I had taken Sandy off of the Chicken Soup food not too long ago. I wanted to put her on Eagle Pack as she has done wonderfully on it previously. Where I used to purchase EP, they no longer keep it on the shelves all the time, so there were times I'd go in to get the EP and they wouldn't have any (on the shelves or in back). I have found a place online that sells EP that offers free shipping to IA, IL, MN, ND, NE, SD, WI, and UP area of MI. Heck, I am in MN and I'm more than likely going to start ordering from them!

Here's my question, I don't remember what formula I had previously fed to her and after reading and rereading the ingredients on the formulas, I'm not sure which would work out better for her. She is quite active and I've found foods with lower protein/fat ratios seem to have a hard time keeping weight on her. I want to give the EP Holistic Select a try, but at $43 for 33 lbs. I just can't stomach that!

The Original Adult (in the blue bag) is 25/15 for a protein/fat ratio. Something along these lines seem to work better for her, but I am a tad reserved about feeding a pork based food (along with corn being the second ingredient). I'm not totally against corn as an ingredient, especially being EP uses high quality corn - I'm just reserved about it being the SECOND ingredient and again as the 5th ingredient.

Both the Natural and Premium Select are a bit lower in the protein/fat department. The natural is 23/12 and the Premium Select is 22/15. I like the Natural as it has chicken meal listed again on the list, the Premium Select only has Lamb Meal in it. I'm also feeling the Premium Select is rice based as it has rice/rice fragments listed 4 times on the ingredients list. The Natural lacks all the rice, but does have rice, corn, then oatmeal as the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th ingredient then corn again a little later down the line.

I don't know what I should chose for her. I do like the fact that the Original Kenneal Pack has a little higher protein/fat, but I'm a bit reserved about the pork. The pork listed is about what is keeping me from putting her on that.

The site also sells a food called NutriSource. I had never heard of it until I was at a sportsman's show with my father which he was a dealer at. Tuffy's pet food had a table there and Tuffy's makes the NutriSource. They had a ton of samples - I had taken home quite a few and the dogs loved the NutriSource.

Here are the NutriSource ingredients (is 26/16): Chicken, chicken meal, brown rice, brewers rice, barley, oatmeal, whole grain ground wheat, poultry fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols (a source of vitamin E), citric acid and rosemary extract), fish meal, beet pulp, digest of poultry, flax seed, whole dried eggs, brewers yeast, spray dried poultry liver digest, potassium chloride, salt, chelated minerals (iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, manganese proteinate, cobalt proteinate, magnesium proteinate, yeast fermentation solubles), choline chloride, dried saccharomyces fermentation solubles, (saccharomyces cerevisiae, enterococcus faecium, lactobacillus acidophilus, aspergillus niger, trichoderma longibrachiatum, bacillus subtillis), maltodextrins and fermentation solubles), vitamins (vitamin A acetate, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, niacin, pantothenic acid, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of vitamin K activity), folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement), glucosamine hydrochloride, vitamin C, chondroitin sulfate, yucca schidigera extract.

The ingredients don't look too bad, but I wonder why in the world all those nutrients must be added. Granted all pet foods have added nutrients, but the ingredients list just seems so much longer compared to other decent pet foods. I also really wonder about quality as it is infact being made by Tuffy's pet foods.

*Any* comments are welcome. I'm leaning more towards an EP formula rather than the NutriSource just for the whole fact that NutriSource isn't one of those better known pet foods so I don't have a clue as to what to expect. Also, the EP Power formula doesn't look too bad, but I'm thinking a 30/20 formula would be too much for her.

Sorry this ended up being so long, I'm just looking for any opinions that would help me decide which to food/formula to go with.

it sounds like you have done your homework. I too have been looking to change foods for Max. I was also impressed by by EP, but it was not available in this area. After a lot of research I have decided to go with Natural Balance which is available at Petco from $30-$33 for 35lbs. A little on the expensive side, but not too bad. The Protine to fat ratio may be a little lower that what you are looking for (23/13), but the ingredients are better than most in my opinion:

Chicken, brown rice, duck, lamb meal, oatmeal, pearled barley, potatoes, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols--a source of vitamin E, citric acid, and rosemary extract), natural flavor, tomato pomace, canola oil, brewers yeast, lecithin, choline chloride, carrots, potassium chloride, flaxseed oil, dried kelp, salt, parsley flakes, calcium carbonate, zinc proteinate, ferrous sulfate, glucosamine hydrochloride, zinc sulfate, vitamin E supplement, vitamin B12 supplements, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), taurine, yucca schidigera extract, l-lysine, manganese sulfate, niacin, riboflavin supplement (vitamin B2), copper proteinate, grape seed oil, copper sulfate, d-calcium pantothenate, vitamin A acetate, inositol, folic acid (vitamin B), pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), d-activated animal sterol (source of vitamin D3), biotin, ethylene diamine dihydriodide (source of iodine), cobalt sulfate, menadione sodium bisulfate complex (source of vitamin K activity), sodium selenite.

