The "new improved" Wellness

haha, my puppy did all the opposite of what their food claimed.  Yes, he liked the taste, BUT he had EXPLOSIVE diarrhea after being on it for a few weeks (also pooped about 4 times a day), and became very sick, stopped eating, and had to go to the vet and get an IV due to dehydration.  Switched his food the very next day (cold turkey) and everything was back to normal...

My experience with the "old" formula wasn't good.  Willow also developed struvite crystals and had many battles with UTI's.  I won't be trying the "new" formula. 
 
However, I do want to say something positive.  The Fish formula did wonders for her coat.  It did look great. 
 
 

You know what, I was looking on one of the Wellness cat formulas and noticed it has Menadione. So I looked at one of the dog foods, it says "Vitamin K supplement" which could also be Menadione right? I want to email them about it but their email service has been down for a long time.

Thanks Papillion.  That's all I needed to know.  I tried one 20lb bag on my crew (I think I had 7 at the time) and it was a month of cleaning up goopy cow pies FOUR times a day. Crazy.
 
THanks!
 
Willowchow, I've heard a lot of dogs have troubles with the UTIs and such on this food. 
 
Its' a shame, it smells sooo good wiht some warm water on it, I love that it's baked vs. extruded (part of the reason I like Bil-Jac too).  Ah well.
 

Shamrockmom---Doesn't BilJac dry have BHA or BHT in the ingredient list??  I don't know if you are aware, but that's not a good thing.  I'm not hugely fussy but that's one of my "avoid" things. 

Yeah, Bil-Jac Dry is pretty bad. It's made principally of chicken by-product meal and preserved with BHA. If it's the only thing your dog will eat, well you can't starve your dog, but I would definitely try everything else before feeding it. Especially at that price...$41 for 35 pounds...damn. That's about $25 overpriced. Same goes for the frozen stuff, honestly (first five: Beef, Meeat by-products, Cereal Food Fines, Poultry, Poultry meal, Animal Liver).

I try not to condemn people's food choices, but the only thing I can think of off hand that's worse than Biljac is Pedigree, and they don't charge you $40 a bag.

The performance of the food speaks much louder than the ingredients in this case.

To each their own.
 
Edited to add:
 
But you have me thinking... I prefer the baked foods because they're not so greasy. If I can find one taht works with my guys I may eliminate Bil-Jac.

[&o]

I feel bad now.  I'm not trying to make you feel guilty.  It's just that like I said before I'm not especially fussy like some on this board.  I don't have issues with corn or even specific by-product or grains.  But, there are some places I draw the line.  BHA/BHT are preservatives in fact yesterday I ate something with BHT in it and I'll never buy it again.  It's even in some cereals too.  Anyway, they could potentially cause cancer.  The way I see it, me, Willow all of us are at enough risk of that without eating something that could help it along.  Now, the company will probably say it is safe.   But, to me, it's not something I'd want to have my dog eating daily or even weekly.  I also avoid any treats that contain it too.  So, many companies preserve with other things now, there is really no excuse for them not to. 
 
Petsmart carries a pretty decent baked food, Authority Harvest Baked. 

If you go with any Wellness product, just keep a close eye on the teeth.  I know Lilian had horrid problems with her little guys teeth when he ate Wellness.  MAJOR tarter build up and very quickly.

Jetta had teeth issues on Wellness too. Her back teeth were brown in just a few weeks!!!

I won't be feeding Wellness since the issues I had seem to still be an issue with many.  I can't chance that the pH would be too high and have the girls wind up with bladder crystals and UTIs again.
 
I heard that the new stuff isn't baked like it once was- is it true?

No, it's extruded now, but that doesn't really matter.  Recent studies have shown that extrusion is done at a lower temp than baking, and therefore is better (and I think easier for the companies too).  

Our pup actually did better on the old formula. He'd only been through one bag when the new formula came out in the stores where we live. On the new bag (new formula) he constantly had loose stools. He is now 100% switched over to TO Wilderness Elk and his stools have firmed up substantially.

I started Dakota on Wellness right after I got him, so he's been on the old and the new formulas.  He wasn't on the new formula long, but I do know that he didn't like it.  Luckily I already had a bag of Innova because I knew Dakota was going to have to switch foods.  I did a "taste test" with the two foods.  I would make a big circle on the floor with Wellness on the outside and the Innova on the inside and vice versa.  Every time, he would eat all the Innova and leave all the Wellness.  That's strange for my very food-motivated dog.
 
As far as the poop goes, there was always TONS of it when Dakota was on the Wellness.  Okay, maybe not that much, but it was excessive.  Then, he was having anal gland problems because his poops were not as firm as they should have been.  Firmer poop would help the glands to express themselves.  Trust me, I  didn't want to be a part of that if I didn't have to.  Then there were many times that I had to "clean Dakota's pants" after he used the bathroom.  I got tired of it and didn't want to wait to finish the bag of Wellness, so I started Dakota on just the Innova.  Since then (and it's been months), I have not had to clean Dakota's pants once, and he's had no problems at all with his anal glands (knock on wood!).  Also, I am absolutely amazed at the lack of poop.  On Wellness, sometimes I'd have to have Poop Patrol twice a week just so we'd be able to walk across the yard with no worries.  Now, honestly, I can go three weeks (I did once!) without Poop Patrol if needed and still find less poop than I did in half a week with Wellness.  I am just amazed at the differences!!!
 
Just remember - what works for one dog may not work for another!!  If it's not working, try something else.  The Innova for my cats is not working.  They poop twice as much, and it STINKS!!!  I know, I know....all poop stinks.  But trust me, this is major odor, and I won't deal with it anymore.  Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!