# Not worth the hype?



## SpooOwner (Oct 1, 2010)

Have you tried a high quality, well-respected kibble and found that it didn't meet your expectations?


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## Guest (Nov 13, 2010)

Simply put -- yes, all the time. Took a lot of trial and error to discover what really works for my dogs and thus meets my expectations.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Not yet, the only one I've tried and will reuse for new fosters or rescues is Acana.


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## ruckusluvr (Oct 28, 2009)

i honestly have yet to find a high quality kibble that i got better results with than just feeding 4health, diamond naturals, or kirklands. 
but i still feed better quality although i dont see much difference.


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## sassymaxmom (Dec 7, 2008)

I saw improvements moving to Canidae/Natural Balance/Wellness/Pinnacle from Science Diet/IAMS but not much between the higher end kibbles. I didn't see any change in Max on EVO over Canidae/Natural Balance/Wellness/Pinnacle from Science Diet/IAMS either but he only ate it for 3-5 months. When the dogs started eating fresh foods I did see big changes in condition though.


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## Khan (Jan 17, 2010)

Yes. 6 different "high end" kibbles to be exact! 
All met "My" expectations...On Paper! None however met the "Dogs" 
Just goes to show you how different we all are. I think we all are so focused on what the "Paper" states, that sometimes we forget to look at the results. We know we are doing the right thing by giving the high end food, so we tend to overlook if the results aren't "right"
I say this only because that was me. When Khan was going through all his kibble troubles, he had the entire spectrum; really awful results thru better than before results. Ultimately however I had to realize that he still was "Not Right" Could he have "gotten by" with that, probably. Again because "on Paper" the food was high quality. If we don't look at the animal as a "whole" and just look at the "food in" piece of the puzzle I think we are selling the animal short. We can all debate on what's a good kibble, who's got the best "list" of ingredients etc. but if the results in the dog don't reflect that "list" it doesn't really matter.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Khan- I just wanted to let you know your new avatar pic is awesome. Khan is such a handsome boy!!!! You should post more picture of him :wink:


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## cast71 (Sep 16, 2010)

I can't really say on my own experience, because my dog had alot of health issues. Than I stopped all vaccinations, heartworm, flea and tick and put him on raw for 1.5 years. He became 100% and I switched him to TOTW. From his appearance, he's doing as good as when he was on raw. Who knows internally 

My sisters lab was night and day. He looked great on innova, but it was too rich for him. Anal gland problems. Then we switched him to california natural and that issue cleared up within a few days. His glossy black coat became dull. I recently convinced her to try TOTW. She called me up and couldn't believe the difference in just a few days. Glossy coat is back:smile: I'm sure every dog is different, but this is one case where we saw instant results.


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## SamWu1 (Oct 15, 2010)

I saw little to no differences between kibbles, NB, EVO, Orijen, Blue, etc. Raw washen I saw significant differences. I'm sure if it was SD, Purina, IAMS, Eukanuba, etc. compared to a good product, the results would be more apparent.


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## SaltyDog (Mar 10, 2010)

I was very dissatisfied with Wellness Super 5. The itching was outta control and it was so low on calories, all they wanted to do was nap.


One of my dogs could not handle Orijen 6 Fish at all. Almost every time, she'd throw up. The other one ate it just fine, but got the squirts from it....:biggrin:.


I found with both of my dogs....for some very odd reason....that they both did better, functioned better and looked better on Orijen Large Breed Puppy over Orijen Adult. Doesn't make any sense 

The very best kibbles I've fed are hands down Evo Chicken/Turkey, Evo Red, Orijen LBP, and Canine Caviar Chicken. 








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## cprcheetah (Jul 14, 2010)

While not a 'high' quality food, I will never feed Avoderm products again, a few years back I fed it to my Standard Poodle, Cassie who got nutritional cataracts (confirmed by a doggie eye doctor) while on that food, we switched her to something else and the cataracts went away.


