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with all the recalls i assume folks have had to change foods

anyone thus far have results to share

I changed to Acana but its so rich we had to add Castor Pullox to get some fiber and keep the stools

tighter

Not sure at this point if I am going to stay on this

I have great results with TOTW but tried to change back and my dogs were vomiting it right back up even just a few pieces integrated with current food!

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I am currently investigating a food called Victor. It looks and sounds promising, with a reasonable cost for their High Energy variety which is 24/20 and their Pro Formula which is 26/18. It has a small distribution area, but they are willing to contact feed stores and the like to have them consider carrying their products. http://randrdistributors.com/ they have a tab at the top to locate dealers that may be near you. they have a side bar with their selections of food with ingredient lists and caloric info. It is a long established line of dog food........reasonably priced. It is a tough time to be trying to find "the" right kibble.

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I have been feeding Victor for a long time. Love it. My dogs do well on it.

However, a few of my special gang are still on TOTW Pacific. I just check bags and it has been fine. Of course down here, the recall is not that big of an issue.

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I have been feeding Red Paw PowerEdge 32K for about 1.5 years and I love it. Even my picky dog chows down and maintains her weight. I pay $46 for a 40lb bag wholesale (buy in bulk). I really liked their Perform 32, but they took it off the market and have substituted their new X Series, which comes in smaller bags and is more expensive despite being essentially the same food. But, now it is marketed to pet owners who are able and willing to pay more than working dog owners.

 

I used to feed Eagle Pack Power when I ran a dog sledding team of Border Collies. My dogs did very well on that, even in the height of training season when keeping weight on them could be a problem. Eagle Pack now makes a line of foods aimed at the pet market. Their fish formula looks good.

 

Innova and Innova Evo were excellent foods, but since the company changed hands I stopped feeding them.

 

I've had excellent success with both my own dogs and clients dogs eating Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin and Stomach (salmon and rice based food). It doesn't have enough calories for a really hard working dog, but dogs with digestive problems and allergies seem to do very well on it. I had a dog who suffered from SIBO for a year and that food was a lifesaver for him without having to go with an expensive prescription diet.

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I feed Fromm's - and have been for years. Good quality food and for me, I am buying local to boot. I like that they have a frequent buyer program.

 

I have dabbled with the new food Back to Basics. It's too pricey to feed all the time but with coupons it's a little better.

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I am not looking for a food that is that high in protein and the kcal/kg , kcal/cup for the 24/20 and 26/18 formulas of Victor are higher than the same caloric info of the Hi Tek foods. The Victor foods are also listed as no corn, no soy, no wheat and no gluten so that sounds good in combination with the kcal/kg info. An example, the Hi tek grain free lamb is 3750 kcal/kg , 370 kcal/cup . the Victor High Energy,24/20(which is their beef meal/chicken meal formula not lamb) has 3963 kcal/kg, 457/kcal/cup. the Victor Pro formula, (which is also beef meal/chicken meal) has 3839 kcal/kg, 443 kcal/cup. So I am going out to pick up some Victor and see what the dogs and I think about it.

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Gem and Gypsy eat Orijen 6 fish mixed with Raw and they are doing very well..I went through several food with Gem and she kept chewing up her legs, finally tried the 6 fish and she has been doing great ever since, Gyp does fine on pretty much anything exept too much raw..she does great on about 1/4 raw to 3/4's Orijen, but anymore then that and she gets the runs for days.

 

Baby dog who is allergic to EVRYTHING eats Presidents Choice grain free salmon and potato, its super hard to find anything she can eat because nearly all the "allergy" foods contain Oatmeal...which she is VERY allergic too or Rice..which is is allergic too..or they add natural source glucos. and chond. which she is deathly allergic too!(she doesnt eat raw because she can eat nothing but fish and veggies and I am not comfortable trying to balance that as a diet on my own)

 

the rest of the gang eats Raw and has for like 12 years now.

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I am currently investigating a food called Victor. It looks and sounds promising, with a reasonable cost for their High Energy variety which is 24/20 and their Pro Formula which is 26/18. It has a small distribution area, but they are willing to contact feed stores and the like to have them consider carrying their products. http://randrdistributors.com/ they have a tab at the top to locate dealers that may be near you. they have a side bar with their selections of food with ingredient lists and caloric info. It is a long established line of dog food........reasonably priced. It is a tough time to be trying to find "the" right kibble.

Interesting that the three places it's available in NC are all Whole Foods (Cary, Chapel Hill, Winston-Salem). If you live in GA, you might have much better luck finding this food.

