# STOP the presses!...actually saw a decent food at Target



## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

...you guys are going to laugh...I can't even recall the name :tongue:

Really, it was a 1/2way decent food at least with respect to the ingredient list. I believe the company was out of Florida...and was a brand I've never heard of. 

Price? Laughable. About $2.50/lbs for small bags. About 50 cents more than Orijen or EVO. :smile:


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## wags (Jan 31, 2009)

The TarJay' out by me sells all junk food! beneful~ purina (those types)just junk! Maybe yours got a shipment of some better foods! I know mine doesnt have anything descent!


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

Wags, I should have written the brand name down...I honestly can't recall the name. Oh yeah, everything else there is utter garbage...

but this food was actually decent. I was shocked. Like I said, I think it was some company out of Florida...I'm gonna go dig around the web and see what I come up with that rings a bell.


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## wags (Jan 31, 2009)

I live in Illinois and we have no descent food for dogs or cats whatever animal at TarJay'!!!!!!!!! You must have gotten a good shipment out in Florida!


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

Wags,

No, I live in Michigan. But if I recall correctly, when I was scanning the label, could have sworn I saw a company in Florida listed as the manufacturer.

All in all, just mentioned it for fun conversation. :smile:

...and shock value


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

kevin bradley said:


> Wags,
> 
> No, I live in Michigan. But if I recall correctly, when I was scanning the label, could have sworn I saw a company in Florida listed as the manufacturer.
> 
> ...


hey kevin brad i was just curious what made you hoose EVO over orijen? heyre both around the same price, but to meorijen looks a little better, im just curious what im missing here! is orijen not avaiable by ou area?


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

I've seen Newmans own and Drs Foster Smith brand sold, but not anymore.


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

that newman fellar makes evertything his own...pizza,dog food,greedy guy...


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Unosmom said:


> I've seen Newmans own and Drs Foster Smith brand sold, but not anymore.


I's been seeing Newman's own at wal mart lately.


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

RCTRIPLEFRESH5 said:


> that newman fellar makes evertything his own...pizza,dog food,greedy guy...


Hehe that Newman feller also passed away in 2008 and has given over $280 million to charities sooooo...


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## wags (Jan 31, 2009)

kevin bradley said:


> Wags,
> 
> No, I live in Michigan. But if I recall correctly, when I was scanning the label, could have sworn I saw a company in Florida listed as the manufacturer.
> 
> ...


Michigan is so nice! A friend of mine moved out there and could not talk enough about how much she liked it! She moved back here her hubbys job! I have vacationed in some areas there! Really like the areas there! Nice for us to just drive up and laze around! Love it out there!


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

RCTRIPLEFRESH5 said:


> hey kevin brad i was just curious what made you hoose EVO over orijen? heyre both around the same price, but to meorijen looks a little better, im just curious what im missing here! is orijen not avaiable by ou area?



RC, 

You guessed it...EVO is a bit more readily available to me. Luckily, I did stumble into a boutique store near me(Kalamazoo. I live in Battle Creek)...and picked up a bag of Orijen. With the current deal at petfooddirect, I did grab a bag of Acana to test it out also....along with another bag of EVO. As soon as I work my guys through the EVO, I'll go to Acana to see how they do. I've been "treating" them with a few bites of Orijen here and there and they absolutely love it. Harry(my Chow/Border C. mix) stuck his whole muzzle/head into the bag and I had to pull the bag away from him . 

But overall, honestly-in my opinion...flip a coin on Orijen/EVO/Acana/Innova...
Orijen certainly has the "sexier" ingredients IE-Walleye, Whitefish, deboned this and deboned that...not sure it matters alot. 

I'm far from the Scientific mind on food and many here can talk about the "Science" of why Orijen and EVO. My love of Champion and Innova is more about their honesty and forthright business practices. The day I see either of them farm out their manufacturing to Diamond is the day that will push me to real food for my dogs....

Knowing what I know based on what I've seen and read about Champion and Natura....It just burns my blood to see Taste of the Wild and a few other foods "share" the 6 star status and other ranking methods with one another. 

No way. No way. No way.


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

Wags, nice to hear the comments about Michigan. We don't see too many nice comments these days with the state of the economy up here. 

Lake Michigan sunsets, Premiere golf, beautiful seasons(well, 3 of them anyway....after I curse the 4-5 months of winter, I do love it here. 

...and Fall Saturdays in Ann Arbor at the "Big House." Nothing compares 

thanks for the comments.


