# Thinking of switching dog food



## sar0207 (Oct 19, 2010)

I have a 2 yr. old Springer Spaniel. He has been eating Eukanuba the past 2 yrs...It is a rather expensive dog food. I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions on a dog food that would be good for a high energy dog and that is not to expensive. Any thoughts??


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

Taste of the Wild
Taste of the Wild : Home


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

agree with Uno.

I'm pretty convinced that for the money, Taste of the Wild stands pretty much alone. 

I believe there are better foods, but TOTW is a very nice food. 

There just not much else available in the grain free arena in that $1/lb. price range. I'm hearing rumblings of Costco carrying some nice grain free foods but can't comment as I've not been there in years.

one note...if you are ok w/ Eukanuba prices, you can get into a FAR better food for the same or maybe less. Most of us on this site will agree.... Euk is a downright pitiful food. Awful, especially for the price.


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## Guest (Oct 19, 2010)

sar0207 said:


> I have a 2 yr. old Springer Spaniel. He has been eating Eukanuba the past 2 yrs...It is a rather expensive dog food. I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions on a dog food that would be good for a high energy dog and that is not to expensive. Any thoughts??


How has your dog been doing on the Eukanuba for the past 2 years? What made you want to change? I'm just curious. There are several food options for you to explore. Here is a good web site for you to look over. Any brand of food with a 4 star rating or higher is very good food.

Dog Food Analysis - Reviews of kibble

What it really boils down to, is how convenient it is for you to get the food, whether the food is within your price range, and how your dog does on it.

I hope this helps.


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## sar0207 (Oct 19, 2010)

he has done really well on Eukanuba. But it is hard to find at stores. I have to drive an hr just to get this food and it is almost $50. So I am looking for something I can get closer to home and is reasonably priced...


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

If you have tractor supply, taste of the wild is around $43 for 30 lbs, and you can print $5 off coupon on their site:
Tractor Supply Company


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

Unosmom said:


> If you have tractor supply, taste of the wild is around $43 for 30 lbs, and you can print $5 off coupon on their site:
> Tractor Supply Company




yep, Tractor Supply is a nice resource for value. Plus, they put TOTW on sale every now and then. 

I guess I'm lucky...we actually have a Farm and Family store near us...its a small chain of farm stores out of Muskegon, MI... they sell TOTW regular price for $37.99. On sale for $32.99. 

I've always been leery of Diamond produced foods but I'm pretty impressed with TOTW. With their recent commitment to keep ethoxyquin out of their foods, I'm considering rotating it with my Acana/real chicken rotation. Plus, it is an incredibly cheap way to add some red meat to a chicken rotation w/ their Bison formula. Most of the grain free red meat options from other companies are 2x the cost.


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## buddy97 (Mar 29, 2010)

TOTW may not always be the value it appears at first. two of their formulas are onlt 24% protein, and all of their formulas are very low in calories. many of the other companies grain free formulas are 30% higher (or more) in calories per cup.

my experience with it is i had to feed much more of it than higher quality foods like acana, orijen, EVO, and several other grain free foods with a higher kcal count.

i think a high energy dog needs a food with high meat content, and at least two of the TOTW formulas, at 24% protein, are unlikely to provide it.

i just caution folks to take all factors into consideration and not to get blinded by the low price.


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

buddy97 said:


> TOTW may not always be the value it appears at first. two of their formulas are onlt 24% protein, and all of their formulas are very low in calories. many of the grain free formulas are 30% higher (or more) in calories per cup.
> 
> my experience with is is i had to feed much more of it than higher quality foods like acana, orijen, EVO, and several other grain free foods with a higher kcal count.
> 
> i think a high energy dog needs a food with high meat content, and at least two of the TOTW formulas, at 24% protein, are unlikely to provide it.



fair point, Derek. Most of my commentary on TOTW surrounds the Bison formula(yellow bags). Agreed. The other formulas are a bit suspect...my sense is that they fill up w/ "non-grains" like potatoes. A bit misleading but I don't think it constitutes a BAD food. 

I believe the Bison formula is somewhere around 35% protein. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

Their wetlands and high prarie formulas are the better of the 4 due to higher protein content, but I still think its fine to rotate between all varieties to alternate protein sources.


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## josh83 (Oct 24, 2010)

I personally would suggest Orijen. It may be pricey though but my dog has done very well on it and I won't dream of switching to anything else.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

For the original OP, you might try spending alittle more on a higher quality food like my
favorite, Acana and soon realize that you won't be going through the bag as quickly as you won't need to feed as much food. Higher quality grain free foods get utilized more fully by the dog and are not full of empty fillers that the dog just poops out, and the great part about this is the tiny poops!


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## John Rambo (Sep 27, 2010)

U can always go with a rotation such as Solid Gold/Chicken Soup. Solid Gold is pricey..but if you combo it with Chicken Soup, one can have amazing results with a fair price!


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## xxshaelxx (Mar 8, 2010)

whiteleo said:


> For the original OP, you might try spending alittle more on a higher quality food like my
> favorite, Acana and soon realize that you won't be going through the bag as quickly as you won't need to feed as much food. Higher quality grain free foods get utilized more fully by the dog and are not full of empty fillers that the dog just poops out, and the great part about this is the tiny poops!


This is exactly what I was going to say. Without all of the fillers, the dog needs to eat a lot less, therefore you have a bag for more time, and where you might have been buying 10 large bags of Eukanuba every year, now you might be buying 5 bags of a higher protein and better quality food for only a few dollars more. I know that even Orijen and Evo were only, like, $65 around in my area, last time I checked. So you'd only be spending, like, $33 for the amount you were on Eukanuba at $50 a bag. Make sense?


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