# Of these brands...



## Maxy24 (Mar 5, 2011)

Which would you consider the best in your opinion? Which would you consider the worst? or just rank/group them from best to worst if you can.

*Taste of the Wild*- 32% protein
Taste of the Wild : Products : Dogs : Dry Food : High Prairie Canine Formula
*Merrick Before Grain*- 32% protein
http://www.beforegrain.com/pdfs/BG-Dog-Dry.pdf
*Canidae ALS grain free (Pure elements)*- 34% protein
CANIDAE® Natural, Holistic Dog Food - CANIDAE Grain Free Pure Elements™
*EVO*- 42% protein
Meat-Based Pet Food – Premium Dog Food, Cat Food, Ferret Food, Dog Treats – EVO Pet Products
*Nutrisca*- 32% protein
http://nutrisca.dogswell.com/images/nutrition.jpg
*Earthborn holistic*- 38% protein
Primitive Natural : Earthborn Holistic Pet Food
*Acana*- 33% protein
Champion Petfoods | ACANA | Products - Puppy Small Breed

I am not 100% sure I can get Nutrisca or Acana, I know the store we go to sells Orijen though (which I cannot buy due to price) so it would make sense for them to haev Acana. 
I based whether or not we could afford it off of pet food direct prices, then compared the prices to what we feed now (TOTW) to see the difference, so they could be off since it's not actually the price we will be paying, but I assumed they'd compare somewhat accurately. It showed that Instinct, Orijen and Wellness Core were going to be way too much money. Canidae, Before Grain, and EVO came out as having the best prices, close to TOTW. Acana, Nutrisca, and Earthborn are in between.


So I would love to hear how you all think these brands compare (and the reasoning) so that if I do decide to switch I'll have an idea of what to look for and what to avoid. I'm especially interested in opinions of Canidae as that has the closest price to TOTW.


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

I feed my dogs raw but when I breed a litter I make sure they are switched to a grain free kibble in the cases where the new owners can't/won't feed raw. We have used all varieties of Taste of the Wild, Nature's Domain (Costco) and Nutrisca. My pups liked and did well on all of these. Nature's Domain is the leaast expensive but is only carried by Costco. Nutrisca and Taste of the Wild are similarly priced and were pretty comparable for my pups. I prefer raw but am content with these for those who cannot or won't feed raw. I knwo my pups will be healthy with these foods and I don't have to worry about grain allergies, etc. I hopw this helps a little.


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## xxshaelxx (Mar 8, 2010)

lol. I'm surprised that EVO is cheaper than Orijen, considering they're both pretty much the best of the best. But anyways, definitely EVO. Other than that, my opinion would be Merrick BG.


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## Maxy24 (Mar 5, 2011)

I was surprised with the EVO too, but as I said this is based off of pet food direct prices so might be different in the store. Do you think I should be concerned about formula changes with the EVO since they are now owned by P&G, or do you think they will stay the same?
Thank you both for the input!


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## 1605 (May 27, 2009)

Maxy24 said:


> I was surprised with the EVO too, but as I said this is based off of pet food direct prices so might be different in the store. Do you think I should be concerned about formula changes with the EVO since they are now owned by P&G, or do you think they will stay the same?
> Thank you both for the input!


opcorn: Uh-oh....

FWIW I feed EVO Turkey/Chicken to my GSP. AFAIK it's got the highest protein level of any dry food, which is one of the reasons we switched to it. And of course the fact that it's grainless.


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## tem_sat (Jun 20, 2010)

Just to make sure you are aware of the price for Acana, you can purchase it with free shipping at Pet Food Station.

If you enter the code, WELCOME, it will take $10.00 off the total, putting you under $50.00 by $1.01. You must spend at least $50.00, after any discounts, to get free shipping.

So, either buy one more item (if you are trying Acana Wild Prairie), or purchase the fish or lamb varieties of Acana.

I have never seen EVO priced less than Acana, or even remotely close. On Pet Food Station, EVO Red Meat is priced $21.00 more than Acana Wild Prairie.