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

Unosmom said:


> I've seen Newmans own and Drs Foster Smith brand sold, but not anymore.


Uno, they did have the Paul Newman stuff....and I'd say that food is certainly better than most grocery store stuff...

but this was another brand. I'll try to get there in the next few days...just to settle this. its driving me nuts. :wink:


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

kevin bradley said:


> RC,
> 
> You guessed it...EVO is a bit more readily available to me. Luckily, I did stumble into a boutique store near me(Kalamazoo. I live in Battle Creek)...and picked up a bag of Orijen. With the current deal at petfooddirect, I did grab a bag of Acana to test it out also....along with another bag of EVO. As soon as I work my guys through the EVO, I'll go to Acana to see how they do. I've been "treating" them with a few bites of Orijen here and there and they absolutely love it. Harry(my Chow/Border C. mix) stuck his whole muzzle/head into the bag and I had to pull the bag away from him .
> 
> ...


i am feeding my dog canidae and hes been doing great for years but i have decided to switch to a grain free diet as you all know,

i was thinking of switching him to canidae grain free to get him accustomed to a grain free diet with medium protein levels, as opposed to just switching to oorijen,but i really want to switch to orijen for some reason.

the orijen is 57 for a 29.7 ounce bag and the can grain free is 45.99 for a 30 pound bag, so quite a price difference.

would there be any issue just going straight from regular canidae with grains to a rich food like orijen? or should i go with the canidae grain free for a few months


also is 57 for the adult orijen a good price? they had 6 frsh fish for 66 which is HEFTY!


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

RC,

Wow, I'm very hesitant to tell ANYONE they should switch off a food that their dogs are doing great on...so you aren't going to get a black/white answer from me there. Canidae is certainly and undoubtedly a nice food on paper...the ingredients are great. I'm just not certain anyone could tell you scientfically that your Dogs will excel more on Orijen or Evo than Canidae. 
My dogs did horribly on Canidae...as you've probably read, I spent $400 on an emergency vet visit after my Beagle vomitted for 24 hours. My other 2 had diahrrea and a cow patty poop like I've never seen in my life. All of this was AFTER a week long slow introduction to the food. 

Like I said, for me, its more about my belief in Champion and Natura that leads me there every time. They seem uncompromised in ways that most other dog food companies are. Will they ever change? Who knows. I sure hope not. I Natura Rep told me once they never would compromise integrity for the dollar. I hope he's right. 

A couple FACTUAL notes I CAN tell you...petfooddirect has free shipping with the code freeship50 this weekend. You can get EVO regular Chicken/Turkey for $52/bag. You can get ACANA for $50 for their basic grain free formula(I think Chicken is the primary protein)....grab a few bags and you're set for awhile.

I've seen all sorts of formulas for how to introduce a Dog to new food. None of it seems SUPER scientific except. I'd say no more than 1/4 new food for a week. Maybe 1/2 new in the second week. 3/4 third week...and full by week 4. This is my new "cautious" formula after my Canidae trainwreck and is very likely far more conservative than most would tell you. 

Regarding your questions on Grain Free?...wow. We would start a huge debate there. Safe to say that trying your Dogs on a grain free diet is a nice strategy. Most get into trouble simply because they feed them grain free to MUCH and too QUICK. Slow and reduced qty's are important here. 

Example-I CANNOT give my 55 lb. dogs(2) anything more than 1.5 cups/day TOTAL on EVO or they will put on weight fast. 2/3 cup 2x per day is what they get and it holds their weight perfectly.


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

i think ill just go with canidae grain free for now, and switch to orijen if i see fit. the place i buy from in real life s cheaper than pet food direct by a good few dollars!
i have some 2 dollars off coupons for canida grain free, so maybe i will use those up and then buy orijen.

i actually am kinda weery about switching in general. we have bought 10 bags of canidae als,and need 12 bags for a free bag...but id rather just go with the switch rather than just getting a free bag.

maybe i can sell my canidae upcs for 20 dollars on ebay?


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## 3feathers (Oct 29, 2008)

RCTRIPLEFRESH5 said:


> also is 57 for the adult orijen a good price? they had 6 frsh fish for 66 which is HEFTY!


RC,
I think that is a good price for Orijen! Here Orijen sells for $63. And EVO for $54. And if your dogs are doing well on the Canidae that is great!! My poor pup did horrible when the did the ingredient change :frown: My 5 month pup's littermates have been on Canidae Grain Free ALS and all are doing well. Good luck!


