# Dog food



## MindyLee (Dec 16, 2011)

I used to feed my dog a 55lb bag of Alpo Prime Cuts which would last aprox a month. My dog Sasha, is a 65lb pit lab mix so a lg breed but not huge. On this food she had hot spots and would poop about 6 times a day and was fat! She shedded really bad and lots of farts.

Watching the tv, I saw all the Blue Buffalo cermercials and figured, DUH, I work at TSC, Y am I not feeding my dog a better food! Well, I certinally can not afford Blue Buffalo, so need to find something more in my price range. TSC came out with a new dog food brand that is very healthy for dogs and decided to give it a try. I LOVE IT!!! And will never switch her food again!

It's called 4-Health and made by Diamond. It has no corn, wheat, or soy in it. No chicken by product or corn gluton in it either. It dose have glucosamine and chondroitin in it which is good so no need for extra suppliments for the hips,joints, bones.

It took about 30 days for her body to adjust to the food BUT holy cow what a huge differance! No more hot spots! lost the extra weight and at a perfect weight, less shedding, less poop and farts by far, and a 35lb bag lasts almost 2 months! I cant believe that I did'nt change her food a yr ago when it came out. I actually save a lot more $$$ now then I thought I would. I even put my cat on the 4-Health cat food and seen a big differance there too. And to top it all off, I can afford it!

I figured with all the great sucess I had with this, I would share it with all of you too if ya are having the same issues with your beloved dog(s).

You can view it on the TSC website and read all about it!

Here's before and after pics of my girl. LOOK at those fat rolls in the 1st pic!!! LOL!


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## Riverrose28 (Dec 16, 2011)

WOW, thanks for the advice, last time I went to TSC I saw this dog food but passed it up. I have bullies that get a lot of bald spots, so maybe I should give this a try. Also they fart and poop alot, but bulldogs fart alot anyway because of the way they suck in air. This is perfect timing too, as I was going to ask hubby to go to his favorite store, (he calls it the mans walmart), TSC to pick up some more posts. thanks again.


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## ErikaS. (Dec 16, 2011)

I but Diamond brand dog food, but I haven't seen the 4-Health one, yet. Looks like a TSC run is in order.


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## TangoMango (Dec 16, 2011)

I JUST changed my Bostons food the 4Health, but she hasnt been on it long enough to tell any difference.. Hope it works and it is a bit cheaper than the Taste of the Wild she was on.


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## Matt73 (Dec 16, 2011)

Good to know. My dogs are on SportMix, and I love it. But I'll compare. Riis, my German Shepherd got hot spots, but only in the summer...when it was humid; are hot spots related to feed/allergies? Hmmm.... I thought is was a fungus that proliferated in damp, hot conditions. (btw, MTG took care of it within a couple of days




).


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## jacks'thunder (Dec 16, 2011)

I feed Diamond Naturals but maybe this would be a good switch! Thanks!


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## MindyLee (Dec 16, 2011)

Matt73 said:


> Good to know. My dogs are on SportMix, and I love it. But I'll compare. Riis, my German Shepherd got hot spots, but only in the summer...when it was humid; are hot spots related to feed/allergies? Hmmm.... I thought is was a fungus that proliferated in damp, hot conditions. (btw, MTG took care of it within a couple of days
> 
> 
> 
> ).


*Hot spots are from the corn gluton excaping from the dogs body. That's why anything with it really effects some dogs more then others as some dogs just cant handle it. Also, sometimes folks get ringworm confussed with hot spots. *

* *


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## jacks'thunder (Dec 17, 2011)

Whats the price range for a 35lb bag?


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## Nathan Luszcz (Dec 17, 2011)

Its not a TSC feed, we sell it too at Rural King



I'm a firm believer in Purina One myself.


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## Sonya (Dec 17, 2011)

I did feed Diamond for a while a few years ago until my vet told me about all the issues At their plant and some dogs dying so I switched. I researched and researched kibble and decided on Dick Van Pattens Natural Balance limited ingredients. It is definitely more expensive than Diamond but not the most expensive out there...most expensive doesn't always mean the best though, and Diamond did rate pretty descent, but once I switched to what I'm on now I can definitely see an improvement in my dogs overall general appearance and activity level....one big thing I noticed with the Diamond is it made my dogs gassy and poop alllott!


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## MindyLee (Dec 17, 2011)

Nathan Luszcz said:


> Its not a TSC feed, we sell it too at Rural King
> 
> 
> 
> I'm a firm believer in Purina One myself.


*You do sell Diamond, Just not the 4 Health. That's a TSC brand only...*

*I wonder if our stores get stuff from the same suppliers? I looked at the RK website and so much stuff is the excatly the same. *

" Whats the price range for a 35lb bag?"

*Small 5lb bags from $6.99 to big bags pending on type, $27.99 - $34.99*


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## jayne (Dec 17, 2011)

We have been feeding our dog (1/2 golden retriever, 1/2 border collie) the Kirkland dog food (lamb and rice) from Costco her whole life. It's my understanding that the Kirkland brand is made by Diamond. Her poops are small and she hasn't had any issues with hot spots. The real testimony that this food is pretty decent is that on December 3rd, she celebrated her 16th birthday, and she's still going strong.


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## LindaL (Dec 18, 2011)

Here is what we switched our dogs to...It is expensive, but their coats are shiny, they are all at good weights (we feed it to all our dogs who range in age from 1 year to 13 years old) and I like that it is grain free, so is not full of wasteful fillers.

Like horse feeds, there are many that are really good and people just have to pick what they and their animals like and do well on.





Nature's Recipe

Here's the ingredients of the dog food we use:

Ingredients:

Salmon, sweet potatoes, potatoes, pea protein, salmon meal, poultry fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), apples, pumpkin, chicken digest, tomato pomace, salt, potassium chloride, choline chloride, minerals (zinc proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, iron proteinate, copper sulfate, copper proteinate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenite), vitamins (vitamin E supplement, L-ascorbly-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), inositol, niacin supplement, vitamin A supplement, d-calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, beta-carotene, riboflavin supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, menadione sodium bisulfite complex, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement), yucca schidigera extract, rosemary extract, citric acid (used as a preservative).


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## Jill (Dec 18, 2011)

Our dogs eat a combination of Nutro Natural Choice and food I cook for them myself. I will check this brand out though. Thanks for the heads up


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## mydaddysjag (Dec 18, 2011)

Sonya, take a peek at your Natural Balance feed, especially if you have been feeding it for a while and havent looked at the ingredients recently. I fed it and loved it, Until I found pieces of plastic in several bags, with different batches. I was able to return them to get other bags, only to find a food that looked and smelled different from what it had previously. All 6 dogs we were feeding it to would not eat it. I contacted their customer service dept. and they swore up and down nothing was wrong with the feed, and there were no changes in the formula. I told they that I was sending my feed in to be independently tested, and they finally admitted that they did recently change the formula. I also did some research, and found where independent lab posted their results when testing several grain, soy, and dye free dog foods. NB was found to contain quite a bit of soy, and at least at that time, claimed to be soy free. I also found several forums with NUMEROUS people complaining of dogs getting quite ill after switching to NB.

I put my guys back on a different grain free diet, I wont support a company that outright lied to me about changing their food formulas. I fed a Limited ingredient diet because my dogs need limited ingredients, so yes, it is important to me if the formula changed them my dogs got sick, rashes, and also were refusing to eat most of the time.

The 4health food is a decent food, at a very reasonable price. I would feed it if I could, but all of our dogs have to be on a grain free diet.


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## Sonya (Dec 18, 2011)

thanks for the info mydaddysjag....I haven't had any issues, been feeding it for probably about 3 years. I do know that they use Diamond processing plants, and about 4 years ago is when Diamond had all the issues, to my knowledge thats when NB started doing their own testing as Diamond got lots of heat for not and had hundreds of dogs die....and then Diamond lied about their testing, thats why my vet suggested to stay away from Diamond....so I switched, at the time I didn't even think about 'where the food was processed'...and learned after about a year of feeding NB that it is processed in Diamond plants. I never changed because NB was doing their own testing.


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## Sonya (Dec 18, 2011)

continued....here is one article I foundabout the Diamond plants...this was back in 2006

http://www.whatsnextblog.com/2006/01/diamond_pet_food_contamination/

I do believe this is the incident my vet was talking about that prompted me to stay away from Diamond. When did the incident you had happen? NB does not have their own plant (because they are pretty small) they use other plants as well as Diamonds


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## Sonya (Dec 18, 2011)

Wanted to add, the soy is probably because they use plants that do use soy products in other brands kibble....still they shouldnt claim to be free of grains.


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## shorthorsemom (Dec 18, 2011)

http://www.veruspetfoods.com/general/what-makes-verus-so-healthy-for-pets.html

I feed Verus dog food and included a link. Works well decent protein levels and my dogs don't get gas on it. I feed the chicken adult.

. The protein on some of the diamond dog foods is a bit high for my older guys.

Interesting reading all the different postings about different dog foods and I always find it interesting when one dog food does terrific on some dogs and very poor on others. I have always felt that finding a dog food is a trial and error experience and dog owners need to be in tune to their dogs and listen and be prepared to change when certain dog foods just are not working well for their pet. I always feel with dog foods, that it isn't about the cost, it is about the quality. What you don't pay in the bag, you might pay at the vet later. On the other hand, I have also seen some high dollar dog foods that weren't worth much IMO... so you have to weigh and balance and be willing to educate yourself and be willing to change. I had one dog food I bought that appeared to be a terrific healthy blend and 2 of my 5 dogs got bladder infections while on it. Pretty high odds, so I changed.

Thanks for sharing.


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## mydaddysjag (Dec 19, 2011)

Sonya, my incident was this summer (2011). The formula changed, one of the additions was adding pea protein. The independent lab testing was done twice and both times, found very high levels of soy in the natural balance sweet potato and venison formula. At the time the testing was done, they advertised that food specifically as being free of soy, as well as corn, wheat, barley, and rice.

I do wish that they didnt change the formula, my dogs did very well on the origional sweet potatoe and venison formula for many years. It is just very unsettling to me that they wouldnt admit they changed their formula, until I mentioned having it independently tested. Now they recommend "a gradual introduction by replacing the current food with increasing portions of the new L.I.D. Limited Ingredient Diets® Sweet Potato & Bison and Sweet Potato & Venison Formulas with Pea Protein. The change should be done over a 5 to 7 day weaning period."


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## Sonya (Dec 19, 2011)

I feed the salmon and sweet potatoe, havent noticed that it appears any different....wonder why they wouldnt admit to any changes.


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