One last post, even I'm getting annoyed

Okay,
4 Min Pins, one Rottie. The two female Min Pins will eat anything you give them, and overeat if given the chance. The Rottie will eat anything, even if it's not food, put wood in his dish and he'll eat it. Until recently, the Rottie and the 2 girls were on Canidae, but with the price increase, and the bag decrease, the Rottie got switched back to Kirkland, and we've been trying to find new food for the girls.(no other way to put this, but I can afford to feed 2 10lb. dogs better food than one 110 lb. dog.) The two girls ended up being switched between Prarie and California Naturals, the two male Min Pins ended up being switched between Instinct, California Naturals, and EVO.

The other day, looking for a cheaper bag of food for the girls, we ended up with a bag of Innova. The two male Min Pins took to that instantly, the girls didn't care. They were perfectly happy with the California Naturals, and the boys liked it too (for a day.)

Since the boys don't tend to eat well, they get tired of a food real quick and will just starve themselves, is it okay to give them Innova? I'm a little anal about food, and even though they liked the California Naturals, I didn't like the ingredients in it.

I made the comment to my wife tonight that we need to keep 7 little bags of food on hand so that they can get a new food every night, and she said that the 5 different ones we have now are enough, but I want them to eat, and I don't like skinny dogs. (my logic is that if we only keep a few week's supply on hand, it won't go bad, and they won't get bored, which is our one male Min Pin's problem, he DOES not like eating the same thing twice.)

ANYWAY, when we went to a supplier down in the city on Friday, we noticed she had two bags of TOTW, a 30 lb. bag of prarie, and a 30 lb. bag of pacific. I told her I wanted to try them and asked about a sample, she said she bought in with 4 bags 4 months ago, and sold the first two bags the first week, and has been stuck with the other two bags since then. Is TOTW as good as EVO or Instinct? She's willing to give me a good price on these bags, but they don't look near as good as Instinct or EVO in the ingredients, and I don't know if I want to feed my Rottie a grain free food with that high of a protien content, so the 4 Min Pins would have to eat 60 lbs of food, which the girls wouldn't have a problem with (I'm not gonna let them do it, however,.) If we bought it, would it be okay for the girls as their main food source? One is hyper, the other is lethargic. They've both had grain free diets in the past, just not that much at one time. I'm used to buying 5 lb bags for the little dogs. Is there any harm in feeding a 105 lb Rottie that kind of food? If it's no problem, then I'll buy it just for him.

Anyway, last, but not least, am I being too anal with my dogs' food? My wife says that California Naturals should have been good enough, and I don't like the ingredients, Prarie should be good enough, and once again, I don't like the ingredients. Even with the TOTW Pacific Salmon, "ocean fish meal" is the only real meat ingredient in the top of the ingredient list.

I know I can't feed EVO or Instinct to my female Min Pins because I've tried it and they gained weight beyond belief, but isn't there something in between?

orijen? If they like evo why not just feed less of it?

If you find a food that works, I'd continue that food. For instance, if the EVO worked for your girls, then I'd continue to feed that and adjust feeding amounts based on their body condition (I never follow the feeding suggestions on the back of a bag myself). It's almost like how I feed raw for Buddy, he is based on a certain percentage, but if he is losing too much or gaining too much weight then I adjust accordingly and increase his exercise if the latter.

I also wonder why you switch foods so often? I bet if I did that, my dogs would be pretty darn well picky as well and that would drive me insane! We've finally settled on EVO and EVO RM for the two that aren't raw fed (yet) and their diets are supplemented with canned food and sardines (a favorite in this house, bleh!).

As for feeding the rottie, my 100lb mastiff is fed the EVO and EVO RM and she does just fine.

Just wanted to add: the two that are not raw fed started to get picky with eating habits. We'd prepare their breakfasts and they would go uneaten and because of supplements we add, it would go bad. I had had enough of seeing money just go right down the drain so we started to feed them once a day. I don't particularly like the idea, but my dogs need to eat and not waste $50 bags of food. We make sure that we always add water to their kibble and there hasn't been a missed meal since... that'll show them! I've also threatened to fast them for a day.. I swear they knew what I was saying as they ate their meal that day.

Unless your Rottie is still a pup, the grain free diet should be ideal! My Fila and my GSD/wolf/?? are amazing on it, and the GSD was a VERY particular eater. Now, he will turn up his nose at raw poultry for EVO RM. Even my little Pittie, who has absorbtion issues from having parvo is thriving on it, and the techs at the vet's office who gave her to me are astounded, since she was a walking skeleton when I got her and they were in despair because she wouldn't eat.

I really like TOTW. It has good ingredients, a nice variety of formulas, and my boys reallyyy like it! I have heard that it's very palatable, and I even know people who use the kibbles for training. Gonzo is super picky, but he enjoys TOTW meals.

As long as the bags aren't going to expire any time soon (having been there 4 months already...) I would go for it, especially if they're a decent price. TOTW is fairly cheap for grain-free, and it should work well with MinPins or a Rottie, as long as they're fed appropriate amounts for their size and activity levels.