# Kibble without Lentils or Potatoes



## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I home cook, so I am not much help for finding a commercial food that fits the concerns here. My dogs eat whole grain pasta as their carb source.


My general sense is that Purina is better than it used to be. I wish you luck figuring this all out.


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## rp17 (Jun 6, 2018)

Honestly all of this makes me wish I home cooked. Especially since I love cooking and don't eat a lot of processed foods myself, so why give my dog processed foods? I haven't been willing to tackle it because I'm worried about not getting it right - there's so much to take into consideration with calcium, vitamins and other minerals, organ meat, etc, that I thought it was better to trust the dog food manufacturers to get it right rather than myself. And honestly, while I could find the time now, I work full time and once DH and I have kids I'd be worried about not being able to keep up with it. Maybe one day...


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## Dechi (Aug 22, 2015)

I want to go with a food without potatoes or legumes myself and I have the same dilemma as you. On top of that I have a dog with sensitive gut issues.

I decided to go with Purina sensitive for now and we’ll see when the DCM issue gets settled. I am currently switching them slowly and both dogs have no problems so far.

What I’ve learned from all this is that no foods are perfect and it’s best to change often. Which I used to do but not so much now because of Beckie’s issues. I will try to rotate between at least 2-3 brands from now on.


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## Viking Queen (Nov 12, 2014)

rp17 said:


> I've never done the grain-free thing, so when the issue about DCM and grain-free diets started I thought that meant I was in the clear as long as I continued to feed grain-inclusive foods as I have since day 1. Of course we all know by now it's not as simple as that...that peas, other lentils, even potatoes are suspect. That it's about how the ingredients all work together. I do hope they figure this all out sooner rather than later so that trying to pick a dog food doesn't seem like such an overwhelming decision.
> 
> I was happy enough with the ingredient list on our Fromm Gold...it does have potatoes & sweet potatoes but much lower down on the list. However, my minipoo has recently decided he doesn't like his Fromm anymore. He was pretty good about eating his puppy food, but ever since we switched him to the adult a couple months ago, it's hard to get him to eat.
> 
> ...


I have read a tremendous amount about the DCM issue and food. 3 months ago I changed Poppy to Purina Pro Plan Sport. She LOVES it, is doing extremely well on it and the food is 1/3 the cost of our previous food....nice bonus. I will never again feed food from a company which does not do the proper formulation and testing of their foods. We fed Purina from 1954 to 2002 with very healthy dogs who never got sick and who oived a long time. I am comfortable feeding Purina again.


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

Take a look at 'Victor's'............you can see the ingredients on Chewy's. I just bought a bag to add to my rotation. Several of the formulas are grain inclusive but no corn wheat or soy, they use millet, rice, or oats. also no legumes or peas or potatoes in most of the formulas (grain free formulas have sweet potato and peas) ..........I got the healthy weight and although it has peas, they are listed 8th and they are the only 'bad' food in the listed ingredients, in it.....


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## rp17 (Jun 6, 2018)

Thanks Dechi and Viking Queen! I may try the Purina Pro Plan Sensitive, or the Bright Mind. Sport is probably too high in protein and fat for my guy's activity level, and I don't like the soy contained in the Savor although I'm sure he would love the beef you can get in that one!

So far the only other two I'm really considering are Wellness or Victor. Wellness Complete Health Small Breed does have pea fiber, but not until the 11th ingredient (the regular, not small breed, has peas as the 5th), and it does seem they have a properly qualified nutritionist on staff and doing their formulations which is what has me feeling more comfortable with them.

MollyMuiMa, thanks for the info on Victor. I like that beef meal is the first ingredient in the classic formulas, as my boy certainly prefers beef over chicken or salmon when it comes to the freeze dried treats we've given him. I do have one question about the Victor though for you or anyone else you may be able to answer...

Does anyone know much about the blood meal contained in some of their formulas? I hadn't seen that before so tried looking into it, and most of the information I've found says it's a controversial ingredient, especially without further details on how it's obtained. I've read it can contain lingering hormones, medications, and there doesn't seem to be much transparency on where the blood meal is actually coming from. I'm not saying what I've read is necessarily from credible sources, and I'm not one to read one thing online and believe it's true without doing further research, so I'd love to hear from anyone who might know more about this than what Dr. Google can tell me.


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## rp17 (Jun 6, 2018)

Well, my current bag of food is running low and I had to make a decision so I'd have time to gradually switch him over, so I pulled the trigger on the Pro Plan Sensitive Skin & Stomach. His stool's been a tad on the softer side lately, so that's why I opted for this formula. I fully admit I've always been a food snob, and it was weird walking into PetSmart and grabbing a bag of Purina, when I'm used to going to my local "high end" pet store that only carries "high end" food.

Hopefully he likes it and does well on it, but it's what I felt most comfortable with at this time until more info comes out. I would like to rotate with another brand (perhaps the Wellness I mentioned earlier), but we'll see how he does on the Purina and go from there.

Thanks all for your input and advice.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I hope that works out for you. Let us know how it goes.


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

RP17,

Everything you ever wanted to know about Blood Meal LOL! ( From a official scientific source!)





https://www.Feedipedia.org/node/221


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## rp17 (Jun 6, 2018)

lily cd re said:


> I hope that works out for you. Let us know how it goes.


I will be sure to check back and update once he's been on it for a little while. After mixing some with his usual Fromm last night and this morning, I can say he much prefers the Pro Plan! Lately he's been sniffing his food and walking away...these two meals that had the Purina mixed in, he started eating right away but started throwing some of the kibble on the floor next to his bowl, then went through what was on the floor piece by piece eating only the Purina. He did then finish the entire bowl and when it was empty, ate the Fromm he had left on the floor.

Obviously I don't yet know how he'll do on it, but at least he's eating it so that's a start!



MollyMuiMa said:


> RP17,
> 
> Everything you ever wanted to know about Blood Meal LOL! ( From a official scientific source!)
> https://www.Feedipedia.org/node/221


Thanks! This is helpful as Victor does look like a good option when I'm ready to start rotating.


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## Dechi (Aug 22, 2015)

I’ll be coming back to comment since we’re doing the same thing at the same time.

So far my dogs both eat the Pro Plan but I am going very slowly not to upset stomach. They should be on it 100% in about 3-4 weeks.


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## jacqueline (May 23, 2011)

take a look at Sport Dog food! here's the ingredient list for one of their offerings. i'm feeding this to our puppy now.


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## rp17 (Jun 6, 2018)

jacqueline said:


> take a look at Sport Dog food! here's the ingredient list for one of their offerings. i'm feeding this to our puppy now.


Thanks jaqueline, I like that they list the percentages of each ingredient. I wish everyone did that!


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## rp17 (Jun 6, 2018)

I promised I'd come back and update after we had been on the Purina Pro Plan for a while, so here I am.

We started switching at the end of March, so it's been about 7 weeks and Ateles has been fully on the Pro Plan for about 5 of those. I did mention we'd had some soft stool issues even before the switch, and we still are having those. While it wasn't the reason for my switching to Purina, the soft stools were the reason I specifically chose the Sensitive Skin & Stomach formula, so I did hope this food would help things and unfortunately it hasn't.

The whole stool issue started after he was sick back in January, while he was still on his puppy formula which he had always done well on. I have no idea what was wrong, but he had a bout of vomiting and diarrhea which cleared up with some anti-nausea meds and a round of antibiotics. His stool just never returned fully to normal ever since then.

We're going to keep him on the Purina Sensitive for the time being (don't want to switch things on him again), but will bring up the stool issue to the vet when we go in for one year boosters next month, and see what she says.


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