Canidae, Wellness, Solid Gold.....

 I want to like Wellness but they are just so darn expensive.

Lots of dogs do well on Canidae - I am not personally concerned about the formula change. It just wasn't the right food for my dogs.

Solid gold is pretty good. Dakota LOVED it and did well on it for a while.

I stick with all life stages formulas personally. I don't remember ever feeding puppy food.

 We have limited choices due to allergies but we have switched from SG Barking at the moon to Orjen fish and wow I am impressed.  First I finally seem to be able to feed lesser amounts - still figuring all that out but he definitely needs less Orjen than anything we have used previously

His coat is unreal, his skin is great despite it being a high allergy season and his ears are super clean.

My thoughts are that anyone who is willing/able to pay the bit extra will find that Orjen is absolutely superb and may be not much more extra because it is kcal dense and at least for my guy extremely digestible.

As for the OP we did fine on SG BatM and Mmillenia, Wolfking was a no go and then I had a bad customer service experience.  So not high on them.  Wellness Core Ocean is a nice food for us but waaaaaaaaaaaaay too expensive. I had to feed MUCH more of that to keep weight on my boy.  But others might vary.

Never used Canidae because of his allergies

Thanks everyone for the comments. We went to the pet store this aft., and after looking through all the food, we finally settled on Wellness. We bought a small bag of the Large Breed Puppy (the store owner said that it would be fine for our new girl, even though she is really a medium breed - do you agree?). We really liked the ingredient list (except for the fact that it only comes in chicken. We'd prefer to be with either lamb or salmon I think.), especially the fact that the first ingredient is de-boned chicken - human grade meat! Anyway, we will see how she does on that, and if we like it, continue. Thanks again for all the post, and keep them coming! Very interesting to learn what everyone feeds. :)

 -bernerbear

bernerbear

Thanks everyone for the comments. We went to the pet store this aft., and after looking through all the food, we finally settled on Wellness. We bought a small bag of the Large Breed Puppy (the store owner said that it would be fine for our new girl, even though she is really a medium breed - do you agree?).

I'm not exactly an expert on medium and large breeds as a toy poodle mom :D ... but with an important decision like this I would be inclined to seek more professional advice than a pet store owner (with all respect - some of them are very knowledgeable - but still ...) can give. Could you also canvas the opinion of your vet (or maybe a vet nutritionist), and perhaps also contact Wellness for their advice? The company will know better than anyone else exactly how and why they have formulated the calcium/phos levels for their formulas.
It sounds like with your breed (which I believe can range from 40 up to 55 lbs. when adult) falls into the 'upper medium breed' band, sort of overlapping with the beginnings of large breeds? It depends how/where you classify 'large breed' of course - I've seen some people start large breed at 50lbs., others at 60lbs.

I'm a fan of the Wellness quality of food (one of mine gets CORE as part of his diet). Looking at the specs for the Large Breed Puppy formula, the calcium and phos ranges don't look as very low as in some other large breed puppy formulas (Innova springs to mind). So in that sense, I'm tipping that you may have picked a food that is nicely suited to a medium breed at the upper edge of the weight range. But Wellness should be able to advise you about this more expertly.

Yes, French Spaniels are deffinately on the large end of the medium breeds. That is why we thought it would probably be fine to have her on the large breed formula. I might contact Wellness to confirm. I'll talk with my vet on Tuesday, but I generally don't go with the vet's advice in the NUTRITION aspect of dog care - as they almost invariably (in my experience) recommend foods like Hill's Science diet, Purina, etc. Maybe it is because they are brought on expensive trips to the factories of these foods, told how wonderful they are, and given lots of promos, etc., so hey will recommend them at their clinic. (?) Anyway, I really trust my vet, he's a very honest guy, and a friend of ours, but when it comes to nutrition, I'd rather consult an expert on NATURAL dog care. Just my opinion. Thanks,

-bernerbear

I have tried several different premium kibbles; Evo, Orijen and Core but just didn't think it was good enough because I was still feeding bagged, dried pellets. Relunctantly, I finally switched to raw. First the premade variety then to fresh whole, unprocessed raw food. Trust me, if anyone was hesitant on doing raw, it was me. I don't even like touching raw meat! But ultimately it was what I thought was the most healthy and safe food for him and 4 months later, I would never again put him on kibble. My diet isn't  as elaborate as some folk's but it's simple, affordable and he is doing fantastic.

Thanks. I am very interested in raw, I guess I just worry I won't be  able balance her nutrition well enough - although I know in the wild it just equals out over time (I do hate the thought that in order to feed her good food, it must come out of a bag, processed...we feed ourselves without a 'complete, balanced formula', don't we??) Does anyone else feed raw? What is your standard recipe, and do you change it? Where do you buy all your meat, etc, and is it very expensive?

Also I'm wondering if it's possible to feed a combonation of raw and kibble. Something like half and half. If you did that, would you feed a 'complete raw meal' (w/ veggies, supplements, etc.) with the kibble, or just a raw meaty bone and the kibble. Regardless, we plan on giving her raw bones to chew for dental health (what bones do you feed for this?). I am reading a book right now caleld "The Holistic Dog", which is very good.

One other question for people who feed raw. Do you not worry about the fact that your dog constantly has raw meat remnants in/on his mouth, which are easily transfered to you with a little doggy kiss? And where do you feed your dogs? I'd rather not have raw meat being dragged across my kitchen floor.....how do you manage all this?

Ok, lots of questions! Thanks for the help,

-bernerbear

I feed a combination of raw and cooked carbs/veggies/fruits.  It's not "natural" but I believe now that we can do Mother Nature "one better" by using science to balance the foods that dogs are designed to eat, in a way that offers optimum nutrition.  Our dear mother Gaia doesn't really care if a canid suffers any one of a number of conditions that they can suffer long past reproductive age - that's the only thing she "cares" about! 

I want my dogs to live long past their initial reproductive years and also work at a high level of performance.  So I worked out diet plans for all of them with standard recipes for a week of eating, and also supplemented with vitamins and minerals, which I figure out according to the latest NRC guidelines for adult dogs.

• Commercial products (least input from you)
  
• Blended and frozen like Nature's Variety
  
• Dehydrated like Honest Kitchen
• "Premixes" where you provide meat and they have a mix that has the "extras" all mixed up and ready to add - Know Better Dog Food and Sojourners
  
• Or premixes like BalanceIt which provide recipes and micronutrient blends to balance them
• If you are lucky, you can find a veterinary nutritionist who works with the public (more input because you have to find such a consultant and learn how to use the information you get from your consultation)
  
• And there are also resources that freely offer information to the public - Monica Segal offers books, a very informative e-mail list (with files archived which gives a step by step on developing a homemade diet for your dog), and personal consulation and support services.  Sabine Contreras offers an informational web site (dogfoodproject.com) similar personal consultation and support services and an online community focused on better health for pets and people.  :)
  

Brookcove knows what she's talking about.

RaceProfessor

Brookcove knows what she's talking about.

   She sure does, and she's right; nature doesn't care if a wolf lives to be a ripe old age; all that matters is that it lives long enough to reproduce so the species can survive. A wolf doesn't necessarily get enough nutrition in the wild and can often suffer from malnutrition;

 http://www.forwolves.org/ralph/idaho-eleven-years-with-wolves.htm

 If you want to feed a balanced raw diet, there's a booklet available for $6.95 written by Monica Segal that has balanced recipes for dogs from 15 to 100 pounds;  http://www.monicasegal.com/catalog/product.php?cPath=25_26&products_id=81