food variety

[huxleton]

Hello my bw friends. I have a question regarding the variety of food we feed our furry friends. Huxley is, and has been eating canidae since he was about 12 weeks old. He started on the all life stages formula and is now (11 months old) on the chicken and rice. I know it is good to switch the food occasionally in order to supply all the nutrients that the dog needs as well as add variety to the main protien source. My question is...is there enough variety in the canidae family to rotate between all life stage, chicken & rice, and lamb & rice. Or should I change brands. If we do change brands it seems that what I have available locally is Innova adult dry food, and merrick turducken. Does anyone have preference of one of these foods over the other or do you have any other suggestions to a food that is comparable to canidae.
Thank you so much for your help in advance.

 

[gmacleod]

I don't think so, no. Canidae is a good food - but the difference between the formulas is minimal. Between the chicken and the lamb - that's the only significant difference. And between the chicken/turkey/lamb and the other two - the only significant difference is the absence of turkey.

It's certainly better than no variation at all! But ideally, when you change foods, the aim is to feed something that's different. Made out of different ingredients, not just swapping out one of the main ingredients in the food Thus, if you could include a food in your line up that doesn't contain rice, chicken or lamb amongst the main ingredients (ideally has most of its ingredients different from canidae) - that would help a lot from the dietary variety perspective.

 

[ELubas]

I have been wondering about this. I rotated my first dog's food quite a bit as I had a hard time finding a food he did well on (allergies, sensitive stomach). He was pretty good on CA Natural and then about two years ago I went to Timberwolf. I homecook as well and supplement the kibble. I hesitate to switch his kibble as he looks and acts great on the TW. His coat has never looked so good. TW is all my girl (18 mos) has ever had-same thing, she does really well. If I am homecooking (and I vary that alot) does that mitigate feeding the same kibble over time? Not sure what is best to do...

 

[RolenKisses]

You didn't mention the Timberwolf line, so I don't know if you have that available locally or not. I know you can order it online. Rolen started on Canidae All Life Stages after coming home from the breeders and I recently switched him to the Timberwolf Bison. He absolutely loves it! I have heard a lot of great things about Timberwolf on BW! They also seem to have a lot of different varities.

 

[huxleton]

Thanks for the replies. I am struggling to find a food that offers a different ingredient line up. The few high quality kibbles around here are basically the same thing. I have access to merrick which has many different varieties but I have heard some sketchy things about them (the use of ethoxyquin in wilderness blend and bad quality control), are these concerns valid? I also have access to fromms foods, however; dog food analysis said they use fillers and have a minimum amount of acceptable meat content. I could get timberwolf organics but it would be quite a drive and they are pretty pricey. Do you have any other suggestions or should I just buck up and go with timberwolf?? If that is the case that is fine, I just want to make sure I am not overlooking anything. Thanks in advance.

 

[gmacleod]

What's relatively easy to get? Fromms Four Star foods are pretty good (there's no food that's perfect, after all - and that range does rate fairly well, much above the others in the Fromms lineup), so could be worth considering if it's not difficult to get hold of. I think some of their varieties could satisfy the variety criteria quite well. And, of course, any criticism of a food is of diminishing importance when you're rotating - because it's not the sole thing the dog is going to eat for an extended period.

Put another way - having McDonalds yourself once a week is no big deal really. Having it every meal for 3 months though, is not a great idea. I'm not suggesting that you should feed your dog a low grade McDonalds-equivalent food, by any means - but just pointing out that if a food has one or two criticisms (minor ones - like a few fillers, or more meat would be nice), they're of less concern when you're going to feed that food as part of a regular rotation with foods that have different criticisms than when you're going to feed it exclusively for months or years. Make sense?

 

[huxleton]

gmac. thanks for the advice. that does make sense and makes me feel a little better about my options. I think i will still avoid the merrick wilderness blend because of the ethoxyquin. Perhaps I will give Fromms a try. Thanks again.