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

kevin bradley said:


> RC,
> 
> Wow, I'm very hesitant to tell ANYONE they should switch off a food that their dogs are doing great on...so you aren't going to get a black/white answer from me there. Canidae is certainly and undoubtedly a nice food on paper...the ingredients are great. I'm just not certain anyone could tell you scientfically that your Dogs will excel more on Orijen or Evo than Canidae.
> My dogs did horribly on Canidae...as you've probably read, I spent $400 on an emergency vet visit after my Beagle vomitted for 24 hours. My other 2 had diahrrea and a cow patty poop like I've never seen in my life. All of this was AFTER a week long slow introduction to the food.
> ...





3feathers said:


> RC,
> I think that is a good price for Orijen! Here Orijen sells for $63. And EVO for $54. And if your dogs are doing well on the Canidae that is great!! My poor pup did horrible when the did the ingredient change :frown: My 5 month pup's littermates have been on Canidae Grain Free ALS and all are doing well. Good luck!


i'm sorry to hear about your pup. yes i think it was a bad and rude move on canidaes part to not give better notice on the formula change. i am lucky that it did not hurt my shane. i just got back from the feed store, and looked at some foods. it turns out innova evo is the same price as orijen at my store. that is very weird. the orijen fish formula is 10 dollars more though. i decided it would be best to just get the canidae grain free, since my dog did well on the ALS. also it would be the smoothest way to transition him into grain free.

my dog has never been a picky eater. i used to free feed him. i would put a full 3 quart bowl of food out every day and he would eat the proper amount and maintain a healthy weight. today i measured 2.5 cups of ALS, and put .75 or so cups of the grain free in there. within minutes all of the food was gone. dogs love meat ahhahahaah.

with a coupon i got the canidae grain free for 49.35 with tax for a 30 pound bag. its still on the expensive side for dog foods, but its cheaper than 61-62 dollars for orijen after tax. the coupon was for 2 dollars off, so it will be around 51 dollars on a regular basis. it kind of annoyed me they taxed the full priced product though =p.


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

RC,

Great luck with the Canidae Grain Free. All in all, certainly a solid food. 

I will say this in praise of Canidae...all correspondence with Canidae has been very positive. All emails I've sent them have been answered promptly and politely. 

But I can't deny it, I'm a Champion and Natura guy truth be told. 

thanks for the conversation RC.


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## ruckusluvr (Oct 28, 2009)

our walmart (very small town walmart!) has a food comparable to diamond naturals.

Maxximum nutrition is the name. it is actually a walmart brand.


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

thanks. in all honesty i feel the same. i sent champion an email and they neverf responded, but csanidae and wellness had sam[les sent to my house right away. chsampion didnt even respond to my messages.

its HARD to find a perfect kibble company/

i know of orijen having 2 serious issues.
the first is the salmon bone issues. there were large sharp bones in a few lots of their foods. this was correcgted i n a few weeks i think, but stilll..

the second issue is how austrailia forced champion to irradiate the food before they could sell it to aussies. champion decided not to tel lthe public about this. they knew the public would not buy the food!! as a result many pets died or got paralysed.

canidae has 2 issues as well..
changed formula with little notice
is manufactured by diamond.

but they were never recalled and none of their foods have actually had problems besides cold turkey switching their foods seem good to me!

heres some links on champions problems you might be interested in!

YouTube - Orijen Irradiated food Cat deaths illness this is hard to watch.

Orijen Concern - Golden Retrievers : Golden Retriever Dog Forums


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

I don't want to sound stupid but I guess I will - :smile: - What is irradiated food and how do you irradiate food? Is this the same thing as microwaving food? Why would food be irradiated?


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## wags (Jan 31, 2009)

Found a couple articles on irradiated food not knowing this myself! 

Australia Bans Cat, Dog Food Irradiation

Food irradiation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Isn't this though mostly about cat foods from what I am reading?


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

RawFedDogs said:


> I don't want to sound stupid but I guess I will - :smile: - What is irradiated food and how do you irradiate food? Is this the same thing as microwaving food? Why would food be irradiated?


hey im ''stuipider'' i thought the correct wording was radiating not irradiating but i guess they mean the same 

austrailian customs or something would no allow orijen to import the food into austrailian stores without irradiation. i hink its to kill trhe bacteria but i am guessing.


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

wags said:


> Found a couple articles on irradiated food not knowing this myself!
> 
> Australia Bans Cat, Dog Food Irradiation
> 
> ...


the title says cat, dog foiod so i assume its both.


