Commercial Foods-The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Tell us what commercial foods have worked for you and which have caused problems; information, questions, warnings and advice on dog food companies, ingredients, brands, and switching foods.
(Recall information now in it's own discussion here in The Food Group)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The fatty acids will do that in some dogs, but usually more with fish oil than EPO. What does he weigh and how much EPo was he getting?
We loved TOTW here for a long time, but then the ethoxyquin issue came up. They're far from the only company that has trace amounts in it, but they were not open about the source of their fish meal, which put some of us off. However, still much better than Iams, Nutro, etc.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Joy were you only doing 500 mg a day? DH and I have been trying to locate the 500 mg tablets locally and have only found the 1000 mg tablets of EPO. I am going to try Whole Foods for a lower dosage and then move to online buying.
Fish Oil never went over well with my chihuahua, so I was hoping the right dose of EPO would be better on his stomach....
TOTW is a MUCH better food than probably 95% of foods out there, but as Karen said, there are minimal amounts of ethoxyquin, which is not ideal. You are still feeding a good food. I think there are a few of us that are just freaks about everything to do with food, especially those of us whose pups have had any sicknesses from recalls (I did with Taquito in 2007).

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Safeway stores carry 500 mg. EPO gelcaps. In my area, the stores are Dominick's, but the house brand is Safeway.

[Joy & Buddy]

I was only using less than 500 mg (well, I tried the 1000 but that really didn't work)--I cut open the capsule and squirted just a little on his food, thinking I would increase the dosage slowly. But no go. I talked with TOTW, by the way, about the ethoxyquin issue and they told me by this spring (presumably now) their food would be ethoxyquin-free. I am also really careful about food, and as I said, I would feed Acana if I could. I tried Buddy on Orijen, Adult formula, and he didn't do as well on it. I might go to their 6Fish (expensive!) but I am concerned about the high protein levels, given that he is 14 months old. I'd rather keep him at a lower protein level until he is 2. I know that California Natural is highly recommended for dogs who tend to have sensitive digestion, but that big company, bought by Proctor & Gamble, makes me nervous. And I do think he does better on grain free.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Wow Joy - thank you for that update on TOTW. I hope they really do eliminate the use of ethoxyquin! That would be awesome! We need to follow up with them. I will try to do that soon. I would stick with TOTW if he is doing well with it - it is slightly lower protein than some of the other grain-free foods.....
As for the EPO, I have no idea!

[R Ullrich]

Thanks! My Buddy doesn't seem to have any issues and he eats everything in sight, so I will just start trying stuff I guess. The Flint River Ranch seems to have good ingredients and a decent price. I hate the idea of having to mail order it though.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

I would stick with something with grains for now since Buddy is used to it. Try one of the foods Karen recommended (Fromm, Solid Gold, Wilderness, Blue Buffalo, Petcurean, Canidae, Wellness, etc..). I know for a fact Solid Gold is easy to find, also the Blue Buffalo is actually sold in Petsmart. So I think you can find something without having to order the Flint River Ranch (although the ingredients in it are good). My Peri eats Fromm and goes WILD for it, but they are selective to where they distribute their foods, so it is harder to find.

[R Ullrich]

I couldn't find Fromm in any of the convenient stores. I did find Solid Gold and Blue Buffalo at Petco. I bought the Solid Gold and gave him a little bit of it tonight. He gobbled it up happily. We will see what happens. I have also been making him food lately too. One thing I noticed since doing that was that his extensive shedding reduced considerably.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Essential fatty acids (Omega 3 & 6) do help with that, and the better foods do contain them.

[Liz & Emma]

So Emma hasnt been really eating her food- I think it is just too blan for her tasta buds bbecause once we mix a little wet (more flavorful) food she chows but i came on here to find another option and didn't realize just HOW BAD some foods were. We are currently using Eukanuba (what she came on) and shes 4 1/2 mos old. Like i said she really doesnt like it and from reading through here looks as tho its definitely not one of the top.

We're thinking Blue Buffalo because it is at Petco and since we are in a college town there isnt many other options. We did find Fromm at a pet supply store in Kansas City (right by my boyfriends work) so that isnt too hard to access. Just wondering that your thoughts were and also I've heard mixed review about people feeding their puppys the adult kind? Thoughts?

Thanks

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Fromm is one of our very favorite foods. In addition to the fact that the company is small & private & the ingredients are safe, their formulas are designed to be rotated among the different "flavors", which is really helpful for dogs who are picky eaters and/or easily bored eating the same foods day in and day out.
The line is an All Life Stages food, which means it's fine for puppies. We recently had a discussion here in TFG about feeding it to puppies, I'll try to find the link for you.

[Liz & Emma]

Karen thanks so much for getting back to me! I noticed when i went to the Fromm website there was no "puppy" "adult" which i kind of like because there are so many flavors and sometimes when i look through the "puppy" there isnt much variety!