wellness? natural balance?

I kinda steered away from wellness because poodlesmommy said she got bigger poops from her dogs on it, just wondering anyone else has experience with the small breed food? Its a dollar cheaper than solid gold lol and its rated a six on dog food anaylsis than a four solid gold. But if someone could check it for me because I know I saw wellness not sure about small breed. Has anyone had experience with natural balance grain-free/allergy-free dog food? Whats the rating on that? Im on my phone and I dont want to waste the battery. I believe its cheaper than both solid gold and wellness, not that im having a problem with solid gold but im trying to feed the best I can and save money too! Thanks!

I have used the wellness small breed and was happy with it...I now use just their "normal" line as the small breed food was sooo rich that they couldn't eat much of it, and didn't have very filling meals

Natural balance, despite limiting the ingrediants, still produced allergic reactions in a few of my dogs.

Wellness is a 5
Natural Balance is a 4

Ill say this, a lot of people on my yorkie forum feed Wellness small breed and love it... if I were you, I would try it out... besides the poop Armani was fine, coat still looked good, stomach fine... so maybe he just needed more time to adjust and remember I was changing from kibble to canned at the same time also which may have been part of the issue.

Thanks! I was thinking maybe going the Natural Balance route though, because Pepe is an allergy-suffer. Though he's doing GREAT on Solid Gold, it does have grain and I would like to go grain-free.The only con on the website for NB was 'not enough meat', which is the same for Solid Gold, which could be fixed by just adding more meat to their diet. Wellness' con was 'fillers'. Hmmm, decisions, decisions!

What I feed now:

~~~Solid Gold Just a Wee Bit~~~

Ingredients

Bison | Ocean Fish Meal | Brown Rice | Millet | Cracked Pearled Barley | Rice Bran | Canola Oil | Tomato Pomace | Flaxseed | Natural Flavor | Salmon Oil (source of DHA) | Choline Chloride | Taurine | Dried Chicory Root | Parsley Flakes | Pumpkin Meal | Almond Oil | Sesame Oil | Yucca Schidigera Extract | Thyme | Blueberries | Cranberries | Carrots | Broccoli | Vitamin E Supplement | Iron Proteinate | Copper Proteinate | Ferrous Sulfate | Zinc Sulfate | Copper Sulfate | Potassium Iodide | Thiamine Mononitrate | Manganese Proteinate | Manganous Oxide | Ascorbic Acid | Vitamin A Supplement | Biotin | Calcium Panthothenate | Manganese Sulfate | Sodium Selenite | Pyridoxine Hydrochloride | Vitamin B12 (Cyanocobalamin) | Riboflavin | Vitamin D Supplement | Folic Acid

Guaranteed Analysis

Crude Protein, Min 28%

Crude Fat, Min 18%*

Crude Fiber, Max 4%

Moisture, Max 10%

Calories per Cup 380

Calorie Content:

Calories 1,841 kcals/lb 4,050 kcals/kg


* - There is no animal fat added to our foods; we use unsaturated vegetable, nut and seed oils for their medicinal qualities and the beneficial, essential fatty acids they contain. Animal fat is saturated fat and can contribute to blocked arteries, mal-absorption of nutrients in the intestines, cholesterol problems and reduced life expectancy. Dogs with pancreas, liver and kidney problems, have particular difficulties processing saturated, animal fats. They do very well with oils.

OR

~~~Wellness Small Breed Super 5 Mix~~~

Product Ingredients | Ingredient Index | Vitamins/Minerals

Deboned Turkey, Chicken Meal, Salmon Meal, Oatmeal, Ground Brown Rice, Ground Barley, Rye Flour, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols, a natural source of Vitamin E), Menhaden Fish Meal, Tomato Pomace, Natural Chicken Flavor, Pea Fiber, Tomatoes, Salmon Oil, Ground Flaxseed, Carrots, Spinach, Sweet Potatoes, Apples, Blueberries, Potassium Chloride, Minerals [Zinc Sulfate, Zinc Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Copper Sulfate, Manganese Proteinate, Manganese Sulfate, Sodium Selenite], Vitamins [Beta-Carotene, Vitamin E Supplement, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Vitamin A Supplement, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin B-12 Supplement], Choline Chloride, Taurine, Mixed Tocopherols (a natural preservative), Chicory Root Extract, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Chondroitin Sulfate, Dried Lactobacillus plantarum, Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation products.

