I can't afford raw anymore what is the next best option

[Cassie]

Natty Boh, I would switch now as puppy food makes them grow fast and it can be hard on their joints. I checked with my vet first and it was recommended to go to adult at 6 months. I give my dog a kibble that is small bite for her size mouth-the bigger kibble seemed to be a problem.

[Natty Boh]

Thanks Cassie. I was thinking it was about time. I was used to feeding my German Shepherd. We don't like to give them puppy food at all and they aren't considered adults until they are two years old. It's been a LOOOOONG time since I had a beagle.

Natty Boh goes to the vet tomorrow for a follow-up, so I'll see how we are doing weight wise and food wise. Hoping his demodex is gone, so I can stop the Ivermectin.

Thank you!
Jan

[LAD85]

Dont feel bad. we can only dow hat we can. even feeding him a 4 star instead of crap like beneful, iams, purina, science diet ect is a couple steps up.

Do you have a costco. my finiky stomache dog des very well on the natures domain brand that is sold at costco. its grain free, and is less then 40 bucks for a 40lbs bag

[Winston2012]

So it's 4health not 4life, I've found out diamond makes it, it has 4stars from the dogfoodadvisor.com
Ingredients

Ingredients: Chicken, chicken meal, cracked pearled barley, millet, brewers rice, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), dried plain beet pulp, natural chicken flavor, flaxseed, fish meal, potassium chloride, salt, choline chloride, dried chicory root, glucosamine hydrochloride, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, Yucca schidigera extract, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, chondroitin sulfate, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, niacin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid
Fiber (estimated dry matter content) = 4.4%


And it's 32 dollars for a 35lb bag

[Charlie's Dad]

I made the switch from Orijen to Fromm by coincidence. My local Pet Nutrition Center was out of Orijen. The Clerk was more than helpful in helping me choose an alternate. Ended up buying Fromm and Charlie haven't stopped licking the bowl and begging for second and thirds which he never did with Orijen. I normally cycled him between Orijen and TOTW, but he absolutley devoured the Adult Gold by Fromm. I got the 15lb bag for $20 (with a store coupon) which still saved me almost $20 if I'd bought my regular bag of Orijen. I'm definitely sold on Fromm.

[Natty Boh]

Originally Posted by Winston2012

So it's 4health not 4life, I've found out diamond makes it, it has 4stars from the dogfoodadvisor.com
Ingredients

Ingredients: Chicken, chicken meal, cracked pearled barley, millet, brewers rice, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), dried plain beet pulp, natural chicken flavor, flaxseed, fish meal, potassium chloride, salt, choline chloride, dried chicory root, glucosamine hydrochloride, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, Yucca schidigera extract, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, chondroitin sulfate, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, niacin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid
Fiber (estimated dry matter content) = 4.4%


And it's 32 dollars for a 35lb bag

In general, I've heard from people who are happy with it - medium quality food. Decent for the price. Only bad I've heard is from a poster on my German Shepherd forum. She had two dogs bloat from 4health. One dog required surgery. One dog died. She did a test with the 4health - placing a cup of kibble in water. It swelled many times its' normal size. 4health was the only change she had made in her kennels and the bloat happened almost immediately after the change. As far as I know, beagles are not prone to bloat, like shepherds. I just wanted to put it out there.

[Winston2012]

Yeah I read about that bloat problem when researching. So if we wanted to try the TOW which one do you pick. He hasn't had anything other than chicken, turkey, beef, and salmon. I've noticed the taste of the wild has a lot of ingredients.


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[Natty Boh]

I fed my shepherd TOTW Pacific Stream. She was allergic to chicken and did best on fish based formulas. I know a lot of people that feed TOTW and are happy with it. Some have said that the High Prairie formula was too rich for their dogs. You might consider the Sierra Mountain - it is lamb based and I believe the least expensive. I would try to find some sample sizes to try.

[Hsaiotei]

Prepackaged raw is expensive. Have you tried going to a butcher shop or meat wholesaler and buying whole chickens or parts? A lot of them will even split them for you for free or a nominal fee. I don't feed raw but my roommate does. She gives each dog a quarter chicken and a piece of liver or a pig's foot or something like that. It costs her about $5 a day to feed both dogs. She brings home the raw meat in big bags and then separates it into meal-size freezer bags (a bit messy, but doable). Then she piles it all in the freezer. Every evening when she feeds her dogs she takes out two baggies for the next night and puts them in the refrigerator to thaw. She was feeding Blue Buffalo but she swears this is cheaper.

[Winston2012]

I was doing it like that in the beginning but it was just extremely messy. Winston would drag the chicken leg around the house on the carpet and I was afraid he wasn't getting all the nutrients he needed. I don't mind adding some raw chicken every now and then and hopefully this is just temporary and we can go back to what's we were doing at some point.


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