Not sure if this helps but best of luck. You may also want to consider ordering your food online. I've never done it myself, but you have a greater selection.:2cents:

Yellowdog,

I remember you were having a profuse shedding issue with the chicken soup. I forget, have you tried any of the kirkland stuff in the past? Or is it available?

I don't know anything about the Nutrisource. Eagle is not widely available here, and it is quite pricey, and the availability issue has scared me away from it. I don't know whether pork is an issue or not, I think the flint river ranch has pork in it too, so Eagle isnt the only one to use it. Doesn't Labby use one of the Eagles on one of her dogs? She is away this weekend, but maybe ask which one when she gets back?

The Nutrisource ingredients do look pretty good. Re all those additives and stuff.....I don't know that the amount appears excessive compared to the other foods I have seen. After the first 10-15 ingredients, it all looks like Chemical stuff to me :D

What is your gut feeling? I would go with it, and give it a try. If it doesn't work, whichever way you go, then you have another alternative to try.

Suzie

My friend who has a siberian who is a show dog and a sled dog uses their high performance food, and he has always been very happy with it.

Suzie

Natural Balance doesn't look like a bad food and the price isn't bad either.

BradNMax - Natural Balance is available to me, but its more expensive than Innova is and I pay $37 for a 33 lb. bag of Innova around here! Also, I won't order online from most places as the shipping costs kill me, but I found a website the other day that has free shipping to the upper midwest so I'm going to be ordering from them (they have the EP and NutriSource). I'm also just trying to figure out which I want to give a try between the foods I had listed in my first message.

Kitkat - Yep, Sandy did have horridle amounts of sheddding from the Chicken Soup. I'd love to try the Kirkland food, but there isn't a Costco any where near me - heck, I don't even know if there is one in Minnesota! I know pork really isn't an issue, I just feel odd about a pork based food as it really isn't a "traditional" ingredient in dog food. All that stuff that looks like chemicals after the first 10-15 ingredients is actually all the added nutrients. I wouldn't mind giving the EP Power (their performance food) a try, but I'm just scared that its too much protein/fat for her as she's never been on a performance feed.

I'm feeling quite iffy about the NutriSource merely because its not really a food many have heard of, so I think I'm going to cross that off my list even though it does look like a decent food. As of right now I've been leaning more towards the Original Kennel Adult formula as it does have a tad higher protein/fat ratio, but the ingredients in the other two do look a tad better to me. Ugh, I hate such hard decisions!

Premium Edge is the best of the various diamond lines....their ingredients in all their formulas are pretty good...wonder if that is available to you anywhere?

http://www.premiumedgepetfood.com

Diamond Lamb and Rice is good too, although I think the kirkland formulas and ratios are slightly better (go figure, cheaper yet better).

Yellowdog, I know this is hard, but you will figure it out! Keep us posted!

Suzie

I feed Diamond Premium Adult to my other two dogs and quite some time ago already I was searching for the Premium Edge, I just can't get much of anything for pet food around here. I had her on Diamond Lamb & Rice a while ago but it was hard to keep weight on her with such a food. Also, with Diamond feeds it seems I always have to feed her more just to keep weight on her and I don't know why. The other two dogs on the Diamond don't need much to maintain a good weight.

I'm still debating between the Natural, Premium Select, and the Original Adult from Eagle Pack being I have fed her Eagle in the past and she did wonderfully on it, I just can't remember for the life of me which formula I had her on at the time.

Well, keeping weight on Cooper isn't an issue.....he is a stocky boy, and if anything, keeping it off him is a bigger concern. :). He only gets 2 to 2 1/2 cups a day of the Lamb/Rice, and even with that, Ihave to constantly watch to make sure he doesnt plump up. And that with at least an hour of hard exercise a day! Yikes!

Suzie