Nutro

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Thanks everyone for the help, I appriciate it, I will be doing some more homework before I make a decision, but you have helped tremendously![]

BUT- Myorganicpets, (edited to say): oh, nevermind, it's not worth it. 
 
 

Just what does MY feeling like an idiot for feeding such a crappy food for so long have to do with ANYONE else ? Again, like others , you are reading things into what I said that ARE NOT THERE. Stirring the pot to make something out of nothing.

MYOP-block feature now on, I don't have to deal with people like you.

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I'm going to go out on a limb here, stretching logic and meaning really thin. A lamb and rice formula with rice in it? Mmm, strange ...
 
Personally, I like apples, carrots, and potatos, oh my. The ingredient list of Innova looks very good to me, good enough for me to eat. It would have the well rounded balance a human would need. A human would do better on Innova than Nutro. But it's not about what I like or what I need, it is about what a dog needs.
 
Here are the advantages of Nutro Lamb and Rice. It is a very simple food. If your dog has an allergy to it, you have two options as to what might be the problem. It could be that lamb, or it could be the rice. The reason for those two ingredients being used is that lamb has been a novel enough meat source to use on dogs that might be allergic to beef. Of all the grains, rice has been the easiest to digest and causes allergic reaction less often than the other grains. Dogs are most often allergic to beef, in meats, and barley, in grains.
 
Some breeds have a history of very simple food, others were spoiled by kings, eating the wide variety of foods they had at their disposal.
 
As I have learned, not one food is better than another as it is that one food may be more appropriate for your dog than another.
 
I, too, live in a rural town. One stop sign and six churches. But I can drive about 40 miles to get Innova. If you have to become a distributor just to get it in your area, then you might as well order the food you want. The only reason to feed your dogs Nutro is if they are doing well on it. If they are not, by all means, feed them something else. Every person I've known locally has had good to excellent results with Nutro. Informal feeding trials with rednecks, if you will. But they also happen to be large breed dogs, mostly. Labs and other hunting dogs.

According to Mordanna's info at the dog food project, the main ingredients of the food will be from first ingredient to the first fat listed. Everything after that is in supplemental and trace amounts.
 
So, lamb meal, ground rice, rice flour, rice bran, fat (preserved with vit. E.) Since the ingredients must be listed by order of volume or weight present from the largest on down, that means that this food has quite a bit of lamb meal. Rice is not necessarily the prime ingredient, though its products are 3 of the four main ingredients. Not knowning the proprietary formula, it could ver well be over half lamb meal, with the remaining 3 ingredients rounding out the main make-up of the food. It's not out of line to expect 50 percent rice. And rice is not an empty grain. It has proteins and other nutrients, as well as carbohydrates, which large breed active dogs, such as hunting dogs, will need for the extra energy required in a 100 yard out run, flush, and evade run back to the hunter to get out of range of the kill shot.
 
Above, always consider the health of your dog over what you like or dislike about an ingredient. I know an ACO who's dog hunts and eats squirrels and it doesn't bother him in the least and if his dog is doing okay, who am I to pick fault with that?
 

ORIGINAL: ron2

Here are the advantages of Nutro Lamb and Rice. It is a very simple food. If your dog has an allergy to it, you have two options as to what might be the problem. It could be that lamb, or it could be the rice.

 
Or the poultry fat. []

ORIGINAL: ron2

I'm going to go out on a limb here, stretching logic and meaning really thin. A lamb and rice formula with rice in it? Mmm, strange ...

Good point Ron, thanks for the reminder! Sometimes I forget that the AND RICE is going to mean... well... there's a lot of rice. []

I certainly agree with you Ron. One has to use what their dog does well on. Sure, we want the best for them - and what's best for one dog may not be what's best for another. We also have to consider our own circumstances. I think what's best for all of my dogs is a raw diet. But, right now my freezer space (and lack of room for a seperate freezer) prohibits me from feeding FOUR dogs a raw diet. So, I feed them a good kibble until our circumstances change.

