Yea I saw that, bah more fish

 

I've fed some Fromm's Surf & Turf in the past and my dogs did well with it. There is no way I would feed the Salmon Tunallini. The inclusion of tuna is ill thought out IMO; because there are huge mercury issues with tuna. The Game Bird recipe looks better; but I wish these companies would stop advertising and highlighting their lead-ins with listing ingredients that are way way down on the list and provide nothing a dog needs anyway - like spinach, broccoli, eggplant.

The inclusion of about 20 ingredients in such super minor proportions is marketing to humans who think olive oil, eggplant spinach, etc. sounds great. Fromm's certainly isn't the only company to do that. Orijen does also. That doesn't make the formulas bad whatsoever; it's just not necessary.

The price for the Game Bird on one online site is $65.99 for a 26 lb. bag which is pretty pricey. I'm not convinced that it's worth it. But if someone gave me a bag I sure wouldn't mind trying it.

 

I wish these companies would stop advertising and highlighting their lead-ins with listing ingredients that are way way down on the list and provide nothing a dog needs anyway - like spinach, broccoli, eggplant.

That was my thought too; their marketing departments are likely getting them to appeal to the owners with this.

 

Looks like more of the same to me....Kind of like they took their Surf and Turf and threw in a few extra interesting sounding ingredients.

 

Just curious, which do you prefer and why, Fromm or Orijen?

 

One of my dogs is on Health Extension Grain Free by Vets Choice. I've said it a million times.. I swear by compoany's food!!!

 

I feed raw, but if I had to pick between Fromm and Orijen, I'd definitely go with Fromm. Much more reputable of a company, IMO.

 

Company-wise? I prefer Fromm. But the formulas we tried ended up not working out the best for us in the end. Surf and Turf gave him major eye runnage and boogers, the Duck and Potato made him itchy and butt licking, and the Pork gave him soft poo.

He does best on Acana in terms of no-low eye boogers, firm poop, coat is super shiny and soft, breath smells good, etc, etc.

But I'm wanting to give game bird a try and see how it goes. I truly love Fromm but wish they had some formulas that were maybe a bit different - every formula seems to have chicken. And I wouldn't feed this new salmon tuna recipe for the reasons stated above.

 

I've fed Orijen, Acana and Fromm. I trust the company of Fromm more than I do Champion Pet Foods - which makes Orijen and Acana. However, on paper, and in some feeding experience, I've liked the Acana Pacifica formula as a frequent choice. That said, I would never feed it exclusively and I do like to rotate.

At the moment I'm feeding my dogs NutriSource Pure Vita Grain Free Turkey at 75% with the other 25% being fresh-cooked meat or egg.

 

I wasn't impressed by the way Champion responded to the whole Australia food import problem a few years ago. I also didn't like how evasive they were when the Acana Grasslands was held up at the Canadian border by the FDA and couldn't enter the US a year ago when an initial salmonella test turned up positive. Further testing over a period of a month showed no problem; but they didn't acknowledge a potential problem at all or alert their reps.

Champion has also had troubled relations with the city they're located in due to problems with extremely bad odors from the manufacturing plant.

 

I'm a huge Fromm fan gurl, however I feel like their prices are a bit steep. (I prefer their four star line) I have been looking really closely at the ingredient list for different foods lately and I like what I see with them, I also really like their customer service. I'm tryin to put my little guy on more wet foods and expand his diet a bit, but their canned foods are just far too much for me to afford. I'll still buy the dry food, because I feel like it's important, for us anyway to have that available and I'll keep an eye out for good sales on the canned but I completely get why people may be unimpressed just due to the price.

 

75% of pet food is purchased by women. That is a fact.

seriously, where do you find these studies? o_o

 

This is common industry knowledge. Doesn't it make sense to you? Ole Roy is the biggest selling food in the country. Who is more likely to be in Walmart buying groceries?

And who is in the supermarket buying Beneful & Purina One?

 

Why on earth would men be the only ones targeted for 'performance foods'? Come to think of it, what exactly are performance foods?

 

Men are the target market for "Performance Foods" because men are more likely to be hunters, trialers and sled dog racers. "Performance Foods" are foods with protein at around 30 - 32% or more and fat at 20% or more. These foods also have specific vitamin & mineral levels and fiber ingredients designed to deal with physical stress.

Women do this too, particularly agility events but more men are involved.

Look at a bag of Fromm 4 Star and then look at a bag of Enhance Professional Athlete. Then tell me which is more appealing to a woman.

 

This is common industry knowledge. Doesn't it make sense to you? Ole Roy is the biggest selling food in the country. Who is more likely to be in Walmart buying groceries?

Its marketed to people of various genders and backgrounds. Ol roy would appeal to cheapos, not gender discrimination there.

 

I think you are terrific, but I am telling you that women are responsible for up to 75% of all the dog food purchased in the US. You don't realize how small the "better" dog foods are. For 3/4's of the dogs, food is bought at the supermarket, Walmart, Costco and other big box locations. Food is marketed to "mom" cause she goes there. Men like feed stores.

Look at the Fromm website for example, doesn't look like it designed to appeal to women? This is not a secret:

"Pet food and care manufacturers absolutely need to cater to the female buyer when selecting packaging to brand products since women are the buyers of pet products in 8 out of 10 households (APPMA). Furthermore, women are more likely to own dogs and cats and their emotional commitment to their pets can transfer easily into spending more money on accessories, treats, and toys (Mintel Pet Survey 2006)."

Do you believe me now?