This is a naturally preserved product.

Guaranteed Analysis

Protein Not Less Than28.0% Fat Not Less Than15.0% FiberNot More Than4.00% MoistureNot More Than11.0% Calcium Not Less Than1.20% Phosphorus Not Less Than0.90% Vitamin ENot Less Than150 IU/kg Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C)Not Less Than100 mg/kg Omega 6 Fatty Acids*Not Less Than3.00% Omega 3 Fatty Acids*Not Less Than0.50% Beta-Carotene*Not Less Than5 mg/kg Lycopene*Not Less Than0.25 mg/kg Taurine*Not Less Than0.09% Total Micro-organisms*Not Less Than20,000,000 CFU/lb

~~~Natural Balance Small Bites Potato & Duck~~~

Ingredients
Potatoes, Duck Meal, Duck, Canola Oil (preserved with natural mixed tocopherols), Potato Fiber, Natural Flavor, Salmon Oil, Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Taurine, L-Lysine, L-Carnitine, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Vitamin E Supplement, Iron Proteinate, Zinc Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Potassium Iodide, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B-1), Manganese Proteinate, Manganous Oxide, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A Supplement, Biotin, Calcium Pantothenate, Manganese Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B-6), Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Riboflavin (Vitamin B-2), Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Folic Acid.

Guaranteed Analysis
Crude protein (min.) 21%, crude fat (min.) 10%, crude fiber (max.) 3%, moisture (max.) 10%, calcium (min.) 1%, phosphorus ( min.) 0.9%, omega 3 fatty acids* (min.) 0.5%, omega 6 fatty acids* (min.) 3%

Thanks, I'm going with Wellness. They prefer the small bite kibble, thats why I go with small breed based foods.

Ok, one more more time lol....I found a CHEAPER food (Wellness is a $1 cheaper than Solid Gold which is $30), but I found out that Innova Small Bites is $24 and some cents at another pet store, I go to PetCo usually. They got the same rating as Wellness on DogFoodAnalysis.com

So ok Wellness or Innova?

I believe this is the one they carry.

Turkey, Chicken, Chicken Meal, Barley, Brown Rice, Potatoes, Natural Flavors, Rice, Chicken Fat, Herring, Apples, Carrots, Cottage Cheese, Sunflower Oil, Dicalcium Phosphate, Alfalfa Sprouts, Egg, Garlic, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Direct-Fed Microbials, Vitamins/Minerals

If not this one...

Beef, Lamb Meal, Barley, Brown Rice, Potatoes, Sunflower Oil, Rice, Lamb, Buffalo, Venison, Beef Cartilage, Flaxseed, Natural Flavors, Apples, Carrots, Herring Oil, Tomatoes, Potassium Chloride, Sea Salt, Cottage Cheese, Alfalfa Sprouts, Dried Chicory Root, Taurine, Direct-Fed Microbials, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract, Vitamins/Minerals

or this one...but its EVO, so it might not be it, but then again it could be it.

Beef ,Lamb Meal, Potatoes, Egg, Sunflower Oil, Buffalo, Lamb, Venison, Beef Cartilage, Herring Oil, Natural Flavors, Apples, Carrots, Tomatoes, Alfalfa Sprouts, Cottage Cheese, Potassium Chloride, Vitamins/Minerals, Ascorbic Acid, Beta Carotene, Biotin, Calcium Carbonate, Calcium Iodate, Choline Chloride, Cobalt Carbonate, Cobalt Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Dicalcium Pantothenate, dl-Methionine, Folic Acid, Iron Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Niacin, Potassium Chlor