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## Jack Monzon (Jul 25, 2010)

My dog hated Nature's Variety Instinct and Prairie, and his stools weren't great, especially on Instinct. He was also itching terribly all the time. I switched to California Natural and he loves it, his crap is perfect, and he's not itching nearly as much anymore. That said, it could be a seasonal-allergy coincidence, as it's just started getting cold here in NY. But there's no doubt that he likes eating CN way more than the NV products. I tried a few different flavors of NV, too.


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## josh83 (Oct 24, 2010)

My dog use to be on Nutro and she would be vomiting all the time. I switched her to Orijen and she is doing great now. No more Vomiting.


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## chocolatelabguy (Nov 17, 2009)

We saw a huge difference in our lab when switching from Scince Diet to Chicken Soup. We saw a much smaller improvement, but improvement nonetheless, when we switched from Chicken Soup to TOTW. 

When I recommended a switch with my brother's highly allergic lab mix from Science Diet prescription formula (sorry, not sure exactly which one), to Chicken Soup, there was a dramatic difference for the better in coat quality, itching/scratching issues, and hot spots. I'm trying to convince him now to move up to a completely grain free formula to see if we can totally get rid of all allergen issues with his dog.


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

I saw a HUGE difference in my GSD mix going from Pedigree/ Beneful to Wellness Super5Mix. 
I had poor results with both EVO and Canidae, but still better than on the junk food. 
Oddly, Kirkland was the kibble he's done best on, an what he's eating while my father-in-law has him until Summer. 
Of course, when we buy a house this summer, and he comes home, it'll be raw all the way.


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## vigornj (Nov 4, 2010)

When we rescued Ozzy (3 y/o Male Dobe) he was being fed Kibbles & Bits by his previous owner, he was overweight, low energy, diarrhea often, dry skin and in general a poor coat.

We switched him from Kibbles & Bits to Wellness Super5Mix (I think it's called), noticed a massive change for the better, we ended up moving him to TOTW from Wellness and while the improvement was very minor, on TOTW his poop is excellent now


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## channeledbymodem (Dec 25, 2008)

ruckusluvr said:


> i honestly have yet to find a high quality kibble that i got better results with than just feeding 4health, diamond naturals, or kirklands.
> but i still feed better quality although i dont see much difference.


Amen. Of course I would *never* feed a dog *any* kibble exclusively over any length of time. In our home, kibble meals are almost always supplemented with high quality canned or "real" food.

I feed kibble because my DW relates to it (her family all feed their dogs kibble day in and day out), it's easy, it's supposed to have life sustaining ingredients.

If I were a bachelor (not bloody likely and thank goodness) I would feed raw meaty bones and BARF glop. But as things are, kibble comes into our lives.

My mantra is: it is better to feed mediocre kibbles in rotation and moderation with *real* fresh foods, cooked or raw, than to feed the "best" kibble ever made month in and month out for a long period of time.

Just my 2 cents.


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## Jack Monzon (Jul 25, 2010)

josh83 said:


> My dog use to be on Nutro and she would be vomiting all the time. I switched her to Orijen and she is doing great now. No more Vomiting.





chocolatelabguy said:


> We saw a huge difference in our lab when switching from Scince Diet to Chicken Soup. We saw a much smaller improvement, but improvement nonetheless, when we switched from Chicken Soup to TOTW.
> 
> When I recommended a switch with my brother's highly allergic lab mix from Science Diet prescription formula (sorry, not sure exactly which one), to Chicken Soup, there was a dramatic difference for the better in coat quality, itching/scratching issues, and hot spots. I'm trying to convince him now to move up to a completely grain free formula to see if we can totally get rid of all allergen issues with his dog.


I'm not understanding how these correspond to what the original post was asking.


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## josh83 (Oct 24, 2010)

Jack Monzon said:


> I'm not understanding how these correspond to what the original post was asking.


I was just pointing out how my dog did better on the grain free high quality kibble then on the non grain free diet.


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