UPDATE - Switching foods: What I've learned so far!

LunaBrown · Last edited by LunaBrown on Fri Oct 17, 2008 6:08 pm; edited 1 time in total

So hubby and I sat down last night and wrote up a budget *gulp* - Actually writing down all of the incoming vs. the outgoing monies each month was quite painful... We have to cut back everywhere, even pet food. Confused

We've been feeding the Wellness CORE, and Luna is doing so well on it that I am LOATHE to consider changing it... but we have to. The cats are getting it too, they've been eating Innova Reduced Fat. A 30# bag of CORE just cost me around $55, and it lasts about a month, and a 15# bag of the Innova is about $40 which lasts 1.5-2 months.

$75.00 a month on animal food, and that's NOT counting what we spend intermittently on Canidae for the foster dogs...

I just wrote to Taste of the Wild to see if they would send me samples or coupons... I am not sure why I hadn't considered it before. They actually sell it at the same store I've been getting the CORE. It looks like a great food, and it's still grain free! From the searching I've done on the internet, it looks like a 30# bag of dog food is going to be $10-15 dollars less, and a 15# bag of cat food will be about the same. That's $20-30 a month right there... $240-$360 a YEAR - enough to cover the vet insurance we've now decided to cancel as well...

Let's hope my little zoo does well on it... To be continued.

cgmayeaux · Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 9:13 am Post subject:

I completly understand!!! I am a single working girl and it is hard to spend that kinda of money on dog food. I feed Nautural balance...so far so good. They have some grain free formulas too.

amazonstarlight · Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 1:53 pm Post subject:

I know exactly where you're coming from. I had been feeding the dogs Canidae but had to drive 40 miles just to get to the store that sells it. Then spend a bit and drive all the way home. So just a couple of weeks ago I switched them to Purina Pro Plan which is just a little bit cheaper but I don't have to drive for it. I actually am very happy with the switch for the dogs. They seem to be doing really well with it.

scrbear11 · Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 5:42 pm Post subject:

If you read the feeding instructions on the taste of the wild, you have to feed almost twice as much as the wellness CORE. I just switched Zehen from TOTW to CORE because I really wasn't happy. I'm hoping that even though I'm paying $10 more for a slightly smaller bag it will last longer because I will be able to feed less. We'll see...

When I was feeding TOTW, a 5lb bag lasted 2 1/2 days... so a 30lb bag lasted almost 2 weeks. He was getting 3 cups a meal to keep his weight up (Zeh has been a fairly hard keeper) and Zuna was eating two cups. With the CORE Zuna eats a cup twice a day and Zeh two cups twice a day.

The TOTW started to cause digestive upset in Zehen (nothing ever bothers Zuna) so that's what caused the switch. I would have just stuck with it if it hadn't bothered his stomach so much. On the TOTW he couldn't decide if he was constipated or had diarrhea... poor guy. So far so good on the CORE.

What other brands does your pet store carry? Have you tried Natural Balance? They have limited ingredient grain free diets. If the wellness starts to bother Zeh's tummy it's next on my list to try. It looks like it would be really good for a sensitive stomach dog and it's about $45 for a 30lb bag.

LunaBrown · Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 7:16 pm Post subject:

peppernaei

scrbear11 · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 5:20 am Post subject:

Hmmm... is Luna allergic to anything? And she doesn't do well on Canidae right? You could try a bag of the TOTW and see how it does with her belly. It's good food, but just didn't work for my boy.

LunaBrown · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 6:21 am Post subject:

cgmayeaux · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 8:50 am Post subject:

Does she have to be frain free? We feed Natural Balance lamb and brown rice, It is a Limited ingredient kibble and so far, so good. They also have grain free formulas. Price is good too....$45 for 35#

LadyDG · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 10:10 pm Post subject:

I can understand, im in a bind myself but i split the cost of food with my father. Dantes been on Taste of the Wild for 6 months now and its the only food that doesnt give him the runs or make him constipated. Its grain free and hes on the prairie mix of bison and venison, which cost 45 bucks for 30 lbs! Its expensive, yes but he also eats homemade food i make as well. I have an e-book with recipies and also talking to the vet in which he is helping me make sure dante is getting the nutrients he needs if i switch him to just homemade food i make him. Its hard but im a self sufficent budding farmer and survival enthueist that will find a way to make it work without having to rely on the grocers for dog food. Basically he will eat what i make that has been designed for him, organic veggie and free range meat from local farmers isnt too expensive.

LunaBrown · Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 6:06 pm Post subject:

Got my TOTW samples the other day - they sent a sample of each of the 3 flavors of dog food and 2 of the cat kind!

I cracked open the Wetlands sample tonight and my first impression is that it does NOT smell good... not a spoiled smell... just not pleasant to me bleh. I put 1/2 cup in with Luna's supper in place of CORE and she didn't seem to mind... I did buy a big bag when I went to the pet store the other day for cat and Gunther food, but I'm not going to open it until we get closer to the bottom of the current bag of CORE.

I did write to Canidae to see if they would send samples or coupons for their new Grain-Free... It is the same price point as the TOTW, but cup for cup it has way more calories... Canidae is 498 kcal/cup to TOTW's 375 - CORE comes in at 430.

So TOTW I would be feeding about 1/2 cup more each day and Canidae I would be feeding about 1/2 cup LESS.

CORE is around $55/bag, where TOTW and the Canidae Grain-Free are both $40....

Okay that's a ton of info, but I thought I would share what I'm finding out for anyone in the same boat as me!

Aces-Wild · Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 8:38 pm Post subject:

Ace eats Taste/Wild in the Pacific Salmon formula, it smells deathly as well. I think that's why he loves it?
I must say that he is doing excellent on it. Truly, I have never seen his poops look as compact as they do since going grain free. It really has been a turn-around.....Now you've got me interested in the CORE as well. I would like to do a grain free rotation once I find a few that work for him.

scrbear11 · Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 5:07 am Post subject:

LunaBrown · Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 6:40 am Post subject:

Forgot to add one more thing:

$55 bag of CORE only weighs 26# where the $40 bags of Canidae GF and TOTW both weigh 30#.

bluepup · Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 9:38 am Post subject:

LunaBrown, I have been getting Core online from dogfooddirect-comes out of MN- for $50.including shipping.
Scrbear11, I was just at the Canidae website and see that the fat content in their grain free is higher than Core. The protein is about the same.
I'm interested in the Canidae grain-free, too, but after the last change they made and my dog stopped eating it, I've lost a lot of confidence in it.I would like to hear how others are doing on it before I try it, especially since it is new.[/quote]