Need help deciding on the best food for my dogs

skittledoo

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#1
I know I've posted before about wanting to change the food up on my dogs... I think I'm for sure going to make the switch

I'm going to start with Cricket first since she has skin issues that we think are food allergy related. Once we figure out what she can have then I'll switch Bamm as well to that food and see how he does. I just don't want to keep switching Bamm around with Cricket while I try to find something Cricket can eat.

Here's what I'm looking for:
Grain free
Gluten free
Good protein source
Something good for itchy skin

Right now both dogs are on Kirkland (diamond naturals chicken and rice). I know kirkland has a grain free option but I'm not sure if its gluten free.

Bamm has IBS so whatever I end up switching Cricket onto needs to be something that when I eventually switch Bamm onto will be something that won't upset his digestive system.

Another thing. Josh wants to keep price reasonable and I have mentioned to him that higher quality stuff may be more expensive but it goes a long way and it ends up being a better deal in the long run. We do sell some foods at my work so he wants me to look into those options first since we can get them at cost.

We sell blue buffalo, Fromm, Merrick, orijjen (sp?) and The Honest Kitchen. The Honest Kitchen has a couple I'm interested in: Embark and Force.

Also, Cricket doesn't really like the food I feed them right now. She used to eat it just fine, but lately its been a struggle to get her to eat it. She will eat if she is hungry enough but most of the time she just tries to bury her food and won't eat it or will pick at it and only eat a few kibbles.
 

Saeleofu

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#2
From those options, I'd try in this order:

HK
Orijen
Fromm (they have a couple grain free varietes, at least)
Merrick/Blue - I know Blue has a couple grain-free varieties (Wilderness formulas) but I really have no clue what Merrick has for grain-free. I know my dogs love the Wing-a-ling canned food though lol.
 

nikkiluvsu15

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#3
I've heard nothing but FANTASTIC things about Fromm. Harleigh also tried a sample one time and loved it... It is definitely a kibble that I'd use and plan to.

The Honest Kitchen is a very good food too. I've looked into it quite a few times, but it is a tad expensive for me to feed to Harleigh, especially since she is quite active.

Orijen is a good food too. Harleigh hasn't tried Orijen before, but she has been on Acana and liked it... Did pretty well on it. No experience with Blue Buffalo, but I did have to use Merrick one time when I ran out of food and Harleigh did NOT like it... She ate it, but wasn't nearly as excited about it as many other foods.
 

PWCorgi

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#4
I would start with Fromm, their Surf & Turf is duck and salmon based. Duck tends to be easy on the tummy and most dogs go nuts over it. It's also grain/gluten free.
 

JacksonsMom

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#6
Right now I'm feeding Fromm Duck & Sweet Potato. Just started a few days ago and am loving it so far. I really was wanting to feed a food from a company that I really felt confident about and from the things I read on here, and other sources, I just really liked what I heard. I was feeding Natural Balance but I always hear mixed reviews on them as a company, though I was happy with the results I got on two bags of the Lamb & Rice formula (which I liked better than their grainfree formulas - a *bit* more protein and fat).

So anyways, yeah, I'm loving Fromm right now. Hopefully things continue to go well with this bag of food, and then we'll try Pork. The Duck and Pork flavors are not grainfree but they have two ones now and then have two more coming out soon. Oh and price is not bad at ALL. It's actually one of the cheapest in my local store. I paid $11 for a 5lb bag. I tend to try around a lot of different brands but I think the one I used the longest with the best results was Acana.

Oh, have you heard of Zero/G? It seems like a fairly new food -- their treats were offered at my local store but no food yet. It looks pretty darn good.

http://darford.com/products-list.php

But yeah, out of the ones you listed, I'd pick Fromm.

I don't trust Merrick at ALL. They've had a ton of quality control issues lately.
 

SpringerLover

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#7
I pretty much worship the Fromm company. My pets have eaten it as a staple of their diet for the last 2-3 years. We've tried just about every variety they offer and I've never been displeased with the product (my dogs just had allergies to ingredients). The cats are on Surf and Turf, dogs are eating Duck and Sweet Potato.
 
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#8
I really like The Honest Kitchen as a company, but their foods aren't very palatable to a lot of dogs. Missy will eat it (but then again, Missy tried to eat a rock), but Jack won't touch it.

As far as kibbles go, I really love Fromm and Orijen. They both are fantastic companies that produce some pretty awesome products. I feed the grain-free Fromm varieties to my dogs as part of their rotation, and they do really well on them. I would definitely try one of those two brands!
 

skittledoo

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#9
I think I decided to start with the Fromm Surf & Turf and go from there. Going to get some samples first before I spend the money on a bag.
 

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