate, d-calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, beta-carotene, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement), minerals (zinc proteinate , ferrous sulphate, zinc oxide, iron proteinate, copper sulphate, copper proteinate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, calcium iodate, selenium yeast), taurine, DL-methionine, L-lysine, dried chicory root, dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product, dried Aspergillus niger fermentation product, dried Aspergillus oryzae fermentation product, yeast extract, yucca schidigera extract, marigold, L-carnitine, dried rosemary.

Crude protein (min) 26%
Crude fat (min) 16%
Crude fibre (max) 3.5%
Moisture (max) 10%
Calcium (min) 1.1%
Phosphorus (min) 0.7%
*Omega 6 (min) 2.5%
*Omega 3 (min) 0.5%

Calorie Content: ME (Calculated) = 3598 kcal/kg or 378 kcal/cup

Here's the *GO! GF Senior*. And he had a sample bag of this one and loved it, poops were great, I know it's a senior food and he's only 4 1/2 but I liked the protein/fat/fiber ratios:
Chicken meal, turkey meal, salmon meal, de-boned chicken, de-boned turkey, de-boned trout, potatoes, peas, tapioca, lentil beans, chickpeas, pea fibre, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), natural chicken flavour, whole dried egg, apples, duck meal, herring meal, flaxseed, salmon oil, alfalfa, de-boned duck, de-boned salmon, sweet potatoes, canola oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols), coconut oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols), potassium chloride, pumpkin, carrots, bananas, blueberries, cranberries, broccoli, spinach, alfalfa sprouts, blackberries, squash, papayas, pomegranate, glucosamine hydrochloride, dried chicory root, dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product, dried Aspergillus niger fermentation product, dried Aspergillus oryzae fermentation product, L-carnitine, vitamins (vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, inositol, niacin, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (a source of vitamin C), d-calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, beta-carotene, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement), minerals (zinc proteinate , iron proteinate, copper proteinate, zinc oxide, manganese proteinate, copper sulphate, ferrous sulphate, calcium iodate, manganous oxide, selenium yeast), sodium chloride, taurine, New Zealand green mussels, yucca schidigera extract, chondroitin sulphate, dried rosemary, green tea extract, peppermint, parsley, rosehips, zedoary, dandelion, chamomile, ginger, fennel, tumeric, juniper berries, licorice, marigold extract, cardamom, cloves.

Crude protein (min) 32%
Crude fat (min) 14%
Crude fibre (max) 4.5%
Moisture (max) 10%
Phosphorus (min) 1.2%
*Glucosamine 380mg/kg
*Chondroitin Sulphate 140mg/kg
*L-Carnitine 190mg/kg
*Taurine 1600mg/kg
*Omega 6 (min) 1.8%
*Omega 3 (min) 0.33%

Calorie Content: ME = 3756 kcal/kg or 394 kcal/cup


He ate Fromm for about 6 months, wasn't happy with his stool ever 100% and he got a bit chubbier IMO and his body condition just wasn't as nice. After over a month on Now (and a few samples sizes of other kibbles in between), I can tell a difference already! He's just.... looking better. So that's kind of why I wanna continue the NOW Fresh.

The Go! looks a bit more complicated.

Opinions?


----------



## meggels (May 30, 2010)

I hear a lot of good reviews of Now. If he's doing well on Now, why not just stick with it??? I know you want to find the "perfect" food but at some point you have to stop this search lol


----------



## Georgiapeach (Jan 24, 2011)

You have found two foods that your dog does well on, so rotate them if you want. You're spending way too much time stressing over this, IMO (says the one who does the same thing...).


----------



## Jacksons Mom (Jun 13, 2010)

Lol, oh I know. It's not even necessarily that I'm looking for the "perfect" food, just want a decent brand, a food he likes and does well on. I will probably stick with the Now but was just wondering if there anything "alarming" about it that I didn't know about or whatever. I mean, I found out things about Champion that just shocked me and annoyed me, and it sucks since he did so well on their food for so long. I suppose I could stick within the same company and rotate between the two also.  just looking for opinions!


----------



## Jacksons Mom (Jun 13, 2010)

Georgiapeach said:


> You have found two foods that your dog does well on, so rotate them if you want. You're spending way too much time stressing over this, IMO (says the one who does the same thing...).


Lol no you're absolutely right!


----------



## kathylcsw (Jul 31, 2011)

It looks like you get more meat based protein from the Go. The Now looks to have more pea and potato based protein.


----------



## PDXdogmom (Jun 30, 2010)

If your dog does well on both of them, I'd definitely feed the Go formula with several types of meat meals as well as fresh meat. 

The only meat in the first 11 ingredients in the NOW formula is a "fresh" (actually a slurry) meat which contains about 70% moisture. Once cooked down, it won't be very much meat protein at all compared to the combined flour, peas and eggs. I fed NOW to both my dogs for awhile close to a year and a half ago. After several months I thought their coats were only so-so and their muscle tone not as good.


----------



## riddick4811 (Nov 2, 2011)

All my dogs do awesome on NOW. Never tried Go. But their formulas look good. 

Pongo eats NOW Senior most of the time, I feed other foods occasionally when I get good deals, but if I am paying full price, I get NOW. Right now he is eating Ideal Balance by SD. Never before fed any of their products, but got a sample 4lb bag with my Petflow order for $4 so I figured it couldn't hurt to try. Surprisingly Pongo is doing really well on it too. His heart is getting worse and we are working to get the right balance of diuretics, but some days he didn't want to eat and his stomach has been pretty sensitive since starting all these meds. NOW and Ideal Balance are both working really well for him. Neither upset his stomach, he likes both and poop is firm, coat is soft/shiny/glossy. I also got a bag of Merrick GF beef with the trial bags and he couldn't eat it Made him vomit with one meal. Been eating Ideal Balance for 3 weeks now and he goes in 2 weeks for his bloodwork so we'll see how he is doing. They are worried about messing up his kidneys with the higher dosages of Lasix. But his he has so much fluid in the xrays and his heart was so enlarged it was pushing his windpipe into his spine Doing much better taking an extra pill a day based on the way he is acting.


----------



## spliff (May 13, 2013)

I've actually been really curious to try Petcurean foods. It seems that Now is the preference but it only has a few named meats and they aren't meals... makes me question how much meat is in the food..?


----------



## flashyfawn (Mar 8, 2012)

I have been wondering the same thing about the Now vs. Go. But my dog is doing great on the Now senior, so until she tells me otherwise, that's what she's eating. I just can't make myself switch to something that looks better on paper when in reality I see the Now working very well. I do add meat to her meals several times a week. Her coat looks great and her body condition is better than it was on the last food she ate. Plus, she absolutely loves it. She's never been a picky eater but she especially loves this food.


----------



## NewfieAussie (Feb 19, 2013)

As I recall, DaViking once wrote that NOW has no rendered meat products. That is one thing that distinguishes it from GO.


----------



## PDXdogmom (Jun 30, 2010)

NewfieAussie said:


> As I recall, DaViking once wrote that NOW has no rendered meat products. That is one thing that distinguishes it from GO.


NOW has no rendered meat products simply because it has no "meals". They use only "fresh" meat - which in actuality is what's left on a carcass once all human edible parts have been extracted. There is no guarantee that the #1 ingredient of "chicken" is still #1 by weight after the cooking process. It would be extremely unlikely I would think.


----------