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## PM82 (May 3, 2010)

Did the OP ever return to Target to get the name of the food? I'm curious as to what it was.


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## stajbs (Jun 5, 2010)

RFD, we have friends in Australia with BC's. They were trying to switch to Eagle Pack Holostic Selects back when Eagle Pack still owned them and she emailed me about how almost all foods shipped there were irradiated. I couldn't believe it. Till doing the research.


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

PM82 said:


> Did the OP ever return to Target to get the name of the food? I'm curious as to what it was.



PM, no I haven't returned to THAT Target. Its over in Kalamazoo(about 30 minutes from me) and I haven't been in the area in awhile. 

I swear to you guys, it was a decent food...at least in line with some of the Diamond stuff. 

I may be over there in the next few weeks, I'll try to swing in. 

One issue...it is one of the bigger Target stores that seems to carry more stuff....the Target in my town(Battle Creek) is smaller and carries the typical garbage foods we all know.


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## Shamrockmommy (Sep 10, 2009)

It's PetGuard Lifespan. I am a HUGE fan of it, my bichons do the best on it than any other dry food- even orijen. I had major tear and beard staining on orijen vs. none at all on petguard.
I do add raw meat and plenty of variety to it, to up the amount of protein.


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## wags (Jan 31, 2009)

Shamrockmommy said:


> It's PetGuard Lifespan. I am a HUGE fan of it, my bichons do the best on it than any other dry food- even orijen. I had major tear and beard staining on orijen vs. none at all on petguard.
> I do add raw meat and plenty of variety to it, to up the amount of protein.


Isn't this food really heavy on the grains~~ and it has corn in it. I dont think its too good of quality.:frown:


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## John Rambo (Sep 27, 2010)

Kevin..Michigan is beautiful..I was born and raised in Detroit and went to Western Michigan University...Ah the days of dominating Lafayette Street...gotta love it..good to hear of some Michigan people. Go MSU vs UofM this week!


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

wags said:


> Isn't this food really heavy on the grains~~ and it has corn in it. I dont think its too good of quality.:frown:


it has no corn...
this food looks pretty solid..
LifeSpan - Dry Food - Dog Products - PetGuard


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## PUNKem733 (Jun 12, 2009)

RCTRIPLEFRESH5 said:


> it has no corn...
> this food looks pretty solid..
> LifeSpan - Dry Food - Dog Products - PetGuard


It looks OK, but at 24% Protein that's too low for me.


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

John Rambo said:


> Kevin..Michigan is beautiful..I was born and raised in Detroit and went to Western Michigan University...Ah the days of dominating Lafayette Street...gotta love it..good to hear of some Michigan people. Go MSU vs UofM this week!



John, I GRADUATED FROM WMU in 1995! Small world. Lafayette?...is that down in the student ghetto? 

Indeed, nothing like a South Haven sunset. Our little secret here on the west side of the state 


sorry guys, I haven't had a chance to get back to that Target in awhile. It's on the far side of Kalamazoo(I live in Battle Creek).... there's nothing remotely close to this food I saw at the Battle Creek Target store. No clue why. The name someone mentioned sounds like it might be correct. I have never seen this brand anywhere else.


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## wags (Jan 31, 2009)

RCTRIPLEFRESH5 said:


> it has no corn...
> this food looks pretty solid..
> LifeSpan - Dry Food - Dog Products - PetGuard


INGREDIENTS: 
Fresh Chicken, Chicken Meal, Ground Whole Brown Rice, Ground Whole Yellow Corn, Oatmeal, Poultry Fat Preserved With Vitamins C and E (Natural Mixed Tocopherols), Whole Eggs, Dried Carrots, Dried Celery, Dried Sweet Potatoes, Sunflower Oil, Ester-C (Source of Vitamin C), Garlic Powder, Dried Kelp, Alfalfa Meal, Monosodium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Vitamin A Acetate, D-Alpha Tocopherol (Source of Vitamin E Supplement), D-Activated Plant Sterol (Source of Vitamin D2), Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement (Vitamin B2), Choline Chloride, Inositol, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Source of Vitamin B6), Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Calcium Amino Acid Chelate, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Folic Acid, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source of Vitamin K), Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Cobalt Amino Acid Chelate, Sodium Selenite. 


I thought it was this!


