# Help Choosing a Food, Please



## 2Labs1Yorkie (Oct 21, 2010)

I've been researching dog foods for the past few days, and could use a little help. My dogs have been on Wellness Super5 Mix for the past couple years, but I'd like to make a change. I have 3 dogs, two large lab mixes, and one yorkie. If possible, I would like to find a food that would work for all 3 of them. I would like a dog food that is:

1. Not made in China, and no ingredients from China
2. Has not had recalls 
3. Less than $60 for a 30 lb bag
4. Preferably grain free (but does not have to be, if the food is considered good)
5. From a trustworthy company

So far, the list I've come up with that meets the above criteria (as far as I know) is:

1. Fromm Adult Gold
2. Merrick Grain Free
3. Dr. Tim's Grain Free Kinesis
4. Go Daily Defence
5. Nutri Source Grain Free
6. Annamaet Encore
7. Earthborn Holistic Grain Free


If any of the foods above do not meet the criteria I'm looking for, please let me know. If I could find a few great options, I would rotate them. I would really appreciate any knowledge you would like to share. Thanks in advance for the help!


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## Shamrockmommy (Sep 10, 2009)

I love Fromm here, overall! Although I use the grain free ones, which are a few more buck for the big bag.


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## apriliamille (Aug 28, 2013)

have used earthborn meadowfeast, dr tims kinesis als and dr tims pursuit. no complaints from me or the dogs but the lamb in the meadowfeast does seem to make the doberman a little more gassy
i hear annamaet is from that same plant that dr tim is from so i assume that one is a good one as well


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## Georgiapeach (Jan 24, 2011)

Check out Victor grain free - made in TX. Also check out Hi-Tek Naturals - made in GA. They haven't been recalled that I know of, and they both have good, relatively inexpensive grain free formulas. I'm currently feeding one of my dogs the Victor Salmon, and he's doing well on it. Kibble size is pretty small. I have also fed him Hi-Tek Naturals with good results. My other dog is allergic to too many things to feed these foods, but for most dogs, they should work well.

Victor Dog Food Online

Hi-Tek Rations: Hi-Tek Naturals Grain Free Dog Food


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## domika (Jul 15, 2012)

3 of your options are not grain free, however, they are all still good foods. From that list, I would feed the Annamaet (I'm currently feeding Annamaet Option) and Fromm Gold first. I have not personally tried the Fromm Gold, but I have always had it near the top of my list of foods to try. My dog did not do well on the Fromm Grain Frees, which is the only reason I'm hesistant to try it, but some day I will get around to switching him. I have to buy small bags because the 4-8lb'ers last us 2 months!


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## ringohop (Oct 12, 2013)

Why are you switching from wellness super5mix? I was just thinking of maybe trying that for my puppy. Is there something I should know and steer clear from it?


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## 2Labs1Yorkie (Oct 21, 2010)

I recently found out that WellPet uses vitamins from China. And had a recall from 2012 after sourcing some food to Diamond. And also recalled some cat food more recently due to issues with vitamins. I just figured that are so many other brands out there in the same price range, there had to be a better option.


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## InkedMarie (Sep 9, 2011)

I'd go with dr Tim's, Annamaet & NutriSource. Start with one, transition over a week. Try another one next, then another.


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## doggiedad (Jan 23, 2011)

i switch my dog's kibble often. i use several different brands of can food. i don't do the gradual
switch. currently i have 2 bags open. I have a bag of Verus and a bag of Orijen open. last night
he had Verus and this morning he had Orijen topped with canned pheasant by Wild Calling. 

take a look at Verus. there's lots of good food available.


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## LeonilCraig (Oct 7, 2013)

Corn, cornmeal, wheat, and soy. Dogs have a difficult time digesting these products and may even obtain allergies from them. Animal-by-products could possibly include heads, feet, and other animal components, which you should also stay away from.


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## NutroGeoff (May 15, 2013)

My lab eats the Natural Choice line. The one he is eating is not grain free but there are some grain free formulas in the Natural Choice line. At the facilities where all the Nutro foods are made, over 600 quality checks are done each day to ensure the quality of the food and prevent issues with recalls or anything like that.


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## 1605 (May 27, 2009)

LeonilCraig said:


> Corn, cornmeal, wheat, and soy. Dogs have a difficult time digesting these products and may even obtain allergies from them. Animal-by-products could possibly include heads, feet, and other animal components, which you should also stay away from.


While I personally prefer not to feed foods that have grains, not every dog is automatically "allergic" to these ingredients. 

Meanwhile, there is nothing wrong with "animal-by-products [like] heads, feet and other animal components". Many people eat these parts of an animal... there is nothing wrong with dogs eating them too.

There are many criteria for picking a "good food" for your dog, including protein source & carb sources, price, etc.


