Life’s Abundance dog food

[Josh Adams]

Hello,

We are considering Life’s Abundance dog food for when we get a doodle puppy, probably a standard size.

I notice a lot of breeders recommend and swear by this brand for their puppies. For the most part, the online reviews are very positive as well. I do have some concerns, noted below. I am looking for advice from those who are familiar with this brand.

Most books I read from vets and trainers recommend a brand that provides a clear Statement of Nutritional Adequacy on their label, and that it provides “complete and balanced nutrition”. Life’s Abundance does not state this claim anywhere on their label, whereas most of the other “top quality” brands do include this claim on their label.

Second, they say to select a food that has been subjected to animal feeding and testing. The ideal label would read “animal feeding tests using Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) procedures”, meaning it not only meets AAFCO nutrient profiles, but it also went through a feeding trial. Life’s Abundance only claims that it is “formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the Association of American Feed Control Officials”. This suggests to me it was never actually tested.

Lastly, regarding Life’s Abundance All Life Stages vs. Large Breed Puppy Food — I think we would opt for a Large Breed Puppy formula because we expect it would provide a lower amount of calcium for a large, fast-growing doodle. However, it seems the nutritional formula between the ALS and LBP is almost identical. They each have the same amount of Calcium (1.2%), similar amounts of Proteins (26% vs. 25%, respectively), and similar amounts of calorie content (3,706 kcal/kg vs 3,700 kcal/kg, respectively) … but the LBPF costs more. Is this a marketing trap?

I came across old posts on this forum about LA dog food, but they don’t address the above concerns. Any insight is greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Hi Josh, we have a very large active group here on DK, The Food Group, where we have discussed Life's Abundance extensively, as recently as within the last week. So not all of the posts here about LA are old. The Food Group has a list of recommended food brands and L.A. is not on it. 
The food is a private label product (not a good thing) marketed by an MLM (multi level marketing, also known as a pyramid scheme) company, and this is the reason breeders recommend it: they make commissions from every bag you buy. The manufacturing and  sourcing of ingredients are shrouded in secrecy, and this is one reason we do not recommend it. The lack of AAFCO and nutritional adequacy certification is another. A big reason is that it is a mediocre quality food with a hugely inflated price which is necessary to cover all the many tiers of commissions paid per bag; most of us here would rather that the money we pay for our dogs' food went to quality rather than marketing/sales commissions. 
Be very careful with any breeder who pushes this food, some of them actually require you to buy it (or NuVet vitamins, also sold thru the same MLM company) in order to validate the purchase warranty.

[Josh Adams]

Hi Karen, 

Thank you for the reply. For some reason, the recent LA posts didn't come through my initial search. I will go through them again. Thank you so much.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

You may need to search the food group rather than the main forum.

[Josh Adams]

Yes, that did it! Thanks again, Karen. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

You're very welcome. 

[Wendy and Myla]

I didn't know that if I wanted to search something, I had to go to the individual group???  I have always gone to the DK search in the main forum.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

You should be able to do it that way, but lately I have found it doesn;t always work. The search function is very moody sometimes, lol. 

[Wendy and Myla]

I agree - I've been trying to find posts to add to some inquiries and it's really, really hard!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Right? It's like you KNOW there were posts about a particular topic but when you do a search, nothing comes up. 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I have always had trouble with the Search here