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## buddy97 (Mar 29, 2010)

kevin bradley said:


> John, I GRADUATED FROM WMU in 1995! Small world. Lafayette?...is that down in the student ghetto?
> 
> Indeed, nothing like a South Haven sunset. Our little secret here on the west side of the state
> 
> ...


WMU grad here as well--1988.

South Haven, Saugatuck...Lafayette St....ah, the memories.


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## John Rambo (Sep 27, 2010)

Finished school in 2001...Lafayette Street is West-Side ( If i remember correctly). Turn left at the 7-11 shop...I used to dominate at 1231 Lafayette. Ahh Munchie Mart, Dick's Den..Wayside..the good old times. Btw if I was independently wealthy I would retire in South Haven...very peaceful there.


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

John Rambo said:


> Finished school in 2001...Lafayette Street is West-Side ( If i remember correctly). Turn left at the 7-11 shop...I used to dominate at 1231 Lafayette. Ahh Munchie Mart, Dick's Den..Wayside..the good old times. Btw if I was independently wealthy I would retire in South Haven...very peaceful there.


funny you should say that...

I've been looking to find a summer cottage there. Nothing big...just looking for a fixer upper, maybe even a foreclosure. Unfortunately, not too many available. I call it Chicago North because those Windy City'er have driven up Real Estate prices there unbelievably. Can't touch anything on the water for under a million bucks. Even a couple blocks from the beach is 500k. 

You know what we call the Chicago folks that take over the city every summer? Well, I can't type it here 

Oh yeah, I know that 7-11 well. Wayside too. Got busted for moving a car once in the parking lot across the street. Yeah, about 10 of us picked up a car and moved it. College testosterone run rampant. Those were the days 

alright, so we digressed on this thread...


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## Shamrockmommy (Sep 10, 2009)

That ingredient panel is a few years old. It's been changed now for quite a while to this: 
INGREDIENTS: 
Fresh Chicken, Chicken Meal, Ground Whole Brown Rice, Oatmeal, Chicken Fat Preserved With Vitamins C and E (Natural Mixed Tocopherols), Whole Eggs, Dried Carrots, Dried Celery, Dried Sweet Potatoes, Sunflower Oil, Calcium Ascorbate (Source of Vitamin C), Garlic Powder, Dried Kelp, Alfalfa Meal, Monosodium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Taurine, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Vitamin A Acetate, D-Alpha Tocopherol (Source of Vitamin E Supplement), Ergocalciferol (Source of D2), Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement (Vitamin B2), Choline Chloride, Inositol, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Source of Vitamin B6), Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Calcium Amino Acid Chelate, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Folic Acid, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Cobalt Amino Acid Chelate, Sodium Selenite. 

GUARANTEED ANALYSIS: 
CRUDE PROTEIN.......................24.00% (Min.) 
CRUDE FAT...............................15.00% (Min.) 
CRUDE FIBER ...........................4.00% (Max.) 
ASH ..........................................7.00% (Max.) 


And my bichons do very very well on it. To up the protein, I add toppers of meat. I can't just set down a bowl of kibble, I feel like I must spoil the girls with something else. They have/are doing fantastic on this food.


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## wags (Jan 31, 2009)

ahhh thats where I am wrong its an old formula! Thanks for posting the new one! :smile:I still would like to see higher protien though! :frown:


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

PUNKem733 said:


> It looks OK, but at 24% Protein that's too low for me.


i agree its low on the protein side, but it looks similar t canidae ithink(grain inclusive)..ad hopefully if its at target, its cheap. thats the only reason to buy it, is if its cheap. I say it looks solid cause its kind of like a grain free kibble, except instead of potatoes uses some of the better grains. I like how it doesnt have potatoes until way down. Linsey seems to think potatoes arent any better than some grains, so thats why i said it might be in the same category as maybe totw? well prob not but its not too bad.


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## Shamrockmommy (Sep 10, 2009)

I've seen PetGuard called "grainy" when compared to other foods, it is about the same. My bichon girls do wonderfully on this food, wonderfully! So I always wonder why nobody seems to know about this food.

I discovered Target started carrying it around the time of the recalls. I called PetGuard, concerned that the food would cheapen in some way. They said Target was looking for a holistic food to fill the shelves because so many foods had been recalled and they wanted to offer a safe and healthful food.
The food will stay its same formulation.

WHen I open the bags, it smells like a roasted chicken. The girls also grow coat like crazy when they eat it.

Lowish protein or not, I think it is very good.


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## RegDunlop (Dec 22, 2009)

Newman was a good skater too.


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