# Help choosing between four foods, please



## 2Labs1Yorkie (Oct 21, 2010)

Some of the foods that are highly recommended, I can't find in my area. These are four foods I can buy, but I have no idea which is best.

Wellness Core
Blue Wilderness
Taste of the Wild 
Before Grain by Merrick

I've read that Wellness and TOTW are made by Diamond, which some people seem to think is an issue. How much does that matter? And Merrick seems to have some some recalls as well... Also, for two lab mixes and one yorkie, is grain free the best option, or should I find a food with grain? Sorry for all the questions, this is all new to me. I've been feeding my dogs the food my old vet recommended (royal canin), and after some research, realized it's not that great. Thanks for any advice you might have!


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

my personal opinion is that Wellness Core is still an outstanding food and right up there w/ the best. I don't believe it is made in a Diamond facility...someone may want to confirm.


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## chocolatelabguy (Nov 17, 2009)

All four of these are good foods. The issue with Diamond used to be that they used fish and fish meal that was preserved with ethoxyquin, a potentially harmful chemical. They have since discontinued that practice, and are now ethoxquin free. I have had terrific success with TOTW and the price point seems favorable. My dog does great on it, and she absolutely loves it. Having said that, I think that you can't really go wrong with any of these choices. Maybe try a small bag of each and let your dogs do a taste test for you. Glad to see you moving up to a better quality food - both my dog and I am very happy we did!


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## Doc (Jan 17, 2009)

Wellness Core
Blue Wilderness
Taste of the Wild
Before Grain by Merrick

My order of preference:
Wellness Core
Before Grain 


I am withholding the other two based on recent concerns. I do not think Taste of the Wild should be fed to pups. JMO


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## buddy97 (Mar 29, 2010)

no doubt of those choices i would go with wellness core (assuming you labs are done growing....if they are still growing, orijen is the only grain free id feel safe with). core will cost the most out of those choices.


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

Wellness is not made by Diamond (Wellpet I think), its a good quality food, but pricy, BB wilderness is about same quality but at least $10 less and you can rotate between all 3 formulas. 

Taste of the Wild is made by Diamond, but so far I have not heard anything negative about the food, my sisters dog is on it now and does really well on it, its definitely a good choice if you're on a tighter budget. 

I'm not a fan of Merrick because even though their food is made to look like its made with various protein sources, its very deceiving because even their fish and buffalo formulas are primarily made of chicken (since fish and buffalo is not listed in meal form, with water removed it slides down the list).


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

I vote for rotation!
Though if you have to pick just one, I'd go with CORE. 

I don't like merrick BG against other grain free foods because of lack of variety. They all consist of more chicken meal than anything.


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## 2Labs1Yorkie (Oct 21, 2010)

I think I will try rotating foods, since they all seem to be okay (probably leaving out the merrick though)... I hadn't considered that. Thank you for the advice!


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## cprcheetah (Jul 14, 2010)

I would rotate everything but the Merrick, I've had great success with the Blue Wilderness & Wellness Core & TOTW when I fed kibble, I rotated. My pomeranian absolutely LOVED Core.


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## sassymaxmom (Dec 7, 2008)

I would try each kind. I chose BG for Artie because he is supposed to avoid grains and fish. Only EVO and BG have fish oil rather than fish meal and neither has flaxseed, something I am not crazy about feeding to my dogs. All those foods have chicken meal in them by the way. I completely agree that the name of the food ought to be Before Grain Chicken with Buffalo/Salmon/Chicken though.


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## rescuedoglover (Sep 26, 2010)

If your going to pick on BG because Chicken is in each of the formulas, then you better take a close look at BB Wilderness. It has chicken meal in all the varieties. In all honesty all foods have some "flaw" in the ingredients. From a budget perspective TOTW is probably the best value. Wetlands and High Prairie are the higher rated formulas in the line.


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## John Rambo (Sep 27, 2010)

Rotate TOTW or SOlid Gold with some Chicken Soup and save some money!!!


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## buddy97 (Mar 29, 2010)

as i stated in another thread, i think Canidae is a better bang for the buck than TOTW. more meat protein, much higher calorie count......feed less of it than TOTW thus making it a good value.


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