-- Tara


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## Maxy24 (Mar 5, 2011)

If EVO is too expensive at the store then I won't consider it (I was only looking at the chicken and turkey as it was cheapest). But I wanted to go in with an idea of what foods to buy and what ones not to buy because I will most likely not be allowed to go, make up a list of reasonably priced foods, and THEN come ask for advice on what to get. This is because I don't drive and my parents will not want to be taking me back and forth. They might but I don't want to count on it.

We won't be buying on line though, we have two local stores we can get good foods at, we like supporting them and taking the dog there. I e-mailed the store asking what their price for Acana was and they wrote back saying the "prairie harvest" (which I can only assume is wild prairie) is $12.49 for 5 pounds. However they are out of it right now and are not sure when they will be getting more. I think that price is perfectly fine, maybe $2 more than we pay for the TOTW. I am just concerned that they might run out a lot, which would be a problem.

And I suppose I should just do a search on the P&G thing then huh....


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## tem_sat (Jun 20, 2010)

May I ask what size dog you have? Also, I personally wouldn't worry one bit regarding EVO / P&G, and would encourage you to possibly consider a rotation of Acana, EVO, etc. Feed whatever you feel is high quality and affordable and don't limit yourself to only one brand.


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## Maxy24 (Mar 5, 2011)

Tucker is 15 pounds. Thank you for the advice! Tuck seems to have a little bit of gastrointestinal issues on TOTW, which is why I am considering switching. It is nothing severe or urgent, just excess gas, really stinky poop, slightly dry skin. Nothing major. So for that I would want to stick to one brand for a while just to see if he improves on a food change.


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## _Trish (Jan 31, 2011)

Is Tucker an adult or a puppy? I have a low income, and have four dogs, and I've been able to afford to use premium foods.. because they are a higher quality food, you feed less of it. So although it may cost more per bag, it's going to last you longer than a low quality food that costs less per bag. I feed Acana, Orijen, and Taste of the Wild. I used to feed Evo, but only the Herring & Salmon formula, my dogs couldn't tolerate the red meat, or the chicken/turkey formula. I haven't bought Nutrisca yet, but plan on buying it sometime soon. It's not available at any stores near me, but I'm going to order it online. I don't care for Merrick or Canidae, just because my dogs didn't tolerate it very well. I feed all four formulas of Acana and TOTW, and feed the Orijen Regional Red formula. The large bag of Acana, TOTW, or Orijen lasts me 4-6 weeks depending on if they are eating only the dry food, or it last a little longer if I feed them home cooked or raw as a substitute for some of their kibble meals.. and I'm feeding 100 lbs. of dog. 

I've recently started feeding prey model raw -- it's been really easy, and cost effective. I just bought a bunch of chicken backs for 69 cents a pound, and bought chicken drumsticks and chicken thighs for 80 cents a pound, which is a LOT less than what I'm paying for a premium kibble, and it's healthier for them. Just something to think about! It's not as complicated or inconvenient as it sounds, either. Each day they get better and quicker at eating it, too.


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## Maxy24 (Mar 5, 2011)

Tucker is 9 months old...so somewhere in between puppy and adult. We should be feeding even less than we are, my mom got all offended when I said he was overweight (I'm strict about weight, he doesn't LOOK fat to average Joe but I can't feel those ribs nearly as well as I should be able to). She was feeding him a whole CUP of food, PLUS wet food mixed in. I wanted her to feed him a half, she would not do that. So he's getting 2/3 a cup plus wet food. I haven't been home since January (and he got neutered right before I left) so I'll see if he needs to be fed less still, I'm going home tomorrow for spring break. I suppose I will search the forum some more, see what sorts of results people have had with different brands.

I like raw, fed it to one of my cats for a while (other one would not touch it). But I switched him off before I left for college because I had to basically force liver into him every week (by being clever) and knew my parents wouldn't do that, which was fine by me. I don't really want them managing that anyways to be honest. So no raw for him. But it was cheap, super cheap, especially now that we are spending like $60-$70 a month on canned food for the two of them (no kibble for kitties!), plus dog food. I will likely feed my own dogs raw whenever I get out of college (if my parents don't give me Tucker, at the moment they would give him to me in a heart beat, they love him like their child but he's not the best match energy wise and they should have gotten an adult. He's perfect for me though).


