Confused on what to feed

[Ruby Goldendoodle]

I see the list of recommended food and I really appreciate it. However, how do I decide? I am leaning towards Blue Wilderness Puppy because it is cheaper than Orijen and Acana, but is that the right choice? I am going to keep my puppy on PMI Exclusive for at least a few weeks, but don't want to switch a bunch after that. Thanks!

[Katie, John & Parker pup]

I fed Parker the Blue Buffalo Wilderness and he did good on it...healthy poops and all that jazz. He did get bored of the blue buffalo though so I switched him to Fromm, which has more flavors and he seems to love it and also does well on that...it is also around the same price as the Blue Buffalo so the switch wasn't hurtful on our budget either! I am sure people on here will tell you not to look at the price of the food when considering dog food, but I get that it's a factor and Blue Buffalo should be fine! And like I said, if you wanna check out the Fromm, it is around the same price! :o)

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Ditto on the getting "bored" of Blue Buffalo, I think it's the lifesource bits.  Luna (and the same goes for several other dogs here) didn't seem to be crazy over them.

We switched Luna to Wellness - similar price but she likes it a lot more.  I've heard lots of good things about Fromm too.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

In the Fromm/Wellness price range, I would also look at Canidae. They have some new formulas out and they have been around a long time with no recalls.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

When comparing prices, you must look at the feeding guidelines, not just the price per bag. If you feed less of a more expensive food, it may actually be cheaper in the long run than the lower-priced food.

There's no way to know ahead of time which foods will work best for any individual puppy. One way to choose a new food is to take a look at the ingredients in the current food, and if the pup is doing well with that, try to switch to a formula with similar ingredients and a similar nutritonal analysis. 

You will also want to consider if your puppy is one who always seems to be looking for food and eats enthusiastically, or if she is a picky eater. The former type may do better with a less-nutrient dense food, where she gets more food. A picky eater may do better with a higher calorie food where she doesn't have to eat as much to get the same number of calories.

[Hazel & Chester Wayte]

Chester was on Orijen and is now on Acana- He does well on the Acana- He isn't an 'Enthusiastic Eater' . We are working on taking up his dish so he eats in one sitting instead of grazing.

A deciding factor for me was looking at the Company- Acana (and Orijen) is made by Champion- an award winning Canadian Company. (We live in Canada). I love how everything is Organic/ free run/ and 'local'.

I always say Chester Eats Better then we do..