[kazzie21]

Hi All,

I'm looking for a good quality, high-fiber food. Also preferably not too expensive.

When I first got my dogs - they were eating Purina One for the most part with no issues. I did some research and felt we should get a better quality food.

Then switched to Nature's Variety since they started using it at doggie day care. Dogs seemed to get sick of eating after awhile and it was also kinda pricey.

Tried Innova for a few months but then swithced over to Merrick for the last few months. The dogs love the Merrick.

However, my one dog for the first time seems to be having anal gland problems since eating this food - the poops are too loose and she scooted for the very first time (she's almost six). So I'm planning on slowing making another switch to something with more fiber.

But I'm having a hard time deciding what to switch them too. The vet recommended a well established brand like science diet or eukanuba after I got her checked out and the glands expressed.
Now my mind is all confused with reading reviews etc online.

Part of me wants to just switch back to Purina One - since they were doing great on that and it's easy to find, etc. Then part of me wants to get something better.

Would like a recommendation for a food that's high fiber, good quality, easy to find, and won't break the bank. Help!

Thanks!
Karen

 

[DaneMama]

Welcome!

Unfortunately high fiber foods are going to be the lower quality ones because they are FULL of corn or rice. If you are making the switch exclusively for anal glands I would jeopardize a loss of nuttition just for that, you will get all the negative effects of poor nutrition instead which to me is a bigger deal. Some dogs just needs their anal glands expressed regularly for some reason. It might be because she is getting older and not the food.

 

[RCTRIPLEFRESH5]

i will get some slack for posting this, but if your dogs arent doing well on the better foods, and did fine on purina 1, i sduggest going for what works best for your dogs. if you feel uncomfortable feeding that, then there's a lot of people wh oadvocate raw here.

but if you want to feed kibble then id say try orijen. they use high quality ingridients, and i think that makes the difference! for a change of pace try the fish formula, your dog may not be responsidng to typical meats, and it could be giving your dog the runs.

 

[CorgiPaws]

Hi All,

I'm looking for a good quality, high-fiber food. Also preferably not too expensive.

Like dane mama already said, the high fiber foods will be lover quality because the fiber heavy ingredients are generally things very species inappropriate like grains, and corn, which are undigestable and useless for the dogs.

However, my one dog for the first time seems to be having anal gland problems since eating this food - the poops are too loose and she scooted for the very first time (she's almost six). So I'm planning on slowing making another switch to something with more fiber.

Some dogs honestly just develop these kinds of issues with age, and some breeds are more prone to anal gland issues. The good news is, anal glands are super easy to express, and it only takes a minute.:smile:

But I'm having a hard time deciding what to switch them too. The vet recommended a well established brand like science diet or eukanuba after I got her checked out and the glands expressed.
Now my mind is all confused with reading reviews etc online.

Vets are not well trained on the topic of canine nutrition, so good for you for venturing out on your own to find the truth! I definately would not go that route. You'll spend a ton of money on a very sub par food that will more than likely cause bigger issues than silly anal glands.

If you are making the switch exclusively for anal glands I would jeopardize a loss of nuttition just for that, you will get all the negative effects of poor nutrition instead which to me is a bigger deal.

...I think you ment you wouldn't jeopardize nutrition. :wink:

i will get some slack for posting this, but if your dogs arent doing well on the better foods, and did fine on purina 1, i sduggest going for what works best for your dogs.

I definately would not throw in the towel and go back to lower grade food. A poor quality kibble is not the "best" thing for any dog. Giving up proper nutrition for a quick fix is only begging for more serious problems down the line.



If it makes you feel any better, we just got a 3.5 month old Cocker Spaniel puppy a couple weeks ago, whom I'm pretty sure was not properly cared for before we got her, as she came to us with an ear infection and impacted glands, and I am doing her glands about three times a week right now, and get stuff out of them each and every time.:frown:

 

[luvMyBRT]

I agree in not going back to a low quality kibble. For the most part any food you can find at a grocery store or walmart is generally a kibble you will want to stay away from.

I totally know what you mean about not breaking the bank!

I just switched my older GSH Pointer to Taste of the Wild. She is eating the High Prairie formula with bison, venison, lamb meal, and chicken meal being the first four ingredients. She loooooves it! TOTW is a quality grain free kibble that costs a bit less than others. I live in a small town in eastern Oregon and have been able to find it, so I am sure that it can be easily found. If you go to their website it will tell you where they sell it. :smile:

 

[mstngchic2012]

TOTW can be found in Tractor Supply Companies and ordered on there website if neccessary.

 

[luvMyBRT]

TOTW can be found in Tractor Supply Companies and ordered on there website if neccessary.

Yeah. I found mine at a small local dog and cat food store. They also carry it at farm supply stores like "Dels". Even if it's not listed on the website that it's sold in your area I would call around to your pet stores and farm supply stores as they may have it in stock.

Another thing is that if you do find a nice local pet store they may be able to special order for you. The small dog food store where I get my TOTW is going to special order me a quality puppy food that normally I would not be able to find in my town.

 

[rannmiller]

Have you tried any grain-free kibble brands yet? Often grain-free foods have much more digestible ingredients and less filler so it leads to smaller, firmer stools. Also, how long exactly have your dogs been on the Merrick? It sounds like they've been switching brands a lot lately, maybe it's just a digestive reaction to being switched so much? I would definitely not recommend going back to Purina One. Aside from all the obviously low quality ingredients their products contain, they also have menadione sodium bisulfite which has been deemed so toxic by the FDA that it was banned for use in human foods, but because the pet food industry has very few regulations, is still allowed in pet foods.

