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Old March 27th, 2007, 04:29 PM
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Tazette Tazette is offline
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Is it time for a Dog Food Change?

A while back when we got Sprocket from the SPCA, he came to us eating Purina and we quickly changed him over to Nutro (can't remember which one now). After doing research and not being extremely happy with Nutro, we put him on Wellness Puppy Super5Mix shortly after being on Wellness he had very soft stool and it was starting to concern me, and I didn't want to switch him onto something else when we just put him on Wellness. I mentioned my concern's here and a few of you suggested adding pumpkin paste to Sprockets food and it worked beautifully. It's been quite a few month now, and we still add a small spoon of pumpkin to Sprockets food because he's a pumpkin addict now and I figure a spoonfull can't hurt. Anyhow my husband mentioned the other day that even though the pumpkin seemed to help, his stool is still on the soft side but formed. To add to all that, the scare with Menu Foods is giving me that extra boost to get off my butt and find another food, although I would have had to change him off of Wellness in the end regardless of the recall.

After talking with a few people here and there, they've mentioned that with some dogs, Wellness is known for soft stool, and you just have to change them over whether you like it or not.

I called one of the local pet stores and asked about pricing and products, and was told they carry Solid Gold, Go Natural and Sigma 7(?!?) I'm going to run there after work and pick up som sample packages and see if any appeal more to Sprocket than others. In the meantime, what would you rank as the better of the above foods?

I'm hoping that whatever we switch Sprocket to, will be the last food, with the exception of weaning him onto adult food eventually...he's 6.5 mo's now.

Thanks for your help.
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Last edited by Tazette; March 27th, 2007 at 04:44 PM.
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Old March 27th, 2007, 05:44 PM
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I would say Go Natural. Solid Gold is alright but I haven't heard of Sigma 7.
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Old March 28th, 2007, 11:55 AM
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I brought home a few sample packages of Solid Gold Wolf Cub and put that and the food he's on now in each of my hands and he picked the Wolf Cub each time. We've still got quite a bit of the Wellness Super5Mix, so I have time to do a bit of research.
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Old March 28th, 2007, 12:12 PM
SARAH SARAH is offline
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I'd say, check out the link in the following thread:

Food Analysis - how good is what are YOU feeding?

My dog-food was in the category 6, so I'm good (phew!) and the dogs love it. Have to go to Le Reveil du Maitre tomorrow and get a new bag btw.
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Old March 28th, 2007, 12:20 PM
worrier worrier is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rainbow View Post
I would say Go Natural. Solid Gold is alright but I haven't heard of Sigma 7.
Doesn't Go Natural (Petcurean) have the same association with Menu that Wellness has? They make their canned foods at Menu, and that type of outsourcing scares me. What else do they outsource to the type of people that would import dog food ingredients from China?!?!

Tazette, I have been trying to find a food to switch my guy over to from Wellness as well. End result of the search: almost every kibble has flaws! I found that Orijen has the least amount of stuff I don't like (granted I'm a novice at this), although I haven't looked at their puppy formula (I will). Some of them have ridiculously high calcium levels, TO Wild&Natural has creatine in it, some have the same link with Menu, etc. I would consider cooking for your dog and supplementing that with maybe Canidae? They have their own plants and seem to have decent ingredients.

Out of the ones you mentioned, I only know Go Natural and Solid Gold, and based on the Menu Foods link, Solid Gold (though their main fat source is Canola oil, which I'm not sure is the best? again I'm a novice) would be the obvious choice because they make they foods at the Diamond plant. But that plant too had a recall years ago and this type of recall could happen anywhere really and to any food that has grains in it (probably non-wheat food as well). So grain-free food is safer. Here's a link to my thread where I start to go through the pets.ca learning process over a few pages:

http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=38176

Best of luck with your new family member!
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Old April 1st, 2007, 01:19 AM
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Well I went back to one of few pet stores in town today, well the store that is easiest to deal with. Due to the city being so small, we don't have a ton of choice when it comes to dog food, but I did ask what their top foods were. They carry Royal Canin (&Technical), Eagle Pack, Solid Gold, First Mate (never heard of them) and Mountain Dog (Raw) to name a few. I think I may go with Solid Gold Wolf Cub since the Protein and Fat content is similar to Nutro Large Breed Puppy that he was on (at first) and had no problems with.


We're looking at switching Sprocket due to softer stool, and because of this, we've been adding pumpkin to his food. Once we're at a decent amount of the Wellness he has left now, we'll be able to wean him onto something else. Currently he seems to like the Wolf Cub sample packages we've brought home.

Any suggestions?
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Last edited by Tazette; April 1st, 2007 at 01:38 AM.
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Old April 1st, 2007, 08:28 AM
Prin Prin is offline
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Wolf cub is a little grainy, but it's ok.. It might be easier to switch to because it's similar but better..

Just switch gradually.
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Old April 2nd, 2007, 03:27 PM
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I'm hoping when he gets older he takes to other dog foods easily. I'm not even positive if it's the protein that's causing him to have softer stool, I just know I need to switch him fairly soon. I'll start out by buying a smaller bag of whatever we decide to put him on, if all goes well, we'll buy the 30lb bag.

Prin, are there others you'd suggusts on my list that are above Solid Gold? I looked at a few others, but they are alot higher in protein...again, I'm not sure that's what's causing the problem, I just know Solid Gold and Nutro are very similar with fat and protein and he had no problem on it.

Thanks.
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Old April 2nd, 2007, 04:00 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tazette View Post
I'm not even positive if it's the protein that's causing him to have softer stool, I just know I need to switch him fairly soon.
My guess would be the Wellness. It really does give a lot of dogs soft stool - we sell it where I work and a ton of dogs can't tolerate it. My guy had the same problem. When I switched him from Wellness - things, errr, firmed up.

The puppy super5 has chicken for a protein, so if you feel it might be the protein you could try a lamb formula in whatever you decide to switch to.
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