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## NutroGeoff (May 15, 2013)

SubMariner said:


> While I personally prefer not to feed foods that have grains, not every dog is automatically "allergic" to these ingredients.


I would agree. I tend to recommend people to avoid the corn products, however I know that some dogs will do fine on it. It is one of the first things I do recommend to eliminate if there is an allergy issue and that does seem to help a lot of the time. But not every dog is allergic to it. Nor is every dog allergic to all grains.


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## FarminaND (May 23, 2013)

NutroGeoff said:


> I would agree. I tend to recommend people to avoid the corn products, however I know that some dogs will do fine on it. It is one of the first things I do recommend to eliminate if there is an allergy issue and that does seem to help a lot of the time. But not every dog is allergic to it. Nor is every dog allergic to all grains.



We don't use corn in any of the Natural & Delicious foods that have grain. We use organic oats and organic spelt.

However, corn is among the items in dog food that is least likely to cause a reaction in predisposed dogs even though it is much more likely for a predisposed dog to have a reaction to corn than either spelt or oats.

The numbers are so small when it comes to grain allergies you have to add them up to come up with statistically significant levels. Other than wheat, the most common grains like rice, oats, corn and barley add up to about 5%.

To put it another way, in the broad population of dogs, perhaps only 1 in 10,000 has a real allergy to corn and perhaps 15 in 10,000 to wheat.

The chance it is a common animal protein is 50 times higher.

If you do have a pet with a real, immune related allergy it is best to honestly address the problem rather than demonize an ingredient.


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

Although, most corn nowadays is GMO, right?


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## Candyd (Apr 11, 2013)

A study of 278 dogs who have food allergies includes 42 dogs allergic to wheat. The risk is far from 50 times lower than allergies to meat. 
Could it be possible to know where your statistics come from, please ?
By the way, allergies to spelt are as common as wheat allergies, because spelt *is* wheat and has the same toxicity in celiac disease (just like all ancient wheat strains including kamut and einkorn).


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## leaveittoweaver (Nov 15, 2013)

2Labs1Yorkie said:


> I've been researching dog foods for the past few days, and could use a little help. My dogs have been on Wellness Super5 Mix for the past couple years, but I'd like to make a change. I have 3 dogs, two large lab mixes, and one yorkie. If possible, I would like to find a food that would work for all 3 of them. I would like a dog food that is:
> 
> 1. Not made in China, and no ingredients from China
> 2. Has not had recalls
> ...


I would go with Fromm, hands down. I don't know much about Annamaet or Dr Tim's although I've heard awesome things, just not a product I've dealt with. Nutrisource is decent food and I know their vitamins are not sourced from China. Merrick is a good company but I wish they would have stayed in local stores instead of going into big box stores. However Merrick did have a recall I remember, but it was for treats not food I believe.

Earthborn is also a good food, but I'm not sure that their completely USA made and sourced. I know their tubs and cans are not. 

I love Fromm. Good quality fresh ingredients, never had a recall, small family owned company, the food is a decent price, they support local business, and they have a lot of options in their lines. They also have fantastic customer service. Also, check with your local retailer if you have one, Fromm has a frequent buyer program that some local retailers carry. It's a buy 12 get 1 free program, you have to save your UPCS and write down dates of purchase. Earthborn and Nutrisource also have frequent buyer programs that I know of.


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## leaveittoweaver (Nov 15, 2013)

2Labs1Yorkie said:


> I recently found out that WellPet uses vitamins from China. And had a recall from 2012 after sourcing some food to Diamond. And also recalled some cat food more recently due to issues with vitamins. I just figured that are so many other brands out there in the same price range, there had to be a better option.


All the above is very true but I just wanted to mention that even though Wellpet uses vitamins from China, I will say that they have their own "agent" in China and they only allow the vitamins to come from certain places...they are VERY strict about where the vitamins come from and the quality. I have never received a good answer as to why they continue though to source from China when many other companies do not. I assume it's because it's cheaper. However Wellness did recently go GMO free, wouldn't be suprised if we see price increases from that, but I think it's awesome that they did that as more people are looking for GMO free now. They took the Canola oil out of the food because gmo free canola oil is really expensive and hard to find, but they did keep it in the Simple Solutions formula, and it is GMO free in that formula.


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## NutroGeoff (May 15, 2013)

FarminaND said:


> We don't use corn in any of the Natural & Delicious foods that have grain. We use organic oats and organic spelt.
> 
> However, corn is among the items in dog food that is least likely to cause a reaction in predisposed dogs even though it is much more likely for a predisposed dog to have a reaction to corn than either spelt or oats.
> 
> ...


I would agree that the meat is very often an allergy issue. Most of the time, when people are coming in with dogs with allergy issues that have not done allergy tests, I will recommend switching to a food with a different meat, no corn, and no wheat. However, I have found that most of the people that do actually do the allergy testing say corn as the first thing that they want to avoid. That's just my personal experience.


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