What to do... (janobonano)

Janice, I'm not an expert on all the foods out there, but I can share a couple thoughts.  Ruby eats Orijen (we switch between the Regional Red and 6 Fish formulas).  She does very well on it (her coat looks great, her weight maintains well, etc.).  We can't compare with anything else, since that's all we've ever fed her.  It is expensive, but we're afraid to try anything else since she's doing so well and likes it.

Having said that, we didn't know about Orijen when we had Tonka, and he had a lot of food sensitivities, so we fed him things that helped with that (i.e., minimal ingredients, alternative protein other than beef or chicken).  The two brands we had good luck with were California Natural and Wellness.  I'd say Wellness was the best for him -- specifically the whitefish and sweet potato formula.  He was 125+ pounds, so he ate a lot more than Ruby, so the cost was more of a factor . . . but as I recall, the Wellness wasn't outrageously priced. 

I'm sure someone who has done more extensive food research will have better input for you, but I hope that helps. 

 Not sure what you are paying, where you get it from.  Have you priced it at this sites:

www.doggiefood.com

www.petflow.com

The first one is here in RI, so I drive to the warehouse once a month to buy dog and cat food, treats, etc.  I haven't seen better prices anywhere.  So that may help.

 The second link is also good pricing, and they allow you to set up periodic shipping, if that appeals to you.

 I use Earthborn Holistics, they have a few grain free formulas, not sure how they are price wise vs. Orijen.  

Freedom

... I use Earthborn Holistics, they have a few grain free formulas, not sure how they are price wise vs. Orijen.  

 Hehe- I was going to say the exact thing.  Caleb ate NB Potato & Duck for years.  I didn't worry about the 1st recent recall because it wasn't made in that plant.  But when Diamond had the same problem in another plant this past spring, I'd had enough and switched Caleb to Earthborn Holostics Meadow Feast.  EH is a little pricer than NB but it's worth it.  They manufactor their own food.  And, another bonus- Caleb's ears have been nice and soft pink.  Turns out it was the potato that was causing his ears to be slightly inflamed (I thought it was environmental).

Thanks everyone! I'll have to check out Earthborn. Maybe I'll get a small bag and see if he likes it.

I have tried a few varieties of Fromm. He liked it, but he's never LOVED anything as much as he loves Orijen.

I was using petflow. But they are out of stock right now anyway. It's like $86 for a 29 lb bag of Orijen RR. I was paying $57 for a 33 lb bag of NB.

ETA: I will NEVER buy from petflow.com again. I had Orijen Regional Red set up for scheduled delivery. However, they are out of Orijen Regional Red because of the fire in the factory. So on Monday I called to sub their regular Orijen. The guy said yes, and said he placed the order, and I should get it in 2-3 days. Today (Friday), I still have no food, and I have like less than 2 cups left. I called to see if they could track it, and he said that the order had mistakenly NOT been placed. He could place the order and I'd get it Tuesday. Um... NO, I need the food NOW. I don't think Rupert would be happy to not get fed for 4 days. I had to go to the local pet food store and get a small bag of something different so he'd have breakfast and dinner Saturday. This weekend I have to drive over an hour away to get Rupert some food. (DH & I are going out of town tomorrow.)

janobonano

... It's like $86 for a 29 lb bag of Orijen RR. I was paying $57 for a 33 lb bag of NB.

I just figured it out, and it turns out I'm paying less per pound for EH than for NB. The last time I bought NB, 15lbs was $2.22/lb.  14lbs of EH was $2.14/lb.  I started buying the 28 lb bags recently.  They're running $1.71/pound ($47.99 for 28 lbs). 

Check out www.chewy.com  I've found their prices comparable to Pet Flow and order from both of them.

I used NB Duck and Potato with Sassy and she did the absolute best on it. Because she had such severe problems, I just wasn't willing to make a switch. When we adopted Shane, he seemed to be having digestive problems on it, so I switched him to the Venison and Sweet Potato and at the same time started him on a digestive enzyme/probiotic. I don't know which helped more but he's doing great now. I keep my eyes open for any word of a recall and don't like that they've had so many problems but this food is working for us for now, so I'll stick with it.

If Rupert did well on Duck and Potato, you could always try Petcurean's GO! Duck. It's a single protein source so handy for dogs with sensitivities or allergies. Carbohyrates are potato, oatmeal and supplementally ancient grains quinoa and Kamut. I feed my guys the GO! Salmon which is very similar to the Duck only using Salmon as a protein instead. But their similarities make it easy to feed in rotation if you like to do that also.