Switching back to kibble, which food?

kady05

Active Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2011
Messages
1,285
Likes
0
Points
36
Age
36
Location
Chesapeake, Virginia
#1
I'm considering switching Sako back to kibble. He's been on raw for.. 1 1/2yrs. now and has done great, but he has these weird phobias of food and he literally HATES to eat now. So instead of "torturing" him, I'm thinking about trying kibble again to see if he eats better. Of course, if he does the same thing, I'll probably just keep him on raw.

Anyway. I'm kind of out of the "kibble loop". Before I switched to raw he was eating either Orijen or NV Instinct. Did "okay" on them, but he always had issues with on/off again loose stools.

Price isn't that big of a deal, but I'd like to stay below $60 for a 30lb. bag. Should probably stay away from chicken based foods, and I'd prefer grain free. High in calories per cup would be good too, he burns food off quick. I don't mind if I can't get it locally, as long as I can order it from one of the online stores (Pet Flow, Wag.com, etc.).

Anyone have any suggestions?
 

SpringerLover

Active Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2006
Messages
3,415
Likes
0
Points
36
Location
B-ville
#2
Around here, $60 limits you quite a bit.

Off the top of my head I can think of Earthborn Holistic, NutriSource, and Taste of the Wild for GF under $60 for the largest bag.
 
Joined
Jan 2, 2013
Messages
96
Likes
0
Points
0
Location
Montreal, Canada
#3
The Best Kibble is Orijen

I'm considering switching Sako back to kibble. He's been on raw for.. 1 1/2yrs. now and has done great, but he has these weird phobias of food and he literally HATES to eat now. So instead of "torturing" him, I'm thinking about trying kibble again to see if he eats better. Of course, if he does the same thing, I'll probably just keep him on raw.

Anyway. I'm kind of out of the "kibble loop". Before I switched to raw he was eating either Orijen or NV Instinct. Did "okay" on them, but he always had issues with on/off again loose stools.

Price isn't that big of a deal, but I'd like to stay below $60 for a 30lb. bag. Should probably stay away from chicken based foods, and I'd prefer grain free. High in calories per cup would be good too, he burns food off quick. I don't mind if I can't get it locally, as long as I can order it from one of the online stores (Pet Flow, Wag.com, etc.).

Anyone have any suggestions?
Hello kady05,
Going to kibble from raw is a step backward but you have to do what you have to do.
By far the best kibble is Orijen but it will cost over $60.
Wellness Core is an OK kibble.
Almost all of the other grain-free kibbles are pretty much the same in different packaging; containing one or two meat sources, very heavy in starches, sugars and carbohydrates which is not good for Sako. Roger Biduk
 

kady05

Active Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2011
Messages
1,285
Likes
0
Points
36
Age
36
Location
Chesapeake, Virginia
#5
He did pretty well on the Orijen, so I could do that again. It runs about $60 for the big bag (I think it's 30lbs.) here. Earthborn is one I had considered as well, since a lot of people switched to it after the whole TOTW/Diamond recall.
 

Julee

UNSTOPPABLE
Joined
Nov 25, 2012
Messages
3,418
Likes
0
Points
36
Location
Kent, CT
#6
Only $60/bag for Orijen there? Guess I know where I'm moving... upwards of $80/bag here.
 

Katem

New Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2011
Messages
266
Likes
0
Points
0
Location
New York
#9
I made the switch back to kibble a few months ago and have been rotating between acana, wellness core and fromm. I choose the gf formulas of acana and fromm and only use the fish core. For some reason Bear doesn't tolerate the chicken core that well, although he does okay with the wild prairie acana.

Honestly, the dogs did better on raw, but it's not like kibble is killing them. They certainly don't look to be in poor condition. I do miss raw-poop though, I will say that :rofl1:
 

Laurelin

I'm All Ears
Joined
Nov 2, 2006
Messages
30,963
Likes
3
Points
0
Age
37
Location
Oklahoma
#12
I have been using acana regionals for my kibble portion of my dogs' diets and it's been great. I've seen a lot of improvement in their coats since switching from blue wilderness.
 

MericoX

Roos, Poos, & a Wog!
Joined
Oct 27, 2007
Messages
5,326
Likes
0
Points
36
Age
39
Location
In depression
#13
:eek:
I think I don't want to move...my store sells the big bag of Earthborn for $45.99, big bag of Acana for $59.99, TOTW is $44.99.
Oh, maybe it's not lol. I've been buying the medium sized bags for so long and they're like $31/14 pounds.
 

kady05

Active Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2011
Messages
1,285
Likes
0
Points
36
Age
36
Location
Chesapeake, Virginia
#14
Thanks for all the suggestions guys :)

If I remember correctly, Acana has actually been more expensive than Orijen. But I haven't really kibble shopped in almost 2yrs., so I'll have to go back and look at prices at my local stores.

I don't really want to switch him off of raw, but I kind of want to see how he reacts to kibble vs. raw and then go from there.
 

JacksonsMom

Active Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
8,694
Likes
0
Points
36
Location
Maryland
#15
Orijen is sooo expensive. I've never seen it cheaper than Acana anywhere.

We've always had great results on Acana. Some awesome brands that are more price friendly though are Precise, Dr. Tim's, Annamaet, Fromm, Nutrisource, Earthborn.
 

kady05

Active Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2011
Messages
1,285
Likes
0
Points
36
Age
36
Location
Chesapeake, Virginia
#16
Yeah I know Orijen is supposed to be more than Acana, but I swear Acana was a little more expensive here. I'll go look tomorrow if I get a chance to swing by the store that sells both.

I tried him on Dr. Tims for a little while, he didn't do well at all on it, neither did Wilson (who is my "can eat most anything" dog), so that brand is out. Nutrisource was another that was mentioned that I might consider..
 

Hillside

Original Twin
Joined
Jun 21, 2007
Messages
3,048
Likes
0
Points
0
Location
Des Moines, IA
#17
I just recently switched Nico to Nutrisource grain free. He has soft stools on anything other than Natural Balance and he's been on Nutrisouce for a couple weeks now with no issues. I'll be switching Saga to their fish formula when her current bag of food runs out. In my area, the 30 pound bag runs around $45.
 

Members online

Top