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## GermanSheperdlover (Nov 15, 2009)

Maxy24 said:


> Which would you consider the best in your opinion? Which would you consider the worst? or just rank/group them from best to worst if you can.
> 
> *Taste of the Wild*- 32% protein
> Taste of the Wild : Products : Dogs : Dry Food : High Prairie Canine Formula
> ...


TOTW, is produced by Diamonds for TOTW. They (TOTW) over see the product manufacturing process pretty darn close. I feed the wetlands only, but I do like Prairie. A

Merrick before grain is a very high quality dog food made in Merricks own facility. You would not go wrong by feeding this, an A++ dog food.

Canidae pure, contains 3 different kinds of salt. Made by Diamond and Canidae does not have the personal over looking the manufacturing process as close as TOTW. I consider this a B+ dog food.

EVO, very sad that p & g took over. I have heard tons of bad things about Innova and California Natural, but not Evo. I would not feed this. B-

Nutrisca not to sure about this product and could be a little lighter on meat than the others. Nice to see them replace sodium selenite with the yeast. I have not be able to find who makes dogwells product. It's an easy A dog food.

Earthborn holistic Natural line, I could not find what the fish is preserved with, nor could I find where it is made and by who. Then again I didn't look very hard. Looks decent enough but I would have to have the answer to those questions before I feed it. No grade

Acana Grain free, ONLY ORIJEN IS BETTER. The new Ranchland formula is down right awesome, just to bad it well be so expensive. GREAT DOG FOOD. A+++++++++++++++


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## GermanSheperdlover (Nov 15, 2009)

It is a good idea to feed two different kinds of dog food. I feed TOTW in the AM and Orijen in the PM. I also rotate others in now and then. I feed TOTW because Tony down right loves it and the cost has begun to be an issue. It really seems that a lot of dog foods are rasing prices. If they haven't, they well have no choice with the price of fuel sky rocketing. They just did a special in my area about truckers and their over head including fuel, all I can say is WOW.


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## _Trish (Jan 31, 2011)

GermanSheperdlover said:


> They just did a special in my area about truckers and their over head including fuel, all I can say is WOW.


Shocking, isn't it? My husband was an over the road truck driver for years. He recently had to give up his rig and start turning wrenches (he's now a mechanic) because the rising fuel prices forced him to park his truck for good. It's sad. People don't realize how much America runs on trucks! If you bought it, a trucker brought it!


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

GermanSheperdlover said:


> TOTW, is produced by Diamonds for TOTW. They (TOTW) over see the product manufacturing process pretty darn close. I feed the wetlands only, but I do like Prairie. A


I do not believe this is true. 

Taste of the Wild IS a Diamond product...not merely made by Diamond for TOTW. 

Are you thinking of Canidae?


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## channeledbymodem (Dec 25, 2008)

GermanSheperdlover said:


> It is a good idea to feed two different kinds of dog food. I feed TOTW in the AM and Orijen in the PM. I also rotate others in now and then. I feed TOTW because Tony down right loves it and the cost has begun to be an issue. It really seems that a lot of dog foods are rasing prices. If they haven't, they well have no choice with the price of fuel sky rocketing. They just did a special in my area about truckers and their over head including fuel, all I can say is WOW.


I totally agree about rotating kibbles. I think it's the most effective way to avoid "food allergies" for many dogs and I think it keeps the dog looking forward to its meals. We just started feeding grain free for the morning meal and I rotate by the bag. We finished Canidae ALS and are now feeding Fromm Surf and Turf. I can't see that there are any dramatic changes in Benji's overall good health but his poops are small and firm and that pleases us 

I think you are one of the only posters I've ever heard feeding two different kibbles in one day. I wouldn't expect most dogs to have a problem with that but almost everyone talks about *gradually* mixing in a different food with the previous one. Good to know your dog does well mixing it up.


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## Savage Destiny (Mar 16, 2011)

Personally of what you listed, Acana is the way to go. Champion (who makes Acana/Orijen) really has their act together as far as quality goes. You pay for what you get in these foods, 100%. With Acana you're looking at fresh, not frozen meats. All meat is antibiotic and hormone free as well as free range, and the fish is wild caught. No ethoxyquin or other chemicals. Just a great food overall.


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