found a local dog food producer. thoughts?

[Melissa]

These people are somewhat local and friends who've used their feeds have been very pleased.  Note all but the grain free option has corn, but a friend told me they only use whole corn and prebake the corn to greatly improve digestibility.  Not sure I understood that correctly.  Impressed with the limited ingredient lists on most of their kibbles.

Right now my 18mo gd is eating half Origen puppy and half of their "Small bites" and honestly even though she's over the top picky she loves this.  Prior it was a daily battle with Canidae ALS.  Then she would eat Origen but it does give her diarrhea.  Too rich?  Idk.  I'm thinking of going straight to one of their kibbles when the origen is gone.  Meanwhile I have a deep freeze full of Canidae that she won't touch!

Would love to hear the experts' thoughts!

http://www.bgseed.com/CANINE.html

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Well, let's start with the Orijen Puppy; no 18 month old should be eating a puppy formula. The Orijen puppy formula contains 20% fat, which indeed puts it into the category of "rich", because "richness" in food refers to fat content. However, the Orijen adult formula contains 18% fat, which is still pretty rich, except that it happens to be the same as the fat content in the Ol' Blue small bites formula you're feeding. So no, the Orijen is not giving her diarrhea because it's too rich. It may be that she needs a simpler formula with limited ingredients, which would certainly apply to the Ol' Blue food, which basically contains nothing at all except meat and corn. She should definitely be switched to an adult formula.My recommendation would be the Acana Singles line, which are LID formulas. But there are dozens of other good choices on our recommended list. 

The fact that she didn;t like the Canidae ALS formula you were feeding  doesn't mean much. Every dog food brand has several different lines, and several different formulas within each line. If a dog doesn't like the line that contains grains, you can try the line that is grain-free. If a dog doesn;t like the chicken formula, you can try the lamb formula. You don;t have to switch brands completely. Once a dog is on an adult formula, you also have the option of rotating between several different formulas within the same line. so that the dog doesn't get bored with her food. That helps with picky eaters.

Now the Ol' Blue. First, I cannot recommend any corn based food for any dog, or any food that contains corn at all, let alone as the 2nd most abundant ingredient in the food.  It's simply not a nutritious option, whole or not. It's there because it's a very cheap filler. 

Second, the very first ingredient listed in the Ol' Blue formula is "meat and bone meal". You never want to see the words "meat meal" in the ingredient list of any food you give your pets. The animal source of that meat must be named. Otherwise, you don't know what you are feeding from one bag to the next, and unnamed ingredients are an indication of cheap ingredients. The supplier is using whatever is handy that week. Yes, it says "beef/pork/bones". So which is it? Did she eat pork and beef today, or just one or the other?  What kind of animal did those bones come from?  And what about that "flavored protein concentrate"? What kind of animal did that come from? Or did it come from an animal at all? You really need to know these things about any food you're feeding. 

Third, the O.B formula has a truly horrendous Omega 3 fatty acid content; it's almost nonexistent, and Omega 3 fatty acids are essential for good health, affecting everything from skin and coat to digestion to joint health. If you want to continue to feed this, (and I strongly recommend against it) you'll need to start giving her a good fish oil supplement.  And the Omega 6:3 ratio is equally horrendous. It's 15 to 1. The minimum acceptable ratio is 7 to 1, and really should be less than 5 to 1. 

As if all that weren't bad enough, you have chicken fat as the third ingredient in this food. A study at Purdue on Bloat in dogs found chicken fat in the first 4 ingredients to be a risk factor for Bloat.  

I'll be honest, I wouldn;t feed the Ol' Blue food to my guy if they paid me. You can do a lot better for your dog. 

[Melissa]

Thanks y'all,

[Deborah Brown]

All you had to say was corn.  It's the one ingredient you should avoid at all costs. 

Karen gave you the long version.  This is the short version.  :)

[Melissa]

Well I had a HUGE reply but somehow DK ate it! She is halfway between 18mos and 2yrs and I am a guardian home for her. She is lactating with a litter of 11 and the vet wants her on puppy kibble and a calcium supplement. So we did the Origen puppy and a powdered bone meal. She never got diarrhea on Canidae

Aaand I must be writing too much!  This one's gone too!  But I appreciate and will look at Food group recs!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Okay, now that you explained that she's a breeding dog, the puppy formula makes more sense. 

That Ol' Blue food is nowhere near nutritious enough for a lactating mom with a litter. 

[Melissa]

thx Karen, will stick w Orijen puppy til she weans...  then probably try origen again.  TY!

[Melissa]

Trying a third time to type my reply!  I hear you on the problems with that food.  Was just hoping but too good to be true.  Cheap and local but not a good food.

I'll try one of the Acana varieties.  I think I never did bc I couldn't choose lol!  Or maybe go back to Chicken Soup?  Haven't been on DK in a while so will go back and look at the recommended list.