# Switching food!



## asuk (Jan 6, 2017)

there are some controversies regarding grain free diet, so you might want to read up on that.

i am no expert but here is what i have done. 

i have tried acana for milo and i find this gives him a bit more eye goober so i stopped that for him. i change bags very often and also flavour. i would also look into normal protein like beef. i use the bag recommended serving as a guide. i also vary his food greatly. he has had canned,raw,cooked and kibble though its mostly raw and kibble, cooked food comes a close 2nd. canned is quite rare unless i get it on sale.

i have also tried fromm (great but harder to find for me), merrick (also great for him), wellness core & complete, ziwi peak. right now i am trying "crave" chicken, it seems to make his eyes tear a bit more so i will nix this food from our rotation.


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## Ghost (Feb 7, 2019)

Yeah, I was reading those posts about the studies of grain free diets... and food that has lentils/potato/etc. But even the Fromm which does have grains also has potato and lentil too. So I guess it’s a question of how much is too much? 
I wonder if it would be a shock to the system to go from a grain free food to a food with grains? 

you do switch it up a lot! Do you think you’d stick to one kind if you found something you really liked?

We have a lot of choices for food here I feel like... in terms of what we can get at local stores etc. So I may just need to try some new things and see how it goes. 
It’s really weird a lot of the beef foods I’ve looked at also have chicken as a listed ingredient, which I’m trying to avoid. Who knows why. 
I might just try the Fromm instead of Acana first.
She hasn’t done badly on her current food but I still want to try something else because she doesn’t get excited at meal times anymore. Plus there’s only one store that sells Zignature unless I order online, and they’re kind of pricey. 

Did you like Merrick? My mom always swore by Wellness cat foods, so I might look into their dog foods.


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## asuk (Jan 6, 2017)

If it’s a shock, your pup will tell you in form of upset tummy. Some pups require you to transition gently, I did when he was younger. Now I just switch cold turkey with no issues. 

I don’t we will stick to just one food for a long time. I can only order from amazon so it limits me to the choices I have. I do get the other brands from another website at times. I do keep in mind what works well for him. Ohhh we also tried freeze dried food, they are ok. I am not a fan. Another kibble that is great is Stella and chewy raw coated kibble, he loves that one but I don’t feel I need to pay the higher price for raw coated since he eats raw food.

Milo was not too excited with kibble until he got neutered, now I really hv to monitor his intake. I like merrick, his tummy agrees with merrick and it stays in our cycle.

Lilah should be teething soon and you will notice some eye tearing, it is normal. It will go away once the teething is over. Just a note if you decide to do some switching during this time and encounter this.


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

I've noticed, then used some of the Merrick canned...the ones that say on the front label, 96% beef or chicken...whatever the meat is. So I'm assuming that all the protein comes from that because there is also no mention of peas or legumes. I don't think the dcm problem is limited to grain free. I think it's the fact that so many foods are short on meat and long on pea protein which is missing some essential amino acids I think. Anyhow, this pea protein craze, I believe is rather a recent thing. I don't remember seeing all that in dog food years ago. I think a little bit is okay but when they use it as the main source of protein, maybe that's the culprit. Anyhow, I'm presently feeding Instinct frozen raw but plan on cooking my own food soon...when I'm all prepared. I'm just sick to death of commercial dog food. Grrrrr. :banghead: 

I also doubt that kibble is very good even though I've fed it plenty in the past, even recently. Just to think what processing it goes through is enough to make one wonder how much nutrition is really in there.

Good luck in your search.


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## Ghost (Feb 7, 2019)

Poodlebeguiled said:


> I've noticed, then used some of the Merrick canned...the ones that say on the front label, 96% beef or chicken...whatever the meat is. So I'm assuming that all the protein comes from that because there is also no mention of peas or legumes. I don't think the dcm problem is limited to grain free. I think it's the fact that so many foods are short on meat and long on pea protein which is missing some essential amino acids I think. Anyhow, this pea protein craze, I believe is rather a recent thing. I don't remember seeing all that in dog food years ago. I think a little bit is okay but when they use it as the main source of protein, maybe that's the culprit. Anyhow, I'm presently feeding Instinct frozen raw but plan on cooking my own food soon...when I'm all prepared. I'm just sick to death of commercial dog food. Grrrrr.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Have you looked into Primal foods? They had them at the little shop down half a mile down and I didn’t have the time to look through them. Now at home I pulled up the website and they seem pretty nice:
https://primalpetfoods.com/products/raw-frozen-canine-lamb-formula#variant=38452480018
Not sure what the price is like though. 

Good for you on the cooking venture. I just don’t think it will ever be practical or feasible for me.... not for a long while anyway. 
I wish these foods really broke down their protein analysis and showed how much of it was actual animal protein. 

I ended up just picking up the Salmon version of her current food (Zignature) and also Acana Pork & Squash singles kibble.


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## Ghost (Feb 7, 2019)

asuk said:


> If it’s a shock, your pup will tell you in form of upset tummy. Some pups require you to transition gently, I did when he was younger. Now I just switch cold turkey with no issues.
> 
> I don’t we will stick to just one food for a long time. I can only order from amazon so it limits me to the choices I have. I do get the other brands from another website at times. I do keep in mind what works well for him. Ohhh we also tried freeze dried food, they are ok. I am not a fan. Another kibble that is great is Stella and chewy raw coated kibble, he loves that one but I don’t feel I need to pay the higher price for raw coated since he eats raw food.
> 
> ...


Lilah has been teething... usually in the past my dogs have swallowed them but I have four of her teeth! One in a toy, one came out on my arm when she briefly tried to use me as a chew toy - that was gross! Lol
The other two I found on the floor. Is it weird to save them? Hah
I have noticed Amazon doesn’t regularly have stock of some foods... when I had tried to order the Zignature. That must be frustrating for you. Have you used Chewy’s website at all? 
I’m going to take a look at the Merrick website and see what they have.


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

Ghost said:


> Have you looked into Primal foods? They had them at the little shop down half a mile down and I didn’t have the time to look through them. Now at home I pulled up the website and they seem pretty nice:
> https://primalpetfoods.com/products/raw-frozen-canine-lamb-formula#variant=38452480018
> Not sure what the price is like though.
> 
> ...


I haven't really spent much time investigating Primal. I just figure I can make that same thing for a lot less money and put some more/different ingredients in that I'd like to see. I like to feed a little more organ meat and not just liver, but 1/2 beef liver and 1/2 another organ such as kidney or lung, pancreas, spleen etc. I finally found some kidney today at the farm market...not easy to come by so I'm pretty much all set to get started. I also want to use some seaweed calcium and a little brewer's yeast for selenium and chromium, which we can all be deficient in since our soils are rather depleated, fish oil and so pretty soon I'll be putting something together. I want some foods that supply vitamin e. So, there are some things I'm not seeing in Primal that my gut tells me I ought to see. (_gut_...oh dear...that's a bad choice of words, isn't it.) :act-up:


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## Asta's Mom (Aug 20, 2014)

I have Asta on Nature's Recipe kibble - but he likes the chicken version. Not sure if they make a beef one. Dogfoodadvisor is a great place to look to compare foods. I do supplement his kibble with Merrick, which he loves.


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