# Trying out some new foods!



## lilbabyvenus (Mar 3, 2010)

Well, there's a lot of people here, and I'm new, so I'll say again that I am currently feeding my fur-babies Wellness Core. I was feeding them Natures Variety Instinct (duck and turkey), but we moved so I can't get it anymore. I used to feed Core, so I went back to it since it's available *sorta* nearby lol. Well, with this first bag of Core, Venus has been getting red skin, and her skin gets very warm right after she eats it. This is how we found her corn allergy. It's not as serious as that, but it bothers me because I remember reading in a post on here that Wellness switched manufacturers and possibly altered their ingredients. 
So on to my happy part of the post... I went to a store the other night that my fiance found online for me, and boy do they have everything! The owner sent me home with two of the one pound Orijen bags (regional red and adult), and I grabbed some samples of Evo small bites (both chicken and red meat). I'm trying to hold off on dumping the samples on them right away, because I want to use the rest of the Core. Jack is having no weird effects to it, and Venus still loves it, so I've been feeding it anyway. But yesterday and today we tried out some of the Evo Red Meat small bites and they love it  
I know a lot of you who feed kibble on here seem to favor the Evo and Orijen over the other grainless high protein varieties, so if any of you have some helpful info, please share  I'm super excited to try all these out now :tongue:


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## Gia (May 29, 2009)

I've been feeding Evo red meat to my German Shepherd with great results! I'm actually really surprised that she doesn't get gas and runny poop from eating it, like she did the regular Innova red meat. She has gained a little weight, but I just need to adjust the amount I'm feeding her. The feeding calculator on the Natura website says she should be getting 3 1/3 cups per day, but I think that is too much for her. 

I have never bought Orijen, I can't get it locally. If I could find the Regional Red version (even online) I would buy a bag for her to try. I try to stay away from chicken kibbles, because I feed fresh, raw chicken fairly often.


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## lilbabyvenus (Mar 3, 2010)

I've been thinking about that. I'm still not at a place in life stable enough to feed raw fully. But if I bought a bag of chicken wings, could I give them one like every other day, apart from when I feed them kibble. Like, skip a kibble meal and just give them the chicken wing instead?


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## Ania's Mommy (Feb 8, 2009)

lilbabyvenus said:


> I've been thinking about that. I'm still not at a place in life stable enough to feed raw fully. But if I bought a bag of chicken wings, could I give them one like every other day, apart from when I feed them kibble. Like, skip a kibble meal and just give them the chicken wing instead?


That would be a great idea! The only thing I would caution you on is feeding the wings too close to the kibble. The kibble digests slower, and you don't want the wings to get stuck behind it in the digestive tract. 

Unfortunately, I'm not sure of the length of time it takes kibble to digest... Hopefully someone will chime in!

Richelle


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Kibble takes 12-24 hours to go from one end to the other, depending on the dog and the kibble. 

It would be okay, but not ideal to feed kibble one day and then raw the next. This can "confuse" your dog's digestive system and physiology by switching the type of digestion every other day. Digestive juices and enzymes change to suit what the dog eats. Some dogs do just fine this way, but others can't handle it. It will be harder to get your dog used to eating raw foods with switching back and forth as well, depending on how well your dog handles it...

I would try it out and see how it goes. You might want to feed raw one morning and not feed your dog again til the evening the next day ONLY if you don't see any vomiting or diarrhea. Repeat the next day, etc.


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

It's true that Evo and Orijen are my top favorite foods but I also really like the looks of TOTW, Core, and Horizon Legacy.


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## lilbabyvenus (Mar 3, 2010)

rannmiller said:


> It's true that Evo and Orijen are my top favorite foods but I also really like the looks of TOTW, Core, and Horizon Legacy.


We've been using Core, but now after not using them since they switched manufacturers, the first bag we've tried made my little girl all itchy and red again. So I don't think that's going to work for us. TOTW looked really good, but neither of our pups liked any of their varieties. I haven't tried Horizon, maybe I'll look into that too, thanks for your help!


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## PUNKem733 (Jun 12, 2009)

rannmiller said:


> It's true that Evo and Orijen are my top favorite foods but I also really like the looks of TOTW, Core, and Horizon Legacy.



Horizon before their formula change should be placed with Evo and Orijen.


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## SaltyDog (Mar 10, 2010)

You certainly can't go wrong with either. 

I feed Orijen Adult and Orijen 6 Fish. If for some reason I couldn't get Orijen anymore or for some reason the formula gets screwed up, I wouldn't hesitate a second to put them on Evo.


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

You've gotten some great recommendations on foods so I won't go on about that, but I jsut wanted to stress the importance of variety in a diet of ANY kind, so definately don't feel the need to pick just one. If you like a few foods, pick a couple and use them in rotation.


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## lilbabyvenus (Mar 3, 2010)

CorgiPaws said:


> You've gotten some great recommendations on foods so I won't go on about that, but I jsut wanted to stress the importance of variety in a diet of ANY kind, so definately don't feel the need to pick just one. If you like a few foods, pick a couple and use them in rotation.


Oh, thank you! I have never thought of that. I'll remember that after the samples are gone and keep the packets of the ones they really liked to rotate with.


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## lilbabyvenus (Mar 3, 2010)

Hmm, I'm thinking I might go ahead and at least buy a bag of the Regional Red. It seems like (from what I've seen online) that it's not too readily available. They have quite a few bags at the shop there, so I think I might just grab one so I have it in case they run out too...


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