# Most posts go on about the top brands of kibble....



## ChattyCathy (Nov 22, 2008)

but some dogs can't eat the top quality food... like mine, and I was wondering what people thought the brands would be on the next tier under the top quality dog food brands?

I tried different top quality dog food brands (Wellness Core and Innova Evo) and it gave both my dogs loose stool that's why I was wondering what you all thought about the next tier of dog foods. Thanks ahead for your replies. :biggrin:


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

Good point. There is not one size fits all dog foods. My baby eats Orijen puppy which I would consider top tier. But he isnt' terribly thrilled with the taste of it and would rather sneak Chelsy's cheap food. My old lady Chelsy has allergies and colitis and can't eat Orijen or a lot of the all meat foods. She eats Innova Senior Plus kibble that I just discovered and she actually does well on Natures Recipe Venison kibble which I hate to admit but she's eaten it for 12 years. My previous chow ate Eagle Pack Holistic Duck and Oatmeal and thrived on that. Solid Gold did okay for my dogs , and they all did well on Pinnacle. They also eat canned Chicken Soup ,California Natural, Wellness regular, Back to Basics (they love this stuff!) and Innova adult. 
I use the same kibble all the time now and just switch up canned food with my dogs to add variety for them. I would consider most of these good foods but not necessarily the 6 star ones. 
My dogs did not do well on Natural Balance, Timberwolf, Natures Variety, Merrick (I think those last two had way too many ingredients and they both itched terribly and one had diarrhea) and Innova puppy and Innova regular. The Innova make them both itch so I only use the Senior Plus on Chelsy because it's the only one with no salmon. I have tried Blue Buffalo on dogs in the past and they actually spit out the little "life bits" on the floor so I can't say how that food would work for you ! I only tried one small bag of that because I had a coupon and my dogs hated it. So those foods are not on my list of choices but they may work for you.


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## ChattyCathy (Nov 22, 2008)

chowder said:


> Good point. There is not one size fits all dog foods. My baby eats Orijen puppy which I would consider top tier. But he isnt' terribly thrilled with the taste of it and would rather sneak Chelsy's cheap food. My old lady Chelsy has allergies and colitis and can't eat Orijen or a lot of the all meat foods. She eats Innova Senior Plus kibble that I just discovered and she actually does well on Natures Recipe Venison kibble which I hate to admit but she's eaten it for 12 years. My previous chow ate Eagle Pack Holistic Duck and Oatmeal and thrived on that. Solid Gold did okay for my dogs , and they all did well on Pinnacle. They also eat canned Chicken Soup ,California Natural, Wellness regular, Back to Basics (they love this stuff!) and Innova adult.
> I use the same kibble all the time now and just switch up canned food with my dogs to add variety for them. I would consider most of these good foods but not necessarily the 6 star ones.
> My dogs did not do well on Natural Balance, Timberwolf, Natures Variety, Merrick (I think those last two had way too many ingredients and they both itched terribly and one had diarrhea) and Innova puppy and Innova regular. The Innova make them both itch so I only use the Senior Plus on Chelsy because it's the only one with no salmon. I have tried Blue Buffalo on dogs in the past and they actually spit out the little "life bits" on the floor so I can't say how that food would work for you ! I only tried one small bag of that because I had a coupon and my dogs hated it. So those foods are not on my list of choices but they may work for you.


Thanks, I appreciate the input. I'm going to have to do lots of research for this change. And, I will keep in mind what everyone says. I believe experience counts for alot as well!


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Some dogs can't handle all the top-quality foods. Some have way too much protien content for a less-active dog. I tried my Beagle out on Innova Evo and it was an absolute trainwreck, although it's an excellent food. He's an older dog, and not active at all... and the best he can handle is about the Canidae/ California Natural quality. 
Also, feeding incredible dog food gets incredibly expensive. I personally don't know how long I could afford to feed my other two dogs the food I do (Wellness and a locally made raw diet) if I did not get it wholesale from my place of employment. Personally, I think there's nothing wrong with feeding second best, or third best as long as you're not dipping down to the absolute junk that we all know about.


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## Doc (Jan 17, 2009)

Next tier

Natural balance
Chicken Soup
Costco's Kirland Signiture
Diamond's Naturals
AveoDerm

Not in any particular order


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

Also: 

Blue Buffalo
Wellness (regular, not Core)
Innova (regular, not Evo)
Solid Gold
By Nature
Timberwolf
Pinnacle


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## Guest (Apr 1, 2009)

ChattyCathy said:


> but some dogs can't eat the top quality food... like mine, and I was wondering what people thought the brands would be on the next tier under the top quality dog food brands?
> 
> I tried different top quality dog food brands (Wellness Core and Innova Evo) and it gave both my dogs loose stool that's why I was wondering what you all thought about the next tier of dog foods. Thanks ahead for your replies. :biggrin:


Cathy, My dogs also got loose stools from grain-free kibble. Natural Balance Ultra (blue bag) is great, and Healthwise is not only very reasonably priced but of good quality too. Healthwise is made by Natura, the same folks that make Innova, Evo, and Cali Natural.


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## ChattyCathy (Nov 22, 2008)

Thank you all for your replies. I decided to try Ultra Natural Balance and my dogs stool is back to normal again. They seem to like it well enough... we're on our second bag now. And, I definitely will keep in mind the suggestions you all gave to me! I'm telling you it's sooooo hard to know which brand of kibble works the best with our animals. 

One of the posts I read said that Dick Van Patton's Ultra Natural Balance is made by Diamond. Does anyone know if that's true? And, if so, should I be worried about it?


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

Diamond plants make several brands for other people including Chicken Soup, Kirkland, and Solid Gold. I'm sure there are many others but these were the ones I could find on a quick search. If you have any questions I would email the company. Most of them answer emails really quickly.


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## ChattyCathy (Nov 22, 2008)

chowder said:


> Diamond plants make several brands for other people including Chicken Soup, Kirkland, and Solid Gold. I'm sure there are many others but these were the ones I could find on a quick search. If you have any questions I would email the company. Most of them answer emails really quickly.


Thanks. I will.


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