# What's the #1 grain-free dog food these days?



## liljaker (Aug 6, 2011)

Not sure if there is a #1 food, because different dogs do differently on different foods (make sense?). For a list of the top grain free foods, I'd go to Dog Food Reviews and Ratings | Dog Food Advisor and you can search "Best grain free foods" and they list all those with 4 and 5 star ratings. Again, it depends on the formula that works best for you. I'd also check Whole Dog Journal, as they review the foods annually, and personally I like their rating. They don't rate on a 1 to 10 scale; they basically only include the foods that contain their high standards, and then give an overview of a representative food from that manufacturer. There are so many these days. Personally, I like to also add a search for those who have very few recalls, etc. It does get confusing.

Sunny is on premade raw, but the kibble I like best for him is really Acana Regionals Grain-free.


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## Sakutama (Nov 26, 2013)

liljaker said:


> Not sure if there is a #1 food, because different dogs do differently on different foods (make sense?). For a list of the top grain free foods, I'd go to Dog Food Reviews and Ratings | Dog Food Advisor and you can search "Best grain free foods" and they list all those with 4 and 5 star ratings. Again, it depends on the formula that works best for you. I'd also check Whole Dog Journal, as they review the foods annually, and personally I like their rating. They don't rate on a 1 to 10 scale; they basically only include the foods that contain their high standards, and then give an overview of a representative food from that manufacturer. There are so many these days. Personally, I like to also add a search for those who have very few recalls, etc. It does get confusing.
> 
> Sunny is on premade raw, but the kibble I like best for him is really Acana Regionals Grain-free.


Thank you so much! I'm so out of the loop, it's good to catch up. I guess what I meant by #1 is there always seems to be a food most people recommend, then suddenly a recall or a new brand will show up and it'll change. Not so much for deciding my future dogs food, but to give me somewhere to start. ^^

I love the concept of the raw diet! If I have the means I might try it myself, but I think it'll be good for me to start out with a grain free dog food first then see what we can do. I'm often on my own with these "western" ideas in Japan, and my aweful Japanese doesn't help!


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## Shamrockmommy (Aug 16, 2013)

Very happy with Fromm 4star grain frees here!


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## Suddenly (Aug 8, 2013)

We feed Brandon Fromm grain free and also nature variety kibble with raw. We also put Stella and Chewys as toppers plus other goodies. Brandon like cottage cheese so sometime he get a couple of tsps, also may 2 tsp a week good for coat, American cheese, also a couple of Evangers grain free wet food,


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## Ladyscarletthawk (Dec 6, 2011)

I love Fromm's four star, and honest kitchen... HK is human grade. I've also fed Merricks..


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## Sakutama (Nov 26, 2013)

I'll check out Fromm grain-free, never heard if it! I'll have to figure out how they write it in katakana first. Maybe フローム 穀物不使用ではあります? Well luckily hubs is a native speaker if that doesn't work. lol


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## Sweetp (Mar 23, 2013)

My dogs love Acana, especially the Acana Grasslands.


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## Carley's Mom (Oct 30, 2011)

I am feeding Orijen Red. My girls love it.


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## Chara (Jul 9, 2013)

Another Fromms feeder here. Chara does great on this.


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## Sakutama (Nov 26, 2013)

Well no luck finding Fromm in Japan...yet...



Carley's Mom said:


> I am feeding Orijen Red. My girls love it.


But I DID see Orijin! I'm trying to work with what's already being imported, not sure we can afford to import a food ourselves. Geez our future dogs will be spoiled with their "fancy-shmancy imported grain-free dog food." Haha. 

And I owe a huge thanks to Taste of the Wild only because a website selling it gave me a clear translation for grain-free, otherwise researching would be a struggle! Hubs wasn't quite sure what grain-free is, obviously a new idea for him and his parents. lol


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## spindledreams (Aug 7, 2012)

We feed Merricks grain free here. Pretty pleased with it so far unless DH makes a mistake and brings home the pork variety... one dog has a bad intolerance/allergy to pork of any kind even a small taste of bacon brings on cannon butt.

We also have a day or two a week where the dogs only get raw for their meals. Right now we are still feeding chicken most of the time but any inexpensive meat or fish could be used in the same manner.


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## Sakutama (Nov 26, 2013)

spindledreams said:


> We feed Merricks grain free here. Pretty pleased with it so far unless DH makes a mistake and brings home the pork variety... one dog has a bad intolerance/allergy to pork of any kind even a small taste of bacon brings on cannon butt.
> 
> We also have a day or two a week where the dogs only get raw for their meals. Right now we are still feeding chicken most of the time but any inexpensive meat or fish could be used in the same manner.


I'll have to remember "cannon butt" next time Mugi has an episode, that's pretty funny! Usually hers are brought on by oranges, which she ADORES but don't agree with her. We try to compromise by only giving her tiny pieces, but sometimes hubs is a little too generous when I'm not looking. 

I'll look out for Merricks, I guess it's next on my checking list.

That's a great idea having raw days! I was under the impression you had to go all raw or all kibble. But I kind of planned to give raw meat as snacks here and there as money or cheap cuts allowed. Glad I'm not the only one with the idea!


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## Caniche (Jun 10, 2013)

I've been using Wellness Core and have been happy with it. 


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

I was at a dog show and they were sponsored by Purina ProPlan. I was snubbing my nose at them and then noticed they were giving away free samples. I took a bunch of them home to check them out. They now have a grain free kibble and it seems comparable to other grain free kibbles. They also have a sport kibble that is particularly high in calories (highest I have seen). Anyway, I dumped them on the dogs regular food and they wolfed it down. Not saying anything except the ingredients looked good and I liked the calories per cup (always trying to find a way to keep good weight on Jazz).


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## Curls (May 14, 2013)

Orijen or Acana here.


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## Indiana (Sep 11, 2011)

It seems from the comments in this post that your poodles are the same as mine...iron stomachs. Such irony! Because my dogs in the past which were all herding breeds plus one bedlington and one pit bull, all had very sensitive stomachs and we had a NO TREATS rule. Any food switches had to be made gradually and with great care. But with my two standard poodles, I frequently switch between foods as long as they are 4 or 5 star brands. I'm lucky with my two; no health problems and neither has ever had so much as an ear infection, so I don't have to worry about sensitivities with them. I have to say on Orijen's fresh caught 5 fish formula, their coats were so glossy! Usually that is hard to see on poodle wool, but Orijen seems so good for coats and skin.


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