Good for you, I think, Meg in thinking outside the box on this one (and I think considering becoming a distributor is thinking outside the box). Are there other foods that you might think of trying that would let you do the same?

Thanks fo rthe imput Ron, something to think about.
 
Dogslyfe
I have also been thinking about Candae or Inova, but I haven't looked into what it would take to get then here. 
I also have to keep in mind the price of the food and cost to ship it to me, I know that may sound bad, but I also have a family to feed.  I have not checked into the price of the Candae or Inova or the shipping costs yet though.

I did find out last night that there is already a Nutro dealer in a town about 60 miles from here that will deliver to your house for a minimal fee, but I'm still undecided.  It's hard to make this decision especially since my dogs have only been on it for a week, the only thing I have had time to notice so far is that they really like it and that the yard has a little less poop in in than before.

My dogs did really well on Canidae the first time I tried it, however I just rotated back and they won't eat it. But the things I like about it are the really soft coats, tiny stools, the weight loss-muscle gain, and the first time I tried it I really noticed a change in behavior--more perky if that makes any sense. I could just tell that they were doing well on it.
 
But the thing that I like the most about it is that I can go to the feed store and get a 40 lb bag for $30.95. []
 
You're in Kansas right?  petfooddirect.com is good (get on their e-mail list, they aren't worth it without the coupons-hold out for the 20% off ones, they're always changing) but they are on the east cost so shipping may be high.  Only Natural Pet Store may be cheaper for you since it ships from Colorado.

ORIGINAL: whatsonemore

Dogslyfe
I have also been thinking about Candae or Inova, but I haven't looked into what it would take to get then here.
I also have to keep in mind the price of the food and cost to ship it to me, I know that may sound bad, but I also have a family to feed. I have not checked into the price of the Candae or Inova or the shipping costs yet though.

*nods* I understand. I went to petfooddirect and when I checked the cost of Canidae by the bag, plus shipping, it equaled out to approximately what I pay in the store to get it. Have you checked the store-finders for Canidae and Innova? Canidae is www.canidae.com and you can check on Innova at www.naturapet.com . I don't know whether or not you can become a distributor, but one thing you might want to do in your comparison is to check a store and see what the prices are... and then compare what it would cost to ship from www.petfooddirect.com - and see how that compares.

Like I said before, I fed Ginger nutro for several years, and Bree as a puppy nutro. They all get Canidae now. Poop comparison works about the same now, and I think they actually had more poop on nutro. Price-wise it actually works out about the same, maybe even slightly cheaper in the long run to feed the Canidae - particularly with more dogs, and higher energy dogs.

Hope this helps some!

I agree with my bud Tony:  Nutro Nat Choice isn'tt the greatest food but few people have problems with it.  As to the poultry fat, I would avoid it if your dog is really allergic but I can tell you that Jackson is allergic to chicken and can't handle Nutro Ultra but he never had a problem with Nat Choice L & R. 

Mind you, I'm not saying one food is better than another, for the most part, though there are brands I would not want to feed my dog. Is your opinion that Nutro is not the greatest food based soley in the ingredient list? I specifically do not mean to de-value your opinion or discount what you say. Different dogs can handle different things. Poor Christine has gone through dog food gymnastics, at times, to get what she needs for her dogs. At the risk of sounding ambiguous, even though dogs are technically omnivores, my dog is not all that interested in carrots and apples, though he will eat my cajun mashed sweet potatos, a cracker, pecans, grass, bugs. He once ate some potato salad, though was probably liking the dressing that was in it. I guess I'm not seeing what is wrong with Nutro or what makes it "mid-grade." It is a simple food, one meat source, one grain.
 
I realize, too, that you rep for Eagle Pack, which sounds like a good food to me and yes, I am pleased that they have the Power formula for working dogs and winning sled teams were eating. Certainly kudos for you and your company. I guess I'm just wondering the basis of your opinion, as an academic interest.