Food for thought.

 

[wags]

I know Innova Senior has a nice fiber content in it also you could try even adding metamucal to the dog food. This is safe for dogs if they are having problems!

 

[lilbabyvenus]

If you're familiar with the Wellness line, they have a Core reduced fat forumla, that is 8.5% fiber. I've been looking at other bigger brands and from what I can see that has the highest fiber content. It is only 33% protein, but I guess I'm not sure if you were looking for a high protein diet either.

ETA: http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/dog_wellness_grain_reduced.html

 

[kazzie21]

Thanks

Thanks Everyone for all the words of wisdom, I stayed up to 2am reading about dog foods online - there are so many options.

Good thing is I live in Austin and there are lots of places that have all the foods available that everyone has been recommending. It just gets overwhelming. You want to pick the best for your dogs and I know part of it is how they respond to it, etc.

I try to make the changes slowly over a week or two adding more and more of the new food. We had 3 different foods this year so maybe that also is causing these new issues.

But I still have a feeling we should try one more food slowly and hopefully will find our food we will stick with for awhile that will make us all happy. My one dog also has gained a little weight, but part of that is because of behavior issues (she started getting agressive as she got older with other dogs so we don't go to the leash free dog parks anymore like we were everyweekend). She is a 5 1/2 year old austrailian cattle dog mix. She is doing great except for the latest poop issues and little extra weight. Vet said she has the teeth and heart of a youngin still.

I also have 2 year old lab mix and she is going fine weight and health wise.

A few years ago I tried the Instinct (Nature's Variety) grain free as a suggestion from a trainer that maybe the grain-free would also help calm her down. She didn't seem to like eating it too much. I tried it with my cats too and they hated it lol (another story).

Anyways, I'm going to head to Pet Supplies Plus this afternoon since they have a super selection and prices. Here's my final 4.

Wellness Core Reduced Fat
TOTW High Prarie Formula
Orijen Adult
Chicken Soup For The Dog Lover's Soul

I know the last one isn't grain free- but it seems to have lots of good reviews, good quality products, and has a great price. The dogs love the their wet food. Every once in while I do give them some wet food as a treat. I mix in half a can with their dry food.

Now I need to make a final decision. Decisions, Decisions.

 

[RCTRIPLEFRESH5]

Orijen if you can afford it!

 

[kazzie21]

I think we will try the Orijen - so many seem to be raving about it.
Of course I would like to save money however I want the best for my lil monsters.
Some even said their dogs lost extra weight on it.
I'll introduce it slowly and see how we go.
Wish us luck

Now I need to research cat food

 

[RCTRIPLEFRESH5]

I think we will try the Orijen - so many seem to be raving about it.
Of course I would like to save money however I want the best for my lil monsters.
Some even said their dogs lost extra weight on it.
I'll introduce it slowly and see how we go.
Wish us luck

Now I need to research cat food

orijen for cats =p.
but you may go bankrupt also.

 

[PUNKem733]

orijen for cats =p.
but you may go bankrupt also.

1. Orijen

2. Wellness

3. TOTW

4. Chicken Soup For The Dog Lover's Soul

For cats, the best overall food is Wellness core canned food. Any and every cat food review site, or cat forums universally praises Wellness for cats.

 

[CorgiPaws]

Now I need to research cat food

My cat is a kibble junkie (despite my daily attempts to get her on raw, or at minimum a good canned diet) and we rotate just about EVERY high quality grain free kibble for her for the sake of variety. I must say that so far she's had Grain Free Felidae which she ate, but lost weight on it and wasn't eating it very happily. Then we did wellness core, which she lost interest in halfway through the bag. Right now she's on a bag of Instinct Rabbit Meal and is so in love with it, I almost feel bad switching after this bag!! haha.
Definately in any kind of diet, variety is key, so don't feel the need to pick one and only one food and stick with it forever. Pick a few! Rotate!

 

[PUNKem733]

You really wanna try to get cats on canned meals if not a raw diet. They have a low thirst drive, and get a lot of their moisture from their foods. But like my 2 cats who are kibble junkies as well, though they occasionally cath a bird or lizard, and eat them. Instinct is an excellent cat food. Orijen and Evo of course also have outstanding kibble.

 

[kazzie21]

Thanks for the advice

I got a small bag of Orijen, I gave both lil monsters a few kibbles as a treat and they both gobbled them up so that's a good sign. Will start adding a little in every meal.

Yeah my one cat is supper picky and only seems to want to eat Purina One. I tried switching them to Instinct last year slowly and my one cat slowly stopped eating all together, got sick and caused all sorts of emergency pet visits (started having liver problems due to not eating). So after we got her healthy again - had to force feed the poor thing for a month we went back to Purina one.

I recently tried the Wellness Indoor last month. I mixed a lil in their food and put a lil out on a plate on it's own to see if either would choose it. My other cat would always go for the wellness but my picky cat didn't and seemed to stop eating when i started mixing more in. So after a month of mixing the two together I just went back to the Purina One. I may be just a little gun shy now as well.

They aren't too good at eating wet food either. They seem all excited when I give it to them once in awhile as a treat but they just lick it like mad and only eat a lil of it. Cracks me up.

I didn't see the Orijen Cat food at Pet Supplies Plus but maybe I'll look closer next time I'm there. Or try a different Wellness flavor. I'll research that later.

Now I have to feed myself lol. I sometimes wish there was a human kibble on days when i don't feel like shopping or cooking.:wink: