Switching from Evo to Eagle Pack

So I've decided to switch Sage from Evo to Eagle Pack as soon as we finish off this bag. I've fed raw up until I moved in with four other girls sharing ONE fridge and freezer. She absolutely loves Evo, but I've been hearing great things about Eagle Pack. She's been on Evo for like 5 bags now and I kind of want to try something different as she is on a semi-diet and Evo is high fat. We also have a senior dog living in the house and he's been on Evo too. I was thinking he'd need a food geared more toward his age so I'll probably switch him to an Eagle Pack senior food. Do any of you feed this food or reccomend it?

There is reduced fat EVO (EVO RF) that you could try. Or you could just lower the amount of EVO and supplement some green beans in there to hide the reduced amount.

Try it if you want, but you're going from a grain free food to one, while still pretty high in quality, has a comparatively high amount of grain and slightly lower overall quality. I'd personally just work with the amount of EVO and stick with it.

Hmmm, thanks So Evo is a higher quality food? Part of me says...Your dog LOVES this food, why switch? But the other half likes change I don't want to switch to a lower quality food just for my own weird quirks. Does anyone else have an opinion on this? I guess I'd only want to switch if they were comparable.

I have read bags of Eagle pack, and unless you are going with Eagle pack Holistic.........I wouldn't do it. Evo is much better, and if she is liking it and having no problems...........I would stick to it.

I'd stick with EVO, if I were you

The Eagle Pack Holistic line is very high quality and the company has a great reputation. I wouldn't label it as lower quality than EVO just a very different formulation. Eagle being a more traditional kibble and EVO being a newer grain-free type of food.

What matters is what your dog thrives on. If your dog is doing well, why switch?

We never tried the EP senior just the regular and holistic. There are many different varieties in the holistic line and mine did well on the duck and liked it about the best. The original (not holistic) they did okay on but I had to give add ins for them to finish it. We noticed a lot more shedding and larger poop on all EP's. but, I understand your concern with your senior dog being on EVO and the high protein content. EP is a trustworthy company and the foods are excellent. But I would recommend the holistic line.

Honey gets Eagle Pack Holistic Lamb and Rice as apparently it is the only thing she can eat (allergies and tummy upsets)--she does really well on it. I love that they are a local Indiana company!

Senior foods are IMO not a good thing. Instead of easier to digest formulas with more available nutrients, they usually stick in more fillers, making it lower fat and lower protein, so its even harder for senior dogs to get what they need out of it.

I love the evo..If you like raw why would you switch to a kibble that is further away from raw (though the holistic eagle pack is good) The fat and protein levels in evo are on par with a raw diet.

If I were to choose between Eagle Pack and EVO I would choose EVO, unless my dogs didn't do well on it. If you want to try out the Eagle Pack and see how she does on it definitely go with Holistic- it's considerably higher quality than regular Eagle Pack.

Here are the ingredients for all 3 foods:


Eagle Pack
Pork Meal, Ground Yellow Corn, Ground Brown Rice, Ground White Rice, Chicken Meal, Chicken Fat (Preserved With Natural Mixed Tocopherols), Dried Beet Pulp, Anchovy & Sardine Meals, Oatmeal, Brewers Dried Yeast, Flaxseed, Wheat Germ Meal, Dried Egg Product, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Carrots, Peas, Yucca Schidigera Extract, DL-Methionine, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, d-Pantothenic Acid, Niacin Supplement, Choline Chloride, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Biotin, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract, Inositol, Kelp, Polysaccharide Complexes Of Zinc, Iron, Manganese, Copper and Cobalt, Potassium Iodate, Sodium Selenite, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei, Enterococcus faecium, B. subtilus, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus coagulins, Aspergillus oryzae, and Aspergillus niger.