 

I don't think that any of us should be surprised at all by the dog food industry's very focused marketing strategies at specific profiles of dog owners. Huge amounts of time and money are spent on developing marketing strategies for almost any product you can think of that's advertised. Take cars for example. You can take two vehicles that have very similar mechanical underpinnings and size but significantly different exterior design and interior amenities. The first car with trendier styling but more utilitarian features will be marketed to young single adults; while the more refined vehicle may be marketed to empty nesters who demand more creature comforts. But the fundamentals of both cars could be almost the same.

I know that isn't an exact analogy but it shows the point that every aspect is well thought out by dog food companies with a specific niche buyer in mind. . . from the bag itself and what pictures, colors, fonts, tag-lines, are used to all the verbiage you find on the company's website.

 

What does a dog in a chef's hat have to do with women buying pet food? I don't feel that women in general have different emotional bonds with animals than men do, especially in pet homes.. men get companion dogs for the same reason as childless women do (ie, me) because they want companionship....

My boyfriend is much more suckered into advertising than I am..

 

DogLuver: Those prices are quite different from what I find in my location.

For instance, you show NutriSource (and I'm just going to identify it as grain free lamb formula) is at least $15 more than what I can buy it at; while your Orijen price is a couple dollars less than what I can find.

So, I guess none of us can really make iron-clad assumptions about what foods may or may not be more or less expensive for any one individual.

 

Ok...but given the choices I have, taking into consideration the quality of food, availabilty and prices...which would you choose (PDXdogmom)??? Would you still say NutriSource and add an egg and protein source here and there...I might add that meat is expensive where I live aswell...I cannot find chicken cheaper than $1.50/lb, and anything other than chicken is $2.50+/lb...so I am not switching to RAW until I find a better source of bulk/cheap meat.

 

I give my 10lb and 20lb dogs an egg almost every day and they are doing fine.. just watch their weight of course. I do like the "busy" foods in most situations, yes they can make it harder to pinpoint an allergy, but at the same time I believe that variety is important, and at least it has a variety of meat sources unlike kibbles with one or two protein sources.

 

Me too. I believe that unless you know your dog has an allergy problem, then what the hell, give it the food with the most meat you can find.
I've just started giving Mol raw eggs and was wondering the same thing, how much is too much. I guess I'll give her one 3 or 4 times a week, unless I hear any reasons not too. I'm going to keep a look out for different eggs too, like quail or duck.
I'm one of those that that wants their dog to have as much protein variety as possible. I'd do the same for my cat if she'd let me!

 

I'll combine my answers in one post to the questions asked or comments made in the last few posts.

I add eggs no more than 3 times a week.

I'd rather rotate my dogs' proteins than throw the kitchen sink in at every meal. Just like you don't see raw feeders giving chicken, turkey, herring, salmon and whitefish all at the same meal.

I'm not telling DogLuver to not feed Acana. In fact, rotation is good. But when asked what I would pick I said NutriSource with some additional protein supplements frequently added. I don't feel like constantly supporting companies that throw a million ingredients into the formulas such as 5-7 meats, several different carbs and a dozen or so fruits and vegetables. A lot of it is window dressing. . . doesn't necessarily make the formulas bad but why do it. Now I will admit that Orijen/Acana list exactly what % of the protein comes from animal products and I wish more companies would do that. With other companies that list 4 meat sources before the carbs, you can't really be sure what the total protein is coming from meat - it may be ingredient splitting to some degree. One company could list chicken meal only and that could supply the same amount of meat protein as a brand listing 3 different meat proteins but in smaller quantities of each.

And finally, I think the fresh protein that I add to the NutriSource is of superior quality compared to the 4th, 5th and 6th meat proteins in the Orijen/Acana kibble.

Only you, DogLuver, can determine what is the best fit for your situation. Why not choose a couple different brands and rotate?

 

Good post PDXdogmom...that's sort of the stance I take as well.

 

Thanks for the input PDXdogmom! I appreciate the explanation, I know you weren't trying to tell me not to feed Acana . I can see how a simpler formula could be a good idea, especially when trying to pinpoint an allergy. I feed my dogs raw meat and eggs on top of the Orijen/Acana rotation so they're getting plenty of different sources of protein, with no problems, so I suppose since it's working well I wouldn't change, but I have a better understanding of what you were saying so thanks. I should add that I don't stick to Orijen/Acana strictly, every once in a while I get a bag of NOW! or EVO (although I'm kinda worried their formulas are changing from what I've been reading). I would love to try Fromm if I could find it too...Natures Variety too (it's just so dam expensive!)

I agree with CatyM...as many protein sources as possible for my boys, only because they've never had any issues with a particular protein...I feel that rotating between Acana/Orijen flavors/formulas there is a good variety in there without the need to use other brands (plus I feed extra on top of that so that's good too). I still appreciate everyone's opinions/advice.

 

I am feeding Fromm right now, the beef frittata and now the surf & turf. I can't wait to feed the new game bird recipe. I like them because I feel the company is a good company (family owned, too) and can be trusted, as much as any company can be. Their customer service is outstanding. I have 4 small dogs, so price is not a problem for me. I like to rotate the flavors. I've also fed Nature's Variety. In fact, I use canned food, too, and they get Fromm Gold and NV Prairie/Instinct.

 

Just one caution - don't expose him to too many "non-standard" proteins because if he develops some type of allergy down the road you won't have any new proteins to try. Though I guess if you have already used duck its a non-issue.

 

Thanks! Yes, I have fed a few duck kibbles before. Was actually just going to make a thread about the new Acana duck kibble.

As much as I love Fromm, I'm not actually sure if we'll try it again or not - we did duck and sweet potato and pork and applesauce and when he was on those (3 bags overall) he became a lot more itchy - it went away about two weeks after being back on Acana. Not sure if it was grains in general, or something else in the food, but the Surf and Turf formula caused him very bad eye boogers and it's grain-free.

I really am starting to think simpler the better - but I'm going to start a different thread on that, hehe.