 

Do you have a rough idea of the cost?

 

J.

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Interesting that the three places it's available in NC are all Whole Foods (Cary, Chapel Hill, Winston-Salem). If you live in GA, you might have much better luck finding this food.

 

Do you have a rough idea of the cost?

 

J.

 

 

Evangers is also on that I site I was told a while back to try it by a research person in the ag industry

but I have to watch what I feed my 3 yr old BC cause he is always throwing up he has a very sensitive stomach and I found foods with flax seed make them itchy

the castor pullox does have flax seed but the acana does not

I looked up the red paw but the shipping is way over my budget.

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Don't know the cost if ordered on the internet with the added cost of shipping. The place I contact about getting a bag has it at $35 for 40# bag. I plan to talk to my feed store and see if they would consider carrying it, I suspect I could get a better price from my regular feed store. Maybe you could talk to your feed store and have them contact the distributor (randr) about a meet and greet and get your feed store to carry it too.......

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Speedy, Sammie, and Dean all returned to a total raw diet.

 

Tessa is eating Wellness Core, which is also a grain free food. It is pricey compared to TOTW, but she likes it a lot and is doing very well on it thus far, and with the other three on total raw, a bag is lasting quite a while.

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I just switched last week from TOTW (just finished the bag) to Earthborn Primitive Grain-Free. My cats have been on this brand for a couple of years and since the recall my local store has been stocking new brands and finally has the large dog bags of Earthborn (the Primitive variety has the best looking ingredients in my opinion). It is pretty much the same price as TOTW. They also had FROMM's but the grain free variety was too pricey for me at this time. So far he has been doing good on Earthborn. Similar ingredients just a bit higher in protein so we'll see how it goes plus according to what I read online they are made in their own plant.

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My kids went back to eating a RAW diet. They both got very itchy off the dry food. Am still curious about back to basic. That was what i was looking to feed next still i decided to just stay on raw.

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I feed Victor's to my own dogs and to the foster dogs. They like it and have done well on it. It is manufactured here in Texas, sourced w/over 99% USA ingredients, and so it may be a little easier to find here. A lot of the feed stores and tractor supply stores here carry it. On the dogfoodadvisor.com, depending on the formula, it is rated as 4-5 stars out of 5. Most of the prices at the food stores are between $24 and $33 depending on the formula for a 40lb bag. The grain free formula is more expensive @ $38 a bag.

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I switched from TOTW to GO! (grain free/salmon & chicken) which is a Canadian product from British Columbia. I would have happily switched to Orijen but I can't buy it in the town where I work..so GO! is the next best one. It isn't cheap...$72.00 for a 25 1b bag! but then neither was TOTW.

But I wanted to stay away from grains so that's the choice I've made.

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I really like the ingredient list for Victors and the price seems quite reasonable for the ingredients - I'd give it a try if I could find it locally.

 

Right now I'm feeding either Orijen or a mix of The Honest Kitchen and raw. I wish I could find something cheaper that Kenzi would do well on, but I can't switch her to plain raw without issues and every other kibble I've tried with her either she can't keep weight on or would get diarrhea.

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After years of feeding TOTW I switched to Acana at the beginning of May.

 

Soft stools, to the point that when Ouzo was boarded for 4 days at the animal hospital they treated him with metronidazole and switched his food to something else. I've just returned from 3 weeks of vacation and found out my husband switched him to Purina One in my absence - before I had a chance to blast him for giving him crappy supermarket food I found out his running stools have been solved. Hmmm....

 

I think the grain free foods are not agreeing with him, must continue the quest for the perfect food for a picky eater and serial soft stooler rolleyes.gif

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Purina ONE really isn't a bad food, if you don't mind corn. I actually use it for my (15-year-) old dog because it's something she'll eat. And when all the recalls were going on, it was something I could easily get. She loves it and does well on it.

 

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, border collies as a breed were developed by poor shepherds. It's unlikely the breed was developed on a grain-free, meat-based diet. More likely dogs got scraps and grains (like oatmeal), which is why it's not surprising to me that some don't handle a grain-free diet well. Some dogs simply do better with grains in their diets. There's nothing wrong with that.

 

J.

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Also, for the Victor, the manufacturer offers a sort of kennel program through some of their distributors. I pay right at 25-26 a bag at my local feed store.

One of my friends does claim that her dogs don't like the taste. I don't agree. Mine leave nothing of it.

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