Eagle Pack Holistic
Chicken Meal, Ground Brown Rice, Ground White Rice, Oatmeal, Chicken Fat (Preserved With Natural Mixed Tocopherols), Pork Meal, Dried Beet Pulp, Anchovy, Sardine & Salmon Meals, Flaxseed, Dried Egg Product, Tomato Pomace, Menhaden Fish Oil, Carrots, Peas, Sun-Cured Alfalfa, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Quinoa (Organic), Blueberries, Apples, Inulin, Beta-Carotene, Cranberries, Dehydrated Kelp, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Yucca Schidigera Extract, DL-Methionine, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, d-Pantothenic Acid, Niacin Supplement, Choline Chloride, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Biotin, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract, Inositol, Polysaccharide Complexes of Zinc, Iron, Manganese, Copper and Cobalt, Potassium Iodate, Sodium Selenite, Lactobacillus acidophilus Lactobacillus casei, Enterococcus faecium, B. subtillus, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus coagulins, Aspergillus oryzae, and Aspergillus niger.

EVO
Turkey, Chicken, Turkey Meal, Chicken Meal, Potatoes, Herring Meal, Chicken Fat, Natural Flavors, Egg, Apples, Tomatoes, Potassium Chloride, Carrots, Vitamins, Garlic, Cottage Cheese, Minerals, Alfalfa Sprouts, Ascorbic Acid, Dried Chicory Root, Direct-Fed Microbials, Vitamin E Supplement, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract

Thanks Jessie! Wow EVO has significantly less ingredients. I'm not the most knowledgable about deciphering ingredients, but with dog foods I know sometimes less is more. All signs point to keeping Sage on EVO and maybe, with the smaller portions she's getting these days, add some green beans to make her feel more full (she's always acting like she's starving).

With Diogi (our senior dog), is having him on EVO giving him what he needs in his golden years? Dekka...what you said makes sense about the senior food.

In a perfect world...unlimited freezer space....I'd feed them both raw. Is EVO 2nd best to raw? My concerns have now kind of shifted to Diogi's diet. Thank you all for your good input!

It appears that EVO has less ingredients on that list because the vitamins and minerals aren't specifically listed in the ingredient panel. So in essence, the two foods really have close to the same amount of ingredients.

I bolded the vitamin and bacteria additives so that you can see how EVO is able to appear to have less ingredients, simply because they don't list their natural flavors, vitamins, minerals, and bacteria all separately.

If I was feeding a large breed dog or puppy, I would go with Eagle Pack. They are the ONLY brand that has been tested on multiple litters of large breed puppies, there is a lot of good reasons why they formulate their food the way they do. Linda Arndy wrote some very interesting information on that subject: http://www.greatdanelady.com/articles/do_i_need_to_use_a_puppy_food.htm

IMO, both are great foods. Your dog will probably do extremely well on either one, so you could:

Feed her the one she likes best
or
Buy a bag of eagle pack, and see how she does on it after a month or two. Pick the one you get the best results with. Since she has been grain free, I would be careful introducing grains back into her diet. I have heard of some dogs developing intolerances to certain grains after they were eliminated from their diet for a while. (not sure if it's true, but something to keep in mind).

So far, all of your responses have been extremely helpful. She is doing great on EVO other then the fact that the vet said she was a pound overweight. Now, I feed her a VERY reasonable amount for her size...it barely looks like enough (1/4 cup 2x a day w/ a dash of warm h2o) and she gets plenty of exercise and minimal treats. Is EVO really that high in fat?

One of the reasons I think she gained weight was because she was getting at Diogi's food when my cousins watch her plus all the random food she ends up snatching from unattended plates and un-attended left-overs (i.e Fried Chicken)

Dekka gets 1/4 of a cup of evo (with warm H20) a day. She is 11 inches tall and 12 ish pounds. She has loads of energy and looks great. If I feed her any more she gets fat.

Even though that sounds like a very small amount of food, if I feed her anymore she pukes. So she would have to eat multiple meals a day of more food with filler, to get the same amount.